This visitor center is designed for Mies van der Rohe’s Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois. The building is placed to the north of the site where visitors will have to pass down and through a dense layer of trees before emerging into a clearing surrounding the house. The trees, glass, and inner core of the house create various layers of enclosure that are unexpected from the simple glass house. The visitor center mimics these surprising layers of complexity and enclosure. While the Farnsworth House is very outward looking, the visitor center reverses the language of the house by turning the glass into thick concrete walls and the structure into voids creating a very inward looking building. The facade is simple, with the complexity of spaces located within. The building is divided into two to refl ect the geometry and symmetry of the Farnsworth House. The thick concrete walls contain various layers of enclosure within the building, including light wells and a sunken courtyard created by voids. The result is a surprising quality of daylight within the solid enclosing walls.

Lower Level Plan

Upper Level Plan

Farnsworth House Layers of Enclosure Visitor’s Center Layers of Enclosure

core

glass enclosure

tree enclosure

enclosed courtyard lower enclosure

upper enclosure

central spine

porch enclosure theater enclosure

bathroom enclosure

offi ce/ residence enclosure

This Air-frame and Power Plant Instructional Facility is designed for Parkland Community College and is located at Willard Airport in Savoy, Illinois. The building provides aircraft hangar space, classrooms, shops and offi ces for aircraft mechanical engineering students and faculty. The concept of the project was to integrate the building with the landscape and to utilize the site and building orientation to take advantage of sunlight. To achieve this, the building is embedded into a sloped landscape and rotated for maximum southern and northern light exposure. The earth is bermed up to the second fl oor on the southern side of the building and creates an interesting exterior space where students can hang out between classes. The building is divided into three distinct parts: the aircraft hangar, the entrance and lobby space, and the remaining educational spaces. The educational spaces are all located in the long wing of the building that is extruded right out of the bermed landscape. The green lawn continues up the side of the building and onto the roof. The second fl oor is set back to create an outdoor space that acts as a continuation of the communal space and creates a space that is in-between the inside and outside. The entrance and lobby space acts as a transition between the long wing of the building and the hangar. The aircraft hangar contrasts the rest of the building with its arched form, translucent skin, and Glulam structure.

This project reimagines a traditional American suburb by transforming a quarter section of Brookfi eld, Wisconsin from an unwelcoming stark environment into an ecologically and experientially diverse landscape. After analyzing the current ethos of the suburb, the studio collectively proposed a new master plan for a neighborhood that fosters a variety of sights, interactions, spaces, and views. The plan creates housing clusters that take advantage of natural light and ecology to allow the residents to become part of the place in which they live. My approach to designing housing was to nest the houses into the site, essentially rooting them into the landscape. The cluster of homes is compact, but uses hierarchy and complexity to create a variety of experiences, spaces, and levels of privacy at multiple scales. While the houses are placed close together, no two houses actually touch each other. Privacy is created by providing a series of thresholds and outdoor spaces that must be crossed before entering the home. Each house is nested within the community, the block, its duplex or triplex, and then fi nally within its own walls. Inside each house is a massive core containing the fi replace and stairs that acts as the heart of the home and the absolute focus in the hierarchy of each cluster.

COMMUNITYBLOCK

DUPLEXHOUSE

Section Through Block

N

First Floor Plan Second Floor Plan

Privacy BarriersRange of Outdoor Spaces First and Second Floor Range of Views

Exploded Axon of Typical House

South Elevation

North Elevation

This hotel and conference center is designed as part of a campus plan for the School of Freshwater Sciences in the Inner Harbor of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It was designed as part of a comprehensive studio that aimed to follow the architectural design process from urban and schematic design through the construction document phase. Both the campus urban design and conceptual building design were approached with the goal of maximizing visibility of the Inner Harbor. The buildings in the campus plan are rotated to face towards the water allowing a canal and large green space to provide long range views down the Inner Harbor. The hotel and conference center is place on the south east corner where it has maximum visibility. The building form maximizes a variety of views for guest with single loaded corridors and focused views from each room. This variety of views is achieved through two intersecting bars with optimum orientation. The two bars are treated differently to enhance this variety. The main bar is solid, thick, and made of stone. It takes an additive approach with protruding windows and balconies. The second bar bends and runs into the fi rst bar. It is composed of thin layers with a perforated metal screen in front of metal panels and curtain walls. It takes a subtractive approach with recessed balconies. The intersection of these two bars is highlighted through double-height lounge spaces. The lower height of the secondary bar allows for an exterior terrace on its roof to provide another space to view the surrounding Inner Harbor.

UP

UP

UP

1

2

3

D

C

7

6

F

4B

A

E

LOBBY101

RECEPTION102

ELEVATORLOBBY

103

STORAGE104CORRIDOR

105

LOUNGE106CONFERENCE

ROOM107

108

109

110

WOMEN111

MEN112

BUILDINGSTORAGE

113

RECIEVING114

CORRIDOR115

MECHANICALROOM

116

LAUNDRY ANDHOUSEKEEPING

117

118

119

SERVING120

DINING ROOM121

VESTIBULE100

5

1A12

39' -2"

112' - 2"

39' -

7"

49' -

2"

19' - 6"

4' - 1"1' - 0"

30' - 0"

20' - 6"

30' - 0"

11' - 5"

17' -

9"

17' -

9"

1' - 9"41' - 2"

38' -

2"

30' - 2"

53' -

11"

15' -

4"

22' -

0"

1'- 2

"

0'- 1

1"

12' -

10"

37' - 5"

25' - 7"

98' - 8"

G

8

9

10

54.12°

121.97°

60.48°

OPEN TOABOVE

4' - 8"

1A11

2A10

4' -3"

1' -9"

28' -6"

1' -10"

3' -2"

MEETING ROOM

MEETING ROOMMEETING

ROOM

OFFICES

KITCHEN

First Floor Plan

UP

UP

UP

1

2

3

D

C

7

6

F

4

E

4' - 1"1' - 0"

30' - 0"

20' - 6"

30' - 0"

11' - 5"

1' - 5"

98' - 5"

CORRIDOR301

LOUNGE302

GUEST ROOM303

GUEST ROOM304

GUEST ROOM305

GUEST SUITE319

ELEVATORLOBBY

300

CORRIDOR306

GUEST ROOM307

GUEST ROOM308

GUEST ROOM309

GUEST ROOM310

GUEST ROOM311

CORRIDOR312

HOUSE-KEEPING

313

GUEST ROOM314

GUEST ROOM315

GUEST ROOM316

GUEST ROOM317

GUEST ROOM318

BEDROOM

OPEN TOBELOW

39' -2"

3' -0"

1' -0" 0' -

10"

28' -6"

1' -9"

4' -1"

30' - 9"

55' -

7"

5

3'- 2

"1'

- 0"

10' -

5"

22' -

0"

15' -

4"

39' - 0"

28' - 6"

1' - 0"

0' - 8"

1' - 0"

1' - 0"3' - 0"

36' -

10"

29' - 0"

112' - 2"

38' -

2"

52' - 4"

84' - 2"

1A12

G

1A11

2A10

74' - 1"

39' -

7"

Third Floor Plan

Northeast Elevation

key

key

Southwest Elevation

key

key

Ground Floo r0' - 0"

Second Floor15' - 0"

Third Floor27' - 0"

Fourth Floor39' - 0"

Roof Terrace51' - 0"

D

T.O. Parapet55' - 6"

T.O. Footing-2' - 6"

7' - 0

"5'

- 5"

3' - 6

"3'

- 2"

5' - 5

"3'

- 6"

3' - 2

"5'

- 5"

3' - 6

"3'

- 2"

6' - 0

"5'

- 11"

7' - 0

"3'

- 6"

A142

A141

A143

Typical Metal Screen and Balcony Detail

ROOF MEMBRANERIGID INSULATION AND CANT STRIPVAPOR RETARDER

OCCUPIABLE DRAINAGE PAVERS

METAL WALL PANELAIR GAP2’’ RIGID INSULATIONMOISTURE BARRIERSHEATHING6’’ METAL STUD WALLGYPSUM BOARD

SUSPENDED CEILING

PERFORATED METAL SCREENSTEEL CONNECTION MEMBERS

2’’ TREATED FRAMINGFLASHING8’’ CMU WALL

WASH 1/12 SLOPE4’’ HSS STEEL TUBE

STEEL ANGLE

1

2

STEEL ANGLE

METAL WALL PANELAIR GAP2’’ RIGID INSULATIONMOISTURE BARRIERSHEATHING6’’ METAL STUD WALLGYPSUM BOARD

SLIDING GLASS DOORS

COLUMNWOOD DOOR FRAME

METAL DECKPERFORATED METAL SCREEN

STEEL MEMBERS

4’’ HSS STEEL TUBE

SUSPENDED CEILINGCONCRETE PILES

METAL WALL PANELAIR GAP2’’ RIGID INSULATIONMOISTURE BARRIERSHEATHING6’’ METAL STUD WALLGYPSUM BOARD

4’’ HSS STEEL TUBE

FLASHING

STUCCO

2’’ RIGID INSULATION

3 Screen and Wall Foundation DetailScreen and Balcony Connection Detail

Screen Connection and Parapet Detail