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Marco Polo describes a bridge, stone by stone.

“But which is the stone that supports the bridge?” Kublai Kahn asks.

“The bridge is not supported by one or another,” Marco answers, “but by the line of the arch that they form.”

Kublai Kahn remains silent, refl ecti ng. Then he adds: “Why do you speak to me of the stones? It is only the arch that matt ers to me.”

Polo answers: “Without stones there is no arch.”

-From Invisible Citi es by Italo Calvino

yler jordan blazertty ler.b lazer@gmai l . com

865.776. 8666

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sixth and peabody

Center for Sustainable Education

Nashvi l le, TNted shelton, fourth year | fa l l

The Avenue of Sciences is a redevelopment of the 6th Avenue corridor in Nashville, Tennessee. One of the strongholds of the corridor is the plan for the Center for Sustainability Educa-tion. This multi-functional facility is located on a triangular plot between Lafayette Avenue, Peabody, and 6th Avenue. A few blocks to the north is where the new Music City Center anchors one end of the Avenue of Sciences while the Adventure Science Center terminates the opposing end of the axis just beyond the interstate fl y over.

The multifunctional programmatic needs provided for a chal-lenging design proposition. The predominate request was to maintain most of the square footage as for public usage with minimal obstructions due to the demands of the private or semi-private spaces. Most of the public spaces are located on the fi rst and second fl oors with access to the more private and semi-pri-vate spaces limited to the third fl oor. Multi-public access points address the various programmatic needs where some parts of the facility are able to be sectioned off from the public.

On top of the dynamic programmatic needs, the design needs to be conscientiously sustainable in order to self-promote the uses of the building. As an educational facility the building needs to act as a teaching tool to demonstrate some of the leading building practices and designs that promote sustainability, whether active or passive.

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energy production

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As a means of promoting alternative modes of transportation, minimal parking is provided. To off set the parking needs bike racks along with changing and showering facilities accessible by the public were integrated for bike commuters not only of the facility but for employees of the downtown area. A transit bus stop is also promoted within the design. These options seek to not only provide for the facility but also encourage interaction with the urban lifestyle of downtown Nashville.

The Center for Sustainable Education provides for a sustainable lifestyle that connects with the urban fabric of the denser urban areas to the north. To address the urban aesthetics a variation of façade treatments were utilized along the 6th Avenue as well as Peabody boundaries. Multiple setbacks as well as construction techniques not only provide for visual interest in the façade but also indicate programmatic changes. Extensive solar shades line the façade on the south and west facades in order to mitigate solar heat gain during the warmer months while trombe walls take advantage of the lower sun angles during the cooler months to off set heating needs.

An intensive array of photovoltaic panels, wind turbines engi-neered for more silent operation, and a ground-coupled geo-thermal heat pump system provide renewable energy not only for the new facility but also address much of the district energy needs for the surrounding blocks. This approach is practical for addressing the future needs of the area. Sustainable commu-nities fi nd the most success in providing for renewable district energy sources.

As an overall design stance, Nashville’s Center for Sustainability Education is a teaching tool for the community. By providing a point of interaction with the community and not acting as a stand-alone building the idea of promoting more sustainable practices is the greatest success of this facility. By promoting a sustainable lifestyle this facility encroaches on spurring future developments not only along the Avenue of Sciences Corridor but also establishes a precedent for future developments in the Nashville area.

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In an eff ort to broaden the image of Maryland Institute College of Art’s presence in Baltimore, MICA has recently completed two grand projects that not only demand attention in form but also strategically become beacons for this area of the city.

In addition to these projects, there is a need to connect between these points. The Decker Library is heavily burdened with the art and architectural collections and is in desperate need of expanding. Some of the key points of need are a central point of campus, increased security, and a connection between the new student dormitory as well as the student center.

Set in a cross-path between the new dormitory and student center, the library addition is an essential gathering spot for students.

The program is lifted to maximize outdoor spaces and takes advantage of the sloping site. Pushes and pulls within the building allocate public and private spaces. The give and take of form maximizes the area of the envelope in order to provide for natural daylight as well as enable passive solar shading. A cen-tralized light well provides for natural ventilation that crosses between fl oors and provides adequate light for reading deep within the program.

The courtyard spaces on the exterior refl ect give and takes not only in the x-plane and y-plane but also indicates this transfor-mation within the z plane. These activate the landscape by pro-viding planting beds as well as benched seating to facilitate stu-dent leisure.

maryland inst itute col lege of art

decker l ibrary addit ionmatt hal l , second year | spr ing

2

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medical off ice and lease space

scott k inzy, th i rd year | fa l l

Addressing the needs to expand a doctor’s practice as well as provide a source of income, the hall’s medical center is a brief introduction into the economics along with design. Feasibility studies with an intermediary economics class demonstrated how design choices such as materials, square footage, and even site work all eff ect the overall cost per square foot of a design. Important to note is that the cost was not indicated as a design hindrance but rather a more practical approach to remind the designer that a design solution is more complex than just the aesthetics of the space. Even product choices are critical in knowing how they can eff ect the health, safety, and welfare of the occupants.

Noting the current site conditions as backing into a sharply rising hill, my intent is to capture the landscape as an important focal point of the patient’s experience. The overall design favors a grouping of exam rooms as well as support spaces that refl ect a patient-centered environment where the healing process begins not only by today’s current resources in medicine, but an overall support group of family, friends, and loved ones.

DoctorOffice

DoctorOffice

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ExamRoom

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BreakRoom

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BusinessOffice

ExamRoom

ExamRoom

ExamRoom

ExamRoom

ExamRoom

DoctorOffice

DoctorOffice

DoctorOffice

Lab

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Men'sPatient

Restroom

StaffRestroom

Nurse'sOffice

Nurse/DoctorNotes Station

MechanicalRoom &Storage

ProcedureRoom

PharmacySample &Storage

Women'sPatient

Restroom

ExamRoom

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The healing process is not a mere solitude process, but rather an intertwined network of a support system. Ideally, this support system has always been in practice within the medical fi eld; per-haps with more of an emphasis on the patient’s experience during a doctor’ appointment, one can experience a safer environment where he can trust his doctor’s knowledge and accountability.

By removing the double-loaded corridor as a basic plan it allows for a more concentrated approach of having pod-like quarters for the patients rooms where the doctor is capable of monitoring his patients in a more effi cient manner. A centralized nurses station also utilizes viewpoints to all the exam rooms in order to facilitate appointments in a timely manner. The exam rooms all have views to some aspect of nature: whether via ample clerestory windows or a bank of windows that frame the undeveloped hillside behind the site. By providing this patient-centered medical clinic while still providing adequately private spaces for the doctors as well, one can escape from the ordinary and connect with nature.

25

brick piers anchor the northern facade

standing seam metal roof caps shed roof that provides adequate daylight

a counterimposed standing seam metal roof welcomes patients with a covered drop-off

a 4” hollow core bearing wall conceals structural metal while providing the look of a brick parti wall

a change of materials from brick to metal diff erentiates the entry portal

alterations of the facade placement reveals changes within the program beyond

wis ła bulwary

44

wis ła r iver bulwary

krakow, poland

bartek hominsk i , fourth year | spr ing

A vital part of my education was the experience to study abroad in Kraków, Poland in the Spring of 2010. The opportunities to travel as well as other organized trips was a life-changing part of my understanding of architecture as a more complete picture. Architecture is beyond the built environment but also refl ects history and culture of an area. This understanding places value on how my projects should provide for a lasting impact on society.

The site of concern is a swath of land across the Wisła River from the historic counterparts of Krakow: including Wawel Castle, Kazimierz, and the decadent Old Town of Kraków. Currently on the land is a New Brutalism structure once hosting the Four Star Hotel Forum. The structure now sits predominantly vacant since 2002 after the hotel was stripped of its rank due to struc-tural limitations among other complications after being sold to another hotel chain.

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13 th C. | CITY CENTER

10 th C | OKUL SETTLEMENT

WAWEL CASTLE HILL

14th C. | KAZIMIERZ

19th C. | CITY GROWTH

20th C. | SOCIAL HOUSING

SITE LOCATION AND HISTORY

Observations of the shifts in the urban grid of Kraków lend a distinct look at how Kraków has changed as an urban center in Poland throughout the past millennia. The original 10th Century Okul settlement served as the central point of settlement with the construction of Wawel Castle shortly following. Okul served as a place of residency for the servants to the King and his Court of Poland. The linkage between the 13th Century Old Town and Wawel Castle followed along prominent trade routes. The development of the town of Kazimierz in the 14th Century and the expansion of the city in the 19th Century became vital districts to Krakow’s urban fabric before the rise of a Social government in the 20th century, which quickly marred historical growth patterns. Mundane linear alignments of housing and medium-sized high-rise social blocks began to dominate the outskirts of Krakow before the fall of Communism in the early 1990s.

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KEY VIEWPOINTS MAJOR ARTERIES

GREEN SPACE CHANGING URBAN FABRIC

Major arterial routes as well as key view-points of Wawel Castle and of the views down the Wisła River provided for vital infl uences within the design approach. The requirements were to address the need for residential as well as commercial space along the Bulwary, or boulevard. Taking note of the major grid orientations and viewpoints, the design notes the major shift of the urban fabric and captures a sense of creating a secondary place for the public to collect and gather after the Old Town of Kraków.

30

Shifts within not only the plaza but also within the structure of the buildings along the plaza spaces articulate the focal points of Wawel Castle as well as the series of bridges down the Wisła River. Adequate space for sidewalk cafes as well as street vendors provide for more life within the plaza. Ground-fl oor retail as well as upper fl oor residential and offi ce units create life within this once seemingly desolate area of Kraków while maintaining a large proportion of open space for recre-ation along the Wisła River.

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SITE PLAN AT 1 : 2000

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raphic design

f ie ld in mot ion p .34

two-page double spread p .36

stat ionery system p .38

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5

f ie ld in motiondiane fox, fourth year | fa l l

This project involves multiple design constraints and challenges in order to cohesively tie between a prescribed use of rectangles and fonts. The fi rst part of the project includes iterations of designing movement through the arrangement of a minimum of twenty rectangles where one must be of a gray tone. Critical in the process of design is showing motion, balance, tension, or other prescribed adjectives that enlighten the observer. The secondary part is a response that shows a translation or reproduction of the fi rst com-position through a process of research and experimentation with fonts that best captures the fi rst part of the project. The fi nal result is a graphic representation of both steps that demonstrates the challenges and discoveries of a composition of shapes and text. The outcome of the project demonstrates that the composition and stroke of text is just as crucial within the design process where one must be critical in observation.

36

links the museum to downtown Mil-waukee; and the brise-soliel, which sits atop a steel-framed reception hall and consists of 72 paired steel fins. Driven by hydraulic motors, the fins ostensibly are there to control the temperature and light in the reception hall, but they also give the museum a landmark pres-ence it never had underneath the war memorial.

While reaction has been favor-able, some critics have observed that, by separating the grand reception hall from the more modest gallery building, Calatrava has dodged the conflict be-tween the container and the contained that must be resolved if a building is to rank as a great art museum. Indeed, Calatrava’s addition has very little art in it. Just 12,000 of it’s 142,000 square feet are devoted to gallery space, with the rest going to public spaces like the reception hall. But Calatrava’s task was less to resolve the ongoing battle between art and architecture than to

recast the entire museum’s inner work-ings and identity. He did the former by shifting the public spaces out of the original Kahler’s wing and allowing the space they occupied to become gal-leries, thus giving the museum 30 per-cent more art-display space. He did the latter by creating a grand civic space and a new image for both the museum and its city.

Take, for example, his deft handling of the spectacular shoreline site. He keeps the gallery building low to pre-serve views of Lake Michigan from the city. Throughout, he abstracts nautical imagery (sails, planks, prows, masts, soaring birds) to link the museum to the lake. While the blazing whiteness of the building appears to set it apart from Milwaukee’s somber vernacular, the color actually makes the block-long structure seem smaller than it would have otherwise and further links the building to its lakefront site by echoing the color sails.

Calatrava is equally good at relat-ing his addition to both the city and to Saarinen’s war memorial. The sculptural presence of the brise-soleil culminates the axis of Wisconsin Avenue. Mean-while, the addition echoes Saarinen’s cross-shaped plan, while Calatrava’s building opens up a genuine dialogue with Saarinen’se; the earlier structure, heavy and gray; the newer one, light and white – one trying to float but still earthbound; the other truly soaring one static, the other dynamic.

When the brise-soliel unfolds, it is an event, one that beckons museum-goers outside with their video cameras. As the fins move upward, the sunshade resembles the bottom of an hourglass. This is not spectacle, but art, a stunning and skillful transformation of heavy-wheight steel into a kinetic sculpture that seems as light as a bird’s wings.

Calatrava has designed moving buildings before, like his sphere-shaped City of Science in Valencia, Spain,

“This is not spectacle, but art, a stunning and skillful transformation of heavyweight steel into a kinetic sculpture that seems as

light as a bird’s wings.”

32

enormously successful American debut – a powerful hint of what he may still accomplish by embedding structure into sculpture. - Blair Kamin

which has a cantilevered glass and concrete canopy that drops down over the façade like an eyelid over an eye. Yet the Milwaukee addition represents his most extensive effort in an aes-thetic where buildings move or seem to move. The Milwaukee museum des-perately needed to make a powerful visual statement, and Calatrava gave it to one with modern machinery that can instantly transform the building’s appearance.

As the rest of the exterior demon-strates, Calatraca is a master of this kinetic genre. His cable-stayed bridge in Milwaukee is a structural tour de force; it’s wafer-thin steel deck makes it seem to float. There are other memo-rable flourishes, like the gallery build-ing, which culminates, on the addition’s south side, in a beautifully sculpted prow that recalls the extended fingers of a human.

Calatrava speaks of his designs as a series of gestures, which seems

appropriate because the building, like a sculpture, resembles a body moving through space. Yet befitting its role as architecture, the addition shapes space, as when the gallery building frames the stone forecourt to the west of the addi-tion and, to it’s west, Kiley’s gardens. Their low-slung hedges aptly echo the horizontality of Calatrava’s building and the lakefront, but they have a presence of their own, with the hedges forming roomlike lawns.

The final design strokes in the ad-dition are the twin gallerias that flank the gallery and lead to the original buildings. Far from being mere pas-sageways, the gallerias, which house changing displays of contemporary art, are destinations that are distinguished by the rhythmic, lyrical expression of their arching concrete ribs.

The Milwaukee Art Museum addi-tion superbly serves its complex pro-gram while creating an instant land-mark. For Calatrava, it represents an

5

6 7 8

2-The Schroeder Galleria runs the length of the Milwaukee Art Museum addition along the west side. 3-The glass ans steel skylight under the brise-soleil unveals a strikingly grand,sunlit reception hall. 4- One of the preliminary watercolor sketches in Calatrava’s design of the museum addition.5-The museum’s brise-soleil appears like a nautical sculpture at the termination of Wisconsin Avenue. 6, 7, 8- The brise-soleil takes nearly four minutes to completely open.

4

oday it is clear that Mil-waukee’s gamble has paid off in the form of a striking monument that

is at once a strong personal state-ment and a sensitive essay in the making of place. While visitors may flock to the Milwaukee Art Museum addition to glimpse the bird-like brise-soleil, they are likely to come away realizing that the device is not an isolated gimmick, but simply the most visible part of an inspired, carefully conceived whole. What makes the building fly is Calatrava’s singular fusion of sculpture and structure.

In its finished state, the addi-tion conveys the impression of a powerful whole even though it is made up of three distinct elements: a low-slung gallery building that extends southward from Saarinen and Kahler wings; a 250-foot-long, cable-stayed pedestrian bridge that

San t i ago Calatrava

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1-Time-lapse view of brise-soleil from Kiley’s gardens.

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two-page double spreads

diane fox, fourth year | fa l l

The challenge of the double page spread is to take an existing magazine article or journal entry of a building and to provide bal-ance and composition of text and image that best refl ects the architecture of the subject. The choice of font, colors, and images are critical in conveying an overall graphic presentation that refl ects cohesiveness between both spreads. Important to note is the requirement to provide a minimum of one pull-out quotation as well as captions for a minimum of 5 images of the project.

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Chris GiattinaGiattina Aycock Architecture Group1827 First Avenue North, Suit 100Birmingham, Alabama 35203

My name is Tyler Blazer and I am a rising fifth year student at The University of Tennessee. I am interested in learning more about what your firm has to offer in the coming months concerning any internship opportunities for the summer of 2010. Your correspondence with my uncle Jon Shull is what fueled more interest in researching your firm. I am looking to work full time after my semester studying abroad at the Cracow University of Technology until mid August.

I find it interesting to see that your firm is highly involved within the administration of a building well beyond the construction phase. I admire the approach that your firm takes to ensure not only a successful commissioning of a building but also ensure that the owner is happy beyond the initial stage of occupying the space. I also admire your firm’s involvement in becoming more sustainable-oriented. I see that many new associates of yours are becoming LEED accredited. I am hoping to pursue LEED accreditation within the next year or so, and I see your firm as a valuable asset to my education within LEED.

On a recent research on precedents I encountered your unique approach for the parking deck and data center for the Children’s Health System of Birmingham. My current studio projects reflect the urban design approach of respecting visual connections as well as tying in visual cues of scale and proportion within an urban context. I would like to also be able to work for a firm that is successful at a residential scale such as the Golden Residence. Your award-winning designs are compelling: how the modern use of wood can still blend in well within a rural setting and still hold true to modern design principles of an open plan. I hope to contribute to these design philosophies and approaches as well as learn more about the architecture firm as a business aspect.

Thank you for taking the time to look over my résumé, and I hope you have an interest in hiring me as an intern next summer. If you could call me within the next few weeks I would greatly appreciate setting up an interview via phone or person. I plan on traveling to Birmingham during Christmas break from December 12th through the 17th and would be more than happy to visit your firm for an interview. If I do not hear from you within the next week I will call you on December 6th to confirm my visit and to set up an interview.

Many thanks,

Tyler Blazer

University of Tennessee

Pursuing a Bachelor of Architecture - 2006-2011

Oak Ridge National Lab Buildings Technology Center Guest Researcher, Intern

Summer 2009 Hutchins Associate, P.C.

Intern, Project Assistant Knoxville, TN

Summer 2008 Studio 7 Architects

Intern, Project Assistant Knoxville, TN

Summer 2007

AIAS National AIAS Membership Committee Delegate

Local Chapter Press Secretary, 2009 Grassroots Council of Presidents Delegate, 2009 Fall 2010 AIAS South Quad Planning Committee Tau Sigma Delta Architecture Honors Society Dean’s List 2006-2009 Cum Laude 2006-2009 Spring 2010 UT Center for International Education Study Abroad Scholarship

2010 Scripps Networks Global Scholarship

Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign

AutoDesk Revit AutoCAD Energy Gauge Microsoft Office

Proficiency in Mac and PC

UTZero Construction Studio Presentation Design 1

education

experience

honors and awards

skills

relevant coursework

résumé

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stationery systemdiane fox, fourth year | fa l l

12351 daisywood dr knoxville, tn 37932

yler jordan blazert

Chris GiattinaGiattina Aycock Architecture Group1827 First Avenue North, Suite 100Birmingham, Alabama 35203

The stationery system provides for an expression of personality as well as objectives as an entrant into the professional world. Critical in the design were the careful choice and balance of color, font, and scale of the logo in coordination with providing a letterhead, business card, resumé as well as an envelope. The overall color choice as well as logo design refl ects my interests within my initials. Upon closer observation one can see three ini-tials within the logo along with a leaf motif to refl ect the current accomplishments and achievements within my education.

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Duomo \ Milan Sforza Castle | Milan

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Top of Duomo | Milan

44

Swiss Re Tower | London

45

Millennium Bridge | LondonLondon, Chatham,and Dover Railway

46

Krzyztopor Castle Ujazd, Poland

47

Malbork Castle | Poland

48

Winner of UT Study Abroad Photography ContestGdánsk, Poland

49

Gniew CastleGniew, Poland

50

Nazi Occupation of Kraków ExhibitSchindler’s Factory, KrakówAuschwitz, Poland

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Auschwitz-Birkenua Concentration CampsPoland