Lance Smith

LANCE SMITH ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO environmental outlook dwelling analysis art gallery intervention door design project anton corbijn studio paper studio + factory primal meat house fire house 18 library material explorations console table urban dialysis

ENVIRONMENTAL OUTLOOK SPRING 2009 | ARCH 211 | PROF. GUNDULA PROKSCH | FINAL PROJECT

PERSPECTIVE conditions above + below the water surface

The premise for this project was to create an observation tower that responded to the site conditions; both visually and environmentally. Inspired by the adjacent Richard Serra sculptures and the working waterfront of Seattle, the tower also augments the salmon habitat below the surface of the water by creating a shelter from predators. The structure acts as a dynamic sculpture that responds to the passage of time; the result of an interaction with the salt water and an oxidation process, which alters the metallic exterior skin. Vertical circulation through the tower is defined by a sequence of reward and denial nodes, culminating with a 360 degree view of Puget Sound.

olympic sculpture park seattle, wa four weeks hand + digital

DENIAL REWARD FOLD

DIAGRAMS materiality + habitat + circulation

DWELLING ANALYSIS WINTER 2010 | ARCH 301 | PROF. KEN OSHIMA + WYN BIELASKA

AXONOMETRIC + SECTIONS qualities of light after (top) + before (bottom)

my apartment seattle, wa one week digital

This was an introductory charrette in the beginning week of 301 studio where we measured the “asbuilt� conditions of our housing and then performed an architectural intervention. My project was an investigation into the properties of light and how it can possibly define and project a perception of space to an outside observer. The intervention was informed by an attempt to reconcile the notions of how to architecturally admit light and emit light.

CUT AWAY + ELEVATION insertions of light (top) + existing (bottom)

GALLERY INTERVENTION WINTER 2010 | ARCH 301 | PROF. KEN OSHIMA + WYN BIELASKA

As the studio sequence continued, the scale and scope of our interventions grew larger. This intervention of an art gallery was a continuation of my experiments with light, and inspired by the adjacent James Turrell Sky Space. The speculative intervention passively admits natural day light down below into the gallery circulation spaces by day and becomes an abstract sculpture of light by night. The implication of this study is that a design can have different modes of perception that are dependent on varying conditions, including time of day and atmospheric variables.

PERSPECTIVES day + night exterior performances

henry art gallery seattle, wa one week hand + digital

DOOR DESIGN PROJECT

WINTER 2010 | ARCH 301 | PROF. KEN OSHIMA + WYN BIELASKA

gould hall seattle, wa one week hand + digital

Speculative replacement doors for the Gould Hall coffee shop are realized through inspiration from the process of grinding coffee and the idea of human powered apparatuses. A feasible design for a working door plus a mechanical kit of parts was developed and produced on a one to two scale drawing.

AXONOMETRIC exploded kit of parts of the hand operated door

ANTON CORBIJN STUDIO WINTER 2010 | ARCH 301 | PROF. KEN OSHIMA + WYN BIELASKA | FINAL PROJECT

Anton Corbijn is a well known photographer and director, primarily known for his work with musicians, including Joy Division, U2, Depeche Mode, R.E.M., and Nirvana. The program required galleries, studio spaces, and a living area for the photographer. An empty urban lot was developed in conjunction with three other group members with an intent for our different ideas to inform one another. My project was assigned a vertical constraint and a small foot print, which challenged the traditional notions of designing in plan and forced me to look to the section as the primary mode of design inquiry. The problem then became a question of connecting all the program elements in a vertical manner. A solution was found with an idea for modular galleries that are inserted, along with the studio spaces, into a structural core that is topped off with the living space that provides a dramatic and focused view towards downtown Seattle.

wallingford seattle, wa five weeks digital + hand

DIAGRAM relationship of galleries + structure + circulation + studios

PERSPECTIVE exterior circulation connects galleries to studios

SECTION cut through studios + vertical circulation

ELEVATION east facade showing arrangement of vertical galleries + living space

PERSPECTIVE studio interior connection to galleries

SECTION PERSPECTIVE relationship of gallery modules to studios + site

PAPER STUDIO + FACTORY SPRING 2010 | ARCH 302 | JEN DEE + CHARLIE ANDERSON | FINAL PROJECT

DIAGRAM exploded view of structure + cladding + floor plates

PERSPECTIVE exterior entrance into the factory

PERSPECTIVE the space between studios + factory production areas

PERSPECTIVE interior studio spaces

Hand made paper is a process that cannot be modeled through a linear algorithm and repeated infinitely. It is a deliberate act of creation and re-creation. This is a binary that is inherent to the hand made paper factory; the relationship to the act of creation and the artist’s mind to this re-creation of the mind, manifested into a physical form on the factory floor through the craft of the maker. This becomes a question of how to present this abstract into architectural form. What properties are to be assigned to the various tools in the architect’s kit of parts? The mind is not a physical object, and is abstract in nature; thoughts exist subjectively at this level. Light and air become the architectural medium through which the act of creation will travel, moderating itself through qualities that are without imposing presence, as they are shaped amorphously in the mind. The making of paper is a physical process, grounded in tradition and the act of doing and making.

A solid quality becomes appropriate; heavy and carved by the will of creation. The concept then becomes a question of how to mediate these two forces through interlocking and weaving.

queen anne seattle, wa five weeks digital + hand

CONCEPT + SECTION PERSPECTIVE interactions between architectural elements

SITE + ROOF PLAN aerial view of configuration

TECTONIC MODEL studio spaces + factory production spaces

TECTONIC MODEL highlights transverse section + resolution of concept

PRIMAL MEAT HOUSE FALL 2010 | ARCH 400 | JUDITH SWAIN | FINAL PROJECT

The design of this project is derived from the existing site conditions: a former military housing development.

The housing has been removed, but the foundation slabs remain as monumental relics of the historic past of a decommissioned military base; a scratch in the layer of history. The existing landscape itself is deceptive: the seemingly natural terraces are actually a man made construction. Knowing this, an opportunity for the manipulation and terra-forming of the site arises and a concept of slicing the ground open and lifting it is generated. This abstract ground then hovers over the site and program elements can be inserted in between. As a restaurant specializing in naturally raised and organic meats, the knife edge of the buildings becomes evocative, not only of the initial slicing open of the ground, but of the butcher’s cleaver.

The smoke from the hearth hangs delicately in the air, serving as a reminder of where our food comes from and establishing a relationship between consumer and producer, reinforced through the spatial arrangement of the program.

discovery park seattle, wa six weeks digital + hand

SITE DIAGRAM the ground plane is sliced + lifted with program inserted

live

offices

auditorium

bath

gardens

hearth

dining

greenhouse

greenhouse

banquet

meditate

hearth

pasture

SITE PLAN organization of program elements including buildings + gardens

PERSPECTIVE the concept physically manifests itself through the building

TECTONIC MODEL strips of c-flute give impression of textures

DETAIL SECTION

DETAIL PERSPECTIVE

PERSPECTIVE the dining area as a glass element versus the concrete hearth

PERSPECTIVE banquet hall with a processional entry path

SECTION PERSPECTIVE juxtaposition of smoke house + meditation areas

FIRE HOUSE 18 LIBRARY WINTER 2011 | ARCH 401 | PROF. KATHRYN MERLINO | TERM PROJECT

ELEVATION + PLAN existing building conditions

DIAGRAM load tracing + structural composition

magnuson park seattle, wa eight weeks digital + hand

DIAGRAM structural integration + ruins

As an adaptive re-use of a decommissioned firehouse, a series of analytical investigations into the existing conditions of the site and building had to be performed, which could then in turn inform design decisions later in the project. I became interested in the architectural manifestation of the passage of time, responding to the weathered condition of the firehouse, which had fallen into disrepair. The “ruin� became the conceptual methodology for the architectural intervention into the firehouse, highlighting the relationship between old and new, and opening a dialogue of generation versus decay. The new program--a museum and library--along with new structural elements are carefully integrated into the existing building including seismic upgrades and a natural daylighting system. The existing brick shell is allowed to fall to into ruin, locked in a continual process of revealing the inserted steel box, and simultaneously acting as a canvas for local artists, in the spirit of Gordon Matta-Clark.

SECTION PERSPECTIVE arrangement of library program + central light core

PERSPECTIVE entry view into the building

PERSPECTIVE the central light core provides natural daylight

stacks

museum

conference

computers

stacks

ruins

men

cafe

museum

circulation women

PLANS levels one + two

reading

offices

PERSPECTIVE the brick shell architecturally demonstrates the passage of time

TECTONIC MODEL museum portion of the program

TECTONIC MODEL south entry into the museum + ruin

MATERIAL EXPLORATIONS SPRING 2011 | ARCH 430 | PROF. KIMO GRIGGS | 2-3 WEEKS PER PROJECT concrete project with Karen Tse

BEECH WOOD surface textures + interaction with light

CONCRETE parabolic shell form work generated in rhino and then cut on cnc router

CONSOLE TABLE SPRING 2011 | ARCH 402 | PENNY MAULDEN + LAURA YEATS + STEVE WITHYCOMBE | TERM PROJECT

OVERVIEW western maple slab + drawer with hot rolled angle iron frame

The design intent for this console table was a resolution to reduce and distill the structural requirements to only what is absolutely necessary in an attempt to obtain a sense of formal elegance, with a deep respect for the nature of materials and fabrication techniques. The angle iron frame is TIG welded to create moment joints that form a continuous loop, combining requirements of lateral stability and the transfer of gravity forces into a singular element. A minimal connection between the removable drawer and frame is achieved through a routed channel that accepts the polished ends of a plate steel mounting. The sides of the drawer wrap around mitered joints, secured with wengae splines.

As a commitment to ecological concerns, the wood for this project was procured from salvaged materials. Influenced by the work of George Nakashima, a sensual live edge western maple slab hovers above the steel frame, providing a juxtaposition of texture and material.

DETAIL detachable drawer with wengae mitered splines

URBAN DIALYSIS SUMMER 2011 | COMPETITION | FINAL ENTRY

with Sara Duffy, Min Park, Sally Tsang Ka Yan, and Prof. Gundula Proksch

AERIAL PERSPECTIVE greenhouses are retrofitted to existing buildings

DETAIL detachable DIAGRAM drawer [drawing with by wengae Min Park] mitered systemspline flow diagram accents

The Center for Urban Dialysis re-imagines an empty parking lot as a hub that mass-produces biofuel, crops, and clean water for the surrounding neighborhood, and ultimately, the city. Bioreactors harvest and convert algae into nutrients that are utilized, along with reclaimed waste water from the constructed wetlands, in an aeroponic greenhouse scheme. Greenhouses are retrofitted to neighboring buildings, setting up a networked infrastructure of crop production mechanisms, supplied from the center. A twenty four hour algae and aeroponic growth cycle is promoted by capturing and storing the sun’s energy with the use of parabolic solar collectors; visible light is routed to the algae growing system and infrared radiation is stored in a photo voltaic battery system. The waste water is collected from the greenhouses and sent back through the system to be recycled. The crops produced from the greenhouses are transported across the city, fueled by biofuel engineered on site, creating a network of production and consumption.

discovery park responsible for final renderings seattle,design wa + research roles equal six weeks digital + hand brooklyn navy yard new york city, ny six weeks digital

PERSPECTIVE the constructed landscape provides fresh water for the aeroponics...

...the visible infrastructure circulates and distributes water, nutrients, and fuel

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