Trevor Kirschenmann | 2021 Architecture Portfolio

SELECTED ACADEMIC WORKS | UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN

12.2020

PORTFOLIO | T R E VO R KIRSC HEN MAN N

C O N T EN TS This portfolio contains selected works from my graduate and undergraduate studies at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture. These projects were chosen to spotlight differing pedagogical focuses across design studios. Project types include museum, incarceratory, speculative, and religious.

In graduate studios, the role of copying and sampling within architecture served as the guiding research content.

SAMPLER SHEL DON A R T M U S EU M A N N EX 4

THE COOPERATIVE MI N I MU M S EC U R IT Y PR IS O N 12 Graduate Undergraduate

INCUBATOR ULTR AL I G H T D O M EST IC PO D 20

WYUKA JEWI SH M A U S O L EU M & SY N AGO GU E 28

SAMPLER | SHELDON ART MUSEUM ANNEX L I N CO LN, NE

ARTIST RESIDENCES

DIGITAL GALLERY

ADMINISTRATION

SAMPLER | SHELDON ART MUSEUM ANNEX L I N CO LN, NE

Fall 2020 | 8 weeks Instructor: Brian Kelly Collaboration with Ali Siverhus

TO COPY IS TO DESIGN. THE COPY’S VALUE IN DESIGN IS SITUATED IN THE IDEA THAT ANY PRESSURES TO CONCEIVE ORIGINALITY ARE STRIPPED AWAY, IMPELLING ONLY PREEXISTING CONTENT TO FORMULAICALLY MESH TOGETHER IN A WAY THAT PRODUCES AN UNDISCOVERED PERMUTATION. Precedent is rooted deep in architectural study. Its documentation exists to serve as a point of reference for future explorations of form, material, program, etc. Therefore, originality is an illusion and the copy is not a sign of deficiency but rather an act of celebrating design evolution.

This proposal, located in Lincoln’s Haymarket district, serves as a digital annex space for the Sheldon Art Museum. Light and volume become the new medium. By sampling and referencing numerous built projects, the idea of copying is challenged in the 21st century. The process hoped to reveal avenues of design inconceivable through the focused lens of conventional ideation.

The valuation of this outcome stems from the alchemical process through which different elements are woven together.

Haus am Buddenturm

Shou Sugi Ban

cladding

Suzhou Cultural Museum

Grillagh Water House

window

integrative seating & planters

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skylight

balcony detail form

tectonic strategy

form, material, reectivity

Currency Museum

Encants Market

structural density

Marseille Vieux Port Pavilion

TECHNIQUE PROJECTIONS Prior to design development, a series of exercises were completed to understand the potential of appropriating existing works. One of which investigated digital, self-referential operations relative to ordinary or iconic projects such as the Villa Savoye. From copying the pixel content within the image itself, different techniques were revealed which informed unique compositional and architectural strategies. This exercise was done in juncture with the idea that pixels are the base modules of image construction.

spiral stair

Train Station, La Chaux-de-Fonds

House for Architectural Heritage

Chongquing Community Center

DPU, Economics & Business Facility

Lasvit HQ

Barcelo Market, Library/Sports Hall

exoskeleton

Prada, NY Broadway

material and effect

translucent openings

structural form

Villa dall’Ava

El Bosque de la Esperanza

exterior bridge

lighting

The “Coslada” Hybrid Complex

Game on, Madrid

mesh screening

Kukje Gallery

THE COPY This project discerned the role of the copy as digital and generative. Initial investigations into sampling came through collaging in Photoshop existing digital model content sourced from SketchUp’s 3D Warehouse with imagery of the proposed site. After realizing creative limitations to this process, the idea of sampling was shifted into a more rigorous exercise of sourcing high-resolution photographs of architectural works found on depository websites such as Divisare and ArchDaily, then allowing their form, materiality, structure, and intent to generate design decisions appropriate to existing site conditions. Precedent images not only served as the basis for ideation, but were also digitally manipulated to reveal architectural strategies relative to screening, tectonics, and atmosphere.

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Residence circulation

Ground level

Second Level

Residence Level

THE COOPERATIVE | MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON W ILBER , NE

THE COOPERATIVE | MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON W ILBER , NE

Fall 2019 | 9 weeks Instructor: Brian Kelly Collaboration with Joseph Synek

THE COOPERATIVE, INSPIRED BY ITS ROOT “CO-OP” MEANING WORKING TOGETHER, IS AN AGRICULTURALLY SELF-SUSTAINING MINIMUM SECURITY PRISON LOCATED WEST OF WILBER, NEBRASKA. The project is situated in the 1960’s inside an underground Cold War Atlas missile silo and seeks to address exit strategies for use after its decommissioning. The facility provides an alternative path towards freedom by combining the last two steps of a three step process—work release and house arrest, to expedite the path to freedom, provide job placement/training, and fill the need for farm labor.

By challenging originality and content ownership, design development dealt largely with re-appropriating precedent projects into something “new”. Material was sourced from surveillance, domestic, agricultural, and incarceratory works.

EXTERIOR CONSIDERATIONS The site is accessible to occupants during the day to help facilitate the self-sustaining environment through agricultural means. Yields support both human and livestock consumption and are diverse in harvest time to allow for year round field maintenance. Harvested food items are able to be deposited into the prison via a movable auger and hopper system radiating from the center, reaching each of the four grain storage silos.

Corten fins are arranged in a radial scheme to respond to environmental factors such as wind, seasonal weather, and daylighting. The material possesses a rustic quality that conforms to the agrarian context it is situated in. Their casted shadows over the course of the day represent the passage of time in relation to incarceration. The above ground elements convey an sense of iconography from a distance, indicating the geographic center of the site and entrance underground.

Corten fins respond to movement of passerby and craft views to the entrance as a symbol of freedom

Their height blocks the maximum direct sun angle when the upper floor is in use

The fins acknowledge seasonal winds by blocking colder air and filtering summer air

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INTERIOR CONSIDERATIONS The Cooperative capitalizes upon the vertical nature of the reprogrammed silo to serve as a timepiece and reflect the daily passage of time. A ritualistic morning ascension sequence heralds the start of each new day and concludes with an inverted evening descension process, signaling the end of yet another 24-hour period. Sleeping spaces are positioned the furthest from natural light, at the bottom. Occupants are then able to use the restroom, bathe, prepare meals, and eat in succession. Before exiting the silo, the occupants can use the uppermost levels as an education or recreation space. The middle levels are dedicated to food processing.

The organizational essence of the interior not only serves pragmatic reasoning, but also addresses how current functions can lead to exit strategies and plans for future reuse. The uppermost levels are the strongest example of this, as they have begun offer dynamic strategies for basic human activities like leisure, study, and recreation.

INCUBATOR | ULTRALIGHT DOMESTIC POD N EW YO R K , NY

INCUBATOR | ULTRALIGHT DOMESTIC POD N EW YO R K , NY

Fall 2018 | 12 weeks Instructor: Ellen Donnelly Collaboration with Megan Waldron, Maddy Payne, and Maggie McCoy

THIS IS AN ASPIRATIONAL PROJECT AIMED FOR YOUNG ADULTS AS THEY ADJUST TO NEW, URBAN ENVIRONMENTS. With the cost of living rising dramatically in large cities, it has become increasingly difficult for aspiring young adults to obtain affordable living situations in these settings. New York City, boasting the second most expensive rent costs in the US, serves as an appropriate setting for Incubators to occupy.

Incubators are single-person units that take on ultralight principles through the stripping down of program and materiality.

They provide an alternative to traditional housing in which ultralight fundamentals are applied in dense, urban contexts.

SOLAR ENER GY

ACCESS & INFRASTRUCTURE Suspended between buildings above

selected residential

streets in Manhattan, Incubators aim to occupy an unused space to conform to the dense nature of the city. The Incubators tie into the plumbing systems of their host building and utilize the fire escapes as a ‘front porch’ to the pods; however, a mutually-beneficial relationship is formed when solar energy is captured by each pod to assist in fulfilling utility needs of both constituents. Parks can serve as an alternative environment for Incubators to occupy. By connecting directly to the city’s underground utility supply, the Incubator begins to demonstrate contextual flexibility.

The shell is composed of transparent polycarbonate cubes with an applied reflective film on the exterior faces. This film allows for the Incubators to ‘disappear’ within its given context. The core, shell frame, and cubes are prefabricated and shipped separately to site. The frame is set in place and infilled

SEWER

WATER

with the polycarbonate cubes.

RELAX

CLEAN

STORE

INTERIOR CORE & ANTHROPOMETRIC STUDY The interior accommodates space for sleeping, cooking, lounging, bathing, and storage—all of which are programmatic elements centralized into a single core. Alcoves of the core are finished in black to provide high contrast with the white steel cladding. Radiant heating is emitted through the flooring and the core itself.

Anthropometrics refers to the comparative analysis of the measurements and capabilities of the human body. The design of the central core is largely based on an anthropometric relationship, or how a human would interact with the space.

Position 1

Position 2

SLEEP

Foldable polycarbonate cubes with reflective film move to open and close space based on occupant position

Carbon fiber frame supports the responsive cubes and contains sliding mechanisms to allow movement

COOK Faceted prefabricated core clad in powder coated steel provides all necessary living functions

Full scale mockup of core’s seating unit

AWARD OF MERIT

AWARD OF HONOR

NOV. 2019

APR. 2019

WYUKA | JEWISH MAUSOLEUM & SYNAGOGUE L I N CO LN, NE

WYUKA | JEWISH MAUSOLEUM & SYNAGOGUE L I N CO LN, NE

Spring 2019 | 11 weeks Instructor: Mark Bacon Collaboration with Erik Lemus

EMBEDDED IN JUDAISM LIE A VARIETY OF RICH QUALITIES INHERENT TO SACRED ARCHITECTURE. Influenced by natural elements, this project extracts three concepts and ties each of them together with experiential moments one might encounter during a visit. Wyuka Synagogue aims to fuse Jewish ritual practices with light, water, and stone in order to produce an environment that exposes visitors to a spiritual understanding of life and death.

The program consists of a worship space, mausoleum, and Jewish learning & community center. The site is located in the northwest corner of Wyuka Cemetery in Lincoln, Nebraska.

LIGHT It was appropriate to attach the concept of light and light quality to the circulation within the sacred spaces of the building. The sanctuary receives the greatest infusion of direct sunlight (right) by taking advantage its east-facing orientation, turning an event of a funeral into a celebration of the life. The crypts receive no sunlight and is a place of reflection. The columbarium is treated with a diffused lighting condition to signify the halfway point between pure life and pure death according to Jewish burial custom.

WATER Water ties in strongly with the idea of purification of the body, soul, and object. A linear body of water cuts through the site, acting as a threshold which “purifies” individuals crossing over from the “profane” (outside world) into the sacred spaces. Spaces for Jewish rituals are placed along an axial body of water. A bath house, or mikveh (right), is detached as its own space. Here, individuals are able to perform a purification ritual of full bodily immersion in water followed by silent prayer, meant to act as rebirth.

STONE Stone signifies the permanence of the soul, but the temporary nature of human life on Earth. The melancholy, gray exterior stone helps situate the building in the context of a cemetery. One common practice in Judaism requires placing small stones on Jewish headstones as a way of “weighing down” the soul to the Earth. Metaphorically re-contextualized, Wyuka Synagogue is the rock, and when placed on the cemetery, the building acts as a stone itself - grounding the souls of those buried there.

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1. Jewish Community Center 2. Sacred 3. Ritual

Columbarium spaces are bumped out and sunken down into the earth to reinforce a sense of grounding.

South light entry is set further back into the profile of the building to allow for diffused lighting.

COLUMBARIUM

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1/2 in. plywood cap flashing, embedded into stone tapered rigid insulation 4 in. clt 1-3/4 in. cut stone veneer 1 1-1/2 in. air gap 1 2 in. rigid insulation vapor retarder v 1/2 in. plywood sheathing wall tie metal stud framing 5 in. batt insulation

CRYPTS

6 in. water waterproof membrane 3 in. crushed stone 4 in. reinforced concrete slab

3 in. Ă˜ outlet drain water pump 1 in. Ă˜ pvc tube

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Water leads circulation througgh th he building and allows the buildi diingg to ding appear as iff it iss fl flo oating.

An exterior worship and columbarium space is situated within a stepped landscaping condition. la

Site circulation takes advantage of th he axial relationship to the cemeteery and multiple parking locattions ns.

SANCTUARY d

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roof edge water check edpm roof membrane 1/2 in. plywood sheathing vapor retarder flashing membrane built up wood members 7 in. rigid insulation 4 in. clt trim board

fin base connector bolt-end base plate anchor bolt 6 in. water 2 in. rock waterproof membrane 4 in. reinforced concrete slab sealant 4 in. board insulation 3 in. crushed stone

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