Willie Leidolf, Design Portfolio

Willie Leidolf Design Portfolio

About Me

My name is Willie Leidolf, I’m a 26-year old aspiring architect. Originally from Washington D.C, I completed my B.A in Environmental Design as well as my M.Arch from Montana State University before deciding to begin my career in Denver, Colorado. An outdoor enthusiast, the majority of my free time is spent fly fishing and skiing. If these options aren’t available, I can be found playing guitar or spending time with my one-year-old wiener dog named after my favorite word: Maybe.

Design Approach

As a young designer, my design approach has primarily been one of curiosity as I’ve searched for my niche. Within my career thus far, I’ve found that niche to be detailing, fabrication, and sustainable. While I, like most, enjoy schematic design, I’ve discovered more freedom and opportunity in the scale offered by the ‘designs within the designs’ as I’ve aimed to become a more well-rounded designer and develop highly collaborative practical professional skills at the base of what I believe gives birth to beautiful products.

Software Autodesk Revit

Archicad Sketchup

Adobe Creative Suite

Rhino 3D + Grasshopper

“The word, the right word, the apt word, it’s the opposable thumb of the mind. It is not important that I be noticed, but that my work be noticed. The engine of genius is endurance. Happiness; it’s a sales pitch. Doing right, the rock.”

Dowel Laminated Timber

Fabrication Design Rhino + Grasshopper, CNC Milling

During a ‘locally fabricated’ studio conducted by MASS Principal Architect and Montana native Sarah Mohland, vernacular construction, and sourcing were researched to combat what we dubbed ‘fast architecture.’ After this stage, we attempted our scaled-down physical manifestation of lo-fab and its potential. To do this, I focused on the historic vernacular architecture of grain elevators in rural Montana, constructed using a method called ‘cribbing,’ which is the stacking of 2x4s. To attempt to re-invent this inherently beautiful method more sustainability, I sourced waste wood 2x4 scrap from a local truss factory, stacked them in a gradient pattern, and dowel laminated the resulting wall to connect them without carbon-intensive metal fasteners, making it easy to reconstruct. Finally, to add interest and bring it into the 21st century, CNC technology to intensified the gradient and bring depth. The result was an easyto-understand, carbon-negative lo-fab partition wall/rain screen.

A consistant source of waste 2x4 material was identified at local truss manufacturing plant Kenyon Noble.

Trial + Error 01

Palletes are collected and disassembled to use as a material source. Due the time needed to remove the nails, the locally sourced waste material is deemed unusable.

Rhino + Grasshopper 03

Once dimensions of our material was decided, parametric design was used to play with possibilities at a faster page. Eventually, this led to exploration of CNC milling technology.

A template was created that allowed for a factory-like production of standardized pieces of 2x4. In addition, precise holes were drilled to allow for dowel lamination.

Kit of Parts 05

Combined with wooden dowels, the stud cutoffs formed a ‘kit of parts’ that could be easily assembled without glue or fasteners to a degree of customability.

Finishing 06

Once put together, the wall assembly was then drilled into plywood and placed back into the CNC to add aesthetic interest by playing with light and curves.

Vera Iconica Architecture

Professional Experience Archicad, Sketchup, Twinmotion

While at Vera Iconica Architecture, I worked on several residential projects of varying scales, budgets, and types. The following spreads highlight two opposing ends of that spectrum, with images showing the diversity of tasks I performed at different stages of each. Being a small firm with a recently opened Denver office, my roles ranged widely from schematic visualization to construction documentation and administration.

Project A

Type: Log Renovation, Residential

Size: ~1,700 Sq. Feet

Location: Jackson, Wyoming

Team Size: 4

Project B

Type: New Construction, Residential

Size: ~11,000 Sq. Feet

Location: Jackson, Wyoming

Team Size: 11

Project A

Project B

Faure Halvorsen Architects

Internship Revit

At Faure Halvorsen Architects as an Intern, I experienced both commercial and residential projects, both collaboritavely and independently. Looking back, the most enjoyable and educational of these projects would have to be a small fishing shack on the Jefferson River. Designed to be a guest house, the highly iterative and personal project was the first in which I was granted complete responsibility of schematic one-on-one design with the client. Under strict budgeting and square footage constraints, we worked alongside a client hired general contractor. While frustrating at times, the fast pace and intimacy of the project, in addition to the opportunity for relative independence, proved to be a great and exciting learning experience. Featured are several of the iterations of the shack, each resulting from changing concepts and budgeting - the largest of these iterations being the design that ultimately was chosen.

MSU Bike Shelters

Design + Build Revit, Plasma Cutter

The Bike Shelters were a design/build project conducted by Montana State University M.Arch candidates taking place over two semesters by team of students in the M.Arch program at Montana State University. The process entailed everything from physical hand welded details to permit submittal with the City of Bozeman. Every drawing shown has was to be reviewed by engineers, faculty, and the city and is currently under construction by the students outside of Cobleigh Hall on MSU’s Campus.

The project provides much needed bicycle storage on campus, as well as protection from snow without jeopardizing the safety and security of the student population. Throughout the project we managed to remain below the budget of 25,000 USD for materials, with each shelter costing an estimated 4,000 USD. If the shelters prove successful, the CD set will have continued use as a template for future structures across campus.

Orphaned Oil Wells

Master’s Thesis Rhino + Grasshopper, Adobe Illustrator

‘Orphaned oil wells’ are wells owned by oil and gas companies that have since gone bankrupt. These wells have been left largely uncapped, meaning methane is constantly released from the ground into the atmosphere via well pipe. This project works locally with the Well Done Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to capping these wells, to explore ways to move beyond the status quo to turn a negative into a positive. After several months researching, mapping and photographing the wells, an architectural solution was born.

Emphasizing place making and program, it was decided based on historical heating practices that a small portion of the well emission in Toole County, Montana could be transported and utilized as a power source. These emissions would then be stored in now abandoned grain elevators before powering carbon capture fans through co-generation. After being removed from the atmosphere, the C02 would be used to facilitate hemp growth before allowing the plants to redistribute the gas into the ground. The hurd of the hemp would then be used in hempcrete to sustainability cap the remaining orphaned oil wells. Finally, the byproducts of the hemp would be sold to provide economic incentive and transported via rail throughout Montana.

There are 2.15 million unplugged abandoned wells in the U.S. in 31

Combined, they emit 7.11 MMT co2e each year

That’s the equivelant of:

1.29 million home’s electricity use for one year

798 million gallons of gasoline consumed

1.54 million passenger vehicles drive for one year

7.85 billion lbs of coal burned

Highest Density of Orphaned Wells in Montana: Toole County

Hempcrete, a sustainable biocomposite, is used in favor of concrete to cap the wells. Utilizing hemp hurd as the binding agent, the mixture is more absorbant and crack resistant than concrete.

Response +

Intervention: Piping, Storing, and Converting Waste Emissions to Power Carbon Capture Fans and Facilitate Hemp Growth In Order to Create Hempcrete.

Methane Storage

Waste methane is piped from Oilmont, Mt and stored within re-purposed grain elevators in Toole County

Carbon Capture

Stored methane is converted to electricity through cogeneration in order to power carbon capture fans

Hemp for Hempcrete

Captured carbon is distributed to greenhouses to facilitate the growth of hemp and the creation of hempcrete to cap remaining wells

Great Beginnings Montessori

Digital Workflow Rhino + Grasshopper, Adobe Illustrator + Photoshop, V-Ray

Within the Montessori education system exists an instilled importance of respect for the environment, self-reliance, and observation. These values are paralleled by the ecology of the Western homestead. By studying and manifesting traditional typologies, we can better learn to synchronize an educational facility with its surroundings in a way that is conducive to the installment of these values. When done successfully, a more sustainable built environment will be created.