BEN WALDO

University of Minnesota 2012BDA ArchitectureBA Urban Studies

Danish Institute for Study AbroadUrban Design

PORTFOLIO OF WORKS

Table of Contents

[re]stitch Tampa International Ideas Competition: 3 - 15

Driftwood Fence:16 - 20

Engaging Outer Nørrebro: 21 - 29

Making a Splash on the Mental Map - Israels Plads Redesign: 30 - 35

The Pop-Up:Get Out Map: 36 - 41

The Gungslinger Come to Life: 42 - 45

Applicable Skills: 46 - 51

Relevant Coursework, Experience and other Activities: 52 - 53

[re]stitch Tampainternational ideas competition 2011 - 2012

Perspective redering of Canal District, made in SketchUp and Photoshop

Hydro[logic]This was a collaborative project done with friend and architecture student Veronica Keefer. The competition objective was to reintegrate the Hillsborough River in Tampa, FL with the city and to make a cohesive riverwalk that would link the disjunct urban fabric.

Our design sollution involved a heavy focus on hydrology and ecology as both a means to create a cohesive and succesful urban fabric and as a sustainable direction and proposed paradigm shift for the automobile favoring city. A new super-district was created which overlapped numerous existing neighborhoods called the Canal District. This new district was defi ned by a series of canals fl anked by pedestrian streets which also hosted a new boat based rapid transit system (BoRT). The canals linked up with the riverwalk in order to create a comprehensive citywide plan.

PHASES 2-42. Riverwalk

3. Canal District

4. Future develop-ment

PHASE 1Neighborhood involvement, charetting, temporary space and city connectivity through idea sharing.

1. Pervious paving, strategic massing, and ecological rehabilitation form the core of new programming within the master plan. No existing structures are to be demolished. Surface parking will be removed, converted to parking garages or mixed use/density structures, or replaced with pervious paved lots.

2. Connectivity both within the city and within the greater region was a major focus of the project. The idea here was that a stronger, better connected network of neighborhoods and districts within the city would lead to a healthier, more sustainable Tampa which would then infl uence the greater region through positive externalities. Tampa holds a keystone location withing the region socially, economically, and ecologically. As shown by the diagram, infrastructural elements such as freeways create borders and border vacuums around them such as impoverished areas and vast tracts of surface parking. The ‘Canal District’ and Riverwalk transcend borders and act as a seam rather than a barrier, tying together the greater urban fabric.

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A variety of canal types will be employed throughout the city, ranging from wider semi-deep canals capable of support the boat rapid transit system, to street streams and bioswales which do not perform the infrastructural functions of larger canals but still provide services in the form of runoff mitigation, city cooling, and human fascination/enjoyment. Larger canals are fl anked by pervious pedestrian streets, sometimes with a second, public, open air balcony system. Native plantings are to be used in and around canals/bioswales to create a vibrant urban ecosystem.

The following diagrmas demonstrate the profound infl uence of the canal system on runoff mitigation and pollution control. Currently Tampa experiences issues with fl ooding and inundated storm drains during storms and hurricanes; our plan would alleviate this by moving water out of the city effi ciently, fi ltering runoff through pervious paving nad bioswales which incorporate native plant species. Plants and soil are crucial in fi ltering out pollutants and effl uents from cars and other sources. This scheme will benefi t local and regional ecosystems.

* Section diagram by Veronica Keefer

Pre modifi cation runoff scheme Post modifi cation runoff scheme

Rendering of a ‘living street,’ based on Dutch city planning, made with SketchUp and Photoshop. New residential developments will follow this model.

Full city rendering made with SketchUp, Kerkythea, and Photoshop

Driftwood FenceRestorative Sculptural Landscape PieceLoon Lake, MN, Summer 2011

The Spirit of the PlaceThe shoreline of this cabin property on Loon Lake has been ravaged by an invasive species called the pine borer. This has caused the cedars and balsams which once graced this stretch of the lake to die off causing further problems, including an eroding shoreline.

The design solution began by rebuilding the shoreline with rocks imported from other areas of the lake where there was a surplus. Ugly remains of trees were tactfully integrated into a fence of driftwood, also collected from around the lake. The driftwood was used for both posts and horizontal ‘boards’ and was bound with birch bark in some places as well. An opening was sculpted to allow people and animals to enter into or onto the lake depending on the season. Ultralocal materials and formal qualities make the fence a seemless feature of the landscape.

The fence creates a domain along the shoreline that used to exist before the trees that grew there succumbed to the pine borer beetles. The low fence defi nes the shoreline in a subtle and natural way. The form of the fence is intuitive and entirely informed by the material.

In the winter, the fence opening becomes the natural point of entry from the lake, the only way to access the property due to snow. The path from the cabin on the hill to the ice hole below where fresh water is taken from becomes a routine axis of vitality.

Engaging Outer Nørrebro Design of Nørrebro Plads, Urban Design StudioCopenhagen, DK, Spring 2011

Outer NørrebroThe site is located in a highly diverse and colorful neighborhood called Nørrebro. A high percentage of the population are immigrants from Turkey and North Africa, and there are also many students and young adults. The Regional Train (S Tog) station for the neighborhood is kitty corner, and one of the busiest streets in Copenhagen is adjacent. This street experiences heavy automobile traffi c and over 10,000 bicycles a day. The new metro train will also have a stop right next to the regional train station within the next few years, making this site a veritable hub of infrastructure. The goal of the project was to activate this currently unused lot which is surrounded by traffi c in order to give the space a greater sense of locality and pedestrian accessibility. My general strategy to achieve this was to use a form which would recieve the surrounding site and allow for a variety of basic uses. The square would act as a gateway into the neighborhood.

Site plan, constructed in AutoCAD and Photoshop

The Hill and the ValleyExtensive analysis was the basis for several modifi cations of street program to reduce autombile traffi c on side streets. Minimal programming makes for a small multi-functional, square. This small square was in conversation with an adjacent courtyard which was opened to the street in the design and slightly modifi ed, creating dichotomy of public and semi-private space. Using materiality and elevation, a skatable hardscape hill and softscape valley become the defi ning features of the site creating a sense of lift and pressure. The hill and valley create a formal gravity towards the site, acting as a centering element for the surrounding neighborhood. Dramatic lighting makes the site safer at night and prolongs hours of usage.

Model view with some Photoshop editing

1. Dramatic nightlighting makes for a both safe and vibrant space. The colorful under-bench lighting on the hardscape hill form projects outwards into the surrounding site, while the lighting of the valley form is projected inward. This creates further depth to the dialogue between the two forms as the day passes.

2. This study model demonstrates some of the process work that was involved in the project. Specifi cally this illustrates the relationship of the convex hill form to the surounding context and the concept of formal draw on the site.

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Section cut 1/Program map

Section cut 2

Making a Splash on the Mental MapRedesign of Israels Plads, Urban Design StudioCopenhagen, DK, Spring 2011

Creating SightlinesIsraels Plads is an expansive but barren and unassuming urban square in central Copenhagen. The square, despite its size and immediate proximity to the country’s busiest train terminal, is practically hidden from view. It also lacks any programming, and is too large and not attractive enough to be a space where people come to just sit. This combination of factors makes for a mostly unused space. The objective of the project was to create a design which solves the anonymity of the space, and activates the space by engaging its surroundings.

1. View of media tower, central water feature. The media tower is an interactive feature that broadcasts views of the park and creates a siteline, making the currently underused and somewhat hidden park visible from Nørreport, the busiest train station in Denmark which is just a block away. The water feature allows for people to wade and play. The strong formal language of the feature creates tension and vitality in the space.

2. The ampitheater at the end of the park also serves as a grand entryway into the large Ørestedsparken, a picturescue landscaped park adjacent to Israels Plads. Again, a strong formal language is present in the ampitheater. Two large masses with a ramp ascending from Ørestedsparken into Isreals Plads create a funnel which draws park goers into the plaza. Angular planes form the sides and roof of the ampitheater, mirroring the tension of the water feature.

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Formal concept process

Site Plan created with AutoCAD and Photoshop

The Pop-Up: Get Out MapAn Explorer’s Guide to Minneapolis, MinnesotaRe-Mapping the City Design Workshop, Fall 2010

Oragami/Way-FindingThis project was done for an architecture workshop called “Re-Mapping the City for Students of Architecture.” The goal was to create a map which generates interest in the city but allows the user to do much of the exploring on their own. I created a map that is both interactive and illustrative, with less words and more images. The quadrants of the map fold out to zoom in on four of my favorite places in the city in the form of “bird’s eye” perspective drawings, which correlate to the quadrants themselves. Bubbles with snapshots of highlights not far outside the perspectives encourage further exploration. To construct the drawings, I used a trial and error process of selecting perspective points in order to create a false sense of curviture and distance in the drawings. The medium used was calligraphy pens and ink.

Map, folded up entirely, showing public transportation and bike routes to and from featured locations.

...Step 1

...Step 3

...Step 2

Mill District, Downtown

Cedar-Riverside, West Bank

24th and Lyndale, Uptown

4th St and 15th Ave, Dinkytown

‘The Gunslinger’ Come to LifeA Stage Set for Virtual Reality, Based on Stephen King’s Novel: ‘The Gungslinger’Designing for Virtual Reality Workshop, Fall 2010

Walking the Streets of FictionThis project was for a virtual reality workshop which employed the University of Minnesota’s Google Sketchup compatible VR system. The goal of the fi nal project was to create an extensive and detailed environment based on somewhere either from reality or from a story. The obvious limitation of the system is that it is only compatible with Google SketchUp. However, it does open up many new doors for spatial experience. My environment was based off of the city of Gilead in Stephen King’s fi ctional Dark Tower novel series. Based on descriptions of the city and the general descriptive aesthetic of the novels, I brought to life this mysterious city which in the novels comes across as a wild west town built around the gothic ruins of an ancient civilization. I played with atmospherics in order to capture the dusty and dark essence of the environment, while ruined forms mingle with haphazard wooden constructions. Constructs in the distance add to the overall experience by giving a spatial context within a larger setting.What this amounts to is essentially a theatrical set to be witnessed in the context of virtual reality.

These images are taken from the graphic novel which I based my virtual world on.

Images created by Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee, and Richard Isanove

Views

3dsMax

Renderings of the Streeter House,designed by David Salmela

AutoCAD

Section cut of Villa Carre, designed by Alvar Aalto

Photography

Hand Drafting

Axon of central stair in Steven Holl’s Rapson Hall

Sketchbook Samples

University of Minnesota, Twin Cities • Constructing Ideas• Introduction to Urban Studies• Design Fundamentals I (Studio)• Design Fundamentals II (Studio)• Architectural Drawing• Physics 1101• Short Calculus• AutoCAD• Design in the Digital Age• 3D Architectural Modeling and Design• Design in Virtual Reality (Studio)• Re-Mapping the City for Students of Architecture(Studio)• Architecture and Ecology• Environmental Design – Social/Cultural Context• Environmental Architecture – Bio/Physical Context• Intro to Urban Form and Theory• Modern Architecture• Renaissance Architecture• Architectural History Before 1750• Architectural History After 1750• Topics in Architecture – Aesthetics in an Anti-Aesthetic Culture• Geographical Perspectives on Planning• Spatial Analysis (Statistics in Geography)• Resilient Cities and Landscapes Graduate Seminar• The Urban Environment• Growing New Neighborhoods Workshop

Relevant Courses

Danish Institute for Study Abroad• Urban Design Journal• European Urban Design Theory• Urban Design Studio

Other Experience and Activites• Teaching Assistant for Juxtaposition Arts S.T.E.M. Camp, a summer camp for inner city teens from Minneapolis which taught design basics• Search for Shelter Charette 2012• Project for Pride and Living Community Service Learning Internship and other volunteer activity• American Institute of Architecture Students: 2009 - Present• Fluent in AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop and Indesign, Google SketchUp, and Microsoft Offi ce Suite; Profi cient in 3dsMax, Adobe Dreamweaver, Autodesk Revit, SPSS, Kerkythea, and Spanish