ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO Zachary D. Miller
2019
Education Upper St. Clair High School General Studies; 2014 - 2018
Kent State University B.S. In Architecture; 2018 - Present
Experience McLean Architects, Pittsburgh, PA Intern; June 2018 - January 2019
Office of the University Architect, Kent, OH Intern; January 2019 - Present
Zachary D. Miller
(412)-228-2626 zmills55@gmail.com Pittsburgh, PA
Skills AutoCAD Revit Rhino Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop
Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/zack-miller-7ab167149/ https://archinect.com/people/cover/150099495/zack-miller
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Table of Contents
Renderings Page 4 - 6
Models Page 7 - 10
Digital Drawings Page 11 - 14
Hand Drawings Page 15 - 20
Professional Drafting Page 21 - 24
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A profound design process eventually makes the patron, the architect, and every occasional visitor in the building a slightly better human being. - Juhani Pallasmaa
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Renderings Surveying Thresholds Rendering Project Spring 2019 Professor Kyle Zook
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Renderings Surveying Thresholds Rendering Project Spring 2019 Professor Kyle Zook
Architecture, to me, is a force in the world that has the potential to shape the way we perceive our existence on Earth. Architecture is an attempted answer to the age-old questions: why are we here, and how can we establish a common vernacular of living? In this portfolio, I plan to express this notion through not only a description of my designs, but through a narrative odyssey -- a journey of sorts -- through the never-ending design process, and the thoughts and decisions that come along with it. To begin, above are pictured a number of rendered designs that were derived from photos representing architectural thresholds. Thresholds appear to be a design tool that permits (or prohibits) one’s views, actions, or sentiments about a specific space in time. These derived thresholds can be observed in these abstract renders. 5
Renderings Threshold Within Landscape Rendering Spring 2019 Professor Kyle Zook
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Models Modern House Designs in Haifa, Israel 2016 & 2017 Upper St. Clair High School
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Models Final Production “Drawdel” Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
Similar to rendering, modeling is a classic and successful strategy in regards to representing architectural ideas. As seen on this page and on the previous pages, my process of modeling is quite varied, yet uniform in principle: to physically urge a patron to interact with my design as opposed to simply viewing it. Whether it involves a manipulation of scale, direction, or viewing point, the goal with my models is to represent an idea(s) within a physical domain. In a sense, drawing is like prose, but modeling is like poetry: there’s a whole new layer added to the idea of something three-dimensional. The models on the previous page are my own designs of modern homes upon a landscape. The landscape, I found, heavily influences the design, as it acts as a cradle, gently nestling the design among the various natural features of its’ topography. The model on this page is called a “drawdel” -- a combination of drawing and model -- that combines the benefits of reading a 2D image and interacting with a 3D object.
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Models Cubic Domain Project Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
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The model is again a symbol of proposed reality -- a culmination of various ideas influenced by thoughts, social norms, spaces, and memories. When a designer is creating a model, he utilizes a symbolic “library” of information in his mind -- searching and scanning and surveying the various numbers of his own architectural Dewey decimal system pasted upon every thought. Would a curve make sense here? Should I divide the space there? Can I manipulate this corner? Can that area act as a compositional stronghold? These are all thoughts that arise from the endless file cabinets of information that exist in a designer’s mind. The model is the culmination -an aesthetic formula, if you will -- of the most fitting design decisions. The models seen on the left are cubic visualizations of various section-cut designs stacked on top of each other, thus forming a cube. The top cube is created out of foam, the middle cube is created out of paper, and the bottom cube is created out of small wooden stick. Each cube interprets and interacts with space in differing ways.
Models Pattern Model Project Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
The process is again applicable to the designs seen here, in which I made a 2D pattern into a 3D structure -- thus adding new spacial elements along a vertical axis.
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Digital Drawings House Concept Plan & Cubic Design Isometric Drawing Fall 2018
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Digital Drawings Pattern Relief Drawing & Figure Ground Reference Drawing Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
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Digital Drawings Street-Sky Linework Drawing, Cracking Topview Drawing, & Compositional Transformation Drawings Fall/Spring 2018 Professors Diane Davis-Sikora & Kyle Zook
In an effort to modernize the design disciplines, digital drawings and digital drafting have become staples of architecture in the 21st century. Digital drawings help to tell a story -- a story of space and movement and depth. Contrary to the literal 3D model, a 2D drawing is a mere representation of the metaphysical. It is an unfinished notation of various visions which are eventually completed by the viewer. Every floor plan, motif drawing, elevation, section, or perspective is simply a gentle push upon the mind in the direction of reality.
My digital drawings here demonstrate this notion within my own domain of design knowledge. On the left, a “street to sky� isometric path is drawn. On thre right, a top-view drawing of a model is shown. On the bottom, a transition of space is demonstrated through negative,
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Digital Drawings Section, Elevation, and Figure Ground Drawings Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora 4 3
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It goes without saying that digital drawings have made the aspect of design much easier in a logistical sense. Digital drawings have helped to eliminate human error while representing 3D objects -- whether it be a model, a structure, or a sculpture. I have utilized digital drawing techniques to creative representations of what manipulated models might look like -- as the drawings on the left portray. The drawings on the left are section cuts and elevations of one of my cubic models (see pg. 9) to demonstrate how space is divided and united within the hidden elements of the cube, as well as to represent how the sides of the cube are independent when flat yet linked when “folded� into a cube. The drawings below are figure - ground compositions.
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Hand Drawings Perspective Drawing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater 2017 Upper St. Clair High School
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Hand Drawings Elevation Drawing of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater 2018 Upper St. Clair High School
Question: what came first - the chicken, or the egg? Answer: the hand drawing. Hand drawing and drafting is a technique that has long been utilized by architects and designers. It is the first means of exploration that I discovered about architecture at a very young age. Unlike digital drafting, which simply requires the skill of operating a computer keyboard and mouse, hand drawing and drafting requires years of exposure and experience. My fascination with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater gave way to the drawings on the past two pages.
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Hand Drawings Relief Model Planning Process Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
Unlike the world of clicking file, save, and export, hand drawing allows one to easily recall where he’s been in a design, and where he’s going in a design. A transition of thought is naturally forged in the hand-drawn design process. Above, this planning process is displayed in regards to a representation of a proposed relief model. Not only is transition in physical design evident, but also is transition in neatness, accuracy, and consideration to fine detail. 17
Hand Drawings Willis & Eiffel Tower Drawings 2017 & 2018 Upper St. Clair High School
Hand drawings additionally promote a sense of humanistic features. Each imperfect line, shade, or angle creates an aggregate representation of the human mind and it’s perception of the world around us. The slight warping of reality is expressed in hand drawings -- especially hand sketches.
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Hand Drawings Hand Drawn Floor Plans 2017 & 2018 Upper St. Clair High School
Hand Drawn Floor Plan Concept - 2018
Nevertheless, man has constantly been searching for a way to represent the world around us as accurately as possible -- without human error in design. These floor plans are examples of my attempts to achieve this feat.
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Hand Drawings
CUBE SECTIONS AND UNFOLDED TOPVIEW DRAWING REVISION EXERCISE 6.3 - PROFESSOR DAVIS-SIKORA ZACK MILLER - 11/14/18
Pencil & Collage Motif Designs Fall 2018 Professor Diane Davis-Sikora
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Professional Drafting Floor Plan for the D.T. Watson Institute & Section Plan of the DiBasilio Residence 2018 McLean Architects, LLC
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Professional Drafting Elevation Plan for the Central Township Municipal Building 2018 McLean Architects, LLC
Hand drawings are wonderful to promote the thought, societal implications, and humanistic approaches behind architecture and design. The theoretical elements are quite vital to our disciplines. Yet sometimes, the most accurate representations are necessary to ensure the safety of those who dwell in the spaces that architects design and plan. For this reason, I have taken on many professional drafting jobs during my internships. Within this realm of design, a practical view is utilized to deliver a product in the best manner possible.
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Professional Drafting Floor Plan for the Central Township Municipal Building 2018 McLean Architects, LLC
Indeed, architecture to me is a force in the world that has the potential to shape the way we perceive our existence on Earth. It is it’s own constant ying and yang -- a never ending attempted compromise between the practical and the theoretical.
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Professional Drafting Floor Plans for Kent State University Campus Buildings 2018 The Office of the University Architect
It is for this reason -- this idea of dialogue between the existing and the proposed, the mental and the physical, the practical and the theoretical -- that I believe that architecture allows us to reflect ourselves and our own emotions within the environment we build for ourselves. Therefore, architecture allows us to establish the ways in which we want to live. Architecture can be a line on a paper, a brick in a building, a cobblestone street, or a 180-story tower. This is my portfolio, and this is how I bring my everyday thoughts, observations, and inner dialogue to light. Architecture is the world in which we dwell.
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Thank you for your time and consideration. (412)-228-2626 zmills55@gmail.com Pittsburgh, PA
Zachary D. Miller