Alexander Ostrovskis | Portfolio | 2023

ALEXANDER.OSTROVSKIS

Studying and practicing architecture thrills me with opportunities to plan and create spaces that transform concepts into wholesome experiences.

EDUCATION

University of Applied Sciences Lübeck

Bachelor of Arts (1,7)

2017 – 2021

KNUCA/КНУБА Kyiv 2020 Erasmus+ Exchange

Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Leipzig 2021 Master of Arts

LANGUAGES

German C2

Russian C2

English C1

Japanese A1

SOFTWARE

Archicad AutoCAD

Adobe CC 3Ds Max

Vectorworks Unity

Grasshopper Rhino

EXPERIENCE

Evers & Küssner Urban Design, Hamburg Apr 2015

Internship: Assistance, Photoshop, Vectorworks

Betonlandschaften Landscape architect, Colonge

Internship: Media Design, AutoCAD, SketchUP, InDesign

Lübeck University of Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Joachim Heisel, Lübeck

Scientific and Teaching Assistance in History of Architecture: Research on ancient floor plans, Lecture preparation, Exam corrections, Colloquium preparation

Nüthen Restaurierungen Construction/Restauration Company, Hamburg

Construction Work Internship: Work at different Fields of Restauration

Студия 44 / Studio 44 Architecture, St. Petersburg

Full Semester Internship: Reconstruction plans, AutoCAD, Fire safety regulations, Database of historical heritage, work with Monument Protection

Hamburger Denkmalschutzamt (Architectural heritage institution), Hamburg

Part-time job/Student Job: Participiation at inspections and construction meetings Archive maintainance and research, Lecure preparations

Vera Detlefsen Architect, Lübeck

Part-time job: Floor plans, Construction meetings, ArchiCAD, Photoshop, Indesign

DNR Daab Nordheim Reutler Architekten, Stadt- u. Umweltplaner Leipzig

Werkstudent, Technical Drawings, Execution planing

Jan – Apr 2017

Jan – Aug 2018

Feb – Apr 2018

Sep – Nov 2018

Apr – Sep 2019

Oct – Dec 2019

Oct – Nov 2021

FLEX (Forschung, Lehre Experiment), Scientific Group, HTWK Leipzig since Oct 2022 Research on AR with Microsoft Hololens & Unity, Internal wiki management with markdown coding

COMPETITIONS

Call for Ideas: Volumes Solar Decathlon 2021, Team Deeply High Oct 2020 Honorable Mention

Bremmer Preis 2023 Student Architecture Project Award, HTWK Leipzig Dec 2022

Shortlisted Project

AMID THE CURVES

2021 | HTWK Leipzig |1. Semester Master |PIECES |Prof. Alexander Tochtermann

AMID THE CURVES is a project, developed during a course called PIECES by Prof. Alexander Tochtermann at HTWK Leipzig. The starting point of the course was analyzing a picture (up left) and describing its quality. This quality was then represented through 1:25 models in order to develop a so called “piece”.

The developed piece was then set in an arrangement to create a spatial quality, which was then used to develop a house using only the piece as the main element.Furthermore, after dozens of built models, a place somewhere on earth was then selected in order to be the appropriate location for the project.

“A LONG, SLIGHTLY BENT WALL PREDISPOSES FOLLOWING

The wall which guides you along itself

A piece which was used as a main element of the project Material: Stomped clay

The element quality. of the inclined all, the then led to sentence The resulting ically direction for creative a movement, same well as The space of the experiments each predisposes. for creating

FOLLOWING OF A DIRECTION IT SETS”

Idea, behind the piece that was used as a fundamental element in the project is formed in a sentence, that describes its quality. The chosen picture at the beginning of the course is a photo the labyrinth by Franka Hörnschmeyer, consisting of slightly inclined walls that guide a visitor through the installation. First of the quality of these elements was formed into a sentence and used as a basis for model experiments. Model studies have to abstraction and refining of the piece (the wall) and also the sentence itself, wich helped to form the final quality of a piece.

resulting piece is a long, slightly bent wall, that metaphorically walks a visitor along itself and guides a person towards a direction that it sets. This quality makes an object special and usable creative and experimental room planning. The piece can affect movement, that happens within the space it creates and at the same time it doesn´t lose its function as a wall, forming rooms as as divide spaces. It was then needed to get functional.

space that was formed using only the pieces was the result the arrangement and rearrangement of the pieces. Model experiments were done in order to find out how the position of element can affect the spatial percepion and the movement it predisposes. The chosen piece has shown itself to be very suitable creating different planning situations and basing a project on it.

1:50 wooden model photograps

“WHEN PUT IN A PROXIMATE ARRANGEMENT, SLIGHTLY BENT WALLS

The Ground Plan additional elements transported through that guide you inside. each other and creates positive is the outside area exploring the house.

WALLS INVITE YOU TO BE GUIDED THROUGH SPACES THEY CREATE”

Plan reveals the spaces, that are created using curved clay walls and, when necessary, elements like glass facades. No doors. No windows. Despite long distances, enough light is through long and curved walls. The entrance into the building opens up with two concaves inside. Walls allow a visitor to be guided through the building, exploring spaces after not necessarily noticing entrances to private spaces. Every wall inside this project and negative spaces that are provided with a function. At the very end of the house area with a pool, that has a concave wall, that calls a visitor back inside to continue house. A simple, orthogonal roof sets borders to inside and outside of the building.

SKETCHY NIKOLAUS

2022 | Scientific Project |HTWK Leipzig |Prof. Alexander Stahr

Nominated for the Bremmer Price Award for study projects 2023

KUKA robots are widely used for creative industries and architectural purposes. Especially manufacturing complex pieces may be programmed and completed by a highly precise machine that is faster and more accurate than a human being. A big advantage is that the robots may be programmed for every project individually and allow to produce the exactly planned piece of the architecture.

Organic Design has been present in architectural approaches since a long time and is still very present. New technologies allow to produce forms that are structuralwise or designwise very close to forms that we know from the nature. But these approaches are still very precise and exclude an influence of vagueness and inaccuracy which is a very common attribute of nature that surrounds us or also handmade projects. So at the end of the day this arises a question:

WHAT IS ORGANIC AFTER ALL?

KUKA Robot used for concrete pringing of a piece. Source: kuka.com

TO PUT IT SIMPLE, MAKE IT 2D

Digitally drawn pattern

Hand drawn pattern

TO PUT IT SIMPLER, USE A METAPHOR

GRASSHOPPER DEFINITION USED IN THE PROJECT

Das Haus Von Nikolaus is a simple drawing used as a metaphor to represent a sketch that looks different every time you draw it. The aim of the project is to teach a robot to draw is sketchy and innacurate to make every output unique and look like if it would be drawn by hand. A simple task for every human being but complex for a machine, that is concepted to work precisely. This approach may be extended in future studies to programme more natural or organic shapes and forms.

working path of the robot

repeatable elements

each element is unique

The approach of this project allows to add controlled imprecision in order to use it when a wish of turning away from the orthogonal forms is desired. At the same time it doesnt get out of the hand, since every slightly change is inside the complex data system may be retraced. It is almost paradox, that the achieved imprecision and seemingly inaccuracy is caused by a very precise and very accurate calculations, that modern computational technologies allow us. Every circumstances may be included in the processing alghorithm so the approach itself may be applied to projects of different use or complexity.

Individuality of single elements is usualy not an easy thing to achieve, since every form has to be designed for itself and also fit it the required criteria. With the computational approach, almost an infinity of possible soultions is already included within the system, so you don´t need to design every piece individually or check it for compability. If you are optically unhappy with any of the achieved results, there always is a possibility to exchange it with another one, that is fitting the conditions as good as the previous one. The approach, explained in the example of a sketchy drawing may be applied in other fields of architecture.

THE PRINCIPLE BEHIND THE APPROACH USED IN SKETCHY NIKOLAUS POSSIBILITIES

Architectural elements like the historical slate roof have a quality fulfilling its technical function while having a very chaotic appearance caused by the individuality of a single piece. This is very hard to recreate in modern projects, because you normally wouldn´t design every tile individually. But the computational approach allows to achieve it and even use the data for a convenient, wasteless production of the elements.

Architectural composition of bigger architectural forms is often designed considering its environment. But sometimes, it the environment underlays a geometrical sructure, you would like to create a contrast to it by breaking the geometry and adding some vagueness. The approach allows you to choose between different examples of the arrangement, that also underlay the criteria which you want to be applied.

Urban planing is another example where the vaguesness and in-dividual street structure is desired to create landmarks for better orientation in space. But the unique street layout formed with the help of the imprecise arrangement also has to follow its structure. This structure may be included is the complex alghoritm system to not just produce sketchy town plans but also make them function according to the system of the location.

small scale architectural elements

arrangement of architectural forms

usability for urban design

WEINPAVILLION SCHLOSS WACKERBARTH

The background of this project is a real wish for the design of a wine tasting pavillon from a historic wine manufacturer. Its residency and wine plantations are located in the baroque castle of Wackerbarth near Dresden, Germany. The tradition of producing wine here draws back to the beginning of the XVIII Century.

The conceptual idea of this project is to set a contemporary mark of time by creating a contrast to the geometrical design of the baroque garden, where the pavillon is located. The used shape is an interpretation of organic, flowing forms that are associated with wine. Clay is used as a building material to provide natural and environmentally friendly construction, as well as recyclability..

The design approach of the given project begins with the form studies of how wine may be graphically interpreted and further translated into spatial forms. Using stomped grapes, paper and glasses of wine, a variety of abstract images were produced using different techniques. After the process of selection, the most interesting forms were outlined. The outlined drawings were used as wall elements in order to define their spacial quality by extrusion, scaling and arrangement within a model. Of course, it is only in order to define a quality of the walls, which should be applied on the a functional plan using computation.

Model studies have done the main part of coming up with a spatial quality that should be represented in the project. By extrusion of the selected forms, using styrodur and a hot wire cutter, different elements were created and compared within each other. Since the extrusion itself happens in a 2,5-dimensional way, many forms had similarities. The most tensive forms were the fluid but vertically even waves. Associatively it clearly resonated with wine as the main topic of the pavillion. After long decisions and experiments it was decided to let the roof follow the used forms and not to create a geometrical contrast to them.

an object print on paper extrusion model studies

parametrization digital model use in the design

The most interesting result of the studies was the extruded outline of stomped grapes. The waves and niches it created were following a certain structure that arised from the original circular form of the grape. Major role played the distances in which the flattening created a wave.

Lehm Wellerbau is a centuries-old way of building using natural materials, common in eastern Germany where the wine pavilion will be constructed. The method involves a clay and straw mixture placed on a stone foundation and flattened to form a vertical wall. This traditional method has been rediscovered for its environmentally friendly qualities and can be combined with modern technology, such as augmented reality (Fologram), to achieve complex designs.

Stomped clay is a quick and strong method of building clay walls that requires formwork, usually made of wood. Heavy machinery and tools are used to stomp the clay, creating horizontal lines between layers. After one layer is ready, the wall is already finished, so you may proceed with the next layer. By unitizing the formwork elements, costs can be reduced, and multiple walls can be produced. This method is also versatile, allowing for experimentation with horizontal lines and filleting edges using tarp. It is also a possible option for the shown project.

3D printing with clay using industrial robots is the most efficient and modern method of building with natural materials. It allows for complex designs to be realized with ease and is becoming more accessible with the involvement of robotics on construction sites. Computational tools can be used to include digital manufacturing in the design process, and relevant data can be configured for additive clay production. The project can be prepared for 3D printing using the same grasshopper algorithm as to design it. Real circumstances and more production information arise its precision and relevant information.

Entrance areas are marked using concave forms in order to allow groups to meet before entering

Outside area and facade openings for a wider view are developed using the same technique

Moving paths through the Pavilion are designed to enable tours in separate, as well as combined spaces

Window placement is designed according to the view axes to provide great background for the tasting

The parameterization using Grasshopper was achieved by structurally recreating the quality developed during model studies. In this example, you can see one of the walls originally designed within the context and modified to be deformed. Once a 3D model of the wall is generated, it is further adapted for all three construction methods using Grasshopper, as shown in the definition.

For wellerlehmbau, there is a syncing option to Fologram to project holograms of the finished sculpture for augmented reality production.

For stomping technique, there is information on how to unify all angles and formwork elements to come as close as possible to the developed form.

For 3D printing using a KUKA robot, there is the information on 3D printing of the extrusion and a path, that the robot will follow in order to apply additive printing.

* big part of used components were internaized and put

random factor deformated piece adoption for unified framework same dimensions

Models of different scale, created based on grasshopper data

the available combinations of traditional construction methods and digital approaches. Combining these methods is already being used and is a way to improve construction in the future.

ground plan, both main spaces are used separately