Drew McGurk Portfolio - 2020

DM DREW MCGURK - DESIGN PORTFOLIO

INDEX

BATTERSEA POWER STATION COMPETITION In 2014, Handel Architects was one of ten firms invited to compete in the Malaysia Square Competition. The competition breif called for the design of a bridge and public plaza in the redevelopment of the Battersea Power Station in London. During the competition I worked on a wide variety of tasks, including designing iterations, 3D modeling, rendering, diagraming, perfecting the final form and paneling of the bridge design. Our design was shortlisted in the top three, although Bjarke Ingles Group won the competition.

SITE

CONCEPT DIAGRAMS

CONVERGENCE OF PATHS

PATH UNDER ICON

PATH THROUGH ICON

DESIGN ITERATIONS

BIRDS EYE RENDER

SECTION

PLAZA VIEW

RENDER

INDELIBLE PATTERNS / EXHIBIT COLUMBUS Indelible Pattern(s) aspires to communicate with the history of Columbus while leveraging contemporary techniques, technologies, and processes. Regulating lines, forms, and landscape in the immediate context inscribe the geometry with a sense of place, while other organizational rules evade, obfuscate, or delay direct comprehension. Voids frame iconic towers beyond, while pattern and geometry subtly allude to other unforgettable objects.

The project is constructed of CNC-milled engineered wood volumes and deck, and CNC-milled engineered wood “swarm” suspended from steel structure. Students and instructors collaborated on a direct design process for Indelible Pattern(s), creating a digital model that incorporated fine-grained construction details, not merely a concept to be interpreted by fabricators. The team translated this digital model into cut files for CNC machines to mill the many unique layers that form the “swarm” of suspended elements and the surrounding volumes. The layered structure allows the intricately patterned volumes to appear alternately solid and transparent as viewers move around the installation to appreciate how the piece connects with Columbus and its environment. The main material is AdvanTech, a stable, weather-resistant engineered wood used for subflooring. The manufacturer’s stamps create serendipitous counterpoint with the complex patterns the team etched onto the panels, inspired by razzle-dazzle camouflage once painted on battleships. This was a team project. Throughout 2017 I worked on many aspects of this project from the initial design concepts, 3D Modeling, parametric scripting of the hanging “swarm”, exploring options for fabrication detail, prefabrication, all the way to assembly and deinstallation on site.

SUSPENDED SWARM

PROCESS RENDERS

DISRUPTIVE CONTINUITY Disruptive Continuity is an abstract exercise that was done at the beginning of my Spring semester with Assistant Professor Marty Summers. Using only 3 elements (Object, Surface, and Vector), I created a composition where individual elements blend in and out of one another, creating moments where you can longer tell exactly where one elements begins and another begins.

camouflage vectors

primary vectors

object geometry

original surfaces

surface within site boundary

clustered and sliced objects

final composite

DIAGRAMS

TOP ELEVATION

BOTTOM ELEVATION

TOP ELEVATION

BOTTOM ELEVATION

FRONT ELEVATION

BACK ELEVATION

FRONT ELEVATION

BACK ELEVATION

PERSPECTIVE_1

PERSPECTIVE_1

PERSPECTIVE_2

PERSPECTIVE_2

PERSPECTIVE_3

PERSPECTIVE_3

PERSPECTIVE_4

PERSPECTIVE_4

CHAPEL IN THE WOODS Chapel in the Woods is a solo project I completed during the summer of 2012 while studying abroad in the Netherlands with professor Seibe Bakker. We took part in an internal concrete design competition. This project tied for 1st place.

This competition seeked to investigate the inherent characteristics of concrete in relation to energy. Energy signifies a powerful presence in an architectural sense. It is how buildings activate and facilitate their users.

Pursuing the idea of coexisting experiences, I selected to focus on two distinct spatial experiences: Monolithic and Tranquility. To harmoniously achieve both qualities in my design, I chose a somewhat hybrid program: a chapel garden. Through the formal and material symbiosis of concrete and plant life, the two materials experiential qualities contrast, combine, and offset one another, allowing the emergence of a spatial experience unique from those of either concrete or plant life.

In certain moments, concrete and and nature dramatically contrast one another, while in other moments, concrete starts to playfully imitate nature. The result is a chapel with both a serious space for meditation and a playful “concrete forest” for guests to explore.

1st Floor - Chapel

2nd Floor - Garden

Composite Column Detail Highly Porous Concrete allowing for plant growth Steel Support Plant Growth

DRAWINGS

2nd Floor Plan Chapel Garden

Section Analysis

Chapel Garden Composite Columns Sky Light

Staircase 1st Floor Plan Chapel

Light

Reflecting Pool

Entrance Ramp Chapel Space

PLAN AND SECTION

MATERIAL EXPERIMENTS

CHAPEL ENTRANCE

CHAPEL INTERIOR

CONCRETE GARDEN

FUZZY NARRATIVES “Fuzzy Narratives” is a solo studio project completed during my first semester of graduate school (the fall semester of 2016) with professor Jason Scroggin. The project started with a series of abstract collage exercises, which then instpired a series of material studies. These exercises explored formal relationships which were then translated into architecture.

I created a series of collages exploring concepts of multiplication and expansion. This was then translated into a series of material experiments where I used both soft and hard materials interacting with one another. This concept model, and the emergent material relationships expressed within, then went on to directly inform the architecture. Specifically, large communal spaces meant to bring neighbors together are inserted into an otherwise normative residential tower, causing bowing and expansion to the tower’s form.

These studies led into the design of a massive, mixed use tower in Manhattan. The program includes hotel, residential, residential communal spaces, and various amenities.

COLLAGES

COLLAGES

COMPOSITE COLLAGE

COMPOSITE COLLAGE

MATERIAL EXPERIMENTS

CONCEPT DIAGRAM

FIGURE GROUND STUDIES

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

AXON

AXON

AXON

AXON

AXON

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

MODEL

AXON

AXON

AXON

AXON

AXON

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

PLAN

MASSING STUDIES

SITE PLAN DOWN

UP

UP DOWN

HOTEL-STANDARD 375 S.F.

HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

HOTEL-STUDIO 450 S.F.

HOTEL-SUITE 900 S.F. HOTEL-STUDIO 450 S.F.

UP

DOWN

DOWN

UP

HOTEL-SUITE 900 S.F. DOWN

HOTEL-STANDARD 375 S.F.

UP

UP

DOWN

HOTEL-STANDARD 375 S.F.

HOTEL-STUDIO 450 S.F.

HOTEL-ECONOMY 250 S.F.

HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

HOTEL-ECONOMY 275 S.F.

HOTEL-STUDIO 500 S.F.

HOUSE KEEPING

HOTEL-STUDIO 450 S.F.

HOTEL-ECONOMY 275 S.F. HOTEL-STANDARD 363 S.F.

TYP. HOTEL FLOOR B

HOUSE KEEPING

TYP. HOTEL FLOOR A

DOWN DOWN

UP

UP

UP UP

DOWN

DOWN

COMMUNAL SPACE

NON-TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL FLOOR

TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL FLOOR

SECTION

DRAWINGS

ELEVATIONS

MECH

OUTDOOR EVENT SPACE

RESIDENTIAL

UP

UP DOWN

DOWN

RESIDENTIAL

MAIN ENTRANCE

RESIDENTIAL

OCCUPIABLE GREENSPACE ENTRANCE

MECH. HOTEL HOTEL

MAIN ROAD

UNDERGROUND PARKING ENTRANCE

HOTEL MECH. CLUB HOTEL AMENITY

OCCUPIABLE GREENSPACE ENTRANCE

LOBBY/LOUNGE

LANDSCAPE + EXPLODED AXON

COMMUNAL SPACE

RIVER VIEW

THE (FOUNTAIN) BENCH In 2014, while at Handel Architects, I designed the bench/fountain feature for the main entrance of a high end Courtyard Marriot in Queens, New York City. The bench is constructed of thick black granite attached to a custom steel SST substructure using a Z-Clip system.

PHYSICAL MODEL

COMPLETED BENCH

PERSONAL ART

222 EAST 43TH 222 East 43rd street is a project I worked on while at Handel Architects during 2014-2015. It is a large scale residential building with both market rate and affordable units. The project began when Handel Architects won a competition by BLDG Management to design a residential tower.

Handel Architects was responsible for the design of the buildings organization, massing, and envelope, while SLCE Architects were commisioined for the interiors and to be the architect of record.

While working on the project, I worked on 3D Modeling, rendering, diagrams, and various design options for the building’s massing, facade, balconies, canopy, and lobby. The project is currently under construction.

RESIDENTIAL PLANS

0

508 SF

0

452 SF

2

1,112 SF

0

455 SF

1

577 SF

1

645 SF

0

499 SF

0

508 SF

1

635 SF

1

591 SF

0

461 SF

931 SF

J2

0

420 SF

TIER A

0BR

HPD 0BR

1BR

HPD 1BR

2BR

HPD 2BR

3BR

222 EAST 44TH STREET

|

BLDG MANAGEMENT

TYPICAL RESIDENTIAL FLOOR

JR 2

HPD JR 2

JR 3

HPD JR 3

HANDEL ARCHITECTS

LLP

COURTYARD CONCEPT RENDERS

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO

CONSTRUCTION PHOTO

NOHO PUBLIC LIBRARY NoHo Public Library is a project I completed in my 3rd year of Under Grad (2011) at the University of Kentucky under professor Akari Takebayashi. The project, a small public library in NoHo, was guided by a series of early abstract material experiments, which then informed the conceptual framework of the architecture.

In the material based experiments, I explored distorting and twisting linear systems to create openings and new patterns. These concepts went on to inform both the facade and the interior of the library.

MTERIAL EXPERIMENTS

MATERIAL EXPERIMENTS

SITE

Private Space Semi-Private Space Public Space Site

IMMEDIATE CONTEXT

BIRDS EYE / CONCEPT LINES

ELEVATION

PLANS

SECTION

HUMANE HYPER-TOWER [THESIS] This project explores the present residential conditions and issues of afffordable housing in Kentucky, proposes new methods of implementing social housing which better addresses the needs of the city, and untimately leverages research to suggest a more ambitious architectural solution. The ultimate goal of this project is to propose a new model for affordable housing. One which is based on research, sucessful emerging precedents, sustainability, and the underlying belief that social housing should be dignified architecture. To understand the goals of this project, it is critical to distinguish the core idea of “Social Housing” as an obligatory element to any society which humanely cares for its citizens who would not otherwise have access to safe housing It is also critical to differentiate social housing from emergency shelter. Housing is much more than shelter from the elements. In addition to providing shelter, housing needs to make it’s inhabitants feel secure, calm, and ultimately it must bestow upon its habitants a sense of dignity. Buildings which are merely an exercise in efficiency and value-engineering cannot satisfy these mandates. When you look at the affordable housing complexes popping up in cities like Los Angeles and New York City which combine both market rate and affordable units into one development, it becomes clear that the developers have major financial incentives to make certain the affordable units are of a high quality. This non-segregated approach, more so than any other approach, results in well executed, dignified affordable housing.

Additionally, history has repeatedly proven that isolated pockets of poorly designed and cheaply constructed Section 8 housing are a terrible answer to society’s need for more social housing. In order for it to succeed, social housing must be well integrated into its community. This means good access to basic needs such as public transportation, reasonable proximity to good employment opportunities, grocery stores, retail which fits their means, and proximity to public parks. Without thoughtful, well researched integration, social housing fails.

Another important factor to be considered is the unsustainablilty of suburban sprawl. As a society, we simply cannot continue to demolish agricultural tracts of land and destroy natural habitats to lay out more suburbs.

The costs and carbon emmisions of constructing suburban sprawl are massive, and encompass not only constructing the residential buildings themselves, but also all of the required infrastructure and utilities.

Sprawl is not a sustainable answer to our nations housing crisis. Density is the answer.

Accordingly, I am proposing a new affordable housing typology- an thoughtfully integrated, massive mixed-use project which integrates market rate housing with a percent (50%) of affordable housing which matches the needs of society, as well as various other programs (hotel, office, retail) to both suppliment financial viability as well as meet the market demands of the city. In short, I am proposing a hyper-tower as a vehicle for much needed social and urban change.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING OVERVIEW According to the U.S. depeartment of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Housing is considered affordable if a household spends no more than 30% of its total income on rent or housing payments. As such, “Rent Burdened” refers to a household which has to spend over 30% of its income on rent. Families who are paying 50% or more of their income on rent are considered to be “Severely Rent Burdoned”. Families who are rent burdoned find themselves facing extremely limited social mobility, in addition to making it more difficult to afford other basic necessities, college tuition, medical emergencies, saving for retirement. Families who find themselves ‘Severely Rent Burdened’ are often times one injury, car-breakdown, or illness away from facing a real risk of becoming homeless.

The dominant form of affordable/subsidized housing in Kentucky is poorly designed Section 8 Housing. This project looks to more sophisticated models of social housing in cities like New York City and Los Angeles where the city, which usually does not have the neccessary funding to construct the amounts of affordable housing it needs, barters with private developers in order to have them include a set percentage of affordable housing units in their residential developments. These units are constructed by the developer, while the city controls the rent on the units. The developer still collects the rent on these units, however the rent is generally so low they are taking a financial loss on the affordable units. However, in exchange for constructing the affordable units, the city will grant the developer huge financial incentives in the form of very generous additional Floor Area Ratio (FAR) for their project and massive tax abatements on the property taxes of their development.

These Affordable Housing units are far nicer than the decrepid Section 8 housing from the Robert Moses era. One primary reason for this is that when the affordable housing units are attached to the market-rate units, developers are forced to construct well designed affordable units or their poor quality would hurt the overall property value of the development. This dynamic has led to a large surge of some of the best social housing the United States has ever seen. Currently, no such model for the implementation of social housing exists in Kentucky. Therefore, my proposal is based around a hypothetical implementation of a similar system of bartering with developers and allowing for the violation of certain building codes in order to meet the better meet the affordable housing needs of Kentucky. Specifically, I am proposing a massive mixed use project which directly addresses the 45% of Louisville’s population which is rent burdoned by proposing that 48% of the residential units be Affordable Housing.

VThe context for this project looks to REX’s proposed 2008 Museum Plaza proposal, which is located at the intersection of 7th street and Washington Street in Louisville. When you analyse the intense financial and cultural segregation of Louisville, the segregation divide is generally accepted to be along 9th street. This places the site of the building almost exactly along the divide, providing the perfect site. Additionally, because Museum Plaza is the closest Kentucky has ever come to constructing a hyper-tower, I looked to its programmatic breakdown to understand what program spread would feasibly work in Kentucky. This research served as a launching pad for how to use a hyper-tower as a vehicle for social change.

KENTUCKY ANALYSIS

United States

Homeless people (2016) - 550,000 United States Population - 326,766,748 Total cost-burdoned renters in the United States - 48% Moderately cost-burdoned renters in the United States - 39.2% Severely cost-burdoned renters in the United States - 8.8% Kentucky Population - 4,339,367 Total cost-burdoned renters in Kentucky - 45.2% Moderately cost-burdoned renters in Kentucky - 22.8% Severely cost-burdoned renters in Kentucky - 22.4%

Kentucky

Louisville Population - 1,269,702 Total cost-burdoned renters in Louisville - 44.8% Moderately cost-burdoned renters in Louisville - 24.3% Severely cost-burdoned renters in Louisville - 20.5%

Louisville

NON RENT-BURDONED

MODERATELY RENT-BURDONED

SEVERELY RENT-BURDONED

PRECEDENT - MUSEUM PLAZA This project looks to REX’s Museum Plaza proposal as a precedent, as this proposal is the closest this part of the country has come to building a hyper-tower. I looked extensively at the program distribution of Museum Plaza, and altered it to better accomdate my research.

PRECEDENT - MUSEUM PLAZA BY REX

MUSEUM PLAZA

Museum Plaza

Cultural: (4.3%) Art Museum - 40,000 sq ft (2.6%) University of Louisville’s MFA program - 25,000 sq ft (1.6%) Residential: (53.3%) 99 luxury Condos + 117 lofts - ~800,000 sq ft Hotel: (13.3%) 250 Room Westin Hotel - ~200,000 sq ft Civic: (9.3%) Public Plaza - 140,000 sq ft Retail: (1.3%) Restaurants and Shops - 20,000 sq ft Office: (18%) Offices - 270,400 sq f

NEW PROPOSAL Cultural: (4%) Art Museum - 75,000 sq ft Library - 50,000 sq ft Residential: (53.3%) Mix of Affordable and Market Rate Housing - 1,000,000 sq ft Hotel: (10.6%) Hotel - 200,000 sq ft Civic: (8.6%) Public Plaza - 150,000 sq ft Retail: (10.6%) Grocery store and Shops - 200,000 sq ft Office: (13.3%) Offices - 250,000 sq ft

New Proposal

RESIDENTIAL OFFICE HOTEL CIVIC CULTURAL RETAIL

PROGRAM ANALYSIS

RESIDENTIAL AFFORDABLE OFFICE HOTEL RETAIL CULTURAL

PROGRAM ARRANGEMENT STUDIES

FINAL MASSING

PROGRAM

SECTION

AXON

UNROLLED ABSTRACT

SKYLINE RENDER

WESTERN WALL PRAYER SPACE Handel Architects was asked to assist the Israeli Government, the Reform and Conservative movements of Judaism, as well as Women of the Wall, in the creation of an egalitarian prayer space adjacent to the Western Wall Plaza (which is under de-facto Jewish Orthodox control). The design objective was to create a civic space that would give equal stature to these religious groups that have been marginalized in modern Israeli society.

The site of this new prayer space would be in the present day archaeological park, in between the Davidson Center, The Western Wall and Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The historic and sensitive location posed a number of design challenges, including the integration of significant existing archeological structures, as well as topographical and circulatory obstacles as a result of the significant changes in elevation across multiple sites. The proposed design suggested a series of large and overlapping ‘floating’ terraces that negotiated the multiple grades and minimized impact on the historic and exposed elements of the site. The lightweight and visually porous design stands in contrast to the heavy and monolithic nature of the surroundings, and proposes shade structures, vegetation and human-scaled spaces.

While working on the project in late 2014, I assisted with 3D modeling, rendering, post production, and diagrams. The project was selected to be featured at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale.

WESTERN WALL

EXISTING CONDITION

NEW PRAYER SPACE

EXISTING CONDITION

NEW PRAYER SPACE

NEW PRAYER SPACE

MODEL