Alex Sidorsky Undergraduate Portfolio (2/17/24) (Reduced Size)

Alex Sidorsky w o r k

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Contents I Tactical Evolutions and Geometric Novelties Studio, Fall 2023 Critic: Aaron Schump

Tactical Evolutions and Geometric Novelties An experimental, environmentally driven tower for downtown Chicago

II Composite Aggregations and Spatial Complexity Studio, Spring 2023 Critic: Ryan Abendroth

“We are now completely accustomed to regard the skeleton structure as a spatial instrument of some power, it is, after all, some considerable time ago that a formula was evolved permitting the simultaneous appearance of spatial complexity” Colin Rowe “The Chicago Frame in Mathematics of an Ideal Villa” The tower typology has a long and rich history in Chicago dating back to historical figures including Louis Sullivan and Mies. As a result, this project aims to position itself in the historical context of Chicago by referencing the notion of grids but also by separating itself as an emblem of modernity and formal analysis that distinguishes itself from the neighboring buildings. The tower explores a vast array of spatial ideas and aims to provide galleries, residences, and studios for artists working at different scales across the botanical art discipline while serving the general public. The form emerges as a seamless blending of horizontal and vertical volumes through large boolean operations and shifted tectonics that reveal a division of spaces that can then be defined programmatically and enclosed with various facade conditions. As the massing develops from a subtractive methodology, addition is used to provide tactical movements that speak to Chicago. Particularly, the cantilevered portions overlooking the Chicago River and the base, which strategically peels away from the Riverwalk while cascading down from the street, 34 feet above.

III Formal Transformation and Programmatic Gradients Studio, Fall 2022 Critic: Stephen Leet IV Spatial Constraints and Data Translation Studio, Spring 2022 Critic: Zeuler Lima V Imaginative Environments and Curvature Explorations Studio, Fall 2021 Critic: Pablo Moyano

The facade underwent large transformations as the project progressed, testing the fields of solids, voids, thickened lines and planes. The studies reveal nesting, distortion and pooling as a method of object organization. Evidently, the facade dramatically changed from mid-review to final review as it became clear too many systems were competing, so, program was used a method to delaminate the facade’s elements; the “gold” became the organic shell growing within, the “pink and white field” became the interior facade, and the “navy blue grid” became the exterior cladding mechanism. The central undulating solid supports water tanks that provide life to the green wall growing upon the outer grid, uniting interior to exterior.

VI Post-Digitalization and Material Abstraction Seminar, Spring 2023 Critic: Sharvari Mhatre VII Planar Continuity and Modular Fabrication Seminar, Spring 2023 Critic: Chandler Ahrens

Digital Massing Models Exploring Horizontal and Vertical Aggregations Using Large, Medium, and Small Voids and Thickened Lines

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1/32 : 1’-0” Physical Massing Models Pink

Digital Massing Studies

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Massings in Site Tesing Street Qualities

Massings in Site Tesing Height Adjacencies

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Model Detail showing Layered Facade

Selected Area for Fabrication

Digital “Pre-Fabricated Drawings” Exploring Facade Systems and Layered Interactions Between Fields, Grids, Surfaces, and Volumes

Physical Facade Study Model Basswood, Chipboard, 3D Print

Model Detail showing Top Down View

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3/32” : 1’-0” Midterm Model Axon View

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3/32” : 1’-0” Final Section Model

3/32” : 1’-0” Final Section Model Axon View

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Model detail showing cantilevered portion of the building. Ramps connect platforms, serving as individual artist studios, to the central mass, while overlooking the Chicago River. The interior facade encloses larger spaces and provides layers of transparency for residents. The green wall cascades upwards, fueled by water delivered from the central water tanks to the exterior via pipes.

Model detail showing light conditions as grids cast shadows upon other grids and surfaces. An entrance provides the public access to the terrace and the ability to look down and observe artists working.

Model detail showing the roof condition and the building touching the sky. The upper floors serve the public while providing revenue for the artists-in-residence as the highest “worm” platform functions as a ticketed “urban observatory.” Bending grids and channel glass enclose the roof.

Model detail showing the facade peeling off from the building to drape over the Chicago Riverwalk and serve as a potential “Green Canopy” and shading system. The elevated ramp serves as a localized entry point that threads through the base as an extension of the urban grid, while the base itself peels away from the Riverwalk inviting the public inside.

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Site Strategy

Composite Aggregations and Spatial Complexity A plan driven, microclimate research and archive center for Forest Park “The principles of sacrifice admits and indeed implies the existence of a multiplicity of values.

What is sacrificed is acknowledged to be a value even though it has to yield to another value which commands priority” Sir E. H. Gombrich “Norm and Form”

Examine large scale urban fabric and grid

Ecological preservation has become a core principle in remedying the results of climate change. In cities, the effects of climate change have been proven to be more profound, resulting in the need for research facilities studying microcclimate variables such as precipitation and social moisture that largely impact Forest Park’s biodiversity. This project focuses on program and spatial complexity as a mechanism to create innovative spaces for laboratory work, and for the public to enjoy and learn about Forest Park’s climate.

Established localized axis and “peeling” curves

Material Swatch Focusing on Nodes and Axial Connection

Beginning with the geometric analysis of the Seattle Central Library and Thammasat University’s Rooftop Farm, both of which share unique sectional and analytic qualities that are understood within the 2.5D layered model. Plaster casts materialize curvature relationships across three scales; the scale of the carving void, the scale of the relief, and the scale of the surface qualities. When collaged together, the casts begin to form usable spaces. The site changes in elevation dramatically as the levels, and intermediary levels, of the building conform to the site, allowing seamless integration at moments, and distinct outdoor spaces at times of disjunction. The cantilevered 2nd floor overlooks the adjacent Jewel Box, allowing the public to gaze upon the greenhouse while enjoying a book or cup of coffee. In its entirety, the project serves as a spectacle but also an extension of forest park that allows experimentation into understanding the elements that define the climate it is placed in.

The interconnected plan system brings people together but also separates them as labs have distinct circulation mechanisms separate from the public and semi-public’s circulation patterns

22nd Floor Plan

Orient and sculpt building along axis and generated curves

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2.5D Layered Model analyzing and extrapolating geometry from the Seattle Central Library and Thammasat Urban Rooftop Farm

1/32” : 1’-0” Site Model Examining the Research Center’s Relationship to the Jewel Box. The Site is Sculpted to Exaggerate and Continue the Building’s Plan While Terracing Down the Hillside

Through a series of formal manipulations involving rotation, scaling and tracing, preliminary geometry is formed based on the plaster cast collages. The geometry is then redefined as a series of components and reconstructed to form the plan.

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Layer 0 Revealing Underground “Soil Extraction” Room

Layer 1 Revealing Entries, Paths and the Lower Level

Layer 2 Revealing Main Volume, Atrium Void, and Cantilevers

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The section reveals differences in the elevation, program for each area, and relationships between spaces. The conference room nests within the atrium as the elevator unites all floors from the soil collection facility to the reading room.

The sunken walkway connects the public to Forest Park while the atrium distinctly separate public from private.

Rainwater collection funnels fill water tanks used for research and to feed the interior flora.

Floor 1 Plan

Floor 2 Plan

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Interior Perspective Collage. People stroll through the space while light pours in bouncing off the exposed structural elements supporting the transparent shell (darker red indicates key structural elements). Bookshelves line the interior concave and convex walls.

Elevation Showing The Building’s Relationship to the Jewel Box and Differences in Site Elevation

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Geometry and Color Transfer

Material Swatch Study Focusing On Helix Geometry, Structural Backing, Transparency

1/8” : 1’-0” Model Axonometric Showing “Jogged” Sectional Cut Around the Atrium, Conference Room, Lobby, and Labs

1/8” : 1’-0” Model Detail Showing Key Public Spaces, Self-Supported Staircase, and Lofted Shell Volume

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1/8” : 1’-0” Model Detail Showing Facade Lighting Conditions, Floor Material, and “Rainwater Capture” Piping

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Modular Transformations and Programmatic Gradients Matt Paweski’s live-work-gallery space for Cherokee Street “[My works are] devices for expansion, introspection, and transcendence that propose new structures, architectures, designs, and possible paths forward—new views of the world.”

Matt Paweski “Wadsworth Museum of Art Cherokee Street has a rich history in St. Louis, and has now become one of the creative centers of the city. Many contemporary creatives have found themselves at home here as the creative culture has thrived. Modern sculptor Matt Paweski is the next hypothetical resident to work, live, and create along Cherokee Street.

This studio begins with a material study investigating the relationships between cast units which serve as generators of tectonic, spatial, and aesthetic strategies that can appear across scales of the building. The concrete modules aim to answer questions surrounding interlocking, stacking, the nature of circles, and textural qualities.

Primary Aggregation

The final building speaks to the relationship between public and private as a way of dividing space, allowing volumes and pathways to form that step upwards from Cherokee Street and the back alleyway creating double height galleries, expansive workshops, and cantilevered living spaces. Sloping ramps and stairs allow differing degrees of access to each area and the exterior shell structure provides unique lighting conditions throughout the day; beams of light cascade through the skylights and bounce off the walls, while column fields allow more varied conditions. Rotating panels, interior screens and apertures allow Matt Paweski and the public to gaze upon the work, but he is able to find peace in the upper portion of the building, which serves as his private home. An emphasis on balance and proportion result in a building that fits the local context while also establishing itself as a meticulous craft within itself.

Concrete Aggregation Showing Top Down View with Detail Shots

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Secondary Aggregation

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Elevation Showing Public and Private Entrances, Different Paneling Techniques, Angled Apertures, and the Neighborhood

The Long Section

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Model Detail Showing the Workshop and Gallery

The Short Section

Exploded Axonometric

1/8” : 1’-0” Model Highlighting Areas of Differing Program and Key Steeping “Up” and “Through” Moments

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Model Detail Showing the Glowing Quality of Tracing Paper Reimagined as a Thicker Material

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Data Translation and Spatial Constraints A Play Space for The City Museum “You cannot simply put something into a new place. You have to absorb what you see around you, what exists on that land, and then use contemporary knowledge and thinking to interpret what you see” Tadao Ando “Architectural Record” The idea of algorithms in design has been a long contested one, and this project aims to expand that definition by using “game” as a tool for generative design and spatial translation. The density of Koshino House is reinterpreted in the digital spatial study, which focuses on weightlessness and balance, leading me to study the game of squash. After recording six of my own squash games, I chose six rallies and mapped the movement, angle, and velocity of the ball.

The game maps are understood spatially by creating modules of planes and rectangular columns that represent the chronology of the point. For instance, the ball moves through a series of planes but then hits a wall, stops, turns a corner, and continues. The same ideas are considered in terms of void, leading to the inception of walkways that challenge the scale of the scaleless model. The final playspace model captures these qualities and more by focusing on materiality as a method of impacting and reacting to human movement, balance, and use of space; floors turn into angled planes and tightrope walks and walls mutate into ladders, fitting in with the entanglement of spatial understanding present in the City Museum.

Model Axon 1

Spatial Study of Koshino House by Tadao Ando

Model Detail Showing Hypothetical Enclosed Walkways

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Model Detail Showing Interior Spatial Condition

Model Detail Showing Plane - Column Interaction

Model Detail Showing Corner Condition

Model Axon 2

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Imaginative Environments and Curvature Explorations A Dwelling for a World Plagued by Climate Change “Squatters. The dispossessed. The water rats. Denizens of the deep, citizens of the shallows.”

Kim Stanley Robinson “New York 2140” This series of projects mark my entry into architecture school, the most pivotal moment of my life, and what better way to understand fundamental design principles than through the lens of Robinson’s novel, which depicts a futuristic semi-submerged New York City. Therefore, innovative methods of transportation are necessary to navigate this landscape. My body device, a spherical helmet connected to a dynamic fin and oxygen mechanism, allows for fluid navigation experience bounding from semi-submerged point to the next. The helmet tightens around the neck, preventing water from entering while tugging on the rope rotates the aerodynamic fin.

The bivouac, or dwelling, is devised from similar circular and parabolic geometry that extends from the shelter to the neighboring landforms. The unit, while only 300 sq ft, has two sleeping quarters and a living area, allowing comfort even during times of flood.

Body Device Model Photo In Use

1/0” : 1’-0” Model Axon Showing the Play Pavilion Conducive to Multiple Forms of Human Movement Related to Strength and Balance

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Palimpsest Focused on Textural Geometry Found in Forest Park

Body Device Model Photo

Body Device Hand Drawings

Bivouac Hand Drawings

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1/32” : 1’-0” Bivouac Model Photos

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Post-Digitalization and Material Abstraction A Series of AI Driven Investigations Using Non-Traditional Frameworks “Unfold unrecognized layers of external realities” Refik Anadol “Space, Mind, Machine” Throughout human history, architecture has been seen as static, a quality attributed to its inherent physicality. The medium of an architectural section, derived from the training of a generative adversarial network (GAN), mutates across space and time to conceive a new understanding of architecture. This new, non-linear design process, proposes an alternative to traditional formal analysis and allows for new avenues of spatial and textural exploration. AI specifically has found a unique, ever-changing home in architecture and has thoroughly integrated media studies and our perception of what architecture is in the post-digital age and post-medium condition.

Section GAN Outputs

The design process, while not linear, is clearly organized. Beginning with the collection of 500 sections and coral textures, we are able to train a GAN that outputted highly abstract, but inherently spatial, sections and coral textures that can be materialized in 3D in rhino. As the section is spatialized, ideas surrounding depth, corner conditions, and surface continuity are all explored to understand how conditions, that are not expected, emerge. The 3D model is then brought into Zbrush and sculpted, using the textures, which are manipulated using a convolutional neural network (CNN) to provide depth, and layers to inherently 2D textures.

The resulting sections entangle the real and unreal by meticulously creating areas of normal, traditional architecture and a far more abstract architectural conception. Humans become potential inhabitants, but bird s and aquatic species are also considered as potential users as each iteration is anchored into a geologic canyon.

Selected GAN Output for Further Investigation

Portion of GAN Inputs That Trained the AI Model. Sections are all “curved” and textures are all corals

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Texture GAN Outputs

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Iteration 1 Focused on Perceptions of Environment, the Blending of Real and Unreal

Iteration 2 Focused on The Notion of Filters of Light and Dark and Filter as a Method of Distortion

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Iteration 3 Focused on Ephemeral Qualities in Architecture, Time, and Non-Linear Pathways as Connective Tissue

Rendering Eluding at Other-Wordly Habitation Possibilities

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Planar Continuity and Modular Fabrication A cantilevered, full scale structure utilizing stud.io “The Digital Revolution is the first revolution that has created more problems than it’s solved, and it’s created more problems because we’re using computers to create things that have never been constructed before” Neil Gershenfeld “MIT Center for Bits and Atoms” Digital Fabrication is often critiqued as not being scalable to larger projects since it is often associated with highly specialized small prototyping and installations.

This seminar focused on digital fabrication at the medium to large scale using a proprietary system designed by STUD-IO Computational Construction (founded in 2019 by WashU alumni Scott Mitchell). The system focuses on intelligent prefabrication using custom parametric software to create a series of robotically fabricated steel studs that can be easily assembled into almost any form. The CNC machine used for this system is specifically designed to make these custom steel studs with a series of pre-punched operations, promoting mass-customization.

During this seminar, the parametric system developed from the unfolding of the disjointed legs of a cube, which brought forth spatial constraints: the bottom planes of the first and last triangular legs have to lie flat and perpendicular to the ground. However, the software’s constraints ensure the center axis of studs connect by slotting into one another must also lie on the same plane. Therefore, the central axis of each leg had to be heavily resolved so both conditions are satisfied while making a structurally stable cantilevered structure.

Model Detail Showing How The Structure Touches The Sky

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