Michael Zemaitis
Contents
Dwell78
Kyoto Architecture Center
Little Fort Market Square
Allerton Visitor’s Center
Gold Coast CoHousing
01 Dwell78
Chicago, IL | Fall 2024
Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
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 along the Chicago River. The neighborhood features an extended riverwalk, a new White Sox stadium, and the OMA-designed Discovery Partners Institute (DPI). Positioned at 15th and Clark, the site serves as a gateway, adjacent to a planned Red Line station. A metra line runs behind the site, with 15th Street forming an underpass. DPI is located along the riverwalk at 15th Street’s terminus, while the stadium lies diagonally behind the tracks.
Dwell78’s podium design rises over the metra tracks, providing a pedestrian connection from the Red Line to the stadium and riverwalk. Red terracotta cladding on the podium, which houses parking, retail, and resident amenities, reflects the red-brick Dearborn Park neighborhood. A boutique residential section bridges the connection, creating a more personal relationship between residents and their community. A truss, inspired by the 78’s St. Charles Airline bridge, frames the stadium view. The tower features 1-3 bedroom units with views of the lake, river, and skyline. A 28th-floor amenity space offers a private bar with stadium views. Waves along the edges of the plan provide panoramic viewing angles, while white terracotta cladding references the cladding that adorns many First Chicago School buildings in the Loop.
1. 15th street provides a pedestrian path from the 15th and Clard Red Line stop toward the DPI, but a direct connection to the White Sox Stadium is missing.
2. Our podium provides this connection, ramping over the Metra.
3. A lower scale residential portion bridges over this connection, allowing for a more personal relationship between residents and public space.
4. A signature tower gives residents panoramic views of the lake, skyline, stadium, and riverwalk.
Section Perspective
Boutique Plan
Tower Plan
Typical Truss-Unit 2 Bed
02 Kyoto Architecture Center
Kyoto, Japan | Spring 2024
Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
The Kyoto Architecture Center is a comprehensive cultural institution located in Kyoto, Japan. It is located adjacent to the Heian Shrine, constructed to commemorate the ancient capital’s 1100th anniversary. 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 a chochin lantern-like 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 make their way north to the auditorium and exhibition hall, or south to the restaurant and workshop structure, they first enter dark, low-height connection spaces. These spaces then open up into large, multi-story lobbies, washed with shimmering light filtered through an exterior louver system. This sequence is repeated multiple times along the circulation path. Sunken courtyards and water features also connect the auditorium and entry hall, with a secluded court containing a tea house surrounded by rushing water. The center, as a cultural institution, makes use of common Japanese architectural motifs such as the downward level change, water features, and a contrast between light and darkness as a method of grounding itself in the rich cultural tapestry of Kyoto.
Entry Hall Section
First Floor Plan North - South Section
Exhibition Hall Section
B1 Plan
Second Floor Plan
03 Little Fort Market Square
Waukegan, IL | Fall 2023
1st Place, Waukegan Studio Competition | Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
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.
Using a 2003 SOM urban design proposal for Waukegan as a reference, 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.
Our architectural intervention populates a prominent block at the corner of Genesee and Washington streets. Two residential towers sharing a parking podium are placed long the block’s west side, with angled balconies which give each unit access to lake views. Two-story mixed use buildings line washington and water streets. A courtyard faces Genesee street, and is enclosed by three buildings.
The first is a historic bank building converted to an arts center as an adaptive reuse project. The second is a public market, intended as an incubator for food service businesses. The third is a co-work space. While the latter two buildings provide Waukegan with much needed business resources, the three structures placed around the courtyard in conjunction with one another form a vibrant public space that encourages interdisciplinary collaboration.
Phase 1
Land bridge expansion from grand ave to belvidere road, establishing connections from the downtown to the lakefront
Phase 2
Expansion of lakefront property with new residential and pedestrian oriented mixed-use spaces
Phase 3
Revitalization of downtown, densifying with commercial, office, and residential spaces.
Perspective
Co-Work
04 Allerton Visitor’s Center
Monticello, IL | Spring 2023
Graduate Design Excellence Awards Nomination
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 wooden 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.
05 Gold Coast CoHousing
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.
Unit Module Axon
Form Axons
Process Axon
