Luke Slay Architecture Portfolio

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

Thomas Luke Slay

Smithsonian Insitute of Innovation

Studio Design 7

Professor Judi Shade Monk

Location New York City, NY

Program Office/Train Hall

Located in the Penn District on Manhattan Island, the new Smithsonian Institute of Innovation is an expansion to create a new museum, research facility, and office space for the Smithsonian Institute. In accordance with the Voranodo Plan, the tower will extend up to 54 floors high and be zoned for office and retail space. The site which is situated between 30th street, 31st street, and long 7th Avenue allows for an extention of Penn Station. The integration of the train hall into the project heavily influenced the connection of the ground to the building and that relation to the city street. The project brings aspects of nature back into the dense urban fabric of the city. These moments are geared towards the health and wellbeing of those inside.

In Collaboration With: Mikhail Maverick Santos

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Section Perspective Integral connection of the street level plaza to the train hall, and the retail space to the train hall (Collaboration with Maverick Santos)

Parti Sketch

Explores

Floor Plan

Street Level Render

At the ground level the public plaza allows the reoccuring train hall commuters and enter in a floor below and have closer access to the train platforms. Above, the retail area offers shops, cafes, and resturaunts for the commuters as well as business people within the area. The greenery along the terraces offer an outdoor area for those inside to come out and enjoy their food or drink overlooking the plaza. This idea continues up through the tower into the garden pockets which offer moments of rest and relaxation for those working within the tower.

the connection of 31st street to 30 street and 7th avenue to the public park (Primarily Thomas Slay) The public atrium divides the train hall/retail space from the base of the tower (Primarily Maverick Santos)

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The public plaza allows the recurring commuters to have quick access to the train hall (All renders by Thomas Slay)

The form of the tower is influenced by the surrounding context within the nearby neighborhoods. To the east and west are midrise apartments, so the lower portion of the tower rises just above those levels and has an observation deck that protrudes out to provide views out to the East River and Hudson River. At the top of the tower, it is once again elevated just over its nearby context and creates views south to One World Trade, as well as north to Billionaires Row and Central Park. Near the street level, the Museum is geared towards design and Innovation and points towards the future advancements made within the field. The Education center sits in the middle of the tower near the observation deck. This is meant to host classes, field trips, and other groups of people coming to learn at the center. At the top is the research facility and here the newest advancements and innovations are being discovered in order to advance technology.

54 floors provide programmatic spaces for the offices, education, and research spaces (Primarily Thomas Slay)

The museum facade references the new renovations to Penn 2 directly across 31st street (Primarily Maverick Santos)

Section North Elevation East Elevation

The outdoor terraces provide and overlook from the retail spaces over the public plaza (Primarily Thomas Slay)

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1/32” : 1’ Model

Overall physical model of the tower and train hall with etched ground manupulations in the ground plane (Collaboration with Maverick Santos)

1/32” : 1’ Model

Close up shots of the research, education, and train hall portions of the model (Collaboration with Maverick Santos)

1/128” : 1’ Process Models

Iterations of the process while finding the form and connection to the ground plane (Collaboration with Maverick Santos)

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Millhopper Research Center

Professor Karla Saldana Ochoa Location Gainesville, FL

Program Education

The Devil’s Millhopper Sinkhole, in Gainesville, Florida features the unique karst topography that is exrtremely integral in the Florida Landscape. The Devil’s Millhopper Education and Observation Center overlooks the deep sinkhole that reaches down 120 feet through thousands of years of geological and archeological history. Noticing the lack of visitors in especially the youth, the program of the construct seeks to bring in the youth to teach them about the site and the degredation that has happened through time, and also to then inspire them to promote change and sustainability to protect the florida ecosystems. The project features the main education space along with an elevated pathway that extends down to the the sinkhole.

Studio Design 5

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The education space begins in a large open room that sits above the sinkhole containing views down to it. There are exhibits along with informational boards that describe the natural processes that take place in the sinkhole down below. The ability to go back in forth between learning about the sinkhole and viewing it fosters a creative engaging experience. A hallway leads away from the sinkhole views and into a more enclosed space. Here classes can be taught, documentaries be watch, or anything else that would be needed. Large groups can gather to continue to learn about the landscape that they are submersed in. Outside, the elevated pathway uses a large amount of vertical members to connect lightly into the terrain. Two moments of pause are introduced along the way, each with a membrane canopy structure overhead. These offer moments of rest and views of the sinkhole below.

1/8”

: 1’ Detail Model 1/32” : 1’ Site Model Detail of the overhead canopy tensile structure implemented at three locations along the boardwalk

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Site model featuring the research center along with the boardwalk and observation locations

Classroom Hallway

Exhibit

1/32” : 1’ Site Model Site model featuring the research center along with the boardwalk and observation locations The exhibit space provides an overlook of the sinkhole and historical charts and mappings of the siteW

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Circulation area that provides a connection between the exhibit space and the classroom space

Oglethorpe Library

Location Savannah, GA

Program Library

Down in the historic district of Savannah, Georgia, the Oglethorpe Community Library serves the public bringing necessary resources to them. The library replaces Telfair square and creates a new public square for the surrounding community to host public speakers, community gatherings, and even protests. Drawing upon the historic nature of Savannah, the organization of the Library draws upon the original layout of the city that references the Oglethorpe Plan. This organization promotes community engagment and walkability within the surrounding context. Inside the library, meeting rooms, a computer lab, and creation labs serve the public and provide the community access to resources that they might not have at home.

Studio Design 6 Professor John Maze

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3rd Floor Plan

2nd Floor Plan

1st Floor Plan

The creation lab gives the youth a chance to explore ways to craft and create with access to 3d printers and other fabrication supplies. A large auditorium provides space for public speakers to come give talks and authors to host readings of their new publications. The grand reading room and circulation library space offers views out over the park as it allows natural light to enter in from the west. Shelves line the entire interior to surround the readers with books and provide copious amounts of book storage. A skylight above allows the natural light to permeate through down to the bottom floor.

Site Plan Section

Book Store Library Cafe Auditorium Library Maker Lab Auditorium Library Computer Lab

The library in relation to the historic nature of the Savannah square Slay | 27 26 | Slay

Section showing the library, auditorium, and book store spaces

Vertical Expression

Studio Design 4 Professor Sara Culpepper Location Conceptual Program Culinary Memorium

Throughout time, memories and traditions continue to carry out ideas that had once been established. Food, and the variety of it amognst different cultures has brought about so many new ideas and creations. The construct brings together all of these ideas compiling them and putting them on display. A walk through the space is a walk through time, but also a means in which to engage with time. The history of the culinary arts carries a significance that changes through different periods of time. The analysis and compilation of these thoughts influence the space primarily in the itenerary and circulation of the space. The idea of sinew became an integral concept integrating the lower two spaces with the smaller top space. Creating the feeling that form of the construct is stretching up towards the sky only to be anchored into the large dense lower portion. The movement through space becomes sequencial making it necessary to visit one before the other.

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The section displays the variety of spatial volumes and the idea of sinew that draws the connections

Section Floor Plans

Serial floor plans show the different programatic spaces that span through the volume of the tower

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Diagram Studies

The lowest space acts as a timeline; a walk through history. Viewing how culinary methods once were thousands of years ago and how they have changed from culture to culture leaves visitors longing to experience these foods and techniques. Venturing further up is a large space deticated to tasting all of the different historical foods that some thought were a lost art and that most did not even know about. The top space becomes intimate, only designed for a limited amount of occupants. The space deticated to preserving these techniques and recipies, specialized chefs educate select visitors in classes up top. Here they learn all that goes into the creation of the foods they experinced in the spaces below so that they might go recreate these foods and preserve the tradition of them.

Axonometric 3/64” 1’ Model Axonometric showing the interior core of the tower along with main paths of circulation Illuminated at night highlighting the central core and the itinerary of the towers program

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Sectional diagram studies becoming a driver in the overall form of the tower and the idea of sinew

Hverfjall Hearth

Year 2022

Competition Iceland Volcano Coffee Shop

Location Iceland

Program Coffee Shop

In the midst of a desolate and frigid abyss, the soul yearns for nothing more than some warmth. The desire for comfort, and the opportunity for a moment of pause- not only to replenish oneself physically, but also mentally- is deep within all of us. This yearning for hearth is primary in the human experience, especially in extreme conditions. Through the focus of a soft, internal warmth, radiating out into the otherwise harsh environment, the Hverfjall Hearth offers more than merely a refuge for escaping the immediate environmental conditions. It places visitors within a juxtaposition: the hard, oblique, and cold qualities of the natural enviroment, incorporated throughout the space, with the smooth and swirling warmth of the cafe.

In Collaboration With: Boris Stoyanov, Frank Lapuma, Davis Drury

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The entrance guides visitors akin to an earthen fissure releasing steam- intentionally exaggerating the oppressive nature of the surrounding environment. All too shortly thereafter, one is offered relief from this heightened sense of pressure through entry into the café. Upon entry, an instant panorama is encountered by visitors, displaying the beautiful landscape, however cold and desolate, extending from Hverfjall Crater.

This phenomenological expression of relief continues in the warm, supple environment within Hverfjall Hearth, receding and rising to receive all and any guests. Once firmly inside, this sense of home and comfort will be happily welcomed by the weary traveler. A release of the concern and guard that was built and an acceptance of the saftey and reservation that the Hearth and bring them. It is a travelers journey both mentally and physically.

On the top south elevation features the entrance while the bottom north elevation features the large glass facade (Primarily Thomas Slay)

Paved Entry Volcano Exhibit Information Desk Coffee Lounge Coffee Bar Storage Administration Restrooms 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 N Scale 1 200

Elevations Floor Plan

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Floor plan of the coffee shop and volcano exhibition. Displays all primary programatic spaces (With Frank Lapuma)

Entrance Wall Section + Detail

Front entrance into the coffee shop as well as trail entrance into the volcano exhibit entrance (All renders by Thomas Slay)

Wall section and details of the north elevation hat features an expansive glass facade (With Davis Drury)

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Tattered in Tension

Competition Luminaire Competition

Use Ambient Light

Tattered in Tension is an ambient pendant lamp that creates a fluid and melting sheet of light. Intended to be relaxing mood lighting for resting beneath, the lamp projects minimal harsh lighting and is meant to provide a calming ambient light. Ranging from warm to cool light as well as colorful light, my intended use will keep it at a cool white or blue above my bed. It is 24 inches wide by 48 inches long and is a twisting and flowing illuminated sheet of acrylic.

Statistics: LED Strip, 3000K - 7000K + Color, 24in x 48in, 300 Lumens, 12 V, W20W

Class ET 2 Professor Hassan Azad

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Forsyth Gardens

Yesr 2022

Professional Solo Competition

Location Jacksonville, FL

Program Pocket Park

Nestled within the heart of downtown Jacksonville, the Forsyth Gardens provide a space for rest, relaxation, and meditation. Amidst the chaos that life in the city can entail, the gardens represent a pause for reflection, and an inward look at one’s own self. Spending time in nature has cognitive benefits that can improve mood, mental health, and emotions, and the Forsyth Gardens implement this idea of nature and mental wellbeing into every aspect of the park and provide inclusivity so that all may access it. The sloping hills, extensive tree canopy, and winding pathways enclose oneself within the landscape, while the low wall along with the undulating benches provide points of rest. The grassy slopes, an integral design driver, create the optimal spot to read and relax. The pocket park seeks to exist outside of just a physical place but also become a space of mind.

Axo Diagram Perspective Site Plan Diagram showing the main four components that create the pocket park Entry into the park facing north, putting the benches and reading hill on immediate display

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The organic nature of the park with sloping earth creates a peaceful oasis within the dense urban area

Victory Lake House

Professional 2022

Lead Architect Don Cox

Location Rome, GA

Program President’s House

The Victory Lake House is the new president’s house at Berry College in Rome, Georgia. In this project I was brought on in the early schematic phase and helped produce graphics for presentation to the clients. primarily worked on multiple schemes for the floor plan and its relation to the rest of the site, as well as the projects relation to the water through the site section. The existing site features Victory Lake that is bordered by dense woods, along with pre existing historical pavilion. Schemes for the house integrated perserving the pavillion along with drawing connections of the house to the pavillion and waterfront.

Site Plan Site Section