Michael Zemaitis
01 Dwell78
Architecture | Partners: Anam Haque and Muntasir Hakim Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
Chicago, IL | Fall 2024
Dwell78 seeks to create a community on an iconic entry point to the 78, establishing pedestrian connections to key landmarks and providing multiple modes of living for residents to connect to their neighborhood.
A Related Midwest commissioned studio, the project brief called for a 460-unit residential development within the planned 78 neighborhood. Dwell78 divides these units into a tower, which provides panoramic views, and a boutique portion, which gives residents a closer connection with the public space. The podium design bridges over Metra tracks adjacent to the site, providing a direct connection from a planned Red-Line stop to the nearby new White Sox Stadium.
Typical Tower Plan
Typical Boutique Plan
02 Kyoto Architecture Center
Architecture | Partner: Hrushikesh Chavan
Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
Kyoto, Japan | Spring 2024
The Kyoto Architecture Center makes use of numerous Japanese architectural motifs to ground itself in the culture of the ancient city. The center features exhibition galleries, an auditorium, an entry hall, a restaurant / cafe, a banquet hall, offices, and workshop spaces. The project is organized into four seemingly separate structures, floating like boats in a reflecting pool. The four structures, however, are actually one building connected under the water. The visitor enters into an entry hall constructed entirely of glass, including the structural members. A staircase descends down into an atrium starting on the B1 level. Water from the pool rushes down the flanking walls, articulating the move below the water line. What follows is a series of compressions and releases, as visitors travel through dark connection spaces to multi-story lobbies washed with shimmering light filtered through an exterior louver system.
03 Little Fort Market Square
Architecture and Urban Design | Partner: Laura Pressly 1st Place Waukegan Competition Studio | Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
Waukegan, IL | Fall 2023
Little Fort Market Square proposes an urban and architectural intervention in Waukegan, IL. The city’s downtown is placed on a bluff that overlooks Lake Michigan. A highway located at the base of this bluff effectively cuts off the city from their harborfront.
At the urban scale, this project proposes a land bridge that would cover the highway to provide four new city blocks, establishing pedestrian and vehicular connections from the upper city to a new lower city on the lakefront. At the architectural scale, the project populates a prominent block at the corner of Genesee and Washington streets. A dual tower residential building is placed facing the lake. A courtyard faces Genesee street, enclosed by three buildings: An adaptive reuse arts center, a public market, and a cowork space. The latter two together form a business incubator. Low scale mixed use buildings fill in the rest of the block.
04 Allerton Visitor’s Center
Architecture | Solo Project | Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
Monticello, IL | Spring 2023
This project serves as a visitor center for Allerton Park in Monticello, IL. Formerly a private estate, the park houses a series of gardens embedded in the forest. The program includes an exhibition hall, cafeteria, gift shop, library, classroom, lecture hall, and office space.
The visitor center blurs the lines between interior and exterior. Rough, stone walls extend beyond the enclosure of the building, while wood roofs float above, supported by an exposed structure. The pinwheel organization allows the building to reach out into the landscape, providing space for four courtyards. While natural materials and abundant transparency bring the nature of the park to the interior of the building, courtyards are treated as outdoor rooms; a motif seen throughout the gardens that make up the park itself.
Architecture | Partner: Sebastian Rodriguez
05 Gold Coast Co-Housing
Chicago, IL | Summer 2023
This project constituted the latter half of a workshop that began with an international urban analysis exhibition in Barcelona and Chicago. The research was applied to a studio project, a mid-rise co-housing apartment building. The program includes 60 residential units, shared lounge spaces, a ground floor restaurant and courtyard, and a roof garden. This design explored concepts of microhousing and centered around the apartment unit as a prefabricated, mass-timber module. Each module contains one inset balcony, placed on either the top or bottom. The juxtaposition of differing modules creates a dynamic rhythm across the facade. While a single module can contain a single unit, multiple modules may be combined to form units of differing sizes and configurations, furthering the idea of a dynamic form of housing.
Process Axon
First Floor
Typical Residential Floor
Typical Residential Mezzanine
Roof Garden
Unit Module Axon
Form Axons