WORK SAMPLES
MICHAEL HOTHAN
ABOUT
A recent graduate from the B.Arch program at Rhode Island School of Design, I am interested in generative design through the exploration of light projection and other natural phenomena using hand drawing, modeling, material exploration, and 3-D visualization as a means to achieve this. As a result, I assume that the true meaning of a project lies in its generated poetry during its initial design process.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
CONTENTS
PERFORMANCE SPACE
BOAT HOUSE
FLOATING BODIES
WHATCHEER FLOWER FARM
PROFESSIONAL WORK
ARTWORK
WORK SAMPLES
MICHAEL HOTHAN
PERFORMANCE SPACE
Term: Spring 2022
Course: ADVANCED STUDIO - Inscribed Space
Professor: Chris Bardt
Description: Through an initial investigation of light projection through a palimpsestic medium arises a design sensibility that carries through the creation of a performance hall. Located in Kennedy Plaza, Providence, this project occupies approximately half the site. The program includes an outdoor performance area with seating, an indoor performance space, practice rooms, lobby and reception, cafe, and auxiliary spaces.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Palimpsest, Cyanotype with baking soda. 3’x6’
a) The site (gray) and a box (blue) serve as an architectural generic where operations can be performed upon
c) Smaller projections create openings and circulation to the interior
b) Two large projections intersect the volumes and create voids which correspond to the interior and exterior performance spaces.
d) Final massing of the building
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Architectural primitive (preliminary iteration)
Right: Thumbnail model
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Aerial perspective
Right: Exterior perspective
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Café
Right: Side circulation
MICHAEL HOTHAN
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Fragment model
BOAT HOUSE
Term: Fall 2022
Course: ADVANCED STUDIO - Boat House
Professor: Kyna Leski
Description: The study of the phenomena of wave refraction expresses itself through the materialization of a surface. How can this surface allow refraction to be felt experientially and inform a tectonic and programmatic logic? This project seeks to engage such a question through the development of a boat house. The program includes a large boat bay for the storage and movement of rowing boats and oars, an office, an exercise room, and a large function room and observation deck.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Construct of phenomena
Right: Model of “skin and bones”
Anatomical axonometric
MICHAEL HOTHAN
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Top: Site map
Bottom: Section
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Second floor plan
MICHAEL HOTHAN
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Model
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Boat bay
Right: Function room
FLOATING BODIES
Term: Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
Course: Thesis Project
Professor: Chris Bardt
Description: In a meditative and iterative approach, this thesis seeks to embody the separation of the non-physical and the physical self, the spirit and the body. This is explored through the submersion of volumes as a medium which initiates the creation of a distorted form from generic, orthogonal ones through projection while also enabling the thought of movement from surface world to the underworld and shifts from light to dark, heavy and buoyant. These changes that are likened to the transition from living to dead are integrated within the framework of a funerary complex.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Thesis probe installation
Middle: Study model
Right: Study model
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Study model of floating volumes
Right: closeup
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Spatial model of floating volumes
Right: Spatial study of funerary complex
Final
model of funerary complex
Through the parallel projection of rectangles, distorted openings are formed into the vessels. While the large volumes are filled with sand to create an occupiable floor plane, the smaller volumes exclusively permit the infiltration of light into the space below
MICHAEL HOTHAN
The large volumes shown are the reception, mortuary, and the chapel from lightest to heaviest. The funerary experience is intended to be like that of a procession starting on the surface moving to the reception, weaving through interstitial spaces characterized by light-filled smaller volumes floating above and gradually ending in chapel.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Section cut of model
Site
drawing
The building is located at Swan Point Cemetery in the East End, Providence RI adjacent to an existing reception hall. The dead enter through the south path while the living enter through the north path. Both paths are characterized by their slow descent from surface to depth and from light to dark. This lends itself to the experience of a gradual underwater submergence.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Subfloor 1
1) Reception
Subfloor 2
1) Function space
2) Storage
3) Prep room
4)
5)
6)
Subfloor 3
1) Chapel
MICHAEL HOTHAN
2) Courtyard
Body room
Chapel
Restroom
2) PLatform lift
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Function space
Right: Chapel
WHATCHEER FLOWER FARM
Term: Fall 2023
Course: Integrated Building Structures
Professor: Ryan McCaffrey
Collaborators: Ashur Clark. Gabe Lei, Jiahao Zhang
Description: This is a collaborative project exploring the technical skills in designing a building. The goal was to reach a baseline understanding of preschematic design to the design development phase of a project as a team through various representational techniques. The building is a hybrid-type building in Olneyville, Rhode Island that combines office, educational, and industrial spaces immediately adjacent to a flower field. The approximate net square footage is 38,000 ft2
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Site map (Gabe Lei)
Right: Site plan (Jiahao Zhang)
Ground floor (Jiahao Zhang & Michael Hothan)
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Second floor
Right: Third floor
(Jiahao Zhang & Michael Hothan)
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: North elevation
Right: East elevation
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Axon of wall assembly
Right: Wall section (Ashur Clark)
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Structural axon
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Exterior perspective
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: Stem and processing (Jiahao Zhang)
Right: Lobby and reception
PROFESSIONAL WORK
June-August 2023 - 3SIXØ Architecture
Hazel Origin Café
Brown University, Providence
Contribution: Building working model, 3-D modeling in Rhino and rendering for client presentations and Brown University publication.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
drafting/design of floor plan schemes, and 3-D modeling/rendering of interior in Rhino
MICHAEL HOTHAN
House near Sandy Point Beach
Portsmouth, Rhode Island
Contribution: Design of landscaping, design of master bathroom, exterior/interior renderings, and hand-modeling/designing wall.
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Ortho Providence Medical Clinic
Providence, Rhode Island
Contribution: Design/renderings of reception, waiting room, and patient room
MICHAEL HOTHAN
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: City map, pen, 2017
Middle: “Untitled,” Charcoal, pastels, 2020
Right: “Collage”, acrylic, 2020
MICHAEL HOTHAN
Left: “146 Dyer St.”, Sumi ink, 2022
Middle: “Oakmont Square”, ink, 2024
Right: Table, various woods, 2023