AdAm PetelA210 Liberty Street

Troy, NY 12180(914) 850.1347

adam.petela@rpi.edu

\\ edUCAtION

Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteTroy, NY

Master of Architecture2012 graduation

Academic Adviser: Ted Krueger(518) 276.2562

Thesis Adviser: Carla LeitaoCo-founder, AUM Studio

Binghamton UniversityVestal, NY

B.A. in Art HistoryPre-Architecture, 2004

\\ ReFeReNCeS

Adam DayemPrincipal, actual/office

(212) 363.0479

Demetrios ComodromosPrincipal, Method Design

(212) 203.5524

Simon KimPrincipal, I|K studio(617) 368.0328

John DeSantoDirector of Photography/Senior Editor

Times Herald-Record(845) 346.5863

\\ dIGItAl SKIllS

Adobe Creative Suite expertDigital Fabrication expert

Rhinoceros 3D NURBS modeling3D Studio Max & Maya Mesh modeling

ECOTECT Environmental analysisGIS Software/Information experience

Parametric Modeling experienceMicrostation and CAD drafting

Processing and Arduino experience

\\ PROFeSSIONAl eXPeRIeNCeBohlin Cywinski Jackson Architects – Seattle, WA \\ May – August 2011 – Architectural Intern

• Worked with project leaders to revise construction documents and build photo-ready physical models.• Created diagrams and drawings depicting conceptual intentions for publications and award submissions.• Participated in design development meetings, researched and collected contractor installation data, and developed product demonstration models for client meetings.

Neil Pelone Architect – Troy, NY \\ 2011 to present – Architectural freelance work

• Surveyed and established existing site conditions for the renovation of a historic bank into mixed-use commercial and residential spaces.• Built a model describing proposed residential development for Historic Preservation Board review.• Developed design proposals and marketing material for multiple restaurant redevelopment projects.

Creatacor Exhibits & Displays – Clifton Park, NY \\ 2007-2009 – Graphic Designer

• Created four (4) 30’ x 15’ fabric graphics for OSRAM SYLVANIA’s 2008 “Lightfair” trades how booth. Total fabric budget exceeded $30,000, total show budget exceeded $750,000.• Completely redesigned 72-page annual magazine, multi-page mailers, postcards, fabric bannerstands and a variety of collateral material for Hunter Mountain ski resort.• Gained familiarity with common construction and fabrication techniques, including large-scale printing, metal work, general carpentry, graphics application, and digital fabrication.

Times Herald-Record newspaper – Middletown, NY \\ 2003-2007 – Graphic Designer

• Dramatically improved communication among sports writers, editors and designers, as well as post- production staff through layout/content meetings and post-publication design discussions.• Collaborated with multiple departments and editors to create a 36-page Empire State Games guide, a special wrap-around commemorating the installation of Pope Benedict, and other unique publications.• Responsible for the structure and general architecture of the daily new and sports sections.

\\ AddItIONAl eXPeRIeNCeCenter for Architecture Science and Ecology – NYC \\ Fall 2010

• Selected to study at a satellite research center of RPI located at Skidmore, Owings and Merrill in Manhattan for an entire semester. Performed parametric modelling and research assistance.

Rensselaer Summer Teaching Assistant \\ Summer 2010

• Worked with Adam Dayem (principal, actual/office) to introduce selected high school students to the practice and theory of an architectural education.

Historic Restoration/Demolition \\ Summer 2010

• Worked with Sid Fleisher (principal, SidBuilds) to remove modern additions to a 19th Century residential structure in Troy, NY and restore the building to its original interior structural condition.

Raked Stage Construction \\ Spring 2010

• Designed and built a 24’ x 16’ modular, custom raked stage requiring off-site, prefabricated construction coupled with on-site installation.

\\ AWARdS ANd ReCOGNItION• Selected: Smart Geometry 2012 - Selected student leader of the “Beyond Mechanics” cluster.• Selected: Thesis Awards Review, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute - Fall 2012.• Published: Building Futures: The Hyde at Rensselaer - 2012.• Published: Material Manifestation: Cultural and Material Affects of Shaker Artifacts - 2011.• Finalist: 2009 NORI Awards, Albany Ad Club - Hunter Mountain Magazine.

For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com

For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com

\\ deSIGN deVelOPmeNt StUdIO

The Design Development studio takes a proposed schematic design and moves the project through many phases of design development. Myself and Kieran Martin were paired with engineering students to develop a proposal by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in Den Haag, Netherlands, for a multi-theater performing arts center.

There are four theaters in the building, all of which share a 5th floor, common lobby space. A great deal of time was spent developing the theaters as structural cores in order to minimize the number of columns present in the lobby space.

Box-in-box construction was used to create the theaters. The exterior skin of the theaters are highly developed to create unique spatial experiences as one moves around each volume.

The studio culminates with the building of a large-scale 1m x 1m x 1.5m detailed, physical model.

Fabrication techniques for this model included 3-dimensional printing, laser

cutting and CNC milling.

Digital files were prepared using 3D Studio Max mesh and Rhinoceros

NURBS modelling, as well as Grasshopper 3D parametric scripting.

structure + support

Final Diagram

Perimeter TrussesFloor Beams

Theater Ribs

Continuous Columns

Egress Cores

Structural Development

The structural system for the XYZ Center is driven by the desire for the theaters to be the structural, as well as the cultural “core” of the building. To achieve this, the centrally locat-ed theaters are created from large ribs, from which the floor plates are hung. This allows the theaters to act as single large columns.

The theater volumes are each indi-vidually structured through a steel rib system. These ribs all tie into 6 very large “supercolums” which run continuously throughout the buildings. These columns are 5m deep steel boxes which allow the forces from floors 6-16 to be trans-ferred to the ground.

Perimeter trusses have been placed on alternating floors to in-crease the lateral stiffness of the floor plates. Each truss carries the floor beams of one floor and the ceil-ing elements of the floor below it. These trusses are 5m tall and made from equilateral triangles. They tie into the structural egress cores at the corners, and are supported by small columns at the corner of the atrium space. Equilateral truss members are used to allow for circu-lation through the truss.

The floor beams system for the XYZ Center is a fairly regular steel grid. The floor beams all tie into the pe-rimeter trusses as well as the ribs of the theaters.

The continuous columns are large members with significant eccentrici-ty. The floor plates and beams act to resist horizontal bending moments on the columns, essentially becom-ing belts around the theaters.

Loads on the floor plates of this building follow this basic path:

1. Loads are applied to the floor plates, which transfer the load through a typical joisting plan to the main beams.

2. The beams transfer that load to the perimeter trusses as well as di-rectly to the theater ribs.

3a. Loads applied to the perimeter trusses are moved to the egress cores and down to the foundation.

3b. Loads which move directly to the theater ribs are then transferred to the large continuous columns which then connect to the foundation.

Full system

[Academic use only]

[Academic use only]

\\ SHAKeR CUltURAl mUSeUm

The design of the Shaker Museum and Culture Center is the adaptation of a series of explorative performance diagrams of a Shaker “Case of Drawers” as a lens to examine the material affects, tectonics and context of Shaker culture.

The final museum proposal occupies 10,000 ft2 and is situated in Western Massachusetts. The main feature of the building is a perforated facade which wraps around then entire building. This facade is set away from the environmental envelope of the building, and establishes a dialog between the interior program of the building, the necessary lighting conditions of that program, and the facade perforation necessary to create those conditions. Attention was paid to building orientation and environmental factors.

The wooden facade wraps the entire building, at times penetrating the

environmental envelope. The surrounding deck aligns to these members,

establishing a similar ground condition.

[ VERTICAL CADENCE ] [ SHIFTING VOLUME ][ SYSTEMATIC PARTITIONING ]

[ VERTICAL CADENCE ] [ SHIFTING VOLUME ][ SYSTEMATIC PARTITIONING ]

[ VERTICAL CADENCE ] [ SHIFTING VOLUME ][ SYSTEMATIC PARTITIONING ]

MATERIAL

constructionAFFECT

solid vs. voidPROJECT

Shaker Legacy Museum

Steel W-Flange embedded in foundation

Wood Facing

Wood Facing

Square Steel Tubing

Concrete Foundation

Side Front Back

TYPICAL STRUCTURAL CONDITIONTYPICAL FACADE CONDITION

STRUCTURAL NETWORK

Hanging Wood Post Square Steel Tubing Faceted Plate

For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com

UNROLLED FACADE

\\ COOPeRAtIVe APARtmeNtS

This project is a five-floor, 35 unit, mixed-use apartment complex and medical facility in Boston’s South side. It is cooperatively owned, existing in a neighborhood of interdependent buildings.

The facade system is comprised of interchangeable infill panels. These act as a way to personalize each unit, allowing personalities of the interior individuals to be exist on the exterior of the building. This creates a dialogue between building occupants, a greater sense of responsibility, and increased individuality in a complex urban context.

This also allows for passive control of the interior environment: infill panels can be added or removed to change the total glazing area. Lastly, storage space for the panels has also been considered. For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com

Colored LaminatePlywood

Foam InsulationSidewall Wrap

PlywoodColored Laminate

Each opening is individually glazed

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\\ eCOPHYSIOlOGICAl eNVelOPe

Our drastically changing environment has created the need for humans to adapt our building techniques and concepts to create a more sustainable future. This project engages this challenge by understanding unique animal adaptations. The sperm whale, known for their deep diving abilities, uses the movement of blood and water through its head to alter its specific density during feeding dives. This is an adaptation which deals less with specific geometries but more with specific adjacencies of systems.

The understanding of this biological system was manifested in a high-performance building envelope, applied to an existing structure in Manhattan, NY. The new envelope uses water movement and temperature gradients to insulate the building in a dynamic manner. For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com

A: The modules are deployed on the surfaces between the frames according to their use. B: Collection units are places at the roof to collect rainwater. C: Solar analysis dictates where holding units are placed in order to best absorb solar radiation and heat the water. D: This warm water can then be moved throughout the facade and into the capillary units. E: The increased surface are of the capillary modules allows the warm water to heat the surrounding air, creating an insulating air cavity. F: Penetrations in the interior of the system allows for a Trombe Wall situation to occur, creating interior heat flow.

A

C

B

D

E

F

MOVEMENT

HEART

DISTRIBUTION

VEINS/ARTERIES

EXCHANGE

CAPILLARY

COLLECTION

NARIS

SOUTH EASTTOP

WEST NORTH

3D Studio Max was used to create module units which were then applied to surface geometries using parametric software. Environmental analysis was then used to evaluate the intended performance characteristics of the design.

\\ GRIdSHell CONStRUCtION

The gridshell project was an investigation into a structural system whose unique construction produces specific tectonic results.

PVC pieces were fitted into each other and crossing members were lashed together with electrical ties. Large rotating joints where made where conduit was “bundled” together. This provided the necessary stiffness to pop the entire gridshell into palce. The structure was lifted off of the ground, and bundled points were walked towards each other and anchored. Finally, A louver system was added to mitigate direct sunlight.

The gridshell measured 30’ x 15’ when erected, and had a ceiling height of about 9 feet. The project was built within a strictly enforced 24-hour build period. For more information about me and my work, please visit www.adampetela.com