3. a few words...
The following pages are selected work completed during my education at
the University of Detroit Mercy. An example of professional work completed
during a co-op at Hobbs and Black Architects followed by various studio
projects. I thank you for your time in considering the work that follows.
-Chris Gillen
5. Education
University of Detroit Mercy - School of Architecture, Detroit, MI
August 2005 – August 2011
Master of Architecture, Graduation: 2011
Deans Scholar 2005-2011
Student Advisory Group
Studied abroad in Volterra, Italy. Sketching, Analyzing, and
visiting Italian architecture
Relevant Work Experience
Hobbs + Black Architects – Ann Arbor, MI
Fall Intern, August 2008-January 2009
Worked on construction documents for the City Creek Center.
Salt Lake City, UT
Responsible for producing and uploading PDF bid package
drawings for consultants through FTP.
Facade analysis for LEED certification.
Coordinating structural consultants connection details
with construction documents.
Farbman Group - Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, MI
Winter Intern, December 2007-April 2008
Performed a space analysis and produced a database for
medical room usage
Prepared furniture layouts for proposed space use changes
Assisted in project estimating for small scale remodels of
healthcare spaces
Pinacoteca e Museo Civico - Voltera, Italy
Exhibited work - alabaster sculpture and pencil sketches
Proficient in...
Microsoft Office Suite
Auto CAD
Google SketchUp
Adobe Suite: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator
Vray for SketchUp
Physical Model Making
6.
7. Contents
Professional Work
Professional Experience. City Creek Center Salt Lake, UT
Hobbs + Black Architects
Academic Work
Fourth year studio. University of Detroit Mercy Library
Joe Odoerfer
Third year studio. Urban re-assemblage
Noah Resnick
Third year studio. Study abroad. Volterra, Italy
Wladek Fuchs
Fourth year studio. Symbiosis
Amy Green Deines
Freehand sketches.
Graduate Thesis
Graduate Thesis. Sacred/Profane Landscape
Advisor: Noah Resnick (Book available upon request)
8. Professional Experience
Hobbs + Black Architects
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Project: The City Creek Center - Salt Lake City, Utah
During a co-op at Hobbs + Black Architects, I worked
as an intern on the City Creek Center in Salt Lake City,
Utah. The City Creek Center is a 2 block mixed use
development in downtown Salt Lake. Some of my
responsibilities were to assist in the development of
section details using Auto Cad 2010, preparing and
supplying PDF’s of sheet sets for bid and addenda,
assisting in the coordination of structural connections
to building materials, etc. The work shown is a wall
detailing one of the large sconce features that were
to go at the main entry off Main St.
9.
10.
11. Project: University of Detroit Mercy
Architecture Library
This project was developed in a studio with
focus given to the integration of building
systems in design. We were asked to rough size
the mechanical systems, consider natural and
artificial lighting, code constraints, structure,
and compose interior and exterior materials.
In this design, it was a desire to consider a
connection to the existing library, in which
attention was given to the circulation pattern
and integration of new program within the
added space, while opening the building to
the existing campus plaza. The final product is a
three story addition which faces the redesigned
campus plaza.
12. Proposal for redesigned campus plaza
and section relationship.
University of Detroit Mercy Architecture Library
13. campus
cafe
storage
circulation
auditorium desk
0 Floor Plan 1st Floor Plan
stacks stacks
reading reading
room room
2nd Floor Plan 3rd Floor Plan
University of Detroit Mercy Architecture Library
15. Interior - second floor reading room
University of Detroit Mercy Architecture Library
16. Detail of central stair
University of Detroit Mercy Architecture Library
17. HVAC model with structure
University of Detroit Mercy Architecture Library
18.
19. Project: Urban Re-Assemblage.
Considering Tiger Stadium
This studio emphasized adaptive re-use
and understandings of re purposed items.
Beginning with investigations into smaller
scale objects such as a dining chair, the
studio progressed in scale to the re-thinking
of the Tiger Stadium site and structure. In this
investigation, concepts of vertical farming
were explored. Included in the program are
a corner cafe/restaurant, accompanied
by a street accessible grocery store, and
lined with vertical growing platforms and
distribution center. The integration of these
programs to the infrastructure and need of
the community were of importance and
helped to focus the investigation.
20. michigan avenue section.
Distribution center
Warehouse
michigan avenue elevation.
elevations
sections
Growing platforms
trumbull section.
public grocery
trumbull elevation.
Urban re-Assemblage Growing Platforms
22. Michigan Central
Station ( vacant )
I-75
historic Corktown
Neighborhood
Site
Massing model to study
scale implications within the
site context
Urban re-Assemblage Growing Platforms
23. Wire frame model to study
structure, circulation and
lighting conditions
Urban re-Assemblage Growing Platforms
24.
25. Project: Study Abroad.
Volterra, Italy
As part of the University of Detroit Mercy’s
study abroad program, half the summer of
2008 was spent in the hill town of Volterra, Italy.
During this time, we were given instruction
in site drawing, alabaster sculpture, art
history while able to live among the towns
well rooted families. Staying in Volterra for
this time allowed for investigations into the
culture and people which make up such
a place. Given this brief experience, the
project was to design a building which
would house artists abroad and also allow
for the exhibition of their work. Special
considerations were given to proportion,
scale and sense of identity, as the site for
this project was on the edge of the town
overlooking ruins of a Roman Theatre and
the distant city of Pisa.
31. Project: “Symbiosis”
Detroit + Toronto
In this studio, relationships between Toronto
and Detroit were explored. Initial research
was done of both cities which included a
studio partnership with the HOK Toronto
Studio. Presentations were made to
designers and were also featured at a firm
luncheon. Presented here is an architectural
intervention in the city of Detroit. An artery
of the Detroit freeway system divides the
site in two parts. The project consists of a
designed landscape and an anchoring
feature cinema. The cinema is used as a tool
for cultivating this urban site.
33. Above:
Study in site
landscape and the
intersection of east/
west infrastructure
Study models for site
landscape strategy
Symbiosis Detroit+Toronto
34. South facing birds eye of
site landscape with theatre
structure
Symbiosis Detroit+Toronto
35. Daylight rendering of corner
plaza
Night rendering of corner film
plaza and lit rest room structures
Symbiosis Detroit+Toronto
36. Freehand Site Drawings
Drawings completed in Volterra, Italy
‘Baptistry Door’
Volterra, Italy
Freehand Drawing
37. The above sketches were
done as an exploration into
the varied constructions and
textures of facades
Freehand Drawing
38.
39. Project: Thesis
The Sacred Landscape
*Thesis book available upon request
Sacred space often evokes a broadened
sense of awareness, it employs an experience
of emotion, sensation, and memory that
transcends the spatial. Sacred space is
used here as a loose term to describe the
relationship of the human to the built and
un-built environment. Landscape as the
common sense of the term, referring to
the physical articulation of vegetation, as
well as a broadened understanding with
regard to the city as a complex landscape
of many parts. These concepts have been
fused to begin a further understanding for
the treatment of cemetery as sacred urban
landscape.
40. Existing through time Non Universal Journey to
Sacred/Profane Landscape Graduate Thesis
41. A series of conceptual collages were made to
depict emotions and sensations experienced
through the sacred. The visual collages were then
accompanied by a spatial translation and thus
began the questioning of space. These elements
were important in the exchange of architecture,
the environment, and personal experience in the
final design.
Sacred/Profane Landscape Graduate Thesis
42. The former Hudson’s
Department Store site in
downtown Detroit was used
as the site in this proposal.
This SketchUp model was
created after continued
critique and alterations to
the foam model seen on the
following page
Sacred/Profane Landscape Graduate Thesis
