ALEXIS DIAZ 2022 PORTFOLIO

P ORT FOLIO

RE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS D

2022

IAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS D

IAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYR ACUSE ARCHITECTU

RE PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTU

SYRACUSE SOA • B.ARCH UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

CONTENTS

1. RESUME 2022 2. A CELESTIAL EMPORIUM OF BENEVOLENT THINGS FALL 2021, FLORENCE 3. DUSTY SPRING 2020 4. HARLEM RE-RENAISSANCE FALL 2020 5. URBAN GROWTH SPRING 2019

SYRACUSE SOA • B.ARCH UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

RESUME Driven student leveraging studies in Architecture and Environment + Society seeking real-world experience in Architecture and related fields. Career spanning 3 years interning in architecture and design; offering strong interpersonal and problem-solving skills. Background in residential, commercial, and community architecture. Described as energetic, motivated, and thorough, as well as extremely dedicated to career development, production of quality work, and learning in collaborative settings.

EDUCATION Syracuse University Syracuse, NY B. Arch & Environment + Society Minor • 2018 - 2023 Dean’s List Fall • 2018 – Present

WORK EXPERIENCE Syracuse School of Architecture Enrollment and Engagement Office Syracuse, NY ENROLLMENT AND ENGAGEMENT ASSISTANT • SPRING 2022 Schwarz-Lewis Design Group, INC. Oak Brook, IL ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN INTERN • SUMMER 2019

DECEMBER 2019-JANUARY 2020 DECEMBER 2021-JANUARY 2022 Aspen Group Frankfort, IL ARCHITECTURE INTERN • SUMMER 2021 Office of Student Living at Syracuse University Syracuse, NY RESIDENT ADVISOR + MEMBER OF THE RA ADVISORY BOARD • FALL 2020-SPRING 2021

LEADERSHIP EXPERIENCE Syracuse University School of Architecture Syracuse, NY STUDENT MENTOR SQUAD • 2021-PRESENT Syracuse University School of Architecture Syracuse, NY ARCHITECTURE AMBASSADOR AND PEER ADVISOR • 2018-PRESENT Alpha Rho Chi Professional Fraternity Syracuse, NY PHILANTHROPY CHAIR • 2020 WORTHY ARCHITECT/PRESIDENT • 2021 WORTHY ADVISOR • 2021-PRESENT SOCIAL CO-CHAIR • 2022

SKILLS & INTERESTS SKILLS • Adobe Creative Suite, Rhinoceros, Climate Consultant, Digital Drawing, Hand Drawing, Painting, Physical Modeling, Microsoft Excel, Google Workspace, Zoom, ArcGIS, Revit, AutoCAD, V-Ray, Blender, and DIVA, Metashape INTERESTS • Interested in environmental design and integration methods as well as conservation and restoration.

2. A CELESTIAL EMPORIUM OF BENEVOLENT THINGS FALL 2021, FLORENCE

cascading subjectivities • agglomerating stuff • itinerant things situation(s)

During a study abroad in Florence, Italy we were challenged with undertaking a project that in some way critiques or comments on the bonifica. Bonifica was the reclamation efforts of Mussolini’s fascist regime. Our site in Orbetello, Italy, once a place of significant bonifica, prompted us to contemplate the role of the tour. We explored the effects that comes from viewing a place made-up of many images of itself or of its contents, perspectives and representations. These subjectivities build expectation of what it looks like and what it may contain at any given moment. We conceptually were interested in finding a way to make an architecture of agglomerating stuff (on a ground, or making a ground). In our material study through Metashape we found complex byproducts introduced by the friction of the ideal and the real, which becomes the ultimate platform for a cultural imaginary and the tour. We began with an alphabetical imposed order on a site, placing the objects of the tour on the site. We used the effects of this system to program an archive: a repository of touristic objects. People buy things and leave them behind; or replace things; or simply forget them in hotel rooms or trains. We propose that they should be collected from major cities/destinations within Italy—bought, sold, donated—and agglomerated here. Housed in both a system of interiors—like rooms in a landscape—and an extended garden of objects.

INITIAL STAGE PERSPECTIVE

DIAGR AM OF TOURIST OBJECTS

+ PLACEMENT STUDIES

INITIAL SCANNING, PIXEL,

ROOF PLAN

+ ALPHABET CONFIGUR ATION

ISOMETRIC

OF FRONT OF PROJECT

Each of these rooms is more like an assemblage of objects, which straddles the borders of each linguistic division; we could have made glass boxes which contain all of these objects, but instead opted to—once again—alphabetize everything, including the architectural systems (or at least some of them). Another aspect we designed with is another by-product of the tour -- spolia.

Elements such as entablature, columns, pediments, domes, arches, loggia, etc. can be found in Neoclassical architecture all across the world as a result of tours of classical monuments.

PAVILIONS

PERSPECTIVE OF “A, B, + O”

+ AREA OF EXCEPTION

SECTION OF “O” PAVILION

We’re working with the ’true’ Italian alphabet, which excludes certain letters. This was one way of connecting the project to the history of bonifica — we began inhabiting the manipulation of archives, of language. Various features, like the Italian Red Books, were renamed by Mussolini’s government in a more “Italian way.” We started to work with modes of exception: fake elements, which you’ve already seen, as well as typical architectural structures: fire-sealed steel, glass, and tension elements which are obviously breaking the system. The intermingling of

“spoliated” and ”faked” objects also relates us to the history of bonifica; tourism was, on its own, a significant focus during this period, from around 1920-1946. We thought a little bit about the contradictions—but realized that, given how much we were leaning into the bizarre history of bonifica, contraction was perhaps just right. Trees are also alphabetized, kept in pots (which is obviously more of an illusion than a reality). They have to occupy the system as well, as objects.

Everything collapses into oneness; individual histories, origins, etc. are lost to whatever visible order exists.

3. DUSTY SPRING 2020

“

When he asw edkas when this ophetrasc adh entak ,acepl he eplidr ot them : “Tow.omr ” Prgotin omfr their tionea and ion,cfus Noah ewdr himself up ot his ful tghei and idas thes dswor: “e yad eraft w,omrt the od wil be gsomethin tah wil evah ben. And when the od wil evah ben, ervgythin tah is wil ernv When the od wil evah arcied o ervgythin tah ,is ervgythin tah wil evah ben, it wil be ot etal ot ,berm for ethr wil no gerlon be oneya .ealiv And so ethr wil no gerlon be yan encdir betwn the ade and those who urnmo .them If I evah come ebfor u,oy it is in dero ot serv ,time ot urnmo s w’omrt ade y.otad e yad eraft womrt it wil be ot .etal ”

evah extd.is

The passage1 quoted to the left was a foundational text for the studio which was entitled “Architecture as Evidence”. The studio’s aim was to consider the impending catastrophe caused by human impacts on the environment and devise a way to mourn it—to find our own ashes. This incited a few questions: what is mourning? How may architecture mourn? We elected to define mourning as a celebratory act: a form of remorseful appreciation, of melancholic relish. What do we relish? What do we celebrate?

Our topic of study was people with a focus on the material waste, the highly visible byproducts, of human activity and occupation. What are people, but polluting agents? Our bodies clog the environment. What are we wasting? Some strictly bounded nature, discrete and corruptible? No, we are inseparable from our ecological context; where do these vestiges gather? In the atmosphere. The air is the most diffusive measure of human connection and pollution. It is the mixing ground where human skin and hair join Saharan sand in a voyage across continents, where pollen and micro-plastics migrate to the snowy alps side-by-side.

1 A “parable, which is due to Günther Anders, at the head of [Jean-Pierre Dupuy’s] brief treatise on the metaphysics of catastrophes

PLAN OF PROJECT

“

Narcissus, the Laconian, was a young hunter who loved everything beautiful. Once, during the summer, he got thirsty after hunting. He leaned upon the water and saw himself in the bloom of youth. He fell in love with his own shadow, as if it were somebody else. In need to keep it next to him, he faced his fiuid destiny.”

This is both delightful and tragic—a network of awe-inspiring relationships that we ignore, sever, or slight. This is what we mourn—our connection to the atmosphere. This admixture —the medium of experience, the forum of sensation, is being displaced by human-ness: human meanings, human chemicals, human tools, human politics. The passage above, an excerpt from the fable of Narcissus, provided a compass— an interactive intention and psychological subject for our project. We predicated our work on Narcissus’ self-adulation: a reflection so compelling that the water ceased to be water, and acted only as a mirror—until he drowned.

DIAGRAMS OF

EFFECTS OF WEATHER

Our studio was further prompted with an ideal, a model, a precedent: the Weather Project, by Olafur Eliasson.

This simulacrum has obvious parallels with our project, but the most important connections are more subtle: shared intentions. The Weather Project is a moment, an instant that could stretch into infinity. Its meaning may be multivalent, but this complexity always invites the viewer to reflect, to consider, to re-evaluate. This moment becomes memory—its ultimate resting ground. There is no material trace—a physical legacy is of no import.

PERSPECTIVES OF

EFFECTS OF WEATHER

The project is a reflective inflatable structure filled with the dust and particles of human contamination and waste that is constantly circulating through the air. Light patches and a single entrance provide the only sources of illumination; providing the space with a contemplative and somber atmosphere as well as illuminating the dust. As more people enter the project the larger the project grows due to the collective heat from their bodies. In addition to people’s body heat, the project fluctuates based on weather on site -- a visible reflection of the climate.

SECTIONS OF PROJECT

PLAN OF LIGHT OVER THE COURSE OF A DAY

Average Human Hair

60 pm

Human Hair 50-70 pm

Course Particles less than or equal to 10 pm

10 pm

Industrial Waste Fine Particles less than or equal to 2.5 pm

2.5 pm

Fossil Fuel

Ultra-fine Particles less than or equal to 2.5 pm

Bacteria Viruses

Pollen

Micro-plastics

Molecular Particles (i.e. oxygen, chlorine, etc.)

0.001 pm

0.01 pm

Dust (i.e. fibers, skin, etc.)

Hair

Combustion Particles (i.e. particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, water vapor, etc.)

0.1 pm

1 pm

10 pm

Drizzle drops & Rain Drops

100 pm

1000 pm

Body Heat

Body Heat

DIAGRAMS OF DUST

DIAGR AM OF EFFECTS OF BODY HEAT

PERSPECTIVE OF EXPERIENCE

THROUGH THE PROJECT

4. HARLEM RE-RENAISSANCE FALL 2020

The considerations for this studio was to look at spaces of conflict and unpack the spatial qualities that hold these spaces in a precarious tension. The chosen site our studio was focused on was Central Harlem in New York City, specifically Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd. Our studio focused on the recent 2020 Black Lives Matter movement and subsequent protest that occurred on the site. Central Harlem is a historically rich site in terms of art, activism, and influence and has been at the center of the Civil Right’s Movement and the Black Lives Matter Movement.

As we researched further into the site’s past, we came across the Harlem Renaissance and how the artists of the Renaissance and their art were influenced by the civil rights movement and vice versa. Today, the picture of Harlem is eerily similar to what it was a century ago. History repeats itself. The visuals of police brutality, racism, and the blatant disregard for the lives of people of color are still issues that are being addressed.

HISTORICAL MAP OF

HARLEM RENAISSANCE

There is a new wave - or the Re-Renaissance - of black art and culture in all sorts of different mediums such as music, graffiti, art, song, prose etc. Other than the racial injustices Harlem has been facing, our site in Central Harlem is currently facing another injustice — trash. Central Harlem recently received a cutback of funds from the local government as a perplexing response to the overflowing trash cans.

This resulted in 223 of these trash cans taken away.

PROGR AM DIAGR AMS

MAP OF TRASHCANS IN HARLEM

ROOF PLAN

While not only being a counterintuitive response, this unjustly took away the basic human right to a clean and safe environment to live in the Central Harlem area.

The focus for this project was to give a platform for people to express themselves, hence the importance of creating a dialogue between the building and the street.

SECTION OF BUILDING

ELEVATION DURING THE DAY

SECTION OF BUILDING

ELEVATION AT NIGHT

FIRST FLOOR PLAN; THIRD FLOOR PLAN;

FOURTH FLOOR PLAN

PERSPECTIVES OF FIRST FLOOR GALLERY;

UPPER LEVEL VIEW PORT; + SECOND FLOOR GALLERY

5. URBAN GROWTH SPRING 2019

Incorporating site analysis and an understanding of program into a multi-functional and complex space was a major consideration for this project. The site, the High Line in New York City, became a major influence on the design’s aesthetics and internal configuration. The project began as a library to house a special collection of books with the added program of a studio and office space. The main floors house the typical book stacks that act as a foundation that anchors a lightweight and airy framework. This framework houses the rest of the program — studio, offices, reading room, and High Line access. The framework is a trellis for nature and program to grow within it. Eventually the whole project would get covered in wildlife and vegetation that intermingles with the programs housed in the library. This connection to nature is one that is directly connected to the High Line and its cultivated green spaces.

DIAGRAM OF

GREEN SPACES

DIAGRAMS

OF PROGR AMS

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

SECOND FLOOR PLAN

ROOF PLAN

SECTION THROUGH PROJECT AND HIGHLINE

AXONOMETRIC OF SITE AND PROJECT

2022

P ORT FOLIO

IAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS D

RE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS D

LINKEDIN: Alexis Diaz

SU EMAIL: aediaz@syr.edu

EMAIL: adiaz99@icloud.com

IAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE • PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYR ACUSE ARCHITECTU RE PORTFOLIO 2022 • ALEXIS DIAZ • SYRACUSE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTU