Jordan Elias' architecture student portfolio

jordan eliasarchitecture portfolio

selected works: 2010 | 2011 | 2012

228 ronning close | edmonton, ab | t6r 1z4

(204) 333 [email protected]

CONTACT INFORMATION

Jordan Elias

228 Ronning Close

Edmonton, AB

T6R 1Z4

(204) 333-5374

[email protected]

SKILLS

• Strong researcher (6 years’ experience in post-secondary, 2 years’ experience in government)

• Articulate writer

• Eloquent public speaker

• Enthusiastic collaborator

• 1 year’s experience in hand drafting

• 4 years’ experience with Adobe Photoshop 5.x and 1 year’s experience with Adobe Illustrator

and Adobe InDesign

• Working knowledge of AutoCAD 2012 and Rhinoceros 4.0

• Extensive knowledge in HTML, CSS and Joomla

EDUCATION

B. Environmental Design specializing in Architecture

University of Manitoba • September 2011, ongoing

• Completed studio coursework focusing on: hand drafting technique, knowledge in AutoCAD

2012 and Rhinoceros 4.0, and gained experience in model building.

• Completed technology coursework focusing on: research and hand drafting to understand

structures, loads, wall assemblies, and environmental sustainability practices.

B.A. Philosophy and Political Science with Distinction

University of Alberta • September 2005 to December 2009

• Double Major. Emphasis on phenomenology, spatial theory, and identity politics.

WORK EXPERIENCE

Offi ce of Councillor Kim Krushell

Communications Director

March 2010 to August 2011

• Provided communications support

• Wrote articles for the Edmonton Examiner and community newspapers

• Maintained and drafted articles for http://www.kimkrushell.com

• Provided social media presence on Twitter and Facebook

• Researched issues like the downtown arena district, the City Centre Airport redevelopment,

urban planning, and youth engagement

• Represented Councillor Krushell on Edmonton's Next Gen Committee

• Co-wrote sponsorship documents, met with potential sponsors, and secured $10000

sponsorship for Edmonton Community Challenge 2011

• Updated terms of reference for Sustainability Committee

• Developed solutions to address citizen concerns by providing information, investigating

issues, and liaising with City of Edmonton Administration

Offi ce of Councillor Dave Loken

Aide

November 2010 to July 2011

• Drafted news articles for Edmonton Examiner and community newspapers

• Developed http:///www.daveloken.com

• Assisted setting up new offi ce by developing on-line and off-line databases

• Researched issues such as transit-oriented development and urban agriculture

Kim Krushell Election Campaign

Communications Advisor

July 2010 to October 2010

• Assisted in development and execution of campaign strategy

• Compiled information used in campaign by monitoring social media sources

• Prepared Kim Krushell for Ward 2 Candidates Debate

COMMUNITY EXPERIENCE

Edmonton's NextGen (http://www.edmontonnextgen.ca)

Pecha Kucha Working Group Volunteer

April 2010 to August 2011

• Provided day-of support in organizing and running Pecha Kucha events 7, 8, and 9

Special Projects Working Group Volunteer

January 2011 to August 2011

• Helped design itinerary for Edmonton Community Challenge 2011

• Coordinated and executed activities during weekend of event

Arts 4 the Alley (http://eote.ca/alley) • Co-founder

May 2011, ongoing

• Worked with volunteers, MADE in Edmonton, and Edmonton the Edge to create Arts 4 the

Alley, a day-long event on August 13 occurring in the Alley of Light

• Co-wrote sponsorship documents, met with sponsors, and secured $800 in sponsorships

• Recruited volunteers, participants, and sponsors for event

• Coordinated planning of event activities

MADE in Edmonton (http://www.madeinedmonton.org) • Member

October 2010, ongoing

• Worked with Progress Unlimited to host Designing Downtown: Between Two Cities, which

took place April 6 2011

• Assisted in hosting Edmonton Design Exposed: How a Decade is Made 2000-2010, which

took place from October 14, 2010 to October 21, 2010

Big Bear FC • EDSA Soccer Coach

April 2009 to August 2011

• Worked with a group of twenty players to achieve both team and individual expectations

• Cultivated and nurtured strong team spirit and philosophy

• Provided regular feedback to players on both team and individual levels

• Organized practices and team social functions

• Administrated fi nances

INTERESTS

• Community engagement

• Urban design issues (e.g. transit-oriented development, infi ll development, repurposing

existing structures)

• Architectural theory (e.g. writings by Kengo Kuma, Terunobu Fujimori, Juhani Pallasmaa)

• Spatial theory and philosophy (e.g. Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Gilles Deleuze,

Henri Lefebvre)

• Minimalist art (e.g. Anne Truitt, Robert Motherwell, Canan Tolon)

• Art and sculptural installations (e.g. James Turrell, Olafur Eliasson, Richard Serra, Walter de

Maria)

• Soccer (playing and coaching)

REFERENCES

• Available upon request.

When I was a kid, I would walk around different neighbourhoods with my

mom to look at the houses. One day we discovered a house unlike any other;

it had glass tiles, curved walls and steel fl ourishes. We called it “the science

lab”. My mom and I still call it that.

I want to design the kind of architecture that I experienced together with

my mom. I want to make architectural memories as vivid for other people as

“the science lab” remains for me.

This portfolio shows both personal work and work from my Bachelor of

Environmental Design studies program at the University of Manitoba.

My work attempts to work through small details and discovering

relationships within a site in order to discover an appropriate, sensitive

architecture.

Contentschallenging the everyday

triptych: working through photography

constructing the triptych

topographic dream space

exploring thresholds within the city

01

02

03

04

05

Revealing the EverydaySociology 448

This project calls into question

typologies of space and typical objects

we encounter every day.

The installations critique how we

conduct our lives by refl ecting back to

us our understandings, memories and

practices of the everyday. By revealing

the contingent nature of the everyday, we

open up possibilities for investigating and

deepening our understandings of the world.

01

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | revealing the everyday

By mounting paintings in the river valley, the space operates simultaneously as a functional space—it

becomes an art gallery while remaining unfettered and natural. In doing so, the practice of viewing

art in gallery spaces is challenged: must art be shown in a building where space is delineated for

things in order to be functional? Critically, how does the change of context from the everyday

space affect how we feel about the paintings?

This site is set in Edmonton’s Whitemud neighbourhood where three houses fell into the North

Saskatchewan River. The installations not only question the comfort and insularity of “normal” living

rooms by displacing everyday objects—a couch and a lamp—but also speak to the severance

between what was and what is. These items open up anxiety for us because they can no longer be

be taken as part of a comfortable, interior part of a residence: the living room.

Triptych: working through photographyEVAR 3008 Design Studio

The triptych was made by using pan

pastel over three related photographs. The

intent was to let existing elements dictate

how the artwork would unfold rather than

working from a preconceived idea.

It was used as a thematic device

within studio coursework for exploring

architectural interventions.

02

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | triptych: working through photography

Constructing the triptychEVAR 3008 Design Studio

The next stage of work required constructing

a fragment or evocation of the triptych. My

focus was on creating a space rather than an

object that would be still during the day and

come alive during the night.

The work attempts to cultivate an

atmosphere predicated upon the play of

oppositional light sources.

03

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | triptych: working through photography

Topographic Dream SpaceEVAR 3008 Design Studio

My studio had the opportunity to go to

the Cappadocia region in Turkey, which served

as the inspiration for the topographic dream

space.

The selected site comes alive during the

day. trees, which creates a play of light and

shadow. As the sunlight moves across the

room, the tree’s shadow becomes warped due

to the angle of the sun. The surprise of fi nding

the tree underground is the critical aspect of

the site.

04

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | topographic dream space

Exploring thresholds within the cityEVAR 3008 Design Studio

The Exchange Site features a red, metal fi re

escape in front of the Swiss Building and the

Mackenzie Building.

During the day, the site receives no direct

sunlight. At night, the building’s lighting gives

a yellow-orange tone that falls upon the red

fi re escape. As a bare, exposed structure, the

fi re escape is easily understood with a single

look of the eye that makes the voids—the gaps

between the metal members—more prominent

than the members themselves.

05

01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | exploring thresholds within the city


This piece strove

to discover

an appropriate

colour palette for

an architectural

intervention. It worked

from pre-existing

conditions found

within the images to

explore possibilities of

assembly and collage.

Sections are

representational image

that purport to the

reality of the site. By

treating this section

of a fi re escape as a

malleable image that

could be duplicated

at different scales and

oirentations, I hoped

that a new material

assembly could

reveal itself from pre-

existing notions.


The two plans found

in this spread follow

a similar technique

to that used for the

secitons of the fi re

escape. Again, I hoped

to fi nd a different way

to understand the

site and refl ect upon

spatial possibilities

for an architecture by

working through pre-

existing conditions to

fi nd something new.

Rather than focus on

the entirety of the

image, I fi nd it’s more

revealing to identify

moments within the

works.


A limitation of

working through plan

and section is that

the viewer is not

implicated directly

within the image.

This piece collides

different perspectives

within the site and

has elements of

these perspectives

extend into the other

perspectives to

create an impossible

space. The hope

was to fi nd more

defi nitive architectural

possibilities by

creating new spatial

relationships.

Jordan Elias' architecture student portfolio

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