ph5 Architecture

GALT STREET HOUSING: MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING 

Four three-bedroom units in two buildings are proposed as a prototype for a single end-lot in a new zoning area in South-East Vancouver know as Norquay Village. Designed in close consultation with City of Vancouver planners, these units offer affordable housing options for families wishing to live in the city. I participated in the building’s design (including VBBL and BCBC requirements), the preparation of rezoning and development permit packages, consultation with the developer, the City and consultants, and presentation of the proposals to the client and the City. As with all rezoning proposals in the City of Vancouver, these buildings are designed to LEED Gold standards.

PERCY HOUSE: RENOVATION 

An extensive renovation to this West Vancouver house and yard, the Percy House project required close collaboration with the clients, contractors, engineers, and building department to negotiate shifting designs and responses to as-built conditions. A geo-located digital model helped us design a trellis which offers shade for the outdoor dining area at specific times requested by the client while minimizing obstruction of the garden view.

BURGOO RESTAURANT: ADDITION

A small but significant addition to the front of the Main Street Burgoo Restaurant extends the restaurant into an indoor/outdoor space featuring large sliding windows and ample skylights.  I prepared as-built drawings, and DP and BP permit sets for the City of Vancouver as well participated in the detailing, specification and design of this addition.


When: 2011 – 2013
What: Architectural Assistant
Who: Peeroj Thakre, principal 604.605.1556

Key duties: Design, competitions, client meetings, city meetings, site meetings, consultant coordination, working drawings, City of Vancouver rezoning, development and building permit sets, specification.   
Software used: Sketchup, Vetorworks, Photoshop, Indesign, Excel.

HILDITCH ARCHITECT

AJAX MUNICIPAL HOUSING: AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Ajax affordable housing apartment building design won the competition put on by the city of Ajax for funding of affordable housing units. The design is sensitive to the surrounding context, a mix of industrial, commercial and civic insitutions, while adhering to a very tight budget.

PHILIP AZIZ CENTRE: CHILDREN’S HOSPICE

From hospice research to design, to zoning, to negotiations with provincial heritage and city planners, I had a the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the architectural process, in close collaboration with one of the partners at Hilditch, Charles Rosenberg. Aside from the functional and regulatory requirements of designing a hospice, successfully integrating the new addition into the heritage landscape was the most challenging aspect of the project. The massing of the addition mirrors the massing of the heritage house while contrasting the weight and “hominess” of the heritage house with a light, airy addition. Creating a space that was psychologically uplifiting for both sick children and healthy children with sick parents was the primary concern. And of course connecting to the outdoors was a natural focus given the park setting.

WIGWAMEN MADISON: AFFORDABLE HOUSING

The Wigwamen Madison proposal was for 90 units of affordable housing for seniors, particularly aboriginal seniors. The principles of design included bringing ample natural light into the units and facilitating the development of a strong community within the building through well-placed and well-organized communal spaces while being sensitive to the view of the property from Casa Loma, a heritage tourist attraction up the hill to the north of the site.


When: Oct. 2006 – Aug. 2007 + Jan. – Apr. 2008
What: Architectural Assistant
Who: Charles Rosenberg, partner, 416.593.6500

Key duties: Design, Research, Competitions, Client meetings, City meetings, Site meetings, Construction management, Consultant co-ordination, Working drawings, Costing, Permits, Specification, Tender, MOHLTC reports.
Software used: Sketchup, PowerCad, Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator.

architectsAlliance

TERRENCE DONNELLY CENTRE (CCBR)

This is a beautiful building! I did deficiencies and as-built drawings, which allowed me to spend an extended period of time both looking closely at the recently-constructed building and at the drawings that got it built.

When: Jan. – Sept. 2006
What: Architectural Assistant - Co-op Work Term
Who: Deni Papetti, associate, 416.593.6500

Key duties: Deficiencies, As-built drawings, Working drawings.
Software used: AutoCAD, Excel.

HBEW/ibi

PINNACLE MUSEUM TOWER 
The Museum Tower is the tallest residential tower in San Diego; designed in association with Austin Veum Robbins Parshalle.  I spent my term with HBEW doing tenant improvement working drawings.

When: May – Aug. 2005
What: Architectural Assistant - Co-op Work Term
Who: Salim Narayanan, Architect, 604.683.4376

Key duties: Working Drawings.
Software used: AutoCAD.

KASIAN ARCHITECTURE

BCIT AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGY CAMPUS

The design of BCIT’s new Aerospace Technology Campus posed numerous challenges, including proximity to highway frontage, its position on an overhead flight path and its planned location on a sloped, triangular site.  I worked on design development, diagrams, presentation drawings and the 3D model.

SAFEWAY:  Site Planning.

CANADIAN TIRE:  Poster Design. 


When: Sept. – Dec. 2004
What: Architectural Assistant - Co-op Work Term
Who: Jason Wexler, Architect, 604.683.4145

Key duties: Graphic design, Design development, Model building.
Software used: Vectorworks, Photoshop.

DHA

CONRADI BUILDING

I drew the final presentation drawings for this very west-coast style multi-use building featuring a large, open-plan bakery/cafe on the main floor.

COURTNEY/COMOX AIRPORT

The construction of the airport was already underway when I joined DHA. I drew tenant improvement drawings as well as helping with contract administration, including CD’s, CCO’s, CO’s, and site inspection reports. 


When: Jan. – May 2004
What: Architectural Assistant - Co-op Work Term
Who: Tom Dishlevoy, partner, 250.339.9528

Key duties: Design, contract administration, site visits, word processing.
Software used: AutoCAD.

THESIS

On Walking
ABSTRACT

Imagine the anatomy of architecture as a complex system, where the form is the result of generative processes, the material properties of the components, and their patterns of assembly. 

Within this paradigm, surface is that part of the system which exchanges energy, information, and materials with the local environment. How does human occupation of a space offer energy, information, or material to the system-building, and how can the surface best vector these exchanges?

Walking could represent human occupation in this context. I choose my walker’s lineage and declare my interest, as an architect, in empathetic space. I explore the history of bipedalism, of the path as an architectural object, and of the sciences, philosophies and poetries of walkers. And I browse through contemporary architectural discourse pertaining to emergent design methodologies.  Along the way, I test my proposal in two experiments: one complete, and one in progress...

On Walking is available in its entirety at: http://issuu.com/smneault/docs/onwalking


When: Waterloo Architecture, 2008 – 2010
Who (Supervisor): Donald McKay, associate professor
(Committee): Robert Jan van Pelt, university professor and Anne Bordeleau, assistant professor 
(External Reader): Dieter Janssen

Key references: Guy Debord, Francesco Careri, Rebecca Solnit, Achim Menges, Michael Weinstock, Alejandro Zaera-Polo, Jaron Lanier, Steven Johnson, James Suroweicki, Jeffry Kipnis, D’Arcy Thompson, A.N. Whitehead, Giambattista Vico, Gary Snyder, Walt Whitman, William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Jane Austen, Henry David Thoreau, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, John Muir...
Software used: Rhino3D, Grasshopper, VBScript, SketchUp, AutoCAD, Arduino, MaxMSP, Processing, Keynote, PowerPoint, Indesign, Photoshop, Picasa, Flickr, Hindenburg Mobile, TweetDeck, ReelDirector, SketchBook, Google Earth, Google Maps, Posterous Blogs, Blogspot Blogs, FinalCut Express, EvoCam, iMovie.

PEDESTRIAN SURVEY

MAPPING THE CAMPUS (USING LOCATIVE MEDIA)Proposal: People are always working out ways of walking through campus, skirting around new buildings, towards a faculty not yet visited.  So, rather than a map of the asphalt and paver paths already installed on campus, and rather than (or in addition to) adding names to these paths to orient users, or providing addresses or branding with fonts or colours  or what have you, what I envision is a map of the paths people use, persistently updated and tagged with text, photos, audio, and video (all searchable, of course).

The goal is to shift from a top-down map to a bottom-up map: in lieu of (or in addition to) a map measured and drawn and organized with layers of names and map icons, the Pedestrian Survey will generate a map which traces/tracks the space that is occupied, and collects some record of the things that happen in that space.  With a good interface, this cloud of user-generated data will revolutionize wayfinding in a persistently changing place.

I proposed using iPhones to collect GPS and accelerometer data in order to trace in 4d (x, y, z, and t) the paths of people exploring main campus while taking photos, sketching, and writing about what they sense and what “senses” them (imagining the campus as an organism: sending/receiving/organizing).  The paths followed were then collected into an online Google-Earth-based database and annotated with geotagged information (tweets, photos, sketches and video and audio recordings).

Methods: I hired twelve graduate students from the Waterloo School of Architecture, selected for their expertise in spatial narrative, photography, place analysis and/or social media, to explore the UW main campus and record their experiences using iPhones.


When: Jan. – Jun. 2010
What: Wayfinding Project, University of Waterloo
Who (Project Director): Donald McKay, associate professor 416.458.9675
 
Key duties: Survey design, Proposal, Presentation, Survey co-ordination, Data management, IT support, Survey report.
Software used: iTunes, iPhone, Picasa, Flickr, Hindenburg Mobile, TweetDeck, ReelDirector, SketchBook, Google Earth, Google Maps, Posterous Blogs, Photoshop, Indesign, OpenOffice, Keynote.

DAVID JOHNSTON EVENT

DAVID JOHNSTON THANK-YOU CELEBRATION 

Three members of bohmLAB (Abe Galway, Sarah Neault, and Tyler Walker, plus an additional friend, Ian Huff) were hired to prepare installations for the dinner celebrating David Johnston’s accomplishments as president of the University of Waterloo. The theme of the evening was “barn-raising,” so I designed and fabricated laser-cut plywood centerpieces composed of nine pieces which were assembled collaboratively by guests into small “tab-and-slot” barns.


When: Aug. - Sept. 2010
What: Barn Centerpieces for David Johnston Thank-You Celebration at UW
Who: Rick Haldenby, O’Donovan director, 519.888.4567 x84544

Key duties: Design, Graphic design, Presentation, Budget, Fabrication (laser-cutting and printing).
Software used: Sketch-up, Rhino3D, AutoCAD, Photoshop, Indesign.

RESEARCH ASSISTANT

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING

For the second term as Fred Thomson’s RA, I proposed and organized the revival of his two-part Creative Problem Solving course (Basic and Advanced) and developed a new wireless webcam set-up to replace an obsolete video-camera/VCR configuration.

Course Description: When we react we very often do so to establish our individual point of view or, better still, to protect it. To do this we become sensitive to the problem and aggressive to others. A child psychologist made the statement that each time a child reacts she loses the chance to increase her intelligence, and each time she transforms a situation she increases her intelligence.
... The Japanese very often approach problem-solving through being sensitive to others and aggressive to the problem. This could be called a creative approach to problem solving in which: more innovations are possible, nobody is a loser, and the community of people can enjoy the results.
Creativity isn’t something that can be taught. What we can learn is how creativity is discouraged until we don’t notice it any more.

The basic course is a five day full-time course which introduces a maximum of eight people to the practice of group problem-solving using the techniques developed by G.M. Prince and W.J.J. Gordon and their associates who are devoted to invention, research in inventive process, and teaching.


A+P2:SIGURD LEWERENTZ’S VISION OF FUNERAL ARCHITECTURE

During the first term I worked for Fred Thompson, I assisted in the preparation of a paper on Lewerentz’s funerary architecture for the 2009 A+P2 architecture and phenomenology conference in Japan.


When: Jan. – Sept. 2009
What: Research Assistant
Who: Fred Thompson, professor emeritus, 519.546.6773

Key duties: Editing, Proposal writing, IT support, Graphic design, Course management.
Software used: Photoshop, Indesign, OpenOffice, Keynote, EvoCam.

rareSITING

SPRINGBANK COMMONS IDEAS COMPETITION
BUILDING SOCIO_ECOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE

The new facility for Musagetes and SIG@Waterloo at Springbank Commons is an opportunity to build an environment which encourages social innovation through social interaction and connection with the natural world. 

The integration of the building’s floor plates into the slope creates a visceral topographical experience for the occupants. The flow of water over and through the building integrates the facility into the site’s hydrological systems, while raw thresholds between site and building at secondary entrances articulate the edge between the built and natural environment. In order to harness the sun’s energy for daylighting and heating, the building is carefully oriented and openings are located precisely. A geothermal system also draws and releases energy from the surrounding soil for additional heating and cooling requirements. Planting of native species in and around the building minimizes site maintenance and supports the complexity and sustainability of the micro-environment allowing local flora and fauna to flourish. A viewing tower emerges from the hinge between the exhibition and research wings above the main entrance. Accessible from the both the exterior and interior, the tower is both a beacon to local residents and passers-by and a platform from which to view the Rare Charitable Reserve and its place within the local community and environment.

In the spirit of Musagetes and SIG@Waterloo, the design of this new home for both groups facilitates social interaction within the building as well as between these organizations and the local community. Encouraging random encounters and paying attention to your neighbour are two techniques for fostering complexity and emergence in social groups. The exhibition space does double-duty in this regard, acting as both lounge space anchored by the fireplace and kitchen and as exhibition space for viewing one another’s work. The design also privileges cross-views between the organizations’ work areas and between the work areas and the public areas of the building.


When: Jan. – Sept. 2009
What: 1st Place Team 
Who: Liana Breseler, Sarah Neault, Wes Wilson
 
Key duties: Research, Conceptual design, Design development, Site plan, Text.
Software used: Photoshop, Indesign, Illustrator, VectorWorks.