2014 | wyat taylor | undergraduate architecture portfolio

S E N S E SA G U I D E T O E X P E R I E N T I A L D E S I G N

W Y A T T A Y L O R

Portfol io Appl icat ion For:

Accelerated Masters of Architecture ProgramAt Washington State Univers ity

W YATTAY L O R

“Design is to invent with intent. I f you take away the ‘ invent’ b it , you have an engineer. I f you take away the ‘ intent’ b it , you have an art ist .”

— Rebecca Reubens

I l ike to see myself as somewhere in between.

I n p u t t i n g t h i s p o r t f o l i o t o g e t h e r , I s e e k t o i d e n t i f y a t h e m e ; a t h e m e t h a t s p a n s m y p r o j e c t s , w o r k , m y t h o u g h t p r o c e s s . I c a l l i t “ S e n s e s ” . T h i s c o m e s f r o m w h a t I l i k e t o d e s c r i b e a s a n “ e x p e r i e n c e c u r a t o r ” . E x p e r i e n c e c u r a t o r i s a n u n o r t h o d o x c o m b i n a t i o n o f w o r d s t h a t m a y l e a d t o c o n f u s i o n , b u t u l t i m a t e l y i t s t e m s f r o m b e i n g i n c o n t r o l t o m a k e e v e r y c o n s c i o u s d e s i g n m o v e a n d d e c i s i o n t o c r e a t e t h e e x p e r i e n c e y o u o r s o m e o n e e l s e e n v i s i o n s . I n a n u t s h e l l , t h a t ’ s d e s i g n t o m e .

G o i n g b a c k t o F r e s h m a n y e a r , 2 0 1 1 , I t o l d e v e r y o n e t h a t “ I d o n ’ t b e l o n g h e r e ( A r c h i t e c t u r e S c h o o l ) ” . I r e m i n d e d t h e m t h a t “ I ’ m a p h o t o g r a p h e r a n d I w a n t t o f o l l o w t h a t p a s s i o n . ” D o n ’ t g e t m e w r o n g , I r e a l l y e n j o y e d t h e p r a c t i c e o f d e s i g n a n d l e a r n i n g a b o u t i t i n C a r p e n t e r H a l l , b u t i t t o o k a c o u p l e t i m e s f o r m e t o r e a l l y g e t i t .

A n d w h e n I g o t i t , b o y w a s I h a p p y f o r t h i s l i f e t o c o m e .

I r e m e m b e r s i t t i n g d o w n w i t h o n e o f m y p e e r s , a n d s h e e x p l a i n e d t o m e t h a t s h e d i d n ’ t n e c e s s a r i l y w a n t t o b e a n a r c h i t e c t e i t h e r , b u t s h e w a s o k a y w i t h t h a t . R e a s o n b e i n g ? S h e e x p l a i n e d t h i s w a s a “ v i s u a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n s ” d e g r e e . S i m p l e a s t h a t . S h e e x p l a i n e d t h a t w e a s d e s i g n e r s a r e l e a r n i n g f u n d a m e n t a l s t h a t s p r e a d a c r o s s t h e b o a r d i n t e r m s o f v i s u a l l y c o m m u n i c a t i n g i d e a s a n d e m o t i o n s , a n d w e c o u l d t a k e t h i s a n d g o a n y w h e r e .

I t h e n s t a r t e d t o r e a l i z e t h a t I w a s n ’ t a p h o t o g r a p h e r , o r a n a r c h i t e c t , I w a s b o t h . I w a s m e . I w a s W y a t , a n a r t i s t , a d e s i g n e r .

D e v e l o p i n g m y s e l f i d e n t i t y e v e n f u r t h e r , I s e e m y s e l f a s a p e r s o n w h o i s v e r y i n t e r e s t e d i n a l l w a l k s o f

S TAT E M E N T O F I N T E N T I O N

R E S U M E

l i f e c r e a t i v e l y : n o t a f r a i d t o s t a r t a n y p r o j e c t . I f i n d a p p r e c i a t i o n i n e v e r y f o r m o f v i s u a l c o m m u n i c a t i o n . I b e l i e v e I h a v e a n u n c a n n y p a s s i o n f o r a l l t h i n g s d e s i g n r e l a t e d , a n d w o u l d t a k e a b i t e a t a n y c h a l l e n g e a s h a r d a s t h e n e x t .

L e a d i n g i n t o m y o r i g i n a l s t a t e m e n t r e g a r d i n g t h e t i t l e o f t h i s p o r t f o l i o , I c h o s e “ S e n s e s ” f o r i n m y w o r k I a m c o n s c i o u s o f e v e r y a s p e c t o f t h e h u m a n e x p e r i e n c e . N o m a t t e r t h e s h a p e o f a s p a c e ; a s p e c t s l i k e s o u n d , s m e l l , v a l u e o f l i g h t a n d s h a d o w , a n y o f t h e s e c a n a n d w i l l d r a s t i c a l l y c h a n g e h o w t h e s p a c e i s f e l t a n d p e r c e i v e d . N o t o n l y d o I u n d e r s t a n d t h i s , b u t a l s o I a m c o n n e c t e d t o t h i s i d e a .

D e l v i n g i n t o i d e a s w i t h b l i s s f u l i g n o r a n c e a n d f e a r l e s s a t t e m p t s i s e s s e n t i a l . A s k q u e s t i o n s , c h a l l e n g e i d e a s . S e p a r a t e y o u r s e l f f r o m w o r d s l i k e “ g o o d ” a n d “ b a d ” .

T h i n g s i n l i f e a r e n o t o n e o r t h e o t h e r ; t h e y a r e j u s t w h a t t h e y a r e . I t i s h o w t h e y a r e i n t e r p r e t e d w h i c h s e t s t h e m a s s o m e t h i n g t h a t i s “ g o o d ” o r b a d ”

A r c h i t e c t u r e i s n o t j u s t o n e f i e l d . T h e w o r d c a n b e u s e d t h r o u g h a l l a s p e c t s o f

d e s i g n e d m a t t e r . T h e a r c h i t e c t u r e o f t y p o g r a p h y , p a r a g r a p h s t y l e s , p o s t e r s , m u s i c ,

e t c . T h a t i s o n e o f t h e m o s t f u n d a m e n t a l a s p e c t s o f a r c h i t e c t u r e , a n d p e r h a p s t h e o n e I a d m i r e t h e m o s t : i t c a n n o t b e p l a c e d i n a b o x , a n d i t b e c o m e s u n i v e r s a l l y a

b e a u t i f u l i d e a .

T h a n k y o u .

W H E R E I ’ V E B E E N

E D U C AT I O NWashington State University

B.A in Architecture & Digita l

Technology & Culture

2011 - May 2016

W O R KWLT CREATIVE - 2009

Personal bus iness founded on

photography but expanding

into many dif ferent creat ive

genres

FA C T SBorn in Tucson, AZ

Wanted to go to school for

photography at f i rst , not

architecture.

Crazy about Nat ional Parks

Eagle Scout

Loves Indian Food & French Fries

Won National Photo Competition

Only Child

Actually doesn’t mind Greyhounds

Enjoys Backpacking

Too many interests for own good

S O F T WA R E5/5 = Pro

4/5 = Real ly Good

3/5 = Good

2/5 = Gett ing There

1/5 = Total ly Lost

Rhinoceros 5 : 3 .5/5

Maxwel l Render : 2 .5/5

Adobe Ai CC : 4/5

Adobe Ps CC : 3 .5/5

Adobe Id CC : 3/5

Adobe Lr 5 : 5/5

Adobe Pr : 2/5

AutoCAD : 2/5

Mac OS : 5/5

Windows: 4/5

C O N T E N T

“ A B S T R A C T I O N ,M AT E R I A L I T Y ,

N A R R AT I V E ”

A theoret ica l approach to

sol id & void with the help of

a photo montage of a space in

Pul lman, Washington

1

“ S PA C E S N O TV O L U M E S M A K E

S A N F R A N C I S C O ”

Library project atop Potrero

Hi l l in San Francisco. A place

for recol lect ion & learning &

thematic structure based on

topography.

2

“ P H O T O G R A P H Y ”

I ’ve a lways had a camera in

my hand. Photography has led

me into many walks of l i fe ,

creat ively & profess ional ly.

3

“Visual izat ion without Design is merely a dream. Design without Visual izat ion just passes the t ime.”

— Sonal Nayyar

“ A B S T R A C T I O N ,M AT E R I A L I T Y ,

N A R R AT I V E ”

Being asked to choose a

locat ion in Pul lman to base

this project off of led me to

this steep a l ley way by my

apartment.

With i ts sharp matter and

dangerous feel , e lements were

then explored and exploited

through dif ferent means of

creat iv ity.

Fal l 2014

1

The process or technique of se lect ing,

edit ing, and piecing together separate

sect ions of content to form a

cont inuous whole.

With the use of photos a s ingle

composit ion (r ight) was formed.

It was the intent ion to make

a rough, a lmost warped

perspect ive. The narrowness

and steepness of th is space

could not be ignored, let

a lone the v isual aspects .

PA R T I I - M AT E R I A L I T YThe qual i ty or character of

being mater ia l or composed

of matter

To truly understand the

essence of th is p lace, I

had to further examine

mater ia l i ty at i ts core.

Breaking and model ing the

br ick in Rhino gave me more

ins ight in terms of what k ind

of void I was looking for.

A

plan 1:1

perspective 2:1

conceptualmaterialitytexture

longitudinal section 1:1

B

Pullman, Washington | 46.7323383,-117.1725224 | Wyat Taylor | Scale : 1” = 1”

PA R T I - P H O T O M O N TA G E

P A R T I I I

T H E S O L I D

& V O I D

Taking into account creat ive

analys is , the essence of the

space has been rendered

in the form a 16” x 8” x 4”

cube.

A f igure to express feel ing

of sharp ordered chaos, and

rough mater ia l i ty.

P R O C E S S

C R E AT E

& S U B T R A C T

Bringing ideas to the dig ita l

s ide of th ings resulted in a

d istorted cube abstracted

into ordered chaos.

From here a boolean-

difference command was

used and the void was

crated.

The act of d iscover ing the void

was der ived from the s imple

d istort ion and manipulat ion of

a br ick s ized module.

Using a br ick s ized piece made

the project fu l l c i rc le .

D R A W I N G S

M O D E L

“ S PA C E S N O TV O L U M E S M A K E

S A N F R A N C I S C O ”

This c lass ic studio project

was more unique in the

opportunity of being able to

v is it the s ite in San Francisco.

Due to the topography of

the area a theme of changing

perspect ives, and meditat ive

moments were sought out in

this project .

Fal l : 2014

2

P O T R E R O H I L L

P U B L I C L I B R A R Y

In doing research, th is was the quote that sparked everything: “Each hi l l s ide holds a mirror to the other so that the c ity can constant ly admire i tse l f. In a grandious landscape where br idges and highways unite sea and land and where every hi l l forms a neighbor-hood, Nature and Architecture blend to compose a c ity that is a lternately tr ium-phant, modest and fami l iar.”

— Florence L ipsky

Potrero Hi l l i s located about 10

minutes from downtown San

Francisco. I t ’s home to a new,

h igher c lass tenant, a id ing the

gentr i f icat ion of the area.

Most notably about this area is

i t ’s v iews.

Potrero Hi l l i s located about 10

minutes from downtown San

Francisco. I t ’s home to a new,

h igher c lass tenant, a id ing the

gentr i f icat ion of the area.

L O C AT I O N

L A N D M A R K S & T O P O G R A P H Y

Aided by the natural

topography of the area,

landmarks of San Francisco

become reference points :

detai ls within the urban fabr ic

that provides se l f awareness,

as wel l as a hol ist ic feel ing.

Hol ist ic feel ing: the goal of

th is l ibrary.

The San Francisco Planning

Department off ic ia l ly ident i f ies 36

neighborhoods.

Several c it ies c la im to have been

bui l t on seven hi l l s , “the Seven Hi l ls

of San Francisco” typical ly refers to:

Telegraph Hi l l , Nob Hi l l , Russ ian Hi l l ,

R incon Hi l l , Mount Sutro, Twin Peaks

and Mount Davidson.

H I L L S & N E I G H B O R H O O D S

Ult imately, everyone

essent ia l ly has a d i f ferent

v iew & or perspect ive of the

same area. There is d ist inct

locat ions, yet they are a l l part

of a greater whole.

N N

P R O C E S S M O M E N T I - T H E “ I L L U S I O N ”

The in it ia l des ign was based off

ref lect ion due to the “mirror”

image provided by topography.

The des ign then became

symmetr ica l .

Symmetry became too s imi lar in

terms of program. Creat ing an

offset of p lan brought a group of

new opportunit ies .

L ike Luis Khan’s Salk Inst itute and the Pacif ic ,

the use of f igure ground is put in p lace to

frame a v iew of the c ity. The des ign takes

this idea one step further by off-sett ing the

f igures to create a dynamic system of des ign.

Taken from Luis Barragan’s Mexico City Home,

wal ls in certa in f loors do not fu l ly scale to the

cei l ing. Al lowing those in the space to understand

there is more around the corner, but st i l l in

mystery; thus pul l ing people through a space.

M O M E N T I I - T H E “ V I S U A L T R A P ”

M O M E N T I I I - M I S A L I G N E D W A L L SMisal igning of

the wal ls served

two purposes.

One; have l ight

f i l ter in through

smal l openings.

& Two; a l low

for immediate

change in

perspect ive with

just the s l ight

change of a

corner.

Observer what

a s l ight move

to the left does

here: (r ight)

P R O G R A MLower Level One

Children’s AreaAccessible from LL2

PrivateCommunity Meeting Rooms

General PublicComputer Stations

Book Shelving

DVD Shelving

Ground FloorPrivate

Community Meeting Rooms

Young Adults AreaAccessible from LL1

Administrative Offices

Street Entrance

General PublicComputer Stations

Book Shelving

DVD Shelving

Lobby/ReceptionBook Display

First FloorPrivate

Community Meeting Rooms

Patio Space

General PublicComputer Stations

Book Shelving

DVD Shelving

“The View”A place for reflection

Second FloorPrivate

Private Reading Rooms

Patio Space

General PublicComputer Stations

Book Shelving

DVD Shelving

SocialCommunity Meeting Rooms

Lower Level Two

Lobby/ReceptionPrivate Reading Rooms

General PublicComputer Stations

Book Shelving

DVD Shelving

Reference Area

Parking Lot Entrance

P R I VAT E & P U B L I C

Ult imately, everyone essent ia l ly has

a d i f ferent v iew and/or perspect ive

of the same area. There are d ist inct

locat ions for the pr ivate & publ ic , yet

they are a l l part of a greater whole.

C I R C U L AT I O NGround

FloorSecond

FloorFirst

FloorLower Level Two

Q U I C K R O U T E S

Dest inat ions for those looking to get

in and get are much c loser to main

entrances & c irculat ion. Ult imately

result ing in lesser travel t ime (r ight).

Lower Level One

C I R C U L AT I O NGround

FloorSecond

FloorFirst

FloorLower Level Two

M E T H O D I C A L R O U T E S

Methodical results in a longer route

through the l ibrary. This is not a bad

thing, but rather the intent ion.

Lower Level One

D R A W I N G S

N

A. LL2

B. LL1

D. 1st

E. 2nd

A

A

A

B

CDE

C. Ground

T H E C A N Y O N

As the structure serves to

project v iewers to d i f ferent

perspect ives and v iews of the

c ity, the publ ic can f ind refuge

in the open canyon l ike area

where natural e lements are in

p lace to help sooth and re lax.

M O D E L

“ P H O T O G R A P H Y ”

I photograph a very large

array of subject matter. I a lso

work in many other mediums

of v isual communicat ion.

Photography has a ids

architectural th inking in

terms of understanding l ight

and its propert ies , as wel l as

composit ional va lues.

These are p ieces from the year

2014 - 2015; a great year for

explorat ion.

3Photo by E. j . DeoCampo

The Cattedrale d i Santa

Maria del Fiore

Florence, I ta ly

June 2014

The Seatt le Publ ic

L ibrary

Seatt le ,

Washington

January 2015

Sultan Ahmed Mosque

or

Blue Mosque

Istanbul , Turkey

Ju ly 2014

Urban fabr ic of

F lorence Ita ly

Taken from Giotto’s

Campani le

June 2014

Zion Narrows

Zion Nat ional Park,

Utah

March 2014

The Colosseum

Rome, I ta ly

June 2014

Thank you.

- Wyat

The only way to be creat ive over t ime — to not be undone by our expert ise — is to exper iment with ignorance, to stare at th ings we don’t fu l ly understand.

— Jonah Lehrer