NEIL XAVIER ESSER

portfolio

CONTENT

worksAssembling HousingBenzonia TowerDigital Media & Five SensesDescriptive WordsTransportation CenterSteel MuseumTennis PavilionCollagesCommunit Arts Center

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HAND

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

ADOBE PHOTOSHOP

AUTODESK REVIT

AUTODESK AUTOCAD

3DS MAX

BENTLEY MICROSTATION

WEST ELEVATION

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NEWPORT HOUSING ON THE LEVEE

Newport Southbank Bridge

Newport On The Levee

Newport Aquarium

Levee

SITE

(Pedestrian)

NEWPORT, KY - Building Site

Site: brownfield; approximate site = 225,000 sqft building footprint approx. = 94,015 sqft

50% of the site restored with plants grouped into green spacesDaylight: reaches 75% of room spaces.Innovation: parking lot transformed into a parking structure with a dwelling units above.Transportation: reduces the need for driving by connecting the design to the mall and pedestrian bridge.Bicycle storage and changing rooms provided.

LEGEND

1. Retail2. Restaurant3. Live / work spaces4. Parking Structure5. Circulation Tower6. Mall Bridge7. Courtyard8. Dwelling Units9. Public yard

The design process for Newport Housing on the Levee began as a collaborative approach between an architecture and structural engineering student. Learning from each other, the design started with issues of the site. The site criteria is based on identifying a location that is a brown-field, a location poised for economic growth, and a location with high urban density that would result in a project that is afford-able for future residents and commercial users. The selected site is in Newport , KY, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati and in prox-imity to other commercial and residential buildings such as New-port on the Levee mall. The city has public transportation, such as bus service and the pedestrian bridge that links Newport to Cincin-nati, and several amenities to shop and live locally. Research on the AISC website provides the students with examples of the innovative use of steel which this design builds upon by expressing the structural system through the architectural form. A STAAD analysis of the steel components and the assembly of steel led us to our creative design. This innovative steel frame allows for the exposure of the frame above and below the units encasing the dwelling units into a structural sandwich providing column free disruption within the units and affording clear views to the city beyond. The composite steel beam and column clearances allow direct service access for ductwork and plumbing to reach each. The use of steel advances the design's 200 foot plus spans as both achievable and affordable.

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A unique lifestyle at the hub of all the best in Newport, KY, Newport Housing on the Levee is designed on top of a parking structure creating a community in the sky with breath-taking views at the same time renewing parts of the site.

Scale: 1” = 96’-0”Site Plan

Scale: 1” = 96’-0”Site Section

SOUTH ELEVATION

NORTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

(ABOVE) Perspective

(ABOVE) Plan

(ABOVE) Site: Newport, KY

Assembling Housing

I worked with a structural engi-neering student to use steel in a

new way and create an eight story mixed use project with one, two,

and threed bedroom units on top of retail, parking, and restaurants.

Benzonia Tower

Study of the Fibonacci sequenceand the golden ratio to design an offi ce tower.

(RIGHT) Benzonia Tower

2(ABOVE) elevation

(ABOVE) Plan

(ABOVE) Perspective

Digital Media

I recreated a campus facility in autocad and then realistically placed into a rendering.

Study of the Human Senses

I researched the human senses and then proceeded to test each human sense with a model along

with abstract digital media for each sense.

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(ABOVE) Autocad plan & elevation

(ABOVE) Autocad plan & elevation

(ABOVE) abstract digital media

(ABOVE) Smell

(ABOVE) See

(ABOVE) Touch

(ABOVE) Hear

(ABOVE) Taste

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Descriptive Words

What does a word mean as a drawing? That is what I was

determined to fi nd out with these studies.

Transportation Center

Lexington, KY. has a new bypass road being built and where this is located next to a convention center needs a solution for parking and transportation needs to an from the area. This design is the solution.

GALLERY HOP

PROGRAM

PRECEDENTS/RESEARCH

SITE ANALYSIS

FINALDESIGN

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THE MANCHESTER CITY EXHIBIT OPENED AT THE ARTS PLACE GALLERY ON NOVEMEBER 17, 2006.

THERE WERE TWO SHOWINGS ON OPENING DAY. THE FIRST WAS AT 3PM FOR MANY LOCAL OFFICIALS AND POTENTIAL INVESTOR AND DE-VELOPERS INCLUDING THE MAYOR. THEN THAT EVENING THE EXHIBIT WAS PART OF LEXINGTON’S QUARTERLY GALLERY HOP.

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(ABOVE) Perspective

(ABOVE) Train depot view

Tennis Pavilion

The competition entry for these tennis courts had to be constructed out of masonry. These boards took honorable mention.

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AISC Competition- Campus Museum

The campus museum was required to use strucutral steel. The museum is

intended for students to have a choice to walk through art galleries as they

head to class.

(ABOVE) Steel Museum Diagram

(ABOVE) Mass Models

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Collages

These collages, created with material and then drawn, are studies of what catches the eye and how it is revealed

in drawing form.

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Community Arts Center (CAC)Located on IEC campus in Japan,

the CAC is a theater for the college and community use.

(ABOVE) Japanese Room

(ABOVE) Community Arts Center

(ABOVE & LEFT) Construction Documents

Thank you

To inquire about hiring Neil X Esser

please email him at

neilesser@gmail.com

End.

(ABOVE) Ink on Mylar