chakroff_work_samples

EVAN CHAKROFF | PORTFOLIO 2010

Evan Chakroff | Portfolio 2010 2

CONTENTSKNOWTLON SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE 1. (CON)TEMPORARY LIBRARY 2. MOCKUPS 3. BUILDING:COMMUNITY 4. HOUSE OF ARTS & CULTURE 5. TRANSPORTATION FUTURES LAB

Evan Chakroff Via Benedetta, 26Roma, Italia 00153

+39 (0) 346 815 5134

[email protected]

http://evanchakroff.com


(CON)TEMPORARY LIBRARY April-June 2007 | Studio Instructors Ashley Schafer & J. Meejin Yoon

Taking the temporary closure (and restoration) of the Ohio State University’s Thompson Library as an impetus, the (con)temporary library project was an opportunity to rethink the role of the library on a university campus.

The form was inspired by the network of paths on OSU’s oval: a script was written to connect every existing lamp post to its 10 closest neighbors, rendering visible the existing electricity and data networks on campus.

This network of curves was seen as an extensive field which could be lifted above ground or embedded within it depending on program requirements. As such, the “library” could be no more than a raised bench for reading, an elevated canopy providing evening light, or its structure could become enclosed and act as a more traditional library building.

SOFTWARERhino3DRhinoscriptAdobe Photoshop

MATERIALSLasercut ChipboardTwine


(CON)TEMPORARY LIBRARY

Early study models focused on the formal potential of these connections, in dialog with existing foot paths. As a canopy system, the lines augment the existing paths, a physical representation of the hidden networks.

Over time, the campus has evolved into a complex system of axes and curves. Accompanying these paths are invisible communication networks, represented by connecting each existing node to its 80 closest neighbors.

1890 20001900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990






“Mockups” was a year-long collaboration with visiting professor Nick Gelpi. The design of each object was collaborative, as was the exhibition layout and fabrication. “Mockups” focuses on the relationship between materials and scale. The projects in the gallery exhibit how a found characteristic in a material, in this case plywood, can be integrated into the various scales of architecture construction. Preceded by material investigations, the discovery of plywood’s ability to ‘Feather,’ becomes a constraint for productively getting architectural objects to behave a certain way as opposed to only looking a certain way.

Many of the objects are broken or pushed past the point of the materials ability to accommodate what’s drawn in the abstract. These instances become moments of ’failure,’ and in so doing operate more as tests or ‘mockups’ than as pure representations. These limit conditions establish a point of failure that can be used as a maximum parameter for future designs.

The measured drawings were produced using Grasshopper, a parametric plugin for Rhino. We attempted to model the material prooperties as best as possible.

September 2008-June 2009 | Collaboration with visiting professor Nick GelpiMOCKUPS

SOFTWARERhino3D, Grasshopper, AutoCAD

MATERIALSCNC-Milled & Lasercut Plywood3D Printed ABS plastic


MOCKUPS


MOCKUPS


In 2007, Columbus Ohio was experiencing a rejuvinating housing boom. Many of the condominium projects were marketed towards young professionals, ignoring pressing housing needs in other demographics. This design will attempt to address the needs of newly Americanized populations. In the past, settlers were able to establish communities on untouched land. Neighborhoods grew organically, and became integral parts of larger cities. Today, however, immigrants cannot establish isolated communities as they have in the past, they must insert themselves into an existing residential matrix.

Our proposal aims to encourage the type of community growth that leads to vibrant neighborhoods by respecting the various sc ales at which an individual must operate within a collective. Individual units are organized into small clusters, which make up larger neighborhoods within the complex, which in turn participates in the larger downtown housing market.

January-March 2007 | Studio Instructors John McMorrough & Michael CadwellBUILDING:COMMUNITY

SOFTWARESketchup, AutoCADAdobe IllustratorAdobe Photoshop

MATERIALSLasercut ChipboardBristol BoardBasswoodPlastic screen


BUILDING:COMMUNITY

UNIT

NEIGHBORHOODCLUSTER

COMPLEX

Each unit is connected to others at various scales of association with different levels of privacy.

INDIVIDUAL COLLECTIVE

Voids between stacked “L” modules connect diagonally so unit clusters vary in spatial configuration.

The brise-soleil, open atriums, and glazed apartment units combine for a layered aesthetic.

TWO CONNECTED ATRIA, SINGLE LEVEL

ONE ATRIUM, SINGLE LEVEL

TWO ATRIA, TWO LEVELS

FOUR ATRIA, TWO LEVELS

VERTICAL CIRCULATION


BUILDING:COMMUNITY

Level 0

Selected Floor Plans | Scale 1/32”=1’

Level 1 Levels 3 & 6 Level 5 Level 8


HOUSE OF ARTS & CULTURE September-December 2008 | Studio Instructors Dan Wood & Amale Andraos

The competition brief for the House of Arts & Culture called for an arts center that would encourage the increasingly active arts scene in Beirut, and provide an international platform for Lebanese artists.

This project developed out of the extension of a traditional Arabic patterning system into three dimensions, forming a lattice that was used for both the plan arrangements and facade patterning, the scale of which was controlled by attractor points.

By uniting the facade patterning with the plan arrangements, the project developed as a set of stacked, folded floor plates, whose inclined surfaces correspond to the lines of the facade pattern unifying space, structure and form in one overarching system.

SOFTWARERhino3DGrasshopperPhotoshop


HOUSE OF ARTS & CULTURE


TRANSPORTATION FUTURES LABORATORY April-June 2009 | Studio Instructor Jose Oubrerie

Columbus, Ohio is defined by its transportation routes. The early frontier outpost only grew into a city once connected by rail to Baltimore and Chicago. It expanded along its primary axes as streetcars allowed workers to reside outside the city center. Further expansion following the Second World War was made possible by widespread automobile ownership and the continuing expansion of the interstate highway system.

Now, as the world faces exploding population, resource scarcity, and environmental degradation, the means and methods of human conveyance must be fundamentally rethought. Columbus, lacking reliable public transportation, seems poised to embrace new technologies that can redefine its local and regional transportation networks.

For future transit networks to succeed in Columbus, they must interface with the existing infrastructure, either by using it explicitly, or connecting to it at strategic transfer points. The resulting form can be read as a thickening and inhabitation of the highway exit ramp and overpass, a laboratory devoted to the study of transportation infrastructure and the impact it has on the shape of our cities, the functioning of our economy, and the psychology of our populace.

SOFTWARERhino 3D, GrasshopperAutoCADAdobe Photoshop

MATERIALSCNC-milled MDF3D Printed ABS Plastic


TRANSPORTATION FUTURES LABORATORY

1994 2006 2012 2040


TRANSPORTATION FUTURES LABORATORY

chakroff_work_samples

Documents

comevan chakroff portfolio

contemporary library

existing paths

traditional library

existing foot paths

existing electricity

existing node

network of paths