benjamin tillman - 2010 resume + portfolio

8/8/2019 Benjamin Tillman - 2010 Resume + Portfolio

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Benjamin Tillmandesign portfolio 2010

Statement of IntentResume + Curriculum Vitae

Selected Works page

1 / Outdoor Classroom 12 / Pavilion of the Leaves 23 / Fire Station 3

4 / Overlook Deck 75 / Beacon Elementary 96 / Convention Hotel 12

Study Abroad in Berlin

CONTENTS


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I dont want to be interesting. I want to be good.-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe


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Revit, SketchUp, AutoCAD, Adobe Creative Suite, Kerkythea Renderer,Sketching, Photography, Microsoft Oce

On schedule to graduate with a Masters in Architecture from theUniversity of Kansas in May 2011

Current Cumulative GPA of 3.20 on a 4.0 scaleCurrent Studio GPA of 3.35 on a 4.0 scale

Courses taken include:Eight design studios

-Includes one in Berlin and one design/build

Architectural History I & IIBuilding Technology I & IIEnvironmental Systems I & IIProgramming and PredesignIntroduction to Site PlanningIntroduction to AcousticsOne month studying abroad in Berlin and Prague

2009-2010: President of Stephenson Scholarship Hall2008-2009: Technology Chair of Stephenson Scholarship Hall

2007-2008: Environmental Chair of Stephenson Scholarship Hall

Graduated Top 10%, Eudora High SchoolACT Award for ExcellenceKU Honor ScholarKansas Honor Scholar

Peter Pran, FAIA, MNALDesign Principal of NBBJ ArchitectsDistinguished Professor of Architecture at KUcontact: (206) 953-5237

Benjamin Tillman13234 222nd StLinwood, KS [email protected](785) 766-7304

Skills

Education

Activities

Awards

Reference

Resume + Curriculum Vitae

To gain skills andexperience through aninternship in order tocreate highly ecient andexperiential designs, witha planned focus onelementary school design.

Objective


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Assignment - To design an outdoor

classroom for Marvin Lawn that couldbe partially dismantled when not inuse, with a focus on previous materialstudies and a study of various formsof human balance.

Design Points-Removeable panels

- Comprised of durable cloth (todisperse light) and warped plastic(to create an appealing visualeect).-Placed on wires by students as they

entered, which let them inuencetheir learning environment.-When not in use, panels would bestored in recessed compartmentsbelow the seating ledge.

-Columns-Set at incremental angles,creating variable heights withinthe space, which expands upwardtoward the entrance and back andoutward toward the middle.

Outdoor ClassroomArch 101 Freshman Design Studio / Prof Zuzanna Karcezkwa / Spring 2007

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Section View

A view of the surrounding context

Site Plan

Precedent-Balance study - A study was doneon a chosen posture of balance, withthis designs study being that of twopeople, connected by a rope, eachleaning back as far as they couldwithout compromising the other, andthen returning to normal posture.

This project was the rst inhabitablestructure in my education, so it wasvery helpful in teaching me aboutcomfort, whether thats throughshade, proper heights of steps andseating, or in the structures form andvisual appeal.

Arch 101 Freshman Design Studio / Prof Zuzanna Karcezkwa / Spring 2007

Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnicent, of forms assembled in the light.-Le Corbusier

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Arch 208 Sophomore Design Studio / Prof Bruce Johnson / Fall 2007

Assignment - To design a pavilion

to replace the current bandstand inSouth Park in Lawrence. A metaphori-cal study of the city of Lawrence wasto inuence the design.

Design Points- Structural form

- Inuenced by a small group oftrees, with three separatestructures jutting out of the groundto create one form.

- Canopy- Composed like a large, irregular

funnel, the roofs wooden slatswere designed to gather water intothe center of the pavilion, wateringthe grass and owers below.

- Louvers- Hanging by wires, the smallwooden louvers can each berotated independent of the others,giving the potential of unlimitedcombinations. They can be closedto create a backdrop for lighting,or a private area for reading,opened for complete transparency,

or set to create unique designs.

Pavilion of the Leaves

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Arch 208 Sophomore Design Studio / Prof Bruce Johnson / Fall 2007Fire Station No. 1

Assignment - To design a re stationto replace Lawrence Fire StationNo. 1, following set program require-ments and input from the currentoccupants of Station No. 1. Thedesign also had to incorporate mainconcepts and precedents from theprevious projects of the semester.

Design Points- Shell - Comprised of frosted low-eglass panels, which allow largeamounts of light in while blockingmost heat and retaining privacy. Itsoverall form serves to direct waterruno either to a drip irrigationsystem for the community garden orto a series of drains on the edge nearthe oce building. These drains leadto an underground greywater stor-age tank that would lter the waterfor use in the building or even tosupplement the re trucks. The glassshell also acts as a beacon to the sur-rounding area during an emergency,as the lights of the trucks insidewould turn the entire building into

a large siren, acting as a warning forpedestrians and nearby trac.5


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Form follows function - that has been misunderstood. Form and function should be one, joined in a spiritual union.

-Frank Lloyd Wright

Living Room

Dining Room

Sleeping Quarters

Overlooking the 2nd Floor

Design Points (continued)- Plan Eciency - As re ghtersstrive to be on the road less than twominutes after an emergency is calledin, plan eciency is a must. Theengine bay is central to the plan, re-ducing travel time from other rooms.- Alley Access - The design allows thevehicles to come through the backalley and into the engine baythrought the back of the building,removing the need to close the busystreet in front in order to back thetrucks into the station.

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Precedents- Pavilion of the Leaves - The mainidea drawn from this project was theinteraction with water. The Pavilionsform had drawn water to a point forthe good of the vegetation below,and this project would follow suit.- Boathouse - Another project fromthis studio, the Boathouse inuencedthe buildings form, repetition ofsteel structure, and the frosted glassshell that would be greatly inuencedby the characteristics of the light.Site

- To be located on a vacant lotat 8th and Vermont, between theLawrence Community Garden anda small oce building.- The wall of the oce buildingwas partially deteriorated, revealing rough but attractive aged brick.- Just as many buildings inLawrence were built to adjoinothers, becoming interconnected,this design has the top edge of thestation connected to the nextbuilding, embracing the aged

brick wall as its main interior wall.7


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Section ViewSite Plan

1st Floor 2nd Floor

Plan Layout1st Floor1 - Fire Engine Bay2 - Chiefs Oce3 - Conference/AV Room4 - Relay Room5 - Kitchen/Dining Room6 - Handicapped QuartersL - Handicapped Lift

2nd Floor

7 - Womens Sleeping Quarters8 - Womens Bath/Locker Room9 - Fitness Area10 - Living Room11 - Mens Bathroom12 - Mens Locker Room13 - Mens Sleeping Quarters

Space and light and order. Those are the things that men need just as much asthey need bread or a place to sleep.

-Le Corbusier

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Arch 409 Junior Design/Build Studio / Prof Nils Gore / Fall 2008

[ This was a studio-wide project. ]

Assignment - To design and builda structure for the KU EcologicalReserves. The structure would bea place for the public to view thebeauty of the natural prairie andsurrounding landscape, and would bemeant especially as a place for schooleld trips. Included an emphasis onlow costs, recycled materials andease of maintenance and upkeep.

Site

- Located on a blu overlookingall of Lawrence to the south andthe Rockefeller Natural Prairie tothe north.- In a desire to keep the structuresfootprint as minimal as possibleand to avoid potential water runoproblems, the foundation wasdesigned as a series of concretepiers rather than a large pad.

Overlook Deck [Design]

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I believe in God, only I spell it Nature.

-Frank Lloyd Wright

Site (continued)

- Due to the distance away fromany major roads, the structure wasdesigned to be heavily modular,broken into separate bays thatcould t onto a trailer for transport.Also, any on-site constructionwould have to be able to be com-pleted with only the power of asmall portable generator.

Precedents- Waving Prairie Grass - The curve of

the bench was greatly inuenced

by the motion of a eld of prairiegrass, like the one directly behindthe structure, waving in a breeze.

- Natural Forms - The benchs steelstructure was inuenced by theforms of curving vertebrae, alludingto the areas wildlife.

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Arch 409 Junior Design/Build Studio / Prof Nils Gore / Fall 2008Overlook Deck [Build]

Design Points

- Modularity - For ease and speed ofconstruction, the design put heavyemphasis on modularity. The mainexample of this is the wood decking,which is separated into small panelscomprised of wood slats attachedto rectangular Unistrut frames, themajority of which are of equal size.- Recycled Wood - All of the woodused for the project was reclaimedfrom old telephone poles, is highlydurable, and was donated by the

Westar Energy Green Team.- Ease of Maintenance - The projectsclients put a lot of emphasis on easeof maintenance, so we designedthe deck so that its panels could beeasily lifted up with a set of customtools and were light enough to beeasily carried by a pair of workers,and could be repaired quickly andeciently.

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Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together. There it begins.-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Design Points (continued)

- Structural Stability - Considering thecantilever over the blu and possiblenumber of occupants involved, wedesigned the deck to be three to fourtimes stronger than was structurallynecessary.- The First Step - The Overlook Deckis only the rst step in a series of proj-ects at the KU Ecological Reserves.Future studios will design and buildinformation kiosks, signage and otheraspects, all intended to draw the

public to this beautiful site.

This project was an incredible learn-ing experience, teaching me to de-sign according to how things wouldinteract and join together, as well asconstruction and team experience.

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Arch 408 Junior Design Studio / Prof Peter Pran / Spring 2009Beacon Elementary School

Assignment - To design a K-6 elemen-

tary school in downtown Lawrence,KS, with a focus on steel constructionand an exceptional learning environ-ment. This project was entered into asteel design competition.

Site - Located at 9th and New Hamp-shire, the site actually is spans bothsides of the street, with the main por-tion of the school located next to theLawrence Art Center and the smallerportion next to the parkiong garage.

- The proximity of the site to bothpublic urban spaces and privatesuburban spaces created a need forvarious levels of privacy and controlof light pollution.

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Arch 408 Junior Design Studio / Prof Peter Pran / Spring 2009

Every time a student walks past a really urgent, expressive piece of architecture that belongs to

his college, it can help reassure him that he does have that mind, does have that soul.

-Louis Kahn

Site Plan

Precedents

-The Lighthouse - The main schoolbuilding was nicknamed the Light-house, which combines the physicalappearance of this building at nightand my ideals for what a schoolshould be. A school should be a guid-ing light to its students, somethingthat directs them to their future.

- The Orchard - The smaller buildingwas nicknamed the Orchard, due tothe combination of the structuralforms and the lighting system looking

very much like trees. The lightingsystem involved patterns of woodenslats, which would disperse the lightand create interesting patterns,making the students feel they werehaving class beneath the canopy ofa tree.

The entire complex

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Design Points

- Discovery - Most of the elementswithin the school have been designedwith the intention of making the chil-dren be surprised by how they work.This constant sense of discovery wasintended to inspire creativity andcuriosity in the children, which I feltwere the most important qualities oflearning.

- The Lanterns - The main surprise tobe had would be the Lanterns, the

four classrooms (art, music, media,science) that are actually suspendedfrom the ceiling. They each have aunique pattern on the outside thatmakes them appear less as class-rooms and more as large decorations,and they would become the lightsource of the atrium at night.

L

The four Lanterns : Science, Music, Media, Art

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All architecture is shelter, all great architecture is the design of space that contains, cuddles, exalts, or stimulates the persons in that space.

-Philip Johnson

The gymnasium

The interior of the Science Lantern The Orchards main corridor


- The Orchard - The smaller building,

nicknamed The Orchard, contains theadministration, cafeteria and kinder-garten classrooms. This building isconnected to the main building (TheLighthouse) by a bridge that spansthe street.

- The Bridge - The connectionbetween the two buildings wasdesigned as an opportunity to ndpeace, as the hope was that the viewand the distance would cool thenerves of both children and teachers.

- There are three kindergarten class-rooms, but if there happens to bea year where enrollment is low, thewalls of one of the classrooms can beremoved to make it a public readingspace.

The rooftop playground

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Future Use

- One of the guidelines of the com-petition was to design incredibleamounts of exibility into the schoolbuilding, so when a school is no lon-ger needed, the building can be easilyrecongured for a new purpose.

- This school was designed so that itcould easily be recongured into alarge apartment complex, one thatwas tailored towards young families.Lawrence is a college town, after all,so a large portion of the population

ts into that demographic.

The library, underneath the Lanterns

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Arch 408 Junior Design Studio / Prof Peter Pran / Spring 2009Future Use (continued)

- What would separate this complexfrom normal apartments is the focuson community. Each oor would haveone room removed so that an opengathering space is provided, allow-

ing for a place that would encouragefriendships between tenants andtheir children.

- The more public spaces would havetheir own changes, each becom-ing an amenity to the tenants andthe surrounding neighborhood. Forexample, the kindergarten spaceswould become a day-care facility forthe tenants use, providing them withconvenience and peace-of-mind.

This project was an incredible learn-ing experience, allowing me to divedeep into the details of how to im-prove the learning experience of stu-dents. I enjoyed this project so muchthat I have decided to have a focuson school design after I graduate.

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Arch 608 Senior Design Studio / Prof Marie-Alice LHeureux / Fall 2009Kansas City Convention Hotel

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[ This was a partner project with BenCross. ]

Assignment - To design a 1000 roomhotel/convention center for Down-town Kansas City, to supplementBartle Hall and provide a modern ho-tel for travelers. The hotel should bedesigned with a focus on sustainabil-ity and have the potential to becomean icon for the city.

Site - Located just to the south of I-670,the hotel is cut o from downtown,but part of the purpose of the hotelis to form a new connection betweenthe Power & Light District and theCrossroads District, which is acheivedby creating an urban plaza that spansthe highway.- The location of the hotel places itamongst very short buildings, oftenonly two- to three-stories tall, socreating a progression of scale on thesouth side was very important to us.

View from SE


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Arch 608 Senior Design Studio / Prof Marie-Alice LHeureux / Fall 2009 20

The KC Skyline

Lobby entrance/drive canopy

Precedents

-Shanghai Tower - Shanghais newesticonic building is an incredible design,integrating sustainability very well.What we gained from it was the ideaof public oors, which create a socialatmosphere within the hotel.

- Qbic Hotel - This smaller hotel inAmsterdam is on the leading edge ofthe idea of what a modern hotel is.They only allow reservations on theinternet, so there is never overbook-ing, and guests check themselves inwith a simple touchscreen terminal.

A great building must begin with the unmeasurable, must go through measurable means when it is being designed and in theend must be unmeasurable.

-Louis Kahn

I-670

BaltimoreAve

WyandotteSt

16th St

Truman Rd

N

Site Plan


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Arch 608 Senior Design Studio / Prof Marie-Alice LHeureux / Fall 2009

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Design Points

- The Leaf - A major motif that weused was that of a leaf, which gath-ers sunlight and transports waterthrough its veins. Borrowing thisidea, our vertical circulation andpublic oors are transparent, whichallows sunlight to penetrate into thebuilding, providing ample naturallight in the spaces. The public oorsproject out two feet from the rest ofthe building, which allows for watercollection from the vertical surfaces.- Water Collection - Along with the

previous system, there are other wa-ter collection systems. The roof hasbeen formed in the shape of a pitcherto gather as much water as possible,and the roof of the upper ballroomhas been sloped to allow runo to godown into the funnel-shaped canopyover the main drive.

Plaza/View from N


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Vertical Gardens

Wind Turbines

Green Space


Public Floor Interior Lobby/Meeting Core

Growth Detail Growth interior


- North/South - This design involves

two very dierent facades. The northside of the tower has thicker insula-tion and strip windows, protectingit from cold winter winds. The southside is much more transparent, withoor-to-ceiling glass and louversystems to protect from hot summersun. This gives two very dierentcharacteristics, allowing for somepreference amongst guests.- Structural Stability - Considering thecantilever over the blu and possiblenumber of occupants involved, we

designed the deck to be three to fourtimes stronger than was structurallynecessary.- Wind Tunnels - In the upper halfof the tower, two narrow slits havebeen cut to funnel wind through, al-lowing turbines to gather energy.

And just as we acquaint ourselves with materials, just as we must understand functions, so we must become familiar with the psycho-

logical and spiritual factors of our day. No cultural activity is possible otherwise; for we are dependent on the spirit of our time.-Ludwig Mies van der Rohe


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Arch 608 Senior Design Studio / Prof Marie-Alice LHeureux / Fall 2009

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- Public Floors - Every ten oors onthe tower, there is a public oor,which provides amenities, dining andmeeting spaces for the guests of thehotel. They are spaced so that guestsdo not have to go all the way downto the lobby, but instead go to amore social space.- The Growths - Connected to eachpublic oor on the west side is aswelling space that grows to threestories. This large open space is lledwith greenery and seating areas,providing a very peaceful space awayfrom the activity of the main spaces.- Terminals - Dispersed throughoutthe public spaces of the hotel aresmall touchscreen terminals. Afterrst using these to check-in, thesewould provide guests with the abilityto nd and make reservations toevents and dining throughout thecity, giving them a strong connectionto the surrounding area.

View from SW


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A modern, harmonic and lively architecture is the visible sign of anauthentic democracy.

-Walter Gropius


Section View


- Smart Elevators - The verticalcirculation of this large hotel canbe handled with only six elevators,which would be controlled throughthe touchscreen terminals describedearlier. Linked to a computer system,these elevators would run muchmore quickly and eciently than anormal elevator system.- The Plaza - Spanning I-670, this

provides the connection betweenthe two city districts. Connectingon the lower east side of the hotelsbase (which has a public retailstreetscape), it allows for a veryconvenient and attractive crossing tothe Downtown area.


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Berlin/Prague/Amsterdam / Prof Peter Pran / Summer 2009

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Architecture in Berlin - Study Abroad Program

I spent a month studying architecturein Europe, discovering the incrediblyrich and diverse design methodsscattered throughout multiple cities.

That time included a two-week de-sign project, working in conjunctionwith a local rm, Nalbach & Nalbach.The project was for a hotel design ina historic neighborhood that couldrespect the character of its surround-ings while acting as a vibrant newicon of Berlin culture.

It was fascinating to experience theway that European designers work,and it was a gratifying experience tobe immersed in a dierent culture.Its something I plan on repeating inthe future.

benjamin tillman - 2010 resume + portfolio

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