MICHAEL BENKERT | Architectural Portfolio

UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Master of Architecture

Bachelor of Science in Architecture

PORTFOLIO DIRECTORY

100 WEST ELDER DEVELOPMENT | Master's Thesis Project 1

NEWPORT APARTMENT BUILDING | CR Architecture 3

'THE GABLEFRONT' | Who's Next 2 0 5

PORCH PROJECT | Over-the-Rhine Community Housing 7

'THE FOUNDRY AT MADISON' | Niehoff Studio 9

'THE EXCURSION' | Billes Home Design Competition 11

CRANBROOK SPA | SEC Studio 13

WILLIAM McDONOUGH + PARTNERS WORK | Co-op 15

MULBERRY REDEVELOPMENT | Over-the-Rhine Studio 17

100 WEST ELDER DEVELOPMENT | Master's Thesis Project

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Though desirable for buildings to be economic, environmental, and social assets that benefit both shareholders and

stakeholders, the fragmented development process curtails such building projects The inherent integration in the

architect-developer model, however, facilitates the aims of ‘triple top line’ development and is evidenced in this mixed-

use redevelopment located along Findlay Market in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati This design project, which was developed

in conjunction with a 100+ page thesis document in fulfillment of the University of Cincinnati's Master of Architecture

requirements is approached from the standpoint of an architect-developer and features both a building design and

project pro forma (which includes an operating statement, costs summary, and financing breakdown). The 100 West

Elder project is composed of two, first floor commercial spaces with six residential units above, all of which share an

outdoor roof terrace above the new addition. The development is made financially feasible through the leveraging of

historic tax credits and a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) as equity, both of which represent social and

environmental value 2

NEWPORT APARTMENT BUILDING | CR Architecture + Design

As an intern architect with CR Architecture + Design

in Cincinnati, I was a member of a small project team

tasked with the design and construction documentation

of a 93-unit apartment building in Newport, Kentucky

The development, which is located along the banks of the

Ohio River and sits in front of a nearby flood levee wall, is

raised above the 100-year floodplain via structured parking,

which also provides residents with exceptional views of the

water and Cincinnati skyline Expected to achieve LEED

for Homes certification when construction is completed

in 2012, the building was designed and detailed exclusively

in Revit, allowing for superior coordination, both in-house,

and with the structural and MEP consultants who were also

utilizing the BIM software to produce their own drawings

My individual contributions to the project ranged from unit

design, to detailing, to area calculations and code research

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'THE GABLEFRONT' | Who's Next 2 0The GableFront Home is my submission for the

Who's Next 2 0 competition sponsored by

FreeGreen The project is designed to suit the

profi le of a young family looking to use a loan to

purchase an energy effi cient home with a traditional

exterior and modern interiors The GableFront is

confi gured to fi t within the constraints of the long

narrow lot lines populating many of the nations

older suburbs and is dimensioned to accommodate

standard framing modules to minimize material

waste and cut down on labor With regards to

program, the fi rst fl oor consists of the living and

dining area, the kitchen, and the master suite while

the second fl oor features two children's bedrooms,

a homework nook, and a covered outdoor space

Leveraging natural systems to produce open, airy,

light-fi lled interiors with little to no additional up-

front costs the home is comparable in scope and

size to other single-family homes, making it eligible

for fi nancing, yet provides a design quality above and

beyond much of what is currently on the market

Floor Plan Key01 - Main Entry

02 - Front Porch

03 - Living Area

04 - Dining Area

05 - Kitchen

06 - Half Bathroom

07 - Master Bedroom

08 - Master Bathroom

09 - Basement (below)

10 - Offi ce Nook

11 - Children's Bedroom

12 - Full Bathroom

13 - Laundry Room

14 - Children's Bedroom

15 - Rear Porch

* - Garage Not Pictured

PORCH PROJECT | Over-the-Rhine Community Housing

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This project was completed as part of a summer internship for Over-the-Rhine Community

Housing in Cincinnati and serves as a gateway to the new City Home development on Pleasant

Street. The previous porch for the Over-the-Rhine Community Housing office had been

converted to accomodate an additional bathroom in an unsightly and structurally unstable

manner and yet was poised to anchor a multi-million dollar development the organization was

collaborating on with the Cincinnati Center City Development Corporation (3CDC) and Eber

Development. Obviously, the old porch was not making a good first impression on potential

buyers and needed to be replaced in a context that was both sensitive to the historic building

and complementary to the new construction The new form of the structure acknowledges

historic porches in the neighborhood while the color scheme reflects the patterning of the

box bay windows, which is a staple of the City Home project Permit drawing for the project

were reviewed and stamped by local architect, Alice Emmons 8

'THE FOUNDRY AT MADISON' | Niehoff Studio

'The Foundry at Madison' is a development proposal

composed by myself and two classmates as part of

the 2009 Niehoff Urban Design Studio. The site, a

former machine manufacturing campus, is located in

the Cincinnati suburb of Oakley, and is bordered by a

major highway to the west, big box retail to the north,

and a large non-denominational church to the east

Our planning concept focuses on utilizing the site to

connect these otherwise fragmented activity centers

(along with Oakley Square) through a network of

‘great streets’ to provide access and create a sense of

place, which is currently lacking

The economics and program of the development

are centered around the GO Cincinnati Plan, which

was released in 2008 to help the city increase its tax

base through targeted place-based developments The

Foundry meets all parking and SLP requirements, and is

phased in such a way that the project retains a level of

financial feasibility lacking from most student projects.

Rendered perspectives by teammate, Katie Conner

'THE EXCURSION' | Billes Home Design Competition

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‘The Excursion’ is a sustainable affordable single-family residence

designed for an infill site in Uptown New Orleans. The design is

influenced by three staples of the New Orleans’ Culture: the ‘shotgun’

house, the front porch, and the streetcar, and is lifted 8’ off the ground to

avoid water damage from a potential storm surge In terms of ecology,

strategically placed operable windows permit cross-ventilation and allow

for abundant natural lighting, while SIPs construction ensures a tight

building envelope Economically, solar thermal panels and photovoltaics

help lower utility bills, while a versatile layout permits the owners to

rent out space as an additional source of income ‘The Excursion’ is

expected to achieve LEED Gold status while maintaining affordability

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CRANBROOK SPA | SEC Studio

The Cranbrook Spa and Wellness Center project was a culmination of two

quarters of integrated studios in which the issues of structure, environment,

and construction were thoroughly examined and integrated into an individual

building design The architectural intent of this project is for the building to serve

as a mediator between the formal aesthetic of the Cranbrook campus and the

organic nature of the forest beyond This is achieved by approaching the building

as a forest of heavy brick masses contrasted with light-filled volumes. These

contrasts not only reinforce the design intent, but enable a great deal of systems

integration with regards to structure, environment, and construction The

inhabitable brick masses take on multiple roles within the project as they help

to defining program, resist gravity and lateral loads, contain various mechanical

systems, and house all means of vertical circulation This allows for the voids in

between to be completely open and extremely flexible spaces in the event that

the user needs to make changes to the program down the line

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WILLIAM McDONOUGH + PARTNERS WORK | Co-op

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Working for William McDonough + Partners was career changing in that it redefined the way I view architecture

and design as a whole. All the projects I worked on in the WM+P office were crafted with human and environmental

health taking top priority and with principles of nature (such as waste equals food, utilizing current solar income, and

celebrating diversity) serving as primary design guidelines. The ultimate goal of this Cradle-to-Cradle philosophy being

the creation of “net positive” projects in which buildings work like trees and cities like forests

Some of the notable projects I worked on during my six months at WM+P included Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” project

in New Orleans, Hines’ Isola project in Milan, Italy, and the Greenbridge mixed-use development in Chapel Hill, North

Carolina Personal responsibilities included model-making, computer rendering, materials research, diagramming and

exploratory studies816

MULBERRY REDEVELOPMENT | Over-the-Rhine StudioThis group studio project exploring sustainable/affordable housing

opportunities takes form in the redevelopment of two adjacent

properties in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati The Mulberry project is

unique in that it is just as much a real estate development project as

it is an architectural one, requiring site selection, property purchase

solutions, and funding proposals in addition to design work It was the

first studio project any of the team members had taken on in which

budget became a factor in design decisions

The design driver for the project is a trombe wall made of salvaged

windows whose structural grid wraps the existing buildings and

establishes the geometry for the exterior decking systems and

surrounding site development. This strategy unifies design elements,

visually distinguishes old and new construction, and provides residents

with privacy and thermal protection from the elements

The team structure proved beneficial in that it allowed for the detailed

exploration of multiple systems ranging from material selections

to mechanical systems to site development, pricing, and energy

calculations ***Rendering courtesy of teammate, Jess Linz

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