RRuppel Portfolio

ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN PORTFOLIO RYAN RUPPEL

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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401 - plow election center

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402 - the creators in exile

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403 -to play

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302 - austerity monastery

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DBIA - Design-Build Competition

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Professional Work

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Other Design Work

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401 - plow election center Date: Fall 2024 Class: ARCH 401 Professor: Andrew Gleeson Partner(s): Josh Newman

Plow. The steel plow built the state of Iowa by carving the prairie soil and brought civilization in its wake.

Designed for a proposed state election center in Des Moines, the Plow sits across from the historical courthouse and challenges it for monumentality. Inside are two levels, the lowest with the election and event center while the upper introduces a post office and farmers market. The plow collides with the building mass, splitting the interior and carving into the spaces below. Inside it are hydroponic bays growing food for the community and their uv lights shine down into the election space. The plow celebrates and encourages the vote in current climates while encouraging reflection on historical forces.

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401 - plow election center

The Design involves two floors, with a mezzanine in the plow. In the main floor area, there is the marketplace and post office. The form of the plow enters the main space carving the grid. A staircase follows along down below. The main event center caucus space is on the lower floor, underneath the gardens. Several skylights lighten up this space. The plow space holds hanging pulleys containing hydroponic bays. The interior is lit by their purple UV lights that shine down to both floors below. The plow itself is clad in a weathering corten steel.

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401 - plow election center

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401 - plow election center 16' - 0" H

I

SKYLIGHT

ASPHALT SHEETING ROOF FELT INSULATION BOARD STEEL DECKING

W-FLANGE STEEL GIRDER FRAMING - SSD

METAL PANEL SYSTEM STEEL FRAMING ALUMINUM STOREFRONT MULLION W/ DOUBLE GLAZING LEVEL 2 20' - 0"

TERRAZZO ACOUSTIC UNDERLAYMENT SUBFLOOR W12x16 STEEL FLOOR JOISTS - SSD

VAPOR BARRIER

LEVEL 1 5' - 0"

ALUMINUM STOREFRONT MULLION W/ DOUBLE GLAZING DRAINAGE CHANNEL 6" EXTERIOR CONCRETE SLAB

5' - 0"

IN-FLOOR SKYLIGHT

PAINTED GYP. BD W-FLANGE COLUMN W/ BATT INSULATION - SSD

ACOUSTIC CEILING 15' - 0"

HVAC DUCTWORK

SEALANT

IN-FLOOR SKYLIGHT

10' - 0"

GROUND 0' - 0"

TERRAZZO ACOUSTIC UNDERLAYMENT

CONCRETE FLOOR SLAB - SSD 3" RIGID INSULATION BOARD

BSMT -10' - 0"

WALL SECTION A 1 1/2" = 1'-0" 0

2'

6'

8'

As a part of the comprehensive studio, we developed details for the project and to show the feasibility of our ideas. At the wall of the civic space, the lower floor is offset to create a clear story window and let light in. At each column, there is a skylight that helps further carry light down into that space.

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GARDENS W-FLANGE STEEL GIRDER SSD FLOOR WITH TERRAZO ABOVE OPEN SPACE W/ SKYLIGHT ABOVE BOLTED STEEL ANGLE - SSD

W-FLANGE STEEL COLUMN WRAPPED W/ GWB - SSD

TOP SOIL BASE SOIL DRAINAGE LAYER STEEL DECKING

STEEL PLATE CONNECTOR SSD

SKYLIGHT SKYLIGHT SPACE FRAME

DRAINAGE DRAINAGE PIPE PIPE

ACOUSTIC CEILING

PLANT SHELF

COLUMN DETAIL 0

3" = 1'-0"

2’

GARDEN SKYLIGHT DETAIL 0

3" = 1'-0"

2’

PERFORATED CORTEN STEEL SKYLIGHT

SPACE SPACE FRAME FRAME STRUCTURE STRUCTURE

GWB WALL BOARD STEEL FRAMING XPS RIGID INSULATION SPACE FRAME STRUCTURE GLASS FIBER INSULATION BOARD AIR GAP DOUBLE GLAZED WINDOW PERFORATAED

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402 - the creators in exile

Date: Spring 2025 Class: ARCH 402 Professor: Peter Zuroweste Partner(s): JT Crowe Josh Newman

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From research into the conditions and architecture of refugees, displaced, and exiles, problems emerged. Combined with critical analysis of philosophers including Edward Said and Friedrich Nietzsche, questions emerged. The Venice Biennale being the curator and setting for the exhibition provided the opportunity for critique. How does nationalism create exile? The biennale has no space for the stateless, the creators in exile. Can anational assemblages be used as space for the creators in exile? Case studies brought form and frame to these questions. The assemblages are collided and combined from salvage materials. Canvas, bamboo, and aluminum. Waxed dyed canvas triangles provide both reassembly and expression. Joints are metal rings, bolts, and zip ties used interchangeably. The project was based in, transported to, assembled at, and presented at the 2025 Venice Biennale.

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402 - the creators in exile

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403 -to play

Date: Fall 2025 Class: ARCH 403 Professor: Peter Goché Partner(s): JT Crowe Carter Clayberg

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to play follows a semester-long experimentative exploration, where the work unfolds through moments of play. Guided by Zen principles, attention, impermanence, and effortless effort, the performance arrives through creative improvisation. What emerges is an experience not predetermined but discovered, the cumulative result of ideas tested, discarded, and reshaped. to play invites audiences to experience an installation that is transient, the space changes with each passing instant. The ephemeral performance exists only in the now, an ode to the fleeting beauty of play.

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403 -to play

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302 - austerity monastery Date: Spring 2024 Class: ARCH 302 Professor: Peter Goché

This project’s site is the mile between Slater and Sheldahl Iowa.

From the first site visit, the lasting impression was the wind. While walking you are completely bathed in the wind. I started to explore how wind was manipulated by the site. General topography was carved by glaciers, but specific topography is created by wind. I made a model of the topography lines and layered paper over it.

Applying charcoal through various methods created a wind map.

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Across most of the site, the wind blows through unimpeded, but the trees stand in defiance of the wind and create an area of calm. This would be the monastery. The monastery is laid out as four buildings, oriented to direct the wind to one point, the sanctuary. Architecture creates a space outside by manipulating the wind and creating a space of intense adversity for meditation. The high winds in the sanctuary aid focus during meditation. Forms and orientaions were tested with fluid dynamic software. Each of the monastery buildings took on a slender aerodynamic shape.

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302 - austerity monastery

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302 - austerity monastery

Each building is clad in corrugated metal borrowing from the typology of Iowa and the Midwest. The facade detail comes from Perforated Horizon, a grain bin that has been standing for over a hundred years, once used to dry grain with the wind. The perforations create a light pattern that moves with the sun. The perforations are barely visible from the outside, combined with the doors, it makes what appears to be a uninterrupted skin facade. In terms of modeling, I used perforated metal cans to replicate the light effect.

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DBIA - Design-Build Institute of America Competition

During my time at Iowa State, I have competed with the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) team. Teams are Architectural and Construction Engineering students working together as a mock design build company to produce a RFQ and RFP. For the 2023 competition, the project was a university gymnasium my team won the Midwest Regionals and competed in the National competition held in Maryland.

Out of 32 teams and 8 regional winners, we placed 6th. For the 2024 competition, the project was a terminal expansion at an existing airport. At the National competition in Dallas, we placed 4th. The 2025 competition was an phased expansion of the previous airport.

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Professional Work - Willett Hoffmann & Associates

Date: May 2023- January 2025 Firm: Willett Hoffmann & Associates Architect(s): Paul Newman

During my summer internships at Willett Hoffmann, I worked on complex civic and historic projects. For the Ottumwa City Hall historic renovation, I utilized Revit to develop detailed BIM models, focusing on accurate existing-conditions modeling.

My work also extended to the Fulton streetscape remodel, where I used Enscape to make high-fidelity renderings and immersive walkthroughs to communicate design intent to stakeholders.

Additionally, I led the construction documentation for the Ottumwa Cemetery maintenance building, coordinating architectural layouts with structural requirements.

Designed at and property of Willett Hoffmann & Associates.

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Professional Work - Origin Design

Date: Summer 2025 Firm: Origin Design Architect(s): Zach Thielen Nick Rettenberger

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During my summer internship at Origin Design, I contributed to both large-scale commercial work and detailed historical analysis projects. I played a key role in developing complete construction documents for the AY McDonald Manufacturing Facility in Bristol, TN, collaborating with the project team to translate design intent into clear, buildable drawings. In addition, I supported the Dubuque Community School District by producing comprehensive historical and existing-conditions plans for every school in the district.

This work included extensive documentation for facilities such as Jefferson Middle School and Marshall Elementary, helping lay the groundwork for future improvements and long-term planning.

Through these projects, I strengthened my technical drafting skills, deepened my understanding of building systems, and gained handson experience working with multidisciplinary teams.

Designed at and property of Origin Design Inc.

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Romeo and Juliet Windmill

As part of a class on scale, I studied the Romeo and Juliet Windmill by Frank Lloyd Wright. An 1896 design, it was built for his aunts and what would eventually become a part of Taliesin. The windmill is comprised of two shapes, a diamond that intersects an octagon.

Wright named these two parts of the building “Romeo” and “Juliet”, respectively. Romeo is oriented southeast to deflect the wind. The diamond goes halfway into the octagonal volume that supports it throughout nearly its full height. The whole structure rises 60ft and sits on a stepped stone base.

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Of all Taliesin, the windmill both stands out and blends in. It plays with scale as a vertically oriented object with strong horizontals. The combination of geometries evokes a sense of foreshadowing to his later work of non rectilinear grids. My model at 1/2” = 1’-0” stands at thirty inches and includes working windmill blades. The project also includes a pencil rendering of the windmill in the style of Marion Mahony Griffin who would be in Wright’s employ by this time.

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401 - trust voting kiosk

Date: Fall 2024 Class: ARCH 401 Professor: Andrew Gleeson

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Tasked with encourgaing more voting turnout in Des Moines, the voting kiosk project began by investigating causes of voting. Lack of trust in the system was widespread. Voting by mail, however, was found to be widely trusted. The voting kiosk became a method to increase access to voting by mail. The kiosk involves attaching to existing and proposed mail collection boxes, providing a place to receive and deposit mail in ballots. The design evokes the post office eagle as well as patriotic colors for recognition, to stand out and to encourage the vote. Growing out of the system of trust, a kind of meta propaganda system emerged with posters featuring the kiosk. In Mail We Trust.

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7th & Walnut

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Sculptural Chainmail

Chainmail is a fascinating and ancient material. For my honors project I set out to explore it’s possibilities. I tested various weave patterns, rust and tension. With the goal to make 3D forms, I called the project Sculptural Chainmail. The traditional pattern of mail is the European 4 in 1 weave where each ring is connected to four others. There are thousands of weaves, each varying in traits like rigidity. The resulting forms are kits of parts in compelling but fragile assemblies. The rust method involved sheets of mail and use rust to hold them in form. Through various techniques, rust

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bound the rings successfully, yet even more fragile. The last form was to approach the form of chair and introduce other forms of metal. Aluminum tubes and regular chain in combination with mail sheet creates a lounge chair form that successfully holds the weight of a person. The prototype has problems, yet it and the other methods open the door to more possibilities and experiments.

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