nicholas mcmillandesigner, explorer, photographer, traveller, snowboarder, surfer, dreamer, maker.

[ p o r t f o l i o 1 6 ’ ]

“I’ve always wondered why architecture has captured my curiosity and what it is about all these lines, dots, circles and squares that I devote myself to. While still unsure of the answer, my own journey has led me to realize it is not simply about a bunch of lines and dots, but instead drawing and creating my own lines, dots, circles and squares.”

Bachelor of Environments (Architecture major) University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia (2010-2014)

Masters of Architecture University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA (2015-2018)

This portfolio showcases my work, my interests, my imaginative musings and my commentary on key and critical elements of architecture. It can be understood as an insight into the architectural journey that has led me to where I am today, as well a vision into where I hope it continues to lead me into the future.

Photography_ Selection of personal work, 2012-2014

Webb Street Bridge_ Melbourne, Australia, July 2014

Port Melbourne Pier_ Melbourne, Australia, June 2014

Marouba Beach_ Sydney, Australia, June 2013

Drawing_ Selection of miscellaneous drawings, 2011-2013

Form and texture_ University of Washington, February 2013

Observation drawing_ University of Washington, February 2013

Villa Andulusia_ University of Melbourne, November 2011 University Alley_ University of Washington, December 2012

3030 Interchange_ University of Melbourne, November 2013Illustrator, Rhino 3D, Grasshopper + Physical Modeling

Embedded Intelligence_ Architecture Association Visiting School, New York, July 2014Rhino 3D, Grasshopper + Physical Modeling

Conan Doyle Mystery Theatre_ University of Melbourne, June 2014AutoCAD, Rhino 3D, Vray + Physical Modeling

Learning from the Masters_ University of Melbourne, June 2012

Smith House_ University of Melbourne, June 2012 AutoCAD, Illustrator, Rhino 3D + Card Modeling Studley Park Boathouse_ University of Melbourne, June 2012 AutoCAD, Illustrator, Photoshop, Rhino 3D, SketchUp + Podium

Folly_ University of Southern California, Dec 2015Illustrator, Photoshop, Rhino 3D, Grasshopper + Physical Modeling

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contents_

Webb Street Bridge_

Melbourne, Australia (July 2014).

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0202

Port Melbourne Pier_

Melbourne, Australia (June 2014).

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Marouba Beach_

Sydney, Australia (June 2013).

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drawing_Drawing for design, observation, schematics or simple pleasure is part of who an architect is. When I draw, the pen or pencil captures on paper the relationship between my hand and eye. This exercise involved completing a series of observation drawings, first as separate and very elementary line, tone and textural drawings as a precedent and means to developing, layering and building a more complete drawing.

07 UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, February 2013

Form and texture_

Drawing from observation lends one to a unique and fundamental understanding of space and form. We gather a greater understanding for the space, as others or we may exist within or use the space our self. This project examines the flow and experience through the long section of Gould Hall, the architecture building at the University of Washington. These primitive sketches were all completed in fifteen minutes or less, an exercise to teach us to consider the space as a volume and form and in terms of functional use.

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, February 2013 08

Observation drawing_

villa andulusia_Color and texture_Every architect has one or two mediums, which are their favorite to work with. Pen and Copic marker is undoubtedly one of mine; the color and texture adding depth and energy to a drawing black and white cannot. This is a case study of a Mediterranean Villa, the color and texture making it so much more than a typical plan and elevation drawing.

09 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, November 2011

Perspective drawing is one of the oldest drawing and communication techniques. It affords an architect a means of communicating what is perceived by one’s eye, as oneself would experience it. This project is a conceptual design for the adaptive re-use of an alleyway into a green public space and promenade in the University District of Seattle. Here, the use of perspective positions one in the alley, allowing them to be perceptively transplanted into the space. As such, the space can be appreciated for its unique spatial characteristics; tall walls on either side framing the promenade and accentuating its slenderness.

Perspective drawing_

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, December 2012 10

university alley_

3030 interchange_Flow_

11 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, November 2013

Flow is continuous, a phenomenon where form, movement and time come together in holistic synergism. The 3030 Interchange Wyndham Gateway Project explores this synergism, a public installation that serves as an entry statement on a busy highway interchange to an expanding suburban metropolis in the west of Melbourne. It inspires and signifies change and growth, its evolving form creating an arrival experience for passing motorists. As such, as an installation, which is intended to provide an arrival experience the repetitive elements provide a sense of motion, particularly when passed at high speed. Consequently when in motion the form becomes a continuous form, fluidly growing and emerging from the ground.

One of the intrinsic advantages of digital modeling is its potential to facilitate physical fabrication and inform design by consolidating physical modeling and digital modeling together such that they can be used collaboratively to inform one another as part of a recursive system. In this instance, using a Boolean operation and surface unrolling the digital file could be translated to a 2D plane for laser cutting with pre-made fabrication holes and allowing for a 3-dimensional geometry to be fabricated, cut and developed from flat sheets of Perspex.

Boolean Intersection_

Base Curves_

Preliminary Explorations_

Contours_

Physical Fabrication_

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Physical fabrication_

embedded intelligence_All materials and material systems are embedded with implicit capabilities and properties. Over the course of two weeks in New York at the Architectural Association’s ‘Embedded Intelligence’ Visiting School Workshop we explored ‘embedded intelligence’, exploring natural systems and their embedded capabilities. Over the two-week intensive workshop we worked in small groups, examining both a natural system and physical system at a micro level. In interrogating a physical system our group explored the physical manipulation of ‘paper slotting’. Working with both a natural system and physical system and moving to a large scale we were able to combine the two, to create a completely freestanding structure, which aims to achieve lightweight structure. The result was a self-supporting structure made entirely of either paper or cardboard strips folded and slotted together to make one continuous form.

13 ARCHITECTURE ASSOCIATION VISITING SCHOOL, New York, July 2014

Parameters_

Inputs_

Base Geometry_

Contours_

Height Variation_

The AA workshop with its focus on computation encouraged us to employ a systems based approach to design, beginning with a number of inputs, controlled by parameters and consequently producing a subsequent output. As such, by using a number of controllable parameters we could input our chosen systems and create a number of different and optimized outputs.

Output_

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Parametric modeling_

Sometimes, the beauty in architecture lies in its ambiguity and its mystery. Built form communicates on a number of levels and depths. The brief for this project completed as part of a studio class, required that the design of the Conan Doyle Mystery Theatre gather its inspiration from the stories of Sherlock Holmes. As, such, its design in both plan and elevation intends through subtlety to encourage deeper observation and interest, much in the way Holmes himself had a keen eye for detail.

conan doyle mystery theatre_

15 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, June 2014

Second Floor_ Third Floor_ Fourth Floor_ Fifth Floor_ Sixth Floor_Basement

Floor_ First Floor_

Floor plans still represent one of the most important tools for communicating architecture and design. They communicate how the program of a building, home or space is synthesized and its component parts harmonized. In keeping with the thematic influences of Sherlock Holmes the planar layout employs certain irregular geometry, derived from a five-degree rotation in the XY plane. As such, the result, is a meeting of rotated geometry with non-rotated geometry and the creation of a number of irregularly shaped yet functional spaces. Nevertheless, while made up of certain irregular geometry, the overall planning is still based on a loose grid system intrinsically linked with the buildings structural resolution, its column grid dealing with load distribution and load transfer to the ground.

Floor plans_

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Where floor plans are what synthesize a building and develop its shape and form, elevations are what give building’s their character and individuality. In elevation, the geometric aesthetic of the Theatre is revealed, its pattern similarly derived from a geometric pattern based on a five-degree rotation. Working aesthetically, it creates positive and negative space, its logic intentionally inconspicuous at first observation.

Elevation and section_

West Elevation_

East Elevation_

North Elevation_

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Building Sections_

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smith house_As part of a design studio aimed to ‘learn from the masters’ each student was designated a different master with whom to study as a precursor to our design project. This case study is that of Richard Meier and his Smith House in Connecticut, USA.

19 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, June 2012

Private

Public

Circulation

Entrance

Second Floor_

First Floor_

Third Floor_

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South Elevation_

East Elevation_

North Elevation_

Diagramming_Diagramming allows one to break down a building into its elemental components, from which it can be rebuilt and re-understood.

Floor Plan Analysis_

Circulation Analysis_

Massing Analysis_

Spatial Use Analysis_

studley park boathouse_

Rooftop Patio_

Ground Floor_

Upper Floor_

In the style of Richard Meier this project is a design for a boathouse and restaurant complex. Combining public and private spaces it’s design takes into strong consideration the site in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, taking advantage of natural daylight opportunities and river front scenic views.

21 UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE, June 2012

North Elevation_

Building Section_

Building sections and elevations communicate different information to plan drawings. Building sections and building elevations communicate information about how the different levels of a building relate to one another both in structure, spatial purpose, functional purpose and appearance. Nevertheless, where the building section exposes the buildings structure and ‘insides’, the building elevation communicates information about the ‘outsides’ of a

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Elevation and section_

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25 UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, December 2015

folly_In this studio project we were tasked with designing a folly with a free brief and free program for an unused public space in the Koreatown district of Los Angeles. My proposal aimed to influence movement through the site, create seating spaces within the larger context of framing public spaces as well as introducing green softscapes to integrate with the site landscaping.

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Plan View_

Elevation View_

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Section AA_

Section BB_

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nicholas mcmillan

[ Curriculum vitae ]

Australia

Education

University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USAMasters of Architecture2015-2018

University of Melbourne, Melbourne AustraliaBachelor of Environments (Architecture Major)2010-2014

University of Washington, Seattle, USA Exchange Semester2012-2013

Awards + HonorsMelbourne Global Grant Winner University of Melbourne, 2012

Wyndham Young Achiever of the YearWyndham City Council, 2012

USC School of Architecture ScholarshipUniversity of Southern California, 2015-2018

Workshops + Training‘Embedded Intelligence’, Architecture Association Visiting School, New York, 2014Digital Modeling Design Workshop, University of Melbourne, 2013Revit Architecture Short Course, North Melbourne Institute of Technology, 2012AutoCAD Short Course, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, 2011

Exhibitions, Publications + Associations‘Embedded Intelligence’ Workshop exhibition, 2014Architecture Association visiting member, 2014‘ARCH210’ Exhibition of selected student work, 2013Student Organized Network for Architecture member, 2012, 2013, 2014Environments Student’s Society member, 2010, 2012, 2013‘Headspace’ exhibition of selected student work, 2010

Digital CompetencyAutoCADRevit ArchitectureSketchupRhino 3DGrasshopper VrayAdobe suite, particularly; PhotoshopIllustratorInDesign