PORTFOLIO
Morgan Miller
Contact
mqmiller1@gmail.com
530 925 6606
Linkedin Link: W/in/morgan-miller-3a1993236
Education
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly SLO)
Bachelor of Architecture - GPA 3.3
Aug 2019 to June 2024
Objective
Architectural design student seeking an opportunity to apply design skills, technical knowledge, and creativity in a dynamic architectural firm to contribute to innovative and sustainable projects.
Contributors:
Description:
The act of “provisioning” is typically linked to the idea of food yet in order to be “well-provisioned” one must have much more than sustenance to thrive. Needs less commonly recognized include: a sense of love and belonging, the development of self-esteem, etc. This project is named Provisions as it seeks to use Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as a way of responding to the challenges facing unsheltered communities in Los Angeles, Ca. The project seeks to provide housing for the surrounding unsheltered population while also providing opportunities to increase social mobility and bridge the gap between the cultural and judicial districts it exists within. The design creates an intermediary place of growth by following Maslow’s strategies, first equipping residents with their physiological and safety needs, then prompting entanglement between social groups through circulation and program.
Located in a culturally rich portion of Los Angeles ,the site is an important zone that connects many cultural institutions of the city (LA Union Station, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, City Hall, etc.)
The focus of this project was to formalize these ideas through the creation of view corridors and direct connections. Later development would form a curved structural system that mimics the hand-shake gesture, hinting at the projects attempts to reunite the communities surrounding the site.
- Affordable Housing Project
Ponitz
Initial program, form, and circulation and sketched diagrams created in collaboration with Morgan
Rhino explorations, structural development + daylighting tests + Iterative sketch of project entry
Angove
Iterative sketch models
3d printed initial massing model
3d printed facade test model
Wall Section Details
CACHAN RE DEV
Project Name .............
Studio Professor ........ Quarter ........................
Contributors: ..............
Description:
Cachan Sustainable Redevelopment Project
Nicolas Vernoux
Winter 2023
Solo Project - Morgan Miller
Cachan is a small portion of Paris with an population of slightly over 30,000. Cachan boasts many educational programs including 16 distinct schools for children and young adults and a large engineering school. The city also has many parks, commercial entities and homes for the elderly. As such, this project is aimed at merging the major populations in the area: the elderly and students. The common needs shared by these two populations create the basis for the project in which both groups stay active, engage and share spaces dedicated to the transmitting of generational knowledge.
The project was broken up into three phases. The first was a review of the climate and weather conditions that exist on site. This review also undertook a series of investigations into various building materials that could be extracted from the urban environment to reduce its carbon footprint. The second phase was devoted to exploring potential massings on the site through iteration and physical world exploration (plant-like structures became influential). Phase three of the project was devoted to developing a portion of the project in full detail. These details were only a portion of the site as detailing its entirety was too much to undertake in one quarter.
Sustainability and biomimickry were seen as the guiding principles for this project. An emphasis on sustainable environments meant much more than developing a project that met material sustainability standards. Creating a building that would be truly be used by the public was an important aspect of sustainability goals as a building with continuous use will effectively offset more carbon than tearing down the project and rebuilding.
Typical floor plan for residential tower
Massing model for entire site, to see shadow
Back of completed section of project
Section of draft bio-mimetic structure. This section saught to envision the creation of a tower with equitable daylighting
Second iteration sketch model
Sketch model for dense but daylight-equitable form
Section axon of initial design proposal (not used in final representation). The curving forms of the project are made out of mass timber and recycled aluminum paneling. The curvature allows for ample daylighting and natural ventilation. The interior space was intended to be used by the community and features covered bike paths, classrooms and drop off zones.
Section of detail with natural ventilation
Initial site model with large scale massing of proposed project (in blue)
Zoomed detail of massing in site
Detailed conversion of tower complex
Ground floor of the project, showing gym and “front porch”
Street view render and back of project (sectioned to show interior)
Second floor of the project, showing roof deck and tower
Interior section of the project, showing
Interior view of gym and street looking out
Back of gym near locker rooms, complete with continuous ramp for accessibility
Interior view of project looking up through tower complex and lattice facade structure
Project Name ............
Studio Professor ........
Quarter Completed ...
Contributors: ............
Description:
Condense - A Thesis
Project Name ...............
Studio Professor ..........
Quarter Completed ...
Contributors: ................ ..... Condense ..... Dale Clifford ..... Spring 2024 ..... Solo Project - Morgan Miller
Description:
In the United States, there has been a wide desire to live in semi-urban or suburban contexts to escape the noise, smog, and bustle of post-industrial cities. As defined by American historian Kenneth Jackson, suburbia can be defined as “ affluent and middle-class Americans living in suburban areas that are far from their workplaces, in homes that they own, and in the center of yards…”. Although a valid aspiration, this configuration neglects the needs of the many, focusing on the nuclear family’s pleasantries: it allows the user to extract themselves from problems of the “real world” and live in a fantasy, where the grass is always greener and manicured homes (and lifestyles) are idealized. A construct of the American dream, Suburbia has become more than a spatial configuration; It exercises innate control over an environment, exerting boundaries upon public/private domains, nature, resources, consumption, uniqueness, and ironically individualism.
Architect and urbanist Loen Krier has been an avid supporter of the rebuilding/ reconfiguring of American cities to resemble archaic configurations, in which populations live, work, and receive goods and services in a relatively close and constrained geographic areas, often no less than a ten-minute walk away. Populations in these areas benefit greatly from being near all of their needs: these people have a smaller carbon footprint, better social relations, are happier, and may even live longer when compared to their suburban counterparts. With increased diversity of space, use, and lifestyles, these new contexts can reconstitute healthy, human-scaled habitats. This thesis formalizes these ideas, creating interventions that may plugin to suburban contexts and re-contextualize the intended uses, methodologies and modes of urban living.
Catalogue of Activity
Catalogue of Movable Program Blocks
Disposing Charging Bathing Drying Washing Cooking
Dish Washing Growing Storing Reading Meditating Bodega-ing
Movable
Exchanging
The exchanger acts as a central node for the program blocks, linking them to electricity, water, gas and more
Iterative sketches for combing program blocks into fully actualized programs - A restaurant, a laundromat, and a shower
^ Nest We Grow, Kengo Kuma and UC Berkley Students
Plan configuration of movable program blocks in concert, connected to an exchanger to receive power, water and gas
Axon of program block and how they may create small communes of shared use
ITERATION 01
ITER 01
A place to wash, dry and fold laundry, read a good book while waiting for a laundry to finish, store items and heat water
A place to wash, dry and fold laundry, read a good book while waiting for laundry to finish, store items and heat water
Social Capital: medium social, interactions at are common Resources: tap water, grey water, hot water, solar energy
Social Capital: medium social, interactions are common Resources: tap water, grey water, hot water, solar energy
From Catalogue:
From Catalogue Drying Clothes Washing Reading
ITERATION 02
ITER 02
Polycarbonate Exterior
Polycarbonate Exterior
Book Shelves
Book Shelves Washers
Lattice Structure Washers Folding Table
Folding Table
Wheels Underneath
Wheels Underneath Folding Stairs
Folding Stairs
A place to bath, take a nice shower, enjoy hot water, relax, meditate, maybe not hold conversations but still see each other
A place to bath, take a nice shower, enjoy hot water, relax, meditate, maybe not hold a conversation but still see each other
Social Capital: minimally social, interactions at a minimum Resources: tap water, grey water, rain water, plants
Social Capital: minimally social, interactions at a minimum Resources: tap water, grey water, hot water, plants
From Catalogue
From Catalogue:
Disposing Bathing Meditating
Polycarbonate Exterior
Polycarbonate Exterior
Opaque Interior Walls
Opaque Interior Walls
Lattice Structure
Privacy Planter
Privacy Planter
Folding Stairs Wheels Underneath
Underneath Folding Stairs
ITERATION 03
ITER 03
A place to cook share a meal with your neighbors, engage in conversation and grow food for your community
A place to cook, share a meal with your neighbors, engage in conversation and grow food for your community
Social Capital: highly social, interactions common + prevalent Resources: tap water, grey water, rain water, light, plants
Social Capital: highly social, interactions common + prevalent Resources: tap water, grey water, hot water, light, plants
Polycarbonate Exterior Hydroponic Garden + Filter
Polycarbonate Exterior
From Catalogue
From Catalogue:
Paneling
