MICHAEL MARTORELLI Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University Undergraduate Design Portfolio
THIRD FLOOR
FRONT ELEVATION
SIDE ELEVATION
SECOND FLOOR
Lake House This house was designed for a site overlooking Pandapas Pond, in Montgomery County, Virginia. The plan was derived from a grid system consisting of sixteen columns. One of the main design decisions was to constantly offer the resident a view to the outside. The large main public space was placed at the front of the house and contains floor to ceiling picture windows. A second floor balcony traverses the entire length of the house to allow more openness and light. A spiral staircase allows the resident to access a private study area complete with a widows walk, offering 360 degree views of the surrounding landscape.
GROUND FLOOR
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
CROSS SECTION
VCU MEMORIAL A memorial is an object or place that preserves the memory of a person or event. Memorials should also be places that allow one to celebrate life while remembering death. Since this memorial is a part of Virginia Commonwealth University, an urban college campus, I wanted to give back to the students and allow them to celebrate and reflect upon their own lives. Moving from front to back, the site is organized into three separate areas: a large open plaza, a series of tranquil paths featuring long water trenches, and a quiet, peaceful bamboo grove and plaza. The first area was intended to be a public meeting space. I imagined art exhibitions taking place, and study groups assembling on the large staircase that descends into the plaza. On the opposite side of the staircase is a waterfall that is obscured by a row of trees. One must walk through the plaza onto a gravel path to view the waterfall in its entirety. As the row of trees mature, a natural tunnellike area is created. After walking back up the stairs or up a ramp off to one side, a visitor can then ascend onto a more private location. Narrow metal rails flush with the ground create a series of walking paths that bring you to the other side of the site. These metal rails are cut at certain points to reveal narrow water trenches. Towards the back of this area is a massive granite water feature, which seemingly supplies the water to the
metal trenches and flows down to the large waterfall. To the left of the granite water feature is a grove of bamboo. One must wind their way through the bamboo squares to finally reach another plaza similar to the main one, albeit smaller. The bamboo grove, arranged in a grid pattern, and a smaller plaza were created to be quiet, intimate spaces for private reflection. While in the bamboo grove, one is completely surrounded by the tall grasses and a brick wall. While in the smaller plaza, the large granite block creates a buffer to drown out the noise from the rest of the memorial. Water is one of the most important features in this memorial. In this context, water evokes peace and allows us to reflect upon life. A triangular cut in the granite block reveals the water source. The water flows down one of the surfaces of the cut and into a large trough, then down through the narrow trenches and eventually down to the large waterfall. The water at the source was meant to symbolize the individual, and as it flows down towards the waterfall it becomes wider to represent the entire VCU community. Bamboo is another important feature in this memorial, as it creates the most private space. Bamboo is an extremely fast growing and regenerative grass. At its peak height, it would surround a visitor to create a peaceful interior-like space.
SUSTAINABLE MODULAR HOUSE This house, although designed for coastal areas, can be placed on virtually any site due to it’s modularity and simplicity of construction. Based upon idea’s used in Glenn Murcutt’s Marie Short House, two modular units have been shifted and then pulled apart, thereby allowing one unit to be used for public functions and the other for private functions. Several sustainable design techniques were used in the design. SIP panels were used for the walls and ceilings. Large windows allow for ample daylighting and excellent cross ventilation. An active solar system was utilized on the roof. The metal roof will be used to harvest rainwater, and two rows of photovoltaic panels, each 44 feet long, will provide all of the electricity for the house. Since this house was designed for coastal environments, the threat of hurricanes is very real. To confront this threat, the house can literally close itself for protection during a hurricane. The metal roof will fold down to a horizontal position to protect the PV panels, and the decks along the east and west sides of the house will fold up, protecting the large sliding doors. Window overhangs on the north and south sides will swing down to protect those windows, turning the house into a fortress.
This house was designed and built by myself and 5 other students in Pass Christian, Mississippi, a town decimated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The client was Paul Patin, a town resident who lost nearly everything during the storm. Due to the client’s very specific requests, the final design featured bright, open and airy spaces. The kitchen, dining room and living rooms were all grouped together in the center of the house which featured a sloping vaulted ceiling with a clerestory on the northern side to allow light in, but keep the intense Mississippi sun out. We knew from the beginning that
this space needed to be column-free, so to achieve this we used 30 ft. long TJI beams. On either side of this main public space are the private spaces, including the master bedroom and bathroom, a bedroom for Paul’s son, a bathroom and laundry/storage room. Since the house was raised 12 ft. off the ground, construction was difficult at times, but provided me with a better understanding of coastal design and construction techniques that I would use throughout the following year for my undergraduate thesis.
Piers complete: 09.14.09
All exterior walls framed: 10.17.09
Girders complete: 09.16.09
Wall sheathing complete: 10.22.09
Floor joists complete: 09.22.09
Lower roof rafters complete: 10.30.09
Shear walls framed: 10.06.09
All roof rafters complete: 11.12.09
THESIS [RESIDENTIAL UNITS]
LIVING ROOM PORCH
The southernmost peninsula on the site will contain 33 residential units. These units were designed to demontrate their physical strength and aesthetic beauty. Breaking away from the Gulf Coast vernacular, these residential units are wood boxes within a strong concrete frame. Opposing the customary practice to use the space beneath a structure for parking and/or storage, the ground floor instead becomes an area of value and is transformed into a public, pedestrian space. A raised path on the next level becomes the ‘street’ to provide access to the units. One would then move to the ‘yard’ of the unit, a space completely open to the air that becomes the main outdoor space for each dwelling. Operable panels on this level will allow each resident to configure privacy and shading to their specific needs, therefore creating a visual diversity when viewing the units as a whole. A vertical glass light well penetrating the interior of the residence contains the staircase which brings one up to the main living area.
ENTRY
DINING ROOM
PLAYROOM
BEDROOM
OFFICE
STORAGE
GROUND FLOOR
LEVEL 2
MASTER BEDROOM
LEVEL 3
THESIS [COMMUNITY CENTER] Located on the site’s western peninsula, the community center will evoke ideas of mass, strength and beauty.