2016 Architecture Portfolio

JOHN REYNDERS Portfolio 2016

JOHN REYNDERS jreynders789@gmail.com 920.284.4032 Education Related: ∙ Awarded Scan|Design Fellowship ∙ Member of American Institute of Architecture Students ∙ President of UW Milwaukee Cycling Club Fall 2010 - Winter 2011, Vice-President Fall 2009 - 2010 ∙ Danish Institute for Study Abroad Spring 2012

Experience Related: ∙ Volunteer experience with Habitat for Humanity

University of Washington

Sept. 2013 - Mar. 2016

M.Arch ∙ Focus on architectural design, with an emphasis on urban and tectonic issues. ∙ Special attention given to material usage, properties, and theory in design.

Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts,

Sept. 2014 - Jun. 2015

School of Architecture CITA Studio ∙ Focus on parametric design, material investigation, and digital manufacturing. ∙ Design research through scale fragments, 1:1 installations, and architectural propositions.

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

Aug. 2008 - May 2012

B.S. Architecture ∙ Focus on developing a process of analysis and design in an architectural context. ∙ Development of technical skills related to design and production of architectural drawings and models.

Erik’s Bike Shop Sales

Feb. 2013 - Aug 2013 Jun. 2014 - Aug 2014

∙ Full time commission based sales of bicycles and accessories. ∙ Created sales by interpreting customers’ wishes and providing the best option for them.

∙ Freelance graphic and architectural design services

Skills

∙Rhino

∙ Grasshopper

∙Photoshop

∙Sketching

∙AutoCad

∙ Sketch-Up

∙Illustrator

∙Model Building

∙Revit

∙ In-Design

∙Lightroom

∙Digital Fabrication

Table of Contents

The Shape of Global Wealth

3

Daylight and Design Through Optimization

13

Rangjung Yeshe Gomde Retreat Center

19

Parking Lot Rehab

25

The Shape of Global Wealth Slender Towers from New York to Seattle Thesis: Winter 2016 Committee: Jeffrey Ochsner, Gundula Proksch

With the financialization of a major segment of the world economy, the built environment has, in turn, experienced a new level of commodification. For the super rich, residential real estate promises strong return on investment, safe sheltering of funds outside the home country, and in most cases, a view.

In Manhattan this development has recently taken physical form in the very tall slender tower. With extraordinary values predicated on location, views, and exclusivity, these buildings are shaped by careful manipulation of zoning and building codes, supported by innovative structural solutions, presented in enticing renderings, all to maximize profit potential. Application of new building technologies allows designers to create buildings with very high floor areas (FAR) on very small sites while maximizing height and, consequently, unit prices.

This thesis explores this phenomenon as a built manifestation of global processes and local influences based on current developments in New York City. It transfers its findings to Seattle, which is growing in prominence in the international real estate market, as a physical location in which to explore the potential opportunities allowed by local building and zoning code that could shape a new typology of ultra-luxury real estate in the city.

Projecting into the near future, this project manifests itself as a slender residential tower that embodies and embraces both the legal and physical gymnastics undertaken in its design.

axon of possible sites and future development

The site chosen for the thesis design provided the benefits of protected views, proximity to other existing luxury residences and amenities, and was a challenging site legally and physically - emblematic of a site passed over for more straightforward developments, and thus perfect as a test case for the legal and physical gymnastics this type of development embodies.

2000’ max FAA allowed height

913’ max height airport overlay district

883’ max height airport overlay district

The ability to build to unlimited height, and the possibility of cantilevering over a neighboring building opens up the opportunities of a site which would otherwise be restricted to a building with a maximum width of thirty feet due to view corridor setback restrictions.

450’ base residential height DOC1

400’ max residential height DMC 290’ base residential height DMC 30’ 36’

setback dimensions DMC

setback dimensions DOC1

30’ 48’

2nd

Ave.

Ave.

1101 2nd ave.

1st

view rose with current environment

1101 2nd Ave

120’x60’ in DOC 1 120‘x120’ in DMC

Seneca St.

SDL Office Buildin Built 1968 4 stories Assessed value 2

315’ tower on adja 600‘ tower in deve Landmark building

N

300’

N

500’

N

700’

View corridor setb south end of site

N

900’

view rose with planned development Spring St.

N

300’

N

500’

N

700’

N

900’

site plan

south elevation

east elevation

156’

238’

238’

990’

238’

120’

section 1

section 2

Daylight and Design Through Optimization Studio: Spring 2015 Tutor: Tore Banke

The goal this project is to examine the process of design using genetic optimization solvers with sunlight as the primary driver of the optimization. The design focuses on two scales; the scale of the building plan, and the scale of the individual shading unit. This process uses a building in Islands Brygge as a base form which is to be reprogrammed and added to. Box like forms are added to the building to create space, and strategically provide shading for other program elements. Finally the shades themselves are optimized for particular daylighting requirements and qualities.

Daylighting design is both qualitative and quantitative. Computational optimization is purely quantitative in nature. This basic framework starts a conversation between optimization, design, and the qualities of sunlight. The process of optimization seeks the best solution for a given problem. This project aims to steer the optimization process by setting limits, boundaries, and rules that the process of optimization operates within. These rules are based both in pragmatic and aesthetic considerations. Put another way, the computer doesn’t know if the optimal shade blocks a view of the city while framing a view of the neighboring apartment. In this way the project uses the creation and refinement of these rules as a core factor in the design process.

The boxes for the residential space and office space are located based on a simple logic of desiring sunlight or desiring shade. The deeper residential boxes want sunlight while the shallow office boxes want shade. The ideal situation is a residential box providing shade for an office below.

residential wants sun

office wants shade facade

divided

box and shade

ideal shading

box development pseudo-code

evolutionary development

The louvers for the building are optimized for performance toward a variety of parameters relating to the requirements of the program inside. Different orientations, spacing, minimum and maximum rotation are all specific to different programs.

Additionally different times of the day or year are prioritized for direct sunlight, diffuse daylight, or shading. The louvers also respond to their individual locations, both orientation on the building and adjacent boxes all being considered in their individual orientations.

base

+/-45 rotation

-30 rotation top only

30 rotation top only

-45 bottom rotation 30 top rotation

45 bottom rotation 30 top rotation

The louvers for the office space are designed to block direct sunlight from 8am until 5pm throughout the year, but allowing as much diffuse daylight in as possible - especially in the winter months. The louvers are deep to minimize glare.

The residential louvers are designed to minimize direct sunlight in the evenings from 5-8pm in the summer months, while also allowing in diffuse daylight through the rest of the year. They are shallow to preserve views from inside.

section 1

section 2

Rangjung Yeshe Gomde Retreat Center Studio: Winter 2014 Professor: Rob Corser

The Rangjung Yeshe Gomde Retreat Center in Cooperstown New York is an intensive Tibetan Buddhist retreat and meditation center.

The proposal calls for a series of retreat cabins for people on both short and long term retreats, and as housing for visiting monks and scholars. Additionally there is a need for a new meditation hall for daily group meditation services and classes.

The meditation hall is used for group meditation, lessons from visiting monks, and other group activities. A simple interior lit by large skylights with beams crossing overhead to diffuse the light allows the focus of the space to be on the shrine. The shrine holds the only ornamentation, with traditional Tibetan Buddhist statues, tapestries, and accessories are displayed.

The retreat cabins are small and simple, without feeling spartan. The entrance off a small deck reveals the sleeping quarters nestled underneath the lofted meditation space. The meditation space on the second floor is enhanced by a private deck for outdoor meditation as the weather allows.

Parking Lot Rehab

Studio: Fall 2015 Professor: Rick Mohler

This project explores the HALA recommendation of using existing publicly owned surface parking lots for new, affordable residential development.

The site is the large parking lot north of Lincoln High School owned by Seattle Public Schools and used by the school and the Wallingford Branch Library in the heart of Wallingford’s ‘downtown’.

The proposal consists of three residential buildings containing a mix of one bedroom apartments and two bedroom townhouses.

Additionally, the proposal adds roughly 100 additional parking spots to the existing 192 spaces by moving them underground to serve the school, library, residences, and the downtown as a whole on a shared basis.

The housing is designed as a series of three intimately scaled courtyard buildings, with a meandering public pathway connecting them. The courtyards each have a different character and design influenced by their position on the site, and different potential uses for different times of the day.

The housing consists of ground related townhouses surrounding the courtyards, with two or three levels of apartments above. The townhouses are entered from the perimeter of the development through transitional stoops and gardens to enliven the pedestrian experience both within the courtyards and around the perimeter of the site. As a whole, the proposal provides 37 two bedroom town homes, 118 one bedroom apartments and 292 shared parking spaces on what is now a vast and often vacant asphalt surface parking lot.

John Reynders jreynders789@gmail.com 920.284.4032