Oliver Fahling Portfolio 2026

Oliver l Fahling

portfolio & Work SampleS

lincOln Park OPera hOuse

Fall 2024

In this studio project we were tasked to design a European style opera house in the upscale neighborhood of Chicago’s Lincoln Park. The design is informed by some of the great European opera houses of the 18th and 19th centuries. The overall massing is reminiscent of the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, inspiration for many of the details were taken from the Palais Garnier, and the general layout was informed by Frankfurt’s Alte Oper. The centerpiece of the opera house is the grand stair hall which was inspired by the great stair hall at the Library of Congress whose stairs embrace visitors on each side, inviting one to ascend.

front elevation

typical Bay elevation tranSverSe Section

perSepective of Grand Stair Hall

aerial of propoSed reSearcH facility

Structural iSonometric

st. Patrick cOunty Park

Spring 2025

front elevation

In this joint studio project we were asked to repair an existing barn and propose an additional structure for the ND LEEF team to conduct research. Above is my proposal for a small research facility that, inspired by an existing timber frame pavilion on site, utilizes joinery rechniques found in timber frames across the US.

lonGitudinal Section front elevation

regensburg studiO

Fall 2025

This studio project was in the Medieval core of Regensburg, Germany. After a few weeks as a class of drawing up a master plan to revitalize an urban quarter, each student chose one building to design. The design is entirely inspired from the surrounding context and seamlessly integrates into the historic core.

sOuth bend symPhOny hall

Spring 2024

At the beginning of the semester, the class was asked to redevelop an empty area of downtown South Bend. After this exercise, we chose a fitting site for a symphony hall that would house the South Bend Youth Symphony Orchestra (SBYSO). The program consisted of a symphony hall, a ballroom, classrooms, and cafe for the SBYSO school. Inspiration for the exterior facade was taken from the water pump station just a quarter mile north of the site. Mckim, Mead, & White’s Boston Symphony Hall was used to proportion the main interior space of the symphony hall.

lonGitudinal Section

front elevation

Precedent Fall 2024

Before diving into our design for the opera house, we did a full scale charcoal rendering of the Corinthian order according to Palladio (pictured above) and an analysis of a European Opera house. I studied Teatro Massimo in Palermo in plan, section, and elevation (above). These exercises enabled us to understand proportion on both a large and minute scale.

Fall 2025

Above are a few drawings from my graphics course in Rome. The analytique was done after taking on-site measurements of St. John Lateran. The sketches on the right side are views taken of or around the Roman forum.

st.

thOmas OrthOdOx church, snOhOmish, Wa

Summer 2024

A parish priest asked for a watercolor of a Church he is building himself to help the community fundraise for the project. This Church is modeled off of monastic temple in southern WA. It is in the traditional Byzantine form of a basilica shaped nave topped by a dome. The Church is currently under construction.

bandshell analytique

Spring 2024

At the beginning of the semester we were tasked to make measured drawings of a classical civic structure in the South Bend/ Mishawaka area and then to compose an anlytique. Above is the bandshell which sits in a lovely park just off of Mishawaka’s riverwalk. The bandshell’s use of the ionic order is unique as it omits certain details in the entablature, a common feature of structures built by the Work Progress Administration in the 1920s.

floor plan

st. JOsePh Fire statiOn

Fall 2023

In this project we designed a fire station on a prominent site that abbuts a park next to the St. Jopseph River and terminates the downtown of Niles, MI. Inspiration for the design was taken from Arthur Vinal’s fire station in the Back Bay of Boston.

front elevation lonGitudinal Section

lincOln Park tOWnhOuse

Fall 2023

For the first project of the semester, we designed a townhouse in Chicago’s upscale neighborhood of Lincoln Park. Inspired by Henry Ives Cobb’s Athletic Association on Michigan Ave, I gave the home a Venetian look while keeping traditional Chicago elements, such as the three-bay window.

PrOJect mexicO, tiJuana, mx

April 2018 - August 2020

While I worked as the homebuilding director at Project Mexico, we constructed around 40 small homes for local families. The homes were prefab steel frame shells wrapped in chicken wire with three layers of stucco and finished with a lime-based paint we slaked on site (pictured upper and bottom left). I was also the foreman for a strawbale and adobe structure we built on our campus to house a store for volunteers (pictured upper and bottom right).

FarmhOuse restOratiOn,

April 2021 - Spetember 2021

bOthell, Wa

I worked alongside a family member to restore this abandoned farmhouse just outside of the Seattle area. We removed overgrowth, planted grass, made structural repairs, trimmed out the window and door surrounds, replaced the decking, rearranged the layout of the house, and much more. The photos on the left side show the state of the house before restoration, and the photos on the right show the house after all interventions had been completed.

measured draWings

Fall 2025

While in Rome I had the opportunity to measure and study buildings from ancient Rome up to the Baroque period. All drawings above were measured on site and drawn to scale in my sketchbook.