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Motivation, Purpose and Direction by Michael Matthews

Contents

Drafts Drawings, sketches, painting

The Nine Square

3-5

Coffee Shop on 9th Street NW

6-9

Library in Georgetown

10-11

Block and Stacking

12-13

9th Street East Apartment

14-16

Mixed-Use Braddock West Redevelopment

17-23

Massing Solids

24-25

Place Making The Triple Bottom Line

26-27

The Federal District

28-30

Classical Orders

31-32

High-Performance Envelope

33-34

Collaboration in IBDS

35-43

Process

The Nine Square This was my introduction to Architecture. The 9 Square is a learning exercise to assist entry level students in understanding the elements and principles in architecture. From idea to paper, to digitalization and physical modeling. To form an idea for my design, I began with modeling with cardboard, box cutter, and glue. Using my hands helped me form an intent for design.

Applications: Hand Drafting, Revit, SketchUp, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Enscape.

Coffee Shop on 9th Street NW The goal was to design a Coffee Shop located in an urban community of rowhouses. The site was located in the middle of the 9th St North West, Washington, D.C., between O and N Street, roughly the center of the street. The intent for design would be informed from elements from existing buildings within the immediate context. The usage of private and public diagrams, centerlines, edges, primary, secondary, and tertiary lines forming tartans were used to create a facade language. This same language would also be communicated in the interior. The idea was to design a coffee shop to enrich the community, and the neighborhood would embrace, while at the same time considering the alley culture.

Applications: SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator, Enscape.

Library in Georgetown This was a studio project to establish an institution that would improve and build the educational capacity for community. The assignment was to design a library in Georgetown, Washington D.C. on the corner of M St NW and 33rd St NW. Site analysis was introduced to students in this studio. Libraries provide cultural, educational, and resources to enhance communities. In this assignment, we accounted for existing conditions such as, Weather, Zoning Requirements, Building Codes, Context, Historical data, Cultural data and Demographics. For my design, I used the church, San Josemaría Escrivá located in Mexico City as a precedent. Particularly the entry and its structural walls caught my interest and attention. It is the idea of two walls creating a darkness immediately before the entry, from “darkness to light.” I gave this concept an enormous amount of thought. Although not the same as San Josemaría, my idea would have a similar concept. I thought about the approach and the entryway in my design and how it would create a similar concept of going from “darkness to light.”

Applications: Revit, Adobe Illustrator, Twinmotion 11

Blocking and Stacking A way of visually representing the contents of a well-executed program in a building or design. We arrange and stack geometric blocks representing spaces within a program to create well-informed functioning building or design. By blocking and stacking a program, we see the rational of spatial arrangement, see relationships between spaces, gauge square footages, and visual determine if the program can fit within the parameters.

Applications: SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop.

9th Street East Apartment For this assignment we had to redesign a vacant rowhouse into a Split-level apartment located in the community of Brookland, 9th St NE, Washington D.C. Great consideration went into the building façade, circulation, spatial arrangement, and how the interior space relates to proportion at the pedestrian scale. Exterior space was considered too, particularly in how the circulation relates to the building’s interior. For the building’s façade, the idea of base, middle, and top was taken in consideration for the exterior aesthetics, rational design intent, and projecting honest architecture.

Applications: Revit, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop.

Mixed-Use Redevelopment, VA Working with the Alexandria Redevelopment Housing Authority (ARHA), we redesigned affordable housing for mixed-income and mixed-use residents. Considering conditions existing in site analysis and the neighbor within the context, our design used the principle of base, middle and top. Careful consideration was taken into account to portions and classical elements. This includes, efficiency in the arrangement of studio units, 2 bedroom units, and 3 bedroom units. We also followed guidelines in the Zoning Ordinances and the International Building Codes for the design. For example, IBC guidelines were referenced in considering Means of Egress, ADA requirement or corridor widths, bathrooms, and maneuvering in individual residential units.

Applications: Revit, SketchUp, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator. 17

Massing Solids Serving as an example of visual impact, massing gives us a sense of form, -serving as a dialog with its context, communicated through poetic segments.

Applications: SketchUp, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Enscape.

Place Making, The Triple Bottom Line For this studio we were given the opportunity to select our site for a placemaking project. Having discovered the neighborhood where I once lived had been designated a blighted community and underwent demonization, I felt it would be appropriate for my placemaking assignment. As a child I grew-up in a rowhouse in a small alley street block in West Baltimore neighborhood of Mondawmin and Coppin Heights. For my placemaking project I decided to design a playground and park for members of the community with goals of Sustainability and Equity incorporating Adaptation, Mitigation, Resilience and Vulnerability.

Applications: SketchUp, Revit, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop.

The Federal District Linear inventory of the context of the Federal District, National Mall and immediate neighborhoods.

Applications: SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator.

Classical Orders In the Classical Orders class, we studied three out of the five Roman Classical Orders; which are Doric, Ionic, and the Corinthian. A classical order, whether it be Doric, Ionic or Corinthian, has three main parts. The three main parts are: an entablature, a column, and a pedestal. The entablature, column and pedestal also consisted of sub parts. Learning their portions, their origins and drawing the Classical Orders were our main areas of focus during the class. Then use what we learned to design a pavilion. First, we learned their origins and how they emerged. The Roman classical orders originated from Greek classical architecture. The Doric is a masculine order named after the ancient civilization, the “Dorians.” The Ionic order is a feminine order and its origins emerged out of Asia Minor by way of the “Ionians.” The Corinthian order is a representation of the Mediterranean acanthus plant. Native to the Mediterranean region, the acanthus plant is an attractive green plant that vigorously matures during the spring -symbolic to rejuvenation and eternal life. Next, we were tasked with drawing the classic orders by using AutoCAD. Through our study and this process we discovered that the bases for their proportions start with the lower portion of a column shaft. The column shaft’s base diameter is proportionally sound with the height of a column. The lower diameter of the column shaft is referred to as a module. The height of a column is dependent upon the number of modules used. The height is measured from the bottom of the plinth to the top of the column capital. The height of the Doric column shaft is eight modules. The height of the ionic is nine modules, while the Corinthian is 10 modules. Finally, we were assigned an end of class project to design a moderately sized pavilion to accommodate two people or a small group. The foundation surface of my design is a mosaic “star” or “anise” and it's symbolic to an ingredient found in the Greek beverage “Ouzo.” This ingredient is anise. Before anise is cultivated and its seeds are refined, anise looks like a star. I was able to represent the anise star shape using circles rotating around a central point.

Applications: AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator.

High performance Envelope The High-Performance Envelope Course provided a deeper understanding on how to create a wall assembly maximizing the R Value. This course weight heavenly on researching materials for wall composition, their cost, and advantages & disadvantages. During my research, I discovered 6” thick Gutex Thermoflex Wood Fiber Insulation had one of the greatest amounts of R Value, however it wasn’t cost efficient per/inch and readily available on the American market and only primary in Europe. Research also included determining the placement of the vapor barrier at the dew point in preventing moisture.

Applications: SketchUp, Adobe Illustrator, MicroSoft word, AutoCAD, Revit. 34

Collaboration in IBDS In the Integrated Building Design Studio, we worked as team of three students. For our project, we had to design “A Center for Healthy Aging.” Its occupants would benefit from a program consisting of, gardens and outdoor activities, spiritual and emotional wellness, cognitive and social wellness, and occupational wellness facilities within the design. Other benefits would include but not limited to: serve as a platform for connecting people across a variety of generations, build capacity for ethnic groups, and build resiliency in the community. As a means in delivering our building design, our team collaborated using BIM in the Revit modeling application. In studio we progressed through phases of design such as: Pre-Design, Schematic Design, Design Development and Construction Documents.

Applications: Revit, SketchUp, Rhino,AutoCAD, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Hand Drafting, Enscape.

Process