Professional Portfolio

portfolioZack Morris

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credentialsaggieland arkbryan culture center historical building studythe rows at eastgatedallas residencephotographyphotoshop

Zack MorrisEmployersAcceleration Retirement

IT ManagerDallas, Texas

Aug. 2011 - PresentDescription

Providing all IT support for the entire Dallas office of the company. Ranging from program troubleshooting, to complete computer refor-mats. Also installs new machines from the box, and refurbishing pre-

viously used machines when new hires are brought in.

REES & Associates, Inc.Intern

Dallas, TexasSept. 2008 - Jan. 2009

DescriptionA semester-long internship based out of Texas A&M’s semes-ter abroad program. Worked in Construction Administration for a health care project. Processed and submitted answers for RFIs and submittals. Submitted Change Proposals for contractor use.

EducationDallas Baptist UniversityAugust 2011 - May 2013

Masters of Business AdministrationConcentration in Project Management

Texas A&M UniversityMay 2007 - May 2010

Bachelors of Science in Environmental DesignMinor in Architectural History

SkillsRevit, Auto CAD, ADT and Sketchup

Microsoft Word, Power point and ExcelPhotoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Lightroom

Volunteer WorkRaymond Construction

Grand Prairie, TexasObserved Raymond Construction during a million-dollar

Church construction project. Referred to construction documents frequently to check progress of project with the Construction Su-perintendent. Assisted on construction process in laying electrical pipelines, running cables and applying finish surfaces such as tile

and carpet.

Matthew Road Baptist ChurchGrand Prairie, Texas

Worked with Matthew Road Baptist Church’s youth group to de-sign the newly acquired Student Ministry Activity Center. Assisted on renovations by pulling carpet, staining concrete, applied metal sheathing and chair guards, electrical wiring and finish materials

such as vinyl wood flooring.

Habitat for HumanityFort Worth, Texas

Volunteered in the construction of a two-story low income house in north Fort Worth. Placed and cut OSB sheathing on the walls, built and placed the framework for for a few interior walls on the second floor and added framing support for windows and doors on the second floor. Also installed water barrier on outside of first floor.

New Orleans Baptist UnionNew Orleans, Louisisna

Helped to restore a few homes in the Ninth Ward, which was hit the hardest by the hurricane and flooding. We helped paint an elderly gentleman’s house, remove extensive amounts of overgrowth from a disabled gentleman’s backyard, and finally primed and painted a

great-grandmother’s newly built picket fence.

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“When did Noah build the ark....before the flood.”

- Robert Redford

The project goal was to design a sustainable community that would provide shelter, food and services for 100 families in a worldwide so-cial disaster. The site is located an hour outside of the Bryan/College Station area. This was a group project to help us learn how to develop a sustainable project from the ground up.

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The first stage of the proj-ect was to develop the Master Plan. Our design was developed around the concept of rotation due to the way the ter-rain raised towards a hill near the center of the site, we wanted to reduce how much land we had to move in order to con-struct our mega structure. We conceived our layout from the idea of crop rota-tion, and the ideals of the poly face farm. We origi-nated the rotational mo-tion at the highest point on the site, and formed a grid based off of two in-tersecting circles. Every major point on the site is directly linked back to the two circles.

AGGIELAND SUSTAINABLE ARK

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The next phase of the proj-ect was to begin develop-ing the mega structure on the site. As a group, we decided to continue the scheme of rotation by keep-ing a pure geometric form. The best choice that would visually fulfill this concept was the parallelogram. After a few concept ideas and deliberation, we de-cided to make the form into an architectural skin, keeping the pure form, but allowing us to manipu-late the structure within.

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The Final phase of the project was to create the full site model at a scale of 1” = 50’. Our group decided to try and show as much of the actual site as possible, including livestock and crop identification. There are ten exterior homes that live independently from the main structure, as well as a co-generator, stable, and a rodeo located within a quarter-mile radius of the structure.

This was a project for fourth year, first semester. This studio was unique in that it was the first integrated studio at Texas A&M. The studio took the de-sign process and added in the design and specification of the structural elements as well as the systems. The idea was to get the student to understand what else is involved when designing a building besides form and function. The chal-lenge was to design a library of special collections donated by citizens of Bryan, as well as creating a community cen-ter that would get people in-volved in their neighborhoods. Conceptualizing the project was done in a much more dif-ferent manner than a typical studio. The studio professor, Michael O’Brien’s process was to create sketch models out of common materials. There was only a few minutes to derive a concept, so there was not much thought and contempla-tion involved in the designs.

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concept sketches and models

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structural drawingswith load-based weight distributions

After the sketch models were completed, our sys-tems “advisor” took the class outside to show us how to study and observe the day lighting ele-ment of our designs. She had us study the shadow angles of our building, and begin to find solutions for day lighting issues, such as excessive sunlight. The group, after several design concepts and ideas, finally decided on using the concept of the yin and yang, creating harmony and balance within our structure. My group be-gan to develop the building, with hand draw-ings provided by myself, and a revit model.

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The main issue we had, was that our site was very small, and our building was getting too large to fit, so we came up with moving parts of our structure underground, try to harmonize the structure both visually, and spatially. It also made it easier to keep the special collections pre-served underground, away from direct sunlight.As the concept became more of a solid deci-sion, we began to develop what we wanted the exterior was to look like, I sketched out three possible concepts of what we could do with the exterior facade. I tried to in-tegrate the idea of harmony between the two structures in as many ways as I could. We had decided that the common meeting area that was open more hours of the day would be visually open, allowing much more daylight. The other building was a theater or lecture hall, which did not require as much direct light, so that building would appear more dense and solid than the opposite struc-ture. I then attempted to tie them together by one or two small factors, very similar to the yin and yang. The choice and color of mate-rial that was used in both buildings was the best possible tie because it was the easiest vi-sually for someone to make the connection.


initial concept

At midterm, we were brought before a panel of our professors, and the other professor who had the other studio doing the same project. Unfortunately, our review was not good at all, we were basically told to start back over from the very beginning. After speaking with the professor, I decided to move on separately from my group, and begin the process over with the same concept. I took the initial concept and began to abstract it visually, creating more differences between the two structures, while still keeping key similarities to tie the buildings together. Upon final review, I was able to win the ap-proval of my professors, as well as my peers from my presentation.

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VILLA SAVOYE STUDY

This model was for a second year Architectural History course. The design challenge was to replicate a fa-mous modern building from a specific list of famous buildings built from the early 1900s to today. The class was broken up into groups of our choosing, and we were assigned to create a 1/4” scale model of Corbusier’s Villa Savoye. After two weeks of research and studying, we were able to begin construction on the model. I was able to find floor plans that accurately detailed the layout of the entire building. After close compari-son of all of the projects, we were placed second in the class overall in level of detail and craftsmanship.

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The purpose of the project was to teach us how to observe a building already standing, and to be able to replicate every detail to the best of our ability. It helped the group understand to pay attention to every detail within a building, and document it for any small scale reproductions being done after the fact.

VILLA SAVOYE STUDY

This was the final project for my third year studio. The project was a neighborhood of townhouses, each divided up to one house for each stu-dent. Each student was to cre-ate a unique family makeup and backstory. The family was the driving force of the design of the house. The fam-ily makeup was a single mom, her daughter, the grandmother, and a student leasing an extra room in the house. My intent was to bring as much natural sunlight into the building as possible, while creating a feel-ing of spaciousness within a small footprint. The most ef-fective solution was to arrange the spaces vertically, and cre-ate a suitable environment for both children and adults.

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conceptual process

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model production

THE ROWS AT EASTGATE

One year after the project was completed, I decided to go back and design the project in revit, so I could get ideas of what the project would look like with the materials I had chosen, as well as how the lighting would need to be done within the build-ing. Sunlight became an interesting factor in the development of the revit model, because the physical model had more light reflecting off of the materials than in the revit model. I was fortunate by creating the revit model how much light would leak into the interior spaces, so I could determine light placement and intensity. I have always believed how the building appears at night is just as important as it does in the daytime.So, I researched with multiple night renders as well, so I could determine how effective the lighting situation would be throughout the building.

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This was an extra credit project done in a Revit course at Tarrant County College. A full course on Revit was not available when I was at Texas A&M, so I took this class in order to learn the newest software being used in the field today. The house was to be designed however we de-sired, we just had to follow a few guidelines provided by the professor.

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DALLAS RESIDENCE

Building Requirements:

Site: 120’ x 60’Building Area: 60’ x 30’

Minimum Drive Width: 12’Minimum 3 Planting Areas

Foundation: 6” Slab on GradeBasement Foundation: Cast-in-Place

Concrete 12” Thick

Program:

Basement LevelUtility Room

Family Space1/2 BathStorage

Level One2-Car Garage

KitchenMud Room

DiningLiving / Library

FoyerStorage

Level Two2 Bedrooms

Mater Bedroom / BathBath

Storage

The site requirements were sim-ple, two twenty foot setbacks the the south and west, and a ten foot setback to the east. We were given an allowance of ten feet for the second story to overhang beyond the build line. The design by the other students were based off of what they were most familiar with in residence, which was a tradi-tional iconic American home, usually a colonial style or tudor style. I chose to go a different path, and design a contempo-rary home, inspired by Cor-busier , Wright, and many oth-ers. I began forming the house by starting with a complete box, then slowly carving away piec-es. Starting with the driveway, I wanted to have a similar drive like Corbsuier’s Villa Savoye in France. The driveway would go under the house, and would park under and behind, prevent-ing people from seeing when and how many were home.

DALLAS RESIDENCE

The next step was the transition be-tween floors. My goal was to reduce the space used by the stairs as much as pos-sible, giving the occupants more space to function. I began by placing the stairs as a straight entry to the west side of the house, but there were too many steps re-quired to leave them in a straight line. The final solution ended up being that I placed the first few stairs facing the door, and turned them at a landing about two and a half to three feet above the ground, and pushing them out from the exisiting footprint, which was allowable. This then allowed more circulation room, and a nook that would allow the stairs access-ing the basement to not interfere with the rest of the living spaces on the first floor. I left the floor plan as open as possible, which would allow the occupants to be as flexible as they wanted with their person-al belongins. The only separation I used for each space’s use was the change in floor materials from room to room. This allowed guests to be able to converse with anyone on the first floor, and there were no obstacles to prevent interaction.

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The next phase was to develop upstairs. I de-cided to create layers of accessibility. The lay-ers would be based on how much activity non-household members would have in each room. The office and closets were established with the most access, where the bathrooms and bed-rooms would be accessed strictly by members of the household, or overnight guests. The bed-rooms were arranged on the outside edges of the second floor, for privacy, and access to the most sunlight, and the bathrooms were concealed by the bedrooms. The office was left open, but a portable wall would be placed if the owner wished to not be disturbed. Leaving as much open area as possible was necessary in order to allow the most sunlight into the house, reduc-

ing the number of electric lights needed insode the house. The two guest bedrooms, which would probably be changed into kid’s rooms whenever the couple decided to begin a family, were split down the middle, and each had their own private washrooms. However, they would have to share showering and toilet facilities. The master suite is the last room accessible on the second floor, which gave it the most privacy in the entire house. I also designed the Master Bedroom to be the largest of the three, since that was the immediate room to be occupied by the clients. The bathroom I gave the best overall flow to allow the couple to do what they need in the room without interfering with the other.

DALLAS RESIDENCE

The final phase was to complete the base-ment, which was the easiest overall to design. I kept the same open floorplan here as well, allowing the clients to rearrange the rooms however they wished. Downstairs included the mechanical room, a family room, game room, laundry room, storage and a half bath. The mechanical room was placed immediate-ly upon entry into the basement, to allow easy access for any maintenance men. I enclosed the mechanical space also to deter anyone that should not interact with the mechanical/elec-trical equipment, such as small children. I pro-vided a high ceiling of twelve feet to provide

a very hospitable atmosphere, and to make the room easier to decorate for parties and events without causing potential head injuries.The final design concept was the large glass structure on the second floor. Initially, I want-ed to create a unique rain cover,. I decided on the glass as well so more sunlight could be brought into the house. The glass has about twenty percent reflectance, so there will be some sunlight lost, but it was ajust enough to allow sufficient light into the house without flooding over and making it difficult to see. I also had lights set to throw up on the struc-ture at night in order to illuminate the glass.

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excalibur hotel and casino - las vegas, nevada

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PHOTOGRAPHYexperience music project - seattle washington

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crane flower - burbank, california 046

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fountain place - dallas, texas 048

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meyersen symphony hall - dallas, texas |cross-processed| 050

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GRAPHIC DESIGN

Professional Portfolio

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