MIGUEL E. CAMPO-RODRIGUEZ
portfolio
M.Arch University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign 2012 B.E.D. University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras 2010 Semester Exchange National Autonomous University of Mexico 2009 miguel.campo.ro@gmail.com 1.787.697.9562
INDEX pg.
INFRASTRUCTURE
*INTERBLOCKING (Dam Expansion)
03
*M-BLOCKS (Interblocking Early Process)
13
*H-BLOCKS (Interblocking Process)
15
*Life Aquatic (Algae/Fish Farm)
19
*Fissures (Nature vs. Artifice Exploration)
27
*Chimera (Sculpture/Prelude to T.L.)
29
*TRASHFORMING LANDSCAPES (Mutating Mergaform)
31
COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL & HOSPITALITY
MISCELLANEOUS
Organic MArket & Lounce
39
L-Units (Mixed-use)
45
*Boutique hotel & spa
49
Urban Connections (Urban Renewal)
59
ISABELA PARK (Low Budget Community Park)
61
KTGY WORK SAMPLES (Summer Internship)
63
EXTRA CONTENT
67
* Graduate School Proojects
INFRASTRUCTURE
Tectonics, Ecology & Prefabrication “In aesthetics, kitsch means the representation of something as which it is clearly not – e.g., a cigarette lighter in the form of a tiger cup. With the sensibility of kitsch in mind, design becomes a challenge to formalize and humanize things in a manner that does not deny their own perhaps ugly but nevertheless honest nature.” Alexander D’Hooghe
Designing to feed the world “Because nature’s first photosynthetic life form is over 20 times more productive than conventional crops, and can use cheap and abundant resources, awareness has grown that algae can create a future of abundance through affordable and locally produced food and energy.” Robert Henrikson
Megaforms, mutants and speculations Megaform -
“Form-giving potential of certain kinds of horizontal urban fabric capable of effecting some kind of topographic transformation of megalopolitan landscape.” Kenneth Framptom
THE XBLOC
Developing and interconnecting architecture, ecology and infrastructure
01 INTERBLOCKING [XBLOCS] GRAVITY DAM EXPANSION + Hotel & Research Lab Grimsel Pass, Swiss Alps Instructor: Roger Hubeli Spring 2012 [UIUC]
GERMANY
Basel Zurich AUSTRIA
Recently, the plans to raise the dam have reopened the debate on the use of alternative energy solutions in Switzerland. After the Fukushima nuclear catastrophe, those who opposed the idea of expansion were reconsidering the possibility. The flooding of wetlands in order to provide a better alternative energy solution is less detrimental than the dangers of nuclear plants under catastrophic circumstances. How can architects and engineers join intelligent solutions to return to nature what has been removed in order to provide a better future?
Bern Chur Grindelwald
SWITZERLAND
Brig Lugano
Sion
Our Solution: Approaching design tectonics and performance to bring together architecture, infrastructure and ecology. This project uses the xbloc (a concrete wave breaker) as a prefabricated brick to generate spaces and build a structure that can be rapidly produced. Its unique porous and geometric nature allows inhabitation from a versatile group of species. The design expansion hosts a hotel and research lab. In addition, the spaces created by the gaps between the xblocs serve for wildlife to inhabit, as well as vegetation to develop. This project focuses on studying tectonics, constructability and the ability to balance the environmental issues that result from creating a dam.
FRANCE ITALY 0
10miles 20miles
0
25km
50km
Limit between the South & the North. No way to migrate for some races of fishes due to mountains and dams. Races & spots where fishes' populations are decreasing. The Grimsel Dam. Dams in switzerland
01 | Interblocking Gravity Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
The Grimsel dam has been generating environmental protest since the 1950’s. The dam is located in the Swiss Alps and it is expected to rise 23 meters in order to increase storage and energy production. However, Switzerland’s interest in switching from nuclear power to hydropower is in violation of environmental laws. The rise of the dam will evoke ecological consequences, destroying habitats and threatening plants and species.
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
Proposal for Seeuferegg Dam Expasion
Seeuferegg proposal on the left; Spittallam arch dam on the right
04
ECOLOGY
Mitigating Environmental Issues Caused by Dams 400 km2
2
200 km
Bearded Vulture
Golden Eagle
H2 O Alpine Chough
ISSUE #1: Organisms Lost By extending the height of both dams that form the Grimsel Reservoir by 23 meters, around 550 trees around the shoreline will perish. SOLUTION: By using a porous concrete element to construct the dam such as the xbloc, it will allow: + Plant life to develop on its surface + Different animals, including many types of Alp birds to inhabit its cavities.
Seeuferegg Gravity Dam
13,000 ft
Spitallaam
H2 O
Hydroelectric Arch Dam
Bearded Vulture
10,000 ft
Golden Eagle
9,450 ft
Alpine Chough
ISSUE #2: Sedimentation, Riverbed Armoring & Low Oxygen Levels Currently, the Seeuferegg does not allow flow of water to continue downriver, acting as a retention wall of water that retains all sediments. Water gets released only when water levels increase dramatically, creating a violent burst that increases riverbed armoring. 6,337 ft
6,253 ft
Grimsel Reservoir Proposal for Spillway Network
Adding a spillway network system to Seeuferegg and to the dams after, in order to prevent riverbank shelling by releasing water often and in smaller quantities. Typical dams release great burst of water sporadically causing this problem, and some not at all causing sedimentation.
Water
Grimsel Pass Site
Crest of chute
Bearded Vulture
400 km
2
13,000 ft 10,000 ft
Golden Eagle
200 km
2
9,450 ft
Alpine Chough
100 km
2
6,337 ft
new water level
6,253 ft
actual water level
4,130 ft
1,600 ft
On top right the Grimsel Hospice can be seen
01 | Interblocking Gravity Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
Possible Inhabitants of the Xbloc Dam
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
1,600 ft
SOLUTION: By creating two spillways that allow a smaller, more continuous flow of water down to the river: + Allows some sediments to be send downriver. + Fills the water with oxygen, by allowing it to aerate as it goes down the rough surface of xblocs just as it were rocks on rapids. + Prevents riverbed armoring by releasing less violent burst of water, but providing still the ups and downs in the water levels that a river requires. ISSUE #3: Low River Temperatures The Spittallam hydroelectric dam transfers cold water from the bottom of the reservoir to the river, lowering the required temperatures for organisms to develop SOLUTION: + By placing the spillways on the top of the Seeuferegg dam, it allows the release warm surface water (from the reservoir) to heat up the river.
sea level
Current Seeuferegg Gravity Dam
4,130 ft
Alpine Cough, Bearded Volture & Golden Eagle
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
Used outside their typical application, these blocks can help produce quickly a lot of the heavy mass required by a dam to contain the water. In order to contain the water, and maintain structural integrity in steeper slopes, reinforcement and concrete is poured between them. Sometimes, this brute system is organized to allow vertical walls made of xblocks.
THE XBLOC
XBLOC - A casted on-site interlocking armour system which is robust and single layered, designed to protect breakwater over long periods and in extreme conditions. The more pressure and force they are subjected to, the tighter the system interlocks.
Easy Mass Prodruction
Algae Growing
Typical Unorganized Placing
Seeuferegg Gravity Dam Site Model
Organized Xbloc pattern used for controlled openings in hotel rooms
06
Current Expansion Proposal Vs. Interblocking Proposal:
Parking Lot
Hotel & Spa Common Areas
Road 6 New Water Level
KWO current expansion proposal its very logical, increasing the height and improving the structural strength by introducing the addition from behind the dam. The resulting gap between the old dam and the extension creates a ‘leg like system’, a structure that can successfully resist lateral forces and uplift. The form and function also requires less material than a solid gravity dam.
Road 6
Water Level
New Water Level
Water Level Prefabricated Hotel Rooms
The proposal responds to the basic structural problems but it lacks creativity in addressing ecological issues, and spatial concerns. The Interblocking proposal recycles the same structural idea to combat dam uplift (created by water pressure at the bottom) proposing a structure with a gap between two legs. The mayor spatial difference lies in the fact that the expansion occurs in front of the dam, providing for rooms that can enjoy the view of the valley.
Current Dam
Current Dam
Current Expansion Proposal
Also, prefabrication allows for this dam to be built faster, while the xbloc and spillways help mitigate the ecological issues.
X
Y
Z
X
Y
Z
Interblocking Expansion Proposal
Upper Level Floor Plan
Showing the two spillways, hotel & spa common areas on the left and research lab common areas and auditoriums on the right
01 | Interblocking Gravity Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
Section YY
Section XX
Spillway system releases water that leaves some sediments of Xblocs to help flora development. Xblocs in turn, dissipate the energy of the water burst and oxygenate it
Section ZZ
08
Construction Process Interblocking Dam
Isometric Section
01 | Interblocking Gravity Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
10
Inside the Spillway
Looking towards pedestrian crossing tunnel
Road 6 Tunnel
01 | Interblocking Gravity Dam
|
Team Project
The “Gap�
Prefabricated Hotel Room
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Space that separates the two legs of the structure. Used for circulation
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
Schematic Model Section Xbloc Study
12
1.1
INTERBLOCKING PROCESS
M-BLOCKS
Designing concrete interlocking pieces Instructor: Roger Hubeli Spring 2012 [UIUC]
The Blocker -
The Spacer -
The Filler -
The Connector -
The Alterator -
(aka trident)
(aka chicken pox headless man)
(aka gemless crown)
(aka flipped donkey)
(aka pegged leg)
Capable of closing every gap in the system. It has no mercy toward space.
Meant for creating bigger spaces to inhabit or place equipment.
1.1 | Interblocking M-Blocks Exploration
|
Team Project
|
Created to fill in specific spaces without intruding into the ones below (or above depending on orientation)
Spring 2012
|
Allows gaps and spaces to meet laterally in order to expand into bigger ones, or simply to connect circulations.
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
Meant to alter the shape of spaces by connecting them internally on the top half or with the spaces of ther modules on the bottom half.
The Transistor (aka chicken pox man)
Designed to amplify two narrow spaces into a bigger one by a small gap.
The M-Blocks were an initial attempt to design a piece that could be mass-produced in order to create spaces, as well as becoming the structural members that through their interlocking, support the structure. The purpose of the porous pattern in the surface of these pieces was to host life, whether it is under water (for fish and algae) or above (for plants and birds). As part of their testing, more than 60 pieces of these concrete models were produced using rubber molds.
14
1.2
INTERBLOCKING PROCESS
H-BLOCKS DAM
Grimsel Pass, Swiss Alps Instructor: Roger Hubeli Spring 2012 [UIUC]
TYPICAL: Designed for maximum interlocking, allowing their stacking without any gaps. Their interlocking allows blockes to be removed to be removed without affecting the strutural integrity of the building
CHANNELER: This unit allows to crate minor spillway channels that sneak throughout the structure. These channels not only would be used to transmit a more natural overfloding to the river banks, but also to affect visually and aurally.
LATERAL EXPANDER: This unit allows to crate minor spillway channels that sneak throughout the structure. These channels not only would be used to transmit a more natural overfloding to the river banks, but also to affect visually and aurally.
ARCHER A: Made to transfer the loads diagonally in the vaults while reducing materials and weight used in the typical, as well as creating variations in the space geometry. Type A is made specifically to anchor to the back side of the typical module.
ARCHER B: Made to transfer the loads diagonally in the vaults while reducing materials and weight used in the typical, as well as creating variations in the space geometry. Type A is made specifically to anchor to the front side of the typical module.
1.2 | Interblocking H-Blocks Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
The H-Blocks, inspired by both the M-Blocks and Xblocs, is a system of interlocking blocks designed to serve as a structural and architectural element to rapidly build a “prefabricated” dam. One of the big differences in the application of the H-Blocks in comparison to the Xbloc dams is that the first don’t allow any gaps to occur in between themselves. They are designed this way to contain the water, but as a result, the shapes of the spaces left for inhabitation get highly compromised. Also, structural feasibility might be unlikely since there is not a possible way to reinforce them. On the positive side, the geometry of these block did created some interesting features, such as concave “cave-like” spaces on its facade that may be use by different bird species to nest in, as well as for some plant life to develop. These same features may have been used on the inside as furniture too. In spite of discarding the H-Block as the final design unit, many lessons in constructability and other aspects such as ecology and architecture, became useful when designing the Xbloc dam prototype.
16
1.2 | Interblocking H-Blocks Dam
|
Team Project
|
Spring 2012
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Roger Hubeli
H-Block Study Models
Pieces supported by interlocking (no adhesive used)
18
Chicago Prize Nominee UIUC
02 LIFE AQUATIC
Aquaculture & Fish Farming I Seoul, S. Korea
Instructor: Ralph Hammann Spring 2011 [UIUC]
Pond Courtyard Conceptual Sketch
Fish farming may seem like a great alternative to help supply the increasing food demand of the developing world, but most of it practice currently is rather unsustainable. These farms are known to pollute shores with fish waste, or even reduce the amount of fish in some areas, using them to feed their own. It is also not uncommon for them to use food supplies such as corn to feed the fish, sources that are unnatural to their diet. Life Aquatic proposes the idea of creating closeloop fish farms, by mixing different processes that integrate to create a self-sustainable food supplier. The program proposes a self-sufficient facility, that produces the fish food (algae), cleans the tanks water with a waste treatment plant, and takes the natural gas generated and converts it into heat, energy, and co2 which gets consumed by the algae. Even though this area is mostly rural, and slightly industrial, there are some residences to the west. In order to become a conscious member of the community, this facility maintains the dirt parts of the production to the east, while sinking a great deal of the program to disappear under the green roof, and blend in with the mountainous surroundings.
02
|
Life Aquatic
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Ralph Hammann
| Chicago Prize Nominee
Program:
Fish Halls
Waste Management Plant
Fermentor
CHP Natural Gas Plant
Algae Bioreactors
Research labs
Administration
Pond Courtyard
Creates a visual connection with the Go-duck River while allowing sunlight to reflect inside Bio-Reactor roomst
20
Labs Lobby
Dehydration Room
CHP Plant
Fermentor
Loading Docks
Fish Halls Water Treatment Plant
Site Plan
Since a great of the program includes facilities that contain heavy tanks of water, most of the building has only one level. The offices, located to the west near the main entrance of the complex, are located in a “floating� volume, allowing for a more iconic image, while giving pan-optic views of the process to the administrators. The great gap pond that occurs in the middle of the plan can be used to release the treated water back to the river, not only creating visual effects, but also demonstrating the cleanliness of the process.
Production Cycle & Building Relationships: 5. Biomass Plant
4. Power Plant
Project Evolution:
1. Algae Halls
1
3. Water Management + Fermentor
2. Fish Halls
Site
Residences on the west, farmland on the east
02
|
Life Aquatic
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Ralph Hammann
4 5 3 2
Building Masses
Power and Gas Plant located far from residences
| Chicago Prize Nominee
Adapting
Blocks transform to meet square footage and site
Labs
Administration
Bioreactor Halls
Visitor’s Bridge
Loading Docks
Fish Halls
First Floor Plan
Adminstration
Block added above to enjoy green roofs views
Second Floor Plan
Light Gaps
Creating also a pond courtyard
Light Cannons and Skylights
Indirect light for bioreactors and direct for fish halls
Height Play
Allows to unify under one continuos roof multiple facilities with different height requirements
Merging with Surroundings
Not becoming a visual burden for residences
22
Production Info:
Tilapia Info:
Algae Info:
1900 cubic meters of algae required to produce:
Algae cells divide every 24 hours
Tilapia take about 6 months to mature
1800 kg of algae per day to support:
Turns co2 from power plant into 02
Eat 1.73% of their body weight every day
104,000 kg of Tilapia, allowing:
5% dry algae obtained from wet algae
32 kilograms of fish per cubic meter of water
11,000 kg of fish per month, which equals:
Ideal temperature range 20-25 degrees Celsius
Ideal temperature range 15-20 degrees Celsius
3,850 kg of Tilapia fillet on the market.
North Elevation
02
|
Life Aquatic
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Ralph Hammann
| Chicago Prize Nominee
North Faรงade
Parking spots created by tiles to allow permeability of the soil
1. Site cast concrete two-way flat plate 2. Rigid insulation 3. Engineered soil 4. Filter fabric 5. Root barrier 6. Waterproof layer 7. Gravel 8. Counter flashing 9. Metal cap flashing 10. Structural steel angle 11. Steel angle 12. Aluminum vertical louvers 13. Mechanically operable aluminum louvers 14. Double pane glass window 15. Aluminum mullion 16. Galvanized steel air return duct 17. Plaster coating 18. Concrete masonry unit 19. Stainless steel rain screen 20. Polished concrete flooring 21. Adhesive layer 22. Double pane window glass 23. Aluminum window frame 24. Fluorescent lamps 25. Steel cable 26. Anchor bolt and steel cable connection 27. Stainless steel rectangular tube frame 28. Algae bioreactors 29. Steel cable 30. Aluminum roofing panels 31. Aluminum handrail 32. Single pane glass handrail wall 33. Structural steel channel 34. Steel tensed cable 35. Aluminum panels wall 36. Double pane glass skylight 37. Aluminum skylight frame system
Northwest View
Administration hovering above entrance on the building to the left. Fish halls on the concrete building to the right. Pond courtyard separates the two
Fish Halls
Light cannons provide natural light to the fishes
The building faรงade is covered by aluminium planks that help give privacy to the openings of the facilities as well as creating one unified exterior language. In the center gap of the building, the curtain wall south of the algae bioreactors breaks with this vertical language, yet allows the amount of solar light that reaches the algae to be regulated by motorized louvers. The other sides of the gap are solid exposed concrete walls since there are not that many openings to shade.
24
Operable Louvers
Algae Bioreactors Dehydration Machines
Treated Water
02
|
Life Aquatic
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Ralph Hammann
| Chicago Prize Nominee
This facility does not only has the purpose of a conscious food production, but also of the education of the public. The bridge in the picture to the left is meant to be used by the general public to access the bioreactors and algae production facilities while keeping a safe distance from the process. Even though the whole facility was designed as part of the site plan, the focus of this project was mostly on the bioreactor rooms, labs and administrative offices.
12”x24”x18” Acrylic model of the bioreactors and labs
26
03 FISSURES Nature and Artifice Experiment Instructor: Stewart Hicks Fall 2011 [UIUC]
Let us celebrate the constant confrontations that occur between man and nature! One is always trying to dominate the other in a never-ending skirmish. But this conflict is no cause for sorrow. It is instead the display of natural forces showing their resilience to man’s domination, showing that it’s alive and kicking. An image of the sterility in asphalt is only brought to life through the cracks that nature scars on it. The man is trying to cover everything in a gray layer of urban fabric, yet nature reveals itself at the first sight of weakness, fracturing this skin open. Photo of the patched cracks of the moist street
03
|
Fissures
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
What if nature was the dominating force, the extensive layer, and man’s constructions were simply the cracks that occur between it? What if the water that tears our city becomes the element that feeds it, that powers it? The current relationship between the two inverts. Humanity sunk to a second plane, while the forces of nature become the dominating element in the scenery. A city is humbled, dropping in the gaps and becoming practically part of the landscape itself. Still the rebellious human fissure breaks the environment’s supremacy. The contrast remains, twisted into a graceful dance rather than a stubborn battle.
Instructor: Stewart Hicks
28
04 CHIMERA CONSTRUCT Prelude to Trashforming Landscapes
Instructor: Stewart Hicks Fall 2011 [UIUC]
An experiment between materialities, between textures, but most of all, between nature and artifice. How can we take a natural material and intertwine it with an emblematically artificial element as plastic to generate a symbiotic relationship. The plastic bends and adapts to the logs, yet it retains a capricious attitude, merging and revealing the substrate (wood) while other times warping above it as it pleases creating spaces and separation between themselves.
Sculpture made with pine logs and acrylic 04
|
Chimera Construct
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Stewart Hicks
Could this element become a megaform that generates spaces while merging the multiples scales of the city? Could a more symbiotic relationship between human practices and natures will be constructed?
30
Honorable Mention Chicago Prize nominee
05 TRASHFORMING LANDSCAPES Pruitt Igoe, St. Louis Instructor: Stewart Hicks Fall 2011 [UIUC]
05 | Trashforming Landscapes
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Stewart Hicks
| Chicago Prize Nominee & Honorable Mention
Every year, the United States produces 230 million tons of waste, of which less than a quarter is recycled while the rest is incinerated or buried in landfills. These two last options are less than ideal as they are used right now. Burying the waste is difficult since most landfills are full and they contaminate the underground water that later becomes our drinking water. Nowadays incineration technology is pretty advance, making a profitable amount of energy and filtering most of the dangerous toxins that are released. Yet, great amounts of CO2 are wasted into the atmosphere. So, what if we could turn this negative aspect into a positive one? Could garbage be transformed into something clean and useful?
[Trash]forming Landscapes inspires itself in the idea that there is no waste in nature. Our never-ending waste could become the resource that helps create landscapes and spaces, that fuel the industry and construction, that create clean energy. Waste can be sorted to extract the recyclable materials and obtain methane gas from the biodegradable ones. The landfill waste can be accumulated to become the formwork for the concrete that will create hills and caves on a flat and sterile lot. This megaform can be inserted in sites with problematic conditions such as Pruitt Igoe. It is an element that attempts to reconnect the context in a unique way, in which as the project comes to completion, allows people and nature to retake this land and use it for whatever program the city might need it to be. It is a mutant that will begin with the basic facilities, expanding and transforming as more waste is received and therefore, as new topographic conditions are created. This landscape creating facility is meant to be there just for the time necessary to complete the process. Once it is finished, the mechanical parts can be disconnected and shipped way in the same containers where they are kept, to another site or even expanding through the abandoned lots around north St. Louis.
32
Pruitt Igoe is currently a brown-site where the utopian ideas of modernist urbanism and architecture were implemented in a cold and inhuman manner only to fail. North St. Louis currently is filled with vacant lots and poverty, and the city might not want to expand, but actually retract and gentrifies. So why not rethink this site with an unusual approach, a mutant megaform that generates landscapes and spaces as it consumes waste. 05
|
Trashforming Landscapes
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Stewart Hicks
| Chicago Prize Nominee & Honorable Mention
Multi-stage Panoramic Render Site Plan by Stages:
34
05
|
Trashforming Landscapes
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Stewart Hicks
| Chicago Prize Nominee & Honorable Mention
Construction Process:
Lamella Skin: + Anchored roller connection is kept in place until the vault gets filled with waste.
I Excavation & Foundations
+ Roller is released and the skin falls on the accumulate garbage and wireframe hollow columns. + The lose connections between the members of and their different sizes on certain areas allow it to take a more relaxed shape.
II Steel & ETFE Skin Installation
III Methane Collection
Finalized Habitable Space
Program Possibilities: IV Releasing Joint & Concrete Pouring
Winter events and activities such as skiing and snowboarding are ideal for these hills.
The concrete slopes inside these mountains could prove useful for skateboard parks. V . Waste Transformation
Meeting point for social exchange. Museums for urban art, halls for o concerts and markets. Susteinable breweries that take advantage of the low temperature of underground places to cool the brewing process.
VI. Inhabitation
36
COMMERCIAL, RESIDENTIAL & HOSPITALITY
The old and the new
Repetition individualized
Spaces inspired by water flow and by its absence
“I prefer “both-and” to “either-or,” black and white, and sometimes gray, to black or white. Contradictory relationships express tension and give vitality. A valid architecture evokes many levels of meaning; its space and its elements become readable and workable in several ways at once.” Robert Venturi
06 MARKET & LOUNGE Rio Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico Instructor: Nathaniel Fuster Fall 2009 [UPRPR]
Student residences
University of P.R.
The community market, a typology that may seem obsolete in our Walmart suburban society, is reviewed and reinvented with a dynamic circulation plan, an energy efficient environment, and a contemporary design, to revive this place of exchange, where the old and the novel coexist and complete each other. This coexistence must occur within the architecture as well. That is the reason why a new volume is placed on top and around the old historical structure, preserving while interacting with it
Community Center Town market Train station
The location for this market was critical since this site can become the crossing point between the old town of Rio Piedras, the University of Puerto Rico, its residences, the train station, and the residential area of the town. A perfect spot to draw pedestrians, allowing them to take shortcuts through the market’s multiple gates, hence promoting the interaction and commercial exchange.
Cathedral
City of Rio Piedras 06
|
Organic Market & Poetry Lounge
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
|
Instructor: Nathaniel Fuster
Central Plaza
Parti:
40
Current Historical Building
New Southeast Entrance
A section of the building’s historical façade at the chosen site had to be preserved. This was achieved not only by conserving the wall, but also its interior space as a whole, where a mini market can operate, without the need to open the entire building.
1. Main market 2. Secondary independent market 3. Independent stand 4. Storage 5. Bathrooms 6. Food Stands 7. Kitchen 8. Poetry lounge café 9. Conference room 10. Office 11. Reception 12. Compost area
Section “YY”
Conceptual Sketch
06
|
Organic Market & Poetry Lounge
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
|
Instructor: Nathaniel Fuster
Circulation Stair cores are placed on opposite corners
Section “XX�
East Elevation
42
Main market view towards North 06
|
Organic Market & Poetry Lounge
|
Individual Project
|
Fall 2011
|
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
|
Instructor: Nathaniel Fuster
Poetry-Lounge CafĂŠ
The sloped ceiling above the entrance provides the incline used by the bleachers
Northeast Entrance view
Main market view towards West
The program required for a roof garden, a small conference hall, a lobby, an office, and a reception. In addition, it was proposed a poetrycafĂŠ, which fitted well with the bohemian background of the town and market.
Wall Section - East Facade Roof Garden
44
07 L-UNITS (MIXED-USE) Roma, Mexico City, Mexico Instructor: Max Cetto Studio Spring 2009 [UNAM]
Parti With a prominent corner location on a redeveloping old neighborhood, the client presented the challenge of designing a building that provides 20 family size units, of which every room and bathroom possessed a source of natural light and passive ventilation, without exceeding 6 floors in height, and providing at least 35% of the lot as green areas as well as 4 shops. The public and private spaces of each apartment are combined into an L-shape unit. This same element is then inverted, and placed on top of itself to create a module that repeats, and makes the whole building. To make each unit unique, different spaces are extruded creating balconies. The dwellings sit over a commercial level, which lifts from the street to give a feeling of privacy without alienating it from the surroundings.
Lobby Floor Plan
Shops located to the South and East, apartments facilities to the West
Units Types
07
|
L-Units Mixed-Use
|
Individual Project
|
Spring 2009
|
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
|
Instructor: Max Cetto Studio
46
Level 1
Units type B private areas
Level 2
Units type A and B access and public areas
07
|
L-Units Mixed-Use
|
Individual Project
|
Spring 2009
|
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
|
Instructor: Max Cetto Studio
Ca
lle
Luz
n
tĂŠ
ll
e eP
Ca
Sa
viĂą
on
Av.
idad
ers
Univ
View from Southeast
Level 3
Units type A private areas
One of the advantages of this L-Shape designed is that circulation spaces is minimized by requiring only one hallway per every three levels. As a results, the apartment rooms that face the courtyard can enjoy more privacy since the might not have a hallway in from of it.
Interior Courtyard looking toward main elevators
The two underground parking levels share a concrete structure and retention walls. The structure in the lobby level and above mixes steel columns with concrete walls and tabique blocks.
Structural Plans
Foundations, Concrete Slab and Steel Slab
East Elevation
Typical unit type B living room
48
Spa “Canyon” Concept
08 Boutique Hotel & Spa Downtown Chicago, Illinois Instructor: Botond Bognar Fall 2010 [UIUC]
Located in a prominent location in Chicago, right where the “Spire” skyscraper designed by Calatrava was going to be built, this Boutique Hotel & Spa proposes different solution that looks to integrate the scale of the city with the horizontality of the shore. The design is inspired by the element that constantly surrounds it, water, and the movement of it. A smaller solution that responds and connects the river front with the Navy Pier, interacts with the Lakefront Drive, and responds to its community not in an superficial esthetical way, instead by actually dealing with its possibilities. The water flow concept helps deal with the obstacle that crosses the site right through the middle: Lake Shore Drive. It creates three bands that flow from the scale of the neighboring building down and either carve under, flow over, or collapse in the face of this obstacle The canyon concept is used mainly in the spa area, where is emulated physically to convey the idea of movement carved by the water, as well as the dramatic light effect that slips through the cracks that occur between the bands.
Conceptual Sketch Concepts:
City height
Flow Highway
Water Flow Disruption
08
|
Chicago Hotel & Spa
|
Team Project (2)
Bubble Pattern
|
Fall 2010
|
Canyon Effect
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Botond Bognar
Spa “Canyon� Atrium main central space at B2
50
Section through South Tower The three undulating this bands are joined visually by two horizontal elements, one being the highway, and the other, a forth and a fifth straight bands that serve to connect the hotel with the community: one is a tunnel that allow pedestrians to se inside the hotel without entering, continued by a bridge that connects the navy pier with the river front walk.The second band helps mark entrances and is formed mainly by two restaurants and a art gallery.
A sizable portion of the site rises only about 3’ above lake water level, and is filled with water as well. This allows to create an unobstructed “infinity pool� view of the lake for some parts of the spa, and the special hotel rooms that are integrated with it. Since the base spa level is below grade, the soil was carved out in a bigger footprint than the one of the program, allowing water to cascade down surrounding this level, but also and more importantly, letting sunlight reach to what would usually just be underground. This level occurs below to facilitate a program that continuous below the highway.
Parti
08
|
Chicago Hotel & Spa
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2010
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Botond Bognar
Context
Vertical vs. Horizontal elements
Rive
r Fr
ont
Wa
lk
Nav
y Pi
er
ive
e
or
ke
Sh
Dr
La
View from Southeast
1. Emulation: building occupies site in the same “tower & base� system and is aligned with the city grid.
2. Shifting: the base and tower alignment with the gird is shifted to respond to the angle of the river, improve hotel views, and allow more sunlight for the neighboring low rises.
3. Separating & Pulling: mass is split into three to crate canyons of sunlight and to provide lateral views to more hotel rooms.
4. Removing: tactical elimination of parts of the lanes allow to create different views and heights that give and strong massing identity to each stripe. Ground is also removed to create an artificial lake around the spa, providing views to underground levels.
5. Sinking & Rising: parts that cross the highway are move underground or above, keeping the spa attached to the hotel.
6. Crossing & Connecting: a pedestrian tunnel crosses the hotel without entering in it. This and the bridge give continuity to the city’s river edge parks.
52
P1Floor Plan & Site Plan
08
|
Chicago Hotel & Spa
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2010
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Botond Bognar
In the lowest level (B2) is where a great part of the spa facilities are located including saunas, massage rooms, part of the gym, yoga rooms, and cold pools. Level B1 contains the general lobby and shops to the west, the art gallery and gym in the middle, and the spa reception, special spa rooms & restaurant, as well as the main bathrooms and changing rooms to the east of the building. Even though there are some special hotel rooms in the spa, the great majority of the rooms are located in the tower. There is also a second restaurant located above the north entrance of the building on P2. On the level 22 the hotel provides with guest with a pool and a lounge-bar to hold social activities The structure of the spa area is supported by thing steel columns organized on a triangular grid that allows the unusual spa spatial geometry with little space interruption. The structure of the tower is a tubular one, supported by steel I-columns and lateral bracing on a regular orthogonal grid. Finally, a steel truss allows the canopy to cross above the highway.
20’ Below Grade
B2 Floor Plan
3’ Below Grade
B1 Floor Plan
54
P2 Floor Plan
P5 Floor Plan 08
|
Chicago Hotel & Spa
|
Team Project (2)
|
Fall 2010
|
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
|
Instructor: Botond Bognar
View towards (East) Navy Pier
Closer building contains the Spa Restaurant. Building behind contaains the spa at the lower levels and spa hotel rooms on the upper.
Main Lobby View from P2
Spa Hot Pools
56
Miscellaneous
Competitions
Summer Internship
Hand renders, explorations and such...
First Prize Max Cetto Studio Competition
09 URBAN CONNECTIONS Condesa, Mexico City, Mexico Instructor: Max Cetto Studio Spring 2009 [UNAM]
Closed Streets
Urban Gaps
Metro-bus Stops
Circulation
This segment of Mexico City, located in the avenue Insurgentes was an area once of economic prosperity and cultural development. Currently this zone is slowly falling into negligence and abandonment, due partially to transportation nodes that do not properly address pedestrians with unclear and discontinuous connections.
09
|
Urban Connections
|
Team Project (5)
|
Spring 2009
|
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico
|
Instructor: Max Cetto Studio
|
First Prize Winner
Connections
This projects attempts to restore this are by incorporating public spaces in vacant structures, creating promenades in smaller streets, and finally connecting the different transit systems with a nerve cell, facilitating pedestrian movement across the big avenue, and possibly spurring commerce.
60
First Prize UPR Isabela Park Contest
10 COMMUNITY PARK Isabela, Puerto Rico Instructor: Eugenio Ramirez Fall 2007 [UPPRP]
Concepts: The shapes created by the multiple cracks in the eroding soil demonstrate how the earth transforms with the passage of time and absence of water. For this design, the ground becomes the tool that defines the space, constantly changing and evolving. The park’s flora and continuous use, will act as an eroding factor creating new spaces and transit lanes.
Geometric Pattern
Serra Sculptures
Talwegs
Final Model
View from the Northwest
Floor Plan
10
|
Isabela Community Park
|
Team Project (3)
|
Fall 2007
|
Universidad de Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras
|
Instructor: Eugenio Ramirez
|
First Prize Winner
Study Models:
Organic Pattern
Organic Pattern creates spaces
Render looking towards wood gazebo
Located at a rural community in Isabela, P.R. this park is meant to serve as a playground for the children of the area. The municipality had plans to build the winner project, but due to government funding issues, this has not happened. This team project had a maximum budget of $10,000. We managed to keep it simple and economical yet dynamic, by having two patterns interact with each other, both by transforming the ground, both changing with the pass of time.
Merging Two Patterns
Geometric Pattern Affected by Organic
Geometric Pattern
62
11 Samples as KTGY Intern Irvine, California
Summer 2011 Images Courtesy of KTGY Apartment Complex Remodeling
Collaborated in minor design aspects, 3D modeling, and V-Ray rendering
Current Unit
Proposed Unit 11
|
KTGY work samples
|
Summer 2011
|
Irvine, California
Proposed Units Interior
Proposed Units Exterior
Apartment Complex Remodeling Common Areas
Collaborated in minor design aspects, 3D modeling, and V-Ray rendering
64
11
|
KTGY work samples
|
Summer 2011
|
Irvine, California
The images on this page show multiple mixeduse projects designed and modeled by KTGY staff members. My contribution came in small tweaks and entourage additions to the 3D models, and its final rendering in V-Ray and Photoshop.
66
12 Extra Content Models, renders, and such....
Hand renders for a brise-soleil design
Spring 2007
12
|
Extra Content
|
Individual
|
Multiple Semesters
|
UPRRP - UIUC
|
Instructors: Mayra Gimenez, John B. Hertz, Stewart Hicks
Sculpture inspired on a painting Renders of spaces inspired on the sculptures Fall 2006
68
Pattern Design Experiments Created in Adobe Illustrator Fall 2011
12
|
Extra Content
|
Individual
|
Multiple Semesters
|
UPRRP - UIUC
|
Instructors: Mayra Gimenez, John B. Hertz, Stewart Hicks
70