AN EDUCATION IN

Michael de St. Aubin

ARCHITECTURE

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

RURAL STUDIO : Rose Lee’s House

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT : Baja Score Center

STUDY ABROAD : Urban Retreat

THESIS : Brewing Architecture

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INTRODUCTION

The intention a student usually has when enrolling in architecture school is to receive an education and a degree that will prepare them to pursue a complex and demanding profession. The five years that I spent studying at Auburn University’s School of Architecture not only prepared me for what lies ahead, it instilled in me a passion for the profession and an appreciation of its true potentials and how rewarding it can be.

Auburn’s curriculum offers diverse courses, programs, and volunteer opportunities that allow each student to pursue a well-rounded education. Throughout my time at Auburn I participated at the Rural Studio, lead the design in a Civic Engagement course, spent a semester studying in Rome, Italy, and ended it by completing an intensive, year long thesis project. Although these are not my sole experiences, they are the ones that I believe were crucial to my growth as an architecture student.

This book is intended to both explain and to demonstrate my design sensibility and why my education has prepared me to begin my pursuit of a career in quality design. These projects are done in various size teams and make-ups. The projects are shown in order by the size of the team. The first being the largest team of 16 students and the last being my own thesis.

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RURAL STUDIO : Rose Lee’s House

My first full semester as an architecture student was spent out at Auburn’s Rural Studioin Newbern, Alabama. The Rural Studio offers students the opportunity to gain invaluable design and construction experience, while helping out local families and communities. Having such a powerful experience at an early stage in my education greatly impacted my views on the roles architects can take on in society.

Our class designed and built a new house for the Turner family. Rose Lee and her sons pre-existing house had no insulation, running water, heating or cooling, and had multiple leaks and holes. The family spent a large amount of their time outdoors with friends anfamily members, so our intention was to build them a new house that would greatly improve their living conditions, while enhance their outdoor life style.

Aside from building a new home for a family, our class strived to create a model of sustainability. We focused on using recycled material, passive design strategies, and built prototypes of details to optimize performance and aesthetics. The project team was split into two semesters. I was a member of the fall semester that designed and began the construction of the ‘Machine’, which was the front part of the house that included a bedroom for Rose, the living room, kitchen, and bathroom. The spring semester designed a 2 bedroom addition and courtyard, while completing the rest of the construction.

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ROSE LEEJASON

BJ

MISSY

THE TURNER FAMILY

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PRE-EXISTING HOUSE

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STREET ELEVATION

SIDE & COURTYARD ELEVATION

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SPRING 2009

FALL 2008

FLOOR PLAN

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STUDENT BUILT

COURTYARD CONSTRUCTION

THE ‘POP’

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FRONT PORCH

12 LIVING ROOM

13Wood Finishes, Brick Fire wall, and Exposed Trusses are all Recycled Material

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CIVIC ENGAGEMENT : Baja Score Center

During my fourth year of school, I was selected to be one of two architecture students for Auburn’s new Civic Engagement in the Built Environment (CEBE) course. Run by professorsof the School of Building Science, the elective course was a collaboration between architecture and building science students and, like the Rural Studio, it offered real hands on design and construction experience.

As the lead designer for the Baja Score Center, I worked with other students and faculty to design a start-line Scoring Center for Auburn’s School of Engineering SAE BAJA Club Endurance Race Track. Auburn hosts an annual international competition for SAE BAJA and it needed a building that could facilitate race day and non-race day operations. The school also asked for the project to showcase Auburns enthusiasm and pride for its’ SAE Baja Club.

While the project was done in class, it offered plenty of real world professional experience. As a team, we worked to figure out construction methods, details, and budget estimates. We regularly presented the design to the alumni group that runs Auburn’s Baja Club to insure they were satisfied with the direction it was going. Then once the schematic design was complete, our class presented the project and budget estimate to the Dean of the School of Engineering and he gave us the go-ahead and granted us financing. Construction of the project was completed by April 2012.

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FIRST FLOOR SECOND FLOOR

SITE PLAN

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SECTION

COLUMNS AND SLAB

GARAGE

SCORE CENTER

RACE DAY IMAGE

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FUNDRAISING IMAGE

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SCORING CENTER

STUDENT-BUILT AND DROVE SAE BAJA VEHICLE

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STUDY ABROAD : Urban Retreat

The Urban Retreat was a studio project completed during my third year of school while studying abroad in Rome, Italy. The site, a triangular park within close proximity to the Colosseum, is wedged between a busy street and an 18th-century military hospital. Being one of the few open green spaces in Rome, the project acts as a massive wall that shields the park from the heavy traffic and incloses it like a piazza. The program of the Urban Retreat is a cross between a modern take on ancient Roman Baths and a community civic center.

The formal concept of the building is split into two halves. One half of the building is for activities that need privacy and the other half is for activities that are more public. Theprivate side is a solid mass cladded in stone and it includes a thermal spa, physical therapy rooms, and administrative offices. The public side is transparent with a glass curtain wall that faces the park and includes fitness rooms, a library, an auditorium, a public garden, and a cafe.

At the end of the semester, each group was able to present their projects to a jury of both Italian and American professionals for an inter-studio competition. Out of sixteen other projects, the Urban Retreat was awarded the first-place prize and acknowledged as being the project that most successfully addressed its urban context.

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1st Place

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FIGURE GROUND

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3D SECTION

GROUND PLAN

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BASEMENT PLAN UPPER PLAN

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PARK ELEVATION

LONGITUDINAL SECTION

STREET ELEVATION

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THESIS : Brewing Architecture

For my thesis year at Auburn I focused on further developing my knowledge of the designprocess, 3-D modeling software, and architectural theory. For the past three years, Auburns thesis classes have concentrated on designing solutions to repair the vacant urban core of Montgomery, Alabama. Montgomery’s downtown has suffered greatly from the negative effects of suburban sprawl and has left it seemingly empty. My intentions were to design a building that would stir some excitement and attract people back to the city center, so a brewery with a public beer garden became a good vehicle for this exploration.

The ‘Brew Garden’ intends to act as a social hub, economic incubator, and new source of civic pride for the residents of Montgomery. The site of the brewery is situated on a large square corner lot, where one side faces the entrance to a newly constructed pedestrian alley, with bars and restaurants, and the other side faces the popular minor league baseball stadium. The layout of the brewery acts as an urban link between the two entertainment amenities and will undoubtably self-benifit from the cross traffic. A unique feature of the brewery, besides the beer garden, is the intensive tour it offers for visitors who wish to gain knowledge of the history of brewing and the brewing process.

Along with designing a fun and exciting project for my thesis, I wanted to integrate the use of computational design within some aspects of the project. I opted to follow a process that oscillates between quantitative and qualitative methods in order to design a louver shading system that creates optimal day lighting conditions for the beer garden. Through the use of various environmental analysis software, multiple iterations of the louver system were tested and modified to achieve the desired spatial condition.

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SITE

BISCUIT STADIUMRIVER WALK

DINING &ENTERTAINMENT

THE ALLEY WAY

PARKING DECK

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SITE ANALYSIS

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INSPIRATIONAL CASE STUDIES

OVERCAST: 10 fc

PARTLY CLOUDY: 20 fc

SUNNY: 60 fc

OVERCAST: 20 fc

PARTLY CLOUDY: 35 fc

SUNNY: 80 fc

OVERCAST: 5 fc

PARTLY CLOUDY: 25 fc

SUNNY: 50 fc

THICK TREE

OPEN TRAIL

THIN TREE

OVERCAST: 10 fc

PARTLY CLOUDY: 20 fc

SUNNY: 40 fc

OVERCAST: 21 fc

PARTLY CLOUDY: 40 fc

SUNNY: 65 fc

SUPER SHADED STRUCTURE

OPEN SPACE

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DAYLIGHT INVESTIGATION

Photometer Readingsfc = Foot Candles

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FINAL ITERATION OF OPTIMIZED LOUVERS

LOUVER/TREE DIAGRAM

SUMMER WINTER

LOUVER SYSTEM AXON ROOF PLAN

DAY LIGHTING DIGITAL SIMULATION

CLEAR SKY SIMULATION FALSE COLOR SIMULATION

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38 Street Level

Beer Garden-1 . Cafe-2 . Tour Entrance-3 . Brewery-4 . Porch-5 . Employee Entrance-6 Restrooms-7 . Cold Storage-8 . Kitchen-9 . Loading Dock-10 . Ball Park-11

Pedestrian Alley-12

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40SECTION

TOUR GALLERY

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Pre Tour Gathering - 1 . Tour Gallery - 2 Media Room - 3 . The ‘Conveyer Belt ‘- 4

Garden Bridge- 5 . Gift Shop - 6 . Office Lobby - 7 Offices - 8 . Control Room - 9

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SECOND FLOOR

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3-D SECTION & ARTIFICIAL LIGHT STUDY

LOW-E GLAZED ROOF SYSTEM

STRUCTURAL TRUSS FRAME

OPTIMIZED LOUVER SYSTEM

SPATIAL COLUMN GRID

TERRA-COTTA PANEL FACADE

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EXPLODED AXON

0 fc8 fc

16 fc24 fc

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56 fc 64 fc 72 fc40 fc 48 fc

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BEER GARDEN FOOT CANDLEVERIFICATION ANALYSIS

46 INTERIOR RENDERING

47Hand-drawn with a poppy red prismacolor pencil.