Archinect
Amanda Gann

Amanda Gann

Nashville, TN

 

About 

Architecture is a way in which we affect the world around us and transform it to be the best we can imagine. Through dedication to learning and growing as designers, architects can create spaces that will have an impact on the lives of its inhabitants. At present, my work addresses the re-weaving of the urban fabric as it pertains to infrastructure. With a careful study of the temporal nature of processes of a city, my research will assess the redevelopment of the symbiotic relationship between man and his environment.  Architecture is about experience.

Elsewhere:

Employment 

Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, Washington DC, Publications and Communications Manager

- graphic design of membership materials, website graphics, print graphics
- managing editor of the Journal of Architectural Eduation
- co-manager of IMADETHAT social media

Dec 2014 - Mar 2022
 

University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, US, Designer and research associate

As a part of a multi-collegiate and interdisciplinary team, I supported a research endeavor looking at the potential re-envisioning of the Interstate 11 corridor to incorporate next generation infrastructural technologies. We produced a publication for which I served as publication coordinator for UNLV. With my fellow coworkers, I also assisted in the development of research and graphics for the Southern Nevada Inventory of Sustainable Systems.

Jun 2014 - Sep 2014
 

University of Tennessee - Ted Shelton, Knoxville, TN, US, Researcher

As a researcher for Ted Shelton, I will study the impacts of the Highway/Interstate on the city of Knoxville, TN. After thorough exploration into the history and morphology of the urban landscape, conclusive graphic analysis will provide readers strategies for transforming Knoxville's highways into thriving places for active urban life.

May 2013 - Aug 2013
 

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, US, Summer Graduate Teaching Assistant

DESIGN121|122 - Summer [Representation Fundamentals]

This 10 week intensive study of the fundamentals of design representation will give students an opportunity to learn techniques for communicating ideas and recording experiences. Focusing on the role of craft and exploration, students will given key assignments that work symbiotically with their design studio to enhance their understanding of design as a profession.

May 2013 - Aug 2013
 

Red Chair Architects, Knoxville, TN, US, Intern Architect

Jan 2013 - May 2013
 

KieranTimberlake, Philadelphia, PA, US, Architecture Intern

As a designer at KieranTimberlake, I was afforded the opportunity to work on the New US embassy in London as a part of the Facade Team. While working on a team of four, which was part of a larger multidisciplinary team of over 60, I was able to work on multiple scales, discuss design moves and work with a number of programs. During the summer, the employees gave monthly presentations on the research that was happening within the firm culminating on a presentation from two of the interns. I worked on Design Development drawings as well as Construction Documents. I specified products and did precedent studies to aid in the overall design development.

May 2012 - Aug 2012
 

Randolph Architecture, Knoxville, TN, Architecture Intern

aided in presentation drawings and renderings for a local restaurant project and a clubhouse, did schematic design for the website design

Feb 2012 - May 2012
 

HBG Design, Memphis, TN, US, Architecture Intern

worked with a multi-disciplinary team to produce presentation drawings to construction documents for large-scale projects, red-lines, materials research and code research, and Autodesk Revit modeling.

Jun 2011 - Aug 2011
 

Education 

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Knoxville, TN, US, Masters, Master of Science in Architecture

In pursuit of my Master of Science in Architecture degree, I will be focusing on the role of speed in today's culture. As one moves through space at a higher speed, what is the perception of space? Can we intervene to embed culture to slow and make people aware of the necessity for engagement with others and their surroundings. With a deep interest in the interface of Landscape and Architecture, I seek to understand the role of landscape in an urban setting.

Aug 2012 - current
 

The University of Tennessee - Knoxville, Knoxville, BArch, Architecture

Aug 2007 - current
 

Awards 

Kawneer/AIAS Enlightening Libraries Competition, Honorable Mention

With the steady advent of new technologies, libraries are becoming more urbanized, collaborative community spaces as well as massive repositories of online data and information. Children, students, and professionals alike utilize libraries as learning platforms; integrating world knowledge, science, history, and technology. The idea of the conventional library as a storehouse of information might become obsolete as traditional books are becoming converted into digital archives. Society is evolving into a Digital Age and embracing new technologies such as downloadable books and devices. Because of this one, one might question what the future library will look like. As awareness of technology grows, new-age libraries should simultaneously grow to accommodate its users. This public center should reach all generations and enable them to learn, interact, and engage with individuals from various cultural and economic backgrounds from all parts of the world.

Not just a quiet, mundane room to sit and read books, libraries will become a place of enlightenment; focusing on learning, natural lighting, and sustainability in both urban and rural communities. This competition will challenge students to investigate and design a public library utilizing Kawneer's high performing products -including entrances and framing systems, windows, and curtain walls. For example, the designer can specify the new InLighten Light Shelves used in tandem with Versoleil SunShades, and OptiQ Ultra thermal Windows to allow for a more open, smart and sustainable atmosphere.

2013
 

Gowanus by Design - Water Works Competition, 1st Place

Based on recent studies, it is likely that the Douglass and Degraw Street pool will be demolished in order to properly remediate the heavily contaminated soil below the pool, which is the site of the former Fulton Manfactured Gas Plant [MGP] site. GbD envisions this as an opportunity to consider a new urban typology while focusing on our protean relationship with water. Fresh water accounts for about 2% of all the water on the planet and as the climate continues to change, clean water is becoming a critical commodity. Its availability is subject to the vagaries of extreme weather patterns, such as droughts, hurricanes, and warm winters. Many designers are now evaluating the “embodied water” in their projects and seeking solutions that minimize the use of fresh water in a building’s construction and operations.

Despite the impact of climate change and efforts by the environmental and design communities, access and use of fresh water is still largely assumed to be a right, rather than a privilege. To challenge these assumptions, the competition program deliberately places two disparate uses of water on the same site. At the canal, the untreated sewage from RH-034, a Combined Sewer Overflow [CSO], is a conduit for waste entering the local environment. At the park, filtered water from the upstate reservoir system fills a pool that supports recreation. By redirecting the first 20% of each storm’s overflow to the park site where it will be stored in a retention tank during heavy weather events, the area in and around the park becomes an active participant in the water management solution that dramatically reduces the canal’s pollution. Design entries should present site-specific solution(s) that simultaneously explore water’s role in recreation, quotidian uses, and in contaminated urban environments, and demonstrate how a new community center and retention facility represent a more progressive view of our city's infrastructure. The jury will look for designs that explore these challenges and propose considering a stronger community node within an area that is slowly establishing its identity as a viable mixed-use urban neighborhood.

2013
 

Special Jury Award for Environmental Sensitivity - Ed Bacon Design Competition, Award

Overview:
When transportation corridors such as highways and rail lines meet dense urban areas, choices must be made about how to balance the needs of the transportation modes and the lively city it intersects. Across the world, cities have found innovative solutions for addressing issues relating to large-scale urban transportation infrastructure. Recently in the U.S. cities such as San Francisco, New York, and Minneapolis have transformed highways into urban boulevards. Boston buried Interstate 93 in the famous "Big Dig," but at a huge cost. Other cities have worked to bridge highways and rail corridors that separate downtowns from waterfronts. With international precedent for design solutions, the Center for Architecture challenges the next generation of urban thinkers to propose novel solutions to integrate Philadelphia's major transportation corridors into its urban fabric.

Competition Objective: Philadelphia's I-76 / Amtrak Corridor
Amtrak's main corridor through Philadelphia lies just outside Center City, on the Western bank of the Schuylkill River, passing through Philadelphia's iconic 30th Street Station. Wrapping around the station and hugging the Western bank of the Schuylkill River, Interstate 76 provides the city with one of its most heavily used entries and exits for passenger vehicles. What opportunities are there for reimagining this complex hub of transit and its integration with the entire city?

2013
 

Tau Sigma Delta Honor Award, Honorable Mention

Each year, a few students who participate in an Undergraduate self-directed design project are chosen to present for a second time to a jury comprised of designers and architects from all over the country. From that design review, the juror select one winner and honorable mentions for the Tau Sigma Delta Honor Award. As an honorable mention, I was exhibited in the UT Honors Convocation Gallery for the duration of the summer.

2012
 

EUReCA Undergraduate Research Award, Award

The Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement (EURēCA) is an annual event that showcases research and creative activities by currently enrolled undergraduate students in collaboration with a University of Tennessee, Knoxville faculty mentor. Entries can be individual or group projects and are judged by a combination of UT Knoxville faculty members and community professionals.

Project: The active mind: the art of imagination
A children's library | Knoxville, TN

This project was influenced by research done on the development of the creative mind of a child as it pertains to architectural space. In the study, I recognized that there were two contrasting requirements for the activation of a child's mind: active play [role-play, exploring, physical activity] and passive retreat [quiet moments of contemplation away from stimulus]

Through the occupation of a post-industrial site, the project sought to restitch the adjacent neighborhoods and create a space for not only the development of the children but a development of a sense of community as a whole, which fosters the intellectual and creative growth of a child.

2012
 

AIAS Chapter President Honor Award, 1st Place

The American Institute of Architecture students awards the Chapter President Honor Award annually to a deserving leader within the nation. Highlighted for leadership and service for the AIAS, the nomination is made by individuals from the local schools and awarded at the FORUM event hosted each winter.

2011
 

Hnedak Bobo Design Competition, 1st Place

Annually, a design competition is held at the University of Tennessee awarding competition scholarships to the top student work while studying abroad. The award was given to three recipients in 2010 recognizing excellent design and presentation skills.

2010
 

Areas of Specialization 

Skills