Jordan Merritt Portfolio 3/1/24

JORDAN MERRITT

PORTFOLIO

Adobe Suite Procreate

Sketching

Design Build (LA Tech)

Dec 2021-May 2022

In 6 months, our class worked with a summer camp for special needs children in Choudrant, LA called Camp Alabama and created the Mosaic Art Cabin. This project required work both in the digital world (CAD, 3-D modeling, postproduction softwares, etc.) and in the physical world (digging for and pouring a foundation, installing a roof, building CMU walls, etc.). Our project was the recipient of 2 awards from AIA of LA: the Award of Merit and the Member’s Choice Award.

Intern (CKC)

May 2022-Aug 2022

Over the summer of 2022, I decided to work for Camps Kahdalea and Chosatonga (CKC) to help design future projects for their campus. I helped design both an arts and crafts cabin and an outdoor gym. When possible, I would have weekly meetings with my client so that his ideas influenced the project. Both buildings should hopefully be made within the next few years.

Louisiana Tech

Jordan Merritt

Bio

Hi, my name is Jordan Merritt. I’m an Eagle Scout from New Orleans, LA, currently studying architecture at the University of Memphis. Outside of being an architecture student, I am also a musician, cook, and outdoors enthusiast.

Growing up in a large Catholic family, I have always had a love for community and for bringing people together. I want to bring this love into every design that I am invloved with, making sure that the people I am designing for always take precedent over whatever I think is best. Because of this, I highly value the relationship between myself and whoever walks through the door so that we can work together to make their dream a reality.

Misc. Experience

While at LA Tech, I was a part of the leadership team for Association of Catholic Tech Students (ACTS) for many years. My first year was spent planning for social events which involved having committee meetings, planning what was going to be happening for our event, getting the food for it, cooking, throwing on the event ourselves, and cleaning up afterwards. My last 2 years there were spent as the Student Music Minister, organizing practices, picking songs for different services, and working with the Pastor.

I also spent the summers from 20202024 working at Camp Chosatonga in Brevard, NC as a counselor (and an intern in 2022). In that time, I teaching boys ages 8-14 a variety of things like how to play guitar as well as how to go backpacking or safely navigate a river. I was also in charge of leading some trips, having to pack out enough food, checking that all the campers were packed, and making sure that we were able to have fun in the wilderness in a safe manner.

Phone:

Email:

LinkedIn:

(504) 940-7461

jormerritt@gmail.com

linkedin.com/in/jordanmerritt18/

Jordan Merritt

Archive (2021)

During my second year of studio, my class was instructed to design an archive for a vehicle in the Milford Proving Grounds in Detroit, MI.

For my site selection, I wanted to embrace the topography and landscape, so I chose one that descended into a small lake. It was the first project I had done with topography playing a major factor.

During this studio, I began to experiment with using computer softwares with my handsketching ability. I would get clean photos of my 3-D model and sketch over them on my iPad before putting in scale figures and such.

Jordan Merritt

Library/Gallery Archive

Gallery

Jordan Merritt

Mosaic Art Cabin (2022)

From December of 2021 to May of 2022, I was part of a design build class at LA Tech that was partnered with a summer camp for special needs children called Camp Alabama in Choudrant, LA. We were tasked with creating an arts and crafts cabin to replace their old one which was nothing more than small pavilion with bug nets. After a few months of iteration and teamwork, we decided on this design, which we called the Mosaic Art Cabin.

The desing process took a lot of iteration and teamwork. During this phase, I started helping with designs for the whole building before specializing a bit more into some furniture like tables. I was also tasked with creating flyers for both the groundbreaking and dedication ceremonies.

The build process took up the majority of the last 3 months. Things needed to be worked on both on site as well as at our shop, so there were times where I would be working on a table mockup in a wood shop before I had to go to the site and help pour concrete.

This project was given 2 awards by the AIA of Louisiana: The Award of Merit and the Members’ Choice Award.

ENO Office (2023)

This project is my most recent one. Our class was given a building envelope with windows, fire escapes, elevators, bathrooms, columns, and beams. We were given only the 2nd and 3rd floors of this building, and we couldn’t touch anything that was existing except for making a floor opening between the two floors.

The assignment was to turn the 2nd and 3rd floors into an office, with the programs listed below, for the company of our choosing. The company I chose was Eagle’s Nest Outfitters (ENO) ENO is an outdoor lounge furniture company that specializes in hammocks. Each product is designed so that it can be brought outside for anything from short vacations to multi-week hiking trips. Their products are of high quality, making sure the customer has a product that can last them a lifetime.

The company values people, nature, and the integration between the two by making products that are easily portable and very relaxing, requiring low effort to use. The products invite people into nature and allow for them to experience a natural sense of peace and comfort.

This design is meant to invite nature into the workplace in the same way that ENO’s products invite people into nature.

Jordan Merritt

Misc.

These images are a collection of drawings I want to share. These graphics allowed me to elaborate on the story of the designs I’ve made. Some of these are also graphics for projects that were either incomplete or changed drastically by the time the final project was due.

The graphics on this spread were for an urban planning project. On this project, I worked with a partner. We worked together on the urban planning aspect of the project, but he did most of the work on the design of the building itself while I focused primarily on the grahpics and presentation. During this project, I really began to pick up skills in Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator.

This shot is of a project I did for a summer camp in North Carolina. This project is an outdoor gym which should hopefully be built within the next few years.

This drawing is a site analysis for a project located in the Edge District in Memphis, TN. The location is the corner of MLK Ave and Orleans St. This project is currently a work-inprogress, so there isn’t much work past this.