Sean O'Brien_Design Portfolio

S ele c te d Wor k s , 2 0 1 2 - 2 0 1 9 Ac a de mi c + Co mpet i t i o n s Re s e a rc h Profe s s i o n a l Wo r k

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Contents This portfolio contains a body of student work, personal and academic research, and professional work that posits questions concerning the contemporary practice of design as it relates to the city.

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Academic + Competitions 06 Forum for the Arts 16 Towards an Architecture of Agency 24 Urban Shift: Object +Field 30 Farm Rover 36 Threshold 42 University Island

R Research 52 [Mega] Event: Boone Powell Family Prize 58 Dwelling and Ritual 62 Isovists and Space Syntax

P Professional Work 68 Oakland Athletics Howard Terminal Master Plan 78 Screen House 86 Urumqi International Airport

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Academic + Comptitions 06 Forum for the Arts 16 Towards an Architecture of Agency 24 Urban Shift: Object +Field 30 Farm Rover 36 Threshold 42 University Island

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Forum for the Arts A Flexible Space for Artistic Expression Spring 2014 Austin, TX

Studio Brief: The striving for the third dimension marks the first megaliths as much as the sacred space of the gothic cathedral, Sullivan’s “Tall Office Building,” or today’s iconic towers rising from the deserts of the Arabian Peninsula. Once tied to a modernist utopia as the “tower in the park,” verticality today is just as often the outcome of a merciless stacking of real estate in emerging global cities: motivations to “build up” have differed, as much as its architectural possibilities have evolved over time along with technologies and materials. But at the core, the essential architectural parameters of vertical organization have remained unchanged: structure, circulation, and building envelope continue to determine the possibilities and limits of these vertical worlds.

Investigation: A forum, throughout history, is a place where people meet and gather on an equal plane, where particular views and ideas on an issue are exchanged The constraints of our urban site, along with the proposed program, created the need to adapt the forum into a vertical typology. So, our initial question was, how does a vertical building capture the spirit of a forum?

This building is situated between two distinct zones in Austin’s burgeoning arts community. Arts in Austin are defined by an eclectic overlap of type and use. Here, peculiar adjacencies promote a richly diverse space. In the downtown, you have the refined box gallery, the gallery in the tower, and open space used for installa6

tion. These types are focused on display.

In East Austin, you have the bungalow house converted studio and the warehouse studio as two distinct types, focused on production. So, what we became interested in is how this architecture can build the conversation of what art is in Austin, mediating these two zones. Traditionally, a forum is an object that has a distinct interface with the surrounding city. A porous perimeter encloses the overall structure, with multiple layers.

We reinterpreted this into the concept of a double skin.

Used on the entire building, the face becomes alive, adapting to the day and desires of the user.

How does a vertical building capture the spirit of a forum and promote artistic freedom, engagement, and the informal spontaneity of the everyday?

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Study Models Vertical form 8

Parti The house above the forum

Program Vertical and horizontal connectivity

Atria The open forum

Circulation Connecting the vertical forum

Structure/ Envelope Open/close, solid/void

Aperture Porosity at several scales 9

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Organization The various components of the design are meant to reinforce the concept of the house above the forum, using variability and variety as a primary focus. Several scales of activity occur within the forum zone. The forum is a space for interaction between the visitors and the makers, becoming an important point of exchange.

Classic Forum

Porous enclosure

Exterior A

Exterior B ENCLOSURE IDEA

Interior - Exterior A

Interior - Exterior B

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Urban Interface In the double-skin facade system, one of the skins is a weather enclosure. The second skin is a variable enclosure, meant to affect light and views. The variable enclosure is a system of operable louvers. They operate automatically with manual overrides.

The color palette changes between North/ South and East/ West Facades. A single facade is defined by its system of louvers which incorporate analogous colors throughout.

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Structure and Skin The overall structural system responds to both program and circulation. At three key moments, the facade completely dissolves to expose the structural system beyond, while allowing those within that space to reconnect to the urban context beyond.

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Movement The primary path of circulation is meant to foster not only moments of rapid movement between display platforms, but also allows for moments of pause. These moments of pause become central zones which foster display and performance and mediate between the artist’s display/ production zones.

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Towards an Architecture of Agency Itaim Paulista Fall 2015 São Paulo, Brazil

Studio Brief:

Investigation:

As São Paulo continues to expand in area and grow in population, the conditions that define informal occupation of urban space must improve in order to increase safety, create better access routes for basic services, and allow for environmental regeneration in areas within the floodplain that have become spaces for refuse and sewage. In zones that are primarily occupied by residents without proper land title, inefficient construction systems limit the neighborhoods ability to grow vertically, resulting in a severe lack of safe public space on the ground.

So, how do those who live informally be empowered to build safer and to verticalize in order to leave the ground space free for flood mitigation and public space?

This is not only a question of agency, but also a question of scales of production within the region.

In Itaim Paulista (a neighborhood on the periphery of the city) the lack of educated construction knowledge tends to promote unsafe building systems, poor ventilation, and improper access and egress from one’s home. With all of these factors taken into account, it is important for one to ask ‘What is the role of architecture in improving the future of informality as Latin American cities continue to grow?’

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One might say that architects need to rethink how knowledge of building becomes disseminated within these communities in order to promote a more structured, educated, and sustainable informality. This project explores how a single construction system that has been traditionally predominant in the formal building sector in São Paulo could become the basis for a new form of informality.

With this goal in mind, ‘An Architecture of Agency’ questions how one might create a

hybrid space the exists between formally regulated and informally occupied urban space. This proposal suggests a tactical approach that is focused on building systems and processes more than architectural products through the use of participatory design practices.

How can flexible frameworks and adaptable systems be used in a new, participatory design process that allows one to reclaim their right to the city?

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Flexible Structural Systems: Waffle Slab The basic structural unit which drives these interventions is the waffle slab/ shear wall system. The two-way waffle slab creates the horizontal system of structure that will accept the new housing infill. The shear walls allow the units to grow vertically.

This system is considered flexible based on its ability to grow horizontally in two directions and respond to the unique infill conditions of each block.

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Occupancy

Occupancy

2017 0%

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Occupancy

Occupancy

2021 25%

2023 40%

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Occupancy

Occupancy

2025

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2020

60%

2027 80%

Public Space Typological Variation The public zone has varying programmatic and environmental functions that can be understood within a grid layout. This layout is meant to work with the structural system above. Certain blocks will lobby for certain types of public spaces, while other blocks will choose new alternatives based primarily on proximity to other types of spaces.

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Infill Over Time Public Space 2017

Infill Over Time Public Platform 2020

Infill Over Time Residences 2027

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Housing: Vertical Growth 22

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Urban Shift Urban Housing Prototype Spring 2014 Austin, TX Studio Brief:

Investigation:

Current housing typologies which define Austin’s urban edge are formally and experientially fixed to particular generations of housing and are made to accommodate specific user lifestyles.

Austin’s character is defined by its eclecticism and variety, which create unusual adjacencies; drawing people from across the country and world to come to live, work, and study.

As the urban edge continues to densify and the population in Austin grows, architects need to rethink contemporary typologies in urban housing in order to maintain the layers of variety which make Austin a desirable place to live.

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In order to accommodate the capricious and constantly shifting needs of present and future users, architects must seek to develop new building frameworks which are not tethered to a particular moment in time, but able to adjust to

future needs and uses. As such, I sought to develop flexibility within a framework and to encourage a variety of user types and family sizes in order to promote the diversity which makes city living desirable.

...architects must seek to develop new building frameworks that are not tethered to a particular moment in time, but able to adjust to future needs and uses.

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The Block [extruded]

Three Houses [divide]

Private Courtyard [void]

Street Presence [pulled]

Vertical Density [grow]

Elevated Public Space [connect]

Flexible Systems Within this framework, the goal is to allow a certain level of user control over the spaces they own, in order to give both the individual and the family a chance to define their needs within a space and allow their home to become a personal expression of the individual. In the public zone, the goal is to uphold the independence of space that makes suburban living appealing while shaping the public zone to promote the relational space that makes the city a desirable place to live.

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Section A-A’

Section B-B’

Elevation

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Farm Rover Public Interest Design Summer 2015 Austin, TX

Studio Brief: The population of Austin consumes only 1% of its food from local growers, necessitating more urban farming, especially in neighborhoods with limited access to fresh produce. However, coupled with the city’s rapid growth, dedicating more land to urban farms and community gardens feeds another problem of sharply rising property costs.

The City aims to address this issue pro-actively by encouraging farming within the floodplain.

But, the risks accompanied with the strategy are obvious, and to move forward, one must investigate solutions to lower the risk of farming on land that is so vulnerable to disastrous flash floods.

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Investigation: Farm Rover offers an inexpensive starter kit for individuals and small organizations to get growing, even if their land sits within the floodplain.

The mobile support structure protects the farming infrastructure from flooding, even if the crops may be lost.

The design team collaborated with Green Gate Farms, a local farm with two locations (one urban, one rural), as well as the Multicultural Refugee Coalition (an organization that empowers refugees in Austin through its community gardening and farm partnership programs). Through this collaboration, the team identified priorities of urban/rural farmers and

community gardeners alike to design a flexible modular unit. Intended as a kit of parts, the structure is designed to be replicated by individuals with little or no construction experience. Ultimately, the built prototype addresses an urban farming program, but the overall design flexes to accommodate community garden and rural farming programs as well, reflecting the diverse needs of the city to access fresh food.

How can a mobile, flexible farming unit advance the potential for urban farming in the floodplain in order to improve the future of healthy food access in the city?

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Aperture One of the primary criteria for the design of the mobile farming unit was shade.

The shading flip is adjusted via hydraulic lifts which are welded to the structural frame. The operable flips on each side of the trailer allow for control over the angle of enclosure and amount of shading, while also creating full security when shut.

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Threshold High School, Community Garden, and Interpretive Center Spring 2013 Lincoln, NE Studio Brief: The primary initiative for the development of a new high school and educational center at Prairie Pines (a rural parcel of land near the city center of Lincoln, Nebraska) was to explore the thresholds that mediate agriculture and ecology, as well as building and site.

Investigation: The design framework considers the mediation of two edge conditions; agricultural and ecological. As the building design straddles these two conditions, an axis emerges which interrupts the division between ecology and agriculture.

This building framework is meant to serve the educational function of immersing the students in nature. The site becomes a grounds for exploration and research.

The agricultural zone and interpretive center is open to the local community.

These two pieces of infrastructure form the community garden which is used and maintained by students and local residents. The overall value of this type of immersion is to stress the values of engagement with the natural environment and learning through making at a young age.

How does architecture position itself between opposing spatial dichotomies; order/ disorder, wild/ tame?

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Locating the Threshold Identifying the ideal threshold for educational intervention

Occupying the Open Edge Locating the open zone to incorporate a new building framework

Manipulating the Edge Pushing the forest edge through the planting of new trees

The Building as Threshold Establishing the general building massing

Primary Axis Creating a new axis of movement

Final Design Framework An axis emerges which interrupts the division between ecology and agriculture

Circulation

Rain Gardens

Agriculture + Community Center + Interpretive Center

Program and Axis

The Garden and the Lawn

Classrooms

Paths Two paths define the external circulation of the overall design. One path creates a singular axis through the design, while a second path follows the building’s edge. The public paths create a continuity between internal and external circulation and visual connection, from the moment you enter the school or site.

Terra Innova University Island Summer 2015 Venice, Italy

Design Brief:

Investigation:

Venice has never completely forgot Poveglia, but its citizens stopped visiting the island over time as it became a natural setting for the grimmest tales and fantastic rumors. But, this situation will soon change. The Italian Government – the owner of the estate – has lately put a spotlight on Poveglia, in order to make a reuse of the island possible.

Terra Innova challenges cultural norms of design intervention within the natural environment by eliminating the implications of stability and control. Terra Innova achieves this via the introduction of a network of canals that shape the existing landscape at varied cadences.

In the wake of this purpose, this design seeks to create a project to transform Poveglia into a dream university campus; a place of training and leisure for the many students gathering in Venice.

How can one transform a desert island into a research center? Which architecture should be integrated in one of the most delightful locations in the Venetian Lagoon in order to create an international campus to equal the value of one of the most stunning cities in the world?

Terra Innova acknowledges the inevitable threat of rising waters and embraces the necessity for ecosystems to change and fluctuate over time...

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The design is divided into four separate zones carved from the intersection of the existing canal and a new canal that runs along the length of the island. The living zone, preservation zone, research zone, and regenerative zones are connected by elevated paths organized along a deformed grid that is influenced by the existing landscape. These paths are also in-

crementally placed to join programmatic elements, and support the islanders’ mental separation from the island’s dark and unhealthy past.

This project acknowledges the inevitable threat of rising waters and embraces the necessity for ecosystems to change and fluctuate over time. It provides an environment in which faculty and student’s research can improve not only local but global issues regarding water pollution, animal habitat preservation, and ecological systems.

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Distorted Grid

Layering new systems of organization to respond to the landscape

Bridge

Drawing connections across the main axes of travel

Resilient Ecologies/ Fish Farms

Incorporating a network of fish farms and mangrove forests

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Fracture / Channel

Manipulating the landscape to create new networks of travel

Loop Connection

An elevated pedestrian network which bridges the island’s ecological networks

Research/ Investigate

Establishing the zones of research, education, maintenance, preservation

Year 0

Year 25

Year 50

Year 100 Resilient Ecologies: Mangrove Forests and Tides Growth over time

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Research University The new research institution creates a network of elevated infrastructure, focused around the water transportation network and fish farming research zones.

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The Preserve Existing buildings are maintained as preserves for special bird habitats.

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Water Transit + Bird Sanctuary Manipulating the landscape allows for the creation of a new network of boat travel. Connections are then drawn across the main axes of travel, bridging zones of emphasis.

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Student Residences The student residences are formed as elevated units which are bridged by a continuous path. The units are joined at collective communal zones within the existing forest.

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R Research 52 [Mega] Event: Boone Powell Family Prize 58 Dwelling and Ritual 62 Isovists and Space Syntax

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[Mega] Event Spectacle and Space in the Post-Industrial City Boone Powell Prize in Urban Design Summer 2016 Barcelona, Lisbon, London

Investigation: Historically, World’s Fairs and other temporary events have laid road maps for where and how urban development takes place in host cities, leveraging improvements and long-term services. In recent years, mega-events like the Olympic Games, the World Cup, and World Expos have transformed the infrastructure and image of global cities through socio-economic, socio-cultural, physical, and political means. The compression of time and the scale of development can bring about change in cities which normally takes several decades to complete.

The function of mega-events goes beyond the purpose of spectacle. Today, the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona serve as a model for how planners, architects, and city officials are able to exercise large influx of capital and investment in order to

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transform urban space and reinvent the image of the post-industrial city. The Olympic Games in Barcelona were leveraged as a way to re-launch the city in light of economic and political crisis in the mid 1970s to the mid 1980s. Following the successful Olympic bid in 1981, Barcelona experienced unprecedented rates of construction activity, as the city awaited the tremendous influx of visitors and extraordinary international attention.

For this study of event driven development, I traveled to Barcelona (Olympics 92’), Lisbon (Expo 98’), and London (Olympics 2012). In each city, I compared the constructs of architecture and public space in relation to massive urban renewal programs related to Mega-events.

...mega-events like the Olympic Games have transformed the image of global cities through socio-economic, socio-cultural, physical, and political means...

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Landmarks: Free Play

Nodes: Towers of Progress

Districts: City and Memory

Paths and Edges: New urban centers

Landmarks: Monument and Spectacle

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Empirical Mapping: Paths, Nodes, Edges, Districts, Landmarks

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Dwelling and Ritual To Build a Home Fall 2016

Investigation: The concept of home is one that is subject to diverse and often conflicting interpretations. This study explores the poetic nature, theory, and concept of a home.

Specifically, it focuses on design theories concerned with how one crafts a home, and what it means to dwell in a place.

This topic is approached from several angles; through personal narrative and writing/ reflection on the texts for study, as well as small design projects which explore how the designer can create and find the poetic in the craft of a dwelling space.

As such, the study approaches the home as an abstract idea, exploring the psychological phenomena of what it means to dwell, as well as the physical reality of

how one begins to construct a home (in both the literal and abstract notion of the words “to construct”).

The design of the tea tray involves the exploration of two unique architectural ideas; home and ritual. This process considers how design can serve a functional and meditative purpose in shaping and enhancing the rituals that become part of one’s dwelling space. Here, design can have varying degrees of influence at different scales.

“Dwelling and building are related as end and means. However, as long as this is all we have in mind, we take dwelling and building as two separate activities, an idea that has something correct in it. Yet at the same time by the means-end schema we block our view of the essential relations. For building is not merely a means and a way toward dwelling -to build is in itself already to dwell. Who tells us this? Who gives us a standard at all by which we can take the measure of the nature of dwelling and building?”

Building, Thinking, Dwelling

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Variation of Use The design provides space for the integration of all necessary components.

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Vessel

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Isovists and Space Syntax Graduate Research: Professor Michael Benedikt Fall 2014 - Spring 2016

Investigation: For decades, Professor Michael Benedikt has been a prominent leaders in isovist and relational theories in architectural space. During my time at the University of Texas at Austin, I worked with Michael Benedikt as a graduate research assistant.

My primary role dealt with generating the three dimensional digital models, parametric scripts, and digital drawings in order to accurately represent Professor Benedikt’s theories graphically. The following drawings are meant to be published as representational tools in his up and coming book, which furthers his theories on relational space.

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The primary theory being explored through Professor Benedikt’s research deals with how humans form relationships in space and how that relationship changes based on the experience and exchange of gazes between individuals and small/ large groups of people.

In contemporary architectural discourse, this research becomes increasing relevant based on the insurgence of digital technologies and tools which allow the modeling of space to react to given parameters in real time.

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P Professional Work 68 Oakland Athletics Howard Terminal Master Plan 78 Screen House 86 Urumqi International Airport

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Oakland Athletics’ Howard Terminal Master Plan

Summer 2018 - Present Oakland, CA

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Investigation: The new Howard Terminal Master Plan for the Oakland Athletics baseball team is meant to be a ballpark neighborhood, invoking the notion of the ‘jewel box’ stadiums of the past like Wrigley Field and Shibe Park. The surrounding development seamlessley morphs to the radial grid offset by the ballpark design, allowing for stadium viewing from the building rooftops.

With the intention of creating a waterfront stadium, the ballpark is positioned to the southeast of the site. This positioning allows for the stadium to have views to the waterfront and orients the stadium entry towards the primary pedestrian paths to the east.

The primary public spaces are oriented around the waterfront, emphasizing the bay as the site’s most prominent experiential asset.

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Ballpark Orientation

Pedestrian Desire Lines

City Grid

Ballpark Grid

Secondary Circulation

Ballpark Green Loop

Site Plan By morphing the urban grid to the radial grid of the ballpark, the neighborhood becomes integrated with the stadium design.

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Urban Framework

Vehicular Circulation

Public Space

Activated Corridors

Green Spaces

Character Zones

Athletics’ Way The area between the stadium and the ballpark is a public street shaped by a series of spaces that weave between the stadium entrances and become an extension of the ballpark concourse.

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Waterfront The serrated waterfront edge provides a variety of public amenities.

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Linear The space between devel linear park, connecting

r Park lopment buildings forms a g the city to the water.

Market Street The primary north-south axis is the main commercial corridor for the development.

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Screen House

Spring 2014 Austin, TX

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Investigation: The screen house was created for a client who requested a house that could be made from three materials; stone, steel, and copper.

This house was conceived as a mass of stone, set in a grove of trees. The limestone, which is quarried from Leuders, Texas, helps to create an architecture that appears from the site.

The project site is in the hill country of Austin, Texas overlooking Lake Austin. It is a long and narrow site, oriented east-to west. The site drops steeply to the west,

orienting one’s view out towards the lake and the rolling hills.

The perimeter of the house is defined by deep overhangs and a series of protected exterior spaces that promote outdoor gathering. The overall orientation of the project is meant to maximize the impact of light and view, while protecting the oak and cedar trees that define the existing landscape.

to the hills on the west of the site and mitigate head gain during the hot Texas summer. The contrast between the stereotomic, carved forms, and the tectonic nature of the steel and copper screen, creates an archtiectural framework that is responsive to the environmental conditions present at the site.

A steel framework and screen system forms a secondary structure of shading and enclosure to accommodate the view

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Urumqi International Airport Design Competition Summer 2012 Urumqi, China

Investigation: Air travel is an important vehicle for cultural, economic, and human exchange.

Situated close to the historic Silk Road that once functioned as the key trading route between East and West, Urumqi evokes the earliest days of globalization.

The Xianjing province, located in western China, has played a key role in centuries of interaction between the Far West, the Middle East, and the Far East.

The airport serves as a sign of Xinjiang’s ongoing significance in the economic and social landscape of modern China. It is crucial that a new airport form a source of pride for the region as well as the country.

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So, the question is: How can aviation simultaneously serve as a symbol for a culture’s rich history and modern ambitions, while creating maximum programmatic and circulation efficiency in order to meet the currentday demands for airline travel?

The final project proposal merges historical imagery which is redefined in an iconic structural system and canopy.

Color, light, and form embody the unique aesthetic of both the fashion and landscape of the region.

... creating maximum programmatic efficiency in order to meet the currentday demands for airline travel.

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Type Analysis Initially, a survey of airport layout types was completed in order to consider the most efficient layout based on vehicular and pedestrian movement.

Transportation and Entry Sequence One of the most critical circulatory problems to negotiate was vehicular movement to and from the airport.

Each type (i.e. taxi, arrival, departure, bus etc.) was treated as a separate entity which directly connects to its unique point of departure or arrival.

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Structure The columns are articulated to become a tree-like system, branching to support the long spans of the undulating canopy.

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Sean O’Brien

E sean.obrien@utexas.edu P 610.864.6328 A 421 10th St. Unit A, Brooklyn, NY 11215

Academic Background The University of Texas at Austin Master of Architecture | December 2016 - GPA 3.91 The University of Nebraska-Lincoln Bachelor of Science in Architecture with High Distinction | August 2013 - GPA 3.96 Professional Experience Bjarke Ingels Group Junior Designer | New York, NY | June 2018 - Present Assisted the development of the Master Plan for the Oakland Athletics’ new baseball stadium and urban development. Primary tasks include initial project reasearch, leading the progress of the plan drawings through permitting, and assisting in project advandement and visualization during conceptual design.

Andersson Wise Architects Architectural Designer | Austin, TX | January 2017 - March 2018 Served as the project architect on a 4,800 SF private residence in the Texas Hill Country. Led the development of drawings and the digital model through SD, DD, and CD. Assisted the Design Development drawings and modelling of an 8,000 SF public market, as well as the Construction Documents for a ranch in the Rio Grande Valley.

MF (Matt Fajkus) Architecture Intern | Austin, TX | June - July 2015, May - June 2016 Led a small team that produced a conceptual design submission for the University Island design competition.

Developed design iterations for a wedding venue in the Texas Hill Country and built a physical model for a private residence in the Clarksville neighborhood in Austin.

Alley Poyner Macchietto Architects Intern Designer | Omaha, NE | August 2013 - August 2014 Assisted the development of two adaptive-reuse projects. Helped coordinate the design and digital model in Revit for the residential development of the former Bell Atlantic building in downtown Omaha (Design Development). Worked on the residential waterfront development of the former Omaha Power Plant (Schematic).

HKS Architects Intern | Dallas, TX | May 2012 - August 2012 Revit (8 years) Adobe Creative Suite (7 years)

Rhinocerous 5.0 + Grasshopper( 7 Years) Autocad (4 years)

V-Ray for Rhino (4 years) Sketchup (2 years)

Advanced Research + Academic Experience Skidmore, Owings and Merrill Travel Research Fellowship Topic: The Ephemeral City: Hybrid Territories of the Formal and Informal Mega-City Research Fellow | Austin, TX | July 2017 - June 2018 Investigating the shifting social agenda in architectural practice through the lens of informal urban development and spatial agency. The proposal asked the question, how can architects learn from and engage informal, process-driven methods of building in order to create equitable urban space? The countries for travel include India, China, Chile, and Mexico, where interviews will be conducted with design professionals and informal urban space will be documented. (https://somfoundation.som.com/fellows-2017)

Boone Powell Prize in Urban Design Topic: Mega-Event, Spectacle and Space in the Post-Industrial City (Barcelona, Lisbon, London) April 2017 Investigated how post-industrial cities have created economic and social disparity as a result of expedient and large scale urban development related to Mega-events, such as the Olympic Games and the World Expo.

University of Texas Travel Research Grant Topic: Adaptive Interventions, Urban Infrastructure and Innovation University of Texas at Austin| May 2016 Researched adaptive-reuse in post-war Berlin, and the importance architecture has served in perpetuating memory and empathy for past injustices.

Graduate Research Assistant : Michael Benedikt Topic: Isovists and Relational Space University of Texas at Austin | October 2014 - May 2016 Generated the three dimensional digital models, parametric scripts, and digital drawings to accurately represent Professor Benedikt’s theories graphically. These theories dealt with the metaphysical aspects of the exchange of gazes between individuals and small/ large groups of people and how the graphic representation of one’s gaze could inform the design of a room or series of spaces.

Teaching Assistant - Environmental Controls I : Keith Simon University of Texas at Austin| August - December 2016 Led a lab section which taught methods for analyzing daylight strategies, electrical lighting, and acoustics.

Instructor - UT Summer Academy in Architecture University of Texas at Austin | May - August 2016 Taught a studio that focused on analog drawing representation and the fundamentals of architectural design.

Teaching Assistant - Visual Communications I+II : Joyce Rosner + Igor Siddiqui University of Texas at Austin | January - May 2015, August - December 2015, January - May 2016 (3 semesters) Taught students skills in two dimensional and three dimensional analog, digital, and hybrid representation.

Prizes, Awards, Fellowships Skidmore, Owings, and Merill Travel and Research Fellowship | June 2017 Boone Powell Prize in Urban Design : UT-Austin| April 2017 Design Excellence Award (top design project): Advanced Technical Communications : UT-Austin | Spring 2016 Design Excellence Award (top design project): Urban Design Studio : UT-Austin | Fall 2015 Sinclaire Hille Architecture Award (top portfolio) : University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Spring 2013 Third-Year Architecture Excellence Award (top portfolio) : University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Spring 2012 Harry Simpson Culpen Architecture Award : University of Nebraska-Lincoln | Spring 2011 Publication + Exhibition Studio Brazil: Planning versus Participation Spring 2017

Field Constructs Exhibition: Mebane Gallery Fall 2015

Issue 17+18: UTSoA design publication Spring 2016, Spring 2017

Truckatecture: Kaneko Art Gallery Summer 2014

References Amy Freedberg, RA Andersson Wise Architects| Project Manager UT-Austin | Lecturer amy@anderssonwise.com 512.637.5788 Michael Benedikt UT-Austin | Hal Box Chair in Urbanism, Director of The Center for American Architecture and Design, Lecturer mbenedikt@utexas.edu 512.471.9890 Coleman Coker UT-Austin | Ruth Carter Stevenson Chair in the Art of Architecture, Lecturer Harvard University | Loeb Fellow in Advanced Environmental Studies ccoker@austin.utexas.edu 512.471.9890 Greg Whittemore, AIA, LEED AP HKS Architects Inc. | Vice President gwhittemore@hksinc.com 214.969.5599 Martin Kluck, AIA, NCIDQ Alley Poyner Macchietto Architects | Project Manager MKluck@alleypoyner.com 402.341.1544

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s e a n . o br i e n @ utex a s . e du 610.864.6328 421 10th St. Apt. A, Brooklyn, NY 11215