Jonathan's Blog

Project #1

For our first project, we were challenged to create a home with an incorporated urban farm made from shipping containers.
We were given two 40' containers and one 20' container with a site in Detroit targeting to rebuild the economically devastated 
neighborhood areas. First we did research on the Detroit area, including writing the blog post above on what we saw and creating 
the Wordle depicting the circumstances in the Detroit metropolis. 

Design Stage

Designing a container home is a mix of 
innovation and playing to the strength of
cost effectiveness. The most apparent 
problem is lack of space and room for 
circulation so I spanned the two 40' 
containers apart to create an artificial hallway.

Final Model and Drawings

For my final design, I utilized the artificial
hallway as an internal cooling system by putting
sliding glass doors in the front and a garage door
in the back. I decided to extend this and use the west
side of the house for service and daytime usage 
areas to heat them naturally and emphasize the 
cost effectiveness of designing with containers.
I also drew attention to the solid/void spaces in the
house by making the upper 20' container a large loft
and cutting out large portions of walls in the lower
containers.

Project #2

The second project we were given stems from Stephen Holl's bridge of houses concept where apartments are built on an unused bridge and public space is preserved. The next aspect to our project was to devise a client for which we would design this apartment for. To preserve the public space which we had created above the site, we had to put a park pavilion to reflect our client. Below is a haiku deck presenting my client in a narrative manner. 

Dreamer - Created with Haiku Deck, presentation software that inspires

Design Stage

To fit with my client, I designed the first floor as 
public for him and his friends, but the second 
floor completely private as his dream space.
Then I started playing with the second floor,
attempting to create a noticeable rift between
the public and private areas. 

Final Product

I finished with a second floor that features an
ellipse shape in contrast to the typical 
rectangular ground floor. The second floor also
features Pilkington glass and a custom
Memphis Bookcase for the writing ambitions.