Portfolio

Architectural PortfolioJon Huffmaster

01 Refugee Shelter

02 Child Care

03 Hotel

04 Rec Center

05 Writing

01 Refugee ShelterThird Year

A semester long project, this shelter was completed by a studio of 17 students, from design through construction, in which I took part. It was intended to be used in most any climate and to house four people within its 200 square foot area. Our focuses included sun control, terrain adaptation, and the environment of a home in the context of natural disasters.

The final design for the shelter was a kind of as-sembly process in itself. We first explored fabric as a means of design in context of a building system - where is it used, how, and what are its strengths and weakness-es. Next, groups of 5-7 students completed preliminary designs. Three of those were chosen to develop further, after which the final scheme was chosen. As the building was designed in modules, the construction process was fairly straightforward. Four identical bays were built (4’x10’) and attached together, with a fifth ‘porch’ module added onto one end. These bays were then architecturally bound together by a fabric roof and louvre system. The materials used were com-mon, including wooden i-beams made from 2x4’s and particle board. The fabirc, made of unused billboards, was donated, as was the metal for the footings (Telespar, used for city street signs). The programmatic focus of the shelter was home life during a natural disaster, both psychologically and environmentally. Personal space became a factor, hav-ing only 200 sq. ft. to use. To maximize space, furniture folds into the walls and floors, which also creates storage and allows for personalization of space. Also considered was the community and how multiple shelters might re-late to one another - the ‘porch’ bay was meant to visu-ally connect residents and to facilitate people functioning both outside and inside. In addition to other factors, caretaking was integrated into the design; the shelter is intended to be cared for and adapted by those living in it. Louvres can be moved by hand, stakes must be read-justed, and the water bottle ‘heaters’ can be moved and adjusted according to sunlight.

Footing made to change height accord-ing to terrain (my design)

Shelter as a lantern

Front porch to encourage community wthin the refu-gee camp

Beds fold out from the wall and allow water bottle thermals masses to be set inside

Final model made before constuction

Water bottles as thermal

mass

The design team after

final assembly

Table and chairs hide

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louvres control sunlight like

venetian blinds

Cross-members seen through side wall and styrafoam insu-lation

KU students during publc exhibition

02 Child Care Center - University of KansasSecond Year This project, done in the Fall of 2007, focused mainly on site planning and integration of a building in that respect. The building was designed as an expansion from the Hilltop Child Care center just East of the site. The site was very sloped from East to West, sitting between the dormitories on the high side and small, two-story apartments below.

This project, done in the Fall of 2007, focused mainly on site planning and integration of a building in that respect. The building was designed as an expansion from the Hilltop Child Care center just East of the site. The site was very sloped from East to West, sit-ting between the dormitories on the high side and small, two-story apartments below. Access to the site was difficult due to a lack of suitable roads - the two nearby were already being used for somewhat heavy residential traffic. We were also faced with the opportunity to integrate the young chidren in the center with the surroundig KU stu-dent population, who used the site frequently. Fi-nally, the purpose of the center was to help young children learn interactively. Our design strategy for this was to expand the indoor learning envi-ronment outdoors, creating more space to explore and essentially removing the typical boundaries children face when learning in a classroom. That is, by blurring the lines between indoor and out, the children would not need to be hindered by their physical environment. To accomplish this, we created a vestibule space at the East end of the classroom spaces, the teachers were able to open the room to reveal a new learning environ-ment outside, where interactive play equipment was installed. Farther down the site, a water feature connects the apartments with the children, while taking the proper safety precautions with fencing and setbacks.

03 Convention Hotel - Kansas City, MOFourth Year The urban setting is a place of vibrant connec-tions between people, buildings, and ideas and is a hub for the convergence of the arts, sciences, and humani-ties. It is the onus of architecture to facilitate these things. Kansas City is a growing environment that is seeking to re-establish itself as a center for culture - as seen in its new and upcoming building projects - and is currently seeking to construct a hotel and convention center to support that endeavor.

Situated at the southern edge of highway 35 and 670 and at the northern boundary of the Crossroads dis-trict, the site is well suited for connecting the city back to itself. Our intention was to help facilitate the connection of the new Kauffman Performing Arts Center and the current Power and Light District - the one a hopeful center for the arts, the other a current hub of society and nightlife. This was done in the hope of stitching the city back together, reintegrating the life of Kansas City.

In order to accomplish this mending of the city, a large alle e runs through the center of the building, creating a diagonal that visually connects Power and Light with the Kauffman Center. This allows for easier travel between the two, bringing more people to the downtown area, integrat-ing groups of people from different societies. In addition to the allee, a plaza is oriented along the same diagonal and completes the connection. Additionally, the plaza is a place for public art display and comual actvities such as athletics and walking and serves as a place to gather during com-mon hours of the day, such as lunchtime.

The hotel also serves as a supplement to Bartle Hall Convention Center, providing 50,000 square feet of con-vention space as well as copious meeting rooms. Coupled with over 1000 rooms, the building is more than capable of maintaining the influx of guests from hosted events around the Kansas City area. Retail and restaurant space is also housed within the main lobby floor, along the allee. A huge multipurpose center, the building is an economic cash cow, able to reinvigorate the surrouding areas both socially and economically.

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Visual Connections

Allee Progression

Site Context

Hotel Rooms and Sustainability

04 Community Center - Kansas City, MOFourth Year This project is a group project, com-posed of three seperate designs of the same program - A community recreation center in Kansas City at Troost Avenue and Brush Creek Blvd. The program includes typical recreation amenities (basketball court, pool, etc.) as well as a physical therapy center. The aim of the Center is to provide not just a safe place for fun and exercise, but also to enable the community to grow and flourish by facilitat-ing a learning community: people who wish to learn about coaching, sports, or physical therapy may take part in classes and work-shops designed to help them begin a career or education in those fields.

The project consists of two spaces: the primary indoor space, which houses the main functions of recreation space and physical therapy treatment, and an outdoor recreation space, which is meant to be open to the community at all times. This space is very open and accessible to alleviate potential crime and provide for an inviting area to rest and play. The building itself is composed so as to al-low for maximum transperancy and efficient travel between spaces. Windows provide plenty of natu-ral light while louvres mediate that light to control heat gain and glare. As much as possible, the windows also utilize passive, unilateral ventilation with operable openings at top and bottom of each seperate window. The plan takes advatage of large open spaces, such as the gym and exercise area, to create clear sightlines and open spaces for travel. Entrances at the street and rear of the building allow for passage from neighborhoods east of the site to Troost Ave. while maintaining sufficient security of the building. To the north is a large open space with a basketball court and small park space. In this area, most free and open space is used for bas-ketball, and so it seemed natural and responsible to facilitate the people’s culture and desires. The park is a small respite from the street, yet remains visible from the street, and utilizes water features to create a sense of seclusion from neighboring activities.

Louvre

Steel Channel

Brick Face

2” air gap

Plywood backer board

MEP

2’ HVAC Supply

Structural Column

Steel Stud

Brick Column w/ Plenum and StructureNTS

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Left: Site plan with outdoor space at North and rear entrance at East

Top: Cutaway of typical main columns, which are used as plenums for MEP and as formal breaks in the large glass spans on the exterior skin

Left: Wall sections from the dance studio overhang (left) and a typical wall. The dance studio overhang is my own work, while the typical section is a partner’s work.

Bottom: Diagram showing light and air move-ment. The gym is primarily lit naturally and the 2nd floor is ventilated mostly by natural means. All spaces have the mechanical sys-tem available, however.

Wall Sections NTS

05 Stadia and the Sacred Grove Fifth Year

Abstract: It is tempting to think that our society and culture is mostly detached from its ancient past, that in fact we have moved away from old ways of thinking – religion and the gods, sacrifices and sin. But it would seem that those patterns are too strong and insist on rising to the surface of society. Today, we see the shadow of the Greek temple in modern sports stadiums; it is they that carry on the spatial language of worship. I would propose that stadiums are architectural cousins of the church and the temple. They are the churches of secular religion and consequently share visual and spatial qualities with other places of worship. This suggests that humans have a fundamental need for patterns of spatial behavior consistent with acts of worship.

“‘Architecture’ is one other term that tends to be a bit ambiguous and is the topic of much discussion. Le Corbusier, one of the most famous designers and theorists in history, said that architecture must “touch [your] heart” to be considered architecture; everything else is just construction. Here, however, I will try to be less ambiguous and more generous. Architecture here means ‘a physical manifestation of programmatic necessity and cultural context.’ Or, more succinctly, architecture is ‘monuments to meaning.’ This means that what we build is a product of what we think our purpose is, or is a way of defining and monumentalizing that meaning or purpose. For example, Stonehenge was constructed in order to observe the stars and follow their courses, which enabled those who built the stone ring to better understand the principles embedded in the heavenly patterns, such as foretelling the future and interpreting events in their lives. This, of course, sprung from a religious foundation and not simple happenstance. That is, the people of ancient Britain did not build first and only then discover the stone’s use. They built the monoliths to help make sense of the world around them [Critchlow 8, 171].”

“Sacred architecture is a field that is well documented, but one that is studied mostly at a purely physical level, either from the perspective of form or the way that the structure itself reflects the specific beliefs of the religion it contains. For example, the Buddhist stupa is often understood by the way it reflects the ushinisha, the ‘topknot’ atop Buddha’s head which contains all knowledge and understanding for enlightenment. This is true, but leads to little else than visual comparison. A more beneficial way of understanding the stupa is to look at it spatially or linguistically, as George Hersey has done with ancient Greek architecture. From this perspective, we might see the stupa as a trope (a thing that alludes to something else but is not the thing itself) that reflects kingship, since the topknot was originally intended to be a crown. This might then begin to speak to the Buddha’s history, or shed light on the original intentions of early followers. But this is simple conjecture and only an attempt to prove a point about how we study architecture. We must ask questions that beget more questions if we intend to syphon all we can from the built environment.”

“Ancient Greek temples also have certain technical and spatial qualities that ought to be noted. The interior spaces were typically large, both horizontally and vertically; they were also colonnaded as well as linear/rectilinear. On the outside of the colonnade was the place for walking, for circulating, while inside the colonnade was the place for worshipping. This fits with our diagram - the inside as sacred, the outside as profane. The temple as a whole was raised up from the ground plane, so that the approach was upward and gave the worshipper a sense of rising, as if he was moving to another plane of existence and not simply another plane of location; the sacred groves would have been typically located on a hill, so as to be closer to the heavens [Scully 9-24]. The plan for most temples was centralized, with the statue of the god placed at the end of the large, rectilinear main hall. This concept has carried on throughout the ages and is common amongst all places of worship. Think of any church, temple, or synagogue you have ever been to and it is most likely centralized, with the altar at front and seating or a narthex at the rear. Lastly, we will include Greek theatres into the category of temple as well, since they were originally used for worship and not simply for dramatic performances, as most assume [Humphry and Vitebsky 73]. In fact, those performances were acts of worship to one god or another, meant to dramatize their deeds or the life of some great hero, now worshipped as a god or demi-god. Here is where we see the well-known raked seating, what we now call ‘stadium seating.’ Of course, this style of seating sprung from a technical necessity – the need to project unamplified voices to many people – but the source of the necessity is religious, not theatrical. So, on some level we can claim even this ‘modern’ seating arrangement as springing from the sacred. Eliade reasons that “however impure it may have become, the world is continually purified by the sanctity of

sanctuaries” [Eliade 59]. By way of raked seating, the ancient religion of Greece has continued to maintain influence and ‘sanctity’ in the modern world and we continue to follow the thread of sacredness.”

“Ancient Greek temples also have certain technical and spatial qualities that ought to be noted. The interior spaces were typically large, both horizontally and vertically; they were also colonnaded as well as linear/rectilinear. On the outside of the colonnade was the place for walking, for circulating, while inside the colonnade was the place for worshipping. This fits with our diagram - the inside as sacred, the outside as profane. The temple as a whole was raised up from the ground plane, so that the approach was upward and gave the worshipper a sense of rising, as if he was moving to another plane of existence and not simply another plane of location; the sacred groves would have been typically located on a hill, so as to be closer to the heavens [Scully 9-24]. The plan for most temples was centralized, with the statue of the god placed at the end of the large, rectilinear main hall. This concept has carried on throughout the ages and is common amongst all places of worship. Think of any church, temple, or synagogue you have ever been to and it is most likely centralized, with the altar at front and seating or a narthex at the rear. Lastly, we will include Greek theatres into the category of temple as well, since they were originally used for worship and not simply for dramatic performances, as most assume [Humphry and Vitebsky 73]. In fact, those performances were acts of worship to one god or another, meant to dramatize their deeds or the life of some great hero, now worshipped as a god or demi-god. Here is where we see the well-known raked seating, what we now call ‘stadium seating.’ Of course, this style of seating sprung from a technical necessity – the need to project unamplified voices to many people – but the source of the necessity is religious, not theatrical. So, on some level we can claim even this ‘modern’ seating arrangement as springing from the sacred. Eliade reasons that “however impure it may have become, the world is continually purified by the sanctity of sanctuaries” [Eliade 59]. By way of raked seating, the ancient religion of Greece has continued to maintain influence and ‘sanctity’ in the modern world and we continue to follow the thread of sacredness.”

“If this is true – that the prime principle of sacredness has continued for all these millennia and is now manifesting itself in stadiums – then we must consider our original question: why? Why has this happened in an age that denies the very idea of the sacred? At best, some may say, religion and sacredness are segregated from what some might call ‘real life’ and their interactions are contrived. This is the essence of modernism, is it not? - that human reason is the best, if not the only, method of attaining knowledge and enlightenment? Just as the famous saying goes, “I think therefore I am.” Yet, in a time when we define our very existence by our own thinking, we still construct buildings that express divine experience, not human reason. Even though mired in politics, regulations, and a myriad of technical factors, the model of sacrality still shows itself strongly in stadiums across the world.”

Building the diagram of a typical sacred grove

New Busch Stadium, St. Louis, MO

This new construction still follows an ancient model of sacred spaces: a sacred center (field and pitcher’s mound), a profane exterior (roads, sidewalks, city, etc), surrounded by trees (buildngs) and looking out to another sacred site (the Gateway Arch)

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