Robert Schaffer Portfolio

Graduate Portfolio

Rob er t M . S c ha f f er University of Pennsylvania Master of Architecture

Robert M. Schaffer

Master of Architecture | University of Pennsylvania https://www.robertmschaffer.com/

715-797-2146

www.linkedin.com/in/robert-schaffer

Education

Profile Robert received his Master’s of Architecture degree from the University of Pennyslvania in 2021.

Originally from the Midwest, he studied Interior Architecture at the University of Wisconsin with a minor in Sustainability. Robert has experience working on a diverse range of projects at all stages & scales, including national and international commercial competitions.

May 2021

University of Pennsylvania Master's of Architecture GPA: 4.0

University of Wisconsin Madison Bachelor's of Science - Major: Interior Architecture - Certificate: Energy Sustainability - Study Abroad: Florence, Italy

Dec 2017 Spring

Experience 2022 2021

2017

Utile Architectural Designer - Boston, MA Currently works & collaborates on a broad range of commercial projects ranging from large institutions, to housing projects, to retail spaces. Within these projects I work on all phases of the design and construction process, often times seeing a project through from proposal and conception to final construction documents and administration.

Skills

Spring 2021

3D Modeling -

Polyhedral Structures Laboratory Research Assistant - Philadelphia, PA

Rhino, Revit, Maya, Python, AutoCAD, SketchUp, ZBrush, Grasshopper

Venice Biennale Exhibition - Independently produced final deliverables for the “Saltatur” exhibit, including renderings, animations & video post-production work.

Summer

Graphics -

2019

Keyshot, Vray, Twin Motion, Corona Render, Adobe Suite

Rockwell Group Architecture Intern - New York, NY Worked to submit a 40,000+ sq. ft. competition proposal. Produced construction drawings, renderings, schematics, and visualizations to be used for client and marketing purposes. Presented and organized client meetings, conveying multiple stages of design intent and process work.

Community

Summer 2017

Olbrich Botanical garden-crew volunteer

Gensler Interiors Intern - Dallas, TX Worked within the interiors studio on all stages of projects, from concept and design development, to issued construction documents. Worked as a class of 7 interns to create a design solution for the new Boys and Girls Club Explore building, with the goal of issuing it as a precedent and template for future projects.

“A Taste of Energy” Sustainability Conference International Women’s Day Celebration volunteer

robschaf@alumni.upenn.edu

Sum/Fall 2016

ERDMAN Architectural Intern - Madison, WI Aided in the design of interior and exterior projects. Developed & produced architectural & construction documents for client use. Utilized Revit, AutoCAD, Photoshop, and other design programs to carry out tasks.

Honors and Awards

Publications

Alpha Ro Chi Medal - University of Pennsylvania

2021

Theresa A. Purnitun Top Portfolio Award - University of Wisconsin

2017

Paul Katz Fellowship Nomination - KPF Foundation

2021

Abby Marlatt Scholarship - University of Wisconsin

2017

AIA Pennsylvania Student Award - American Institute of Architects

2020

“Race to Zero” 2nd Place - Department of Energy

2017

Samuel K. Schneidman Fellowship - University of Pennsylvania

2020

Ruth Davis Design Gallery - University of Wisconsin

2016

Out of State Scholarship - Wisconsin Architects Foundation

2020

UW Design Studies Exhibition - University of Wisconsin

2015

Warren Powers Laird Award - University of Pennsylvania

2019

University of Pennsylvania Pressing Matters 8, 9, 10 https://issuu.com/penndesign/docs/pressing_matters_8 https://issuu.com/penndesign/docs/pm9_layout_pro02_singlelow

Department of Energy “Race to Zero” National Design Competition https://archinect.com/blog/article/149941435/uwmilwaukee-and-the-race-to-zero https://energy.wisc.edu/news/uw-team-wins-second-place-race-zero-competition https://uwm.edu/news/uwm-students-place-second-in-national-race-to-zero/ https://www.energy.gov/eere/buildings/2016-results

Wisconsin "All Ways Forward" Campaign Student https://www.allwaysforward.org/

Nature Art and Habitat - Reflections, Coexistence in times of COVID https://nahr.it/NAH_Reflections

Contents

001

Tec t o n ic In l a y

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Beyo n d t he Bl ack Stum p

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003

( Un ) Na t u r a l

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Hin t er l a n d

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Spo l ia Red u x

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Sen s o r ia l So l a ce

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Sa l t a t u r

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Ex p l o re In s t i t ute

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The Ba r n a nd its Othe r s

Mobile Microhome Ho u s i n g Fo r a Ne w Ag e

A Colla bor a tion wi th Ar ti f i c i al In te l l i ge n c e

Specula tion Beyon d the An thro p o c e n e

Ur ba n Da ta Inter p re tati o n

Menta l Hea lth Ret re at

Venice Bienna le

Community Cente r

Acad e mi c 0 0 1

Tectonic Inlay: Research Studio with Homa Farjadi, Neda Mostafafi & Max Hsu Spring 2021 | Semester VI | University of Pennsylvania Collaborators: Christine Eichhorn Publications: Featured in Pressing Matters X

In Rosalind Krauss’s writing Passages in Modern Sculpture she utilizes the Klein diagram to propose a series of relationships between Architecture and Landscape. Tectonic Inlay frames itself around a spectrum of affiliations focused on the dichotomy between additive and subtractive methods of creation. Research investigating existing barns and mines led us to propose a design that investigates ways in which assembled structures embed, slip, and interlock within an excavated site. The architecture generates ambiguous, interstitial spaces, pushing the inversion of “exterior interiority”. This design research and methodology is applied to an artist in residence program, working with the temporary occupants to create a relationship with the various spaces. Perhaps best captured by the words of Krauss herself, the tension between interior and exterior - assembly and excavation - is expressed in the following. “The result is a sense of voluptuous reciprocity between the form of the container and that of the contained—the exterior mass cradling the void set at its center like a vital organ, and the shape of the void appearing as the key to the developed form of the whole.”

Rosalind E. Krauss, Passages in Modern Sculpture

01.

As an introduction to this research project we began with an examination of the barn and ways in which voids and mass - addition and subtraction - work together to blur the edges between interior and exterior. An analysis at various scales took place, beginning with the macro level of the barn as a whole, working down to the minute details that create transformative elements.

Through this analysis, an understanding of ambiguity and volume began to take shape and mold a design thread.

03.

Inspired by Krauss and the Klein diagram, we created our own spectrum of affiliations centered around additive and subtractive methods of creation. Above you can see how these affiliations relate to one another and their manifestation within a volume.

The process of creation held an important role in these affiliations as it became the driver of our design method. Below, and in the pages that follow, you can see how the method of excavaction and assembly work in tandem, both limiting and driving the design methodology that creates tectonic inlay and its ambiguous interstitial spaces.

Process of Creation

04.

Seen below is an axonometric x-ray of the program in its entirety, showing the assembled structures embedded in the excavated voids. In the plans to the right, we can begin to see how these structures slip, and interlock within that excavated site. The clearances and radii of these voids follow the limitations of the machines used for digging, informing the design through the methods of creation. Programmatically, the dichotomy of voids and assemblies creates an unending result of spaces that can fit the needs of the occupants while encouraging interaction.

By supplying these “neither” spaces, the volumes can be filled and adapted to the changing desires of the rotating artists in residence. An important element of our design was to ensure a non-hierarchical system. Neither the architecture or the excavation takes precendence over the other, but hold on to a constant push and pull of the two. The notion of “exterior interiority” and “interior exteriority” developed - allowing the outside in, the inside out, creating interstitial spaces.

Mass

Infill

Void

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Axonometric X-Ray Drawing

Level 3

Level 2

Level 1

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Perspective X-Ray Section Drawing

Re si de n t i al 0 0 2

Beyond the Black Stump: Microhome Housing Competition Fall 2020

Collaborators: Christine Eichhorn

Square Footage : 24.5 m Location : Mobile Since 2020, we’ve had to rethink our notion of home, a space where we sleep, work, eat and socialize. With millions of people working remotely due to the coronavirus pandemic, this microhome serves as both an office and sleeping quarters. Our proposal seeks spatial flexibility through a minimal and off-grid design that fosters adventure and affordability. Made from pre-fabricated CNC plywood, the home can pivot and unfold through a series of crafted hinges to create various living configurations. The house can be relocated, allowing its inhabitants to work, sleep and travel in the comfort of their own home.

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As part of the off-grid design, our mobile microhome holds 10 interior planters for vegetables & herbs that can be folded down when the house opens to the exterior. Seen below in the exploded axon, solar PV panels line the roof and are routed to two converters and batteries inside the wall framing so that when the house splits apart each can have electricity. In addition, the home contains a wood burning heater, rain water collection, and sewage management. With all of this assembled on top of a trailer, the home can be emptied as easily as any standard RV would be.

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Perspective Section Drawing

Perspective Plan Drawing

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Acad e mi c 0 0 3

(Un)Natural: Neural Pathologies Research Studio with Karel Klein & Patrick Danahy Fall 2020 | Semester V | University of Pennsylvania Collaborators: Christine Eichhorn Publications: Featured in Pressing Matters X

(Un)natural is an investigation into the partnership between Artificial Intelligence and the human decision maker. We view this selection of works, not as the final determinate ending, but rather the culmination of experiments conducted with the collaboration of AI. Utilizing convolutional neural networks and generative adversarial networks, each outcome is carefully positioned, iterated, and re-positioned until a successful, molded output is achieved.

Moving through time, all scales of elements are examined, from the minute workings of seams, joints, parts, and texture within a catalogue of specimens; to the larger relationships of tectonics, erosion, ornament, and materiality within an architectural, even landscape, scale. These experiments examine architecture through the lens of George Canguilhem’s text, “The Normal and the Pathological”. In it, he defines Pathogens as specific causative agents of disease or disruptions of normative systems.

Even further, he defines normal, not always through the lens of pathology, but also as constantly re-defining and re-making as a result of the disruptive presence of pathogens. Using AI networks as a causative agent, these experiments allow us to discover new expressions, new normals, of architecture.

Having a long history of native wood, Governor’s Island, or Pagganuck meaning “Nut Island” inspired a deeper investigation into wood and the myriad possibilities related there. The juxtaposition of such a primitive building material paired with the new possibilities of AI led to an enchanting re-creation of our (un)natural world.

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GAN Wood Morphology Catalogue

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Examining our site of Governor’s island, looking through the lens of George Canguilhem, we began to imagine a “new normal” of a world comprised of wood. Using our AI as a causative agent, this experiment offered a focused direction and a blank slate for us to mold. Beginning with GAN training and neural style transfers, a new landscape and architecture was imagined. As our “pathogen” or causative agent passes through the space, we speculated on what would manifest and what would be left behind. With this in mind, our world slowly comes into focus, ranging from expansive scales of the landscape down to the intricate details of our mineralized pathogen.

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Section Drawing Utilizing Neural Networks & GAN as a Drawing Method

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(Un)natural Wood Ornament

Formed Pathogenic Landscape

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As a final step in our experiment we used the iterative, collaborative, research that had been conducted to take full agency over the outcome of our new architecture. Learning from the steps before, we molded a new “natural” architecture - one that blurs the boundaries between architecture and landscape, and flows between the shifting scales of pathogenic wood. In this process it was equally important to ponder what the new pathogen would create as well as what would be left behind. As the wood itself is disrupted, a mineralized shell is left behind in the “infected areas” - a learned behavior from earlier GAN studies. These mineralized shells leave cavernous voids in the space while the twisting wood creates new assemblies both above and below the surface. The tension between these two behaviors creates a multitude of spaces that goes beyond traditional “architecture” or “landscape” - bluring and questioning our understanding of what defines each.

Tectonic Wood Manifestation

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Acad e mi c 0 0 4

Hinterland: Concert Hall Studio with Simon Kim & Katarina Marjanovic Spring 2020 | Semester IV | University of Pennsylvania Collaborators: Christine Eichhorn Publications: Featured in Pressing Matters IX

hin·ter·land /’hin(t)er , land/ noun noun: hinterland; plural noun: hinterlands 1. an area lying beyond what is visible or known. “in the hinterland of his mind these things rose, dark and ominous” 2. the often uncharted areas beyond a coastal district or a river’s banks. “early settlers were driven from the coast into the hinterland” Similar: the back of beyond the middle of nowhere the backwoods the wilds the tall timbers a backwater the back country the booay the backveld the boondocks beyond the black stump Opposite: civilization Origin: late 19th century: from German, from hinter ‘behind’ + Land ‘land’

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Axonometric Cut-Away Drawing

Buried beneath the earth, Hinterland appears as little more than a mound of earth to those passing by.

Carved into the landscape, a single entrance and sequence restricts guests, prescribing their journey as they descend deeper into the ground.

Hinterland embraces the idea of temporality and speculates on the nature of the building as it enters the post-human era. This transitory study begins with the creation of the building and moves forward in time hundreds of years to a world that post dates the human race.

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ho·mun·cu·lus /he’ meNGkyeles , hō’ meNGkyeles/ noun plural noun: homunculi 1. a supposed microscopic but fully formed planet 2. a microcosm The homunculus is a hybrid between organism and micro-planet. Prior to fertilization, the homunculus exists as a soft skull embedded within a thin crust of humus encapsulated by a porous membrane.

Homunculi fall under the classification of dwarf planets due their capability of harboring life forms on the surface and the ability to generate their own atmosphere.

Due to the rampant growth of a homunculus it is advised by professionals to add a protective shell to the outer crust in order to decelerate growth. In the case study shown, the homunculus resists the concrete shell, expanding and eroding with the growth of the grass.

Similar to the way that humans have tried to control the wilderness in the world in which we live, mankind continues the mission to tame homunculi behavior.

The history of the homunculi will remain disclosed.

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Section Drawing

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Upper Restaurant Plan Drawing

With the site’s location found on the East River, our amphitheater carves down into the water and submerges its belly into the rocky shores that rest there. Rather than fight against the flow of the river, the stage and surrounding box seats tilt and bob with the rising and falling of the river’s tidal seasons.

To enter the coffered belly of this space buried deep in the ground, visitors must first descend through a series of episodic moments, removing any ties to the land above in order to lose themselves in the ground beneath. As if from a ritual, the descent follows the stream of water and moves through a cavernous cistern before opening up into the amphitheater beyond. This project doesn’t look to create a building, but rather a foreign realm buried beneath us - a world within worlds.

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Interior Rock Ceiling Assembly

Floating Stage Assembly

Amphitheater Box Seat Assembly

Green Roof Detail

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Sp e cula t i on Be yo n d t he A n t hro po c e ne 1 . Front Ent rance

2 . C i s t e rn Pas s age

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3 . C o nce r t Hall B ox Sea t

4 . Uppe r Lands cape

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Acad e mi c 0 0 5

Spolia Redux: Urban Market Studio with Brian DeLuna & Patrick Danahy Spring 2019 | Semester II | University of Pennsylvania

Publications: Featured in Pressing Matters VIII

“One can say that the city itself is the collective memory of its people, and like memory it is associated with objects and places. The city is the locus of the collective memory.”

- Aldo Rossi

Since its purchase in 1686, Manayunk has existed as an industrial settlement, utilizing the Schuylkill river as a means for transportation and production for the businesses that exist there. In the first half of the 20th century however, Manayunk began to experience financial troubles, beginning with a redlining act by banks and the government in the 1930’s in which they deemed the area unfit to receive loans. Right before the turn of the century in the late 1990’s Manayunk began to experience a wave of interest from a younger, wealthier population. This transition in demographics drastically changed the industries that called Manayunk home as well as the local businesses that situated there. Spolia Redux examines the changes in income and property value to better understand the impact that this younger generation has had. Using this information as a lens, the beginnings of a formal language is created for a proposed future market, hoping to address the issue of gentrification within Manayunk.

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Axonometric Cut-Away Drawing

Connecting to the past textile industry that existed in Manayunk, the proposed market re-introduces the bluecollar worker back into the town with a leather market.

Keeping up with new innovations, health concerns, and environmental problems, the new market specializes in synthetic leathers, free of noxious gases and pollutants into the land.

As an ode to the ancient Italian leather makers, and as an adaptation to the site, the Manayunk Leather Market situates itself onto the pedestrian bridge that borders the site. Similar to the Rialto bridge of Venice and the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the market and the bridge are not seperate entities working together, but rather one in the same, weaving together in an unbreakable form. With close proximity, just yards away from the Schuylkill River, the market can function as both a means of production and a store for those visiting. In addition, the existing industrial rail line flowing through the site from Philadelphia offers a means of supply transportation.

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Re si de n t i al 0 0 6

Sensorial Solace: Hospitality Studio with Roberto Rengel Fall 2017 | Semester V | University of Wisconsin

As our virtual world expands, society is increasingly finding itself in a never ending swirl of overstimulization and information. We lose ourselves in the constant barrage of negative news and addictive social media. Sensorial Solace serves as a return to the land - an escape from the neverending to find meaning in the moment.

This project is located on the craggy plains of Montana in the upper northwest reaches of the state, just outside Flathead National Forest. Serving as a retreat for those struggling with disorders ranging from addiction, to health problems, homelessness and many more, the space opens itself to the land, complimenting and provoking it without interrupting. Grounding yourself in the moment involves an immersion in your surroundings. Sensorial Solace focuses on the tactility of the natural world, the roughness of a rock in your hand or the sweep of grass against your ankle, to clear the mind and focus on the here and now. A sensorial tension is created with soft materials breaking against hard, while a neutral, natural palette calms the mind and provides a respite from an overstimulated lifestyle.

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Below, an example unit of the concept can be seen, with a vision for this space to exist as a campus. The grounds would be connected via outdoor walkways providing a needed social and functional connection while allowing for space and privacy between occupants. Within each of these units the experience would be focused outword through apertures and orientation, again drawing attention away from the users and towards the surrounding landscape. At the heart of these designs is a tactile simplicity, the goal being to blur the edges between indoor and outdoor where possible, while encouraging the occupants to find peace and calm with a return to nature.

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Axonometric Site Drawing

Plan and Elevation Drawing

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Profe ssi on al Ex per i en c e

007

Saltatur: Venice Biennale Spring 2021 | Polyhedral Structures Lab Research Assistant

Collaborators: Christine Eichhorn

The Spring of 2021 I had the opportunity to lead a post-production team on a virtual exhibit for the Venice Biennale. The project was the Saltatur exhibit - a structural prototype created using graphic statics that is comprised of members in pure tension and compression. The team credited with the creation of the Saltatur structure is all of those at the Polyhedral Structures lab led by Masoud Akbarzadeh.

For the exhibit my team and I created a 3 minute animation demonstrating the concept creation, calculations, and fabrication of the Saltatur structure. This animation was fully produced with music, narration, graphics, and kinetic renderings. Because the Venice Biennale was virtual for the year of 2021 our animation was the showcase for this project and was aired for the whole exhibition.

Our animation can be viewed with the QR Code or at link below: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxoRZOYGfrI

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Profe ssi on al Ex per i en c e

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Explore Institute: Community Center Summer 2017 | Gensler Internship

Collaborators: Lawson Spencer, Lynced Torres, Guillem Canals, Kristi Klimacek, Stella Lee, Hannah Yeung

The Summer of 2017 I had the opportunity to intern with Gensler at their Dallas office. Together the other six interns and I completed an independent pro-bono project for the Boys and Girls Club.

The project dealt with the community at large, hoping to bring together the developing Trinity Groves area with the existing West Dallas neighborhood. The building will serve as a trade school and as an alternative for those who cannot afford or choose not to attend college.

The site is located on Fish Trap lake, right across the street from Pinkston High School.

The new building will create a relationship with the existing high school, hoping to connect the two communities. Singleton Blvd. is the primary thoroughfare running through the Trinity Groves neighborhood which was taken into consideration when placing our public spaces and branding opportunities for the site.

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DALLAS

2 mile

NEIGHBORHOOD

singleton blvd.

singleton blvd.

1 mi.

1 mi.

culinary arts

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college readiness

computer science

TRINITY GROVES

35E

TRINITY GROVES 366

SINGLETON BLVD

[X]

35E

30 30

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N HA

trinity river

MPTO N RD

pinkston high

E[X]PLORE INSTITUTE

original B&G

N WESTMORELAND RD

west fork

EXTRUDED ADDITIONS TO THE FACADE

ROTATED ENTRY CARVING

EXTRUDED ADDITIONS TO THE FACADE

EXTRUDED ADDITIONS TO THE FACADE

We had the opportunity to meet with branding consultants, and it was during one of these sessions that we decided on the Explore theme. The intent being to use this concept as a template, regardless of the subject matter or location, for example Explore construction or Explore retail, etc.

Above is a programmatic breakdown of our research process. It begins with the existing East Dallas Boys and Girls Club and a typical culinary building. From there you can see our interpretation and evolution of the program to better fit our own buildings needs.

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RETAIL SHOWCASE

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ATRIUM

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COMPUTER STATIONS

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COMMUNITY LOUNGE

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STUDENT GALLERY

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EMPLOYEE OFFICES

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CONFERENCE ROOM

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WOMEN’S ROOM

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MEN’S ROOM

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CAFE

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GALLERY KITCHEN 0

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FIRST FLOOR

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