Elliot Young – Master of Architecture Graduate from the University of Oregon, 2009.

Current Goals

To secure employment within a forward thinking, environmentally minded, and cooperative architecture practice.

To finish my IDP credit hours while providing valuable educated support  to architecture professionals.

To continue to develop my strong passion for sustainable design within a collaborative team environment.

The Academy & Four-S Construction

The Academy Vancouver, Wa
The Academy is a colonial style brick building built in 1863. The complex began as a hospital, later converted to an all girls school, and finally in the mid 20th century, an office complex. The academy required excessive maintenance efforts, and I was brought on during the summer of 2009 to assist with the preservation of the bell tower pictured here. We provided general maintenance services to office occupants, but spent the majority of the time weatherizing the bell tower to last through many more rainy Vancouver winters.

Four-S Const.
During the summer of and fall of 2009 I worked for a construction company known as Four-S construction. The company specialized in window installation for high performance buildings. The main project I worked on was a large 3 building condominium project on North Portland flashing and installing over 600 windows. This was a wonderful experience, and bolstered my understanding of construction building practices. In addition I worked on several small homes installing windows.

Newest work sample, featuring a plethora of examples from educational, professional, and personal endeavors.

My most recent resume – I decided to try something a bit more graphic in my seemingly never ending quest for the perfect resume. Comments are appreciated.

- Elliot Young

About a month ago, I began devoting some time to the Benton county Habitat for Humanity, assisting them with the design and construction of two homes in Philomath Oregon. The two homes are for low income families, and are designed to be very cost effective, sustainable, and ultimately functional. The two houses, or duplex rather, are connected by a party wall, but are intended to feel very much like two seperate residences.

The homes are pursuing a similar green certification to LEED for Homes, and in fact is offered by the same LEED for Homes provider here in Oregon, Earth Advantage. The Earth Advantage rating system covers many, if not all of the same types of environmentally friendly concepts that LEED does. The major difference however, is cost. And when working with a non-profit, the extra 2500$ to go for LEED for Homes is a LOT of money. I am still encouraging LEED for homes on future project, but it is difficult to secure funding especially in these times.

The drawings have been submitted for permit, and we are to begin construction in the next few weeks. So if you are in the area and want to give back, please join us for the volunteer construction sessions. A schedule will be posted on the Benton county Habitat website found here.

Thanks, and please give back!

-Elliot Young

Most recent work sample layout.

-Elliot Young

Existing facades of the former Pritzlaff Hardware Company buildings (Above)

Ahh Revit. I recently began to teach myself Autodesk REVIT Architecture, and what you see above is my progress thus far. I have found that while this program is complicated and difficult to learn at first, it is in my opinion much more sophisticated then Sketchup or even AutoCAD. I am reasonably experienced in the use of REVIT at this point, and understand the interface (well you can be the judge based on my screen shot).

Modeling in REVIT most definitely takes more time then in my other favorite program Sketchup; but the results are much more accurate and easily readable. The major difference for me is that once I make a 3d model in REVIT, I don’t have to do much else to create floor plans, sections, and elevations, as they are pre-determined and set up prior to starting a project. During my thesis last year, the major headache was dealing with a section plan from Sketchup and importing it into Autocad, where it would be a mess of lines all with the same lineweight, and it would show every line on every object that was within the viewing frame (not fun to clean up).

I also enjoy the fact that in REVIT everything is customizable, and you can create objects, or families (such as the cornice details above) and sweep them across the face of a wall, to show depth and relief. This “sweep” tool is fantastic, especially for historic preservation, where you have existing historic structures that are undoubtedly very detailed and complicated. In addition to that, I have enjoyed the curtain wall tool, and the window/door placement options, allowing me to customize mullion locations and sizes.

While REVIT is a bit more time consuming, the results are light years ahead most other 3d modeling programs…. I am a very happy new REVIT user!

-Elliot

I came across an article discussing a new museum to contain the work of Salvador Dali, one of my favorite and most inspiring artists. The article itself can be found at archdaily.com. I placed a link to it here. I have paraphrased and added a little of my own opinion regarding this interesting project.

HOK along with Beck Group have recently designed a new museum in St. Petersburg Florida to house the work of Salvador Dali’s mysterious artwork.   The entire museum is inspired by Dali’s surrealist paintings and sculptures that defined his career as an artist.

The museum itself is composed of thick cast-in-place 18″ reinforced concrete walls in order to protect the artwork in Florida’s tough weather. In fact, the shell of the museum can withstand up to a Catagory 5 hurricane and winds up to 165 mph. The art is also going to be placed above the flood plain in case of severe rain storms.A triangular glass “enigma” interrupts the concrete structure and represents a recurring theme in Dali’s work. The rational world involuntarily interrupted by the chaotic and surprising natural world. the glass structure also is reminiscent of Buckminster Fuller’s geodesic dome design which was always liked by Dali. It reminds me of Dali’s transition from his early work in Cubism (which nobody ever hears about – however there are hundreds of Cubist paintings he did) to his later insane-like surrealist work.

Reading into the article further, I noticed that the triangular glass structure is so unique that no piece is identical. This is where I get a bit hesitant about it. HOK is known for their desire to be sustainable and they are big on LEED etc. So how is making a glass structure where every piece is unique sustainable?? It must have been a nightmare to fabricate…. (that’s just my opinion and I may be wrong).

By far my favorite part of the project (and probably many other people’s favorite) is the spiral staircase in the shape of a DNA strand to represent Dali’s obsession with Deoxyribonucleic acid. What a fascinating artist, one whom may never be fully understood in his insanity and genuine gift that changed artistic interpretation forever.

In all – I think the project will look great when its completed. Thanks HOK!

I received my LEED Green Associate Credential this last Friday, April 2nd at 3:00pm. The test was 100 multiple choice questions concerning the LEED process, policies, and credit requirements. The test was difficult, as the GBCI does everything that they can to confuse and make it seem as though wrong answers are in fact correct. I was able to see through thier scare tactics, and finished the test in less than an hour (two hour time limit), with a score of 192 / 200.

The USGBC’s LEED certification program for more environmentally friendly buildings is an excellent program that is still relatively young. LEED certified buildings account for only about 14,000 projects built in the united states since 1993, and is growing every year. LEED in itself is positively impacting the way we construct buildings in the US regardless of the fact that it has been employed primarily as a marketing tool for developers. If this is the way we can encourage the use of more sustainable and eco-friendly management of building resources, then I am all for it. Only in a perfect world would most developers out there trying to make a buck actually do LEED because its “the right thing to do” for people and the planet.

Now that I have stepped down off of my soap box. Anyone who is thinking of taking the LEED GA exam…. STUDY GREEN ENERGY! There were many questions on the test regarding policy making behind the procurement of green power. REC’s (renewable energy certificates) were also a hot topic on the exam. Besides that, one should also study REFRIGERANTS like there’s no tomorrow…. The GBCI really likes to know that you can tell what the Montreal Protocol is for. (the phasing out of CFCs in HVAC equipment by the year 2010, and the phasing out of HCFCs by the year 2030.(because those substances deplete the ozone layer, and contribute to global warming)).

The tower, pictured below on the left, is a 24 story mixed use residential building proposed for the underserved royal docks district in London. Studio RHE (Richard Hywel Evans Architecture) is in the planning stages of the project, hoping to begin construction in 2012. The Eco-Tower is wrapped with colored panels on two sides (I believe the east and south); the panels themselves containing photo-voltaic, and solar water heating tubes. The panels and tubes shield the residences from intense sunlight, while absorbing some to produce energy and heat water for the dwelling units. On a third side (my guess is the west side) there is a series of terraced gardens that could serve many purposes (i.e. produce food, reduce storm water runoff, absorb co2 etc.).

SilverTree as it is called, incorporates a plethora of renewable energy systems, and is designed to greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the building. Ground source heat pumps within the buildings foundation assist to offset the energy needed to heat the residences. In addition the building would contain a central biomass energy center. Superior insulation, closable “winter” gardens, and carefully placed windows provide additional thermal efficiency.

the project will be mixed use residential, providing 161 living units of varying sizes and retail/commercial space on the lower levels. Hopefully this project will be a catalyst for the district; influencing further regeneration and conservation through the effective use of an integrated design process. I am loving the “trendiness” of green sustainable architecture!!