patrick culbersonbachelor of science in architecturethe catholic university of americapatrick culbersonbachelor of science in architecturepculberson89@gmail.combachelor of science in architecture540-220-5447pculberson89@gmail.com

1-2..............................................

3-4..................................

5-6................................

7-8.................................

9-10...............................

11-12...............................

13-14...........................

15-16......................................

1

+apartments at 14th and r

the site for the "apartments at 14th and r" project is located on the corner of 14th street and r street in northwest washington, dc. the main issue that was dealt with in this project was how to iincorporate the scale of the sm-aller housing that surroundedthe site and made up most of theneighborhood. to complete the trend of height throughout this intersection, i used close to the same height as the other two la-rrger buildings across the street. however, to the right of the site were smaller two or three story housing units. so i created a sys-tem that could relate to not on-ly the larger scale buildings in the area, but the smaller ones aas well. the housing around theneighborhood created a repititi-on that i decided to continue ac-ross the facade on r street.

r street nw14th street nw

third year studio

the building consists of commercial spaces, a lobby, and office spaces on the first floor with two different types of housing units on the top five floors. the larger building on the left holds one story apartments with one to three bedrooms. the building on the right hoholds eight different duplexes. the two gla-ss corridors in between the two buildings pr-ovide a unique circulation experience. since the building on the right holds duplexes, the glass corridors could be split up instead ofmaking it one giant glass wall, thus making it more dynamic. residents of the apartments are aalso provided with a garden in the back bet-ween the two buildings to escape the busy city life.

2

when designing the pavilion, i wa-nted to create a space with a u-nique structure that guided thecirculation and represented thearea that the structure served.for example, the structure suchaas the beams located above oneof the platforms has the samelanguage as the platform belowit. one platform has a linear re-petition of beams above it, whilethe other platform has a grid-like system of beams above it. thebbeams mimic the platforms below.with the pavilion project i focus-ed mainly on exploring how i co-uld create an interesting struc-tural system that serves morethan the function of just beingstructural. rather than compl-etetely ignoring the envelope of the building, i wanted to createa type of envelope that had mul-tiple voids throughout from thedifferent columns, girders, and beams

3

second year studio+the pavilion

4

5

+an urban oasis

the site for this project was located on the corner of 7th streetand rhode island avenue nw washington dc. i decided my first priority in designing this mixed use building was to create a comfortable envi-ronment for the living spaces using sustainable strategies such as cross ventilation. every single unit has at least two exposures with operable windows to allow air to flow freely through the space. tthe bedrooms are located in the rear of the unit and also provide a part in the circulation of air flow. the walls surrounding the bedroom are decreased in height giving extra open space for air to circulate.the double height glazing can bring in air and circulate it all the way through to the courtyard and vice versa.

fourth year studio

7th street nw

6

rhode is

land av

enue nw

7

the site for the beach retreat house was located in bethany beach, delaware. when it came to designing the house, optimal beach views were a priority be-cause of its beachfront loca-ttion. the experience of how one viewed the beach was a main co-ncern of how the how the house was designed. it all starts with the wall alongside the stairway before you enter the house. asthe stairs continue to get high-er, er, so does the wall. however, the wall is not solid. there are cuts along the wall so the vie-wer can experience little piecesof the beach as they are walk-ing up the stairs. when the per-son makes their way to the top oof the stairs, they are welcom-ed by an extending platform that allows the viewer to fin-ally see the beach in its entirety. the repetition of the wall is also the basis of how the rest of the house was designed and ccan be seen throughout.

+the beach retreatat bethany

second year studio

8

+department of homeland security visitor center

9

fourth year studio

working with a group of five peers for our comprehens-ive building design studio, we were instructed to design avisitor center for the department of homeland securityat the st. elizabeths campus in southeast washington dc.our main goal was to focus on the two different types of visitors that would eventually access st. elizabeths.tthe first type of visitor, who would use the direct pathto security clearance, were those with minimal time on their hands (i.e. those with scheduled meetings, etc.). thesecond type of visitor would use the experiential path,or the "path of understanding", to gain knowledge ofwhat the dhs does and why they exist in the first place.

10

1 2 3

the visitor that chooses to take the experiential path will have the opportunity to engage themselves with elements that sparked the creation of the dhs on the ev-ents of september 11, 2001. these elements are steel beams and tree columns from the twin towers that are surrounded by a very similar corten steel structure, wh-ich separtate themselves from the rest of the buildings on the site. these two symbolic structures containing remnants from september 11th help inform the visitorof the reality of why the dhs exists. it is a very honest an emotional experience that will cause the visitor to think and reflect.

third year construction docs.+construction assemblies

11

12

1. site is cleared and prepared for construction 2. excavation started and sloped 3. footings are dug out 4. rebar is added tothe footings 5. concrete poured to act as base of the walls 6. rebar is connected to the poured concrete to act as the fo-rmwork of the wall 7. wooden formwork is used for the concrete pour. 8. concrete is poured between the wooden formwork9. after curing period, wooden formwork is removed 10. drainage pipe placed behind wall 11. gravel/earth is placed over pipe12. gravel for slab on grade is added for basement floor 13. vapor barrier is laid down 14. concrete poured to make basementffloor 15. cmu wall(s) are put in place 16. pre-cast concrete slab is put in place for first floor 17. pre-cast wall slab put inplace for exterior wall 18. insulation and vapor barrier added to exterior of concrete slab 19. bricks laid for the exterior20. window ledge is placed on top of concrete slab, insulation, and brickwork 21. window is then inserted into ledge, while a-nother one is placed above the window to secure it 22. structural elements such as columns are put in place 23. the same p-rocedure for the wall is repeated for the second and third floors 24. barrier is placed on the inner side of the roof parapet25. gypsum board, paint, and flooring are applied to the interior

13

+the bath house

when designing the "bath house" project, i wanted to portray the fluidity of water throughout not only the plan but in the ele-vation as well. i divided the buil-ding into three independent enti-tities all different in sizes; the en-trance, office spaces, and finally the main swimming area. that's how i came up with the parti ske-tch. in plan, it looks as though these three elements are moving along rippling water. the eleva-ttion also has a very similar lan-guage. the wall that runs thr-ough the entire building acts as a water element in plan, while at the same time creates almost the same feel throughout the eleva-tion.

second year studio

14

15

first year studio+juan grisportrait of the artist's mother

16

when analyzing juan gris' painting titled "portraitof the artists' mother", i tried to find reasons beh-ind the decisions that the artist made. this painting is extremely well thought out geometrically. it turns out that the head fills a perfect circle. al-so, two other perfect circles can be found in one oof the eyes and the ear on the right side of the pai-nting. the way that they are connected is very well thought out. the center of the circle that the ear forms is connected to the center of the circle that the eye forms by a horizontal line. if one were to draw a triangle from the two earrings to the mid-dle of the circle that the eye forms, one would dis-ccover that the triangle turns out to be a precise 30-60-90 triangle. uncovering all of these differ-ent geometric relationships was a great training tool in analyzing different forms of architectureand design.