Museum of Minimalism 10:10 PM

Fourth Year Design Studio Project

Professor_Kevin Story

Description_Design a museum to house the work of several minimalist artists.

Solution_The gallery spaces in the museum are suspended out above a section of the site that has a steep drop in elevation. The structural walls that support the gallery space also become the walls used to display the artwork on. The museum is centered around a large public area that contains a book store, cafe, and theater/lecture space. There is a sculpture garden behind and underneath the gallery space, as well as a roof terrace above the entry lobby.

View of gallery space with north-facing windows.

View of entry lobby and public gathering space.

Film Studio 10:10 PM

Third Year Design Studio Project

Professor_Cord Bowen

Description_Design an film studio for independent film makers to film, edit, and showcase their work. The building should include private offices for each filmmaker to work in while a film is in production.

The site is located at the intersection of the Southwest Freeway (59) and the South Freeway (288).

This section shows a cut through the sounds stage, the theater, a gallery space, the outdoor theater, and three levels of studios.

View of cafe with stairs leading to the entry lobby/gallery space as well as the theater.

View of outdoor theater.

View from terrace above the galleries and looking toward the studios.

Section Perspective cutting through the projection wall along the studio corridors and the exterior terraces created by the shifting of the studios.

Studio Layouts

Public Library 10:09 PM

Third Year Studio Design Project

Professor_Cord Bowen

Description_Design a public library for the old third ward in Houston, Texas.

Solution_The inspiration for the design of my library came from the shape of the infinity loop. The library is a place for learning and exploration, processes that have no end.

Bird's eye view of site.

This section shows a cut through the underground garage, a small conference room, a second floor exterior terrace, and a two-story entry lobby.

Perspective showing the outdoor activity area on the second floor.

Study Abroad Center in Castiglione Fiorentino, Italy 8:08 PM

Fifth Year Design Studio Project

Professor_Joe Mashburn and Lannis Kirkland

Description_Design a Study Abroad center for architecture students to live in, work in, and attend school in while in Italy.

Solution_The site for our project was at the edge of the town of Castiglione Fiorentino. The town is a small hill town surrounded by a thick stone wall that dates back hundreds of years. This wall runs directly through the center of our site and there is a drastic change in elevation from one side to the other. In response to the wall I chose to hang all the student's bedrooms and studio spaces over the wall and let them cantilever out over the street below.

View of Corridor with bedrooms on right and second floor terrace on left.

View of studio and jury space.

Section through studio space, jury space, and computer lab.

Section through two floors of student bedrooms, exterior terrace, and cafeteria.

Stencil 10:52 AM

Third Year Graphic Design Project

Professor_Cord Bowen

Description_Create a stencil that could theoretically be applied to the side of a building that would either send a message, provoke an emotional response, or make a statement about a social or political issue. We were then required to take the stencil and spray-paint the graphic onto a four foot by four foot sheet of MDF.

Public Seclusion 9:28 AM

Fourth Year Design Studio Project

Professor_Kevin Story

Description_Select one building type from a mixed-use development and develop it further.

Solution_The building type I chose to develop was an apartment complex. I wanted to take the traditional approach to apartment buildings and reformat it to provide additional privacy for the tenants, as well as a more interesting design than the typical apartment building would feature. In order to do this I made each unit a long rectangle, and instead of stacking them one on top of the other, like a normal apartment would be, I rotated each level 90 degrees. This allows each unit to use the roof of the unit below as an outdoor private garden space. It also makes it so that no tenant's ceiling is another tenant's floor, and the amount of shared wall space is cut down to almost nothing.

Section showing the pattern of alternating void and mass.

View across the courtyard.

View from courtyard.

View from private garden into courtyard.

View of interior living space. Includes living room, kitchen, and dining area.

Each floor is made up of two small living units. One unit is an economy size apartment, with a master bedroom, one bathroom, a kitchen and a dining area. The other apartment has a slightly larger bedroom with a very large corner window, a single bathroom, a kitchen, a dining area, and a living room. Vertical circulation is located at two of the four corners of the building. This circulation includes a fire stair and an elevator. The elevator serves one apartment per floor, so each tenant will be issued a key card to use in the elevator which will allow them to access their floor. This is for added security and privacy, as well as convenience.

On the top floor of each tower there is a penthouse apartment, which occupies the entire floor. The penthouse is a three bedroom, two bathroom apartment with a larger kitchen and living space than the normal apartments. The penthouse also features a sun room and a garden twice the size of what is offered on other floors.

The bottom floor and basement of each tower holds the parking garages. The tenants can exit their vehicles and access the elevators to their floor directly from the garage.