Fitts-Woolard Hall

3D Wood Wall

This 220,000 sf project is a new engineering building for NC State University, housing the dean of the college of engineering, the civil engineering department, and the structural engineering department. It includes research labs, teaching labs, classrooms, and offices. Computational tools were used to create the focal point for the interior of the building, 2 wood walls at the entrances with the biggest spanning 4 floors measuring 86’ by 50’ meant to visually draw people up into the building. Inspired by the work of the departments, images from their research were used to create the underlying form.The form generated the 50, 4-sided flat panels that were arranged into large repeating triangles. Aggressive cost targets were met by repeating each panel at least 6 times and not exceeding a maximum panel size. The resulting design was digitally transmitted to the fabricator for production.

Monumental Stairs

I created a computational approach for moving geometry between the design softwares for the design of the monumental stairs at Fitts-Woolard hall. There are 5 unique sets of stairs, all configured differently, bending to maximize the penetration of the sunlight from the skylight at the top of each run. The engineer used the traditional workflow of manually modeling for 2 of the stairs and the computational approach for the remaining 3. The engineer stated that the new process saved around a day of time for the more simple stairs, and around 3 days of time for the winding stair. An estimated 7 days of time would have been saved if the process was used on all 5 stairs. Later on it was even identified that one of the manually input stairs offset the members on the wrong side of the reference line, resulting in a stair that was 6” too narrow and needed to be fixed.

Misc

For Fitts-Woolard Hall I was involved from the programming phase through closeout and ustilized comutational thinking throught to improve processes and the design. During Programming, I developed a database to track and validate programming requirements throughout the design process. In the design phase, computational design was used to calculate daylighting, energy usage, and a dynamic window layout on the exterior. As the main Architectural representative on the project, during CA the data from the contractor was linked to a floor plan to quickly illustrate where the design team needed to work that day. My scope of work also included me being the LEED accredited professional helping the project achieve LEED Silver, and the first LEED v4 project for our company.

Wake Tech Parking Deck

Stainless steel facade panels

The Wake Tech campus is split by a natural wetland and forest. The site for the deck is located directly on one edge of the forest. All students commute to campus, requiring ample parking and large parking decks. For this project, the facade is 350 feet long so the traditional ideas were not working for the design team. The idea was to create a textured pattern on the facade that would reflect and respond to the site. The team liked the idea of creating panels that reflected the surroundings at different angles to create a dynamic appearance as you drove along the deck. The resulting design arranged panels in a way that created a texture by only varying the panel spacing and the panel orientation. The script first generated a single panel profile that could be bent from a roll of stainless steel. These panels could then be rotated 180 degrees to add to the desired texture. The design bid under budget, however the owner wanted the facade budget cut in half. Fortunately since the design was done using computational tools, we quickly studied options with half the panels removed. With computation this redesign was done in a few days instead of a few weeks using the traditional process. This was the first major project done at Clark Nexsen using computation and this redesign process showed the power of the tool and led to more projects using computation design.

CNC supergraphic numbers

The design team liked the approach of having supergraphic numbers on each floor at the stairs. Computational and non-computatal designs were studied with the team liking the direction of the computational schemes. Working with the CM, various fabrication methods were studied, eventually landing on CNC ACM panels for their cost and durability. Over 35,000 holes were drilled to create the graphics on the panels. Working with the contractor, we looked at drilling partially or fully through the panels. Studies were completed to determine if the holes went just into the core of the ACM or if they went all the way through the entire panel. The contractor recommended using thru-holes since they could produce it faster and more accurately.

Charlotte New Main Library

Facade Refinement

In Design
This project is the new main library in downtown Charlotte where they are replacing the old facility with a new one. The new building focuses on the public as well as new role and responsibilities that libraries have in their communities. As the Architect of Record working with Snohetta, my involvement began in late Design Development. The design concepts are generated by their team and handed off to me to either refine or create new scripts. Refinements are based on code requirements, changes in CD as the products and pricing are refined, etc. In the case of the curved bowl facade, I modified the script to change elevations of horizontal mullions and create new curving horizontal mullion options as part of a VE studies. For the metal panels that are on the curved bowl and also on all other sides of the building, I created a script to study the quantity, pattern, and mix of the 3 metal panel colors. Other scope of work for this project includes geometry coordination between Revit and Rhino where Speckle and Rhino.Inside is used to update the models as needed for the entire design team.

Atrium and Stair Refinement

In Design
Similar to the exterior, the design for the atrium was generated by Snohetta, and passed off to me to refine. In the case of the atrium stairs and guardrail, the railing design changed from glass to wood pickets. I created a script that generates the wood pickets while also revising the stair geometry to meet all the constraints of structure, layout, code, and aesthetics.

Misc Work

AIA TAP National Advisory Group 2020 Chair

2017-2022. I served on the leadership group for the AIA Technology in Architectural Practice Knowledge Community (TAP). Responsibilities included chairing the 2020 Building Connections Congress conference and the 2021 national AIA Innovation awards. Other involvement included advising the AIA Strategic Council, and serving on various task forces such as the national AIA COVID-19 task force. TAP serves as a resource for AIA members, the profession, and the public in the deployment of computer technology in the practice of architecture. Technology in Architectural Practice monitors the development of computer technology and its impact on architecture practice and the entire building life cycle, including design, construction, facility management, and retirement or reuse.

Pebble Smart-watch App

I like minimal watch faces on my Pebble Smart-watch. The issue with these is they do not show the date and the pebble OS didn't have an easy way to simply show the date. I hacked together some code and created an app for the Pebble Appstore that does just that. It shoes the date when you hit one of the buttons on the side of the watch. Various visual aspects of the app are customizable through your smart phone

Who We Are: Javascript image

I created a Script that took employee data from our employee database and images from our image database and created a graphic of the faces of our entire firm. At the time of it's creation, our multi-office firm was attempting to feel more cohesive and people also found it fun to try to find themselves in the image. The script allows for a strong amount of customization such as the order of images and color borders representing office location or discipline.

Intranet Restructuring

I was involved with a small team to improve our company's Intranet. The previous Intranet was confusing, unregulated and all the information was outdated. Our group took the existing Intranet and pared it down immensely. It became easier to find what was needed as well as an easier place to share knowledge. The result is more engagement across the firm, the information in the libraries is more relevant, staff know where find information, as well as who to contact if things are outdated or missing. Our group is still involved in encouraging people to post and contribute to the Intranet. As a result, the amount of posts, content, and most importantly, the quality have all increased. Our firm was asked to present our redesign to at a conference put on by Knowledge Architecture.

LEED Complexity Diagram

I set out to create a interactive diagram that showed the complexity and relationship of the LEED v4 points. I used a data visualization tool and then packaged it up for the web so that it could be shared.

Clark Nexsen Holiday Graphic

Marketing approached me to create the Clark Nexsen holiday graphic to send to clients and use on social media.

Here is a Link to an article where we discuss the process of making the animation.

CANstruction

I created a Grasshopper script to rapidly visualize and iterate the design for the CANStruction fund raising event. We partnered with RedHat, a tech company, so I wanted to implement as much technology as possible. The script allowed for the form and can heights to be input and it would then generate a visualization of the final result including can count. After the design was completed and sent to the CNC fabricator, the quote was too high because it was slightly wider than the material provided. A quick reduction in the size of the underlying form generated a new output that used 21 less sheets and saved over $1,000 in labor. Without parametric scripting the entire drawings would have had to be redone.

Here is a Link to an article I wrote for Clark Nexsen's website.