ryan lawberarchitectural designer

illinois institute of technologymaster of architecture

southern illinois universitybachelor or science of architectural srudies

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recreation complex graduate studio, IIT, 2007alaska house studio, SIUC, 2004theremin dance theatre studio, SIUC, 2006self-generating system landscape architecture course, IIT, 2008digital modeling freelance work, 2010cta/metra connection concourse graduate thesis studio, IIT, 2008

recreation complexThis graduate project was centered around a campus devel-opment to increase the capacity of the current IIT recreation center. The solution was to utilize the existing center for varsity team practices while creating a new center for use by the everyday IIT student. The complex is composed of three interlocking concrete arcades made habitable by an insula-tive tensile membrane.

Professor: Dirk Denison

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The motions of the conductor’s baton are mimicked in the form of an Alaskan retreat for the conductor of a major city symphony. The baton motions in common time on each beat and the intermediate movements create the forms. Site was of concern in this second year undergraduate project: the extreme cold conditions were remedied by utilizing thermal gain from the large southern exposure and heat trapped in a trombe wall/floor. Use of structural insulated panels was included to maintain a low energy home.

Instructor: Carol Medvick

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alaska house

This undergraduate project developed an instrument, the theremin, into an interactive structural form and dance style. The theremin is an instrument that creates sounds based on the proximity to the instrument. For example, the closer you are to the instrument, a higher pitch or softer tone is created by moving your arms around the created electromagnetic field. In this proposal, multiple theremins are embedded into the entrance promenade, allowing theater patrons to create forms of the upcoming dance performance, and to recreate the show after the finale.

Professor: Craig Anz

theremin dance theatre

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Examining the abstract growth of Slime Mold (Physarum polycephalum) to create a self-organizing model from a set of patterns mimicking the growth of the natural system. A set of 300 units were assembled through a systemic process to cre-ate the form, allowing the design to create itself.

Model generation:1. Attach components by aligning faces of the same orienta-tion to each other.2. Repeat step 1 ten times, then go to step 3.3. Set the attached group aside and start from step 1 again. Do this until there are no more components.4. Attach the component groups together in alternat-ing directions (concave attaches to convex, convex to concave).5. Stop.

This project was featured in the lobby of the McCormick-Tri-bune Campus Center at IIT.

Professor: Eric Ellingsen

self-generating system

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digital modelingWhile an undergrad at SIUC, I co-created and was vice president of the Digital Modeling and Rendering Group, a club created to help members learn computer modeling and render-ing and give/receive valuable information within the group. The images on this page are a few current samples of my work with 3ds Max and other modeling programs.

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This thesis at IIT project explores the possibilities of the integration of a transit oriented development into the typical Chicago street grid. The proposal includes the creation of very dense districts surrounding a newly created CTA urban rail station and a redeveloped Metra suburban rail station. The development adapts to the elevated rail to incorporate a raised pedestrian connection between the two stations, establishing a second level pedestrian oriented community while maintaining the motorized thoroughfare below.

At a larger scale, the project lays out a proposal for a 50 year plan of the transit systems in Chicago, evolving the city’s cur-rent radial system into a networked connection to allow access between any two locations in the city with no more than a one mile walk.

The entire thesis can be found online at:http://www.ryanlawber.com/documents

Adviser: George Schipporeit

cta/metra connection concourse

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ryan lawberarchitectural designer

312.806.7926

ryanlawber@gmail.com

www.ryanlawber.com

© 2010 Ryan Lawber