ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
ETHAN BRAMMEIER
Hands-On Work
Coffee Table
Fall 2011
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My sophomore year at Rend Lake we had an individual furniture design project. Knowing that I was going to be living in Carbondale the next year, I decided to build a piece of furniture for my apartment ahead of time. I decided to spend less time on the shape of the table and more time on the function. This table provides 2 outlet sockets beneath the top portion of the table, which also powers the LED lights hidden inside the table. The power cable is fed through the table leg to hide itself from view. The LED lights can be music activated and also change colors according the the remote options available. To view this design setup in more detail, click here.
New Deck
2012 - 2013
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The old deck around my parents' patio was in need of repair. While I was in college, they removed the old decking and landscaping and asked for my ideas and construction help. By that time, I had 4 years of construction experience. The project took longer than expected, because of the small amount of time available outside of work and school. The deck was made with treated wood framing and composite decking. The flower boxes house outlets, switches, speakers and, of course, flowers. The upper perimeter of them is lined with a 12V LED strip to provide lighting all the way around. To see more of this project, click here.
Personal Projects
2013
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These projects include a desk organizer and a LED picture frame. These projects were done for my own personal use and completed during my free time. I drew everything in AutoCAD first, so it could be laser cut at the school's digital fabrication lab. Both pieces include LED lights that shine through an acrylic panel. The acylic panels are interchangeable, so it is optional to change it with a different one. To see both of these projects from start to finish, click here.
RSO Group
Fall 2014
The Registered Student Organization (RSO) group I am a member of is called "Student's Composing Space". The group is open to all college students, but consists of mainly architecture students. The group was started Fall 2014 by our president Don Olsen and I was the vice president of the group. The goal of this group was to take recyclable materials and turn them into experimental sculptures.
Furniture Project
Spring 2015
For this furniture project we were assigned to build the “Red and Blue Chair.” This chair was designed in 1917 by Gerrit Reitveld as one of the first explorations by the De Stijl art movement. The original chair was made with unstained beech wood and was not painted until the early 1920’s. Part of this project was to have a concept with our design. My concept focuses on the joinery of the vertical and horizontal elements of the chair and also the use of reclaimed lumber. To see more of this project, click here.
Kawai Tsugite Joint
Spring 2015
This piece of joinery was made for an assignment in my history class, Global Traditions. I chose to re-create a piece of japanese joinery called the "kawai tsugite joint". This type of joinery was created by Shinobu Kobayashi while lecturing at Tokyo University. This form of joinery can be rearranged in 3 different ways; either a straight joint or 2 corner joints. To see how it's made, click here.
Taliesin Lamp II
Summer 2015
This lamp was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1925 to be a furniture piece in his home, hence the name "Taliesin Lamp." He designed 2 lamps with this style, one a floor lamp, the other a table lamp (Taliesin Lamp III). I decided to build this lamp because we were suppose to build something that related to our thesis. I used a prairie style design in my thesis and this lamp uses those same design techniques. To see how it's made, click here.