Scalable NetZero Living Prototype
The University of Kentucky Chapter of the Triangle Fraternity
University of Kentucky College of Design
Graduate Studio
Design Team
Sam Forman, Ryan Barnette

Description
The primary focus of this innovation based studio experience centers on the design of a scalable NetZero living prototype for the University of Kentucky chapter of the Triangle Fraternity. Students are collaboratively exploring low to no-energy design methodologies, dynamically intersecting both high-performance energy-generating technologies to achieve their goals. In its greatest sense, these investigations will serve as a multi-pronged catalyst for developing better living conditions across the campus and beyond.
The design of this facade is generated as a solution to accommodate many functions of design. A major goal of the design was adaptability. The perforated screens and shades on both the front and back of the building were designed with the intention and ability to be removed and replaced when newer technologies are put on the market. The material choices of mainly brick, glass and limestone are materials chosen to keep the building in context with the campus vernacular. These materials help tie the house into the surrounding buildings on Euclid Avenue as well as the educational buildings on campus. The roof system features sculptural coffers oriented to the North as a way of bringing natural light into the bedrooms and keeping in line with the goal of sustainability. The photovoltaic panels on the roof are placed as a move towards Net-Zero. They are also designed with the intention of adaptability so that they may be replaced sometime in the future.

Thickskin, Adaptive Re-Use
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
University of Kentucky College of Design
Graduate Studio
Design Team
Kyle McGrath, Benjamin Kolder, Melissa Long
Workshop Team
Kyle McGrath, Trenman Yau
Description
Our project was initiated during a summer study abroad program in Amsterdam. The project was based upon adaptive re-use of the abandon GAK office tower in Amsterdam. The facade was treated as a thick skin within which manipulations could be made to allow for interesting and useful spatial or phenomenological effects. This was done through the use of pods patterned along the facade, extruded to form an extension of occupiable space, and then clad in varying opacities of glass. A gradient of color was applied upon the facade to allow for further variance, and to create a transition from one end of the building to the next.
The workshop with Greg was very influential upon the process of our design. He clearly articulated the performance capabilities of facade-applicable materials, which had never been shown to us students before. The revisions made to the project were done primarily through detail drawings. Sketching and drawing at this level of detail allowed Greg to talk about potential materials, and the structuring of those materials. Drawing detailed sections was very interesting in that it allowed us to truly see how the facade would operate. This level of detail had not been brought to the project before and ultimately made the project more cohesive and fine-tuned.

Generic City
Pikeville, Kentucky
University of Kentucky College of Design
Houseboats to Energy Efficient Residences (HBEER) Graduate Studio

Design Team
Mike Domek, Michael C Mead with Dominique Turner
Description
Concept:
Is the contemporary dwelling, like the contemporary museum: all the same? Or does this sameness only become possible at the cost of “shedding identity”? Leaving behind individuality, for the Generic- Blankness. Why do we place such value on identity? What if the usually regretful homogenization were an intentional process, a movement towards blankness? Out with identity and “down with character”. Identity is limiting, it has defined boundaries it becomes like a lighthouse, fixed and over determined. Blankness on the other hand is limited only by it’s potential. Blankness creates a system attuned to chaos, where small differences in initial conditions can create wildly different outcomes.
Project: The HBEER studio addresses two predominant problems in southeastern Kentucky: severe economic depression and lack of affordable housing. The students are tasked to pursue innovative strategies to reinvigorate decaying houseboat manufacturing facilities by repurposing unused factory space and personnel to build affordable, energy efficient housing.
Through our team’s research, we found that in the U.S. over the past 70 years, the square footage of houses has increased by 130% while the number of persons per household has decreased by 35%. Additionally 40 million Americans move each year; 53% of which move within the same county, suggesting that these moves are the result of internal social changes rather than external forces such as job relocation.
To address these internal social changes and combat the upward trend of constructing excessively large houses, we propose that the houseboat factories build “pods of domesticity” that can be shipped around the country and inserted into an existing “host” building. These pods cover all elements of domestic living, from bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchens to offices and storage units. The client selects the appropriate size and quantity that they desire and the pods are inserted into their blank space. Many of the pod programs can be combined into a single object such as a kitchen/bathroom/utility core. By condensing these elements, we aim to reduce the overall dwelling square footage, which also reduces cost and energy consumption. The pod facades are able to be opened and expressed when in use, revealing it’s function. Alternatively, when they are not in use, the entire pod unit is able to be closed shut, which also transforms the space surrounding the pod.
The studio program called for 100 residential units on an old surface mining site in southeastern Kentucky near the town of Pikeville. An original schematic design had the 350-acre site subdivided into 100 plots with one site entry and multiple dead end cul-de-sacs.
Our proposal is a 17 story, 300-foot tall tower that is the “host” structure for our pods. By building vertically, we reduced developed land, roadways and utility infrastructure by 99% from the original schematic layout. The tower becomes a vertical city, where a variety of programs are present and interchangeable. Residential, retail, assembly, civic and business programs are contained in one structure. As the region changes over time, the programmatic elements in the vertical city are able to adapt in conjunction with the town. If less office space is needed, that floor could easily be transformed into residential by simply changing out the pods within the blank host space.
Workshop: Greg Romine began the workshop by sharing his twelve program points and brainstorming with each group. The key criteria for our tower were lifecycle, day lighting and scale. In the same way that the pods are able to open and close, we wanted the façade of the tower to operate with this language that would in turn, transform the space surrounding the site. A major change that manifested through conversation with Greg was to switch out a coiling door with a horizontal bi-fold door for the operable façade. The operation of the bi-fold would double as a shading device when open and also animates the façade in a more dynamic fashion than the solid and void that the coiling door offered. Perforated aluminum panels on the doors were chosen for material longevity and the opportunity for pattern making on the façade. Both vertical and horizontal structural members are expressed with terra cotta panels attached to the pre-cast concrete columns and beams.
Final: The final design retains the horizontal bi-fold doors with perforated aluminum cladding and the terra cotta over the pre-cast structure. The perforation pattern varies from 60% open area where balconies are present to 20% open area where glazing is directly behind the metal facade. The intentional homogenization of the exterior architecture forces the inhabitants to assume the life and character of the building by altering its physical appearance on a daily basis. The architecture becomes a dynamic extension of its occupants.

Galvanized Steel

Brooklyn Children’s Museum
Brooklyn, NY USA
Architect

Services
Description

DLH Park
Goregaon, Mumbai, India
Client
DEV Land and Housing Ltd.
Mumbai, India
Architect
Vivek Bhole and Associates
Mumbai, India
Services
Material applications, schematic design, design development, construction documents, unit cost estimate, quantity survey, bid/negotiations and construction administration of all façade elements including suspended hybrid glass wall inverted sloped window wall, curtain wall and monumental atrium skylight.
Description
The 20 story tower features a unique and iconic façade with inverted glass window wall, large curvilinear 120 foot tall atrium glass wall supported by a hybrid suspended steel structure. The semi-unitized curtain wall integrates sunshades, shadow boxes at the spandrel area, and cladding at opaque at return walls and expressed columns. A pergola of steel and extruded aluminum crown the tower with integrated lighting.

California African American Museum
Los Angeles, California
Architect
Huff + Gooden
New York, New York USA
HGA
Santa Monica, California USA
Services
Material applications, prototyping, schematic design and design development of the structural glass facade scrim elements.

Description
Conveying important milestones, leaders and inspirational messages the 18,000 square foot multi-plane glass scrim features digitally printed text, color and images on glass. The cantilevered laminated glass lites are supported by concealed routels to reduce visual impact of the attachments and reduce soiling on the surface of the glass. The steel framing members are coated with a ceramic composite coating to reflect lighting and reduce the visual mass of the members.

Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Clinical Science Center
Buffalo, New York
Architect
FXFOWLE Architects
New York, New York USA

Services
Facade consulting and material applications, design development, construction documents and procurement assistance of all façade related elements.

Description
The design team created a contextual building to meld with the existing brick clad buildings throughout the research and clinical campus. The façade is comprised of a floor-to-floor unitized curtain wall with terra cotta cladding, sunshades, glass shadow boxes and articulated surface planes of the glass with an integral pattern to provide scale and visual interest. The building features a saw tooth feature on the primary elevation and an iconic cantilevered element with a massing that integrates well with the adjacent building.