Mike LeeI n t e r n A r c h i t e c t

AbridgedDesign and Art

Portfolio

Directory:

Bio 00Art 02Industrial Design 04Architectural Design 06

00Bio

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Goals: My intentions are as diverse as my skill set. Choosing to become an architect is choosing to be rich, not in monetary value, but value of lifestyle. An architect is both an artist and a scientist; and my path emphasizes that. In my entire scholastic career I’ve made a point to execute my pursuits outside of the studio with just as much passion as studio itself. I’ve experimented in digital painting, 3D animation, furniture design, screen printing, film making, special effects and industrial design. I often take on several projects at once - advancing my skill set across the board simultaneously. If there is anything that architecture school has taught me, it’s self reliance. There is nothing I can’t do or learn to do. These qualities, I am sure, will make me a valuable asset to any team. My short term goal is to gain work experience in the office of a design firm and understand more in depth the process of design. Fallowing the steps of the IDP, I hope to complete my path to licensure and provide value for myself and my employer. I want to contribute to a team to both utilize and expand my skill set. I want to contribute to the task of design related problem solving to produce excellent services for clients and responsible architecturesfor the global community. I constantly seek to obtain a more intimate understanding of what it is to both design and construct space for large living systems and the individual alike. My long term goal is to eventually start my own design firm where my diverse skill set can be employed on a broad range of projects. I would like to do it all - from city planning to furniture design, architectural visualizations to web page design. I want to make art, films, music, clothing, cakes - everything is up for grabs. I want to own a firm based on the evolution of aesthetic and the exploration of ideas. I want to push myself to make things that are mean-ingful, effective, and valuable. To me, the choice that is architecture lies in value beyond the tangible. To me it’s not a job title, it’s a way of seeing the world.

Google Sketchup

AutoCAD

Revit

Artlantis Studio

Blender

Gimp

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Premier

Adobe After Effects

novice proficientintermediate

01Bio

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Bio: Mike Lee is a student at the School of Architecture and Art at Norwich Universty in Vermont, where, in 2011, he was accepted into graduate studies in architecture. His honors and awards include a $2,000 a year scholarship as a high school senior in the Senior Architecture Showcase at Norwich, Best of Show (fall 2007, spring 2008, spring 2009, fall 2010), people’s choice and committee’s choice at the Town of Shelburne Planning commission call for proposals, and portfolio excellence (spring 2011). A hard working student athlete, he was a first year starter for the Cadet’s varsity soccer team and contributed to two conference championships and a second-round showing at the NCAA tournament. In his senior year he lead the team as co-captain. His interests off the field and away from the drafting table include spending time with family, hiking, art, swimming, open source software, online gaming, cinema and music. He resides in his hometown of Syracuse, New York with his wife Tanya, and daughter Michaela.

Idols: William McDonough, Ross Lovegrove, Renzo Piano, Antoni Gaudi, Ton Roosendal, Le Corbusier, Shigeru Ban, Mark West, Edward Mazria, LOT-EK, Andy Goldsworthy, Samuel Mockby, Banksy, Michael Reynolds, Cameron Sinclair, Chris Anderson, Charles and Ray Eames.

Interests: architectural design industrial design sustainability 3d animation digital art ecology furniture design mixed media art architectural delineation painting 2d animation futurism Contact Information: e: mlee.arc@gmail.com l: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-lee/26/aa4/15b

Self Evaluation: Negatives: -no work experience -work obsessive - managing how detailed is too detailed Positives: -work ethic -team player -ability to learn, beta test and push myself -young - there is value in the addition of new blood -ability to think critically and dispationaley of myself and my work

ManifestoDesign is about an idea. It is finding the immaterial within the material. My work is a process that explore the intangible ideas and emotions that lie within tangible media. Architecture is a manifestation of intensi-fied value in space and time. It should move and inspire, evoke emotion and question limits. I make a point to manifest these ideas where aesthetics and functionality meet to produce works with intimate detail and panoramic sensibility. A building may inexorably crumble to the ground and architects may come and go; but good design is timeless. It is so because an idea can never die.

02

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Art

Water Tower - graphite (top left)Smoke - graphite (top middlte)Milkweed - graphite (top right)Corinthean Column - graphite, watercolor (bottom left)Dad - digital media (right)Composite Column - Opposite

03

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Art

Amorphous Glowing Furniture

It’s a chair, It’s a bed. It’s a light fixture. This is a transformable, light emitting, load bearing design that combines the objects in a conventional living room into one fabrication. It is simplicity in form and integration of function that makes this creation unique. Modules can be combined to create larger compositions like real life Tetris. The module can easily be converted into different shapes to facilitate a wide range of functions.

Eight cubes made of 1/4 inch thick acrylic panels fit together like puzzle pieces. There are no screws, bolts or glues - the linen skin provides tension that holes the cubes together whiles also providing diffuse properties to the light. A simple circuit of LEDs (one LED for each cube) is strung from cube to cube at each joint. Joints are created by stitching the fabric skin together at specific locations to maximise ease of functionality while maintaining simplicity. It transforms easily in seconds. The proportions are specific to furniture typologies; as on cube is the height of a step, two cubes is the height of a chair and four cubes is the height of a counter top. It weighs about 15 pounds.

Process model (left). Panel dimensions (below). Process rendering (bottom).Final Product (opposite).

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

04Industrial Design

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

05Industrial Design

Shelburne CorridorFertile Crescent

The Route 7 corridor through Shelburne, VT has become a plight to the community. It is the classic case of the abandoned strip mall. The architectural design studio was approached by the Town of Shelburne to come up with propos-als improve the current conditions of the Route 7 corridor in Northern Vermont. This proposal would dramatically alter the existing site over time. It is an effort to gener-ate a fellowship between the thru-traveller and pedestrian. Thru-traffic is unimpeded - as an elevated parkway weaves around Route 7. Under the parkway is mixed use space - work, play, live. Other design elements include prefabricated concrete and steel components, a Mag Lev train connecting to Berlington, automated car storage towers for converting thru-travellers into pedes-trian, and an amphitheater for summer events and winter sledding. This project is about being true to the identity of place - even if it’s identity is a place between places. The architectural design studio’s propos-als were subject to public view in the town hall for one week prior to presentations. Five projects were chosen by the Shelburne Planning Commit-tee for public presentation. Public voting during the one week viewing period yielded a tie for people’s choice for presentation. The proposal you see here was one of the five chosen by the com-mittee and one of the projects tied for people’s choice.

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

06Architectural Design

P1 P2 P3 P4P5 P6 P7 P8

07Architectural Design

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

08Architectural Design

CESAR

This assignment was catalyzed by a government aid project. According to the CESAR data, an influx would occur in families in need due to the recession in 2008. These needs include temporary housing and job counselling. The initiative is to provide housing and counseling for families and individuals alike on an interim basis - getting people back on their feet. The restrictions for this project included a site in Washington D.C. and a program requirement including dwellings for six families and twelve individuals, offices, a day care, reception, faith area, gathering space, medical support area and parking. The approach in this design was to draw a parallel between people in need and their architectural equivalent. Shipping containers share a similar story in that they are used, and discarded, not having a home - much like the users of this facility. Thus, shipping container architecture became an archetype for this project. Concrete buttresses resist lateral forces on stacked shipping containers. A void in the stack on the third floor provides transparency for common areas - a shared kitchen, day care, faith area, medical support, gathering space, and access to a split level roof garden. The remaining six stories of stacked containers are for private use - the living areas. An undulating glass skin provides forms for manipulation of negative air pressure to naturally draw are out, allowing fresh air to be pulled into the living areas rather than requiring an active system to push it. This project represence a relationship between the user and the materiality of the architecture while providing dynamic functional and aesthetic unity.

09Architectural Design

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Imagining Architecture:

Lake House How often are you inspired by a random locale to envision an architecture? This is the first in a series of architectural delineations inspired by a random setting. The site is a small lake in Vermont that my family and I happened to pass by on our way to pick apples in the fall.

The design is a vessel for connecting with nature. A footpath acts as a threshold to prepare the patron for the experience of a new, intimate space. The first floor provides a platform for swimming, fish-ing and docking and an interior mud room space. A green wall welcomes the patron and indicates vertical circulation as ascension to the second floor reveals an elevated view of the lake and surrounding hills - open-ing into the common area. Glass on the entire south facing facade maximizes southern exposure in the winter months, while the large overhang shelters the exposed concrete floor from radiant heat gain in the summer. The north facade is mostly opaque, providing insulation value where solar gain does not penetrate. Fenestration schemes on this facade indicate program-matic changes within the interior volume as well as strategic indirect day lighting on counter tops. The spaces on the northern side of the house are more closed off and energy intensive - reducing unneces-sary heat loss. In addition to the southern views, the various operable glass walls give way to an elevated exterior deck, allowing a seamless transition between outside and inside. As the core of the house penetrates through to the floor above, it’s adjacency to the kitchen transports sounds and smells to the more private spac-es above - putting the cook on the top of the hierarchy. The kitchen is the heart of the home. The vertical circulation shaft also exploits the stack effect, as oper-able clearstory windows at the top draw heat out of the house when needed. Areas with plumbing are located in close proximity to the mechanical shaft next to the fireplace for economic and installation purposes.

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee

Floor Plans (right).Interior rendering (bottom right).Site visited (opposite top).Architectural Intervention Rendering (opposite bottom)

10Architectural Design

11Architectural Design

I n t e r n A r c h i t e c tMike Lee