PORTFOLIOJack LaFontain

PROJECTS:

GILLHAM PARK POOLHOUSE & PROMENADE

SILENCE & LIGHT STUDENT RETREAT

NYC EAST VILLAGE ART FORUM

STAVANGER MARKET PLACE

PERFORMANCE PAVILION

BUTTERFLY BOX

TENSEGRITY

OTHER WORK

Education Kansas State University (KSU) | Manhattan, KS 2013 - 2016 expected

College of Architecture, Planning, and Design M. Arch - 5 year NAAB accredited program

University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) 2011 - 2013

Department of Architecture, Urban Planning + Design M.Arch - 2 year NAAB accredited transfer program

Honors Chancellor’s Scholarship fall 2011

offered by University of Missouri-Kansas City

Transfer Honors Scholarship offered by Kansas State University fall 2013

Involvement International Institute of St. Louis 2009 - 2010

volunteer tutor for adult English & Literacy program for immigrants and refugees

Tricycle Transit Pedicabs summer-fall 2012

one of thirty six riders in quickly growing

Kansas City pedicab service (tip based pay)

Skills Proficient: Sketchup, Rhino, Adobe CS6 (illustrator, photoshop, indesign)

Intermediate: 3ds Max rendering, Adobe Premiere Pro

Developing: Revit, V-Ray, AutoCad, Ecotect

Other: Modelconstruction,laser-cutting,MSOffice, MacOSX, Windows, photography

References available upon request

Jack LaFontain | jlafontain@ksu.edu | 1 (314) 489-2827

This project creates a path between a residential area and a recreation center at the top of a hill and a large out-door park below. It is a place to stop for coffee and food, go swimming, or simply a way to get from one place to another. The design engages the hill in the same harmonious manner the existing limestone outcroppings do. Two building masses are set into the hillside creating spaces of shelter and prospect while allowing for an open plaza between the pool. Pivoting doors allow the pool to be secured during closed hours. Limestone walls create the boundry of the pool and its restrooms, café, and mechanical/storage rooms. These walls also create public circulation routes that are carved into the hill.

GILLHAM PARK POOLHOUSE & PROMENADEProf. John Eck | Arch-302 | Fa l l 2012

1 circulation2 served vs servant3 private vs public4 site plan5 model, closeup of primary space6 model, view from east of site

1 2 3

4

5

6

1 Floor plan -public restrooms -cafe & plaza -swimming area -promenade2 Detail model -overlook above -shelter below -horizontal structure supports pv array3 East-west section -stitches Locust St. (upper) and Gillham Rd. (lower) together -connects residential & educational zone with park to the east

1 2

3

SILENCE LIGHT STUDENT RETREATProf. John Eck | Arch-304 | Spr ing 2013

This center provides a retreat for students and teachers to think, study, and practice without distraction. The buildingissubtle:setbehindtreesandavine-coveredfacade.Onceinside,lightisfocusedthroughscreens,narrowgaps,lowwindows,andskylights.Uponentering,oneisimmediatelyconfrontedwithlightfilteringthrough the bamboo in a small enclosed light-well and an attendent is available to temporarily store elec-tronic items. In this way, the visitors attention is brought toward the light and away from unecessary distrac-tion.Visitorscanretreattooneofthepersonalstudyspacesontheupperfloors,orintooneofthreepavilionclassrooms for group yoga. The auditorium space punctuates the end of a linear path beyond the bamboo light-wellsandisdesignedtocantileverintothemostquietandtreefilledpartofthesite.Itscentralspace,enhanced by skylight and square terraces, provides an uncompromised silent space available at all times as a personal retreat and for unique larger group occasions.

1 circulation2 parti3 light - single spaces4 model, view of southern facade5 model, view of northern facade6 plan of upper three floorsandsurrounding site

1 2 3

4

5

6

1firstfloorplan2 section perspective -pedestrian streetfront -vine screen-3flrsofquietstudy -yoga class pavilions ongroundfloor3 model photo -north facade -single study spaces -classroom pavilions

1 3

2

1 pedestrian approach from west2 southern facade & entrance3 view from neighboring building4 large meditation & performance chamber, cantilevers into most secluded&treefilledpartofsite5 section north-south -street & pedestrian plaza -entrance & lobby -bamboo light wells -basement restrooms -meditation/performance chamber -lightly wooded hillside

1

5

2 3 4

When the Jefferson theater was torn down in 2000, this lot at 211 E. 13th St. became known as the “mystery lot.” The site is comprised of a lot on mostly resedential E 13th St. and a smaller lot on largely commercial E. 14th St. where the theater had its entrance. The edge along E 13th is maintained by a screen of permeable bamboo, allowing access under the building to the plaza beyond. A propopesed pedestrian connection to the L line along E14th St. further energizes a mix of program on site and increases access to rentable gallery space for up-and-coming artists. The forum contains apartments, a cafe & restaurant, a skate/bike store and repair shop, a skate park/art plaza, an auditorium, and ample rentable collaborative gallery space.

NYC EAST VILLAGE ART FORUMProf. Torgier Norheim | Arch-404 | Spr ing 2014

LIVE

LEARN

EAT, DRINK

PLAY

WATCH RIDE

LISTEN

REPAIR

SKATE

E 14th St

Stuyvesant Square

Union Square

3rd

Ave

E 13th St

1 building circulation 2 circulation from E 14th st. to E 13th st. 3 important subway and transportationflows 4 model, 13th st elevation 5 sitemap w/ subway routes 6 model photo, interior of block

1

2 3

4 6

5

66 S

I1

BABABA

2

3

1 model photo, E13th st view2double-heightsuperfloorsforflexibilityandadaptability3 E13th st elevation4 section showing skate park, lobby, auditorium, and two doubleheightsuperfloorsofflexiblegalleryspace

1

2

3

4

1 lower (plaza) level plan2firstfloorplan3secondfloorplan4thirdfloorplan(balcony)5planofupperfloors(gallery)6 section from subway & E14th street & the L line to E13th st

1

6

2 3 4 5

This collection of discoveries by STUDIO3 led to the formulation of urban strategies that re-energize the market in the heart of Stavanger, Norway. The current conditions of the marketplace allow for many opportunitiestocreateagreatersenseofplacethroughthedefinitionof the edges and the linking of lost or untapped connections within the surroundingurbancontext.Fromthefirstthreeweeksofresearch,wewere able to determine these opportunities and formulate strategies. The following four weeks were spent implementing these strategies and articulatingthethreeelementsthatwouldfulfilltheopportunities:the‘urbanfloor,’thecampanile,andtheculturalarmature.

STAVANGER MARKETPLACE COLLABORATIONProf. Torgier Norheim | Arch-404 | Spr ing 2014

Multiplicityisdefinedby1+1=3.Found in the summation of sys-tems and their lateral sub systems, when two seemingly different elements combine to produce a synergy between them that acti-vates a waiting environment. It is this “in-between” that holds all of the opportunities. The whole then becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

Light is both a particle and a wave, but how do the parts and the whole become visible together? The variables of design should be present in every scale from urban formation to architectural details. When exploring an environment the one gives insight to the others. The culmination of its smallest elements should reinforce the whole.

Permiability

PHIDA :

Harmony

Imagination

Diversity

adaptabilityExisting edges, green spaces, & flows/nodes

Transportation, cultural nodes, & harbor

Plan of urban floor, 5m and 2m levels Plan of urban floor, 8m level

urban activity - underground

section - Haakon VII

section - from lake to harbor

urban activity - above ground

Base of Campanile Campanile below street - stitch to underground

Haakon VII East - Open TopCampanile section & plan view from Haakon VII East - open top

Exploded axon of campanile and cultural armature base of campanile - street level base of campanile - underground

This project required the design of a pavilion for CICO park in Manhattan Kansas, and served as a wayoflearningeffectiveworkflowbetweenRhinoandRevitaswellasfinalrenderingcapabilities.

1floorplan2 entry, night rendering3 section4 section5 east elevation6 south elevation7 section perspective

CICO PARK PERFORMANCE PAVILIONProf. Nathan Howe | Dig i ta l Architecture I I | Fa l l 2013

1

3 4 5

2

6

7

The purpose of this project, inspired by the Lepidopteron Society, was to craft a box that could temporarily house a single live butterflyspecimenbeforebeingreleasedinto the wild. This box is designed for the small white (pieris rapae), a common gar-den pest. The handle is modeled like a small garden tool, overall geometry based on the small white’s hindwing, and the perch mod-eled after its wild food sources.

BUTTERFLY BOXProf. Lauren Wendlandt | Envd 201 | Fa l l 2011

View from audience

View from stage

1 open mode2 spring loaded mechanism3butterflywinggeometry4 closed mode6perch,wildflowergeometry

1

4 5

3

2

OTHER WORK:

This exploration into the work of Buck-minster Fuller and Kenneth Snelson entailed building multiple study models and creating effective ways of tension-ing and joining elements to achieve “floatingcompression.”Thestabilityand beauty of the system ultimately relied on custom built parts. Despite the rigidity of the overall system, the copper tensioning units paradoxically twirl and flutterinmotionduetotheirshapeandmass.

TENSEGRITYProf. John Eck | Arch 302 | Fall 2012

1_Tensioning device, custom connections 2_Initial study model, inadequate end con-nections 3_Second study model, custom rivets at ends 4_Final product, multiple scales 5_Final model, three scaled octohedra 6_second study model, durable, in use today

PHOTOGRAPHY:

graphite rendering - paimio sanitorium

graphite sketch - powell gardens

5 6

2

1

3 4

Jack LaFontainjlafontain@ksu.edu1 (314) 489-2827