Neil J. Long Design Portfolio

neil j. long
graduate design portfolio

neil j. long
GRADUATE EDUCATION
University of Florida School of Architecture - Gainesville, FL - Master of Architecture, 2010
Honors & Activities
 John W. Stovall Scholarship Awarded 2009
 Otis A. Skinner Scholarship Award 2008
 Arthur Blenn Anderson Scholarship Award 2007
 Publication in Architrave, University of Florida student design retrospective 2008/2009
 Student Liaison for the School of Architecture Studio Culture Committee 2008/2009
 Graduate Teaching Assistant for Theory I 2009
 Teaching Assistant for Design 1 & 2 2007/2008
 Project leader for the annual design & construction of a Sukkah for Hillel at the University of Florida 2008
 Participation in the AIA Florida Healthcare for the Homeless Design Charrette 2008
Proficient in AutoCAD, Rhinoceros with Grasshopper, 3ds Max, SketchUp, Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign
Project experience in Form-Z, ParaCloud, Revit & Ecotect Analysis
GRADUATE STUDIES ABROAD
Vicenza, Italy Fall 2009
• University of Florida Vicenza Institute of Architecture
• Seminars: Italian futurism & rationalism; Italian conversation & grammar
• Studio: Relocation of the Vicenza Public Library within a deteriorated Renaissance garden
Guadalajara, Mexico Summer 2008
• University of Florida Preservation Institute
• Seminar: New strategies of place in rural areas, with special attention to the use of water & the colonial hacienda system
• Studio: Civic building & public promenade in San Martín de las Cañas, a rural Ejido village in the Tequila Valley
Paris, France Summer 2007
• University of Florida Research Center, Paris
• Seminar: The Architecture of Paris: Experiments in Place
neil j. long
GRADUATE EDUCATION
Honors & Activities
neil j. long
GRADUATE EDUCATION
Honors & Activities
neil j. long
GRADUATE EDUCATION
Honors & Activities
UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATIO N
Elmhurst College - Elmhurst, IL - Bachelor of Arts Cum Laude, 2005
English Literature & Music Majors; Philosophy Minor
Honors & Activities
 Omicron Delta Kappa, National Leadership Honor Society
 Lambda Sigma Psi Recognition Society (Music Honor Society)
 Sigma Tau Delta, International English Honor Society
 Dean’s List Fall 2003, Fall 2002, Spring 2001, Fall 1999
 Robert and Goudyloch Dyer Endowed Scholarship Award 2003/2004
 Elmhurst College Music Talent Scholarship 1999/2000
 Classical Gui tar Ensemble Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001; 2002/2003
 Classical Gui tar Ensemble Head of Publicity and Concert Sales 2002/2003
 C o lle ge C o n cer t C h o i r Second Tenor 1999/2000; 2000/2001 Choir Board Member 2000/2001
 Vocal Jazz Ensemble “Late Night Blues” Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001
 Jazz Gui tar Ensemble Guitarist (Performance/Studio Recording) 2000/2001
 J a z z C o m b o Guitarist (Performance) 1999/2000; 2000/2001
 Elmh urst College Jazz Festival Publicity Team 1999/2000; 2000/2001
 Elmh urst College Theater Cast Member 1999/2000
 Elmhurst College Music Department Board Freshman Representative 1999/2000
 The Leader (Elmh urst College studen t newspaper) Staff Writer 2002/2003; Summer 2003
 Southampton Writin g Conference Workshop on Memoir Wri ti n g with Frank McCourt Summer 2003
 P ublication for poetry an d sculpture in Middle Western Voice li terary magazine 2003
 International Club Member 2002/2003
UNDERGRADUAT E STUDIES ABROAD
Oxford, England Spring 2004
• Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Keble College, University of Oxford
• Tutorials: Shakespeare / Greek Tragedy / European Renaissance Art & Architecture
Nijmegen, The Netherlands Fall 2003
• Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen
• Studies: American Literature / Race & Gender in American Pop-Culture / International Law
Milan, Italy Fall 2001 & Spring 2002
• Institute of European Studies
• Università Cattolica, Studies: Italian conversation & grammar
• Accademia Internazionale Della Musica, Studies: Classical Guitar; Music History / Theory
Montego Bay, Jamaica January 2000 & January 2001
• Elmhurst College “Educational Experiences in Jamaica” teaching music to underprivileged middle school children
Honors & Activities
Honors & Activities
neil j. long

selected projects
agua y ladrillo | community center
05
oasis | urban pavilion
31
lanterns | spanish history museum
21
skin | facade project
47

advanced studio summer 2008
program: community center
location: san martín de las cañas
computer modeling: SketchUp
rendering: Podium
agua y ladrillo

san martín de las cañas
Centrally located in the state of Jalisco, Mexico,
San Martín de las Cañas is a small village of 780
inhabitants situated within the Tequila Valley 3,600
feet above sea level. A rural landscape of blue
agave farming and tequila production surrounds
the agrarian village. Operated as a traditional
hacienda up until the agrarian land reform of the
Mexican Revolution (1910), San Martín is now
within the jurisdiction of an Ejido, a region of land
governed and farmed communally and supported
by the state.
Built into a hillside, San Martín de las Cañas
has adapted to the naturally steep grade of the
terrain. With the exception of the old hacienda
town square, nothing commits to an orthogonal
geometry – no road is even remotely flat. The city
has grown organically from a man-made reservoir
along a river, forming an enclave of ad hoc houses
and roads that become part of the landscape itself.
dam
bull ring
site
original
hacienda
| 07 | neil j. long neil j. long | 08 |

agua | water
Every village throughout the arid Tequila Valley has a unique
relationship with water. The most vital of all resources, water
is at times also the most scarce. High above the valley floor,
San Martin is advantageously positioned near some of the
highest cascades in Mexico, allowing it to harness water for
both power and drinking. In fact, narrow aqueducts (both
above ground and embedded into the streets) carry water
through the village to a dammed reservoir, which is also fed
by the San Martin River. The townspeople routinely construct
makeshift dams of their own along these aqueducts to create
personal water supply for laundry or other household needs.
10ft 30ft 50ft 100ft 200ft

Particularly undeveloped, the site at the north side of the
reservoir offered a unique opportunity to expand the free
public space of the town through a multi-use community
center. The site was little more than a discordant
intersection of winding roads, water and landfill. It was the
leftover space of several intersecting axes and geometries
that were never intended to find resolution.
Interestingly, the site provided a prototypical example of
what Eduard Bru coined the “urban void”. While San Martín
is far from the scale of the mega cities Bru refers to in his
Untried Territories, this was still the type of “conflictive
space” that forces the architect or urban planner to invent
new places and new uses. By expanding the reservoir
embankment in the direction of the water, the north shore
of the reservoir is transformed into a functioning public
plaza and promenade. At the intersection of the plaza and
promenade, a new community center is created.
public plaza
community
center
sketches from initial visit map
intersection of site lines

ladrillo | brick
As the soil is rich in clay there is an abundance of brick
makers scattered throughout the Tequila Valley. The design
of the community center incorporated the typical concrete
frame with brick inlays that pervades the architecture of the
region. Not only did it make good design sense to utilize local
materials and methods, it also created an inherent connection
between the architecture and the landscape in terms of both
the natural and fabricated environments.

programmable space
By providing open event spaces as well as private rooms of varying sizes, the
community center can host a wide variety of social events throughout the
year. It also provides much needed accommodations for overnight guests for
bull fights, carnivals and regional meetings of the Ejido. For this reason, the
center is divided into two wings, each with two levels and separate entrances,
to allow for multiple events at the same time.
1 - ejido room
2 - event space
3 - kitchen
1
2
3
2
2
ejido room entrance
event space
10ft 15ft 25ft 50ft

ejido room & laundry
San Martin benefits from a semi-arid climate and a relatively high
elevation, causing little variation in temperature year-round. This allowed
the main gathering spaces of the community center to remain open, with
uninhibited views of the surrounding landscape.
The largest space was designed to accommodate governmental meetings
of the Ejido. The porosity of the tilt-up concrete wall to the south regulates
the wind and sun entering the Ejido room and offers privacy while still
engaging with the adjacent plaza. The room’s massive, cantilevered roof
provides shading while also collecting rain water. Folded metal panels,
which form the ceiling of the Ejido room, act as channels to carry water
to the laundry below.
rain water collection

Several small pavilions and terraced platforms were designed to occupy new landfill
along the reservoir embarkment, offering highly programmable public space for local
residents and vendors. This provides a venue for the regular markets, which are held in
the village. Likewise, the shade offered by the pavilions and the coolness of the water
will most certainly draw more people to the reservoir in the hot summer months. In the
rainy season when the reservoir is high, parts of the terraced platforms will be partly
submerged, providing a visual reminder of the passage of seasons.
water pavilions
public pavilions
water terraces

advanced studio fall 2008
program: pavilion
location: St. Augustine, FL
computer modeling: 3ds Max
rendering: V-Ray
urban oasis

The recent remaking of St. Augustine into
a “living history museum” produced an
unfortunate consequence; a once vibrant
community of artists (especially street artists)
became alienated from any kind of free public
exhibition. The city council went so far as to
issue a ban on all public art within fifty feet of
the tourist-saturated St. George Street.
This project repurposes a parking lot located
in the historic town center, at the intersection
of Cordova and Carrera Streets, into a free
public forum or a place of refuge (an oasis)
within the city. The grassy oasis is designed
to provide a series of small, programmable
urban “room-like” spaces for visiting artists
or weary pedestrians looking for peace and
solitude.
fort
St. George Street
historic restoration
Cordova Street
site
urban oasis

By utilizing a series of traditional Coquina walls, the
space is defined primarily by movement. The seemingly
indeterminate arrangement of planar surfaces produces a
sequence of parallaxes, which are continually redefined as
one progresses through the oasis. The visual porosity (or the
physical depth of the field) fluctuates without anticipation
as one moves in any direction. From the exterior, one
is given fragmented views of what lies inside; from the
interior, one is never without a glimpse of the city beyond
the sanctuary of the walls. By contrast, the canopy is quite
regular, housed within a symmetrical space frame; yet, it
too destabilizes any singular reading of the field below
with glass and mirrored panels of varying translucency that
cast an array of shadows in fleeting patterns. The mirroring
visually bridges the otherwise disconnected spaces,
creating something of a virtual parallax.
C
O
R
D
O
V
A
S
T
R
E
E
T
CARRERA STREET
VALENCIA STREET
Historic Grace United
Methodist Church 1886
section
Ponce de León Hall
at Flagler College 1888
angled mirrors in canopy
reflect underlying spaces

a passing glimpse patterns & parallax

A new corridor linking Grace United Methodist Church and Flagler College
conforms to the modern city grid on one edge while the other edge is
rotated to follow the path of a now buried 16th century Spanish wall - a
subtle reminder of the layers of history beneath St. Augustine.
remembering the wall
5ft 15ft 25ft

lanterns
advanced studio fall 2008
program: Spanish History Museum
location: St. Augustine
computer modeling: 3ds Max
rendering: V-Ray

It is impossible to break ground in St. Augustine without uncovering some evidence of its remarkable
history, especially from the Spanish colonial years. Therefore, it seemed appropriate to house the
proposed Spanish History Museum within the earth beneath an artificial embankment rising from the
edge of the adjoining glacis of Castillo de San Marcos, located on the waterfront just across historic
Highway A1A.
Unlike its 17th century neighbor, the museum’s glacis was designed not to impede the advancement
of unwanted guests, but instead to allow access from every possible approach. The museum glacis,
in contrast to the typically flat Florida coastline, rises just high enough to provide panoramic views of
Castillo de San Marcos and the St. Augustine Marina while respecting the local height ordinances of
the Spanish Quarter. Located beneath a scenic promenade, the Museum’s primary exhibition space is
oriented toward Castillo de San Marcos as a constant reminder of its historical presence.

historic St. George Street
Castillo de San Marcos
pedestrian corridor
Highway A1A
with new frontage road
Highway A1A reconfigured to provide museum frontage road
accessible only to public transportation

1 - exhibition hall
2 - event space
3 - archives
4 - gift shop
5 - courtyard
2
5
3
4
5
1
1
pedestrian corridor links St. George Street and Highway A1A
lobby with lightwell
5ft 15ft 25ft 50ft 100ft

facade minimizes light pollution - mitigating harm to coastal wildlife
5 - courtyard
6 - exterior passage
7 - administration
8 - cafe & patio
9 - kitchen
5
6
7
8
9
exhibition hall
5ft 15ft 25ft 50ft 100ft

The peripheral programs of the museum (lobby, cafe, archives and administration)
are housed in two wings nestled within the constructed glacis. Within the wings,
vertical voids are utilized as a means of capturing light without excessive heat
gain. Externally, the wings are clad in perforated steel panels custom-fabricated
to echo lantern patterns found within the Spanish Quarter. Throughout the
day, the internal array of shadow and light becomes a measure of time, while at
night, the glow from within projects the patterns of light outwards - becoming a
symbolic beacon of light on the St. Augustine waterfront. At the same time, the
building’s facade minimizes light pollution thereby mitigating potential harmful
effects to coastal wildlife.
a bridge provides visitors with exterior passage and interior
courtyard views without requiring entry to the museum

location: Chicago
computer modeling: Rhinoceros with Grasshopper
rendering: V-Ray
environmental analysis: Ecotect
skin
research project 2010

a thickened skin
rethinking high-rise living

marina city towers
architect: Bertrand Goldberg
constructed: 1964
height: 587 ft
program: mixed use / parking / residential
east
tower
house of blues
sax hotel
private drive
smith & wollensky
N.
STATE
STREET
N.
DEARBORN
STREET
west
tower
CHICAGO RIVER
a city within a city
residential floor plans
(parking floors 1 - 20)
east tower floor plan 21st - 52nd
east tower floor plan 53rd - 60th

concrete problems
a skeleton in need of skin
When Marina City was built, it was the tallest reinforced concrete
structure in the world. This engineering feat was obviously a point
of pride for Goldberg and his team of designers, as they chose to
leave a key element of architecture missing - the skin. While the
radial formwork of the towers has become a hallmark of Chicago
architectural style and innovation, it has not withstood the elements
as well as it has the critics.
If one were to visit the towers on any given day one would find a now
familiar array of scaffolding and construction screens wrapping the
towers. The Marina City Condominium Association reports spending
millions of dollars to fix severe structural damage to the signature
cantilevered concrete balconies. Residents complain of constantly
rain-swept balconies and of puddling from deformations in the floor
plates due to constant bombardment by wind.
wind swept rain severe concrete
damage
nine suns
According to Chinese legend, for thousands of years the
Earth was scorched by ten suns. One day a man named
Hou Yi came along and shot down nine of the suns along
with a few flying beasts and dragons thus saving the
people of the world from suffering inevitable destruction.
It is interesting to consider only nine of the ten suns were
shot down. It shows how vital the sun is for sustaining life,
while recognizing too much of a good thing can cause
destruction.
This study of Marina City Towers focused on ways to
address the building’s emergent environmental and
programmatic needs. Specifically, it examined how an
architectural skin may be utilized to protect an otherwise
“skinless” building from the elements and how that then
may affect the interactive spaces of high-rise living. It
was important with Marina City Towers to respect the
character of the existing structure, while allowing a new
identity to emerge. This is fitting given the parable of the
story is that survival is a product of both innovation and
adaptation; in other words, evolution.

sun mapping
evening sun
morning sun mid-day sun
current conditions optimized sun shades
(june - august)
(june - august)
(june - august)
3 pm
4 pm
5 pm
9 am
10 am
11 am
12 pm
1 pm
2 pm
annual average winds
wind analysis
spring summer
autumn winter
prevailing winds
As Marina City Towers are circular in design with sixteen bays rotated on
center, it is equally exposed in every direction, making it especially difficult
to adapt to continually changing conditions. Wind, unlike sun exposure, is
far from constant. However, these prevailing wind diagrams clearly show a
predominance of winds from the southwest, especially in the winter months.
The initial skin studies began by addressing environmental issues of wind,
sun and rain. There are essentially nine hours in a day when sun-shading is
absolutely critical, especially for a high-rise building.

modularity studies
The modular investigations continued by
developing ways of populating surfaces with
sets of components subtly varied according to
irradiation maps.
With this particular example, a component was
stacked and then rotated to varying degrees
relative to the sun-shading desired, thereby
populating the cylindrical surface with a uniform
gradient. A more complex surface would produce
a larger variance in gradation. A full exploration of
this concept can be seen in the Harvard exhibition
of Adaptive Fritting, by Chuck Hoberman.
variable components
To create a building skin, a cylindrical form was populated with modular components
to compliment the repeated modularity of the towers. Secondarily, the components
were varied as they were “grafted” onto the surface, adapting to the given conditions
while creating functional ornament and visual complexity.

neil j. long | 60 |
east
north south
west
Sun studies show how “wrinkles” in a skin can
produce hot and cold spots throughout the day,
as opposed to the smooth surface of a perfect
sphere that has a constant gradient of irradiation
that shifts throughout the day.
The plasticity of the skin may be manipulated by
populating the surface with varying apertures.
As shown, four components populate several
“wrinkled” surfaces and are varied relative to
anticipated average daily irradiation.
skin gradations
| 59 | neil j. long

dynamic shading
variations
indirect/diffused light enters
during peak sun hours
cooling oblique winds
enter folds in skin
turbulence deflected by curved surfaces and driven upward,
avoiding wind-swept balconies
self-shading surface could offer transparency
for views with minimal heat gain
sun
sun shaded by canopy
cooling winds may be harvested
from prevailing direction
cooling winds may be harvested
through overlap of pleated surface
pleated surface creates shifting
pockets of warm and cool air
throughout day
hot air ventilated through opposite
scoop by natural shift in air pressure
hot air ventilated through top of pleats
by natural shift in air pressure
wind catchers

variable component as generator of surface modulation
programmatic wrapping
The boundaries of the skin were expanded so that a type of communal dwelling was realized around the exterior
of the towers. An extended, fully inhabitable component was generated, with possibilities for highly interactive
elements typically not realized by the autonomous balconies of high-rise apartment buildings. This would afford
all residents access to the full 360 degrees of the building’s views. To reduce wind resistance, the curvature of
the component shifts as it wraps the building, creating a cork-screw effect, directing turbulent winds from all
directions up and around the building. Further investigation of this new typology of high-rise living would realize
the expansion of public space at the lower parking levels and possibilities for shared amenities between the towers
and the adjacent Hotel Sax.
wrapping skin
expanded balconies

sun scoop
summer sun
winter sun
sun scoop
In order to avoid limiting
exterior views or inhibiting
the desired winter sun from
reaching apartment interiors,
the new promenade is shifted
upward, so that views are
increased and winter sun angles
from the months of November
to February can reach deeper
into the new atrium space.
The extended balconies
are offset from the existing
towers, creating semi-public
promenades accessible only by
residents. Likewise, an atrium-
like space is made in the gap
between the new balconies and
the old, providing ventilation,
views and light.
balcony expansion
spring & autumn
winter
summer
During the summer the skin
is allowed to breath through
balcony and overhead doors.
This provides natural, yet
controlled airflow into the
apartments while protecting
the interiors from excessive
wind. A natural convection
occurs at each apartment,
contributing to a stack effect
in the surrounding atrium
space.
During the winter all apertures
of the skin (balcony and
overhead doors) are closed,
allowing the skin to serve as a
large insulator for the building.
The stack effect is still present,
as towers naturally induce
variances in air pressure as
they rise. However, it is now
not about cooling the interior
space, but providing a winter
garden for the occupants of
the building.
One of the main reasons to pull the skin
away from the original structure was to
displace the most severe conditions of the
high-rise typology, wind and rain. So when
the exterior temperatures are optimal
for natural ventilation, but the exterior
conditions do not allow for the facade to be
completely open, vents at the bottom and
top of the skin may be used to induce the
stack effect. In fact, such a configuration
would produce a more intense, yet
regulated stack effect than if the facade was
opened at individual balcony apertures.
increased
stack effect
turbulence
rain closed
enclosure
cool air
open
enclosure
hot air
closed
enclosure
stack effect & weather screening
offset
shift

The twisting curvature of the
skin allows for nine variations
in the extended balconies
relative to the fixed module of
the original towers. As the sun
shifts no space is overheated
as the rotated curve of the new
balconies are incrementally
shaded by the floors above.
balcony typography
The new balcony and overhead wing-like doors can be opened durring
favorable conditions thereby allowing the encompassing atrium space
to be naturally ventilated by oblique winds. The twisting skin also
provides varying spatial conditions relative to the fixed module of the
original bays. As shown in the diagrams to the right this was achieved by
modulating the shape of the extended bays on a fixed axis.
extended balcony above
extended balcony below

summer terrace
june 21st
10:45 am

neil j. long | 72 |
winter garden
december 21st
10:45 am

new high-rise living

| 75 | neil j. long
neil j. long
graduate portfolio
1810 NW 23rd Blvd / Apt 231
Gainesville, FL 32605
neiljlong@gmail.com
(630) 217-5664

Neil J. Long Design Portfolio

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