A few notes on portfolio pages
Please take a moment to check out some of my portfolio pages, at this point, only including student work. Professional work has been removed for reasons of privacy, copyright, etc. here on the internet. Text has been removed from the pages and is listed below the images for increased legibility at this scale.
Iterative Transformations – Part 1 – Chu – Fall 2009
This work is from my first semester studio in the University of Southern California’s Master of Architecture program.
From an initial pattern, a two-dimensional graphic was developed. This graphic was then expanded to occupy three sides of a cube. The two-dimensional patterns informed the creation of a three-dimensional spatial matrix, first made by hand then modeled in Rhino.
The nautilus shell represents an incremental growth, as each section builds upon the previous sections. The weaving of single-ply museum board strips from inner sections to outer sections began to build up both structural and spatial densities at the corner of the cube.
Iterative Transformations – Part 2 – Chu – Fall 2009
From sections through the Rhino digital model, a new spatial matrix was developed that continued the weaving of strips. The sections created a spatial framework which is encapsulated by woven strips and then dissolves into the interwoven elements.Iterative Transformations – Part 3 – Chu – Fall 2009
After cutting sections through the Rhino digital model, the next step in the process was to laser cut paper sections. These sections showed both the woven process of creating the spaces as well as the space itself, through the careful decomposition of the surrounding board.
With each step in the process, another element of structure required another layer of deformation to strengthen the single-ply museum board. This strengthening can be seen in the twisting of each laser cut section as it is placed into the base.
Bird Feeder – Part 1 – Chu – Fall 2009
The bird feeder required research on the bird – the house sparrow – as well as the site conditions – the rail of the bridge.
Bird Feeder – Part 2 – Chu – Fall 2009
The exploration of creating a space in wood – that would function both on the scale of a trash can for people and as a feeder for the house sparrows – was based on an inquiry into how wood can bend to reach required lengths between members.Bird Feeder – Part 3 – Chu – Fall 2009
The major program concept of the bird feeder was the reallocation of (human) waste as (bird) food while making feeding a spectacle. The form was also designed to have a clear site relationship to the railing, as well as the trees and the stairs beyond the railing. Finally, the form was largely an exploration of the flexibility of wood in bending along the grain.
Neighborhood Center – Part 1 – Chu – Fall 2009
For this project, we were given the opportunity to add an accessory program to the given program of a neighborhood council center. I studied both vertical garden precedents and landscape conditions in urban environments in the process of designing a garden to integrate into the community center.
The major concept for the project was the introduction and integration of a garden landscape into the built environment. I integrated the landscape both as a ground plane which travels through the building as well as a vertical garden façade which wraps around the building.
Neighborhood Center – Part 2 – Chu – Fall 2009
The vertical garden system is hung from a moment frame structure which also supports the photovoltaic super-roof. The vertical garden is accessed via operable windows and an operable pulley system. The movement of the windows and the garden trays creates an ever-changing façade.
Neighborhood Center – Part 3 – Chu – Fall 2009
The building can be accessed from the sidewalk, from the parking lot, or from the second floor from the community garden. The single-story space below the community garden houses the neighborhood council office, while the double-story space serves as both a meeting room and a workshop area. The second story allows for overflow from the meeting room as well as vertical greenhouse workshop areas. This area connects back to the exterior community garden plots. The building takes advantage of its low point at the edge of a largely impervious site by employing detention basins and water filtration tanks to collect and clean runoff water. The photovoltaic grid at the top of the building twists to angle south.
Art Center and Urban Tree Farm – St. Louis, MO – Thomson – Spring 2005
Art Center and Urban Tree Farm - St. Louis, MO - Thomson - Spring 2005
Serving as both an art center for underserved children in St. Louis and an urban tree farm, this project reclaims a city block currently populated by abandoned homes. The block is anchored by classrooms on one corner with a pathway to a performance and exhibition center on the diagonal corner. The other two corners provide housing for artists-in-residence and community members. Along the pathway across the site are rows of trees for future planting for the revitalization of downtown St. Louis, as well as seating and play areas, and a community garden.
Model/Renders in Rhino/Flamingo
Design-Build – DESIGN – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005
Design-Build - DESIGN - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005,
This design-build project transformed a traffic island next to a post office into a shaded sitting area, enjoyed by those walking through or driving around. We had relatively few guidelines – a permanent memorial to be enjoyed as public space by the residents of University City, a material budget of ten thousand dollars, and sixteen weeks to design, obtain permits and city approvals, and build the project. The donor simply asked us to “make something beautiful.”
I explored how a curved, dynamic shape could be made from straight wood members, then collaborated with my classmates to come up with a design. The donor and the city mayor selected this design to be built.
Design-Build – BUILD – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005
Design-Build - BUILD - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005
From digging holes and pouring concrete piers to planing and cutting the redwood to tightening the last screws, the team constructed the entire project in about six weeks.
Design-Build – Detailing – University City, MO – Safe – Fall 2005
Design-Build - DETAIL - University City, MO - Safe - Fall 2005
The jump from balsa wood concept to finished structure required the design and fabrication of a custom bracket. I designed a bracket that held the wood members off the ground while directing them to intersect at set points to create the hyperbolic parabaloid section. The Y-shaped bracket attached one member that angled to the right on the outer side to another member angling opposite on the inner side. All main structural members were predrilled to allow for precise field assembly.
Detailing in AutoCAD
Rest Stop – Wright City, MO – Hancock – Spring ’06
Rest Stop - Wright City, MO - Hancock - Spring ‘06
A roadside rest stop is a delicate balance of privacy – maintained by obscuring vision – and security – by permitting vision. Through the use of a variety of transparent, translucent, and opaque materials at varying heights and by moving the user through the angled entrance, both privacy and security are attained. Physical separation in conjunction with visual integration of the two restrooms at the entrances are both a recognition and a subversion of the binary gender system.
3D in Rhino/Flamingo
Community Pool – St. Louis, MO – Fraser – Fall 2004
Community Pool - St. Louis, MO - Fraser - Fall 2004
This community pool transitions across a major grade change on a mostly open site. The visitor enters the pool at upper level, proceeding to the pool through the lobby or through locker rooms at either side of the lobby. The pool enclosure is grounded on each corner – a sauna at one end and a children’s pool at the other. Thin tall windows in each concrete structure mimic the vertical mullions in the curtain wall.
At night, light radiates out from the main glass structure, acting as a lantern on the site. The glow from the narrow windows defines the substructures more subtly.
3D in Revit; Diagram in PhotoShop
Building Systems – Donnelly – Spring 2005
Building Systems - Donnelly - Spring 2005
The building systems course allowed me to reexamine my summer internship experiences and the classes I took for my structural engineering minor through the lens of building technology. Ultimately, the material learned in building systems allowed me to further enrich my studio projects, applying building tectonics to concept development.
Course lectures were supplemented with building construction tours of a variety of structures. Following each tour was a building section assignment. The drawing at right is for a new building on the Medical Campus at Washington University. In this project, I deduced – from section outlines, lectures, and research – the composition of the wall structure. I then drafted the section as a cut isometric drawing.
Drafting in AutoCAD
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