portfolio of selected work
DESCRIPTION
University of Cincinnati DAAP Undergraduate Architecture Portfolio | Ben FleschTRANSCRIPT
portfolio of selected work
Ben Flesch
contents
07 photography
06 personal work
05 hand skills
04 computer modeling
03 spatial construction
02 tectonic programing
01 building from without
Rooftop skate park
Building fromwithout
The integration of urban spaces is often overlooked as cities are constructed with speed and economy in mind. The combination of an existing parking structure with a built skate park brings two opposite extremities together in a way few would expect. Challenged to transform an existing parking structure by adding three programs to the top–performance, audience, and an interstitial space–I created a skate park as a way to bring together different functions of the downtown area to become a space where everything can be appropriated for skating.
Key plan of existing structure.
Aerial view of roof structure covering skate features.
THE ROOF
POOL
SKATE FEATURES
OBSERVATION DECK
bike shop in the park
tectonic mapping
Devou Park is home to multiple mountain bike trails—a little known fact among both locals and visitors of Cincinnati alike. Less known still is that the park is expanding the trail map adding new trails every year. Creating a bike shop accompanied by short-stay accommodations will make the trails more visible and usable to the public. Allowing the surrounding site to inform the building shape, the structure is lifted from the ground with glazing across the front to maximize the views from the lake with space to adapt to fluctuating demand as the park grows in size. The program offers a stripped down hotel-like experience that will help users focus on what’s really at hand—the trails outside the window. The rooms of the lodging can be used in either day-long or overnight applications depending on user need. Parking is located inside each room in order to keep supplies in vehicles close at hand. This presented a challenge when having to separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic all heading to the same place. Individual corridors for each function were established with common points for exchange between the two. Everything only steps away from a full service bike shop capable of repairing and supplying any sort of mountain bike need. The design brings new life to an otherwise unknown feature of the park.
VEHICULAR
PEDESTRIAN
The building was designed to be experienced by pedestrians and vehicle passengers alike. The separation of circulation allows for these two features to coexist. The rooms and shop provide the interstitial space where the two types of circulation meet.
public space construction
spatialsequence
A study of directing movement through space through connections and common language between multiple structures. This group-based project was designed with the intent that each group was broken up into teams that handled different parts of the design process, both with each individual structure and also with the relationships between all of the models to make the overall structure. I led the construction aspect of our individual space and was also a part of the small team that drew parallels between all seven structures that they might read as a whole; as if they were designed as one singular piece.
Materials: Masonite and Pine.Photography: Ben Flesch.
01 Cross section diagram of stairwell in campus building
with scale figures and materiality.
Tools: Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator.
02 Model of aggregate project. Tools: Rhino.
03 Model of an iteration of the Half House by John Hejduk
completed for class. Tools: Revit Architecture.
04 Section through building showing joist and beam construction completed
during co-op. Tools: AutoCAD Architecture.
05 Model of hotel completed during co-op. Tools: SketchUp.
Rendering: FRCH.
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3/16" = 1'-0"1
a1.01
04
computer modeling
02 03
05
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03
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04
01 Detailing of stair runners meeting wall. Charcoal on
bristol paper. 9 x 12”
02 Context model created during co-op for developer
approval.
03 Natalie Portman in Black Swan. Graphite on bristol
paper. 28 x 30”
04 Exhibition project featured in the National Academy
Museum in New York that I had the chance to help create and
construct both remotely and on site.
05 Context model created during co-op for client
meeting.
Model photography by: FXFOWLE
Hand skills
05
Left Summer camp exploration of human dimensions as
applied to a seat. Initial design was based directly on seated position measurements and
iterated from that point. Chair was to be completely cut
using the CNC router and held together on its own without the
use of an outside material.Material: cabinetry plywood.
Right Electrical and kitchen & bathroom casework
drawings created using field measurements for cabin renovation in Grayling MI.
Tools: AutoCAD Architecture.
personal projects
photography
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0102030405060708
New York. Mar 2015New York. Apr 2105New York. Mar 2015New York. Mar 2015Kentucky. Dec 2015New York. Mar 2015New York. Mar 2015Cincinnati. Oct 2015
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-anonymous
no detail is small