Electric Vehicle Parking Garage Continued

Here are more images and diagrams I did while creating this project.  These image emphasize the human scale quality of the project with the structure while also showing it's inner workings.  The images and diagrams themselves are self explanatory since I explained most of the project in the previous post about it. If you want even more info on it, Norwich University wrote a story about my thesis project on their online newspaper: http://www.norwich.edu/about/news/2012/060112-electricParking.html

So I will leave the images with this quote from Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan: 

“Global warming isn’t the issue, no matter how much I am

convinced that global warming is or isn’t an issue. It is that

the public is expecting this from us. It’s expecting that car

manufacturers step up and present technology in order to respond

to these concerns. It’s going to change the face of the company,

and it’s going to change the image of our industry”

-Carlos Ghosn, CEO of Nissan

Electric Vehicle Power Cycle Through the Day and How Power Can Shift From Car to Shared Electric Grid to Home and Back Again

Solar Decathlon(s)

In my junior year at Norwich, along with a few other students we designed the very first (and best) rendition of the Solar Decathlon Entry for the 2011 Solar Decathlon.  This building was designed with the intent of affordability and New England style. The base of the building is a simple, weather-proof, highly insulated box with a bump out that can serve as an extended living room or dining area.  The second half of the building was the "double skin" that serves as extra cold storage area on the sides and on top and includes a 4 kW photovoltaic array inserted between a burnt wood facade.  The burnt wood is process done to the wood that starts with burning the wood on all sides, let to sit for 12+ hours to allow the moisture in the wood to reset.  Then brushing off of the burned remains with a wire broom and washing down the board to reveal a smooth dark stain effect and a facade that will never rot and not susceptible to bugs because the wood is essentially burnt and "dead" already.  The building and design reflected a modern approach to the traditional elements in New England homes; such as covered cold storage areas, mud room, open living room/dining area that open directly to outside to deck area.
The overall building was designed to be prefabricated by a modular home builder, then once it arrives on site could be set up and ready to live in less than 8 hours. We estimated that the house could be as low as $110,000-$125,000.





Entry for Solar Decathlon 2013

This rendition was designed with much more focus towards the mass-production.  The base weather-proof, insulated box is still there but the "double skin" (I felt like the major selling point), is removed and replaced with a 2 kW solar patio space. There is also a areas for plants to be grown in planter boxes integrated into the deck. I was hired to do the renderings and consult of the design.

Let me know which one you like better!

Integrating Electric Vehicles

When I designed my thesis project for my Master of Architecture Degree I looked to the controversial and sometimes political concept of electric vehicles and the integration of their charging system. 

Over 95% of a vehicles life is spent parked.  With electric vehicles, their electric "fuel" makes them mobile energy units which they could sell when they are parked and plugged in.  Essentially with electric cars, commuters who travel to work in certain areas park in large areas and with electric cars these parking lots/garages can become energy beacons of towns and cities utilizing energy in electric cars during business hours when electric demand is high and with quick charge stations those same cars could be scheduled to be recharged by the time they leave as the electric demand dwindles down towards the end of the day.

Norwich University Actually did an article about my project: which can be seen here:

http://www.norwich.edu/about/news/2012/060112-electricParking.html

Update: the rest of the photos can be seen here on a later blog post of mine: http://bmarkgardner.blogspot.com/2012/11/electric-vehicle-parking-garage.html

O.K. Corral

Designed for a lecture at Norwich University to spotlight what three great designers, two architects and one innovator, that utilize CNC machines in their designs.
Because Norwich University doesnt usually have 3 lectures at one time and it was the lecture to reveal the use of their brand new CNC machine I wanted to create a poster that caught everyone's eye and drew them in.  On the first level, the three cowboys with T-Bars, an oldschool tool of architects, created a dramatic image with a Gunfight at O.K. Corral movie poster feeling. On the second level one would be able to read the date, location and time, the essentials to the event. Then as they got closer they could read about the three individual lecturers and also see who is sponsoring the event. The poster was liked soo much by the school that it now hangs in the CNC room proudly,.

Opening Up

This past Spring, I did a kitchen renovation for a small house of 4, 2 parents 2 kids.  Since one was just out of college and the other was going into her 2nd year of college, the parents wanted a new look for their kitchen/dining room area with an opportunity to allow the light to enter the kitchen area from the dining area. Using their existing kitchen island table as inspiration to change the design, I pushed the look of the black vertical wood boards into the walls, replacing the wall paper walls with a white upper wall and the bottom black wood boards to create a country wainscoting and give the walls a warmer feel and help accentuate the deep colors of the dark wood theme of the tables and counter-tops. To also give the parents both a space for the two of them to eat when it's just them and to also open up the space so light gets into the kitchen I designed a two person bar that could be sat at on either side.  This allowed them to look towards the outside when its just them or turn towards the kitchen if they were entertaining friends.
Overall giving alternative sitting areas, opening up the divide between the kitchen and giving the area a consistent look made the area feel larger and flow from one area to another easier.

Your Digital Self

This item was created during my Thesis year at Norwich University. While starting my research on electric cars and charging stations needed, it became aware to me that we are very much a "digital" world and with that digital world we infact have a digital self that exists online. This "KEY" would replace your cell phone, credit card, tablet, etc with one item that did it all. It was your access to your digital self. When closed, the device was not much larger than a modern day pen.  The screen would be a roll up touch LCD screen and would undroll by seperating the two parts of the device, allowing you to see you bank funds, social media, email, and even your current personal health. As a security mechanism to discourage it being stolen, a thumb print scanner is equipped to utilize the device.  On the opposite end there is a slot where you could use your device for purchases and accessing places like your home, work, vehicles, and computers. Inherent in the concept of my electric vehicle thesis, the device was designed with technology that is all available today, with the access slot, partial thumb print scanner, and yes, even the roll up touch LCD screen, even though you cannot go pick one up at Best Buy yet.

Studio House

Back in the Summer of 2012 I did a design for a modular timber-frame sustainable home for an outdoors-man near Thornton, New Hampshire.  The building was originally going to be built once by less than 10 people in relatively a small amount of time. It also included a studio/workshop for the owner who was a designer and avid off-road bicyclist.  The large windows were designed to bring light farther into the house to lessen the lighting load on the house and increase the heating load for the colder months in New Hampshire. While the house was small, it was designed for a couple who had room to increase their family size if they decided to.

Bruce Mau

Bruce Mau, internationally famous designer known for redefining a company through all variances of design and architecture.  About 8 months ago I was fortunate enough to design a poster for Bruce Mau when he visited my school at Norwich University. 

Inspired by Bruce Mau's own graphic design and use of typology, color, and images that are more than they seen, I created this poster from the words "BRUCE MAU DESIGN + MASSIVE CHANGE NETWORK" while using a variance of color to make his name pop from the many words. I then utilized putting voids in the mass of wording to create the rest of the information on the poster. Bruce Mau ended up taking a print with him and it hangs up at his home studio now with my signature on it.

  

I put the two variations of the poster here, the white one being the original pinned up and the one Bruce Mau took home.

Bruce Mau's website can be reached at brucemaudesign.com

About Me

A quick bit about me:

• Graduated last year from Norwich University with my Master of Architecture Degree and a minor in Graphic Design

• Lived in Littleton NH up until last year

• Spent a Semester in Germany 

• Avid Car Enthusiast

• Designed Lecture Posters for some of the Nation's Top Architects and Designers