Concept Design
Graduate Thesis
Castles Made of Sand Summer 2024
Schematic Design
Vertical Design Studio Connected Forms of Assembly Fall 2023
Vertical Design Studio What’s New? Fall 2022
Design Development
Seminar Integrated Design Project Spring 2022
Construction Documents
Advisor Eric Owen Moss
HT Advisor John Cooper
Collaborators None
Statement
This project proposes a building as a bridge that re-establishes Santa Monica’s access to its public spaces. The building connects Palisades Park in Santa Monica to the Pacific Ocean, drawing inspiration from Florence’s Ponte Vecchio and the Vasari Corridor. Completed in 1564 by Giorgio Vasari, the corridor connects the Pitti Palace, where the Grand Duke lived, with the Palazzo Vecchio, the former residence that had become a governmental administrative office. The combination of the corridor and the bridge, which includes a piazza, shops, and housing creates a distinctive method of circulation and urban intervention that has no exact parallel since its creation.
This thesis aims to adapt the urban principles of the Vasari Corridor to the Los Angeles context, creating a bridge that navigates distinct urban and topographical conditions. The design critiques traditional zoning laws by proposing a flexible, interconnected urban prototype that builds upon the existing public realm.
Programmatically, the project is influenced by the Venice Boardwalk, which exemplifies a public space that serves diverse community needs, from essential utilities to recreational facilities, while also functioning as a major tourist attraction. The project is not only to build the Corridor, but to also build the Palace: incorporating housing within the cliffs and creating a public beach club along the shoreline. The linear structure that parallels Wilshire Boulevard transforms the street into an integrated building and redefines the concept of urban connectivity.
Castles Made of
Site
The project is located at the point where Wilshire Boulevard meets the Pacific Ocean. One of the building’s key intentions is to complete the journey of one of Los Angeles’s most iconic thoroughfares to the sea.
Its primary purpose is to bridge the cliffs below Palisades Park, creating a connection between Ocean Avenue and the Pacific Coast Highway.
This concept draws inspiration from the Vasari Corridor, which traverses various urban and geographical landmarks to link the Pitti Palace and Palazzo Vecchio.
Vasari Corridor, Florence
Site Plan - Wilshire Blvd. extension
Ground Conditions - The building engaged and adapted to several ground conditions.
1. Palisades Park
Cliffs
Pacific Coast Highway
Parking Lot
Beach
Pacific Ocean Procession
Formal Diagram - The building was formally derived from a digital analog of the sand.
Formal Diagram - from the top: beach club, public park, and cliff housing
Formal Diagram - from the top: beach club, public park, and cliff housing
Assembly Diagram
Organization
Drawing from the idea of a bridge, the building was organized through its stops along the bridge, corresponding with the venues it passed through. Each set of vertical circulation spaces corresponds with a different venue people can come up from or go down to.
The building extends outwards North South at the beginning and ends of its extension creating its cliff housing and beach club.
As the building extends from wilshire it slumps down into the sand as to not obstruct views from the Palisades Park.
The cliff housing is wedged into the topography in order to preserve a part of what it was while adding the new.
Posture
The model is made of several sheets of plywood that were laminated and vacum pressed together.
The 5”x6’x3’ block is then CNCed, oiled, and combiined with 3D printed models.
The sand’s geometry shows in the plywood, appearing as topograpal lines. The water was represented by a perforated paper.
Model
Course Vertical Design Studio
Instructor Dwayne Oyler
Collaborators Prerana Dhadota
This studio investigated circulation as the central principle driving formal expression. The process began with experiments in building marble runs—contraptions that captivate attention with their meandering paths, moments of pause, accelerations, and decelerations. These runs incorporated multiple marbles, sometimes requiring three or more to activate specific mechanisms. The aggregation of these mechanisms and tracks formed a three-dimensional labyrinth of dynamic, variable movement.
Volumes were eventually integrated into the design, drawing inspiration from puzzles and inlays explored in previous studios taught by Dwayne Oyler and Jenny Wu. The final design was for an addition to the current renovations of LAX.
Site
LAX has initiated a project to incorporate an automated people mover, modernizing its existing system for transporting passengers through the airport. The proposal involves replacing an existing parking structure a new building designed to link the terminals with the terminus of the people mover’s track. new facility aims to introduce engaging spaces and improved options for travel and rest— elements that LAX currently lacks.
to its transporting airport. replacing structure with link terminus This introduce improved rest— currently
Line Drawing of Marble Run
Volumes were added to the marble run. At different times the marble appears and disappears, slows down and speed up.
Circulation
LAX currently has a very strait forward circulation system, for the most part. The purpose of the intervention was to give LAX a space that had both
We used the existing circulation paths to begin. We encorpoated existing vehicular traffic circulation as well as the under construction people mover.
The marble run was not entirely lost, as the forms were created by the exercise and the ramp became a prominent feature in the deisign.
Course Vertical Design Studio
Instructor
Collaborators
Eric Owen Moss
Nikita Gorojavov
In this studio, we explored renovation. The site consists of four formerly industrial buildings that were converted into office spaces in the mid-1990s. Since then, the Civic Center area of Culver City has undergone significant densification, most locally with the construction of Amazon Studios across Ince Boulevard from the site. While some institutions have proposed total preservation of the site, the studio focused on exploring arguments for augmentation and the rationale behind them, disregarding the “no-build” proposal.
The goal was to design an intervention that would expand the site’s capacity by 200,000 square feet, incorporating office space, housing, and 500 parking spaces. A key emphasis was placed on categorizing what elements were removed versus what was added, and on how the modified existing buildings were integrated with the new development.
Site
The site, located at the corner of Ince Boulevard and Lindblade Street, consists of three existing buildings and two parking lots. The buildings include Lindblade Tower, Paramount Laundry, and the Gary Group, all of which were formerly industrial structures converted into office spaces in the mid-1990s.
Site Location, Culver City, CA
Paramount Laundry
Lindblade Tower
Structural Render
Worm’s Eye Render
Rendered View from corner of Ince and Lindblade
Organization
Our answer to the studio brief was to largly build over the existing buildings. The exceptions to this were three large cores which the building spanned between. These cores doubled as lobby spaces to organize occupants on their way to either their apartment, office, or concert venue.
Structure
We deployed two different structural strategies for our revision of the site. First, we spanned a truss system between our three structural cores.
Exceptionally, we employed a exoskeleton to hold up our concert venue. The exoskeleton was balanced between a reinnforced existing masonry wall and a new elevator core.
Glazing and stucture were both interplayed in each scheme.
Rendered View from Lindblade St.
Course Design Development
Instructor Scott Uriu and Herwig Baumgartner
Consultants Matthew Melnyk and Jamey Lyzun
Collaborators Nikita Gorojavov, Naseem Soltani, Genevieve Parkes, La’Keem Timothy, Zeyi Xie
This course covered technology, systems, and materials and how to integrate design and vice versa. We reviewed basic and advanced construction methods, structural and mechanical systems, analysis of building codes, environmental systems, building service systems, building materials, and the intergration of these components and systems. The result demonstrated the ability to document a comprehensive architectural project.
Project Description
Integrated Design Project
Shapeshifter seeks to disrupt the natural flow of space that is currently present in the existing MassMoca building. Breaking away from the regularity that is present both in the circulation and the formal organization. Through processes which include slipping, extruding, and rotating the intervention sets to introduce spaces which are intersecting, overlapping and projecting onto one another. Although most of these spaces are born from the same, or a similar, profile this process allows for a multitude of spaces to be internally developed.
Chunk 2: Wall Section and Rendering
Chunk 2: Detail 1
Chunk 2: Detail 2
Chunk 2: Detail 3
Chunk 3: Wall Section and Rendering
Chunk 3: Detail 1
Chunk 3: Detail 2
Herwig Scott
INSTRUC
STRUCTURA
MEP
CONSU
Matthew Nous
Jamey ARUP
1040 North
SHEE
La’Keem
Genevieve Adam Naseem Zeyi
Nikita
5/8" Greenboard
5/8" Gymsum
HSS355.6X355.6X15.9
7/8" Hat Channel
Hollow Tube
HSS14X14X.625
2" Aluminium Panel
Metal Stud 16O.C.
18" Steel Beam
Hat Channel 3" Metal Deck
6" Concrete Slab
2" Rigid Insulation
Waterproof Membrane Tile Clip
2" Finished Concrete 1" Insulation
Silicon Seal
SHEET TASK:
Formatting - Genevieve
Modeling - La’keem
Drawing - Adam
Rendering - La’keem
Herwig Baumgartner
Scott Uriu
MEP CONSULTANT
Matthew Melnyk Nous Engineering
Jamey Lyzun ARUP
La’Keem Timothy Genevieve Parkes Adam Josephson Naseem Soltani
Zeyi Xie Nikita Gorojanov
MASS
1040 Mass North Adams,
Terracotta Panel
Tile Clip
Hat Channel Pedastol
Silicon Seal
Waterproof Membrane
10" Rigid Insulation
6" Concrete Pad
3" Metal Deck
Suspension Bracket
Suspension Rod
7/8" Hat Channel
6" Dia. recessed Light
5/8" GYPSUM BOARD
HSS355.6X355.6X15.9
HSS14X14X.625
Steel Hollow Tube Truss - 36" Tall 4", Thick
Hat Channel Grid
5/8" Greenboard
SHEET TASK:
Formatting - Genevieve
Modeling - La’keem
Drawing - Adam Josephson
Rendering - La’keem
Herwig Baumgartner
Scott Uriu
Matthew Melnyk Nous Engineering
Jamey Lyzun ARUP
La’Keem Timothy Genevieve Parkes
Adam Josephson Naseem Soltani
Zeyi Xie
Nikita Gorojanov
MASS
1040 Mass North Adams,
Aluminum Panel
Tile Clip
Terracotta Panel
Hat Channel
Steel Trough
Waterproofing Membrane
5/8" Greenboard
Silicon Seal
Pedastol
10" Rigid Insulation
6" Concrete Pad
3" Metal Deck Suspension Rod
8" Hollow Tube
8" Hollow Tube Truss
7/8" Hat Channel Flashing Suspension Rod Bracket
6" Dia. Recessed Lighting
5/8" Gypsum Board
1/2”
Herwig Baumgartner
Scott Uriu
Matthew Melnyk Nous Engineering
Jamey Lyzun ARUP
MASS
1040 Mass North Adams,
La’Keem
Timothy
Genevieve
Adam Josephson Naseem Soltani
Zeyi Xie
Nikita Gorojanov
