Summer 2010 Intern Portfolio

architecture

joemcneillclemson university

upon completion of my first full year of architecture school, the assumed level of hard work and dedication needed to thrive in such an environment has certainly been confirmed. for me, an architectural education is about learning a different way to think, a unique approach to the intrinsic nature of design and how it can be applied to daily life - to everything that i do. it is through this realization that i am able to actuate the creative process to a level that i did not even know existed within myself. never forgetting my experience with the significance of craft, i am always fascinated with the opportunity to make something - to bring a design to life - a result often forgotten within the four walls of the studio. whether through buildings, drawings, monuments, models, or sexy graphics, knowing that what you put in to either one is the result of a design philosophy that entails discipline and creativity, makes it all worth it.

- joe mcneill

Ah.

What a powerful word that is. It expresses so much with just a few letters.

- Lou Kahn

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sketches

architecture

craft

j e t a b l esolid 8/4 mahogany

in an effort to thwart the often mistaken TRUE color of mahogany, this coffee table, my first design + build piece, was inspired by the richness of the wood, the beauty of its grain, and its natural, aged siena color.

mitered + biscuited joints facilitated the desired rectilinear design and helped to create a piece that could last a lifetime.

darbydeskcharleston, sc summer 2008

materials: recycled sunken cypress + wenge, mdf + chalkboard paint.

designed to be green, designed for youth.

an experiment with discarded, recycled materials and two different table construction methods.

design concept: combining 2 different table styles into one functional piece of furniture.

100% recycled mater ial , this desk for my little sister functions both as a place to work and a place to play. a creative and imaginative 6 year old, she requested,

“something fun to look at and a place to draw.”

charleston entryway161 coming streetcharleston, scspring 2008private client

designed and built for a private client, this door and jamb are the essential final pieces to a contemporary renovation of a charleston single house. the client wanted the highest quality materials (as doors often take quite a beating) for his exterior front entryway door to the piazza. a modern guy in a traditional setting, we pushed the limits of traditional charleston entryways with a mahogany two-panel door and large single-pane glass transom.

DNA townhouse

architecture conceived

not in plans but in

SPACES

natural light filtration concept drawing

chicago, illinoisspring 2010 design studio, professor keith green

a quick 2 week project focused on developing a working residential floorplan for a narrow urban site in downtown chicago. everyone was given the same dimensional footprint with which to design a space for a client of their choosing. at the end, all the projects would be lined up as if they comprised a “rowhouse city block.”

design concept:

a townhouse for a door manufacturer with no interior doors.

based on adolf loos’ “raumplan” theory, the plan is a series of spaces without defined levels - a maze of rooms - “connected in a way as to make the transitions imperceptible.” in an effort to allow natural light to penetrate the narrow space, a central atrium or l ight box would filter light through the center of the house, from the roof to the ground floor.

the sk inny in tokyotokyo, japanspring 2010 design studio, professor keith green

the final studio project of the semester, dealing with a dense urban site in the up-scale ginza district of tokyo, japan - we were asked to design two very narrow buildings that flanked an existing narrow building. the spaces were meant to exist together creating a mixed-use typology and consist of two very different programs occupying each space. each footprint was only 10 feet wide.

design concept:

a parasitic approach to linking 2 programs in 2 different buildings around the existing building - by taking advantage of the u-shaped negative space available on the site, the design allows for a gradual widening of the building form nearest its peak, creating a gesture of embrace around the existing structure.

2 programs:

Greenpeace Tokyo office buldingSKIN plastic surgery clinic

city block site

conceptual sketches

elevation diagram

rooftop terrace connects the two spaces

street perspective

greenpeaceTOKYOgreenpeaceTOKYO is part of an international organization of activists devoted to protecting the environment and all of its natural resources. their work can be broken down into S E A , L A N D , + S K Y .

the office space consists of many “modules” (green boxes) that make up a maze of stairs and elevation changes linked by a central elevator core - similar to the sturdy roots of a tree and its many outlying capillaries that support it. open to sky at the top floor and sunken below grade with a large aquarium near the lobby for visitors, the Greenpeace space hearkens back to its core values of protecting sea, land, + sky.

tree concept

SKIN plastic surgery clinicSKIN plastic surgery clinic purely caters to the human environment and its preconceptions with physical beauty. this desire is reflected in the building form which respectfully complements the greenpeace office building. the only public entrance to the clinic is actually through the main doors of the greenpeace office building - where the visitor/client is welcomed to a multiple height space that must briefly be experienced before entering the “transformation tunnel” which is “grafted” to the facade of the building. potential patients must enter this space to reach the reception area of the clinic, all the while be exposed to the public and the busy streets along the facade of the building. this gesture of making the decsion to transform from old to new is an experiential procession through the space - almost a reminder of the moments of human vanity.

private house for a public artistfall 2009 design studioprofessor ted cavanagh

based on the study of a wooded site in the south carolina botanical gardens, we were to design a space for an interesting, well-known public figure. we were able to choose a building site anywhere around a man-made pond in the gardens and choose whether or not to engage the water. drawing on different learned typologies and architectural languages, we were to cohesively design a space for our shosen client that was balanced in form and function, focused on designing in section and engaged the landscape.

guidelines:

- private space + pavilion space- total less than 2500 square feet- inside + outside spaces and transitional space between the two- fit building into the landscape

“public space is a battleground....”

- mark jenkins

wooded site in s.c. botanical gardens ground floor plan roof plan

site plan

mark jenkins is an urban artist that uses public space as his canvas. using mainly tape sculptures that are placed intentionally within cities and urban situations worldwide, he relies on the experience of the viewer and the reactions that each has to allow his art to be successful.

in a kind of an “X marks the spot fashion”, this studio space and private residence take the familiarities of an urban loft and carefully place it among the privacy of nature as a getaway for the urban artist.

interior living space

infinity poollongitudinal sections

r e : M O D e r n i z e

the aim of project re:MOD is to provide a contemporary remodeled alternative to the dated aesthetic of the current abernathy pavilion on lake hartwell in clemson, south carolina. by creating a more dramatic visual effect on the structure, it’s resulting inherent appeal will draw more visitors to the area, thus increasing the use of the public pavilion and waterfront walkways. drawing from an age-old technique of single-sloping shed roofs, the design intends to embrace the traditional methods and materials of construction with a purely modern twist.

fall 2009 productions + assemblies classprofessors dan harding + david leeclemson, sc

pavilion sit on lake hartwell

existing public pavilion

waterfront walkways, looking west from pavilion

section longitudinal section

east elevation

concept sketches

flashing needed at the intersections of

the scissored roof volumes

sketches + drawings

t ravel photography

t h a n k s .