shay myers M. Arch Portfolio 2019
shaymy3rs@gmail.com 419.388.1657
2
Contents
01 The Preservation Problem
Final Studio, Self-Build Hub for Havana 02 Between Monuments and Mosaics
DesignBuildBLUFF 2018, Fire Mesa Dialectic VII, A View From Within 03 Abstract Craft
Design-Build Studio, Louder Than A Bomb Research Seminar, Evaporative Cooling Curtain 04 Competitions and Concepts
Last House on Mulholland, The Cultural Parasites ULI Hines Competition, A Tangible Toronto Design Development Studio, Campus Market Sketchbook
01 The Preservation Problem
[work in progress]
A Self-Build Hub for Havana 2019 Final Studio Old Havana, Cuba Professors: Stephen Tobler, Jรถrg Ruegemer
4
self-build hub
6
Project Position Addressing the deterioration of the city’s built structures is critical to preserving social and cultural heritage in Havana, and to providing Habaneros safe places for living and working. Internationally-funded developer projects would likely transform the city’s skyline toward that of any other globalized city while erasing the informal social spaces throughout the city which are characteristically Cuban. On the other hand, historic preservation in the typical sense cannot address the scale of necessary maintenance and upgrades; regardless, preservation for the sake of it is more likely to turn the city into a museum, with little benefit for, and perhaps even at the expense of its present inhabitants. Precluding the extreme ends of the development spectrum (modernization to preservation), questions remain about what to do with Cuba’s built environment. To what extent can or should the existing homes and buildings of the city be salvaged? How can retrofits and new structures anticipate future uses? What constraints and opportunities for building follow from the environmental, social and economic contexts of the island? What tools do local Habaneros need to claim agency over their own spaces? This project proposes an archive, a research lab, and a production hall as program to support building across the city; to unify history, data and matter. The three typologically distinct programs are connected by the digital technologies and data flows which already permeate the ways we record, research, and produce structures and infrastructures.
self-build hub
8
Community Resource + Social Hub Terminal Sierra Maestra, connected to road, rail, and water offers an expansive volume and ideal location to house a community hub for self-building. The structures of the neglected buildings are sound which means a new program can occupy the site without a full restoration. The new intervention intends to bring together people, resources, and technology. It stretches beyond the existing edges to create new social spaces while stitching together the functional program spaces.
self-build hub
02 Between Monuments and Mosaics Fire Mesa 2017-18 Community Kitchen and Grilling Pavilion Bluff, UT, USA DesignBuildBLUFF Class of 2018 A View From Within 2018 (published 2019) Peer-reviewed journal article Authors: Eric Blyth, Matthew Cranney, Shay Myers, Julia Warner
10
fire mesa
12
fire mesa
14
Rammed Earth Building I managed the rammed earth construction for the project. It was the most labor-intensive, technically challenging and collaborative part of the build. It required all of the 13-person team plus volunteers for 3 weeks to build 50+ linear feet of wall. Earth Wall Builders of Park City, Utah consulted on the project and provided time and tools to help achieve professional results with a challenging and uncommon building technology. Material was sourced locally and mock-ups and material analyses informed our mixture to optimize strength and aesthetic.
fire mesa
Fire Mesa Community Kitchen and Grilling Pavilion
Fire Mesa is a space for gathering, cooking, music, and recreation in the rural desert town of Bluff in Utah’s Four Corners region. A public refuge from the desert sun during the day and a comfortable place to view the dark skies at night.
of the surrounding landscape. The labor-intensive construction process of the rammed earth walls was an opportunity create use local, inexpensive materials, to tap into volunteer labor, and to introduce a new building technology to the community. The walls tell the story of their assembly. Each layer, or lift, is distinguishable and the visual and physical textures were directly affected through the process of slow and manual construction.
Rammed earth walls shield the building from intense sun and strong winds and temper the interior of the commercial kitchen and acts as a backdrop that reflects the character and textures
16
In the spirit of the DesignBuildBLUFF program where improvising and innovating with recycled materials is convention, many of the finishes were salvaged or donated. The underside of the sprawling canopy is clad in corrugated metal left over from previous projects and openings are finished with salvaged steel, while the glulam beams of the canopy were charred to darken and protect the wood.
The project involved community members from beginning design processes via public workshops and through the building process by welcoming volunteers and visitors to see progress and help in the construction. It is the first realized piece of a greater master plan for the open site of the Bluff Community Center.
fire mesa
18
A View From Within Dialectic VII The common perception of the architecture industry remains dominated by the architect as auteur ideology, reinforced by the ubiquitous striking visual representation that most often defines our global practice. The heavyweights of our built environment, memorialized in glossy photographs and renderings, stand in defiance of time - monuments in repose before an occupant makes their mark. But while the professional and academic realms of architecture continue this pursuit of the monument, the practice of Public Interest Design (PID) celebrates a messier process - an embrace of the mosaic over the monument. The PID approach holds the people occupying space, the relationships they create, and way they create them high above the monumental space itself. It is an architecture of temporality, not above it. DesignBuildBLUFF, University of Utah’s graduate design-build program, seems to have planted itself squarely in between these two pedagogies, attempting to synthesize a new path forward in the practicewv of public interest design/build. As four recent graduates of the program, we intend to reflect on our experience in two completed projects, the conflicting goals and limitations that drove our work, and consider strategies for moving forward. abstract of the paper to be published Fall 2019
journal
03 Abstract Craft Louder Than A Bomb 2015 Design-Build Studio Cincinnati, OH, USA Megan Gotsch, Daniel Kruk, Shay Myers, Nikki Weitz Professor: Terry Boling DAAPWorks Directors’ Choice Award; Cincinnati Design Award for Architectural Advancement; ACSA Collaborative Practice Award Evaporative Cooling Curtain 2017 Multi-Disciplinary Research Seminar Salt Lake City, UT, USA Shay Myers, Richmond Thornley, Josh Vondran Professors: Rima Aljouni, Horacio Rodriguez
20
louder than a bomb
A physical “kit of parts�, this installation speculates toward future interpretations of the techniques it embodies - particularly ideas about modularity, mobility, frame and armature. A generative design process led to a series of steel components that function as structure, stability, armature, and the routing of LED lighting.
22
louder than a bomb
24
Modular Performance Environments Louder Than A Bomb (LTAB) is the largest youth poetry festival in the world. The organization recruited UC MetroLab to propose, test, and construct a mobile setting for its first annual Cincinnati event in April 2015. The studio worked directly with more than 12 academic and community organizations and sponsors to design and construct prefabricated performance environments for several events. The Poetry Wall was 1 of 3 components implemented into the final performance; a stage and dj booth were built by other teams in the same 16-person studio. The studio was prompted to connect built installations with the particularities of the spoken word event and its new location. We worked with the young poets and event organizers to understand needs while simultaneous materials research led us to certain methods of fabrication that became thematic throughout the prototyping process - preeminently, the application of fire as a transformative force (forged steel, laser cutting, shou sugi ban techniques). Generative prototyping and ideas about juxtaposing the rough, organically patterned newsprint with the delicate panels of edge-lit acrylic led to intuitive solutions in crafting steel – twisting, bending – as an armature in unconventional, but practical and replicable, ways to best utilize its inherent strength.
louder than a bomb
26
The mold making process balanced digital fabrication technologies and manual processes. 3d printing and CNC milling were used to rapidly prototype both negative forms (mold) and positives (object). Various factors were optimized throughout prototyping such as orientation, scale, sprew size and location, and surface quality. Formulas of ceramic slip were tested
Evaporative Cooling Potentials in Ceramics Methods + Tools Used: Ceramic Slip Casting Plaster Mold Making Silicone Mold Making Form 2 3d Resin Printer PLA 3d Printer Desktop CNC Mill Rhino + Grasshopper Assorted Tools for Optimizing the Casting Process
evaporative cooling curtain
04 Competitions + Concepts x() : #oblivione or The Cultural Parasites 2017 Last House on Mullholland Competition Hollywood, CA, USA Megan Gotsch, Shay Myers finalist Tangible Toronto 2018 ULI Hines Competition Toronto, CAN Dan Berdelle, Eric Blyth, Kyle Bradley, Nick Graham, Shay Myers Campus Market 2018 Design Development Studio Salt Lake City, UT, USA Sketches ongoing various media various locations
28
the cultural parasites
30
x() : # oblivione The algorithm age has manifest a frontier beyond the materially stagnant physical spaces of a previous century, and before the inexact and perpetually mutable digital language. By way of the robot, fibres of technology may weave into the fabrics for construction. A fortress for the revolution – the organism of domestic autonomy may be your host. This proposal seeks to re-examine the influence of digital automation and global interconnectivity in the human environment. It imagines an autonomous and image-based architecture free from the constraints of program and user-input. The human occupant becomes more migrant than master; such as in the science fiction writing of H.P. Lovecraft.
the cultural parasites
BROADVIEW TRANSIT TUNNEL
streetcar and auto access to East Harbor
PEEL FOR PEDESTRIAN
reroute transit underground + create a pedestrian Broadview
TOUCH ME TORONTO
EXISTING CONTEXT
TOUCH ME TORONTO secondary exhibition space + museum cafe
ROOFTOP ACCESS
secondary exhibition space + museum cafe
TOUCH ME TORONTO secondary exhibition space + museum cafe
RELIEF SUBWAY LINE connections to downtown Toronto
AUTO ACCESS MUSEUM STOP
exit here for Toronto Touch Me Art Museum + Broadview corridor
UNDERGROUND PARKING spaces for residential, retail,
TRANSIT
PEDESTRIAN ROUTES
OPEN SPACE
32
a tangible toronto
comfortable living room
MICRO-HOUSING
Community Resilience thru Co-Living
RELAX
Murphy bed folds into wall
Bedroom becomes dining room
ENTERTAIN small but functional
studio unit sleeps two
ULI Hines Competition SLEEP
For those who live here, an active co-housing lifestyle fosters community, interaction and a sense of place. For those who work here, shared office spaces drive professional creativity, growth and the exchange of ideas. For those who visit, a network of local small business and an atmosphere grounded in culture and expression offer an experience that goes beyond the ordinary.
full bathroom
Tangible Toronto is a place you can touch, feel and be a part of. That means the absence of surface roads and the addition of the library, the concert hall, and the interactive museum that doubles as public space bridging over a sunken Broadview Avenue. It means visiting shops, restaurants and venues for the atmosphere, not the products they sell. It means creating a place that is available to all, a destination that does not hinge on the barrier of a higher price tag. It all comes together with an idea that being part of a larger whole can create our most valuable relationships and experiences.
micro co-housing units
The lack of affordable housing in Toronto is a key pitfall for those who live, or are interested in living in the city center. In a country where living alone is now the most common housing option, meeting the demands for affordable housing in Toronto will require shifts in existing typologies to facilitate dense, thriving and accessible communities in the heart of the city near jobs, transit, and amenities.
shared amenities elevated courtyard shared rooftop courtyard
allows for vibrant village marketplace on
CO-HOUSING
tangible toronto
REPLACE ROOF + DIAPHRAGM; REINFORCE STEEL BENT FRAMES FOR SHEAR
NEW STEEL STRUCTURE
REINFORCE EXISTING MASONRY AT INTERIOR
RELOCATE CHILLED WATER PIPES BELOW GRADE
Fieldhouse Adaptive Re-use Previously a cornerstone to campus, the Einar Neilsen Fieldhouse is under-utilized and in need of repair. This project proposes inserting a market into the building on this heavily-trafficked edge of campus to address the lack of fresh food in the area and to regenerate this historic buildling. A major design objective is to preserve the character of the expansive multi-story space of the building. This is enabled through a new intervention which fits within the module of the existing building and houses the majority of the mechanical systems. This intervention also acts as a visual marker along major pedestrian and auto routes, as well as an event space overlooking Rice-Eccles Stadium
34
EQUITONE fiber cement panel, charcoal
ROOF
Adjustable pedestals EPDM membrane over rigid insulation, tapered 1/2” per foot
EL. +56'-0"
Structural steel channel Composite deck W10x22 Steel Beam W18x50 Steel Beam LED recessed strip light Ceiling diffuser Gyp bd, painted white over suspended ceiling Bendheim channel glass U-profile units w/ translucent insulation
Composite deck W18x50 Steel Beam mezzanine
Structural steel channel
MEZZ
W10x22 Steel Beam
EL. +34'-0"
EQUITONE fiber cement panel, charcoal Batt insulation Sheathing over rigid insulation Ceiling diffuser EPDM membrane, black Aluminum strut Structural steel tube Aluminum vertical fin Double pane glass gallery
Gyp bd, painted white Vapor barrier Composite deck
LEVEL 2 EL. +17'-0"
EQUITONE fiber cement panel, white W18x50 Steel Beam LED recessed strip light Gyp bd, painted white over suspended ceiling Structural steel column, anchored to top of footing, beyond
Hardwood over raised floor lobby
Floor diffuser
LEVEL 1 FF EL. +0'-11"
Slab on grade
Foundation insulation Line of existing foundation
New retaining wall and footing
ROAD EL. VARIES
WALL SECTION C 1/8” = 1’-0”
0'
campus market
4'
8'
16'
36
sketches
shaymy3rs@gmail.com 419.388.1657