the 1st project in this portfolio was one ivolving my personal residence.

the remaining images are examples of some CDs and project photos developed through my own company, nvsn design.

Additional CD and project photos from nvsn design,

as well as some recent work done through Geoff Butler Architecture & Planning's office

CD work and construction photos, done through Geoff Butler Architecture and Planning's office.

The overarching theme of this semester revolves around the development of a large site which exists in the scottsdale waterfront district, and sits against the canal.  working with landscape architect charles anderson (who is working with the developer of this particular site and surrounding area), the studio is split into revolving teams, working to develop a large mixed use site, including a 57 story residential tower.

 semester project consisted of the design of a branch library, located within a diverse community of phoenix az., and on the site of a future major light rail station.  overarching challenge is to convince the community that a library is a necessity

my critical position:  "a lifelong reader is first created at an early age.  today's teens have the potential to be tomorrow's readers, and therefore the ultimate users of the library in the future.  THIS LIBRARY WILL BE THE POINT OF DESTINATION FOR TODAY'S TEENS, ENSURING ITS USAGE IN THE FUTURE, BY CREATING A PRESENT DESIRABILITY.  taking its cues from the lightrail's vibrancy and potenial for interaction, the library becomes an extension of our fast paced lives, and an essential connective center for today's teens."

project 1  bath-spaces

Focused on the fundamental QUALITIES OF LIVING, and placing an emphasis on relationships to light, site, materiality, scale and proportion, a BATH SPACE is shaped and created.  The goal was to convey the EMOTIONS that make up the soul of a good space, expressed largely from a VISUAL perspective

project 2  proto-typologies_prefab

A larger organization and more complete notion of 'house' is extrapolated to form a PROTOYPE.  Based on study of domestic spaces, systems of fabrication and assembly, and ARCHETYPAL responses to culture, climate and site, a series of aggregates are formed.

project 3  prototype design development (in via veritas)

Placed within the lower income Harmon neighborhood of south Phoenix, the flexibility of the phototype system is explored around the opportunities and challenges which come from various site dimensions, orientations, and aspects, as well as family sizes, lifestyles, culture and community. 

project 1  mediating wall

A study in the potential of architecture and landscape as mediators begins with a solid wall having dimensions of 8' deep x 8' high x 64' long - it has no immediate context, so the focus is on a more fundamental consideration of the way architecture and landscape can create relationships between people, places and things.  A subtractive process is used to define the wall itself - the thickness of the wall allows it to be habitable, unlike a typical wall, and therefore sets up the programmatic elements: SPACES FOR VIEWING, MOVEMENT AND REFLECTION.

project 2  places of memory

An existing site (an area of the pioneers and military cemetery park in downtown phoenix) is introduced and causes the wall to stretch in its east/west dimension.  The wall becomes a MAUSOLEUM as well as remains a THRESHOLD, or an entry, between the outside world and the cemetery.  This new site requires a BURIAL and a PARK, both to exist on the southern section of the wall.  Spaces that make use of light, vision, movement and reflection remain important factors of the entire site, as well as the (re)design of the wall.

project 3  places of memory: cemetery and park

The project is (re)reviewed and reconfigured with the addition of three new elements - a HISTORY CENTER, ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES and an EVENT SPACE.  Underlying characteristics remain, while the new demands result in major revisions and a full expansion of the cemetery and park project.

project 1  improvisation and composition

Exercises beginning with improvisation - INTUITIVE MOVEMENTS - an exploratory, fluid and dynamic approach to creating and gradually inserting structure and meaning by way of 'lines of connection' and 3-dimensional composition.

project 2  patchwork gardens

An existing site on the ASU campus is introduced, and the final composition from the previous exercise is transferred and manipulated, now taking the surrounding context into consideration.  Lines of connection are used as an ordering system, creating a relationship between site and context.  2-dimensional shapes are transformed into 3-dimensional 'walls', and a COMMUNITY GARDEN is created based on the reconfigured composition.

project 3  architecture, landscape, place and perception

This final phase creates new conditions and changes by introducing the issues of ARCHITECTURAL SPACE, USE, MATERIAL AND CONSTRUCTION.  The main focus remains on the fundamental relationship between buildings and landscape, while considering the opportunities a program of MULTI-USE ACADEMIC AND SOCIAL FACILITIES offers to the project on both a large and small scale.

project 1  form and composition

There are endless ways of viewing both the NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENTS.  When broken down, everything created by man is based on, or relates to, something found in nature - there are COMMON THREADS found in both, and this project gave us the opportunity to see these commonalities in existing objects, as well as create our own compositions.

project 2  space and experience

SPACE IS EXPLORED through observation, documentation, experience, hands-on creation and through the consideration of site requirements.

project 3  place: harmonizing form, material, space and experience

Starting with LeCorbusier's "Tapestry for Chandigarh" an ABSTRACT 'SCREEN' ASSEMBLAGE is formed, followed by an extruded interpretation molded into BUILT FORM (yoga space).