portfolio
PROJECTS
OCEAN LANDSBY (AWARDED BEST IN STUDIO)
FLEX-BOX THEATRE
KAW RIVER CULTURE PARK
PAD.DOCKS
AZTEC MOVIE THEATRE
STATEMENT
While being a design student at K-State, the curriculum has taught me to think creatively while respecting modes of structure. I’m currently seeking opportunities that would assist in my education and challenge me to be a better designer through sketching, physical models, forms of presentation, and client relations. This portfolio highlights what I’ve learned so far in college, internships, and personal exploration.
Ocean Landsby
FALL 2024 (DIS STUDY ABROAD) - PROF. MARIE LOUISE HOLST SKOVSHOVED, DANMARK
Located in a historic fishing village that’s 11 kilometers north of Copenhagen, Ocean Landsby re-bridges the old fishing community back to the Baltic Sea. By drawing inspiration from the existing city grid and the traditional fish smokers, this ocean food lab creates a comforting space for the community while highlighting the areas heritage. The all wood structure, minimal interior walls, modular wall panels, and regenerative muscle farm also coincides with Denmark’s architectural goals of creating a sustainable building/community.
City Plan Analysis
Site Context & Background
The city of Skovsholved has existed since at least 1275 and started out as an old fishing village. Through its 750 year development, the city has organically expanded naturally through an unsystematized grid of man made paths and windy roads. Recently, a coastal highway has been constructed along the eastern edge of town, creating a physical divide from the village and the ocean. The western side of the highway maintains the old village-like charm while the right side has been an experimental ground for many local architects, such as Arne Jacobsen. As the fishing industry has died out, the isolated eastern edge has transformed into a water sports playground. Over the years, many quick construction shed structures and large asphalt parking lots have been added around the harbor. With these new additions and new architectural language, locals feel the original heritage of the fishing community has been lost.
Skovshoved Original Village Coastal HW Harbor District
Site Photo
Supporting Ideas
City Structure Map
Key: = buildings = main road = carved path
Project Structure Map
The program and interior layout is a reflection of the city of Skovshoved’s layout. A straight path down to the ocean acts as the main road, with the program “building” blocks lined against it. Man made walking paths run tangent to the road, completing the city grid and creates interior circulation routes.
Traditional
Derived Program Form Traditional Fish Smoke House Derived Program Form
Derived Program Form
The form of the main spaces is derived from the classic shape of the fish smokehouses. The walls start to taper up along the roof line and where they return vertical again, a skylight has been added to illuminate the spaces. The upper part of the walls have been offset to highlight the form from a distance.
Traditional Fish Smoke House
Fish Smoke House
Construction/Sustainability
Ocean Landsby is designed to co-align with Denmark’s push towards more sustainable and reusable architecture. The walls and roof are constructed out of CLT modular panels with wood fiber insulation. These panel line up on the standard metric 1.2 meter grid so they could be reused for another project if the building is no longer needed. The thick wall panels not only convey a home like atmosphere, but also are providing thermal mass retention during the long and cold winter season. On the interior, minimal walls are used to maximize the flexibility of the building’s program. Instead of walls, furniture pieces, open shelving units, and ceiling volumes indicate the different spaces within. By maximizing the efficiencies of wooden construction and creating spaces that can accommodate a range of uses, not just the required program ones, this building can be occupied for many decades to come.
Recessed Shading Device
Batton
3” Vertical Clap Board Siding
6” Shake Shingles Shell Roof
East-West Building Section
FLEX-BOX THEATRE
SPRING 2024 - PROF. CHRIS FEIN
NEW YORK CITY, NY
Flex-Box Theatre aims to redefine the relationship between a performance and the theatre it performs in. Rather than the performance adapting to the theatre stage design, by putting flexible design at the forefront, the theatre is able to adapt to the performance. Flexible components, such as, the stage floor, trap space, entrance doors/walls, and the upper balconies, this New York City theatre space can accommodate any performance due to its’ infinite amount of configurations.
Site Context & Background
This prime corner lot with plaza space wrapping the corner, is located in the heart of the historic meatpacking district in New York City, New York. The area has many historic and new landmarks while maintaining the old brick factory charm. With two of the City’s street grids overlapping at the corner of the site, this opens up an unprecedented amount of open plaza space. Currently, three old factory buildings sit on the seventy-seven by one hundred foot lot, but have been removed for the purpose of this project. Some visual challenges that come with the site include the thirteen story hotel to the north and a larger multi-story billboard to the east. Finally, there are two party wall conditions from both the north side, with the large hotel, and to the east, with a future building that has yet to be built. Overall, this site has great potential for pedestrian connections with little grade change.
Site Photo
GansvoortSt
Supporting Ideas
Spatial Experience Sequence
Facade Plan Detail
x 6” structural concrete column 4” x 12” concrete solar screen
double pane glass panel
x 6” mullion
IN-THE-ROUND
Flexibility Application
Every aspect of the main theatre is designed to be adaptable and flexible to any performance. The theatre floor is panelized on a 4’x4’ modular grid that allows for each section of the floor to be raised or lowered to create any stage/seating configuration imaginable. Beneath the stage level, sits a full theatre foot print trap space that assists in the floor’s movement. The main entry wall into the theatre is also constructed of 4’ wide panel doors to allow for entry and exit from any point within the theatre.
Finally, the balcony level is also panelized on the same grid as the walls and stage floor. The balconies can be arranged and hung in any way to accompany the stage design or optimize seating capacities. When you combine all four of these aspects along with the 4th floor 270 degree tech booth, you get a fully flexible theatre space that can adapt to any performance.
DOUBLE PERFORMANCE
East-West Building Section
AZTEC MOVIE THEATER
SPRING 2024 - PROF. CHRIS FEIN
TOPEKA, KS
The Aztec Theater is modernization of a classic arts theater that merges social gathering with art films. This four theater space also houses a full art gallery, state capital look out deck, and private speak easy. The added program allows directors to showcase key ideas from their film and for the community to converse in unique volumes of space. With socialization at the forefront, visitors are engaged with new events on each level of the project to further re-emphasize the social-visualize relationship.
Site Context & Background
This site sits in the heart of downtown Topeka directly off the main corner of the Capital building. Currently, the lot is occupied by two condemned one story buildings. Once removed, the building will have access to the main alley behind and prime views looking out towards the main government building. The site has a slight slope decline to the north and slight rise to the east. A party wall condition with the building to the east must also be considered in the construction of the design. This movie theater will be a franchise extension of the original Aztec Theater located in Shawnee Mission, Kansas. The original location in Shawnee Mission, still maintains the classic 1950’s architectural elements of the neon marquee, ornamentation pieces, and bright color palette.
Orginal Theater Site Photo
Supporting Elements
Added Program: the speak easy and art gallery makes the concept of a movie theater more social. It also further developments the meaning of the films for the viewers of them.
Bay-Void Overlap: Where the open structural bays overlap, large skylights are placed at the intersection. This draws in more natural light into the spaces, further enhancing the spatial qualities.
Flemish Bond Rotated: The Flemish bond wall on the south side has every 3rd header brick extruded out to add movement to the wall. As the day progresses, the shadows cast down on the wall at different angles.
Brick Structure Patterns: The brick bays are sub divided into small closed bays and large open bays. The Smaller closed bays utilize a vertical stacked bond, and the large open bays feature a Flemish bond pattern.
East-West Building Section
KAW RIVER CULTURAL PARK
FALL 2023 - PROF. BRUCE JOHNSON TOPEKA, KS
The Kaw River Cultural Park aims to stitch the indigenous communities with the Topeka communities via the commonality of the Kansas River. This park creates a hub for all nations to showcase, create, and archive their cultures. Incorporating important ideas of tapestry, and the heightened need for water retention systems, the site is stitched together with built infrastructure to create the landscape into a piece of tapestry itself. A bioswale-cistern system “stitches” the river to the city by having the main complex buildings acting as back stitches to reinforce the connection between the two communities.
Site Context & Background
This sacred piece of 14.5-acre land is located on the edge of the Kansas River, right off I-170. The main build-able area is flat, with vacant warehouses and rubble piles scattered about. An existing ten-foot levee mitigates potential flooding, but the site, and most of the surrounding area, is still in a high flood-risk zone. More flood control and water retention systems will need to be included to have better control of rising waters and future water shortages. Aside from flooding, cultural respect for the original tribes will also need to be in consideration. What was once six indigenous tribes’ land is now being given back after almost fifteen decades. All six tribes have a divine connection with the river/water and creating access to the river will be crucial to deepen that connection.
Flood Map
Site Photo
Concept: Landscape As Tapestry
Traditional Tapestry Piece: No matter what the tapestry is used to make, every piece has flowing elements, repeating patterns, and a central focal point.
Flowing Element/Stitches: The bioswales act as the primary stitches connecting the city, to the site, and then back to the river. The buildings represent the back-stitches that make the tapestry/connection even stronger.
Pattern: The two building clusters form a repeating undulating pattern. The arrow like pattern is similar to traditional patterns used in quilts.
Focal Point: The Powwow circle structure acts as the main focus of the park. A powwow circle is used to perform some of the most important rituals and dances amongst the tribes.
Construction
All buildings have a steel frame structure with a layered, diagrid roof. The steel beam base of the roof pays homage to the traditional star quilts made by tribes, further reinforcing the idea of tapestry on a smaller scale. The facade is also layered with birch wood slats, similar to the birch bark used on indigenous long houses, and is attached to the walls with a thin steel frame. Openings in the wood slats allow light into the main spaces. Beneath the buildings rests the cistern system that is fed by the bioswales that run directly over them. The cisterns are supported with thick concrete columns and walls. Openings into the cisterns are wrapped in glass to allow public viewing into the water storage system.
BIRCH WOOD SLATS
STEEL FRAMING
Office Building Section
PAD.DOCKS
FALL 2023 - PROF. BRUCE JOHNSON EUREKA, KS
Inspired by the rich cattle ranching history of Eureka, Pad.docks merges a new form of housing and community engagement. When breaking up the word paddocks, pad and dock emerge. The pad represents the small-unit style of living. The dock embodies a physical structure to rest and as a place to connect resources. Such resources include an in-house daycare facility, shaded seating area, outdoor kitchen/dining, human-scale chess court and children’s play area. With diverse unit types and unique community resources, the complex is equipped to handle every type of occupant from a young single person to a family of four. This project works to redefine modern living through smaller dwellings and larger communal spaces designed to foster new relationships within the community.
Site Context & Background
Like many small towns, the heart of the community lies off the main street. This double residential lot has a lot to offer with the topography being entirely flat and located a half block off Main Street. This project will also act as a transition space from the main street to the nearby neighborhoods with the complex being mixed-use and targeted at varying age ranges. Commercial spaces within the complex will need to accommodate lacking businesses, such as childcare or dining establishments. The town also has a very neutral color palette with more industrial materials being used. Finally, town leaders are also looking at developing several other vacant lots into housing, so having a design that is not site-specific will be more beneficial for future development.
Site Photo
Town Material Palette
Analysis
Program & Form
The program is split on each side to help tailor more to the occupants in terms of need. The one-bedrooms and twobedrooms are located on the west side near most parking spaces. The west side buildings also have reversed floor plans to maximize the number of units with fewer staircases. On the east side, the two single-family town-homes have mirrored floor plans and are divided by the daycare facility. In terms of building form, the floors are shifted either forward or backward to create covered outdoor spaces within each unit. The corner buildings also have extended upper-floor hang-offs to create down lighting for nighttime safety (see next page).
Construction
The housing units are built with a basic wood-framed structure system and gable roofs. Units are wrapped in vertical wood plank siding, and the roofs are sheathed in black metal. The stairwells are constructed of neutral brick with flat metal roofs. All window trims, door frames, and railings are black to match the roofs. All materials used come from Eureka’s main street and rural barns to help connect new with old. Internally, small windows aligned between the rooms allow for natural ventilation and make the complex more energy-efficient. Each unit has operable interior and exterior windows for better internal temperature control.
Cross-Vent System
Construction Axon
East-West Building Section
