nick nelson's portfolio

Nick Nelson

12713 Eby, Overland Park, KS, 66213

Cell: 913-488-7861

Home: 913-681-9936

Email: nicknelson618@gmail.com

Table of Contents

Art Crate

Musical Structure

Timber in the City

Unassigned Works

University of Missouri-Kansas City, Volker Campus, Katz Hall

For this project we were given a large block

of high-density polyethylene and two

pieces of art from the Egyptian display at

the Nelson-Atkins Museum of art. We were

to create a pavilion to house these pieces

year round. I chose to embrace Egyptian

concepts and created a religious and

monumental place for the art to reside. The

carved and heavy aspect of the design

provides the feeling of shelter while not

overwhelming the senses due to the play of

light reflected from the angles of the room.

Musical Structure

During my time in Orvieto, Italy, the community played

a large role in my education. For the final project of the

semester I gave back what I had taken from that

experience. I created a small interactive exhibit in the

main public park of the city. The simple arches of the

structure were meant to be reminiscent of the form of

the cathedral in town, which is a major symbol of the city.

Music was another important part of the local

landscape as there was always a live band playing or

concert occurring in town. This was integrated into

this project in the form of glass bottles and a bamboo

xylophone at the end of the structure. The material

was a choice was due to the availability of bamboo

stalks close to the construction site.

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Lashing Method

The site is located in Redhook, New York which is across the bay to the south of

Manhattan Island. The building program called for a mixed use high-rise building

constructed out of timber or other wood based products. The first half of the program

called for a manufacturing area that is capable of producing wood based items. The

second was an apartment complex that would be capable of housing 230 people.

Timber in the City

Statue of Liberty

Governors Island

Manhattan Island

Brooklyn Bridge

Redhook

Each aspect of the building design works to create a strong central axis, towards the Statue of Libertyand a gesture from the local context to the city as a whole. The wood product manufacturing facility is the base and provides a block for the ramp to carve out of. The apartments, which are all punctured by outdoor space, are used to create 2 permeable walls surrounding the center. These elements create a strong axis, which focuses on the pride of the city, the Statue of Liberty. The focus on “axis and center” stems from a need in the neighborhood for a stronger community center; therefore, the addition of a public library to the building program was needed.

1. Library

2. Reading Room

3. Apartments

4. Community Garden

1

3

4

2

View from the community garden, up the ramp to the library.

Library view of the Statue of Liberty.

1968 Ford Mustang GT

Design and the production of visual objects

is something I genuinely enjoy. This is a

small example of my work outside of the

field of architecture. I modeled a 1968

Mustang GT from a few photos I found

online and rendered it directly from Rhino 5.

I then painted over the rendering in

Photoshop and added linework in Illustrator.