1999
Master of Architecture
An Analysis of the Work of Carlo Scarpa
Michael Hamilton traveled to several cities in Italy to study and analyze the work of architect Carlos Scarpa.
Michael Hamilton
University of Nebraska
A research center for artificial intelligence. © Michael Hamilton.
Jury
William Leddy
Brian Lee (Chair)
Peter Pfau
The dialectics of construction and aesthetics is a fundamental consideration in architecture that I find, to be quite interesting. Construction expediency and aesthetic beauty are often at odds. The tradition of “general to specific” with regards to design process inherently disconnects the two, while some, most notably Carlo Scarpa, worked on the design scheme and the details simultaneously. The construction detail is linked to the same conceptual agenda as the diagram of the whole. Both the detail and the diagram for the project require some thought process to delimit the range of possibilities when designing. Thus, there is a symmetry between the detail and the diagram of the project. Both share a common thought which guides selection. However, the detail is subjected to a physicality that the diagram is not. It is this physicality, in its technical and sensual form that is interesting. The detail can be thought of as “material joints” as in the case of two planes of similar or dissimilar materials, or they can be “formal joints” as in the connection between interior and exterior space. In either case it tells the story of the design and enriches the perception of reality by allowing one to simultaneously mentally connect the parts of construction and slip between the space of the parts.
Section, A research center for artificial intelligence. © Michael Hamilton.
Site model, A research center for artificial intelligence. © Michael Hamilton.
Section model, A research center for artificial intelligence. © Michael Hamilton.
Section model, A research center for artificial intelligence. © Michael Hamilton.
A production studio for audio and moving image media. © Michael Hamilton.
Recording studios, A production studio for audio and moving image media. © Michael Hamilton.
A production studio for audio and moving image media. © Michael Hamilton.
Michael Hamilton
University of Nebraska
Michael Hamilton
is well-known for his attention to the integration of a project’s guiding principles from concept to detail, as well as for his commitment to design excellence. An award-winning designer, Hamilton has a special interest in materials, tectonics, and landscape. He is an avid furniture collector and modifier who turned his basement into a fabrication shop where he experiments with wood, steel, and repurposed fragments for furniture and art. Hamilton was previously an assistant professor at Louisiana State University’s School of Architecture. He currently is a lecturer at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Architecture as well as the College of Engineering’s Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction in Omaha where his students work has been featured in academic journals and publications. He received the prestigious SOM Foundation Traveling Fellowship, also known as the “SOM Prize” in 2000, where he studied the work of Carlo Scarpa in the Veneto region of Northern Italy, which fueled his interest in materials and tectonics. He is a past president of the Omaha chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Board of Directors, and a graduate of Leadership Omaha (Class 31). Hamilton cocreated the Kaneko Architecture Design Camps, which allow adolescents to explore urban Omaha through design. It is now in its eighth year. He is also a combat veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne Division in the Gulf War as a paratrooper and mechanic.