Portfolio 2012

X

01HOUSING STUDIO 02LIBRARY 03PARAMETRICS 04LABORATORY 05STUDIOLO 06FURNITURE 07PHOTOGRAPHY 08HAND DRAWING

M.ARCH. COLUMBIA GSAPP

ROBERT A. COX

-10’

WN DO

UP

HOUSING: THE CITIZEN-CONSUMER

Two roles, among many, dominate an urban life: that of consumer and citizen. We live in communities of neighbors and of commerce, as social life and commercial life intertwine. These apartments, sitting atop an existing big-box grocery store, incorporate and reflect the benefits of commerce through focused attention to a central market and the ability of residents to gain income from billboard-like screens surrounding the building. But residents are also encouraged to interact with neighbors as they fill the terraces overlookign this central market, utilizing this screen as it transforms inside into a flexible framework for courtyard life.

Inside the apartments, residents can transition between two experiences of the city: the glowing, electronic striations of their billboard, or the light and plant-filled terrace of their courtyard.

02LIBRARY

Silence and personal space are commodities in the city. Libraries are publice places that provide this commodity. As patrons ascend from the noisy, open street leve, they are further and further contained and enclosed by the growing, thickening walls that in turn become shelves, seating, and private reading spaces.

ENCLOSING PLANES

          

  

The increasing thickness of the walls eventually results in a fully-enclosed cloister on the top floor, a removed and still place for writers to work and share their stories.

03PARAMETRICS

SURFACE AREA: 255.91sq.in.

WEIGHT: 13.5lb

SURFACE AREA: 133.8sq.in.

WEIGHT: 7.98lb

SURFACE AREA: 236.61sq.in.

WEIGHT: 14.19lb

PARAMETRICS: THE DAISY CHAIN

The Columbia Building Intelligence Project (C-BIP) is a three-year pilot project designed to explore new forms of technology-enabled collaboration within and between the various sectors of the architecture, engineering, and construction industry.

Students learn to use parametric software (namely Catia) to reconsider adaptive reuse in the future of architecture, based on the design of an “element�, a module designed for implementation on a variety of existing buildings.

My element, the Daisy Chain, aims to create a framework for water collection, shading, and green walls using a simple, flexible form. The double-curved surface continues along a variety of facades to bring people to their windows to garden and share a small bit of green space with their neighbors.

The module can be adjusted parametrically to adapt to sunlight, rainwater, and facade conditions.

04LABORATORY

Science (capital “S”) isn’t just some monolithic institution, something that brings down a few new articles from a secular Mt. Sinai ever year. It’s made up of individuals, interacting and working with each other, often messily. It’s a human endeavor, not something distant and institutional.

This laboratory, situated at the edge of a large tourist area in New York, aims to communicate this human personality of science. The exterior is active, personal, and a bit disordered, creating a variety of spaces for interactions with fellow scientists and with the city.

LABORATORY: HUMAN SCIENCE

1

1welcome 2conference 3office 4flex 5restroom 6workshop 7lab

2

1

3

3

3 4

4

5

6 5

7

7

Scientists occupy unique office spaces within a larger stream of common rooms and gathering points.

With a location along historic Peck Slip, between South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge, the lab is given the opportunity to communicate with the public, inviting them into and around the building.

labs

collaboration areas

offices

public rooms

05STUDIOLO

I based this design for a study carrel on early medieval Cistercian monasteries, focusing on a sense of seclusion, thick walls, and the effects of light across robust surfaces.

STUDIOLO: SILENCE AND LIGHT

06FURNITURE

After a summer working for a small fine furniture company in North Carolina, I was able to build my own piece: a lap desk designed for reading and writing in bed. I included convenient spaces for paper storage along the side, as well as a spot of a coffee mug.

The entire piece was made using only joinery, and was constructed out of soft cedar and impressionable leather to age as I use it.

LAP DESK: READING IN BED

07PHOTOGRAPHY

The following photos are about shape, line, motion, and arrangement, captured in the everyday and the discarded. Chaotic flow, stylized exuberance, and vibrant decay resonate throughout these works and many of the pieces I develop in my darkroom.

These are images of decaying machinery I found in the woods near my home.

The forms of these objects echoed classical statuary in my mind, prompting me to digitally pair them with the Nike of Samothrace and The Sleeping Hermaphrodite from the Louvre.

PHOTOGRAPHY: FILM

PHOTOGRAPHY: DIGITAL

08HAND DRAWING

Using a Roman sarcophagus frieze as a basis for pattern and linear arrangement, a series of charcoal drawings emerged that abstracted the stone figures first into triangles, and then into eroted, organic shapes. I wanted to communicate depth and slow movement, like ice fragments flowing layers over water.

ICE

FLOAT

These paintings come from a series dealing with the potential ambiguity of images, illustrating a formless folk tale. Through the use of repeated, mysterious imagery and flexible ordering, these illustrations let the viewer construct his own narrative.

“You see, the cloud didn’t have anywhere to go. His family had sailed over the mountains that night, and accidentally left him behind (it had been dark, remember, and I hate to say it, but clouds do look awfully alike...)”

I have been writing and illustrating stories for children since I was a child myself. It’s a rich synthesis: narrative and image, working together to create an individual world of balancing direct communication with the subtleties of the illustration.

“The one problem with the moon, though, is that he really is a pretty vain creature. He’s very proud of his good looks, and the stars are always complaining about how often he asks if there’s anything stuck in his teeth. Usually, though, his vanity is harmless -- except one night, several years ago, when it got him into trouble...”

ILLUSTRATION

Sheriff Horncorft and Adam

Miss Bunnikins and Claire

When Imaginary Friends Come to College

I saw two buzzards then, gently pushing down around a rotting pinpoint.

They saw me, too, I suppose, As I backed back through the briars, Another center for another day.

-R. Cox, 2009

EDUCATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, New York, New York, May 2013 (expected) Master of Architecture WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, May 2009 Bachelor of Arts in Art History with a minor in Studio Art and a study concentration in Architectural History HONORS Cum Laude graduate Omicron Delta Kappa National Honors Society: Inducted Fall 2007 Robert P. Holding Scholar: Awarded on the basis of exceptional leadership and academic promise Mary and Elliot Wood Scholar: Given for leadership in cultural, civic, and ecological affairs Eagle Scout WORK Lab Assistant, Columbia University Laboratory for Applied Building Science, NYC, 2011-present • Assisted fellow students in use of woodshop tools and techniques • Collaborated in renovation projects for the school Intern, Skram Furniture, Hillsborough, NC, Summer 2011 • Built handmade, contemporary wooden furniture in a small workshop setting • Designed and produced my own pieces of furniture LEADERSHIP Tour guide, Asheboro Downtown Sculpture Initiative, Fall 2009 • Programmed and led weekly tours through an outdoor, public sculpture installation Board Member, Student Government Sustainability Commission, Fall 2007 – Fall 2008 • Studied the university’s energy usage and proposed programs to reduce waste and cost Co-Chair, Wake Forest University Traditions Council, Spring 2006 – Spring 2008 • Edited, compiled, printed, and distributed books of Wake Forest traditions and history for students and alumni • Planned and carried out a two-month exhibit of Wake Forest history for display on campus TRAVEL-STUDY Student, Falmouth, Jamaica: University of Virginia’s Falmouth Field School in Historic Preservation, Summer 2008 • Recorded threatened and damaged structures through detailed scale drawings and surveys, depositing work in a comprehensive scholarly database of Falmouth’s colonial architecture • Participated in carpentry and masonry work on historic structures Researcher, Rome, Italy, Contemporary Religious Architecture in Italy, Summer 2008 • Conducted research on the current state of religious architecture in Italy, concentrating on four recently-constructed churches in Bergamo, Rome, and San Giovanni Rotondo, through observations and interviews with Italian architects, priests, and congregants Student, Venice, Italy: Wake Forest’s Casa Artom Program, Spring 2007 • Completed courses in Venetian art and architecture, international business ethics, and Italian SKILLS Computer skills: AutoCAD, Rhinoceros, 3dsMax, Adobe Creative Suite, GIS, MS Office, basic knowledge of BIM Foreign language: Proficient in Italian and Spanish Other: Hand drafting, watercolor, photography

RESUME