Kevin Johnson Academic Portfolio (2008)

C O N T E N T S a.

Thames River Amphibious Housing

b.

CO_Trans Railway Station:

01-08

09-14

Vertical Design Studio, Aquatic Issues

a.

Advanced Design Studio, European Travel

b.

c.

15-20

Propel House:

Design Studio 4, SoMo

d.

Florence School Of Dance:

e.

Transition Space:

21-26

27-30

Design Studio 3, Italy

Trailer Wrap:

g.

Amplislat:

35-38

d.

Design Studio 2, Urban Interlace

f.

31-34

c.

e.

Design/Build

f.

Green Tech

g.

LONDON, UK

THAMES RIVER, CHELSEA

N

SITE PLANS:

KEVIN JOHNSON

SHOWING FULL RANGE OF MOTION

01

SITE SECTION

[THAMES RIVER HOUSING]

COURSE PROFESSOR SEMESTER

Vertical Design Studio Ulrich Dangel FALL 2007

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

AMPHIBIOUS HOUSING:

The existing houseboat typology along the Thames River in Chelsea, London is problematic - at low tide the homes rest unevenly on a muddy river bank and require a great deal of maintenance to live comfortably. To amend this existing condition, a new amphibious housing typology is able to remain level by responding to the constant tidal changes.

The new infrastructure attaches to the river embankment wall and incorporates a boardwalk, a community market, two floating soccer fields, and the infrastructure hinges vertically as well, accessing 38 modular amphibious housing units. The proposal offers an affordable solution to the existing housing by utilizing modular units that can exist on land and water.

CONCEPT: 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

11 13

09

Vertical and horizontal hinging enables the housing infrastructure to adjust to tides. The kelp-like kinetic movement of the infrastructure is dictated by the conditions of the river, creating different scenic views, neighbors, social overlap, lighting, water reflection, and access points for boat transportation.

CHEYNE WALK WORLD’S END APARTMENTS ATTACHED, LOWERED WALKING PLATFORM BUILT-IN PARK STRIP PARK BATTERSEA BRIDGE FLOATING BOARDWALK HINGED RAMP PLATFORM FLOATING SOCCER FIELDS FLOATING COMMUNITY PLATFORMS GRASS WATER TAXI STOPS FLOATING HINGED DOCK STRUCTURE 1,200 S.F. UNITS 1,050 S.F. UNITS 900 S.F. UNITS

02

10 14

08

03

01 04

POWER + INTEGRATION:

Each unit is a lightweight modular chassis with occupiable green roofs, which attaches to floating, removable, and drainable utilities barges. This community generates its own energy using the new technology of tidal power; a form of hydropower that converts the energy of tides into electricity.

14 08 12

07

05

06

EXISTING HOUSEBOAT SITE

03

KEVIN JOHNSON

KEVIN JOHNSON

CROSS SECTION

SITE SECTION [LOW TIDE]

05 SITE SECTION [HIGH TIDE]

1 BED UNIT

3 BED UNIT

900 S.F.

1ST FLOOR

2ND FLOOR

1,200 S.F.

1ST FLOOR

2ND FLOOR

07

KEVIN JOHNSON

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

KEVIN JOHNSON

EVERGREEN, CO

09

I-70 + RAINBOW HILL

[CO_TRANS RAILWAY STATION]

COURSE

EU Advanced Design Studio

PROFESSOR SEMESTER

Larry Doll FALL 2008

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS

EUROPE TRAVEL GATHERINGS:

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

Many of Europe’s mass transit stations are “zones of interaction” between cultures and social classes. Public transit is one of the few instances of human interaction where an entire regional population can be experienced in one place; consequently, transit stations are excellent to engage public awareness of local issues.

PRECAST CONCRETE BOTTOM FRAME MECHANICAL + ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS RECYCLED WOOD SYSTEMS SCREEN PRECAST CONCRETE FLOOR SYSTEM PRECAST CONCRETE COLUMNS PRE-FABRICATED STEEL FRAME RECYCLED WOOD FRAMED ROOF SHELL PRE-FABRICATED SYSTEMS SCREEN FRAME RECYCLED WOOD LOUVERS CURTAIN WALL

03 08 01 02

09

LOCAL APPLICATION:

07

06

10 04 05

The confining geographic location of Colorado Interstate 70 within the valley of the Rocky Mountains restricts the possibility of expanding the width of the road in many areas. However, in direct similarity to the systems used in mountainous regions of Europe, such as in Switzerland, there is area for a train infrastructure to be implemented. A transit corridor from Denver to Grand Junction would drastically eliminate the amount of pollutants expelled into the fragile ecosystem along I-70, and the train would provide a safe and efficient means of transit for workers to commute to Denver, as well as transit into the many tourist mountain attractions.

CONCEPT:

A modular, prefabricated, steel structure that can be easily shipped, installed, and modified allows the form of each station to vary given its site’s geographic and topographic conditions.

Re-using local discarded wood, components of the station are constructed using lumber from trees that are being removed from this region due to infestations of pine beetles - an epidemic that kills off thousands of trees in Colorado every year.

POWER + INTEGRATION:

Proposed stations are located near areas of acid mine drainage or heavy metal ground water leeching sites which are result of the many abandoned mines and mining sites throughout Colorado. Each station serves as a zone of local treatments and filters to attempt to cut down the amount of heavy metal contaminates that enter the Clear Creek, killing fish and plant life, and creating problems for Denver’s drinking water supply.

The mechanical process of filtering the groundwater would also generate energy to help power each station. The proposal is aimed to reduce the overall pollutants from vehicles and act as a regional catalyst for environmental awareness and action in the state of Colorado.

SITE PLAN RAINBOW HILL ROAD

BUS PARKING CAR PARKING GRASS WAITING AREA

OBSERVATION DECK INTERSTATE 70 EXISTING DIRT PATH

N

PLAN

20,000 S.F. LOADING DOCK RAMP

STORAGE/MECH. RESTROOM [MEN’S] RESTROOM [WOMEN’S] OFFICE STORAGE OFFICE SPACE TICKETING AREA ENTRANCE TERMINAL

KEVIN JOHNSON

OUTDOOR DECK/WAITING

TRAIN THRESHOLD ENTRANCE RAMP LOADING DOCK

TRAIN TRACKS

11

B. DETAIL STUDY 2 A. DETAIL STUDY 1

A

B

KEVIN JOHNSON

A. TERMINAL INTERIOR

13

A

B

B. EXTERIOR DECK

SECTION A

BOULDER, CO

BROADWAY + ALPINE

28TH

KEVIN JOHNSON

BROADWAY

15

[PROPEL HOUSE]

COURSE

Design Studio 4

PROFESSOR SEMESTER

Julee Herdt Spring 2006

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

SOMO:

Solar Modular housing utilizes high sun exposure inherent in the Colorado region to create sustainable solar powered living spaces. Modular, prefabricated components are implemented to cut cost and boost efficiency. The project’s specific site is located in a floodplain valley in Boulder, CO.

CONCEPT:

A central hub is created from a customizable pre-engineered steel-framed building envelope designed to engage its specific site. The central hub allows for freedom of placement and arrangement of any number of lightweight wood prefab modular boxes to serve as secondary additions, creating private zones. The boxes become positioned to propel the house and user into their surrounding environment based on existing site conditions. This concept can be implemented in any housing project.

POWER+INTEGRATION:

The Propel House is powered, heated, and cooled by building integrated PV’s and ventilated double facade glazing systems.

The house hovers above the ground on a concrete pier foundation system safe from floodwater, eliminating the cost of site grading and providing air flow for natural summer cooling.

VENTILATED DOUBLE FACADE

N

PLAN

2,500 S.F. 01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

CAR PORT ENTRANCE LIVING KITCHEN LOFT BATH OUTDOOR SHOWER BED [DIVIDABLE] MASTER BED OFFICE TECH ROOM STUDIO SPACE PIER TO CREEK

13 11

04

07 05

06

08

B 09

06 01

12 10

03

KEVIN JOHNSON

02

A

17 SECTION A

VENTILATED DOUBLE FACADE

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

SECTION 1/4”=1’

1 2 3 4

5

6

7

8 8 9

SECTION B

BUILDING INTEGRATED PV’S GUTTER VENTILATION FAN TOP VENT SHADING DEVICE OUTER FACADE GLAZING INNER FACADE GLAZING SLIDING WINDOW BOTTOM VENT

Physical Model

KEVIN JOHNSON

1/4”=1’-0”

19

FLORENCE, ITALY

PIAZZA BRUNELLESCHI IL DUOMO

KEVIN JOHNSON

ARNO RIVER

21

[FLORENCE SCHOOL OF DANCE] N

PLANS

13,000 S.F.

3RD FLOOR

COURSE 15

Italy Design Studio 3

PROFESSOR

Janet McCarthy

15 12

14

SEMESTER

15

Spring 2005

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

DANCE STUDIO:

A

The Florence School of Dance is located in Piazza Brunelleschi, 2 streets northeast of Brunelleschi’s Duomo. The new school of dance is located adjacent to an existing art school inside the piazza, creating opportunity for both schools to combine curricula and facilities, providing students with more options.

Since the piazza is originally used as a large parking lot, the new design redirects automobile movement underground through the site, creating a more pedestrian friendly campus.

An underground parking lot is located beneath the building with easy access to the site and building entry.

13

B

CONCEPT:

The intersections of zones within the piazza creates a connection of circulation that overlaps to unite interior and exterior space. Precise direction of movement formulates a unique dynamic between people both inside and outside the architecture, creating a spatial and programmatic movement by blurring the boundaries of public and private space through horizontal and vertical displacement.

2ND FLOOR

12

FORM:

The building form is conceived by engaging space below and above ground through the skewing of structure and mass.

A predominate wall and circulation corridor are lifted out of the ground, pushing back a secondary shell that defines the private zones of the building. The interaction between form, structure, and site direct natural light below the ground plane to blur the orientation of verticality.

11

3RD FLOOR 09 01

02

05 03

08

03 06

04 10

07

09 06

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

ENTRANCE LOBBY TO BATHROOMS WAITING OFFICE SPACE LOUNGE MAIN PERFORMANCE SPACE MAIN CIRCULATION CORRIDOR ELEVATOR STORAGE/MECHANICAL WALKWAY THROUGH BUILDING CLASSROOM/DANCE SPACE BALCONY CLASSROOM ROOF

A. VIEW FROM ENTRANCE B. CLASSROOM/DANCE STUDIO C. WALKWAY THROUGH BUILDING

B

KEVIN JOHNSON

C

23

SECTION A

SECTION B

A

25

KEVIN JOHNSON

VIEW FROM APARTMENTS

SOUTH CORNER

DENVER, CO

I-25 + BROADWAY

KEVIN JOHNSON

N

27

DOWNTOWN DENVER

BR OA DW AY

I-25

[TRANSITION SPACE]

COURSE

Design Studio 2

PROFESSOR SEMESTER

Ben Nathan Fall 2004

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

TRANSIT + RECREATION:

The Transition Space is a regional transportation hub and recreation facility that combines retail, daycare, community center features, and an outdoor park. It is a place for the working class and local students to come before, in between, or after their daily commute. Access of either major facility is appropriate from either side of the highway. The park and recreation center double as an urban rock climbing center, utilizing the verticality of the structure for indoor and outdoor climbing walls.

CONCEPT:

Urban interlace occurs within the intertwining of program and infrastructure in conditions of high compression. Tectonic planes shift to fold over a highway, forming a bridge of two major zones in a high density area of transportation and intersection. A large covered shading structure is peeled away from a tectonic plane along the path of the highway creating a retail and waiting area for transit riders. Urban dead space is utilized horizontally and vertically, both above and below the highway through a variety of programs.

EXPANSION:

Future expansion is anticipated and made possible by building against the peeled tectonic wall. A temporary parking structure can be converted and re-designed into a 6 or 7 story mixed use retail/residential apartment complex with a rooftop park.

SECTION A BROADWAY I-25

SITE PLAN

N

100,000 S.F.

IL LIGHT RA

PARKING STRUCTURE/ FUTURE EXPANSION

OUTDOOR PARK NG WALL CLIMBI

KEVIN JOHNSON

29

RETAIL

RECREATION

TRANSPORTATION TERMINAL

BUS STOPS

IL STOP LIGHT RA

1ST FLOOR

A

PARKING

SECTION B

B

3RD FLOOR [RECREATION]

NG BI IM CL

LL WA

TRANSIT: 2ND FLOOR [RECREATION]

The Transition Space utilizes the high traffic mass transit modes of its site at the intersection of Interstate 25 and Broadway Avenue in Denver, Colorado.

Existing automobile traffic, bus transit, and light rail come together into a major regional transportation node for the surrounding community, business districts, and industrial zones.

BOULDER, CO

FOLSOM + MAPLETON

28TH

KEVIN JOHNSON

BROADWAY

31

[TRAILER WRAP] W W W . T R A I L E R

ORIGINAL TRAILER

COURSES

1

W R A P . N E T

Methods of Design/Build Design/Build Independent Study Design/Build Internship

PROFESSOR SEMESTERS

Michael Hughes Summer Fall Spring Summer

2005 2005 2006 2006

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

2

Re-FABRICATE:

TRAILER WRAP explores the potential for providing affordable housing through the adaptive reuse and recycling of existing mobile homes. Addressing issues of sustainability and energy efficiency, this project provides exciting, small scale, and affordable architecture with a social and environmental conscience.

Kit of Parts:

3

4

Through the design of a simple kit of parts, Trailer Wrap redefines the concept of the mobile home. The kit is affordable, easy to assemble for a small group of people, and includes all the materials needed to erect a new structure on an existing mobile home chassis. Depending on climate, the structure can be infilled with a variety of locally available insulating materials such as straw bale, recycled paper, thatch, etc. The resulting re-fabricated home provides more interior space, excellent energy efficiency, and improved aesthetics.

1.

2.

3.

4.

RECEIVE KIT DISASSEMBLE OLD TRAILER UNLOAD/PREPARE PARTS + MATERIALS INSTALL NEW STRUCTURE ONTO CHASSIS

N

PLAN

500 S.F.

DESIGN/BUILD:

The Trailer Wrap project was a voluntary collaborative design/build effort of several dedicated architecture students in the School of Architecture and Planning. I was involved thoroughly with the project from its initial start in the summer of 2005 until the final phases of construction during the end of the summer of 2006.

MY CONTRIBUTION:

My Role in the Trailer Wrap project consisted of the original conceptualization, design, and development of the structure and roof designs. That is, the balancing of an elegant wing shaped roof on a centrally located row of columns - a primary form that visually hovers above the rest of the structure. The roof supports the floor and exterior wall systems by a series of tie rods in tension that connect from the roof down to the outer rim of the floor. This suspends the walls above ground, serving as a solution for the strict building codes of Boulder.

KEVIN JOHNSON

All presentation renderings were composed by myself, as well as competition layouts - such as the 2005 Arquitectum Global Houses and 2005 Bienal Miami Possible Futures competitions. I also participated intensively with the construction of the project, from the demolition phase through the finishing phase. The structural engineering was undertaken by my boss at the time, David Transue.

33

01

02

03

04

05

06

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

DEMOLITION EXISTING CHASSIS SITE WORK STEEL COLUMNS OUTRIGGERS, FLOOR FRAMING STEEL ROOF BEAM PULLY SYSTEM WELDING BRACKET REMOVAL STEEL ROOF BEAMS, SUBFLOOR STEEL ROOF CROSS BEAMS, WOOD FRAMING ROOF FRAMING + SHEATHING, WALL FRAMING WALL SHEATHING, RECYCLED HARDWOOD FLOOR WINDOWS + CLERESTORY WINDOWS CEDAR WOOD SLAT DETAIL FINISHED ENTRY/LIVING FINISHED HOME

13

14

15

07

08

09

10

11

12

35

KEVIN JOHNSON

[AMPLISLAT]

COURSE

Green Technology

PROFESSOR SEMESTER

Julee Herdt Fall 2005

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO

GREEN TECHNOLOGY:

Find discarded or abandoned objects of little or no cost with potential for new life. Conceptualize a new and unusual form to reconstruct the objects into, creating a new recycled architectural object for personal use.

CONCEPT:

Redefining the traditional concept of a guitar amp, Amplislat is a warm sounding teak wood architectural guitar amplifier speaker cabinet that naturally reverberates, producing more character in resonance than traditional MDF. Wood blind slats (3 blind laminations per slat) provide directional projection of the sound waves at an upward curving angle and dampen the natural highs and nuances that the speakers produce.

OBJECTS:

2 12� speakers and electronics from an abandoned guitar amplifier speaker cabinet, 2 discarded teak wood veneer coffee table leafs, 2 sets of old discarded wood blinds, and 1 birch wood panel.

KEVIN JOHNSON

S l a t t e d

37

G u i t a r

A m p l i f i e r

S p e a k e r

C a b i n e t