undergraduate portfolio - sam robinson

sam robinsonvirginia tech a + d

selected works 2007-2011

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Shalom Baranes Associates washington, dc. intern, summer 2010

Fort Totten mixed use development site/context modeling and conceptual massing models

Ward/Hall Associates AIAchantilly, va. intern, summer 2007-winter 2009

Presidential Corporate Center - Prince Georges County Schools

field measuring and space planning, screenwall for proposed auditorium, baltimore, md Suntrust bank building conceptual design and construction documents, upper marlboro, md

Daejeon, South Korea conceptual design, master planning, and sustainable design research for proposed mixed use project

Habitat For Humanity construction, christiansburg, va. spring 2009

education

sam robinson

experience

honors

skills

references

Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design

Bachelor of Architecture, 3.75 cumulative gpa (magna cum laude) completed may 2011

Education Abroad - Riva San Vitale, Switzerland

Center for European Studies and Architecture, 4.00 gpa fall 2009

Falls Church High School 3.83 cumulative gpa, summer 2006

Mosley Architects Fellowship recipient, spring 2010

Harry Ormston Scholarship recipient spring 2009

Solar Decathlon Solar Screen Design Competition

first place among all third year students, fall 2008

academic dean’s list all semesters, fall 2006-spring 2011

National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist spring 2006

Richmond First Fridays ExhibitionVCU Memorial one of three students selected as part of SMBW’s A5 Exhibit

manual hand drafting, precise modeling, casting (plaster, concrete, etc)

digital adobe cs5, autocad, microstation, revit, rhinoceros, v-ray, sketchup, 3ds max

grasshopper/parametric modeling, digital fabrication via lasercamm, ms office

Charles Hall, FAIA Principal Ward/Hall Associates cehall@wardhall.com Michael Ermann Associate Professor + Undergraduate Architecture Co-Chairman mermann@vt.eduChris Fultz Principal SMBW Architects cfultz@smbw.comPatrick Clay Adjunct Professor patrick.josh.clay@gmail.com

samuel-robinson@live.comsamcrobinson.com

703.678.9307

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thesis

multifamily housing blockDUMBO, brooklynfall 2010-spring 2011

With the general migration of the global population towards cities and urban centers, disparate cultural and societal backgrounds are interwoven like never before. While this agglomeration of people and activity offers seemingly limitless potential for social activity, much of this potential remains unrealized.

A large part of what wastes this opportunity lies in the built environment of the city itself, namely the residential typology. Rather than serving as an extension of the city’s social vibrance, residential space often stifl es social opportunities between residents. Narrow, poorly lit hallways and crowded elevators that afford 30 second conversations are the only social spaces that exist in many urban residential buildings. Despite being in a community of hundreds and a city of millions, residents can become just another face in the crowd and feel isolated

How can the design and organization of housing units and the interstitial circulation spaces between them encourage social interaction and foster a sense of community in an urban context?

_world trade center transit hub

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The suburban typology contains enough horizontal space to accomodate a variety of social activities within the residential neighborhood. Things that we take for granted, such as walking the dog, playing with chilren in the yard, or fixing our cars, offer opportunities to meet and interact with the rest of the community and visual and aural links are mostly intact.

Circulation in suburban communities has the benefit of being horizontally focused and open to sunlight and air, and residents are visually aware of their neighbors. However, as the car has been the catalyst for suburban sprawl and the scale around which communities are planed, the road often divides residents and many people choose to drive rather than walk. The automobile has facilitated outward expansion and large communities outside of cities, but this reliance on the car has reduced social opportunities.

Face to face social activity relies mainly on aural and visual links, both of which are impaired in the two main residential typologies. While we move from place to place and perceive our surroundings on a horizontally dominated axis, urban housing favors the vertical, while suburban sprawl can separate residents too far horizontally.

horizontal spacepersonal buffer

open air circulation

horizontal spacepersonal buffer

open air circulation

proxiimtydensity

efficiencylocation

proxiimtydensity

efficiencylocation

Typology Inclination

Horizontal sprawl

Vertical Stacking

Car

Elevator

Car

Elevator

Suburban

Urban

Catalyst Social Inhibitor Bene�ts

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Typology Inclination

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In the urban housing typology, horizontal social spaces are either absent entirely or exist in the city, outside of the residential envelope. Almost all horizontal space is private in nature.

Residents living on different floors are visually and aurally separated despite their proximity. Interaction is restricted to the elevator or stairway, neither of which are spatially accomodating for socialization. Whilte the elevator has allowed for upward expansion and growth in cities, this has resulted in social separation of residents of urban high rises.

The increased potential for interaction due to population in the Urban typology is negated by its decreased potential due to poor spatial arrangement.

Rural Suburban Hybrid Urban

Rural

Urban

Suburban

Ideal

PR

OC

LIV

ITY

FO

R S

OC

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INT

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TIO

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Beneficial

PROCLIVITY FOR SOCIAL INTERACTION BY TYPOLOGY

Inhibitive

THEORETICAL POTENTIAL DUE TO POPULATION

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Residences are placed on top.The site’s topography drops 18’ from SE to NW. Parking is submerged underground on the

south side and accessible at street level on the north. Retail wraps the facade.

Retail is pulled down to street level and expanded to two stories on the north

facade. Street level business/retail opens up to an interior courtyard.

Residential

Retail

Social courtyard

Parking

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The southern facade is pulled downward to allow light to enter the interior courtyard; the

northern facade is pulled upward where views of the skyline are maximized.

Interstitial courtyard spaces infill the areas between units, offering more private/intimate spaces for residents to interact. The interior courtyard is raised to improve daylighting.

The residential and retail masses are pinched inward, orienting the northern facade towards the Lower Manhattan

skyline and allowing more solar exposure along the south facade.

Jay St. and York St BlockDUMBO, Brooklyn. NYC

DUMBO is a former industrial district that, like many of New York’s distircts, has been regenerated as an artist community. The

surrounding area contains several historical districts, (including the DUMBO Historical District). DUMBO borders Brooklyn Heights,

Downtown Brooklyn, and Fort Greene.The site currently serves as a parking lot, and is owned by the

Watchtower Society, a subsidiary of Jehonvah’s Witnesses.

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2 people 1 person

Each unit’s adjacent sides are canted 45 degrees, creating two

garden/gathering spaces linked by a common axis.

The arrangement is rotated and/or mirrored

Roofs become gardens; varying stacked arrangements create

different common spaces

Standard relationship between units in a typical building mass

module

Units are shifted in line with these cores, maintaining simple utility organization but offering both a

variety of floor plans and interstitial space arrangements.

Four columns/cores anchor the units structurally and contain

utilities and plumbing for each unit. Bathrooms and kitchens are oriented along these utility cores.

The basic unit relationship is mirrored on every other level to create double height spaces

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4 people 3 people

0 8421

Units

11 different unit types are derived depending upon the orientation of each module and its relationship to adjacent modules.

Two modules conjoined into one unit can provide up to 1600 sf and living quarters for 4 people.

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courtyard/social space

circulation routes

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courtyard/social space

circulation routes

A traditional corridor serves a singular purpose and provides a ubiquitous and mundane spatial experience. It is conceived of as a link between distinct spaces, but is not distinctive or defined in its own right. Rather than simply linking other spaces, corridors can be reconfigured to delineate and frame unique spaces and experiences on their own and/or in conjunction with the spaces they link.

This diversity allows the corridors to function as threshold, circulation, room, and ornament; encouraging residents to engage and explore spaces beyond the most efficient route to and from their unit. This results in residents using more parts of the building they otherwise wouldn’t, and increases interaction between residents. i

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Interior Courtyard and Social Space

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Street View of Southern Facade + Stairs to Elevated Courtyard

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Typical Social Courtyard Space

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lower manhattan, NYCspring 2010 _light competition

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light competition

blacksburg, va� nalist, spring 2009team: alex barker + sam robinson

Rather than designing an object irrespective of context, the fi xture is conceived as a direct response to its environment.

Instead of simply placing a lamp on a table or hanging a fi xture from the ceiling, the design responds to the specifi c formal nature of the Cowgill Lobby and subtly enhances what’s already there.

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_vcu memorial

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The fixture consists merely of a 1/32” basswood veneer attached to a piece of 1/32” white plastic. The plastic is bent to fit in between the slats; its rigidity supports the fixture. The bowed shape of the plastic distributes the light above and below, illuminating the space between each slat.

5”x14”x1/32” White Acrylic

2”x14”x1/32”Basswood

2”x14”x1/8”Acrylic

2 pieces@1.5”x14”x1/8”

Acrylic

The first iteration was comprised of three sheets of acrylic bonded together into a C-shape, with the bowed white acrylic behind. Again, the stiffness of the material is sufficient to support its own weight. It was determined that the bowed white acrylic is key in achieving an even light quality and spreading the light up and down.

5”x14”x1/32” White Acrylic

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Site and Context Bas Relief Study

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vcu memorial

richmond, vaspring 2009

After the tragic death of a VCU sculpture student, a memorial space on VCU’s campus was commissioned in his honor. Instead of being a place of mourning, this memorial celebrates living and utilizes sculpture as a metaphor for life itself.

Beginning as a pure undisturbed form, materials undergo additive and subtractive processes to ultimately become the form that the sculptor intends. Similarly, the highs and lows that one goes through and their collective experiences help shape and defi ne them until they become a highly articulatd, uniquely defi ned individual.

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As one progresses along the path, the wall is pulled back to expose the form of the intrusions and to reveal the final chapter in the story. The last space on the narrative side contains the ultimate form;the culmination of life’s journey and the result of all the preceding sculptures. This outdoor room also provides a counter point to the directed movement through the rest of the site. The space is detached, surrounded by water, and under the shade of trees; one is free to pause and reflect.

The main path acts as an axis separating the narrative aspects of the memorial from the more public side. The large wall acts as a narration tool for the story told by the sculptures above ground in the sculpture garden. VCU sculpture students will be invited to each design their own sculpture to be placed in the site and examine life as they see it through sculpture. Weathered steel intrusions interrupt the pure concrete wall and provide viewing portals through the ground plane to the sculptures and landscape above. The narrow scope of the portals is intended to provide only a glimpse of the story and spark the visitor’s curiosity to fully engage the sculpture garden above.

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As one progresses along the path, the wall is pulled back to expose the form of the intrusions and to reveal the final chapter in the story. The last space on the narrative side contains the ultimate form;the culmination of life’s journey and the result of all the preceding sculptures. This outdoor room also provides a counter point to the directed movement through the rest of the site. The space is detached, surrounded by water, and under the shade of trees; one is free to pause and reflect.

The main path acts as an axis separating the narrative aspects of the memorial from the more public side. The large wall acts as a narration tool for the story told by the sculptures above ground in the sculpture garden. VCU sculpture students will be invited to each design their own sculpture to be placed in the site and examine life as they see it through sculpture. Weathered steel intrusions interrupt the pure concrete wall and provide viewing portals through the ground plane to the sculptures and landscape above. The narrow scope of the portals is intended to provide only a glimpse of the story and spark the visitor’s curiosity to fully engage the sculpture garden above.

sam robinson

The site is located between the Ginter House and Bocock House, two historical buildigns

located along the former main artery of VCU’s campus. One is drawn into the site by four water

elements that are sunken intot he ground and follow the visitor along their path down ramps

marking the entrance. The water follows the slope of the ramps and is then filtered through a

rock bed of fine pebbles. After momentarily disppearing, the reassuring sound of the water’s

flow can be heard, leading the visitor to step over the pebble threshold onto a slatted wooden

walkway running over top of the flowing water.

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Bas Relief Exploded AxonRapidograph

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Viewing Portal Exploded AxonRapidograph

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solar screen

VT solar house1st place, fall 2008team: joe terranova + sam robinson

Virginia Tech’s Solar Decathlon entry utilized sliding screens on both facades to provide privacy and shade. However, the team also aimed to use the fl oor slab of the house as a thermal mass to collect solar energy. A competition was held among all third year students to submit ideas for a screen design that would accomodate both functions.

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_world trade center transit hub

vcu memorial

_virginia society competition

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June 21Noon

7575

October 6Noon

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December 21Noon

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amtrak train depotclifton forge, vaspring 2011

The small town of Clifton Forge, located in Southwest Virginia, sprung to life during the advent of railroad travel in the late 19th century. Unfortunately, as rail usage declined, so did the town.

Due to a recent increase in passenger rail service in Virginia, Clifton Forge may once again become an important stop along the east-west line between Chicago and Washington, DC. A new Amtrak depot will reintroduce Clifton Forge to travelers and passengers.

_light competition

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The site lies at a threshold between the rail and the town. The train station acts as a conduit linking Clifton Forge with travelers and vice versa. The station formally welcomes and gathers visitors and funnels them towards Clifton Forge’s downtown area. Outgoing residents are funneled in reverse fashion towards the train tracks, passing their new visitors on the way, and are offered a unique experience while waiting for their train’s arrival.

site

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sam robinson

samuel-robinson@live.comsamcrobinson.com703.678.9307

9050 loreleigh wayfairfax, va. 22031

68 thanks