FIELD EXPERIMENT: ENVELOPE Atlanta, Georgia 2015 Conceived of for Field Experiment, a competition sponsored by The Goat Farm and the Hambidge Art Center, Envelope was selected as one of the five finalists. The project questions the typical exteriors of our buildings and by the multiple meanings of the term Envelope. The everyday paper object, an envelope is looked over and passed by. The important part is the letter sealed inside. A building envelope acts in much the same way, though it is thickened into a complex system of layers that separate the interior from the exterior. Questioning such a separation, the function of the wall, and exploring new manufacturing techniques, the project also suggests that faces of too many of our buildings adopt an anonymous attitude. Developing digital design and fabrication techniques offer an opportunity. The installation is comprised of mass-produced sheet metal panels with embedded connection details for easy assembly in the field. Parts are designed to be flexible for adaptation by and to site conditions – natural and man-made. The design process embraced a back and forth between multiple aspects of the project; pattern and object, drawing and model, physical and digital, materiality and abstraction, detail and whole.

MATERIAL CONSTRUCTIONS Kennesaw State University Second Year Architecture Studio, Spring 2015 Students designed a new rapid prototyping and fabrication center located in Atlanta’s arts district. Throughout the project, students researched and worked with digital and manual fabrication equipment to directly inform their design processes and project proposals. Two main investigations guided the work. The first, Structural Hypothesis, challenged students to develop a structural system inspired by in-depth study of a precedent project that responds to the program and applies research knowledge. Next, Material Witness phase asked students to explore and investigate the inherent properties of a limited set of raw materials by working with them physically, developing a material construction to argue for those properties. Shown are example projects by students Dedier Porter (right) and Briana Keith (below).

DOGTROT UPDATE: VERTICAL Lake Chatuge, Georgia 2010 A competition entry for a home design website, this proposal is inspired by the verticality of the surrounding trees. The interior provides a restful environment from which the outdoors can be enjoyed. The design of the home considers the Dogtrot house, a vernacular dwelling from the Southern U.S. which historically consists of two cabins (one for cooking and dining and the other for bedrooms) with a breezeway between them. The combination of the breezeway and operable windows create air currents which pull cooler outside air into the living quarters. For the Dogtrot Update: Vertical, each of the main spaces of the home – Kitchen, Art Studio, Bedroom, and Office – are stacked in section rather than sprawling in plan. This allows the nearly 1600 square feet of interior space and an additional 800 square feet of exterior decks to take up only a 650 square foot.

SOD IS IN THE DETAILS Auburn University Fourth Year Architecture Studio, Spring 2014 The studio concentrated on research exploring issues of architectural sustainability through formal, structural and envelope systems design and detailing. Lenses that focused the work were the areas of environmental integration, fabrication and computation. The work culminated in the design of a high rise office building in midtown Atlanta. Our investigation began from the outside looking in – with the skin, advancing new solutions for these complex assemblies, and proposing that the development of exterior details can shape the building design rather than the other way around. To the right is a collection of investigations and the site model from the final review. Below is an example project by student Kevin Laferriere.

TRINITY AVENUE FARM Atlanta, Georgia 2011 A competition entry for an urban farm in downtown Atlanta. The design begins with the premise that the site should first be a successful urban park; one that just happens to grow crops. A series of terraces are connected by ramps from the west to east corners of the site. A greenhouse building provides a place for storage, nursery, and a market. Ample seating throughout invites the community in to relax. An amphitheater provides place for educational outreach.

LEARNING FROM LOS INSECTOS: BIOMIMICRY IN ARCHITECTURE Southern Polytechnic State University Fifth Year Focus Studio, Fall 2012 The studio researched possibilities of biomimicry in architecture. By engaging, studying and taking inspiration from the natural world, we strived for new concepts and solutions for a sustainable built environment. A series of investigations led us from exploration of nature’s own designs and processes, translation into architectural concepts, and deployment to building forms which blur architecture with landscape. The building design is a Community Center along the Atlanta Beltline. Learning from the natural world, we sought architecture which is environmentally and socially responsible, located on a local, city-wide urban/natural infrastructure, while exploring inventive conceptual, real-life and sustainable solutions. Below is a collection of site models from the final review. To the right is an example project by student Zachary Suttles.