ken tracy worksample and cv

KEN TRACY [email protected] 917.370.7780 6216 Northwood Ave. #3 St. Louis MO 63105

Education Masters in Architecture, Columbia University, GSAPP, 2002-2005

Bachelor of Design, University of Florida, School of Architecture, 1996-2000 Graduated Magna Cum Laude

Academic Visiting Assistant Professor, Washington University in St. Louis, Graduate School of Architecture

Fabrication Lab:

Faculty Workshop

Material Resonance Workshop

Workshop and Lecture, University of Minnesota, School of Architecture

Lecture, Columbia University, GSAPP

Adjunct Assistant Professor, The Pratt Institute, GAUD

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Columbia University, GSAPP

Lecture, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design

Workshop Instructor, University of Pennsylvania, School of Design

Coordinator, Design Studio II, Introducing new Digital Curriculum, Spring 2012Coordinator, Design Sudio IV, Introducing new Digital Curriculum

Architectural Design, Graduate Fabrication+Design/Build Studio, Pavilion St. Louis, Spring 2011Digital Fabrications, 3D Design, Representation

Coordinator, Graduate Core 1 Studio, Fall 2011Design Thinking, Thesis Prep.

Design Thinking, Thesis Prep., Fall 2010Architectural Design, Options Studio, Jakarta Offi ce Building

Independent Study, 2 student projects

Architectural Design, Options Studio, Summer 2010Camera Obscura: Digital Fabrication, Spring 2010Architectural Design, Fabrication Studio, Sarasota, Florida Residence

Architectural Design III, Housing Studio, Fall 2009

Graduate Assistant, Columbia University, GSAPP

Instructor, New Jersey Institute of Technology, School of Architecture

Teaching Assistant, Digital Fabrication, Fall 2004, Spring 2005, Summer 2005Teaching Assistant, Advance Maya, Fall 2003, Spring 2004Digital Assistant, Summers 2004 & 2005 Advanced Architectural DesignDesign Studio Assistant, with critic Bill MacDonald, Fall 2003, Spring 2004, Fall 2004

Instructor First Year Undergraduate Graphics I, Fall 2005Co-Coordinated Graphics II Curriculum, Spring 2006Co-Coordinated Graphics II Lecture Series, Spring 2006

Fabrication Demo/ Lecture and Studio Critique with Critic Hina Jamelle’s Design Studio, Fall 2006

Fabrication Process, Fall 2006

Mechanics of Form, Fall 2006, Spring 2007, Fall 2007, Spring 2008

Computers II, Fall 2006, Fall 2007, Fall 2008

Material Experiments, Summer 2009

Catalyst Studio, Invited to lecture and lead workshop on fabrication, March 2012

RhinoScripting, Grasshopper, Fabrication workshop

Coordinated, Hosted and Conducted workshop with Marc Fornes and Andy Payne, Summer 2010

Fabrication, Architectural Geometry, Rhino 4,

MasterCAM, Fall 2010, Fall 2011

Established DIL (Digital Initiative Lab), Large Scale CNC and Thermofroming Lab, Fall 2009Studio Project: Reticulated Form: Critic, Joe MacDonald, Fall 2011

Studio Project: Plastik Pavilion: Studio Critic Ken Tracy with Marc Fornes, Spring 2011Studio Project: Sheet Logics: Studio Critic, Heather Roberge, Fall 2010Studio Project: TRANS:formable_BODIES, Studio Critic, SungHo Kim, Spring 2009Studio Project: Tessellated Manifolds, Studio Critic, Marcelo Spina with Daniel Carper, Fall 2009


Professional Yogiaman Tracy Design, Founding Partner, St. Louis, Mo 2010-Present

4-pli Design, Founding Partner, Brooklyn, NY 2005-2009

http://www.4-pli.com/

Associated Fabrication LLC, Founding Partner, Brooklyn, NY 2005-2009

http://www.associatedfabrication.com/, AF photoblog

Carl Abbott FAIA Architects, Intern Architect, Sarasota, FL 2000-2002

Atelier Imrey Culbert, Intern Architect, New York, NY Summers 2004, 2003

Tex-Fab, Applied Research Through Fabrication Competition Fall 2013

Competition Finalist, Commissioned Project, ongoing

Kopo House, Bandung, Indonesia, 2012-Present Schematic Design Phase ongoing project

Cideng Offi ce Building, Jakarta, Indonesia, 2011-Present Schematic Design Phase ongoing project

Weft House, Jakarta, Indonesia, Fall 2010-Summer 2011 Full Project design and bid documents

Givens Vitrines, Givens Hall, Washington University St Louis, 2012 Commissioned Project, completed

Sukkah City STL, St. Louis, MO, Fall 2011 Competition Finalist/Commision, Design and Fabrication temporary Sukkah Pavilion

Going with the Grain Design Competition, Summer 2009 Project Woobble, Honorable Mention

Taras Residence, Manhattan, NY, Summer 2009 Design/Fabricate Apartment and Terrace Renovation

Thirst Wine Merchants, Brooklyn, NY, Fall 2006 Design/Build/Fabricate Wine Store interior

New York Magazine, Best Bets, Manhattan, NY, Fall 2006 Design/Fabricate booths for charity shopping event

Urban Spring, Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2006 Design/Build/Fabricate juice bar Interior

BrainPop and Fashion Wire Daily, New York, NY, Summer 2005 Design/Build/Fabricate offi ce interior

Whistler 2010 Bus Shelters, Whistler, BC, Current, Winter 2010 Fabricating bus shelters for Winter Olympics

Halo Bar, Washington, DC, Summer 2008 Fabricated Thermoformed, CNC milled casework/furniture

Cirrus Sculpture, Zaha Hadid Architects, Cincinnati, OH, Summer 2008 Fabricated CNC milled mdf and Formica sculpture

Tool Hide Wardrobe, Ruy+Klein Architects, New York, NY, Spring 2005 Design Consultant and Fabricated CNC milled, Auto body Painted, textured doors and casework

Gregg and Pamela Horowitz, Sarasota, FL 2000-2001 Bayfront Residence

Project manager during schematic design and design development

Kuwait National Museum & UNESCO, Kuwait City, Kuwait, 2003-2004 Museum Renovation Design

City Lights Competition, City of New York, New York, NY 2004 Third Place Finalist, Assisted in design, modeling and representation of competition entry


Made in the Shade:Revisiting Paul Rudolph’s Florida Houses, Sheldon Galleries, Currated Exhibition Featuring WashU Studio work and Traveling Exhibiton by Joe King and Chris Domin, Spring 2012

Electric is the Love, Laumeier Museum, St. Louis, MO Commisioned Installation, Loom Portal, Fall 2011

Sukkah City STL, Washington University, St. Louis, MO Commision Installation, Gleaned, Fall 2011

The Business of Aura, Elga Wimmer Gallery, Manhattan, NY Exhibited, Cideng Batik #15, 14 Auguast 2009

Overlap, Elga Wmmer Gallery, Manhattan, NY Co-currated and exhibited industrial design work, Woobble and Sequence 1, September, 2008

Brooklyn Designs, DUMBO, NY Curated furniture exhibition, May 2006 and May 2007

Project to Surface, M127, Manhattan, NY Collaborated on design with Grainworks Studio, fabricated pieces by 5 graphic artists, June 2007

Scripted By Purpose, Fuel Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Exhibited Leaves, thermoformed, parametric canopy panels, September 2007

Publications/Press Design of the Times, Ami Kealoha Furniture Designs Featured, The New York Post, 12 May 2007

Associated Fabrication: Heavy Metal/Light Touch, David Sokol Firm Profi le, Architectural Record, October 2007

Subcompact Hybrids, Lisa Delgado Project Article, Interior Project Featured, Architects Newspaper, October 2007

the taste fi les: San Francisco, New York and Los Angeles, Yosh Asato and Mimi Zeiger Interior Project Featured, Form Magazine, December 2007

Transmaterial 2, Blaine Brownell Dimple Halftone a material developed by Associated Fabrication is featured, January 3, 2008

Digital Fabrications: Architectural and Material Techniques, Lisa Iwamoto Fabrication Piece Featured, Collaboration with Ruy Klein Architects, Princeton Arch. Press, 2009

Exhibitions


Cast Thicket

http://tex-fab.net/APPLIEDdownloads/APPLIEDpress.pdf

http://www.bustler.net/index.php/article/winner_of_applied_research_through_fabrication_competition/

UMN Catalyst Workshop and Lecture

https://events.umn.edu/017560

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/arch/studentwork/2012/03/architecture-as-catalyst-nested-scales.html

http://acadia.org/projects/ZAPFKX

Plasti(k) Pavilion

http://archinect.com/features/article/100296/student-works-stalactile-tessellated-manifolds

http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/innovative-pavilion-dedicated-in-botanical-heights/article_

e6b2e468-d329-5a44-bf65d27bbd4eb81b.html

http://plastikpavilion.wordpress.com/

http://www.stlouiscitytalk.com/2011/07/plastick-pavilion-in-botanical-heights.html

Made in the Shade Links

http://sheldonconcerthall.org/pr/2012/PR120126-1.pdf

http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2012-08-16/culture/in-the-galleries-new-made-in-the-shade-paul-rudolph-

s-fl orida-houses-revisited/

Associated Fabrication Links

http://archrecord.construction.com/archrecord2/work/0710/associatedFabrication.asp

http://www.fl ickr.com/photos/associatedfabrication/sets/72157609944755905/






4pli links





REFERENCE URLS


ACADEMIC

PLASTI(K) PAVILION Graduate Option Studio, St Louis, Missouri, Spring 2011

CORE 2 | CORE 4 Freshmen Undergraduate Studio | Sophomore Undergrad Studio, Spring 2012

MADE IN THE SHADE Graduate Option Studio, St Louis, Missouri, Spring 2010

JAKARTA STUDIO Graduate Option Studio, St Louis, Missouri, Fall 2011

PLASTI(K) PAVILIONOccupying a formerly vacant lot in a

central St. Louis the Botanical Heights

Plasti(k) Pavilion served as both a

vauable learning experience for Grad-

uate Archtiecture students and as an

advetisement for a newly recovering

neighborhood. The project was a com-

plex collaboration between Washington

University, Marc Fornes principal of thev-

erymany, New York, Sarah Gibson the

Pricipal of CDO in St. Louis and Will Laufs

of Buro Happold New York. From the

beginning the studio engaged the com-

munity of Botanical Heights through

community board meetings recieving

feedback and informing the community

of the pavilions’ impact.

The pavilion is a composition of modu-

lar, 3D, non-repeating tiles who’s curved

surfaces constantly change orientation

to create a convoluted, spatially-ab-

sorbent surface. The piece was made

possible through the use of parametric

software, custom algorithms, structural

simulation, CNC milling, thermoforming

and ambitious students.

St Louis, Missouri, Spring 2011

CORE 2Binary Immersion Pool

Through both physical and geometric

constraints, the 112 studio explored the

presence and possible erasure of binary

oppositional relationships.

Through the measurement, documen-

tation, and 3D modeling of Concordia

Seminary Park, students explored the

relationship between terrain and ar-

chitectural space. Using 3D modeling

tools, they delineated and then lofted

the landscape. Through a series of itera-

tions this lofted landscape was redrawn

to confl ate the existing terrain with a

synthetic topology contrived through

a found texture. Physically output using

digital tools, the surfaces from this ex-

ploration were imagined as unlikely but

occupiable landscapes.

Through an intensifi cation of the con-

fl ated topography/topology, students

imbedded immersion pools into the

context. These pools create spaces for

direct intimate contact and sensory im-

mersion. Through this program, students

were challenged to create a building that

produces a perceptually rich procession

by manipulating light, mass, and surface.

A B D

C

F

0 5 10

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

IJ

KL

MN

O

PQ

RS

T

UV

Jennifer Rokoff

Caitlin Lee

Andy Lee

Reagan Lauder

Stephanie Silva

Adam Strobel

Washington University, Spring 2012

Freshmen Undergraduate Studio

CORE 4Washington University, Spring 2012

Sophomore Undergrad Studio

Urban Winery

Architecture nuances the boundary

between diff erent conditions. Inside/

outside, fi gure/ground, earth/sky and

other relationships fi gure prominently

in how architecture is conceived and

evaluated. Architects simulate these

oppositional conditions through their

drawing of points, lines, curves and

surfaces. Because of computers the ex-

act point that an architect designates is

now more than ever precisely controlla-

ble. Through the use of computers these

architect-contrived boundaries can be

precisely fabricated. This direct control

through a binary machine enables us to

create ever more nuanced space.

The studio studied a prominent urban

site in the Central West End neighbor-

hood of St. Louis. Through a series of it-

erations the site was redrawn to create a

new, textured topography that indexes

movement, mass and other urban phe-

nomena. The culmination of this study

is the design of an Urban Winery. Over-

lapping urban life with artisanal craft the

6000 sqft project combines a large cellar,

wine bar and harvest room.

MADE IN THE SHADEThis studio investigated modern, domestic

architecture in Sarasota, Florida through

both historical context and current tech-

niques of architectural production. Stu-

dent groups designed replacement shade

canopies for Paul Rudolph’s notable Hiss

Residence. The class traveled to Sarasota to

meet the current owners of the house and

visit several other notable Rudolph houses.

As a funded fabrication studio, students

not only designed but detailed and proto-

typed their canopies at full-scale.

After the completion of the studio the

Sheldon Galleries in St. Louis hosted an

exhibition highlighting both the student

work and the work of Paul Rudolph’s Flor-

ida houses. Made in the Shade: Revisiting

Paul Rudolph’s Florida Houses juxtaposed

the work of the studio with period Ezra

Stoller photographs from an exhibition by

Joe King and Christopher Domin for their

book Paul Rudolph: The Florida Houses.


C h r i s t i n a G a l a t i ; C o r i n n a G l e i c h ; A d r i a n e R i e s s e r

S a r a J o h n s o n ; J u m i S o n g ; C h a r i t y S e y e r

J a r e d M a r c a n t o n i ; P a t r i c i a G r i e r s o n ; A y a R o j n u c k a r i n ; I n n y B a e

T h e S h e l d o n A r t G a l l e r y

JAKARTA STUDIO

RATTAN Benjamin Stephenson

St Louis, Missouri, Fall 2011

CRACKS Xiaomeng Fu

KETUPAT Lavender Tessmer

WARP Nathaniel Elberfeld

[IM]PERMEABLE Jason Butz

The fourth largest country in the world

behind the United States, Indonesia

boasts a rich layering of cultures but

lacks the strong, contemporary identity

and attention given many smaller na-

tions. Though it lacks a strong interna-

tionally recognized image, the country

has an internally rich cultural heritage

and national pride. Paramount to Indo-

nesia’s national identity and its economy

are its hand labored crafts. Batik, car-

pentry, stone carving and textiles are

all important production and artisan

industries in Java that have stayed the

test of time and endured through an

embattled history of upheaval and re-

gime change.

This studio will leverage this enduring

phenomenon to anchor our work within

this rich context. We will seek ways in

which to bridge between the inherent

dichotomies which have in the past

isolated Jakarta’s architecture from Indo-

nesian culture. We will look to combine

what seem like irreconcilable diff erent

modes of thinking such as Manual craft

vs digital production, iconic architecture

vs city fabric, foreign intervention vs lo-

cal identity.

Jakarta Studio: Constraining Dichotomies

proposes to design a speculative offi ce,

retail and residential tower in central Ja-

karta along the Cideng River.


PROFESSIONAL

WEFT HOUSE Jakarta, Indonesia, 2012 - present

CAST THICKET St Louis, Missouri, Fall 2012 - present

GIVENS VITRINES St Louis, Missouri, Spring 2012

LOOM PORTAL St Louis, Missouri, Fall 2011

GLEANED SUKKAH St Louis, Missouri, Fall 2011

4-PLI Brooklyn, New York, 2005-2009

ASSOCIATED FABRICATION Brooklyn, New York, 2005-2009

WEFT HOUSEWeft House negotiates the confl ict of max-

imizing volume and the need to access

dayligh by weaving solid service and pri-

vate spaces around a string of open public

spaces. These strands shift from sitewall to

sitewall to allow for two large voids in an oth-

erwise solid mass.

The cladding of the house responds to the

contridicting desires of both clients to have

the house be “transparent like a modern

house” and “solid like a stone”. To address this

paradox a dense woven screen is designed

to shade the upper story of the cantilevered

glass façade.

Programmatically, the screen needed to

wrap the front of the house for privacy, al-

lowing access and view on the west side fac-

ing a private roof garden. To accomplish this,

the surface twists and contracts as it wraps

from north to west. The screen also had to

vary in porosity to allow in light and create

an ordered pattern on the façade. Aside

from the programmatic function this pat-

terned skin was seen as an asset shared be-

tween the client and the public. For this asset

acting as both wallpaper and an affi rmation

of the cultural context of Jakarta we chose

to reference the craft of Javanese Warp Ikat.

Jakarta, Indonesia, 2011 - present

CAST THICKETCurrently Under Construction, Cast Thicket is our winning entry for the TEX-FAB 4: Applied Research Through Fabrica-tion Competition. The piece will be con-

structed and installed as part of a

conference and traveling exhibition.

Cast Thicket mixes tensile, textile systems

with concrete formwork to create novel

spatial effects from interlaced cast ele-

ments. Leveraging the dexterity of hand

assembly, empirical materials testing

and computational optimization Cast Thicket embraces the contingent, lay-

ered process of concrete construction.

Utilizing a digitally-fabricated, paramet-

rically-optimized tensile skin as a mold

the project overlays the clean space of

simulation and the dirty space of on-site

construction. Through an initial investi-

gation of thin, flexible formwork the

project has developed a series of design

intelligences that, though used in con-

junction can be seen as significant, dis-

crete technologies.

TexFab Competition, Current

Parametric Connections Respond to Seem Curvature Analysis Steel Branch Angle Analysis, Detail and Welding Jig

Prototype 2.3 Formwork and Casting Test of Three-Nodes

84”

78”

78”

72”

60”

G I V E N S VITRINESCommissioned to house faculty publica-

tions for Washington University in St. Lou-

is’s Architecture Department the Givens

Vitrines occupy the residual space of a

landing in Givens Hall. The vitrines sample

the details and materiality of the 1930’s

Beaux Arts building to create a subtle in-

tervention. In addition to contextual ref-

erences, the vitrines’ form was designed

to optically blend into the space.

Perched on either end of a landing the

twin cases match the symmetry of the

building’s monumental stair. Each vitrine

is symmetrical in elevation and asymmet-

rical in plan. By squeezing one vertical

edge closer to the wall the cases avoid di-

rect light from the windows and open to

passing viewers. Suspended on custom

steel brackets, books are nested within a

smooth, white, concave container. With-

out any perceptible edges the vitrine’s

internal surface visually fl attens against

the plaster walls foregrounding the sus-

pended books.

Contrasting the vitrine’s smooth, white

interior the ornamental, wood frame

creates a dark, textured shadow-line.

Sampled from the original details of the

stairwell the frame’s ornament is liter-

ally drawn from the context. Shapes from

moulding, handrails, pilasters and other

details were measured and redrawn in

the computer. Using 3D modeling soft-

ware the profi les where then morphed

together in a sequence to create a fl ow-

ing continuum of changing profi les

around the cases.


LOOM PORTALLoom Portal is a proxy for the covered

windows in the galleries at Laumeier

Sculpture Park in St. Louis, MO. A com-

missioned installation for the gallery,

Loom Portal is conceived as a light re-

tention and transmission device that

grafts onto the façade of the building,

establishing real-time interface between

the segregated interior and exterior en-

vironments.

This simple interface is expanded, thick-

ened and made visible through the or-

ganization logistics of light transfer. Eight

hundred light-gathering mirrors sample

the exterior light and color from the

park landscape and carried the sampled

light through eight miles of fi ber optic

fi lament. A “loom” consisting of a wood

frame and two heddles hanging from

the ceiling stretch the fi bers and orga-

nize the sequence from the exterior en-

vironment input mirrors to the interior

output screen. The fi laments terminate

at a diff using screen which displays the

sampled light through an array of “pixels”.

Parabolic Mirrorfocuses light rays onto the end of each fiber optic cable

Parabola Fociat the end of each

fiber optic cable

light travels through the fiber optic cable from the exterior array to the interior dispay panel

stems angled downward collect light reflected from the ground

stems angled upward collect light reflected from the sky


GLEANED SUKKAHThe Gleaned Sukkah is a temporal as-

sembly that is constructed for use dur-

ing a week-long festival of Sukkot. The

tectonic, material and assembly are

developed through understanding

the context of this cultural ritual. The

Gleaned Sukkah synthesizes cultural

ritualswith natural cycles.

The tectonic negotiates two distinct ma-

terial systems, one which loosely con-

trols the other. A tenuous composite of

precisely fabricated, lacy frame delicate-

ly pinches the tufts of long, native prairie

grasses to form a reciprocal structural

system. The frame is created by 3 hori-

zontal U shaped loops held in place by a

series of 24 vertical struts. 2 of the loops

form a spiraling, ruled surface providing

both structure and spatial eff ects. The

spiraling loops delineate an attenuated

threshold that reorients the space of the

sukkah from the entry through the inte-

rior to the sky. This twisting transition at

the top of the structure provides a spa-

tial focus and braces the upper part of

the structure.

In stark contrast to the synthetic frame

of the pavilion its skin is formed from

clumps of locally collected native prai-

rie grasses. Slid manually into calibrated,

barrette-like clips in the struts, the grass

tufts provide lateral strength and most

of the mass/surface of the construct. The

pattern of clips on the struts stretches

with the topology of the surface chang-

ing the pattern and porosity of the skin.


4-PLI

Josh and Donna Loft, Brooklyn, NY, Spring 2006

BrainPop and Fashion Wire Daily, New York, NY, Summer 2005

East 11th Street Residence, Manhattan, NY, Fall 2007

Thirst Wine Merchants, Brooklyn, NY, Fall 2006

Urban Spring, Brooklyn, NY, Summer 2006

Founded along with Associated Fab-

rication LLC in 2005, 4pli Design has

completed commercial and residential

interior projects for clients in Manhat-

tan and Brooklyn. 4pli leverages the

expertise gained at AF to complete

experimental design/fabricate proj-

ects. Projects include a coffee shop

created from reclaimed casework, a

sweet smelling wine shop made us-

ing no VOCs, a formally innovative

loft renovation and an office with an

acoustically innovative conference

room. The firm questions convention-

al standards for space and materiality

in all projects and proves this inno-

vation through prototypes. Projects

completed by the firm are regularly

published in magazines and on blogs

including Architectural Record, Dwell,

the Architects Newspaper, Archinect

and Cool Hunting.

Brooklyn, New York

Chanel, Design Consultant and Fabrication

Cirrus Sculpture, Zaha Hadid Architects, Cincinnati, OH, Summer 2008

Whistler 2010 Bus Shelters, Whistler, BC, Current, Winter 2010

Dimple Half-Tone, Publication, Transmaterial 2

Tool Hide Wardrobe, Ruy+Klein Architects, New York, NY, Spring 2005

Oppenheimer; Fabrication

Vito Acconci; Design Consultant and Fabrication

ASSOCIATED FABRICATIONAssociated Fabrication LLC was found-

ed to act as a digital fabrication firm

specializing in creating custom fabri-

cated surfaces and millwork for artists,

contractors and architects. Through

an initial investment in a large scale

CNC router and thermoforming

equipment the 7000sqft shop could

work on projects at every scale. In

addition to the fabrication of finished

pieces AF acts as a sourcing, material

research and CAD/CAM/BIM consul-

tant to its clients. Research projects

include Dimple Halftone and Ex-

panded Solid Surface both published

projects which extended the working

knowledge of machines to designers

and artists. In addition to outsourcing

fabrication AF also extended its de-

sign services as 4pli design.

Brooklyn, New York

ken tracy worksample and cv

Documents