Chris Laabs

Chris LaabsMaster of Architecture Candidate, 2017 University of Minnesota

Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies 2015University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

262-804-0331chris@chrislaabs.com

chrislaabs.com

International Design InstituteParis Studio | Summer 2013 | Paris, France

Contents4

Brady Street Public MarketMasonry Studio | Fall 2013 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin

6

Kern ElementaryStudio in a Park | Spring 2014 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin

8

Habitat for the Last BlackbirdSite Unseen | Fall 2014 | New York City, New York

12

Dueling Sisters StepsSite Unseen | Fall 2014 | Rome, Italy

14

Chapel WallDetail | Spring 2015 | Milwaukee, Wisconsin

18

NicoLake BuildingBasics Studio | Fall 2015 | Minneapolis, Minnesota

20

Archive for MichelangeloMichelangelo’s Archive | Spring 2016 | Florence, Italy

24

Sketchup

Project Subtitle11 Boulevard Henri IVParis, France

International Design Institute

There are two major public spaces in the project: the cafe and the park. The cafe is oriented to overlook a park on the banks of the Seine allowing for unobstructed panoramic views of the city and specifically Notre Dame and the Eiffel Tower in the distance from the roof of the institute.

The site is a makeshift park and it is important to keep a space that was open to the public. While the new park is smaller, it is quieter and has vegetation instead of gravel creating a quiet and pleasant space for Parisians to escape. Fronted on one side by the existing library, the park is scaled appropriately to the library facade.

Just off the park is the gallery. Separated from the rest of the institute, the gallery is the largest open space and can be used for exhibitions, conferences, lectures, or other large groupings of people. All art can be hung from the ceiling creating a flexible space that can be very quickly transformed to meet the needs of artists, performers, and presenters.

Institut de Design International

International Design Institute | Paris Studio [5]

Revit

Brady Street Market | Masonry Studio [5]

The Brady Street Market is a public gathering place located on west Brady Street. Serving both as a public market and an events space, the market anchors the west end of Brady. It contains permanent indoor stalls which would serve locally grown food and outdoor stalls that are used by farmers, craftsmen, and local artisans.

The market also features several large event spaces for community events. Inside the market, there is a second floor balcony with a kitchen for cooking demos. Outside the market there are two plazas. On the Brady Street level the plaza located between the market hall and outdoor stalls that is the largest space on the site and can be used for festivals and other large events. On the lower Pearson Street plaza, there is a stage with stairs that double as seating and a coffee shop in a renovated pumping station.

710 Brady StreetMilwaukee, Wisconsin

BradyStreet MarketPublic Market

17

Revit, Autocad

Kern Elementary is made of one

continuous hallway which ramps

and curves up four rotations stacked

on top of each other. All high-

energy spaces are located near the

central courtyard with classroom

and other quieter spaces pushed to

the outside. By cutting into the plan,

double height spaces begin to form

lounges, outdoor classrooms, and

lightwells and inform the placement

of additional vertical circulation and

manipulation of the site.

The curving ramp begins to consider

ideas of hierarchy and arrival to the

building. As a student moves up in

years, they move further up the ramp

as a rite of passage. While the design

is full of arrival spaces, the final arrival

is the library, an outdoor classroom,

and rooftop garden with views of the

river and downtown Milwaukee.

3614 North Humboldt BoulevardMilwaukee, Wisconsin

KernElementaryElementary School

Kern Elementary | Studio in a Park [9]

[10] Studio[10] Studio[10] Studio[10] Kern Elementary | Studio in a Park

Kern Elementary | Studio in a Park [11]

Drawing on Mylar

Habitat for the Last Blackbird is a project which considers storytelling through graphic representation. The project does not concern itself with making a visually perfect design, but a project and deliverables which support the narrative.

The project began through site study using the technique of a Situation Normal All Fucked Up (SNAFU) drawing. The resulting drawing, (New York & Chris) gave a sense of scale, shape, and culture of the neighborhood directly surrounding the site.

The project itself is based on the narrative of a sudden plague which kills the city’s blackbird population. Finally, after the city believes there are no more blackbirds, a woman finds a blackbird egg which, the mayor takes advantage of by creating a blackbird “reserve” which actually serves as a testament to his greatness in “saving” the city.

In reaction to the narrative, the drawing represents a park which is first a monument to the mayor and only when it does not inhibit the monument, a blackbird reserve. Habitat for the Last Blackbird | Site Unseen [13]

125 10th AvenueNew York City, New York

Habitat for the Last BlackbirdGraphic Storytelling

[14] Studio

Project Design ToolsRhino

In the founding of Rome, two brothers, Romulus is treated as the wise brother where Remus is the troublemaker trying to destroy Rome. Remus was misunderstood. He was not trying to destroy Rome, he was trying to keep Romulus from making bad decisions because of his ego. Romulus’s city, of course, managed to be one of the most powerful cities in the world for centuries, however the same city created the Spanish Steps. Beautiful steps placed awkwardly into a plaza, with strict rules such as no eating and sitting in the correct manner, and a plaza from which you can’t see the stairs.

On the plaza, a second staircase, with Remus’s intentions is placed. Stairs which are experiential, which lead participants through the surface, rewarding them with views, spaces for contemplation, and even spaces for eating. Initially, the stairs mock the Spanish steps and intimidate the surrounding context, however, they actually right the plaza to the steps, right the city grid, and ultimately bow to the Spanish steps by topping out one meter shorter in height.

Dueling Sisters | Site Unseen [15]

Piazza di SpagnaRome, Italy

Dueling SistersPavilion

Dueling Sisters | Site Unseen [17]

AutoCAD

The Chapel Wall Detailing is a

selected project from a detailing and

construction class taught by HGA’s

Jim Shields. It was a three person

group project where my tasks were

to lead the group on the project’s

details and I also took part in the

initial conceptual design and model

building.

The design concept was to create a

masonry wall from which perforated

metal panels were hung which filtered

light and views. While subtle, openings

were concentrated over windows and

were the size and proportion of the

brick used. Metal C-channels were

also included to catch shadow and

emphasize verticality in the facade.

Design considerations also included

future maintenance and cleaning,

proper drainage, and having a

complete and unbroken thermal

envelope. Chapel Wall | Details [19]

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Chapel WallDetailing

[20] Studio

Rhino

The NicoLake building is a large mixed-use development. Located on the site of the Lake Street K-Mart the project considers how four programmatic elements- retail, multi-family housing, a settlement house (community center), and business incubator can occupy one cohesive building. It also addresses the issues faced with a transit-oriented development, and necessary net to gross ratios for profitable developments.

Finally, the project was integrated with Building Structures and engineers consulted with structural methods and a structural plan was developed.

The design stresses the importance of each programmatic element having its own facade to allow for the expression of its unique function. It also addresses the necessary function of privacy with increasingly private courtyards and entrances, especially for housing and the settlement house which have more sensitive programming that faces the courtyard for privacy from the city without feeling cut off from the outside world. NicoLake | Basics Studio [21]

1 Lake Street EastMinneapolis, Minnesota

NicoLake BuildingMixed Use Building

[22] Basics Studio

NicoLake Building[23]

Rhino

The Archive for Michelangelo is

an addition to the Michelangelo

designed Laurentian Library. The

first half of the studio was an intense

study of the existing building,

Michelangelo, and the Mannerist

style of architecture. The second half

was creating an addition to the library

which would hold original documents

by Michelangelo and space for

researchers to study it.

The design addresses elements of

the original building but in a modern

way in an attempt to reflect Mannerist

ideals translated for a modern day

audience. Most fundamentally the

project plays with light protecting

documents from harmful direct

sunlight but still allowing for large

amounts of carefully filtered sunlight

to enter the space- creating a more

pleasant environment than a sealed

environment of traditional archives.Michelangelo’s Archive [25]

Laurentian LibraryFlorence, Italy

Archive forMichelangeloRare Document Study