Sam Johnson - Selected Works

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SAM JOHNSON SELECTED WORKS

SAM JOHNSON

Education

Virginia Tech

Bachelor of Architecture

August 2022 – May 2027 (anticipated)

GPA: 3.84

Dean’s List: 2022 – Present

Work/Experience

Innovative Building Services

2025 May – August, December I Assistant Project Manager/Draftsman

Assisted in the design and documentation of multiple residential projects. Conducted frequent site visits to coordinate construction and update drawings with the project architect. Collaborated with clients on selections and contributed high-performance and Passive House content to the firm’s website.

True Way Builders

March 2024 – Present I Carpenter

Construct custom decks and complete interior finish work for residential renovations. Coordinate on-site tasks with trades to maintain schedule and quality standards while gaining hands-on experience in residential construction methods.

Payette – OpenLab

2025 Fall Semester I Integrative Studio Residency

Participated in an immersive studio residency within a professional architecture practice. Engaged in firm-wide meetings and fabricated large-scale models and mock-ups while working under the mentorship of architects and an associate principal.

Gateway Fall 2025

Carpentry 01 02 03 04

Sailing Pavilion Fall 2024

Swiss Alps Apartments Fall 2023

01 GATEWAY

OpenLAB Program - PAYETTE

Site: Rose Kennedy Greenway, Boston, MA

Program: Concert Hall & Residential Apartments

Project Length: 17 Weeks

Partner: Natalie Krentz

This project transforms the Harbor Garage site into a gateway between the Rose Kennedy Greenway and the Boston waterfront, removing the existing blockade that interrupts movement and visual continuity between city and sea.

By elevating the program to create an open promenade of passage, it reconnects the Aquarium plaza and adjacent towers to the urban fabric. The structural framework forms a table with three feet, marking the convergence of landscape, water, and architecture.

The facade furthers this sense of openness, using light materials and a permeable mesh to subtly veil the structure while helping dissolve barriers and establish an uninterrupted connection between the city, the Greenway, and the sea.

PARTI

The parti is organized around a structural table that hangs a programmatic box below while supporting a monolithic tower above, establishing a clear vertical hierarchy. Touching the site at three points, it connects the surrounding urban fabric, blends the scale between nearby residential towers and the lower residential edge of the city, and frames intentional views from the ground level through and beyond the structure.

URBAN GRADIENT

The cut through the suspended concert hall, positioned on the opposite side of the section, establishes the civic anchor of the drawing and clarifies the building’s structural hierarchy.

On one side of the tower, three residential units face the harbor, stacked consistently at each level to form a continuous vertical living edge. On the other, retail spaces address the Greenway, defined by a curtain wall that wraps the chamfered face of the table foot and strengthens the building’s engagement with the public realm.

TABLE TOP

The tabletop operates as a direct structural expression of the parti. Conceived as a deep truss system, it forms a rigid datum that supports the tower above while suspending the concert hall below through a series of tensioned cables. These cables carry pre-stressed girders that shape the curved belly of the box, translating vertical loads into a balanced system of compression and tension.

Beyond its structural performance, the tabletop establishes a clear tectonic legibility: the forces of hanging and bearing are exposed rather than concealed. The truss depth also creates a service zone for mechanical distribution and acoustic isolation, allowing the suspended hall to read as a floating volume while remaining fully integrated into the building’s structural and infrastructural framework.

FACADE

The facade is organized as layered systems that express transparency and mass within the building’s vertical hierarchy. The structural table is wrapped in a suspended metal mesh, creating permeability at the pedestrian level while allowing the truss top and feet to remain visually legible from both inside and out.

Above, the tower shifts toward solidity with punched openings that align with neighboring Harbor Towers, unified by a continuous fritted glass skin that reinforces its monolithic form. This outer layer is constructed as a prefabricated, unitized assembly applied to a curtain wall system for efficiency and cohesion.

PEWS System

P E W S – Prefabricated

– Exterior – Wall – System

02 SAILING PAVILION

Site: Claytor Lake State Park, Radford, VA

Program: University Sailing Team Pavilion

Project Length: 12 Weeks

This project situates a private club building on a civic peninsula at Claytor Lake State Park, negotiating access between exclusivity and public use. While club members occupy the pavilion’s program spaces, the public is invited to move through the patio and along the existing beaten trail, maintaining permeability across the site. Two privacy walls seclude the core during competition days while buffering wake and choppy waters for sailors.

The structure is expressed to reveal how the building is constructed, using natural light to heighten transparency and blur the boundary between interior and landscape. Its detailing draws from Japanese strategies of joinery and stacked lumber, celebrating craft, assembly, and tectonic clarity.

The approach begins in the parking lot, where a gradual procession leads to the front entry and up onto a raised plinth beneath the extended roof structure. Crossing this threshold, you enter a central hall that immediately opens to a panoramic view of the lakefront, aligning movement with landscape.

Within the building are team bathrooms, an office, a kitchenette, and a conference room, organized around this primary axis. An outdoor covered teaching area extends the program toward the water, reinforcing the connection between instruction, gathering, and the lake.

STRUCTURE

Joist

Advanced framing - 24” O.C

2/12 Pitch

Beam

Mass timber architectural beams

6 x 10

Post

Mass Timer Posts on Grid

6 x 6

Wall

Advanced Framing 24” O.C

Heat Treated Ash Cladding - Exterior

Foundation

4” Slab on Grade

Basement Storage Under Conference Room

03 SWISS ALPS

Site: Hotel Wetterhorn, Hasliberg, Switzerland

Program: Hotel Villas

Project Length: 8 Weeks

The project consists of twelve hillside villas, each a 2 bedroom, 1.5 bathroom rental oriented toward the valley of the Jungfrau mountain range. Set into the slope, the units are positioned to establish specific view corridors, giving each villa a distinct visual relationship to the mountains and surrounding terrain.

While the plan and window placement remain consistent across all twelve units, each villa is rotated and sited in response to the topography, precisely aligning its primary glazing toward a selected portion of the valley. This controlled orientation allows the same architectural framework to produce varied spatial experiences, with each unit capturing a slightly different depth, angle, and framing of the alpine landscape.

TURNING A CORNER

The apartment is structured around an intentional turn in plan that redirects movement and sightlines toward the mountains, using shifts in geometry and elevation to progressively frame the landscape across three levels. The stair reinforces this gesture, aligning circulation with key views and embedding the act of turning into the experience of moving through the space, continuously recalibrating the relationship between interior and terrain.

ALPINE SPA

The spa is embedded into the natural grade, allowing the apartment to settle into the hillside and root the bathing sequence within the terrain. This sectional condition creates a need for controlled natural light in the cold plunge, which is introduced through a vertical skylight tube that draws daylight deep into the space and heightens the atmosphere of the water below.

The bathroom is organized as a clear thermal progression: sauna, shower, then cold plunge. This supports the traditional Swiss ritual of alternating heat and cold. Circulation reinforces this sequence, allowing the user to move seamlessly through each stage within a compact, materially cohesive environment carved into the hill.

04 CARPENTRY

Site: Blacksburg, VA

Program: Decks & Bathrooms

Project Length: 10-12 Weeks

Company: True Way Builders

While living in Blacksburg, I worked on residential projects with True Way Builders, contributing to exterior deck construction and bathroom remodels.

Through this work, I developed practical knowledge of wood framing, load paths, moisture management, and code-compliant construction. Exterior deck projects strengthened my understanding of durability and weatherproofing, while interior renovations have grown my skills in layout, trim installation, and trade coordination. The hands-on process deepened my ability to translate drawings into built form while maintaining craftsmanship, sequencing, and efficiency on site.

VA

Samj04@vt.edu

240. 454. 4664

www.linkedin.com/in/Samj2619