NS Architectural Portfolio

NICK SCHWERTSCHLAG

SEGMENT II PORTFOLIO

JULY 14, 2014

BOSTON ARCHITECTURAL COLLEGE

b.arch

for Ava Faye

BACKGROUNDWhen I was thirteen, I took an architecture class at a summer camp called Artworks at the Waring School in Beverly, MA. It was there that I first became inter-ested in design and stimulated a lot of creativity in my teen years. From there, I started drawing floor plans of houses I would want to live in, made models of build-ings, and started woodworking projects in my fathers woodshop. After high school, I made a misguided de-cision of attending business school at Western New England University in the Business Marketing Pro-gram. However after two years, I realized that I was not interested in becoming some sort of sales repre-sentative, and my mind started to drift back towards design. I had a baby girl on the way, so I made the decision to move back to the North Shore and pur-sue architecture at Boston Architectural College. In my first year, positions in architecture firms were scarce, however the construction field was busy. Since then, I have worked with a couple of different employers, learning frame to finish construction. The skills that I have learned and the skills that I am still developing in the field in conjuction with the BAC curriculum, I be-lieve will make me a better designer, a better builder, and a proficient architect.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING

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ROADSIDE COLLAGE

ORGANICISM

PRACTICE

C1 Studio: Small ScaleFall 2011

Instructors: Cynie Linton & Mike Ferrara

For my first C Studio, entitled Small Scale, our project was to design a preschool in Cambridge on McGrath Highway just outside of Boston. The premise for this course as was explained at the beginning of the semes-ter was that every aspect of our design was to be gener-ated by hand and only then could be altered using digital sources. The origin of the concept was derived from the the site, random object selection and a precedent study on a concept of interest by another architect. Inspirations for the project came from my at the time, three year old daughter, examination of infants at play and several visits to the Childrens Museum in Boston.

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8SITEThe site for our preschool is situated at a nexus on Mc-grath Highway where the res-idential neighborhood pas-sage meets the main road. This nexus also neighbors the MBTA Lechmere sta-tion. There are many differ-ent businesses and buidling types surrounding the site, in-lcuding hotels, fast food, gas stations and shops.

McGrath HighwayHere we see the site at center, McGrath Highway on the right, and passage to residential Cambridge on the right.

Residential CambridgeOnce away from McGrath Highway, the essence of the neighborhood drastically changes to strictly residential.

BostonThis node is just a stepping stone away from the Museum of Science, major high-ways, and the outskirts of the city.

SMALL SCALE

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Circulation 1This early basic diagram shows three different di-rections a vehicle might approach the site from (blue), and early ideas of how pedestrians may cir-cumvent the site (red).

SMALL SCALE

SITEThis perspective map of the site (shown in white) repre-sents the paths of circulation across the area on which the site sits. The red lines show pedestrian traffic around the parcel and the blue lines rep-resent vehicular movement about the site. Shown at the far right are three diagram it-erations of how vehicles and pedestrians might arrive or move through the site.

Circulation 2In this second approach to site movement, we see vehicles starting to pass through the site from Mc-Grath Highway and from Gore Street. Pedestrian traffic circumventing be-comes more defined.

Circulation 3Here we see this node forming a circulatory node within its self, a nexus within a node if you will, the early stages of a drop-off area for the preschool.

Steven HollConcept SketchSimmons Hall, MITSeries of Light Wells

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NatureI felt like nature plays a big role in a grow-ing childs life, and decided to represent that with this branch from a tree located on our site.

Preliminary ConceptAs my first concept drawing I sketched out a section of different blocks, with cylindri-cal light wells penetrating through the roof to allow for growth of a familiar type of veg-etation, the key word here being growth, the idea of a tree growing from the core of the classroom as the children grow intel-lectually.

SMALL SCALE

SITEOne of our early assignments was to pick two different ob-jects that we felt would have meaning to the design of our preschool and to combine the two objects to assimilate a concept between the two. The purpose was to form an idea for the program of the building. The leaves and the childrens cubes (shown right) were my two objects.

PRECENDENTIn conjuction with the two ob-jects, we were also asked to research a precedent study that we felt could strengthen our concepts. For my prec-edent study I chose Simmons Hall at MIT by Steven Holl.

Building BlocksBuilding blocks, self-explanatory isnt it? these building blocks which contain minia-ture vehicles belonged to my daugter, who always enjoyed these blocks as an infant.

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Flow Diagram 1This first diagram represents an al-most tiered program with a linear path through it. Flow Diagram 2

This second diagram represents more of a funnel shaped program with a parabolic path instead.

1st Plan IterationIn my first plan iteration I experi-mented with octagonal shaped classrooms, closely derived off of the second flow diagram. Here the program designation is a bit different because we were asked to accommodate for two daycare classrooms and two preschool classrooms, among other neces-sities. The rectangle at the center of the building is an

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A Staff AreaB Daycare 1C Bathrooms/StairsD Communal Area 1E Daycare 2F Preschool 1G Bathrooms/StairsH Communal Area 2J Preschool 2K Preschool 3

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SITEAfter finding the core concept for the design of the building, it was time to start research-ing a suitable program for preschool children. My first idea for the program included the necessary playground, learning areas, activities ar-eas, arts & music area, a quiet spaces for nap time and a playroom. The diagrams (shown right) exhibit a de-sired circulation through the spaces, with compartmental-ized areas for learning.

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PROCESSAfter finding the core concept for the design of the building, it was time to start research-ing a suitable program for preschool children. My first idea for the program included the necessary playground, learning areas, activities ar-eas, arts & music area, a quiet spaces for nap time and a playroom. The diagrams (shown right) exhibit a de-sired circulation through the spaces, with compartmental-ized areas for learning.

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REFINEMENTWith a few more sketches to test the curvature of the build-ing and to attempt to bring all concepts together, I was able to establish a boundary to keep the building within. In order to do this, I had to push the building tight to the prop-erty lines of the narrow sight to achieve the forms you see following.

First SketchThe site sketched out underneath, with a tri-angular mesh overlay with punchtures.

Second SketchTriangular disks with continuous cylindrical punctures for light/tree wells.

A Entry VestibuleB Staff OfficesC Directors OfficeD Staff KitchenetteE Daycare GalleryF LibraryG Daycare 1H Daycare 2J Playground

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With the final form in place, I began to load it with program. Some adjustment was made in the central courtyard form to create better flow passage through the building. Here we can see the daycares shar-ing common bathrooms, and connect easily to the library which ramps up from the first floor. The first floor also holds the staff areas and the play-ground.

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The second floor is a bit more interesting in that its pre-school classes have the lux-ury of learning around a live treewell in their classroom. Like the first floor, these classrooms share common bathrooms, two share a tree-well, and a kid-friendly ramp links the children directly to the library.

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LONGITUDINAL SECTIONAs said before, one of the purposes of this studio was to continue deriving design through hand drawing. The skeleton drawing of this sec-tional, and the one that foll-lows in the next page were done completely by hand, then later altered in Photo-shop to give it more context.

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LATITUDINAL SECTION

Ficus

VentilationSteel Post

Lexan UV Glazing

Maple Seat

Concrete Slab

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NATURESINFLUENCE

TREEWELLThe treewell idea remained a constant driving force throughout the duration of this project. From the early sketches of branches grow-ing through lightwells to a fully designed, fully intera-tive monument to every pre-school classroom.

PLAYGROUNDLike the treewells, the playground got its in-fluence from trees as well. Derived off of the two precedents shown right, the sketch shown left was the vision I had for the courtyard play-ground for this small scale school.

AERIAL VIEW

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C2 Studio: Affordable Housing CompetitionSpring 2012: February - April

Instructors: Henry Celli & Michael Rosa

My second C studio and my first C2 studio was a hybrid of a studio and a design competition. For the first two months of the semester, my studio consisting of seven students joined the Affordable Housing Development Competition of 2012. There, we split up into teams and joined up with other students from Harvard University, Northeastern University and Tufts into seven different de-velopment teams. At the preliminary competition dinner, the different development sponsors gave their presenta-tions of parcels they had selected to redevelop. One of the parcels was located in Salem, MA, which worked out perfectly for my BAC team mate and I, since we are both from the North Shore. For two months we worked rig-orously with the North Shore Community Development Coalition in Salem to develop to our surprise on not one but three separate parcels. With myself and fellow BAC student Julie Tavares in charge of architecture and de-sign and the rest of the team on financials, we developed three affordable living developments for the Salem Point in Salem, MA.

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PRE-DESIGNBefore the competition be-gan, we still had about two weeks of studio to begin dis-cussing affordable housing developments. After studying a couple of different devel-opments around the world, our instructors asked us to begin thinking about design-ing efficient spaces for a stu-dio unit, a one bedroom unit and a three bedroom unit in an affordable housing com-plex. I personally experience with interlocking units, always thinking of them as parts of a whole.

Studio ApartmentSimplicity at its best, a shared kitchen and dining area, followed by a bathroom, a lofted bedroom, and a balcony.

One Bedroom ApartmentA more luxurious version of the studio apart-ment, with larger living spaces, more storage areas and a balcony.

Two Bedroom ApartmentHere we have a central kitchen, dining and living area, with two bedrooms and two bath-rooms and a balcony branching off of the core.

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING

PRE-DESIGNAfter developing the units, it was time to test them as in-terlocking parts of a whole. Shown on the right is a se-quence of how these units in-terlock together to form these apartment wings, then can be stacked to form the build-ing. At far right, I am testing the possibility of a multi-use building, especially at street level.

Commercialized FacadeAt the street side, this low rise appears as an apart-ment building with a cen-tral entrance, and different commercial spaces at the ground level. Depending on the views we are try-ing to capture, this facade could easily be flipped around.

Circulatory BackboneAt the rear, a vertical spine gives occupants access to their apartments, complete-ly privatized away from the commercial public spaces.

SALEM POINT


For those who do not know the Salem Point in Salem, Massachusetts, it is the pov-erty stricken neighborhood of the touristic city. It is located around the Shetland Indus-trial Park and can most ac-curately be described as the slums of Salem. The North Shore CDC has been clean-ing up this neighborhood for years, but there is still much work to be done. Shown in black are the three parcels the North Shore CDC had se-lected to be revitalized.

78 CONGRESS STREETThe first site on the main street that bisects the Salem Point serves as an overflow park-ing lot for the employees of Shetland In-dustrial Park. The owners of Shetland Park have agreed to let the North Shore CDC de-velop on this property on the condition that they preserve the same number of parking spots that exist there now. The site is rough-ly 20,000 sq. ft.

16 LYNCH STREETThe second site, like the first one, serves as another overflow parking lot, and is located closer to the office buildings and adjacent to one of their parking garages. Again, here we are looking to preserve all of the existing parking spaces and place a 40 unit building on the site. The site is roughly 40,000 sq. ft.

38 PALMER STREETThe final site exists as a parcel where a house had burned down in the past. The North Shore CDC acquired the parcel with the idea of developing a three to six unit complex on it. The site is much at a much smaller scale at roughly 2,000 sq. ft.

CONTEXT

Bus Stop

1/8 Mile Radius

Business

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Historic Building

Household Demographics

DEMOGRAPHICSOur financial team for this project was able to gather demographics data on the financial standings and other information on the typical residents of the Salem Point. Shown on the right you will find education demographics of Salem residents compared to Salem Point residents, as well as housing demographics between Salem residents and Salem Point residents.


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AFFORDABLE HOUSING

SITE CONDITIONSThis region of Salem borders the Salem coastline, so the summer winds cool the site in the summer and the chilly northwesterly winds are dif-fused by the mainland. Most of the buildings are under five stories so the sites receive adequate sunlight as well.

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PARKINGSince we are looking to preserve parking on site, this dia-gram examines options for public on-street parking near the three sites.

CIRCULATIONFor the most part the circulation through the site is pretty steady except near the entrance to Shetland Park and the bridge that connects the Point back to Salem.


Underground ParkingA minor redesign and some negotia-tion with the NSCDC allowed us to reduce parking spaces in order to fit the building.

78 CONGRESSThe Congress Street site was our flagship development, so we began with these designs first. The North Shore CDC requested a design that in-tegrated parking, housing, a public gallery, and office spaces, all in one building. So we began with several dia-grams which evolved into the form of the Congress Street building.

Main Circulatory SystemThree vertical circulation tow-ers, one south, one north and one main central because of the length of the site.

Main Vertical Circulation AtriumThe central node of the building, connecting parking, housing, offices and the gallery in one junction.

Public/Commercial SpaceThe first two floors of the north wing reserved for gal-lery space and community event gatherings.

HousingApproximately 40 affordable living units on the south wing of the building.

Public Vertical Circulation AtriumVertical circulation solely for public use for the north wing with the option of keyed entry for residents to cor-ridors to the south wing.

Office SpaceTwo floors of office suites to be oc-cupied by the North Shore Commu-nity development Coalition in the heart of the Point.

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78 CONGRESSThe completed plan of the 78 Congress Flagship Build-ing. Show close right is the ground floor plan, and the typical third/fourth floor plan shown far right. The building features a pulbic use north wing and a private housing complex south wing, with a jogging facade for room en-largement and an aesthetic appeal. These jogs could possibly be used as canvas-es for local artists to show-case their mural skills.

An existing mural at the 78 Congress Stree site.

One Bedroom UnitComfort, coziness and efficiency, wrapped up into an economic sized apartment.

Three Bedroom UnitLike the two bedroom unit, it was essential to give the right areas window access. In order to do this, the triples occupied the corners of the building.

Two Bedroom UnitFor these units, it was impor-tant to our design to ensure that both bedrooms and the living room were located along the exterior wall.


78 Congress Street Apartments

Size: 54,000 SF

No. of Units: 40

Unit Sizes: 600 - 900 SF

Cost: $9.9M

Time to Completion: 3 Years

26 Units

Floor Plates

Column Grid

Entry Vestibule

Circulation System

Vehicle Ramp


16 LYNCHFor this parcel, we developed a four level parking garage structure on a column grid, then using the Lynch Street and Perkins Street sides, placed units within the col-umn grid in an L shape to hide the parking garage. The four extra levels of parking helped us meet our parking requirement for the Congress and Lynch sites.

Retro-fittable UnitsAs a backup option to add more units in the future, our team proposed retro-fittable units that could be placed within the column grid at a later date if the parking space requirement for the site was ever lowered. Here those retro-fittable units are shown in blue.

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16 LYNCHAs described before, an L-shaped building that hides its parking garage infrastructure. The parking garage links to stairwells that exit at the street to Shetland Park for employees, but also includes parking for residents as well along the back walls of the housing corridor.

One Bedroom UnitThese units are a bit smaller and more compact than the Congress site, yet still effi-cient.

Two Bedroom UnitVery similar design to the Congress site, however we decided not to jog the fa-cades on this building.

Three Bedroom UnitLike the other site, the triples had to occupy the corners of the building to give the third bedroom a window.


16 Lynch Street Condominiums

Size: 40,000 SF

No. of Units: 26

Unit Sizes: 500 - 900 SF

Cost: $8M


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Secondary Egress

Primary Egress Circulation Atrium

Unit 3

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AFFORDABLE HOUSING

38 PALMERUnlike the other two large scale parcels, the 38 Palmer Street site gave us the op-portunity to design something a little different. In this ap-proach, we designed a three-family condominium. Since the site is close to the water, we wanted to give it more of a luxury appeal to possible business professionals of Shetland Park buyers.

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PALMER STREET

AFFORDABLE HOUSING

38 PALMERThe design of the unit closely reflects our three bedroom design, with an extenuation of the kitchen, dining and liv-ing areas, and the addition of a second full bathroom. The condo includes a front patio as well as parking for the oc-cupants.


38 Palmer Street Condominiums

Size: 5,000 SF

No. of Units: 3

Unit Size: 1,500 SF

Cost: $770,000


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C2 Studio: Affordable Housing Re-DesignSpring 2012: April - May

After the competition was over, our studio still had about four weeks of studio left. Our instructors asked us to pick one of the three parcels we had just designed for in the competition and to completely start from scratch with a new design with less strict parameters to design for, or more design freedom. I chose the 16 Lynch Street site to redesign because I appreciated how close it was to the ocean and wanted to capture ocean views, not to men-tion the site footprint give a lot more freedom to design compared to the other two sites.

Blocked view of Salem harbor at ground level

Open view of Salem harbor at 30 elevation

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SITE RE-ANALYSISOne of the parameters that I had to abide by in the com-petition was the zoning height requirement of 40. The park-ing garage adjacent to the site completely blocks a beautiful view of Salem Harbor, and the view was something that was not possible with a park-ing garage core and a height limit on the building. So I wanted to extent the height of the building to 8 levels to give some residents exceptional harbor views.

SITE INFLUENCES

Harbor View Condominiums

West Wing Circulation

Fitness/Daycare

Site Footprint

Lower Apartments

North Wing Circulation

General Store/Cafe

Proposed Green Space

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Using the same diagram-matic style I had used dur-ing the competition, I de-rived a new version of the L-shaped plan, with half extending to 8 levels. Also, in accordance with the wind patterns in the area, I kicked the sides of the L-plan out to open up the building for more surface area and to receive more winter sun and summer breezes. In turn, this also shades the building more in the sum-mer and puts the cold north-westerly winds at the units back. The ground level has been reserved for neces-sary commercial spaces and services needed by the locals.

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A Primary EgressB 7-11C StarbucksD Harbor CafeE Outdoor AreaF Secondary EgressG GymH Daycare

PLANS & SECTIONS

Ground Level Levels 2-4 Levels 5-7 Roof Plan

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TYPICAL UNITThe target market for this building would be for young business professionals and young families of 3-4, which is why I solely designed two bedroom units. I designed doubles keeping in mind that families could split the bed-rooms with their children or young business profession-als could use the extra room as office space.


SUSTAINABILITYWith the idea of sustainability always in mind, the finishing touch on this building was an idea to embed wind turbines to harness wind energy within the parapets of the roof gar-dens on the building. These wind turbines, diagrammed on the far right, sole purpose would be to reduce energy costs within the building.

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Harbor View CondominiumsSalem, MA

Size: 70,000 SF

No. of Units: 36

Unit Size: 1,000 SF

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C2 Studio: LibrariumFall 2012

Instructors: Colin Booth & Tagore Hernandez

In my second C2 studio, the project was dubbed Librar-ium: A Modern Library for the Digital Age. Set in Union Square, Somerville during its revitalization, the purpose of this studio was to develop a library that could work as a communal hub for this multi-cultural section of Somer-ville. Plans for the revitalization included an extension of the MBTA green line to Union Square, about a block away from where this library was set to be built. Due to the nature of the Square and the location of the site, right from the get go I knew that this was going to be an iconic building for the community.

Proposed Revitalization

Property Lines

Proposed Green Line T Station

Buildings to be Constructed

An artists rendering of the proposed MBTA Green Line T Station at Union Square

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UNION SQUAREREVITALIZATIONThe map shown right is one of many Union Square revi-talization maps in the Union Square Redevelopment Plan. Here in maroon we see a fair amount of parcels slated to be demolished and recon-structed. The two maps on the adjacent page give us an idea of the types of building uses in the area. At center we see the proposed location for the new Union Square MBTA green line stop.

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SITEAmidst the revitalization, our site is located at the juncture of two of the busiest streets, Washington Street, (which comes from I-93) and Somer-ville Avenue, (which stretches to Boston). During the day, this node and the Square see a lot of vehicular and pedes-trian movement.

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SITE CONTEXTThe map shown right should give a good impression of the vehicular traffic around Union Square. The red streets sym-bolize one-way streets, the blue represents two-way streets. The new MBTA sta-tion peculiarly is located on a one-way street, so future civil plans may call for a switch.

Pedestrian TrafficSince this is heavy pedestrian area, I walked the site several times to un-derstand the extent of the density of pedestrian traffic around the site. The two nodes are heavily populated throughout the day and at night as well.

Views Around the SiteShown left are a couple of view-points around the site that I found to be interesting. Some look at Union Square from the site, some look at the site, some look beyond the site. Of course these views are constant-ly in movement from the amount of traffic.

Noise from NodesThe Union Square nexus adjacent to the site and the sites Washington Street Somerville Avenue node are actually the loudest areas in Union Square, so I knew that our building would require sound reduction mate-rials.

SPIRIT COLLAGE

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SPIRIT COLLAGEOur first assignment after gathering information on the site was to develop a Spirit Collage, a collage which captured the design intent of our library. I decided to work in section on this collage, us-ing many of my images from the Seattle Public Library, a precedent which I referred to for the design of my modern library. The sketches shown right are the earliest section diagrams that led to the de-sign of the spirit collage.

Sketch 1In this first iterative sketch a central atrium, surrounded by books, computers, a cafe and compartmental areas are connected by a possible ramping system.

Sketch 2A bit more refined, this sketch is essentially the same but this time taking views into account.

Sketch 3A couple more compart-ments added, some have been moved into the atrium, plus the addition of trees to diffuse sound from the intersection.

Seattle Public Library

BASE ITERATION 1ST ITERATION 2ND ITERATION 3RD ITERATION 4TH ITERATION 5TH ITERATION

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FORMDEVELOPMENTTo develop a form for the li-brary, keeping the stacked program in mind, I began with a box. The idea was to leave the footprint of the building rectangular and to find a new form for the top level that was in accordance with site views. Then, the bottom level would be lofted to the top level to derive form. This sequence shows the development of that form and how the edges were stretched out (blue vec-tors) to make the building appear to reach out for the views the building is trying to capture.

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Sketch 1Early ramp iteration sketch

Sketch 2Refined ramping system with alternating floor plates

Model 1Rendered ramping endoskeleton to be applied within exoskeleton

Model 2Ramp system embedded within exoskeletal form

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PROGRAMMING THE TIERSOnce the final form was de-veloped, I overlayed a spiral program diagram that I have recently developed which represented the ramping between spaces. The spiral diagram was an effort to rep-resent the path of old technol-ogy to new technology, and how it would rise through the levels of the building. From books, the oldest form of technology, to computers, to WI-FI areas, to new technolo-gies such as touchscreen in-terfaces and kindles, the as-cent from old to new through the library ends at a top floor cafe and a roof garden for outdoor reading.

The model on the adjacent page shows the floor plate I was able to derive from the unique sprouting form of the building, which allowed me to develop a plan for every indi-vidual floor, which as you can see from the model, is a se-ries of staggered levels that work in accordance with an ADA ramp that spirals up the central atrium of the building.

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PLAN & SECTION DETAILSTo understand what I was de-signing further, I developed a couple of details, one in plan view and one in section view. In plan view we can see the steel columns that form the unique corners of the build-ing, sheathed by tempered glass and a perforated steel skin on alternating panels of the building.

On the section view, we see a bit more framing of the slab on steel construction, as well as the exterior walls with large window openings that peer through the glass and perforated steel facade.

Vertical Steel Columns Diagonal Steel Columns Levels 1 - 1.5 Girders Levels 2 - 2.5 Girders

Levels 3 - 3.5 Girders Levels 4 - 4.5 Girders Level 5 & Roof Girders Final Frame

Aerial View of Steel Construction

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FRAMING THE BUILDINGSince my employment back-ground is in construction, my instructors asked me to figure out how a unique form like this one could be framed. Af-ter one week, I developed the sequence that is show here, a network of steel columns, girders and beams (beams not shown for clarity purpos-es) that built up the bones of the building. In all, I was able to figure out how to engineer my form.

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Main Stacks: View of Union Square

This section of the main stacks overlooks Union Square and the Washing-ton Street plaza. Shown in the model above, you will see that two sections of the main stacks are closely tied back to Union Square.

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Reading Area: View of Boston

This section of the building is one of the many reading areas, carefully snuck into some of the strange converges of corners created by the build-ings form, something I like to call, quiet tuckaways. Since these reading areas are located on the corners, they offer the best views. In this case, the view is of the city of Boston.

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Loft: View of Interior Ramp Spiral

The main design of the floor plates was a bit repetitive, so I thought is would be a pleasant experience to remove one of the floor plates to created a high-ceiling loft at the mid-section of the building. This loft looks out over Somerville Avenue, and offers views of Union Square and Boston.

Greywater Filtration SystemText

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SUSTAINABILITYAs always, I like to think about ways of making a building more energy efficient in the short time that I have to de-velop my studio project. For this project, it was a combina-tion a solar energy and water collection. Fortunately, I was able to hybridize the two with-in one design feature. Above the roof garden, I designed a V-shaped copper roof trough with a photovoltaic array on it. This roof acts as a solar capture, a water collector and shades part of the roof garden. The PV array lowers the buildings energy costs and the water collection is fil-tered into a graywater system which runs directly into the multiple public bathrooms in the building.

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Design Workshop: Roadside CollageSpring 2013

Instructor: Chip Piatti

For the Spring 2013 semester I decided to take a break from studio and get my workshop out of the way. I was fortunate to land myself in Chip Piattis roadside collage workshop. In this design workshop, we studied in the depth the evolution of roadways, rail roads, cars, gas sta-tions, diners and signage. Every week, Chip would give us a unique collage assignment to capture the things we studied in class from the viewpoint of a driver in a car, looking out through the windshield. Things to look for in these upcoming collages are light, shadows, movement, gas stations, diners, cars, people, the rear view mirror and the perspective. One of the most valuable things that I indirectly learned in this class was how to make photorealistic images in Adobe Photoshop, aside from all the other valuable things I learned about the evolution of modern commodities that we use every day.

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Collage 1Dubai by Night

The first collage was entirely conceived by myself. Chip asked us to collage any type of scene that we wanted, as long as it showed some direction of movement, a dash-board, and a rear view mirror. I decided to depict a scene of driving towards downtown Dubai at night passing the beautiful Burj Al Arab Hotel.

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Collage 2Pre-1920

For our second collage, after studying old cars and the origin of gas stations and motels, we were asked to de-pict a pre-1920s scene. For this collage, it was crucial to pay attention to the year and make of the vehicle being driven and others around it, as well as the buildings that surround it. Notice the absence of the rear view mirror? It wasnt invented yet. Here, the driver is considering either leaving town, or buying the girl a coffee.

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Collage 3Modern Day

After collaging a pre-1920s scene, we jumped forward in time and were asked to depict a modern driving scene, however from an old car. We were also required to in-clude a minimum of two gas stations within the collage, as well as a rear view mirror. How many gas stations can you find?

4 kmROMA

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Collage 4Speed

This was probably my favorite collage, speed. For this collage it was required that we make the collage appear to be moving fast, through whatever setting we chose. Of course I put the driver inside a brand new Ferrari, be-ingtailed by another Ferrari, chasing a Porsche down the Autostrade under an Autogrill in a race to Rome!

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Collage 5View Through Diner

To change pace a bit, after studying so many diners we took a break from the drivers seat and decided to stop at a rest stop and peek into a diner. Is that Vince Vega and Jules Winnfield in that psychadelic diner with the sweet juke box?

C H I C A G O 1732

N E W Y O R K 2993

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Collage 6Nexus

This collage is about a nexus, or a node, an intersec-tion where we must either maintain course or change our path. Its been a long drive from Salt Lake City, maybe well stop for a bite at Rosies Diner before we hit the ca-sino in Las Vegas.

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Collage 7Early Morning

How different does the world look in the morning? Just woke up, heading into work early. Looks like all of the contractors are on their way to work. The diners dont look too busy, maybe well grab some breakfast before work, probably wont take too long.

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Collage 8Road Trip

Sometimes, dont you feel like you could just get in your car and drive? Where would you go? We could hop on I-90 West and go across the country. What will we find on the way? What will we find on the other coast? Dont need to worry about getting lost with our trusted GPS.

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Collage 9Looking for a Motel

Been driving all day and night, it would probably be a good idea to take a break and find a motel for the night. Who knows how far the next town is through those moun-tains. Better call it a night here.

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Collage 10Daytime Collage

One thing to be mindful of when driving is the glare from the sun. Especially out here in the desert. If only there were more shade besides the insignificant shade created by the shadows of these low buildings.

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Collage 11Nighttime Collage

Our whole persepective changes at night. Here, we see a different type of glare from artificial lights. During the day everything is lit up by the sun but at night, everything in the city is trimmed with accent lights. Lamp posts are on, at least we can see the color of the traffic light without a diffusing glare from the sun.

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Collage 12Changes Through Time

After a semester of studying the evolution of travel, dining and boarding, it was time to develop a collage that told the story of changes through time. Here it looks like we are sporting a 1921 Rolls Royce, the past of horse-drawn carriages and trolleys in our rear view, a 1972 Cadillac passing by, a 2012 Cadillac up in front. It feels like old New York City here but up ahead, it looks like the future is being built.

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C2 Studio: OrganicismFall 2013

Instructor: Tyler Hinckley

For my final Segment II studio I selected the Organicism: Montessori School project as my first choice and was fortunate enough to get it. In many of my projects I have always incorporated some type of organic or natural fea-ture, yet it was never really the focus of the project. In this studio, we studied the Montessori School approach to education, and began development by designing the classroom for the first half of the semester, with no site assigned. While we researched the Montessori approach and developed a classroom, we also were required to formulate, test and refine our own defintions of organi-cism to be applied to the building once we were given a site to design on at week 8.

ORGANICISM (in architecture): architecture whose design is devel-oped in relation with processes of nature rather than based on an imposed design; a building should follow forms that are in accordance with its environment. fur-thermore, the materials used on and within the building should be those of the buildings setting, as if the building had actually grown from its site, physically or abstractly or both.

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132ORGANICISM

THE MONTESSORIAPPROACHThe Montessori Program educational approach de-veloped by Italian physician and educator Maria Montes-sori and characterized by an emphasis on independence, freedom within limits, and respect for a childs natural psychological, physical, and social development. The diagrams that lead to the de-velopment of the Montessori classroom over the next few pages include many ideas derived from the Montessori Approach.

Montessori ApproachAn approach where the trained instructor presents the student with a stimulative learning environment.

Montessori CurriculumThe curriculum is designed to provide an education through interaction and application of learning materials.

Montessori ClassroomWithin the Montessori classroom, it is important for the children to wayfind there way through learn-ing with a sense of independence, freedom within limits, and order.

Design ApproachWithin this learning triangle, all components must be met within the classroom. The student must be given work periods by the in-structor in which they can test learning materials through inter-action and application through curiosity and independence within their prepared environment.

Practical Life // Social Science // Math // Languages // Sensorial // Creative

Classroom ActivitiesPractical Life Activities // Practical activites such as folding a cloth, putting things away, cooking, taking care of plants, taking care of self, cleaning, etc.

Social Science Activities // Studying the world beyond the classroom, making connections to other cultures/people, geography puzzles, match & memory, etc.

Math Activities // Counting sticks, Add/Subtract game boards, Fraction circles, Multiplication blocks, Number pattern games, etc.

Languages // Letter associations, letter blocks, words and pictures, words and objects, handwriting (print & cursive), letter/word puzzles, etc.

Sensorial Activities // Musical/rhythmic instruments, wooden architectural blocks, various puzzles, classification cards, tactile image tiles, etc.

Creative Activities // Building blocks, cut & paste activities, drawing, painting, sculpture, 3D puzzles, textured stamps, etc.

134ORGANICISM

THE MONTESSORICLASSROOMTo understand the Montes-sori classroom, it was impor-tant to research the different subjects and learning ma-terials presented within the classroom. Shown right are the different subjects pre-sented to the students within the classroom, followed by their descriptions.

practical life social sciences mathematics languages sensorial creativity

1st Iteration:In this first iteration, I am experi-menting with how the different el-ements in the curriculum can be laid out on a classroom grid. Here, the elements flow about the sen-sorial axis. The point of entry and start of progression begins in the practical life area, the the student moves through, social sciences, languages, then mathematics and creativity exercises.

2nd Iteration:Here, the sensorial activity area becomes the origin of the other subjects, where different sensory activities lead to learning activities in math, languages, creativity and social sciences. Practical life ac-tivities remain independent. This diagram suggests that languages and social sciences can begin the day after practical life, then math and creative activities.

3rd Iteration:In my final iteration, the sensory area and the three main senses (visual, audible, and touchable), feed the rest of the classroom. Dif-ferent senses work better for spe-cific subjects, for example, visual and touch code to mathematics and creativity. Audible codes to languages, however, all senses can be used for each subject, some more so than others.

136ORGANICISM

THE MONTESSORICLASSROOMProgrammingShown below is a diagram of the basic program of the classroom requirements; a small enclosed area, a large open area, another small area and another large area. Shown left are the different iterations of classroom learn-ing material layout to present a guided path through the childrens education. Once I got to my third iteration I was able to translate the diagram into an actual classroom, show on the adjacent page. The colored work tables cor-respond to the colored sub-ject designations.

138ORGANICISM

THE MONTESSORICLASSROOMDevelopmentWith a preliminary classroom design in place with the basic program of childrens spaces laid out, it was time to start evolving the concept into something tangible for the school.

FacadeTo me it was important to create a type of on-julating facade in which classrooms could receive sunlight in two different ways, then it occured to me that I could give each classroom both.

Classroom Iteration 2The idea to onjulate the facade for sun reception is meant to maintain a comfortable atmo-sphere in the learning environ-ment. In winter, the sunny ar-eas of the room can be utilized to maintain warmth, or can be avoided during warm months and guide children to learn in shady areas of the room.

Classroom Iteration 3In the third classroom it-eration, I began to split up the room by subjects. Here you see a cubby/bathroom entry vestibule, which goes into the practical life area and kitchen. The fish tank remained an important component of the practi-cal life area throughout the project. On the second lev-el of the classroom we find multiple work spaces and private pockets against the windows. To house learn-ing materials, more shelv-ing has been added.

A Entry/Cubby Area

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140ORGANICISM

THE MONTESSORICLASSROOM4th IterationBy midterm I had reached my fourth iteration of the classroom, shown left. The evolution of the classroom here was influenced by the previous two iterations and to make the room appear to be growing or stretching out-wards, so that when a student enters the room, they almost fan out across the learning environment and are drawn to the light from the back wall glazing. The thickened walls have grown to accommodate built in flush mounted shelv-ing units, and create room di-viding soffits to separate the different areas in the room.

Entry/CubbiesAn independent room, this en-try vestibule allows students to excuse themselves from class for bathroom breaks or to go to their cubbies.

Interactive SpacesHere we see the way the room is broken up into different learning sections by differently elevated floor plates. He we see the cul-tures area with computers for interactive learning, neighboring the science & exploration area.

Peaceful HideawaysAnother vital concept in my project was to create these private hideaways for children to retreat to when they need space to think and self-educate. Slight-ly elevated and closed off, these hide-aways give children the opportunity to be independent.

ORGANICISM

SOCIALLYINTERACTIVE PASS-THROUGHSThe independent hideaways stem from the idea that chil-dren always strive to be in-dependent, so here we are giving them the chance to es-cape the classroom by them-selves or with their peers to explore different subjects within the learning pockets. To understand how these pockets would work within the classroom, further inves-tigation had to be made.

FacadeOne thing these pockets did was create a more in-teresting facade for each classroom, to add to the aesthetic appeal of the on-julating exterior walls of the building. Here you will see the thickened walls stretch-ing out to show the continu-ation of the wall to the exte-rior of the building.

InteractionInside, double sided shelv-ing was embedded within the wall with a possible walkthrough for children so that they could move from one learning pocket to the other without going around, so that they could influence or be influence to explore by their peers from one area to another.

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142ORGANICISM

THE SITEAfter developing the class-room for the first eight weeks, we finally got our site. The site is actually an existing Montessori School in Cam-bridge located on Sherman Street. Our studio actually visited the school and were fortunate enough to examine the learning materials within the room (some of which can be seen on page 134). The site is situated on a quiet neighborhood block, with an adjacent parking lot for the school between the site and the railroad tracks.

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144ORGANICISM

Preliminary LayoutThe vicinity of the MBTA line really put a damper on this project, so in early diagrams, I decided to turn the school to the south to reduce noise during learn-ing hours. This worked out well because it allowed my classrooms to be south-facing, for solar heating in the winter. This diagram also shows vehicular paths for drop off and pick up for morning and afternoon. Yellow signifies classroom areas, orange is for other activity areas, and red rep-resents the staff. Anything in blue shows trajectory of a person or vehicle.

146ORGANICISM

BUILDING LAYOUTWorking with the site condi-tions, I began to formulate a proper layout for the school, which would also in turn di-rect the final shape of the classrooms for refinement. Seen on the adjacent page are the three different itera-tions of building layouts that I came up with for this site in accordance with site condi-tions and the desire to cre-ate interlocking classrooms along the main corridor. One thing the three iteration have in common and what was es-sential to the design was the wrap the building around the south side of the side to cre-ate space for the playground and gardens. Keep in mind that the identical rooms are the classrooms.

1st Layout IterationHere we see a linear cor-ridor with the classrooms and staff offices and gym squeezed into the site.

2nd Layout IterationTo create more space, I gave the building some curvature in an attempt to give it better flow, how-ever it was still extremely tight.

3rd Layout IterationIn this final layout, I was able to fit six classrooms, staff offices and the gym in a U-shaped layout, but would have to expand to a second floor for the rest.

Second Level AddedThe second level was added to make space for a teachers lounge, a multi-purpose room and the upper gym. The rest later becomes a special roof feature.

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THE STUDENTS ENVIRONMENTA Cubbies/BathroomsB Practical Life/KitchenC Open Work SpaceD MathematicsE LanguagesF SciencesG CulturesH Organisms Tank

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EVOLUTION OF THE CLASSROOMAfter much refinement, I reinvented the Montessori Approach diagram, shown low left, to diagram how the Montessori classroom can function in a controlled envi-ronment. Here you will see the sequence of different classroom designs I tested throughout the design of the Montessori classroom.

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150ORGANICISM

THE CLASSROOMThe final classroom design shown here on the right of-fers the children a tiered en-vironment in which they can move up and through the dif-ferent levels of the classroom and explore different learning materials on their own. The image of the sectional model shown right is the physical representation of how the tiered hideaways can interact with each other through a po-rous bookshelf.

Learning Activities SpacesThe upper part of the classroom (right) is where most of the traditional learning subjects are located; math, science, cultures, languages and creativity.

Living Activities SpacesThe lower part of the classroom (bot-tom) is where the practical life activities take place, such as cooking, cleaning, taking care of plants and animals, etc.

THE BUILDING TAKES FORM

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The Learning CommunityA Morning EntryB Kindergarten 1C Kindergarten 2D Lobby/Main OfficesE Primary School 1F Primary School 2G Secondary School 1H Secondary School 2

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Molding a Roof Around the ProgramOnce the final floor plan of the building was in place, it was time to figure out how to envelop the learning com-munity. My first approach was to wrap a continuous green roof around the program, almost like a ribbon that traveled from the preschool classes to the secondary classes to symbolize growth. However I was told it was not organic enough so another iteration had to be made.

THE FINAL ITERATION

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EPDM Recovery Board

Turf

Porous Rubber Tile

EPDM Membrane

Steel Substructure

Roof Sheathing

ORGANICISM

Instead of molding a ribbon roof around the program, for the final design I decided to use the actual shape of the classrooms to create a tiered upward movement of eleva-tions in the roof of the school, the main driving force be-ing growth. The visual of the roof beginning low at the younger range of students side of the building and pro-gressively growing across the site to the older range of students classrooms is what gave this project the sense of organic growth within the building and essentially the metaphoric growth of the Montessori student.

Section of Turf Roof View from Second Floor View of Main Entry

PracticeBay View BuildersCustom Home Construction

August 2012 - Present

For the past two years I have been working with Bay View Builders in the field building custom Atlantic home. When I was first hired, the owner of my company had 30 years of experience in custom home building and knew about the plethora of design flaws that come within a set of construction drawings. This is why before going to work in our office drafting up construction drawings as my company transitions to a design/build, the own-ers decided to train me in the field first, so that I could witness first hand the many flaws that get overlooked by architects when drafting sets of drawings. Over the last two years, I have advanced from a framing carpenter to a trim carpenter, and have learned how to solve design issues in the field, avoiding the need for a redraw or new-ly drafted details pages, saving time and money. After spending time in the field learning these valuable les-sons between design and construction, I have concluded that every architect should be spending a minimum of two years in the field receiving hands on training. What follows are several examples of flaws we have run into that had to be fixed in the field.

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Timeline Photos

Shown here are several of the homes I have built with BVB over the last two years. The homes that we build range from 3,000 to 10,000 square feet. For practice documentation purposes, I have decided to chronicle issues found during construction of the the third and fourth sequence of photos, the Gordon-Wiltshire Residence, a neo-cottage style Atlantic home in Rockport, MA; and the Burns Residence, a neoeclectic beach house designed by another BAC student in Gloucester, MA on the infa-mous Wingarshaek Beach.

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Gordon-Wiltshire Residence

Client: Jacques Gordon & Betsy Wiltshire

Rockport, Massachusetts

Size: 7,900 SF

Architect: Ellen Levine

Design: Treehouse Design/Build Inc.

Builder: Bay View Builders

Neo Atlantic Cottage

My Role: General Framing, Engineered Structural Beam Installation, Windows, Exterior Trim & Siding.

Lally Columns in BasementThis projects footprint was from an ex-isting foundation for the previous house that stood there, however, the founda-tion was not strong enough to withstand the new loads being placed on it. So the engineers decided it needed to be dug deeper and a new foundation had to be poured. The first floor plan called for 16 exposed structural beams (shown be-low during construction) that needed to be posted down to the foundation. The lally columns carrying these loads how-ever were poorly placed, and slowed down basement partition framing.

IssueWhen we frame interior par-titions, we are always mind-ful of how the finish is going to go on. The lally column placement made it difficult for us to put our nailers on for door jambs, inside corners and outside corners. With 2x6 wall construction and 4 structural columns embed-ded everywhere in our walls, we had to get creative on how to frame around these columns with such tight pa-rameters.

SolutionThis is an example of how we got our door jamb nailer past the lally column. By rip-ping the end stud from 5.5 to 4, we cantilevered 3/4 ply-wood strips in five spots on each side to support the end stud, to allow the finish car-penters to run their tongue and groove bead board and door jambs.

SolutionSeen above is the lally col-umn and the improvised framing to make it possible for the finish carpentry to work. We ran into similar problems around the laun-dry shoot, inside corners and other door jambs where simi-lar measures were taken to build the frame.

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Exposed Rafter FramingThis house was tough and time-consum-ing, in that the design called for exposed rafters and rafter tails, all which had to be carefully laid out to maintain consis-tency throughout the house. However due to a couple of footing placements, some of these details could not be done the way they were drawn, and place-ment of the footings and posts forced us to improvise on how to get these ex-posed rafters to work without losing the aesthetic.

Joist DirectionThe original plans called for 2x10 ceiling joists sistered together spanning 26. After disagreeing with the engineer, we settled on 14 TGI joists. The architect and engineered spanned this room the long way with the joists because the floor be-low and above spanned the short way for rota-tional reasons.

Porch Hip FramingHere, the architect drew a central rafter with two hip rafters extend-ed off of it to make the 45 degree angle on the porch roof. These hips are shown in plan coming off of the central rafter. This would not work because the weight of this section of roof would sag over time. Therefore, we had to frame the hips off of the corner, angling the hip slightly to maintain the corner where the footing and post are.

Hip Rafter off of OctagonThis detail was corrupted by incorrect footing placement. In plan, the hip is shown following the angle of the octagon and out to a post, which rests on a footing. However, to maintain matching exposed jack rafters in the porch roof, the hip ended up running into the face of the octagon in-stead of along it, all because the footing was off by about a foot.

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Other Things to ConsiderDesign flaws are easy to make when designing in plan, and sometimes trim details you envision can lead to other is-sues, such as animals or leaks/rot. Here I have chose two issues that stood out to me while we were dealing with this design firm.

Flat Trim Shelf Under SoffitThis seems like a nice trim detail, a 1x12 pine fascia with a 1x6 flat pine shelf above and 5 crown molding to com-plete the package. For one, a flat shelf like this with no taper is a risk for water collection and rot. It should have been tapered about 10o. Second, this spot will undoubtedly have several birds nests on it within a year.

Non-Ravitted SillsThe design firm we built this house for runs its own mill shop. So here you see one of the pine sills that they milled out for our use under the windows. One cru-cial part of the profile that they missed on all of the sills was the ravit under-neath in the back that allows the shin-gles to tuck under the sill. So not only did we have to cut our shingles flush (which takes more time) we also have a risk of water entry underneath.

Flat spot ideal for birds nest Tapered to prevent birds nest No shingle tuck w/ flat top Shingle tuck w/ tapered top

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Burns Residence

Client: John Burns

Gloucester, Massachusetts

Size: 7,500 SF

Architect: Mike Gomez

Design: Treehouse Design/Build Inc.

Builder: Bay View Builders

Neoeclectic

My Role: General Framing, Engineered Structural Beam Installation, Windows, Exterior Trim & Siding.

Octagon Moment FrameShown below is this project early on in the construction process. As you can see, there are two steel posts and a beam sticking right out of the octago-nal room. This moment frame caused many issues for us. Although the wind speeds are high and the site holds soft soil, this moment frame could have been done out of engineered timber beams and held the same strength, thus reducing the following issues.

Inside CornersThis is a perfect example of poor placement of steel framing. Not only were we not able to provide inside nailers for the sheetrock-ers, as well as no outside nailers for out plywood, but the mois-ture that comes off of the steel once the blueboard and plaster is on will ruin these inside cor-ners within this octagonal room.

Deck Post LocationsThe moment frame ends with a horizontal member at the top underneath the octagonal roof deck. The issue with this is that we are unable to fasten railing posts on the corners of the octagon the way that they should be placed. It has held up the roofer for the EPDM membrane as well as us. The architect is still looking for a solution. If it were me, although not cost effective, I would have pre-welded steel post bases to house 4x4 pressure treat-ed posts.

Custom fabricated welded post base

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Burns Residence

Missing DetailsWhen we look at the second floor plan, we see a series of jogging first floor roofs and strange valleys. These jog-ging roofs were existing to the original house, and were left with the original footprint to build on to. On the left side, you may notice two clipped corners of the house, due to property line setbacks. The architect had the roofs drawn turn-ing with the house, however the lower existing one was square, and we had to match it on the second floor clipped wall as well (seen left).

Soffit DetailsSince we didnt have a detail drawn for this corner, we had to improvise and match the other gable end de-tails, which were on square cor-ners, whereas this one is angled. What you see is what we came up with and slowed us down a day in the process.

Exposed HangersFor the second floor great room, the design called for five exposed 8x12 douglas fir beams suspended by custom fabricated steel hangers. These brackets were installed tight to the frame before the beams were dropped it. What I no-ticed here was that we have 1/4 thick steel on the frame which will receive 1/2 blueboard. What will happen here is that the exposed hanger will be-come buried by the blueboard and plaster. What should have been done here and was not in the scope was to have the beams cut 1 short, and put a 1/2 backer behind the hanger so that the blueboard could be run into it without burying it.

Without 1/2 pack out, exposed hanger will get buried behind gyp-sum wall board

Half inch pack out would have allowed sheetrockers to run their board behind the hangers

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NICOLAS R SCHWERTSCHLAG 320 NEWBURY STREET #102

DANVERS, MA 01923(978) 257-1927

[email protected]

EDUCATION

Boston Architectural College Fall 2008 Spring 2015 (expected)

Candidate for Bachelor of Architecture

Western New England UniversityFall 2006 Spring 2008

Associates Degree in Business Marketing

SKILLS

Revit 3D Modeling/2D Drafting, AutoCAD 2D Drafting, SketchUp 3D Modeling, Rhino Organic Form Modeling, Adobe Photoshop & InDesign Presentation, MS Office

frame to finish construction & carpentry

WORK EXPERIENCE

Bay View BuildersCustom home Construction

august 2012 - presentDouglas Millen (978) 526 8161

Doms CarpentryFrame to Finish Carpentry, remodeling & tile

November 2010 February 2012Domenic Dimaio (978) 335 - 5068

Roger Burke & AssociatesFine Home Restoration & DesignSeptember 2009 January 2010

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NS Architectural Portfolio

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