MIKE KAPLAN

STUDENT WORK

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MIKE KAPLAN

DRAWINGS

Most of the drawings that are presented on this page were done over a period of several years that I have spent studying Architecture in NY City Technical College. The drawings that are included here are the ones I felt would be the most representative of my personal talant and skill in this area.

Hand drawings from myARCH 200 class

A parapet detail from my ARCH 300 CAD class

Stair detail of a commercial building from my CAD Drawing II course.

MIKE KAPLAN

RENDERINGS

The 3-D computer renderings presented here were done during my first 3-D rendering class using AutoCad 3-D. The 3-D models of the Barcelona Pavilion by Mies Van Der Rohe and Lever House by Skidmore Owings and Merrill I think were my best first attempts with 3-D drawings. Although the pavilion was part of the class requirement, the Lever House project was my personal choice from among 10 choices offered to the class. I chose to model this building for two reasons, first the real structure happens to be one of my favorites from the 1950s era and second I felt that this project would be challenging enough to test my new skills and that I could finish on time.

The Lever House by SOM; the two images show the completed model at various angles. The image above shows my attempt in putting the model in context.

Two images at left of Barcelona Pavilion. The top image shows off the simulation of a lit onyx stone clad wall of the real building.

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The school’s modeling class was to test the “craftsmen” in us students. The emphasis of this class was to teach us how to make presentation models.

Scale: 1/4”=1’-0Materials: Paper, styrene, dried bush, paint.

Scale: 1/4”=1’-0.Materials: Museum board, styrofoam, colored acetate, dried bush, paint.

MIKE KAPLAN

SMALL URBAN PARK

Scale: 1/8”=1’-0Materials: Wood

This was my first true design project. Using the outlines of simple geometric figures I was first asked to create an art piece from which, using the concept of solid and void, the figures would be treated as solids and white spaces in between as voids. The resultant solids and voids could be interpreted further to mean either depressions or objects/spaces pulled up from the plane. The result was a design idea for a small urban park you see here.

MIKE KAPLAN

BROOKLYN BRIDGE PARK MUSEUM DESIGN

The concept for a museum to be located at the newly developed Brooklyn park was part of the Design 4 course curriculum. The finished building needed to have an auditorium, a number of exhibit spaces including a triple sized space for main exhibits. The building also needed to have a store, reception, delivery bay, exhibit prep area, staff offices, as well as a small restaurant and roof deck. The idea was to design the structure so that the main entrance and exhibit spaces would face the park and the water and spaces closed to the public would face the street. The final shape and placement of the main exhibit space would be the deciding factor of the final design. The oval shape I gave my main exhibit space was influenced by a simple shape of a human eye.

MIKE KAPLAN

A GYM FOR DUMBO

This project for an athletic facility was also part of my Design 4 class curriculum. The design procedure was very similar to the one used in designing the museum. Once again we were provided with an empty parcel with two open sides and two others adjoining the neighboring building lines. The facility needed to have a reception area, a store, staff offices, pool with locker rooms separate from the training areas, a large fitness room and a number of smaller exercise rooms. The facility also needed a small bar/restaurant and open space for sunbathing.Since two sides of the future structure would face the adjoining buildings I designed those to be simple streight-up walls and let the remaining two show the new design. The final look of the building is clearly influenced by the works of Daniel Libeskind.