[ Benjamin Tamarkin's Architecture Portfolio

]benjamin tamarkin’s portfolio[University of Cincinnati undergraduate

Spring 2015

benjamin tamarkin2625 University Ct. Apt.J 45219, Cincinnati, [email protected]

design intern, Tom Sewell

intern, KANN Partners

intern, MJ SAGAN Architecture

assistant teacher, Fairmount Temple

warehouse staff, Catherine’s Collection

student, University of Cincinnati

graduate, Beachwood High School

Rhinoceros, Grasshopper, Adobe Suite

brother, Alpha Epsilon Pi

midfielder, Varsity Soccer

construction worker, Habitat for Humanity

Maui HI [ 2014 Summer Semester ]project design, consultation, and quoting

Baltimore MD [ 2013-Winter Semester ]client meetings, site visits, construction documents, and design development

Princeton NJ [ 2013-Spring Semester ]construction documents and concept development

Beachwood OH [ Sept. 2009- May 2010 ]instructed grades 3 to 5 in learning Hebrew

[ Summer 2011 ]

School of Architecture senior [ Fall 2011- Spring 2015 ]deans list [ 2012- 2014 ]

[ Summer 2011 ]

[ Fall 2009- 2011 ]

AutoCAD, Revvit, Powermill software, Google Sketchup

modeling, sketching, rendering, plotting, milling, laser cutting

Cincinnati, OHmember of executive board [ 2013- 2014 ]

[Summer 2014]

hobbies include drawing, world travel, hiking, reading, skiing

bt] [

[table of contents]

Cincinnati transportation hub ]

Global Schindler Award competition ]

Cooperative Education Facility ]

MJ SAGAN construction documents ]

exemplar house study ]

ice sculpture pavilion ]

pool house ]

Ludlow Public Library ]

sketchbook + parametric panel ]

2625 University Ct. Apt.J 45219, Cincinnati, [email protected]

0.4

1.0

1.4

1.8

2.0

2.2

2.4

2.6

2.8

AutoCAD, Revvit, Powermill software, Google Sketchup

modeling, sketching, rendering, plotting, milling, laser cutting

Cincinnati, OHmember of executive board [ 2013- 2014 ]

[Summer 2014]

hobbies include drawing, world travel, hiking, reading, skiing

0.4

Cincinnati transportation hub [

With the recent construction of the Horse-shoe Casino and the nearby rapid growth

of Cincinnati’s new Social Hub, the Over the Rhine area, traffic systems in the Pendleton neighborhood have become over-saturat-ed. A new transportation hub was needed.

The building forms is largely a based of blocking audio and visual connection to the

busy highway system on the Eastern edge of the sight, while attempting to maximize

exposure to the more accessible and popu-lar Northern edge.

The interior pushes all enclosed program-ming to the edges creating a simple internal

way finding system. With an occupiable stair at the center allowing users to await

their bus in whichever environment they feel comfortable.

created using Rhino and Photoshop ]

0.6

1.0

Global Schindler Award competition [

The Schindler Award competition is focused in the city of Shenzhen, China. The goal is to deal with the

cities urban issues of “super-blocks” and the large infestation of urban villages. After these issues had

been dealt with our team was to propose a planning regime that would allow the Qingshuihe and Sungang

districts to transfer from an industrial landscape to a service-based environment.

Our team focused on converting the city’s barriers into transportation hubs, reducing the city’s unused

rail network, and creating social hubs based around pedestrian orientated pathways. We provided the

residences with transit-oriented development to curb their automotive use and allow for all areas of the site

to become connected.

The visual on the right shows one of our major strate-gies, which involved sinking the high that cut the city in half, and layering the road with a “bike highway” and a pedestrian based market hub on the ground

level. In pulling the city’s new light rail through this hub, we successfully combined many layers of trans-

portation allowing our parti to be physically repre-sented as a whole.

created using Rhino, Grasshopper, and Photoshop ]

1.2

Parti Diagram

Parti Diagram

Parti Diagram

10 Minute Diagram

Team 21

Recreational Branches

Parti Diagram

Commercial Branches

City Metro

Transit Diagram

Light Rail

When we first began reviewing Shenzhen, specif-ically the Sungang and Qingshuihe districts, we immediately noticed the dividing effects caused by the existing highway and mountains. We also saw the potential to turn this highway into a key element of Shenzhen’s success as a forerunning future city. Along with the highway barrier the site’s current railway infrastructure also shared the issue of division, creating isolation between the North, South, East, and West of our site. These massive obstacles were coupled with the city’s previous planning strategies due to the cre-ation of the Special Economic Zone during the 1990’s. Megablocks stretching to a full kilometer in length created an environment based around an automotive lifestyle and led to a street net-work which actively deterred walking and essentially eliminated the human scale.

To begin, we layed down the requirements the site would need in order to adapt to the health, comfort, and successful living of its inhabitants. Our main goal was to increase the connectivity throughout the site and to the rest of the city. This involved renovating the exisiting street net-work, incorporating the new metro systems being developed in the area, and adding our own system of pedestrian-focused transportation methods. In our implementation of the latter, we incorporated development of walkability as a key to the modern urban lifestyle. Alongside these aspirations to create a city scaled around its human users, adding more green space became a critical focus. Shenzhen’s existing industrial theater leaves the city’s landscape barren of nature aside from the isolated park on the Eastern portion of the site, cut off from its potential users by a conglomeration of rail tracks. With these goals in mind our team was set to turn the current stretch of urban villages and abandoned warehouses into a hub of com-merce, nature, comfort and a beacon of what future cities should strive towards in creating a healthy bustling city of their own.

The articulation of our goals into one cohesive urban form revealed a system based around transit oriented nodal development. Four major nodes sit as the focus of the site’s interconnec-tivity with smaller satellite nodes maintaining the ease of access to all daily needs and promoting easy circulation of the city. The four primary nodes are the Sunken Highway system, the Mar-ketplace, the Park, and the Northern Market. Each node is connected through a series of inte-grated foot and bike paths which incorporate mobility modules, a system allowing bike sharing, parking, and handicap accessibility. The paths vary in scale and detach from the road system as much as possible, and they are enhanced with a new light rail reflecting the people’s need for quicker commuting options. Attention was payed to keep these paths just as functional as their ends with the idea of dynamic destinations.

This diagram shows the permeating connectivity of recreational and commercial programs. The intermingling arms of the primary nodes reveal the development’s integrative ideals and its diverse provisions which allow every person to live the urban lifestyle that best suits them.

The 10 minute diagram displays how the new SQ’s node system supports walking to one’s destination instead of automotive transport. With every daily need no farther than a ten minute walk from one’s home. The multitude of connections of walking paths, bike paths, and public transit create a harmonious network of programs that everyone has equal access to.

North Market

Furong Bridge

Sunken Highway

South Market

Global Schindler Award Boards [ Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

Team 21

Furong Bridge

Recreation Facility

Sunken Highway

South Market

North Market

Elevator

Mobility Module

Private Bike StorageRetail

Bus Stop

Bike Share

Below Left

Mobility Modules

Left

Near Right

Near Right

Far Right

Far Right

Walking/Cycling Path + Mobility Module Map

Walking/Cycling Paths

Mixed-use

Zoning Map

ResidentialOffice

Recreation/Park

Retail

Mixed-Use Building

ResidentialLight Industrial

Phasing Map

Phase One

Phase Two

Phase Three

Phase One

Phase Two

Phase Three

Building Phase

Office

Sunken HighwayThe major highway cutting through the site creates a harsh break between Quingshuihe and Sungang, so sinking the highway beneath the ground creates a pedestrain node for easy, comfortable access to pedesrians, cyclists, and motorists. Not only does it create a smooth transition over the highway, but it also become a place of gathering that is easily accessible to the north as the south.

Walking Path +Mobility ModuleThe entrances to the park were extemely sparse coming from the north and west. Increasing the amount of biking paths and walking paths that cross the railroad promotes increased use of the park. Reintegrating the park with the rest of the site necessitates a better interaction of the park with the rest of the site, so adding parks and green spaces of varying size throughout the entire site allows the people to choose whichever may be more convenient. Besides allowing pedestrians to have multiple options to get around, this system provides favorable reasons to decide to walk instead of drive.

1.4

Cooperative Education Facility [

The University of Cincinnati was looking to provide their international fellowship program with a

dedicated residence and operations facility. The program included dorms, apartments, studios,

galleries, a cafe, and an auditorium.

My design utilized a central avenue that con-nected the cafe, main gallery, and residential en-

trance to the nearby bus station and to campus on the opposite side. The goal was to create a

facility that could assist the community along with the international students, creating better cultural

exchange.

created using Revvit, Rhino, and Photoshop ]

MJ SAGAN construction documents [ AutoCad1.8

exemplar house: Villa Savoye [

2.0

Our summer studio spent time studying multiple important houses in architec-tural history. I was particularly interest-

ed in Le Corbusier’s Villa Savoye.

During our studies, we created many diagrams based off of the architects

choices and site relations as a means of introducing us to critiquing architec-

tural form and space.

This ice sculpture pavilion was a quick char-rette in which we attempted to harness a users

movement through a space and control the sun’s impact on that space. The form was sup-

posed to shift focuses as the sculpture slowly met its solar induced fate.

Focusing on light and progression control through the space.

2.2

2.4

The pool house was our second architectural project. The focus was on creating a stream-

lined and sensible flow between the programs, alongside maintaining the sites relationship to

its directly adjacent river.

I located the designs main axis parallel to the river, then pulled the main pools in between

the two so that the auditory experience of the river was just as prevalent to the occupant as

the sensory weightless excitement of their swim.

pool house [

2.6

The first architecture project of my academic career was focused towards site analysis at multiple

scales. In an effort to mesh the building with the surrounding gas light district, I pulled the entrance

to the center of the building, located in the central light-well.

This allowed me to both create a sense of “found space” that maintains the areas sense of discovery

and provide the residences located behind the library with a safe cut through to main street.

The upper portion of the library has an axial focus on the beautiful Burnet woods in one direction, and

the historic Clifton Methodist Church in the other.

Ludlow Public Library [

2.8

During this seminar, we looked into the infinite possibilities in facade systems presented by programs like Grasshopper and Maya.

After generating the digital model, I programmed the surface pattern as tool paths in Power mill software so that I would be able to Mill the pattern out of a block of wood.

Once the block of wood was milled, I used a vacuum form machine in order to create a cast allowing me to produce concrete copies of the original form. This process coincided with a paper I wrote on parametric design’s role in the future urban form.

] Parametric Panel Test

thank you for your consideration2625 University Ct. Apt. J 45219, Cincinnati, [email protected]

bt] [