Brent Gardner
Designer
"We shape our buildings, thereafter they shape us."
-Winston Churchill
As a graduate of Norwich University with my Master of Architecture Degree in 2012 and my Bachelor of Science in Architectural Studies with a minor in Art in 2011, this website serves to bridge my time as an architecture student and my time working in the profession both for myself and others.
Striving to make my designs the best version of what they could be, sustainable design was a natural influence of my work and inspires me to think of new more efficient ways buildings could be built and save energy. Having been born and raised in Northern New Hampshire I was also brought up with an understanding of the benefits of local business and a culture that firmly believed if you needed to have something done you would have to learn how to do it yourself.
In architecture school, this led me to being one of the most knowledgable and efficient designers in my class who could create an impressive rendering and then bring it into a few other programs to improve it even more or take that same view and hand sketch it as well. During my time at Norwich University I also learned the benefit in experiencing design in other forms. Working on both the 2011 and 2013 Solar Decathlon entry for Norwich University really engaged me in the thought that a building can be sustainable and affordable for everyone. This idea helped guide the rest of my time at Norwich University.
I also gained knowledge during my time at Norwich University through other outlets. Through my job during school as a graphic designer for the architecture department I learned that my passion for design can take many forms and engage people in a completely different way. I also worked as a solar panel and solar thermal system installer and did some work for Habitat for Humanity where even small contributions in design could influence the entire project.
For my graduate year Thesis Project, I researched a topic that at the time was just starting to become a "charged" politcal topic and I never imagined how much it can shape how we design building. This idea was the concept of utilizing electric cars in the design of architecture. When I started the project back in 2011 the concept of an electric car was considered "impossible" and "would never be a useful car." My research into electric cars led me to see they are not only plausible but an area of design that will influence how buildings are going to be designed.
The researched guided me to take my design to take the concept of the the electric car as a mobile energy bank. In this concept, the energy stored in electric cars can be utilized during the middle of the day, when energy is at its highest demand, and when it is parked while the user is at work. The cars would be recharged when the peak demand started to slow during the second half of the day. The result would be clean, localized energy for a town/city to help it get through peak hours of demand and a profit for the electric car user who would get paid to use their energy during the day.
Since architecture school I have been working full-time as an electrical designer for Yeaton Associates and part-time as a freelance designer doing anything from additions to commercial locations and residential homes and graphic designs for local businesses and contractors.
While it was a sharp learning curve at first working as an electrical engineer with a background in architecture, it offered me a great opportunity. I was able to gain knowledge about lighting, communication and power systems that a lot of architects don't have a deep background in understanding. Overall it gives me a wider knowledge base of design when crafting a concept for a building and allows me to have a greater understanding of the energy savings available to me when designing.
It is through architecture and design itself that I can create meaningful, exciting and sustainable buildings.