ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIOUNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

MITCHELLHEIN

What I cannot create, I do not understand

Richard Feynman

1 SOTOhouse 2 materials and methods 4 cantilever3 pocket park 5 places for learning

USGBC Natural Talent Design Competition entry

Independent project with a partner

Summer 2011

Precedent study of construction and structural systems

Professor Jim Lutz

Fall 2010

Studio project exploring design derived from materials and methods of manipulation

Professor Dan Clark, Martha McQuade, Craig Robinson

Fall 2010

Design thinking exercise involving a cantilever made of playing cards

Professor Benjamin Ibarra Sevilla

Spring 2010

Studio project studying program through the design of a Montessori school

Professor Julia Robinson

Spring 2011

516 University Ave SEApt 305

Minneapolis, MN55414

Mitchell Heinheinx059@umn.edu

302.561.5912

Studio focused on site through the design of a youth urban arts facility

Professor Nina Ebbighausen

Fall 2011

6 juxtaposition arts

1 SOTOhouse

This is a team submission for the 2011 USGBC Natural Talent competition. The goal was to design a LEED Platinum house sited in Proctor, Minnesota. The proposal called for a footprint no larger than 1,800 square feet on a budget of $150,000.

Due to the region’s historical Scandinavian influence, we wanted our design to reflect this architectural history. With the small footprint and limited budget, our concept was to create a super-insulated house organized around a central core. This condensed mechanical and utilities and eliminated most partition walls, and visually opened up the compact interior.

exterior view facing south

super insulated wall / core

massing study precedents

16” super insulated roof provides a calculated R70

18” super insulated walls provide a calculated R67

air supply provides for living areas

air return removes air from bathroom/kitchen

energy recovery ventilator

solar hot waterdomestic hot water

hydronic piping

2 materials and methods

This was a precedent study of the University of Minnesota Boathouse to help understand the structural system and construction methods used. The project called for a series of detail drawings and one 1:16 scale model.

We were particularly interested in how this structure worked with the program to define the space. The building as four large bays on the first floor for storing rowing shells, while workout space, offices and locker rooms are located on the second floor. The design is basically a concrete masonry base with HSS columns and exposed glulam beams framing the upper floor. The system worked with the ‘subtractive’ massing of the building, and allowed window placement to be driven by compositional considerations instead of utilitarian.

as built photos

massing / structure diagram

wall section

1:16 scale model section

lapped cedar siding

furring strips

wood sheathingrigid insulation

glulam beam

hollow structural steel column

light gauge steel stud backup wall

window

topper slab

precast slab

cmu veneerair spacewall tierigid insulation

cmu backup wall

rigid insulation

slab on grade

poured concrete footing

membrane

galvanized metal trimtermination bar

continuous membrane from sloped to flat roof

cant & roof flashing

movement joint

bent metal plate

gypsum board

movement joint

steel t beam

wood blocking

slip track

cedar

wood sheathing

rigid insulation

We chose our model section primarily to show the usage of the HSS and glulam members, which are highlights of the structural system. The section also served to indicate how the cantilever deck is tied into the building, as well how the system deals with multiple window conditions.

3 pocket park

This studio I project was an exploration into design derived from materials and methods. Starting with photographs of the site, we used MDF models to abstract the positive and negative space. These models were then used to form a path.

We were then given a site in the Cedar Riverside neighborhood of Minneapolis. Our MDF path was again abstracted in plaster models, then scaled to fit into the site. Bristol board was introduced to further articulate the mass, void and planes, creating a path through the site. Further programmatic issues were introduced and incorporated into the design, including a bus stop, indoor community center and an additional outdoor gathering space.

I was primarily interested in controlling how overhead planes and transition spaces related to human body. Texture, expansion, and compression were themes thoroughly explored through the project.

My final proposal was formed by starting with plaster slab, which was pushed and pulled to articulate mass and void. The deposition of mass created bathroom areas and a pedestal for the overhead plane to rest on. Bristol was added to divide and articulate the space, and structure was added in the form of museum board ribs which ran along a grid to create a grain running through the model. The eroded center received the community center, which respected the grain of the structure by remaining transparent in the longitudinal direction, while opaque in the transverse.

slab erode + deposit partition grain structure

4 cantilever

This was a design thinking project where the goal was to create a cantilever out of playing cards, 18” in length, which could support a tennis ball on the end. No glue, staples or fasteners were allowed in the creation of the cantilever, only folding and cutting action was permitted. After the successful demonstration of the cantilever, we explored various modes of representation to accurately describe a segment of our cantilever through orthographic projection, axonometric and exploded axonometric drawings.

This studio was centered around the concept of program, specifically places of learning. We began our exploration through sketches and small vignette models which established our preconceptions and assumptions about what was important for spaces for learning. Through observation studies at local elementary schools, I observed that students did not differentiate between classroom or hallway spaces. I was interested in allowing this idea to change my preconception of the classroom, and design something that facilitated this usage.

vignette sketch models

initial assumptions/preconceptions

5 places for learning

oversized stair provides flexible spaces for group or solo work

natural lighting

fabric dropped ceiling brings scale of room down to child

textured surfaces to deinstitutionalize interior

shared community space

Because children treated the entire school as a classroom, I wanted to create a hierarchy of zones in which different size activities could occur, ranging from solo or small group work, to whole class gatherings, to transition areas for movement through the school. By dissolving the walls into a thin columns, the design creates a space which can be formed by the furniture as the specific teacher sees fit, instead of the architect imposing their ideology on some education system.

gym day lighting studies

user defined zones for learning

6 juxtaposition arts

limited physical access points

location of fragment in respect to downtown Minneapolis

The focus of this studio was site. We were tasked with analyzing a portion of Minneapolis to identity a self contained urban fragment. My fragment below is bounded in three direction by a highway, railroad trench, and a continuous street wall which disconnects it from its surrounding neighborhoods.

We then selected an appropriate site for an urban arts facility. The site provided the opportunity to serve as “gateway” to the neighborhood, as well as establish site lines to downtown Minneapolis, with the goal of increasing the connectivity of the fragment to its larger context.

sight lines to downtown skyline suggests opportunity for visual connectivity

map of graffiti contained within fragment

“wall of traffic” further disconnects passage across main bordering avenue

porosity of street wall indicated by building heights and gaps between buildings

site dimensions imply dual axes

predominant facade orientation

The facility is made up of three main components: a black box theater, gallery/installation space, and educational art studios for youth programs. All support program was grouped into a structure which reflected the materials present nearby, while the primary program was articulated to be distinctly different from this “poché.”

The translucent facade around the gallery and education space both provides an indication of activity and structure to the exterior while at the same time acts as a screen for which artistic exploration can pursued without putting a spot light on their every move.

“base” reflects fabric of North Loop insert inward looking black box

orient along second axis insert transparent gallery/studio space

wrap