neil j. long design portfolio

neil j. long

graduate design portfolio

neil j. long GRADUATE EDUCATION

University of Florida School of Architecture - Gainesville, FL - Master of Architecture, 2010

Honors & Activities

John W. Stovall Scholarship Awarded 2009

Otis A. Skinner Scholarship Award 2008

Ar thur Blenn Anderson Scholarship Award 2007

Publication in Archi trave, Universi ty of Florida student design retrospective 2008/2009

Student Liaison for the School of Architecture Studio Culture Committee 2008/2009

Graduate Teaching Assistant for Theory I 2009

Teaching Assistant for Design 1 & 2 2007/2008

Project leader for the annual design & construction of a Sukkah for Hil lel at the Universi ty of Florida 2008

Par ticipation in the AIA Florida Healthcare for the Homeless Design Charret te 2008

Proficient in AutoCAD, Rhinoceros with Grasshopper, 3ds Max, SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign

Project experience in Form-Z, ParaCloud, Revit & Ecotect Analysis

GRADUATE STUDIES ABROAD

Vicenza, Italy Fall 2009 • University of Florida Vicenza Institu te of Architecture • Seminars: Italian futurism & rational ism; Italian conversation & grammar • Stud io: Relocation of the Vicenza Publ ic Library within a deteriorated Renaissance garden

Guadalajara, Mexico Summer 2008 • University of Florida Preservation Institu te • Seminar: New strategies of place in rural areas, with special at tent ion to the use of water & the colonial hacienda system • Studio: Civic building & publ ic promenade in San Martín de las Cañas, a rural Ej ido village in the Tequila Valley

Paris, France Summer 2007 • University of Florida Research Center, Paris • Seminar: The Architecture of Paris: Experiments in Place



Honors & Activities


















Honors & Activities


















Honors & Activities
















UNDERGRADUATE EDUCAT IO N

Elmhurst College - Elmhurst, IL - Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude, 2005 English Literature & Music Majors; Philosophy Minor

Honors & Activities

Omicron Delta Kappa, National Leadership Honor Society

Lambda Sigma Psi Recogni tion Society (Music Honor Society)

Sigma Tau Delta, In ternational English Honor Society Dean’s List Fall 2003, Fall 2002, Spring 2001, Fall 1999

Rober t and Goudyloch Dyer Endowed Scholarship Award 2003/2004

Elmhurst College Music Talen t Scholarship 1999/2000

Class ica l Gu i ta r E nsemble Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001; 2002/2003

Class ica l Gu i ta r E nsemble Head of Publicity and Concert Sales 2002/2003

C o l l e g e C o n cer t C h o i r Second Tenor 1999/2000; 2000/2001 Choir Board Member 2000/2001

Vocal Jazz Ensemble “Late Nigh t Blues” Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001

Jazz Gu i t a r E nsem b le Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001

J a z z C o m b o Guitarist (Performance) 1999/2000; 2000/2001

E lmh urst Co l lege Jazz Fest i va l Publici ty Team 1999/2000; 2000/2001

E lmh urs t Co l lege Theater Cast Member 1999/2000

Elmhurst Col lege Music Depar tment Board Freshman Representative 1999/2000

The Leader (E lmh urst Co l lege st uden t newspa per) Staff Wr i ter 2002/2003; Summer 2003 Southampton Wr i t in g Conference Workshop on Memoi r Wr i t i n g wi t h F rank McCour t Summer 2003 P ub l icat ion for poetry an d scul p t u re in Midd le Wes tern Vo ice l i terary magaz ine 2003 In terna t iona l C lub Member 2002/2003

U ND E R G R ADU AT E S T UD IE S ABROAD

Oxford, England Spring 2004 • Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Keble College, University of Oxford • Tu torials: Shakespeare / Greek Tragedy / European Renaissance Art & Archi tecture

Nijmegen, The Netherlands Fall 2003 • Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen • Stud ies: American Litera ture / Race & Gender in American Pop-Cul ture / Interna tional Law

Milan, Italy Fall 2001 & Spring 2002 • Institu te of European Studies • Università Cattol ica, Studies: Italian conversation & grammar • Accademia Internazionale Della Musica, Studies: Classical Gui tar; Music History / Theory

Montego Bay, Jamaica January 2000 & January 2001 • Elmhurst College “Educational Experiences in Jamaica” teaching music to underprivileged middle school children



Honors & Activities























Honors & Activities





















neil j. long

selected projects

agua y ladrillo | community center

05oasis | urban pavilion

31lanterns | spanish history museum

21skin | facade project

47

advanced studio summer 2008

program: community centerlocation: san martín de las cañascomputer modeling: SketchUprendering: Podium

agua y ladrillo

san martín de las cañas

Centrally located in the state of Jalisco, Mexico,

San Martín de las Cañas is a small village of 780

inhabitants situated within the Tequila Valley 3,600

feet above sea level. A rural landscape of blue

agave farming and tequila production surrounds

the agrarian village. Operated as a traditional

hacienda up until the agrarian land reform of the

Mexican Revolution (1910), San Martín is now

within the jurisdiction of an Ejido, a region of land

governed and farmed communally and supported

by the state.

Built into a hillside, San Martín de las Cañas

has adapted to the naturally steep grade of the

terrain. With the exception of the old hacienda

town square, nothing commits to an orthogonal

geometry – no road is even remotely flat. The city

has grown organically from a man-made reservoir

along a river, forming an enclave of ad hoc houses

and roads that become part of the landscape itself.

dam

bull ringsite

original hacienda

| 07 | neil j. long neil j. long | 08 |

agua | water

Every village throughout the arid Tequila Valley has a unique

relationship with water. The most vital of all resources, water

is at times also the most scarce. High above the valley floor,

San Martin is advantageously positioned near some of the

highest cascades in Mexico, allowing it to harness water for

both power and drinking. In fact, narrow aqueducts (both

above ground and embedded into the streets) carry water

through the village to a dammed reservoir, which is also fed

by the San Martin River. The townspeople routinely construct

makeshift dams of their own along these aqueducts to create

personal water supply for laundry or other household needs.

10ft 30ft 50ft 100ft 200ft


Particularly undeveloped, the site at the north side of the

reservoir offered a unique opportunity to expand the free

public space of the town through a multi-use community

center. The site was little more than a discordant

intersection of winding roads, water and landfill. It was the

leftover space of several intersecting axes and geometries

that were never intended to find resolution.

Interestingly, the site provided a prototypical example of

what Eduard Bru coined the “urban void”. While San Martín

is far from the scale of the mega cities Bru refers to in his

Untried Territories, this was still the type of “conflictive

space” that forces the architect or urban planner to invent

new places and new uses. By expanding the reservoir

embankment in the direction of the water, the north shore

of the reservoir is transformed into a functioning public

plaza and promenade. At the intersection of the plaza and

promenade, a new community center is created.

public plazacommunity center

sketches from initial visit mapintersection of site lines


ladrillo | brick

As the soil is rich in clay there is an abundance of brick

makers scattered throughout the Tequila Valley. The design

of the community center incorporated the typical concrete

frame with brick inlays that pervades the architecture of the

region. Not only did it make good design sense to utilize local

materials and methods, it also created an inherent connection

between the architecture and the landscape in terms of both

the natural and fabricated environments.


programmable space

By providing open event spaces as well as private rooms of varying sizes, the

community center can host a wide variety of social events throughout the

year. It also provides much needed accommodations for overnight guests for

bull fights, carnivals and regional meetings of the Ejido. For this reason, the

center is divided into two wings, each with two levels and separate entrances,

to allow for multiple events at the same time.

1 - ejido room

2 - event space

3 - kitchen

1

2

3

2

2

ejido room entrance

event space

10ft 15ft 25ft 50ft


ejido room & laundry

San Martin benefits from a semi-arid climate and a relatively high

elevation, causing little variation in temperature year-round. This allowed

the main gathering spaces of the community center to remain open, with

uninhibited views of the surrounding landscape.

The largest space was designed to accommodate governmental meetings

of the Ejido. The porosity of the tilt-up concrete wall to the south regulates

the wind and sun entering the Ejido room and offers privacy while still

engaging with the adjacent plaza. The room’s massive, cantilevered roof

provides shading while also collecting rain water. Folded metal panels,

which form the ceiling of the Ejido room, act as channels to carry water

to the laundry below.

rain water collection


Several small pavilions and terraced platforms were designed to occupy new landfill

along the reservoir embarkment, offering highly programmable public space for local

residents and vendors. This provides a venue for the regular markets, which are held in

the village. Likewise, the shade offered by the pavilions and the coolness of the water

will most certainly draw more people to the reservoir in the hot summer months. In the

rainy season when the reservoir is high, parts of the terraced platforms will be partly

submerged, providing a visual reminder of the passage of seasons.

water pavilions

public pavilions

water terraces


advanced studio fall 2008

program: pavilionlocation: St. Augustine, FLcomputer modeling: 3ds Maxrendering: V-Ray

urban oasis

The recent remaking of St. Augustine into

a “living history museum” produced an

unfortunate consequence; a once vibrant

community of artists (especially street artists)

became alienated from any kind of free public

exhibition. The city council went so far as to

issue a ban on all public art within fifty feet of

the tourist-saturated St. George Street.

This project repurposes a parking lot located

in the historic town center, at the intersection

of Cordova and Carrera Streets, into a free

public forum or a place of refuge (an oasis)

within the city. The grassy oasis is designed

to provide a series of small, programmable

urban “room-like” spaces for visiting artists

or weary pedestrians looking for peace and

solitude.

fort

St. George Streethistoric restoration

Cordova Street

site

urban oasis


By utilizing a series of traditional Coquina walls, the

space is defined primarily by movement. The seemingly

indeterminate arrangement of planar surfaces produces a

sequence of parallaxes, which are continually redefined as

one progresses through the oasis. The visual porosity (or the

physical depth of the field) fluctuates without anticipation

as one moves in any direction. From the exterior, one

is given fragmented views of what lies inside; from the

interior, one is never without a glimpse of the city beyond

the sanctuary of the walls. By contrast, the canopy is quite

regular, housed within a symmetrical space frame; yet, it

too destabilizes any singular reading of the field below

with glass and mirrored panels of varying translucency that

cast an array of shadows in fleeting patterns. The mirroring

visually bridges the otherwise disconnected spaces,

creating something of a virtual parallax.C

OR

DO

VA

STR

EET

CARRERA STREET

VALENCIA STREET

Historic Grace United Methodist Church 1886

section

Ponce de León Hall at Flagler College 1888

angled mirrors in canopy reflect underlying spaces


a passing glimpse patterns & parallax


A new corridor linking Grace United Methodist Church and Flagler College

conforms to the modern city grid on one edge while the other edge is

rotated to follow the path of a now buried 16th century Spanish wall - a

subtle reminder of the layers of history beneath St. Augustine.

remembering the wall5ft 15ft 25ft


lanterns

advanced studio fall 2008

program: Spanish History Museumlocation: St. Augustinecomputer modeling: 3ds Maxrendering: V-Ray

It is impossible to break ground in St. Augustine without uncovering some evidence of its remarkable

history, especially from the Spanish colonial years. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to house the

proposed Spanish History Museum within the earth beneath an artificial embankment rising from the

edge of the adjoining glacis of Castillo de San Marcos, located on the waterfront just across historic

Highway A1A.

Unlike its 17th century neighbor, the museum’s glacis was designed not to impede the advancement

of unwanted guests, but instead to allow access from every possible approach. The museum glacis,

in contrast to the typically flat Florida coastline, rises just high enough to provide panoramic views of

Castillo de San Marcos and the St. Augustine Marina while respecting the local height ordinances of

the Spanish Quarter. Located beneath a scenic promenade, the Museum’s primary exhibition space is

oriented toward Castillo de San Marcos as a constant reminder of its historical presence.


historic St. George Street

Castillo de San Marcos

pedestrian corridor

Highway A1A

with new frontage road

Highway A1A reconfigured to provide museum frontage roadaccessible only to public transportation


1 - exhibition hall

2 - event space

3 - archives

4 - gift shop

5 - courtyard

2

5

3

4

5

1

1

pedestrian corridor links St. George Street and Highway A1A

lobby with lightwell

5ft 15ft 25ft 50ft 100ft


facade minimizes light pollution - mitigating harm to coastal wildlife

5 - courtyard

6 - exterior passage

7 - administration

8 - cafe & patio

9 - kitchen

5

6

7

8

9

exhibition hall

5ft 15ft 25ft 50ft 100ft


The peripheral programs of the museum (lobby, cafe, archives and administration)

are housed in two wings nestled within the constructed glacis. Within the wings,

vertical voids are utilized as a means of capturing light without excessive heat

gain. Externally, the wings are clad in perforated steel panels custom-fabricated

to echo lantern patterns found within the Spanish Quarter. Throughout the

day, the internal array of shadow and light becomes a measure of time, while at

night, the glow from within projects the patterns of light outwards - becoming a

symbolic beacon of light on the St. Augustine waterfront. At the same time, the

building’s facade minimizes light pollution thereby mitigating potential harmful

effects to coastal wildlife.

a bridge provides visitors with exterior passage and interior courtyard views without requiring entry to the museum


location: Chicagocomputer modeling: Rhinoceros with Grasshopperrendering: V-Rayenvironmental analysis: Ecotect

skin

research project 2010

a thickened skinrethinking high-rise living


marina city towers

architect: Bertrand Goldberg

constructed: 1964

height: 587 ft

program: mixed use / parking / residentialeasttower

house of blues

sax hotel

private drive

smith & wollensky

N. S

TA

TE

ST

RE

ET

N. D

EA

RB

OR

N S

TR

EE

T

westtower

CHICAGO RIVER

a city within a cityresidential floor plans

(parking floors 1 - 20)

east tower floor plan 21st - 52nd

east tower floor plan 53rd - 60th


concrete problemsa skeleton in need of skin

When Marina City was built, it was the tallest reinforced concrete

structure in the world. This engineering feat was obviously a point

of pride for Goldberg and his team of designers, as they chose to

leave a key element of architecture missing - the skin. While the

radial formwork of the towers has become a hallmark of Chicago

architectural style and innovation, it has not withstood the elements

as well as it has the critics.

If one were to visit the towers on any given day one would find a now

familiar array of scaffolding and construction screens wrapping the

towers. The Marina City Condominium Association reports spending

millions of dollars to fix severe structural damage to the signature

cantilevered concrete balconies. Residents complain of constantly

rain-swept balconies and of puddling from deformations in the floor

plates due to constant bombardment by wind.

wind swept rain severe concrete damage

nine suns

According to Chinese legend, for thousands of years the

Earth was scorched by ten suns. One day a man named

Hou Yi came along and shot down nine of the suns along

with a few flying beasts and dragons thus saving the

people of the world from suffering inevitable destruction.

It is interesting to consider only nine of the ten suns were

shot down. It shows how vital the sun is for sustaining life,

while recognizing too much of a good thing can cause

destruction.

This study of Marina City Towers focused on ways to

address the building’s emergent environmental and

programmatic needs. Specifically, it examined how an

architectural skin may be utilized to protect an otherwise

“skinless” building from the elements and how that then

may affect the interactive spaces of high-rise living. It

was important with Marina City Towers to respect the

character of the existing structure, while allowing a new

identity to emerge. This is fitting given the parable of the

story is that survival is a product of both innovation and

adaptation; in other words, evolution.


sun mapping

evening sunmorning sun mid-day sun

current conditions optimized sun shades(june - august)



3 pm

4 pm

5 pm

9 am

10 am

11 am

12 pm

1 pm

2 pm

annual average winds

wind analysis

spring summer

autumn winter

prevailing winds

As Marina City Towers are circular in design with sixteen bays rotated on

center, it is equally exposed in every direction, making it especially difficult

to adapt to continually changing conditions. Wind, unlike sun exposure, is

far from constant. However, these prevailing wind diagrams clearly show a

predominance of winds from the southwest, especially in the winter months.

The initial skin studies began by addressing environmental issues of wind,

sun and rain. There are essentially nine hours in a day when sun-shading is

absolutely critical, especially for a high-rise building.


modularity studies

The modular investigations continued by

developing ways of populating surfaces with

sets of components subtly varied according to

irradiation maps.

With this particular example, a component was

stacked and then rotated to varying degrees

relative to the sun-shading desired, thereby

populating the cylindrical surface with a uniform

gradient. A more complex surface would produce

a larger variance in gradation. A full exploration of

this concept can be seen in the Harvard exhibition

of Adaptive Fritting, by Chuck Hoberman.

variable components

To create a building skin, a cylindrical form was populated with modular components

to compliment the repeated modularity of the towers. Secondarily, the components

were varied as they were “grafted” onto the surface, adapting to the given conditions

while creating functional ornament and visual complexity.


neil j. long | 60 |

east

north south

west

Sun studies show how “wrinkles” in a skin can

produce hot and cold spots throughout the day,

as opposed to the smooth surface of a perfect

sphere that has a constant gradient of irradiation

that shifts throughout the day.

The plasticity of the skin may be manipulated by

populating the surface with varying apertures.

As shown, four components populate several

“wrinkled” surfaces and are varied relative to

anticipated average daily irradiation.

skin gradations

| 59 | neil j. long

dynamic shading

variations

indirect/diffused light enters during peak sun hours

cooling oblique winds enter folds in skin

turbulence deflected by curved surfaces and driven upward, avoiding wind-swept balconies

self-shading surface could offer transparency for views with minimal heat gain

sun

sun shaded by canopy

cooling winds may be harvested from prevailing direction

cooling winds may be harvested through overlap of pleated surface

pleated surface creates shifting pockets of warm and cool air throughout day

hot air ventilated through opposite scoop by natural shift in air pressure

hot air ventilated through top of pleats by natural shift in air pressure

wind catchers


variable component as generator of surface modulation

programmatic wrapping

The boundaries of the skin were expanded so that a type of communal dwelling was realized around the exterior

of the towers. An extended, fully inhabitable component was generated, with possibilities for highly interactive

elements typically not realized by the autonomous balconies of high-rise apartment buildings. This would afford

all residents access to the full 360 degrees of the building’s views. To reduce wind resistance, the curvature of

the component shifts as it wraps the building, creating a cork-screw effect, directing turbulent winds from all

directions up and around the building. Further investigation of this new typology of high-rise living would realize

the expansion of public space at the lower parking levels and possibilities for shared amenities between the towers

and the adjacent Hotel Sax.

wrapping skin

expanded balconies


sun scoop

summer sun

winter sun

sun scoop

In order to avoid limiting

exterior views or inhibiting

the desired winter sun from

reaching apartment interiors,

the new promenade is shifted

upward, so that views are

increased and winter sun angles

from the months of November

to February can reach deeper

into the new atrium space.

The extended balconies

are offset from the existing

towers, creating semi-public

promenades accessible only by

residents. Likewise, an atrium-

like space is made in the gap

between the new balconies and

the old, providing ventilation,

views and light.

balcony expansion

spring & autumnwintersummer

During the summer the skin is allowed to breath through balcony and overhead doors. This provides natural, yet controlled airflow into the apartments while protecting the interiors from excessive wind. A natural convection occurs at each apartment, contributing to a stack effect in the surrounding atrium space.

During the winter all apertures of the skin (balcony and overhead doors) are closed, allowing the skin to serve as a large insulator for the building. The stack effect is still present, as towers naturally induce variances in air pressure as they rise. However, it is now not about cooling the interior space, but providing a winter garden for the occupants of the building.

One of the main reasons to pull the skin away from the original structure was to displace the most severe conditions of the high-rise typology, wind and rain. So when the exterior temperatures are optimal for natural ventilation, but the exterior conditions do not allow for the facade to be completely open, vents at the bottom and top of the skin may be used to induce the stack effect. In fact, such a configuration would produce a more intense, yet regulated stack effect than if the facade was opened at individual balcony apertures.

increasedstack effect

turbulence

rain closedenclosure

cool air

openenclosure

hot air

closedenclosure

stack effect & weather screening

offset

shift


The twisting curvature of the

skin allows for nine variations

in the extended balconies

relative to the fixed module of

the original towers. As the sun

shifts no space is overheated

as the rotated curve of the new

balconies are incrementally

shaded by the floors above.

balcony typography

The new balcony and overhead wing-like doors can be opened durring

favorable conditions thereby allowing the encompassing atrium space

to be naturally ventilated by oblique winds. The twisting skin also

provides varying spatial conditions relative to the fixed module of the

original bays. As shown in the diagrams to the right this was achieved by

modulating the shape of the extended bays on a fixed axis.


extended balcony above

extended balcony below

summer terracejune 21st

10:45 am


neil j. long | 72 |

winter gardendecember 21st

10:45 am


new high-rise living


| 75 | neil j. long

neil j. longgraduate portfolio

1810 NW 23rd Blvd / Apt 231Gainesville, FL [email protected](630) 217-5664

neil j. long design portfolio

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