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connor. verteramo.

I believe that the world of architecture both in speculation and in realization is at a point of a paradigmatic shift. The use of contemporary tools, technologies, and materials is just beginning to integrate into the profession and academia. I believe in the speculative work that occurs in most schools around the world and in those academic ecologies that a new architecture can be born. It is through a rigorous and deep investigation of the means of production that architecture can

begin to finds its future role in the world.

“Epiphanies and ‘A-Ha Moments’ are bullshit. You only can arrive at those solutions by spending 20 hours a day working your ass off with intention and rigor, not by sitting around.”

-studio professor, Rives Rash

Table of Contents:Ch. 01_Artistic Abstractions 03_Synergy 04_Wire Monster 05-06_Speculative Prolegomenon 07-08_Dichotomies 09-10_The Livery Gallery

Ch. 02_Cultural Experiences 13-14_Yoga Retreat Center 15-18_Bernheim Forest Retreat 19-22_Louisville Children’s Museum 23-28_Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

Ch. 03_Urbanism 31-32_Henry Street Renovation 33-34_DesignFabricationOffice 35-36_Urban Analysis: Photography 37-38_Urban Analysis: Sketchbook 39-42_Urban (Re)Design

Ch. 04_Evolo Skyscraper Competition 45-48_The Proposal 49-55_Digital Sketchbook 57_Commentary and Acknowledgments

Ch. 01_Artistic Abstractions

The expression of concept, poetics, and pragmatics through intuitive abstractions can present a richness and insight into the one’s own mind that is often hard to express verbally. The re-finementoftheseexplorationsoverthepastfouryearshasbecomeintegratedintotheoveralldesign process. It has resulted in the personal emphasis on production within and adjacent to projects.

01

03_Synergy04_Wire Monster

05-06_Speculative Prolegomenon07-08_Dichotomies

09-10_The Livery Gallery

02

03

Professor_Regina Summers

Freshmen_Fall_2012

Synergy

To understand our workwemustfirstbeginto understand our intuition. Who are you as a designer? Synergy is a conceptual study of the relationships between the unpredictable and the responsive order developed by an architect. The intention is to press new design students to explore the imaginative and intuitive notions innate in each student.

04

Professor_Rives Rash

Sophomore_Fall_2013

Wire Monster

The tactile intention andabstractionclarifiesthe balance between ar-chitectural polemics. “Wire Monster” asks for a system-atic and rigorous study of growth, connection, and relationships using a tech-nique which calls for a rule-setdefinedbyadjacenciesand points of connection in unitized growth. The ideal resultcreatesaninfinitefieldconditioninwhichthe established system is adaptable to contextual constraints and concepts.

Design Fabrication Office (33-34)

05

Professor_Martin Summers

Junior_Fall_2014

Speculative Prolegomenon

The processes em-ployed through digital mak-ing explores a contextual language of surface, object, and grid. The systematic in-teractions abstract integrat-ed architectural solutions, in this thinking the systems become both independent and coexistent. The resulting form is both arbitrary and specificthroughintentionalmisalignments and misread-ing. The 3D printed model was included in Martin Sum-mers’ (PLUS-SUM) exhibi-tion associated with ACA-DIA 2015, at the University of Cincinnati. His work was curated by Owen Duross and Thompson Burry.

Louisville Children’s Museum (19-22)

06

Professor_Nathan Smith

Junior_Spring_2015

Dichotomies

07

The subconscious solutions to architectural prompts are often misrep-resented due to constraints attached to means of pro-duction. “Dichotomies” acts as a mediator between the subconscious intuition and constrained solution. The re-sulting collection developed concurrently to a studio project in which the main question was the tension between architect and art curator.

(5 of 51)

KMAC (23-28)

08

Independent_Exhibition

Fall_2015

The Livery Gallery

09

A set of the “Dichoto-mies” body of work is on exhibit in a local gallery, The Livery, in Lexington, KY. (Nov. 20-Jan. 20).

KMAC (23-28)

10

Ch. 02_Cultural Experience

11

The relationship between architecture and society has always been relevant, and more than ever it is now. As architecture shifts into a new contemporary age of design, we are tasked with the safety and well-being of not only people but of the world we occupy. Through the possibil-itytoeffectindividualsbytheexperienceofarchitecture,thearchitecthastheresponsibilityto provoke change. Today the hope is that architecture can begin to both bring awareness to major issues facing the world and also present potential solutions while evoking an emotional response.

13-14_Yoga Retreat Center15-18_Bernheim Forest Retreat

19-22_Louisville Children’s Museum23-28_Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft

12

Yoga Retreat Center

Freshmen_Spring_2013

Professor_Liz Swanson

13

The Yoga Retreat is a culmination of a semes-ter long exploration of the movement, procession, and ritual associated with yoga. Poetically speaking, the proposal considers the syn-ergetic shifts and tensions that occur in transitioning between poses. The land-scape and the surface ar-chitecture attempts to blur the boundaries between the two systems of design. The landscape can only be fully understood with the archi-tecture and the architecture with the landscape. Though perceived as powerful sepa-rately, the synergy between the two creates an impactful procession, ritual, and expe-rience.

14

sections 1/16” model

plan_02

plan_01

Bernheim Forest Retreat

Sophomore_Spring_2014

Professor_Bruce Swetnam

15

The Bernheim For-est Preservation is striving to create awareness for the need of trans-disciplinary teams to holistically prob-lem solve. The prompt asks for a retreat experience that incorporates a series of por-table living units and three sites to occupy through the duration of hiking retreat. The emphasis on ecologi-cal understanding hopefully will provide a new model for corporations, industry, and problem solving. The proposed solu-tion addresses a the juxta-position of the natural and urban, the codependent and independent, the whole and the individual.

16

plan at edible garden siteoverall preservation property adaptations of site

17 18

full scale build

Professor_Martin Summers

Louisville Children’s Museum

Junior_Fall_2014

19

The Louisville Chil-dren’s Museum is proposed as part of larger master planningeffortinthecitytorevitalize the “Old Louisville” neighborhood. The history and tradition of the city, the growing young population, and blossoming culture provide a context for con-necting to the past, present, and future. The intent is to create a natural extension of the existing park system. The museum uses variation in scale, in exhibition, and permanence to mimic the characteristics of parks.

Speculative Prolegomenon (05-06)

20

urban context_olmsted park system

21 22

plan_01 plan_03plan_02 plan_04

Junior_Spring 2015

Professor_Nathan Smith

KMAC

23

The paradox that ex-ists within art museum de-sign is that the curator and architect both have aspira-tions that are inherently tied to each other but cannot be with each other. The architecture is not the building, but it is the injection of a formal solution that integrates the neces-sary infrastructure to fa-cilitate the museum experi-ence. It mediates the needs of the curator and the aspi-rations of the architect. It is a resolution of the complex relationship and ideological differencesbetweenarchi-tect and curator.

Dichotomies (07-08)

24

section_aa plan_01 plan_02 plan_03 plan_04

25 26

image used as invitation for studio exhibition review sent to the AIA of central kentucky

The digital fabrication of the represented mod-els is an attempt to allude to potential techniques of construction, though only abstractly. The intent is to ask for the feasibility of the constructionofthefinalfor-mal gesture, the main tech-nique of production being laser cut sheets of a surface material. The potential of cut filesforsuchmodelsbeginto question the scaleless-ness of digitally fabricated architectural models.

27 28

1/32” model 1/8”model_1floorsegment 1/4” model_desk construction detail

Ch. 03_Urbanism

The beauty of the city is the scalability of concept to construction details or to international connectivity. The following prompts ask` for an opinion about the future of situational contexts, ranging in scale from a building sited in a city to a city block to the overall renovation of a city with a vision for larger networks between cities. Urbanism in today’s world holds a heavy hand on the human impact on the environment. The investigation of the complexities inherent in the urban fabric is necessary to address the issues and propose intelligent holistic solutions.

29

31-32_Henry Street Renovation33-34_Design Fabrication Office

35-36_Urban Analysis: Photography37-38_Urban Analysis: Sketchbook

39-42_Urban (Re)Design

30

Professor_Tony Roccanova

Freshmen_Fall_2012

Henry Street Intervention

31

The course objective addresses a site in Lexing-ton, KY that has the poten-tial for an economic revital-ization. The semester’s work comprises itself of a series of new programs that could integrate into the existing urban fabric; those being an art gallery, black box theater, a train station, and a resi-dential tower. As part of a three course subdivision of typical studios, this course focuses primarily on repre-sentation through physical model making.

Synergy (03)_for example of concurrent drawing por-tion of curriculum.

32

Professor_Rives Rash

Sophomore_Fall_2013

Design + Fabrication Office

33

The Design + Fabri-cationOfficesituatesitselfwithin the given site of Lexington, KY which has a budding maker culture and design culture. The concep-tualization of the proposal modelsitselfofftheorga-nization and experience of architectural education. In that thinking the project fo-cuses on creating opportu-nities for varying scales and formalities of collaboration and critique. The members oftheoffice,fabricationlab,and the client can all inte-grate into design processes andsolutionstobenefitallparties.

Wire Monster (03)

urban context plan_01 plan_02 program strategy

34

Advisor_Mark O’Bryan

Junior/Senior_Summer_2015

Urban Analysis_Photography

35

The task of the studio abroad asks for the produc-tion of both a photo journal and a sketchbook as means of achieving an in-depth analytical and qualitative understanding of the urban fabric of various European cities. The city begins to be comprehensible through its visualization, interpretation, and reinterpretation.

36

Advisor_Mark O’Bryan

Junior/Senior_Summer_2015

Urban Analysis_Sketchbook

37

“The observation of a city’s layering, both in experi-ence and function of space, al-lows one to understand a city. The layered complexity of cit-ies reveals their physical, tem-poral, and cultural networks of connection. It is in the nuances of these connective networks that the specificity of place is denoted. The refining process of these subtleties is affected by the course of history rela-tive to political, economic, and cultural happenings. The act of “peeling back” the layers in a city allows one to comprehend the hyper-complex connective network that defines a place. “Introduction to undergradu-ate research report associ-ated with the study abroad trip and personal interests. Fundedthroughofficeforundergraduate research.

38

Advisor_Mark O’Bryan

Junior/Senior_Summer_2015

Urban (Re)Design

39

The resulting design solution is a manifestation of the previous analysis and independent research sponsoredbytheofficeforundergraduate research. The integration of resource efficiency,closedloopsys-tems, and a shift from de-pendency on fossil fuels into an aesthetically pleas-ing architecture strives to effecttheoccupantssoasto stimulate change. The proposal strives to coexist and catalyze regeneration in the city of South Bend, IN.

40

demographics speculative phases of growth

systems integration

speculative urban growth

41 42

Ch. 04_Evolo Skyscraper Competition

The culminating design work is not only a self-motivated project but also a response and cri-tique of the academic experience to date. As students we are trained to compete with those next to us in classes because the response is immediate but with a small sample of design students to collaborate with and motivate one another the status of the design profession will become stagnant. The ability to pursue independent interests with a global perspective, one can push themselves and others. The best designers are not always the ones right next to you, but they are always the ones who we should strive to join in collaboration.

43

45-48_The Proposal49-55_Digital Sketchbook

57_Commentary and Acknowledgements

44

Teammate_Lauren Turnage

Advisor_Martin Summers

Senior_Fall_2015

The Proposal

The following images are a quick insight into the work in production for a submission in the 2016 Evo-lo Skyscraper Competition. The included work is strictly produced by myself, though conceptual authorship has dual ownership between myself and my partner. For reasons of dis-cretion I will only vaguely describe the project as a reinterpretation of the no-tions of usable space for new skyscrapers within the hyper-densifying urban context.Withsuchredefini-tion there is also a rebrand-ing for whom the skyscraper is built. The project aspires to present itself as a specu-latively plausible vision of future city living.

45 46

speculativeinfiltration proposal in-progress_2130

Early Imagery

The Proposal

The following are ini-tial images that begin to ex-plainourfinalproject.Theywere produced as studies to determine the neces-sary views and images that would best describe our project in the limited allot-ment of presentation space. Again, for reasons of descretion we have decided tokeepfinalandexplicitim-ages secret until the sub-mission has occurred.

4847

Advisor_Martin Summers

Senior_Fall_2015

Digital Sketchbook

The Digital Sketch-book is an evolution of the competition collaboration though the submission wasacollaborativeeffort,this series of drawings are self-motivated as a means tocatalogaworkflowmu-tating from the ideology behind the speculative ink drawings, Dichotomies. The conversation of the sky-scraper competition was informative as to the resul-tant geometry but more so these drawings were a study ofworkflow,representation,and criticism.

Dichotomies (01_04)

psychological deconstruction

49 50

bridges

51 52

the space between

53 54

This is the last printable page in your book and will print on the left side.

Composite Rohrshach

55 56

Commentary and Acknowledgments

The independent studio process has allowed me to explore my personal interests to a level that I have been striving towards for a while. The conversation with peers and professors, both directly and indirectly related to the work, is reaching a level of intellect and curiosity that I do not believe has been around the program for a while. I do not believe it to be my doing, more thanitisaselectgroupofstudentswhoaretalkingwithaspecificgroupofprofessors.Goinginto the semester many variables were at play that could have derailed the success of the proj-ect; a success that has not nearly as much to do with the success of the submission but more to do with the impact on the atmosphere of the college. I am unsure where this semester will endupinthespectrumofgreatnessofwork,butitwilldefinitelybeatransitioningpointinmylifelong pursuit of an architectural education.

The next few months will be exciting as the project wraps up and I begin new collaborations with new peers that are interested in similiar work and processes. The goal is to produce a series of speculative projects that are student driven and has a potential to morph in under-standing and presentation. The possibilities to work with these peers would not have been possible without the opportunity to design a studio curriculum for myself and my partner.

At this point I would like to acknowledge a few people that made it possible for me to achieve what I have so far. My close friends in the college who have given me support and acted as sounding boards that I needed to explore architecture. My advisors within the college who have an unwavering determination to help the students. My professors who have a passion for their work and for teaching. Lastly, my family who has given me the opportunity through both moralandfinancialsupporttosucceedinschoolandlife.Icouldnothavecomeclosetosuc-ceeding to any fraction of what I have without any of them.

57

connor. verteramo.