Undergraduate Portfolio

Undergraduate Works PortfolioBachelors of Science in Architecture

Jonathan Bucholtz

Bachelors of Science in ArchitectureUniversity of Minnesota - 2010

2707 River Edge Ct.Waukesha Wisconsin, 53189262.544.0240buch0234 at umn.edu

Jonathan Bucholtz

Selected Works

Projector1

Shadow Mapping9

Site Intervention13

The Path19

Apartment Housing23

PROJECTORStudio III - SiteFinal Project

1

The final project of this studio was to design a spatial catalyst for art and performance. The project, called PROJECTOR, was a small performance complex and art center. This space was to be located in an area of Minneapolis that houses a unique combination of mundane and spectacular programs; mundane being large parking garages, downtown skyways, and public transportation infrastructure, and spectacular being large sporting and concert venues. Thus, PROJECTOR is a space with the op-portunity to merge and blur the lines between these two seemingly disparate programs and amplify the programmatic intensity and cultural vitality of the site, while functioning as a viable part of the urban fabric of the city.

2

The site was small and contained a loading dock, a parking lot and had a skyway that ran adja-cent to it in the neighboring public parking ramp. The constraints of the existing loading dock, which could not be moved, and the skyway made for a very rich site and allowed for a project that integrated firmly into the city.

3

enter, band

enter, audience

enter, audience

enter, audience

load in/out, band

wait, audience

performance, audience

wait/store, band

performance, band

interact, band/audience

sound/lights, band

enter, band enter, audience

load in/out, band

wait, audienceperformance,

audiencewait/store, band

perform, band

interact, band/audience

sound/lights, band

Instead of beginning with a list of programmatic generalities, a specific event at the PROJECTOR was chosen, in this case a mid-sized concert, and a narrative plan and section were made to represent the spaces needed for such a performance. This specific programmatic thinking informed the design process for the PROJECTOR.

4

Massing iterations from narrative studies, using spe-cifically programmed performance and infrastructural spaces.

5

It was necessary to leave access on the ground level to the loading dock in the site and it was necessary that it be accessed from the street. By utilizing this loading dock for the PRO-JECTOR as well, a space was created that both showed the infrastructural nature of the site, as well as provided a space for more informal performances inside the loading dock area.

The main art gallery in the PROJECTOR runs alongside the skyway, allowing both patrons as well as casual users of the skyway system to interact with the gallery space.

6

Section 1

7

The exterior walls of the adjoining buildings are left exposed to the PROJECTOR lobbies and the floor plates of the lobbies pull away from the adjoining structures, leaving a small gap. This reinforces the nature of the lobbies as urban spaces, similar to scaffolding that is attached to the more programmatically intense spaces of the the-atre and auditorium, which are made very massive. Thin walkways bridge these gaps, heightening the sense of anticipation and entry. This sense of transition, from infrastructure to theatre inside the space, firmly integrates the PROJECTOR into the fabric of the site, and thus the PROJECTOR becomes not only a space in the city, but a space of the city.

8

9

Shadow MappingStudio III - Site First ProjectGroup Project, all content created jointly.

The performance of the shadow game has four rules:

1. Begin anywhere in a smaller, defined vignette of the site2. Find your darkest shadow, and walk in that direction for twenty steps3. If you run in to an obstacle, rebound off of the obstacle at the reverse angle4. If you leave the site vignette, stop and begin again

10

11

This game was performed in several locations, one of which is highlighted here. This location is between a large sports venue and an office building with ground level retail. We performed the game many times here and recorded all of our paths on a drawing, we then chose one path to analyze.

12

Left to RightBoundaries and Light Sources

Light Cones and IntensitiesAllegorical Plan

The execution of this performance in the site allowed us to experience and understand the site in a non-visual manner. The shadow path game showed pattens of light in the spaces and how that affected the pat-terns of how people inhabit these spaces. This consideration of site, not only in the physical sense but in its many manifestations, had particular bearing throughout this semester.

Site InterventionStudio III - Site Second Project

After performing in and analyzing the site, the final phase of the project was to design a temporary per-formance space in the site. Considered were the temporal qualities of the performance in the site, and how this architectural intervention could respond to, and integrate with the urban fabric of the site.

13

14

The initial site chosen was on the new Minnesota Twin’s Stadium Concourse, which creates man made urban amphitheater lacking a focus. The skyway was conceived to be the new focal point from which performances would take place for an audience on the concourse. However, the venue proved to be much too large for the 50 person audience described in the project brief. So, a smaller vignette of this site was chosen because it resembled characteristics of a site from the Shadow Game, in that it was on a busy street but very under-trafficked.

15

The irregular plan and section of the site suggested, if not necessitated an irregular form. The site had two grades, one steep and one shallow. Over the shallow grade a platform was placed, in order to allow for standing during a performance. The steep grade was left as exposed grass to allow informal seating of the type found in many outdoor seasonal amphitheaters. The form was inferred using the topography and plan of the site and the sectional relationship between the plan and the skyway above.

16

17

18

The cladding of the space is similar to wooden freeway noise barriers, with larger timbers on the side facing the freeway, and smaller pieces of wood on the pedestrian side. The gaps left in the wall allow drivers and pedestrians to see when the space is activated, creating intrigue. Similarly, the translucent roof allows for natural lighting inside the space, as well as allowing the interior lighting to illuminate the bottom of the skyway at night, lending the space even more visibility from afar and illustrating the relationship of the space to the skyway.

19

The PathStudio I - Material

This first studio project was an exploration in materials and methods. It focused around the idea of a path constructed from arbitrary elements, which were fused together into a harmonious whole. The project began with a sequence of twelve photographs of an area of campus. The images were to show unique architectural, spatial and lighting conditions. These were then made into wooden cube models, which were then arranged to form one long path.

20

21

Wood Block Path Scaled

Plaster Path

Depth Rendered Path

Path Section

Path Section with Materials

22

This long path was then cast in plaster, edited and recast many times. Then material was introduced with experiments in actually casting cement with different colors, mixtures, textures and small aggregates. These experiments were photographed and used as textures for renderings of the spaces in the paths. Then the paths were cast in concrete using these same textures and mixtures.

23

Apartment HousingStudio IV - Historic and Contemporary Apartment Housing

This studio began with a study on the genesis of (mostly high income) apartment housing where it truly began, in New York City. Studying buildings such as the Dakota, the Apthorp, the San Remo and the Beresford, we analyzed many aspects including apartment layout, building style in regards to the prevailing styles of the time, building access to the public and residents, communal spaces, services and many other characteristics. We then attempted to transpose these ideas into a present day apartment building using the concepts we found valuable from these famous buildings.

24

In studying historic apartment housing in New York City, our studio attempted to discern what made certain buildings successful, and what has kept them desirable through today. However, we could not decide upon a single reason why these apartment buildings appeared to stay successful. Rather we came up with a few major factors which they all seemed to posses. These included a genesis as upscale housing, “good” apartment layouts (although they changed often through history), and a sense of place and history . These seem to be common threads among these buildings.

25

Site

SiteThe site chosen for this building was on Hennepin Avenue, just south of downtown Minneapolis. Despite its proximity to the downtown setting, this area is distinctly different. Instead of streets busy with pedestrians, this area is focused around the large thoroughfare of Henne-pin Avenue. A project on this site needed to be inviting to pedestrian traffic, as well as provide amenities that the area was lacking.

Elevation of Hennepin Avenue

Plan view of Hennepin Avenue

“Downtown” Hennepin Avenue Lower Hennepin Avenue

26

The site was a vacant lot, adjacent to a vacant building (above) that was removed in the apartment scheme. The initial concept was a tower, shaped to view either the downtown skyline or a large neighboring park, atop a large plinth which would provide a solid street wall to house ground-level retail. This scheme eventually changed, with the tower hitting ground directly and using the space thus created to form a semi-public indoor area to house retail storefronts.

27

The final scheme featured 19 floors of apartments and a ground level housing retail as well as the apartment lobby. Housing the retail inside the building created a public arcade type space. By moving an architectural typology familiar to Minneapolis, the sky-way, from the second level to the ground level, it was made more accessible to pedestrians, as well as residents of the apartments. This space created a sense of place to the residents, as well as a public amenity that was sorely needed in the area.

Ground Level

28

Typical Apartment Floor

ElevatorLobby

ElevatorLobby

a b

a. b.

The apartment layouts were an attempt to combine the style found in that of historic apartment buildings with the open-plan style which is popular today. Contemporary features such as foyers and large kitchens for entertaining work to serve this end and to transpose the spirit of the historical apartments which remain desirable to this day.