T R A V I S W I L L I A M H E R RG R A D U A T E A D M I S S I O N S P O R T F O L I O

Travis William Herr[Undergraduate Portfolio] 2013University of MinnesotaBachelor of Design in Architecture (BDA)

Email: therr@brayarch.com herr0267@umn.edu

Phone: (920) 207-7464

Address: N6844 Swallow Dr. Sheboygan, WI 53083

Plaza de la Soledad 4

Floor - Wall - Roof 5

Mood and Scale 6

The Write Armchair 8

Friction Side Table 9 It’s all in the Details 10

Full Paper Jacket 12

Material Mies 14

Selected Works

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Plaza de la Soledad[Study Abroad, Oaxaca] 2012Instructor: Lance LaVine, Daniel Lopez + Renata ElizandoPartners: Kamonchat Chatpaitoon + Alyssa Oleinik

Located in the central downtown district of Oaxaca, Mexico, Plaza de la Soledad is a disorganized and poorly designed space. The plaza is home to two churches, government offices, and city hall. The task was to redesign the space to accommodate the existing facades, design a location for the city historian’s office, conference room, library and house, and also include both a gallery and music performance space. Our solution addressed these issues in an elegant and contextual manner. By using the design process learned in the Floor, Wall, Roof design problem we were able to create spaces for all of the requirements. Redesigning Plaza de la Soledad thought me the value of respect for existing building facades. The new program had to be implemented into this negative space as not to interrupt the existing buildings. The project was part of the College of Design’s study abroad program in Oaxaca.

TOP: Section Elevation (Ink and Mylar Drawing 144”x24”)BOTTOM: Floor Plan (Ink and Mylar Drawing 72”x36”)

Studying design through an iterative process allows one to focus on one aspect of design at a time. Lance LaVine, our professor, teaches this method through an exercise called Floor – Wall – Roof. Starting out one must create floors on a flat topography to become the site for three sculptures, an arm chair, a bed and a table with three chairs. The floor and objects have an important relationship but another narrative can be expressed through the relationship of the floors. Next the project introduces walls and columns. Finally the last model combines all the dynamic relationships that can be created by using all of the pieces, floors, walls, columns, and roofs. My concept was to create a private space for the bed, semi private for the arm chair, and a public space for the table with three chairs. The columns divide the public space from private spaces and the floors create an axial organization to the site. Working through an iterative process is beneficial because you can slowly see how your project is evolving and how it is forming an idea that can become your concept. Then it is taking this idea and extrapolating it throughout the project.

Floor - Wall - Roof[Study Abroad, Oaxaca]Instructor: Lance LaVine, Daniel Lopez + Renata Elizando

BELOW: Site Plan (Ink and Mylar Drawing 36”x24”)

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Mood and Scale[Introduction to Drawing] 2011Instructor: Kyle Veldhouse

Drawing is important to architecture because it can depict space, proportion and mood. It allows us to convey our ideas quickly and accurately. Drawing allows us to analyze light quality and the relation of spaces to one another, revealing qualities we might not otherwise discover. The first three images depict the light quality of the Dowling Studio at the Guthre Theater in Minneapolis, MN. The following drawings are a spatial analysis of the East Entry to Rapson Hall at the University of Minnesota. The analysis focused on the extended threshold of the entry. The threshold of the entry penetrates the building. The two drawings depict this extended threshold and its spatial and lighting qualities.

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The Write Armchair[Furniture Design and Fabrication]Instructor: Matthew Byers

I encountered a problem while sketching ideas for this chair. There was no way that I could comfortably draw while sitting in the chair. This led me to the design tor the Write Armchair. Creating a chair with a large right arm would allow me to sketch, write, and set a cup of coffee on while sitting in the chair. Side tables can be used for these purposes but using a table forces you to sit awkwardly in the chair. The Write Armchair shows a distinct difference in the language used in the joinery. The frame of the chair consists of hand cut, through mortise and tenon joints. The joinery language changes when talking about the chair seat and chair back. These elements are connected in a very minimal way and are completely separated from each other. This way the seat and back have a very light appearance in a heavy dense frame. The right arm on the chair is double the size of the left to create a surface from which I can work on while lounging in the chair. By studying average human proportions I assigned dimensions to each part of the chair, resulting in a comfortable chair despite its geometric appearance. Through the mock up process the chair had a tendency to rack perpendicular to the front legs, creating a very unstable chair. However, this problem was resolved through later mock ups by adding an additional dowel connection between the back legs and the seat back.

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Friction Side Table[Furniture Design and Fabrication]Instructor: Matthew ByersPartner: Beau Sinchai

The language of design is composed of detail and material studies. In furniture design, joints and connections provide the most basic way to; support the transition between materials, resist forces, and to permit or restrict movement to allow the piece to function for its intended purpose. With a partner we were instructed to select a detail investigation, two primary materials, and a connection type. We chose to create a friction joint at the connection between surface and support. We were inspired by the Occasional Table by Eileen Gray, with its simple cantilevering design. Our design used two pieces of steel square stock, as legs, connected together by a horizontal bar to keep the legs a constant distance from each other. The table is made from oak with cherry inserts. The inserts have grain running in an opposite direction of the oak table. This is to prevent the wood from splitting due to the stress of the friction connection. The connection is made by creating a rectangular mortise in the cherry insert. The legs were positioned at 20˚ from vertical and threaded through the mortises. The weight of the table creates a pivot point forcing the edges of the mortise on the legs. This force creates enough friction for the table to be held in its position. This system allows for the table to be moved to any height. Simply lift the front of the table and position to the desired height, and then return the table back to its horizontal position. This project led us to discover a larger scale use of the side table technique. A drafting desk could use this joinery concept to make a simple, elegant, and modern table.

LEFT: Friction Joint Detail CENTER: Movement DiagramRIGHT: Rendering of Drafting Table

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It’s all in the Details[Bray Associates Architects, Inc. ] 2013Architectural Intern

New Horizon Church in Kewaskum, WI turned a prefabricated engineered metal building into a church in 1996. Three parishes came together to form one and adapt this metal building into their house of worship. After completely renovating the interior of the space they are now looking to create an iconic exterior for their parish. The rather plain exterior of the existing building provided a clean slate to design a carport, vestibule, and canopy to suit the needs of the parish. I was fortunate enough to receive this project as my first assignment at Bray Architects. This project was a major learning experience for me and I was critically involved through all the project phases. Working as the lead designer and project manager for the project, I worked with the clients to create a design that would work with their limited budget and all their functional needs. The client was extremely impressed with the work I produced and loved the sunburst element on the front of the carport. This design element will help passersby recognize the church. This project challenged me with the many construction details needed to accurately describe the method of tying the new vestibule into the existing metal panels. This project has been the most formative experience I have had working at Bray Architects.

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Full Paper Jacket[Design Fundamentals I] 2010Instructor: Leslie Van Duzer

Our objective was to analyze the cladding of our chosen building, and then relate these principles into the design of a paper jacket. The jacket was to be made with only paper and does not use an adhesive of any type. The building I chose to study was the Norman Fisher house by Louis I. Kahn is constructed and cladded with cypress wood. The joinery is left exposed to express this construction. In contrast the design of the building is very tight with no slack, and provides a stark modernistic design. These characteristics led me to design a suit jacket. A suit jacket is well fitting, dignified, and simple. To construct the jacket I used joinery of the paper to keep it together. I used a folding technique to make long chains of paper. These formed the sleeves of the jacket. The jacket won best of show, as well was published in the College of Design’s THERE.

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ABOVE: Completed Suit Jacket.RIGHT: Norman Fischer House

Exterior, Detail of the Suit Jacket.

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LEFT: Publication the Jacket was featured in.RIGHT: Detail of Suit Jacket, Detail of Norman Fisher House Joinery.BELOW: The process for forming the paper joinery.

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Material Mies [Space, Light, Material & Mies] 2013Instructor: John Dwyer

The goal of this workshop was to understand the complex relationship between building materials and the space they create. We used the Farnsworth house as a space to facilitate this understanding. Throughout the first week of the workshop we researched the history of the Farnsworth house, by Mies van der Rohe, creating a platform from which we were able to chose and develop materials as well as architectural photography techniques. Through many iterations of material choice, time of day, seasons, and camera settings we developed several views expressing the material interaction with the space. Within this workshop we learned Vray within 3ds Max to produce ample amounts of iterative renderings as well as several final renderings.

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