daniel renner + professional design portfolio

PROFESSIONAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO

DANIEL RENNER

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INTRODUCTION TO MYSELF

My first experiences of architecture were of very architecturally insignificant buildings. I grew up in a lower-middle class family in the midwest of the United States, in a small town in Missouri. I became very close with the simple, honest, and often cheap materials and processes. I learned to appreciate the utility inherent in these modest structures. My Grandfather’s detached wood shop was one of my favorite places to be with its piles of sawdust and machinery. I enjoyed it almost as much as the hand made rugs in my Grandmother’s living room where I use to retire to play with my two brothers. My father was not a builder but around my 10th birthday he drafted up a new house for us to live; nothing too extravagant. With the help of my grandfather, two brothers, and myself we helped my father turn his drawings into a reality. I believe that this experience codified for myself my life’s calling; I knew I was to be a part of the designing, building, and shaping of the environments that surround us.

Fifteen years later I have learned to appreciate architecture in new ways. Five years of Architecture school has made me aware of the deeper meanings and implications that architecture carries. I have a stronger grasp of why we a culture make certain things a certain way and how the places we occupy can alter the way we interact. Along the way I have learned many useful skills and gained knowledge about our past. I am beginning to appreciate how important the landscape, furniture, and even a small cup are to our understanding of space. All the while I have not forgotten the beauty of those simple, pure structures that impacted me as a youth. And in fact, my training as an architect has only made me feel more passion and awe toward a lone field barn, a grain silo, or even a detached wood shop. I feel privileged to have found my way into the field of architecture and every day I grow more and more passionate about creating and shaping the space around us.

DANIEL RENNER 31 6 2011

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

URBAN PATHWAY [01]SMALL PRACTICE SPACE [02]

CHASE ST. ANCHOR [03]HSA ADDITION [04]

COMMUNITY STUDIO [05] ART GALLERY [06]

CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC [07]*STUDIO FOR A WATCHMAKER [08]

CITIES ON WATER [09]PHOTOGRAPHY [10]IMAGE MAKING [11]

ABOUT

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*undergraduate thesis project

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URBAN PATHWAY / SPRING 2007SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI

As an early exploration of the qualities of path and site, this project is an urban infill of an under-utilized space between two streets. Using the inspiration of Marjetica Potrc’s work, the project becomes a conglomeration and juxtaposition of local materials, typologies, and structures to provide space for an outdoor art gallery as well as a path for commuters. The path weaves through an eclectic grouping of local traditional techniques all of which revolve around a core concrete ruin. The path terminates at a large indoor art gallery with an outdoor pavilion.

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+ loading dock perspective+ Marjetica Potrc’s Core House

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+ plan

+ shelter detail + path shelter highlighted

DANIEL RENNER PROFESSIONAL DESIGN PORTFOLIO

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PRACTICE SPACE / FALL 2007RURAL MISSOURI

This project was for a <800sf space for young musicians as part of a larger summer camp. The project is sited on a steep 40 degree slope and within a heavily wooded area. Interior space is comprised of three split levels that can be used for separate instruction or together as a larger practice/recital space.

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The juxtaposition of opacity and transparency and the quality of wrapping were selected to explore the formal characteristics of enclosure. Along with an arrangement of interlocking spaces, the two qualities were incorporated with considerations of sound and sight into a design solution.

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+ east elevation

+ the quality of wrapping+ the juxtaposition of transparency and opacity+ section east

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CHASE STREET ANCHOR / FALL 2008SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI

Along Chase Street in Springfield, Missouri, there is a Live / Work artist community. The focus of this project was to create an anchor for the community; a collection of public and private spaces intended to augment the zone and create a space for outside community engagement. The building is sited at the end of the Chase St. footbridge that spans from the urban Commercial St., over the rail yard to the residential Chase St. on the north end.

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+ Chase Street footbridge

* 2009 LIBRARIUM PRIZE NOMINATION

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HSA ADDITION / SPRING 2009DRURY UNIVERSITY SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI

As a study into the integration of mechanical and structural systems into architectural design I was asked to design an addition to our own school of architecture. The Center for the Study of Sustainable Environments as it came to be called was a programmatic expansion including 5 studios, new administrative facilities, two new classrooms, and a 300 seat auditorium.

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The design of the building was intended to be a demonstration of a ‘different’ sort of sustainablility in that the structure would be able to be used and reused for centuries due to its use of a simple concrete load bearing wall system capable of flexibility between different functions. The form of the building resulted directly from a functionality and efficiency standpoint.

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1ST FLOOR GROUND FLOOR

HAMMONS SCHOOL OF

ARCHITECTURE

CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTS

DRURY CAMPUS

+ south elevation+ west elevation

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+ section north

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+ section west

+ section east

+ section south

+ east elevation + north elevation


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+ outdoor gallery / sculpture garden

04HSA ADDITION / SPRING 2009DRURY UNIVERSITY SPRINGFIELD, MISSOURI

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+ auditorium


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PROCESS

During my fourth year at architecture school, I was immersed in a town visioning process. A group of six students and myself as part of the Center for Community Studies (CSS) worked with the community of Montrose, Missouri, a rural agriculture town, to brainstorm possibilities for the future. The team focused on the downtown area of Montrose, local industry, and heritage.

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Throughout the semester the Drury team held four community wide presentations. During these presentations the team presented our research and analysis of the city, facilitated a community brainstorming session, presented the town with initial programmatic concepts, and finally presented a comprehensive visioning document to the city of Montrose.

+ community pavilion

COMMUNITY STUDIO / SPRING 2010MONTROSE, MISSOURI

As of 2010, the city of Montrose, Missouri was looking for a way reinvigorate their economic and social fabric. As part of the Missouri DREAM Ini-tiative Montrose was selected to receive funds to begin a collaborative process to begin to revision its future and ultimately revitalize and preserve the historic character of this small rural town.

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+ city logo

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+ historical artifacts on display


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MICRO GALLERY / FALL 2009 - SPRING 2010SPRINGFIELD INT. AIRPORT, MISSOURI

The Skygallery project was designed and built by three students and myself for the Art Alliance of Springfield Missouri. Funds as well as space were donated by the Springfield International Airport. The Skygallery’s main focus is to provide a space to present local artwork. The design intent included making an occupiable space for rest and reflection.

06PROCESS

After the design process, construction took place in a repurposed automotive garage. The Skygallery was to be designed as a pre-fabricated unit that once completed could be disassembled, shipped to the airport, and then reassembled so as not to interrupt the normal operations of the airport. Construction took approximately six months.

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SKYGALLERY / FALL 2009 - SPRING 2010SPRINGFIELD INT. AIRPORT, MISSOURI

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+ final assembly before shipment

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+ corner detail of the seating area


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06SKYGALLERY / FALL 2009 - SPRING 2010SPRINGFIELD INT. AIRPORT, MISSOURI

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+ the gallery officially opened on April 5th 2010+ a hidden door on this corner leads to an interior framing station and storage


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CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC / FALL 2010KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI

As part of a 5th year comprehensive studio, I took part in a project to present a design solution for a site just south the Nelson Atkins museum, which includes the addition by Steven Holl. The design would be comprised of a theater for dance, a theater for performance, and a conservatory of music. An overall site plan was devised that incorporated all three facilities. In addition a comprehensive building design was presented for the Conservatory of Music.

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a rich musical environment. The form of the building reflects these considerations more so than any aesthetic concept. Individual interior spaces on the upper two floors appear on the exterior envelope as raised window boxes that contain louvers to regulate sunlight. The individual window boxes, when viewed from the exterior as a whole, read as a series of divisible patterns, not entirely unlike written music.

PROCESS

The approach to site development was to create an urban plaza around the three new facilities that would function as a continuation of the University of Kansas just north along with the museum and art district immediately north and a buffer between the urban fabric and the park. The building organization became a direct result of thorough spatial diagramming, functionality concerns, and material construction and detailing that create

* 2011 LIBRARIUM PRIZE NOMINATION

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+ east elevation

+ west elevation

+ south elevation

+ north elevation

+ west section perspective


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+ context model

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+ immediately outside of the auditorium

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+ skylight detail in stair-well


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STUDIO FOR A WATCHMAKER / SPRING 2011 LE BRASSUS, SWITZERLAND

As part of a year long thesis project, research was conducted and a thesis document was crafted in the fall of 2010 followed by the presentation of a designed conclusion the following spring.

My thesis, entitled Image As Communication, began with a love and deep interest in how people graphically represent unrealized ideas. I sought to explore how the notions of space, time, atmosphere, materiality, sounds, and smells (among other things) can and have been represented with imagery. Through my thesis, I advocate a certain level of responsiveness and understanding from the communicator, be it an artist, architect, or poet. I also documented a number of the limitations and potentials certain modes of communication carry.

The designed conclusion to my thesis began as a test of question that I had been harboring for some time about the effectiveness and differences between the hand and the computer as generative forces. The importance of the final product is not particularly based on the design as much as it is the presentation of ideas. The images are not meant to be a representation of actual, concrete, architecture. They are the representation of certain feelings, moods, and attitudes that I had regarding the given program with respect to history, context, site, and my own personal desires and interpretations.

08IMAGE AND COMMUNICATION / FALL 2010THESIS PAPER

INTRODUCTION: Space, Atmosphere, Architecture, and the Image.

SPACE / As a student and lover of the built environment I cannot help but be drawn to the intangible, almost otherworldly qualities of space. Space has the tremendous potential to alter our human experience often evoking memory or altering the mood of those who dwell near or within its bounds. It can possess the qualities of solemn dignity or brash wit. Spaces have the ability to relax or excite. They sometimes promote introspection as well as contemplation; sometimes they are simply silent. But space is anything but purely visual. How voices echo, materials touch, and dust settles are all qualities inherent in a given space. In the greatest examples of architectural space all of the senses are engaged and interwoven to create a certain degree of realness and uniqueness to the architecture. The realness of any space or object can be grasped with the hands, smelled, studied, and compared. A space’s unique character can be felt in its ability to yield under pressure or to reflect the sound of a group of playing children. Space is the receptical for the life the surrounds us. It is mysterious yet familiar, alive yet silent.

ATMOSPHERE / The visual, haptic, aural, temporal, and spiritual qualities of a space along

PROGRAM / For the final project I set out to describe a spatially complex, typologically bizarre, and narratively driven design for a client who is a Swiss watchmaker. The design itself can be understood as a watch. The building is mechanically driven by the power of wind but internally is comprised of the regulating and transitional parts typically found in a watch. These components that one experiences in varied ways have a precision and extreme high level of craft that is countered by the rough board form concrete hull that holds back the earth. In addition, the whirring movement of these parts provide a life to the building’s silence and stillness; a building as machine carved out of darkness.

PRESENTATION DRAWINGS / The images below the red line and on pages 32 & 33 are the research and analytical portion of the presentation. Their purpose is to present a concrete idea as richly and efficiently as possible.

The images above the red line and on pages 34 & 35 are sequential snapshots of the journey through the building. Their purpose is to provide an atmospheric representation of the chain of spaces one would encounter. They are meant to provide the viewer an overall sense of space and mood and allow the viewer to imagine for herself what coming into contact with these spaces could be like.

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+ final presentation layout (photo: Derek Schultz)

* 2011 LIBRARIUM PRIZE WINNER

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with the infinite complexity of the phenomena of everyday life give rise to atmosphere. Atmospheres permeate spaces as a kind of intangible mood to which we form automatic impressions and intuitive responses. Architecture does not have the power by itself to dictate a particular atmosphere, however architecture and atmosphere share an intrinsic connection; the two grow as places from one another. Architecture, time, circumstance, temperature, and the human element all work as one to create a specific atmosphere, for a specific place, at a specific time, to a specific person. It is not a science. Atmospheres are, however, able to be perceived and subconsciously understood, or at least felt, by any inhabitant. These feelings have the power to affect us greatly.¹

ARCHITECTURE / The architect works with real materials and carefully plans the way each piece comes together in an act of joinery. Architecture is in essence manifest in this joinery; this is where we see two different materials coming together in a meaningful way that begin to address man’s need for dwelling or shelter. Architecture is the combining of many parts to create a meaningful whole. The primary aim of this task is to create spaces that shelter people and places that are loved by their inhabitants. Even though the contemporary architect is usually tasked only with

have implications for how they are interpreted. This is especially true for the earliest schematic design phases where overall moods or notions of atmosphere are at stake.

THESIS STATEMENT / As the orchestrator of many parts, architects have a great responsibility and a significant role to be efficient, responsive, and clear communicators to all parties involved in the design and construction of any building project. The architect should reject the notion that technology dictates the standard of communication and should instead seek a more personal and responsive means of such based on circumstance and audience, knowing full well the limitations and expectations that certain modes or types of imagery carry. In the realm of design development, a specific type of dialog should be employed between design collaborators to foster an open dialog of ideas and interpretations of the questions of space, atmosphere, materials, and other considerations currently being explored. Only through a thorough and critical understanding of the potential and limitations that certain modes of communication carry can the architect begin to fully communicate their own values and imagination through imagery. If this understanding is not present, the image becomes a dull, superficial shell of the information that it is attempting to convey.

designing or imagining the to-be-built architecture the architect designs architecture only as a means to build. The act of design is never an end in itself. The conclusion of the architect’s work is to produce a real and tangible thing; namely, a building. The design process is an integral or even foundational part of building.

THE IMAGE / During the design process architects are tasked with describing something that has not yet found its place in the real, concrete world. This description is all that we have to ‘experience’ an unbuilt work of architecture. For this reason the descriptions that an architect creates carry much power. They can literally become the difference between a building being built or not. The architect uses the traditional repertoire of plan, elevation, section, and perspective to explore the many qualities of architecture. And throughout the design phases of architecture certain types or styles of drawings become more or less adequate at describing the questions at hand. A hard-lined construction document is hardly useful during the earliest schematic design phases. Architects must be cognisant of the utility of the drawings that they present and that they use to reflect upon internal questions of the conceptualization of a designed thing. Furthermore, the qualities imbued in any specific drawing carry implicit meanings that


¹ Peter Zumthor, Atmospheres (Basel: Birkhäuser, 1997).

30 N

60’ 150’ 300’

WINDING GEARWINDING STEM CROWN

WIND TURBINESTHE TURBINES USE THE POWER OF WIND

TO TRANSFER ENERGY FROM MOVING AIR TO MECHANICAL MOVEMENT THAT

INTRODUCES ENERGY INTO THE SYSTEM. THE ENERGY IS SENT DOWN THE HILL TO

THE NEXT COMPONENT.

MAINSPRINGMAINSPRING BARRELCLICK

MAINSPRING HOUSINGTHE MECHANICAL ENERGY FROM

THE TURBINES WIND THE MASSIVE MAINSPRING WITHIN THE MAINSPRING

BARREL HOUSING. POTENTIAL ENERGY IS STORED HERE IN THE COILED SPRING FOR TRANSFER TO THE REST OF THE FACILITY.

FOURTH WHEELTHIRD WHEELCENTER WHEEL{COMPLICATIONS}

MOVEMENT AND COMPLICATIONSIN THE BRAIN OF THE SYSTEM

MECHANICAL ENERGY IS PROCESSED, STABILIZED, AND DISTRIBUTED TO THE

VARIOUS FUNCTIONS AND USES OF THE FACILITY. A GEAR REDUCTION REDUCES

THE AMOUNT OF ENERGY REQUIRED FROM THE MAINSPRING.

BALANCE WHEELHAIRSPRINGJEWEL PINPALETTE FORKPALETTE JEWELSESCAPE WHEEL

TOURBILLONSTHE TOURBILLONS ARE THE MECHANICAL

MEANS BY WHICH THE SOLID FLOW OF ENERGY FROM THE MAINSPRING IS

REGULATED AND BROKEN DOWN INTO A MEASURABLE HERTZ CYCLE AND A HIGH

DEGREE OF ACCURACY.

STUDIO FOR A WATCHMAKER / SPRING 2011 LE BRASSUS, SWITZERLAND

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SITE PLAN / 1:60

3131

SECTION AA / 1:10

UPPER PLAN / 1:10

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A A

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3

46

7

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+ numbers correspond to images on pages 32 & 331


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STUDIO FOR A WATCHMAKER / SPRING 2011LE BRASSUS, SWITZERLAND

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1 2

5 6

3333

3 4

7 8


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CITIES ON WATER / SUMMER 2010VENICE & AMSTERDAM STUDY ABROAD

I am grateful that I was able to spend the summer of 2010 travelling Europe and studying its cultures and architecture. While abroad I kept a sketchbook of the many places that I visited through which I was able to hone my sketching and observational skills. Some of my greatest experiences involved visiting the exceptional works of Carlo Scarpa.

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PHOTOGRAPHY

I love to take pictures. Most of my inspiration comes from the beauty that surrounds us. Photography is one way in which I try to capture micro samples of the richness and depth of everyday beauty. The grittiness, randomness, and time-touched realness that one experiences everyday is, in my opinion, some of the greatest beauty of all. These sorts of images, whether natural or built, are my greatest inspiration for my own design work.

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IMAGE MAKING

In my first year of architecture school I took a drawing class that worked almost exclusively in the medium of charcoal. Although most of the examples shown on this page are exercises of observation, it was through this medium that I learned the strength of plasticity in conceptualization, image making, and image recording. I avoid finiteness as long as I can in favor of an image that remains in a rough and intentionally vague state open to the possibility of

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adaptation and interpretation. In the earliest phases of design I typically work exclusively by hand. Often I use pen or pencil but I have found that other mediums such as pastel and watercolor are great tools for capturing and sculpting essential ideas of the qualities of space or atmosphere or materiality. Drawing and image making are fundamental ways of communication in which I am continually striving to hone my craft.

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DANIEL RENNER

1 + 417 838 [email protected]

812 n Fremont Ave.Springfield, Missouri65802

Outstanding 1st Year Student Award / 2006-2007Outstanding 3rd Year Student Award / 2008-2009Steven D. Siebert Scholarship for Study Abroad / 2010Founders Award for Design Excellence / 2010-20113 total Librarium Prize Nominations / 2008-2011Librarium Prize Winner / 2010-2011

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address

undergraduate awards

daniel renner + professional design portfolio

Documents

underutilized space

understanding of space

field of architecture

small practice space

qualities of path

path weaves

experiences of architecture

certain way