Selected Works| 2025
Architecture
architecture
Andrew Johnson
andrew
johnson
“We
perceive the world not only with our eyes, but with our entire body.” — Juhani Pallasmaa
ANDREW JOHNSON
EDUCATION
2023-2027 B.S. Architecture
University of Detroit Mercy
School of Architecture + Community Developement
Minor Business
EXPERIENCE
2025 Emerging Designer
Detroit Collaborative Design Center Detroit, MI
2025 Intern Architectural Designer
Gazall Lewis + Associates Flint, MI
2024 Construction Laborer
McNelly Construction Otisville, MI
ACHIEVEMENTS
2025 AIA COTE Competition
2025 MAF Hamann Fund Undergraduate Scholarship
2025 AIA Flint Donald E. Lee Architecture Scholarship
2025 Knights of Equity Memorial Scholarship
2024 Studio Design Competition
2024 Dichotomy Student Competition
2024 Portfolio Competition Faculty + Student
SKILLS
Modeling | Revit, Rhino, AutoCAD
Graphics | Adobe Suite
Rendering | Lumion, Enscape, TwinMotion
Craft | Physical Modeling + Sketching
PATCHWORK
Collective Housing
Andrew Johnson | Seth Kremsreiter patchwork
Home isn’t just four walls and a roof—it’s the smell of garlic frying, the sound of a language that rolls off your tongue like a song, the little rituals that remind you where you come from. Refugees don’t leave those behind; they pack them up and carry them, stitched into memory. On these balconies, life spills out. Someone grills fish the way their grandmother did.
Someone else strings up herbs to dry. Kids lean over the rail, swapping stories in three languages at once. Put them all together and the building becomes more than housing—it’s a patchwork of culture, survival, and stubborn beauty. A reminder that home is never lost, it just changes address.
Design for Energy
Daylight and orientation to reduce energy use and enhance well-being. Rainwater collection conserves water for non-potable uses
Design for Integration
Connecting refugees to their new environment and promoting a sense of place
Design for Well-Being
Balconies promote dignity and well-being by providing a private outdoor space for residents
.5mileradius|10min . walk
Balcony Section
Roof
PVT Panels 42° Tilt
Tapered Insulation
7-Ply CLT
Framing
Interior finish
5-Ply CLT
WRB
Rockwool insulation
Z-girts
Subframe
Thermally modified cladding
Flooring
Radiant concrete slab
Sound insulation
7-Ply CLT
Thermal break
Steel decking
East Section
Event Space
Activated Alley
Public Park
LAUNCH
Kayak Pavilion launch
Kenzy Eweda | Andrew Johnson
What does it mean to meet a city at its edge? On Belle Isle, this kayak launch pulls you right up against the river’s pulse—the smell of wet earth, the slap of water against stone, the flight of birds cutting across the horizon. The ramps don’t just guide you down; they carry you into the flow, slow and steady, until the island gives way to open water.
Materials stay honest—wood you can grip, stone you can feel, water you can taste in the air. It’s a reminder that Detroit isn’t only factories and freeways. There’s still something untamed here, waiting for anyone willing to get their feet wet.
Roof
16” o.c. standing seam
2”x2” wood sleepers membrane
3/8” plywood
2”x8” timber joists
Framing knife plate connections
6”x6” wooden columns wood bracing galvanized steel dowels
Foundation
1”x4” floor cladding
2”x12” beams
2”x16” girders
3/4” welded j-bolt anchors concrete piers
Technical Section
PRESSED
To-Go Juice Bar pressed
GLA Architects
As a Project Management Intern for Pressed, a new grab-and-go juice bar in downtown Flint, I managed the project from start to finish. I was the primary contact for all phases, overseeing the demolition, drafting the renovation plans, and coordinating with contractors.
My role extended to managing the budget and timeline, ensuring the project was completed on schedule. This hands-on experience allowed me to successfully lead the transformation of a vacant space into a functional and vibrant business, bringing a muchneeded healthy food option to the community.
BETWEEN US
Between us
Dichotomy
By collaging the faces we found holding their own threads, we made the invisible visible. It’s a reminder that we’re all linked, even to strangers, and we have the power to shape our world just by choosing to notice, to pull the string, Andrew Johnson | Seth Kremsreiter
The world is just a tangle of threads. But not just fabric; it was a line you could follow to the raw, unspoken connections that bind us all. This project was about the myth of the red string—the one that twists and stretches, but never breaks. We were hunting for those quiet, life-changing moments that surround us every day, the ones you miss because you’re looking somewhere else.
SHARED LANGUAGE
Personal Project shared lanGuaGe
Andrew Johnson | Jules Sands
Consider the world as a breathing, sensible vessel, where every curve and contour carries meaning. This project seeks the quiet, surprising echoes between our experience and the forms around us—the way a shell’s spiral mirrors the curve of an ear, or the branching of a river delta reflects the veins in a hand.
It’s an exploration of a hidden language, a subtle dialogue that connects us to our surroundings. The work invites engagement beyond sight, asking the body and senses to become part of the story unfolding around us.
“Sight isolates, whereas sound incorporates; vision is the sense of the solitary observer, while hearing creates a sphere of mutual experience.” — Juhani Pallasmaa