Abdullah Alsahafi - Portfolio - 2020

Abdullah Alsahafi Portfolio

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2020

ABDULLAH ALSAHAFI

alsahafi@design.upenn.edu (267) 414-6088

EDUCATION University of Pennsylvania Master of Architecture, 2018-2021 (Ongoing) University of Michigan Bachelor of Science in Architecture, December 2016

EXPERIENCE January 2020 (1 Week)

Kieran Timberlake - Winter Break Extern Philadelphia, PA

Worked with the Communication Department on preparing drawings for magazine and competition submissions.

January - June , 2018 (6 Months)

Afniah Consultants - Document Controller / Project Manager Assistant Dammam, Saudi Arabia

I was responsible for receiving and managing all documents and submittals delivered by the contractor.

My duties included making sure that all documents were properly created and signed; and the data they contained were accurate. I was also responsible for classifying, storing, and digitizing all documents and delivering them to the designated engineers.

March 2016 (1 Week)

BRPH - Spring Break Extern Melbourne, FL

As an extern, I met professionals from a wide variety of disciplines. That included structural, mechanical, and electrical engineers as well as architects, interior designers, cost estimators, and specification specialists. This experience gave me a glimpse of the steps necessary to take a project from start to finish.

May 2013 (1 Month)

The Ozark Food Harvest - Volunteer Springfield, MO Learned how to sort, verify validity, and pack donated food items. This experience taught me that even an hour of volunteering could have a great impact on so many people's lives.

EXHIBITS & AWARDS - Schenck-Woodman Competition, First Place - University of Pennsylvania, January 2019.

In collaboration with Merrick Castillo and Amie Hanqing Yao. - Sequential Chambers for the Curation of Artifacts - University of Pennsylvania, Fall 2018.

In collaboration with Madison Green and Yi-Hsuan Wu. Invited to exhibit at the Penn Museum, University of Pennsylvania, October 8, 2018.

- Wallenberg Studio Competition, Finalist - University of Michigan.

Invited to exhibit in Wallenberg Studio Show, University of Michigan, April 29, 2016.

SKILLS Presentation: Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator Drafting: AutoCAD

Photogrammetry: Autodesk Recap 3D Modeling: Rhino, Revit

Texture Mapping: Zbrush, Quixel Mixer Rendering: KeyShot

Basic Video Editing: Adobe Premiere

Analog: Physical Model Making, Laser Cutting, 3D Printing Languages: English (TOEFL-iBT: 106/120), Arabic (Native)

Content

I.

Aquarium Living

II.

“Distorted” Reflection

III.

Threaded Chamber

IV.

Ambiguous Figures

V.

Forced Perspective

VI.

Moments of Refuge

VII.

Visual Studies

A topographic map of the Blue Park Valley, Kansas City, MO.

I

I. Aquarium Living

II

Residential Tower

III

New York City

IV

Critic: Gisela Baurmann | F19 | University of Pennsylvania

V VI VII

In a city that is hyper condensed with people and buildings, providing a place to connect with nature is essential in a residence. The grand feature of the project is an aquarium that is placed in the center of the tower. The aquarium serves as both a visual connection with other species (i.e. fish, coral, grass, etc) and a circulation core. The aquarium does not only exist in the center but throughout the building, such as in between individual units and inside them.

Residents are always coexisting with the all species of the aquarium. In a city that is hyper condensed with people and buildings, providing a place to connect with nature is essential in a residence. The grand feature of the project is an aquarium that is placed in the center of the tower.

The aquarium serves as both a visual connection with other species (i.e. fish, coral, grass, etc) and a circulation core. The aquarium does not only exist in the center but throughout the building and inside the units.

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01. Section showing the aquarium occupying the center of the building.

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02. Plan showing the aquarium occupying the center of the building.

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03. Peel-Away axon showing the relationship between a housing unit and the surrounding elements.

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04. View of an in-unit aquarium.

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I

II. ‘‘Distorted’’ Reflection

II

Penn Museum Archive Addition

III

Philadelphia

IV

Critic: Daniel Markiewicz | F18 | University of Pennsylvania

V VI VII

The archive is an extension to the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania. The addition that is meant to house physical artifacts, paintings, and rare collections of prints. Currently, the Museum stores its artifacts underground, the majority of which never get exhibited or viewed by the public. The Museum carefully organizes and selects what to put on display. By doing so, the Museum is effectively controlling, manipulating, and disporting how visitors perceive those artifacts.

The new extension is made of a series of vertical buildings that are clad in reflective skin to reflect, fracture, and disport the image of the Museum from the vantage point of by-passers and visitors. Museum from the vantage point of by-passers and visitors.

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05. Ground floor plan showing how the paths of reflections.

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06. Sections studying the reflection paths vertically.

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Z X Y

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07. A choisy (worm’s eye axon) revealing the interiors of the vertical Archive buildings and the mounted shelves.

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I

III. Threaded Chamber*

II

Container for Museum Artifacts

III

Speculative

IV

Critic: Daniel Markiewicz | F18 | University of Pennsylvania

V VI VII

The challenge was to create a container “chamber� to house historical physical artifacts from the Penn Museum. The chamber was meant to investigate the typical relationship between museum artifacts and their containers. Our chamber is designed in such a way that it can either reveal or hide the artifact it contains.

The chamber is made of a series of both static and rotating wooden frames. The frames are then threaded at varying densities. As the frames rotates, some of the artifacts become visible entirely or partially from certain vantage points, while either become lost in the density of the threads.

* Group Project in Collaboration with Madison Green and Yi Hsuan Wu. Drawing by Yi Hsuan Wu. 17

08. Close-Up showing the intricate threading of the chamber.

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09. The Chamber in motion.

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I

IV. Ambiguous Figures

II

City Market / Maker Spacer

III

Manayunk, Philadelphia

IV

Critic: Brian DeLuna | S19 | University of Pennsylvania

V VI VII

In the “The Architecture of The City,” Aldo Rossi introduces the idea of an other architecture. A design language that deviates from the traditional practices of architecture and focuses on objects instead. The object is seen as an underling guide to design the city while keeping rationality in mind.

The project explores the planar and the vertical building profiles in Manayunk. At first glance, Manayunk’s buildings seem to share extremely similar profiles.

Looking closely, however, reveals that each building feature a unique exterior outline. Some have protruding cornices supported by brackets, while others have walls flushed with the roofs.

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Train Platform A

Admin Offices

Lecture Hall

Classrooms

Entrance

CNC Shop Robotics Lab

10. An axon showing the relationship between the different program spaces a, the pedestrian bridge, and the train platform.

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11. Site Plan

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I

V. Forced Perspective

II

Cultural Center

III

Chicago

IV

Critic: Cyrus Penarroyo | F15 | University of Michigan

V VI VII

This project explores the idea of forced perspective. How design can manipulate the way people perceive space.

The building is a cultural center placed inside a church that was burned down, except for its exterior walls. The challenge was to fit a large building inside a small one.

The design uses techniques like repetition, light, color, and edge blurring to turn a small space into a large one.

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13. Ground-Level Plan

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14. Model Photographs of the different gallery spaces and the entry hallway.

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I

VI. Moments of Refuge

II

An Amazon Fulfillment Center

III

Kansas City

IV

Critic: Ashley Bigham | F15 | University of Michigan

V VI VII

The typical Amazon Fulfillment Center lacks human scale and basic amenities for employees. Employees walk up to 12 miles a day with few breaks and suffer mental and physical exhaustion as a product of harsh working conditions. Rather than redesign the entire center, this project acts upon the existing center by inserting spaces of refuge that allow moments of isolation from the bustling workplace.

The center is carved from the underground bedrock, creating large expanses of warehouse space supported with both steel and rock columns. Inside each rock column, a space of refuge is inserted to fulfill an employee need. Skylights in each refuge connect each worker back to the park above and transform mundane programs (restrooms, meditation spaces, entries, or dining halls) into meaningful, beautiful spaces within a sea of monotony and exhaustion.

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15. Main floor plan showing the moments of interventions.

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16. Interior view demonstrating the dramatic lighting of the space.

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I

VII. Visual Studies

II

Explorations of Representation Techniques.

III

Speculative

IV

Critics: Brian DeLuna & Nate Hume | S & F19 | University of Pennsylvania

V VI VII

A series of drawings and renderings that explores color, projection, intersecting geometries, and other techniques of visual representation.

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17. A speculative representational project mixing ancient Samoan artifact with the Villa Muller by Adolf Loos. The exercise is meant to re-imagine the interior space by introducing a strong figural form.

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18. The artifact is used as a skylight to brighten the space and create a vertical visual connection between the different levels and the sky.

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