Aurora Zordan - Portfolio

AURORA’S PORTFOLIO

AURORA ZORDAN

ARCHITECTURE

INTERIOR DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGN

WEB DESIGN

AND PROBABLY SOMETHING ELSE TOO

If you want to know more about me, please don’t hesitate connect with me on LinkedIn!

Just scan here:

Hej!

I am Aurora, and these are some of my projects. Not all of them represent me and my ideas today, but all of them show my progress and growth. Some of them, I would change almost completely and start from scratch, others I’m still surprised to be the one who made them!

I’ll try to walk you through them the way I would explain them to a friend, and I hope you enjoy the ride!

Aurora

A LITTLE OVERVIEW

In the last couple of years, I had the chance to contribute to IKEA’s expansion, especially with the new smaller formats. First as an architect, then as a planning specialist, lucky me!

These are some of my architecture projects. Here I’ll talk about them quite briefly, but truth is that they are actually quite complex! They span from master plans to tiny houses, so a few different scales. A purely academic one is there too!

These are some some of my excracurricular projects. As it turns out, I enjoy design (and all that comes with it) so much, that I end up doing it in my free time too. The design life chose me, not the other way around!

IKEA EXPANSION

As a designer and as an enthusiast, i consider myself extremely lucky to have had the chance to work for IKEA.

I contributed to planning and opening so many different stores, all over the world, with so many different stakeholders!

I never had this much fun at work.

I learned a lot from your classical “big blue box” IKEA and then specialized in smaller city formats.

These represent uncharted territory, and are therefore the more exciting challenge!

What does IKEA look like when it’s outside the potato field, but right in the middle of our city? How does it work?

I contributed to designing stores with the context in mind, always aiming to be the “good neighbour”.

Attracting people, assuring a complete experience as well as the chance to grab something quickly without getting lost in the maze. The requirements on the new store generation are many, and make designing even more fun!

One of my projects (selffound and self-driven) is about making the seating area in all IKEA Food Solutions a more enjoyable and positive experience, both for the customer as well as the co-worker.

A project I’m involved in and deeply passionate about is developing and testing a new portfolio of IKEA logos for the phisical CMPs in small formats and high design integration.

But what it will look like is still top secret! Here is a sneak peek.

I am passionate about improving the customer experience through design. Flows steering, hot and cold areas as well as focal points are all part of the process, so that enough space for inspiration can be achieved.

HOME SWEET HOME

WITH MICHAEL WALRAFF

This is all about making a home. A home to live in and a home outdoors as well! The context was very dull and with no options for social life outside, so we had to figure a couple of things out. We really wanted to make cozy and livable flats, with aboundant natural light as well as greenery. But what about the context?

So we integrated a little cafe, play facilities, a kids library as well as a rooftop garden.

This is the building in the context, opening up to the sourrounding green area. The inner courtyard welcomes the neighours as well!

As you can see, you can do much more than sleeping in this building. We tried to keep it open and multifunctional, to improve the whole sourrounding area as well.

Here is a close up with the “social bridge” connecting the two main buildings, so you can have a better look at the different floors.

But as wel all know, it’s all about the home in the end! And these are different examples that we came up with - for bigger and smaller families, as well as young couples.

Here you can see the general plan on the whole floor with all the different apartments. We tried to keep a good mix of different types, as well as working with local regulations and structure.

And having a look at these images, I would move in here tomorrow! Would you?

A TINY HOUSE IN BANGKOK

This was my bachelor thesis. Why in Bangkok, you say? Well, this was a exchange course with local students, where they collected information on site. I based the whole design on the specific needs and wishes of the people they selected and interviewed, the local textile production and humble income.

The question I tried to answer was: how small can this house be, and still make these people feel happy, safe and fulfilled?

The interviews looked something like this, and in total we ended up having 6 people living on about 55m2, accounting different schedules.

This was the site. I know, it really looks crazy -and it is! And yet, this is reality in Bangkok, as a lot of people can’t afford more.

An important part of the project was also to make this house as comfortable as possible, but in a sustainable way.

To achieve this, I studied thai traditional architecture and tried to implement some of the details.

In these first sketches, you can already see the basic design. You also see the layering of different privacy zones and how the air from a nearby river cools down the house.

Here I even tried to make the prototype off grid. I found a study using energy produced by steps, and decided to implement it in my project. Would it actually work in real life? Probably not, but that’s what student projects are for!

And look at it coming together! This was a little scenario of what I imagined the house to look like during the day. The grandma has her cooking business by the street, the younger girl is studying upstairs while the middle aged lady is folding the textile she produced.

And here some facts, because it wouldn’t be an architect’s portfolio without some sections and floorplans!

THE SWIMMING SWIMMINGPOOL

Haha, good dad joke I know! But really, this is a pool in water, which was the first assignment for this study. My partner and I just refused to place it in Vienna, as assigned, because we didn’t think it was needed.

We looked up where a pool in the water would make sense instead. That’s how we found the most polluted river in the world: the Buriganga river in Bangladesh. Its waters are so polluted they are black! And that’s how our pool became a filter to try and make it clear again.

Here you can see the Buriganga river, and how polluted it is. People bathe in it, use it to cook and for religious rituals every day, getting sick.

And here you can see how we built up our concept! We did some fun videos and sketches, but also some good old research.

Look how nice it would be in here!

And it doesn’t just look good, we thought of it all!

This pool has a clinic upstairs (to treat people who are sick because of the water) and a workshop space (where people can learn about the consequences of dirty water). It also runs off solar energy, with solar panels on the roof.

I know, this looks almost scary. Trust me it was a tough drawing! But this is how our ship+pool+filter was staying afloat!

It could float on the water and then anchor along the river where needed.

I think we can all agree, this was a bit of an hyperactive pool, but as crazy as it was, this unit would have helped the environment as well as the communities living in it.

Ready for the next one?

WILD TREES

This project started as a university project, but it didn’t stop there. During our workshops and tours we held, we came in contact with local activists and professionals who motivated us to continue our project further.

We then got in contact with different universities in and outside Austria, where we held workshops, talks and tours to share what we had learned.

But nothing fancy, in the end it was all about trees!

Did you know that the city of Vienna has to invest up to 20 thousand euros to plant a tree? Well, this one growing just next to this car is a baby tree, and it formed there for free. It’s a wild tree! Turns out, there is plenty of them in cities.

Sure, but some of them can be more harm than good, you’ll say. True! Trees in cities have functions, especially with a warming climate, but also a value.

We started collecting facts and sharing them. Some were quite controversial, some just food for thought.

Can a Gen Z student even make a project without making it into an Instagram page?

Jokes aside, we had a lot of fun with this project, mostly because the most knowledge we shared, the more we got back!

EXTRA CREDITS

Those were my projects, and yet I feel like you might not know me yet.

I always say that I am a “jack of all trades, master of none” and it really is like that.

I am so passionate about so many things, and enjoy them enough not to be too competitive about them. Wanna see some?

I used to be an apprentice for photoshoot design. I learned how to steam clothes and how to set up lights, true, but I also learned how to put together a pretty cool picture!

Today I am absolutely not a professional, but a real enthusiast! I like to think that I have a good eye for these things. For sure, I’ll always be the first one with my camera out!

Did I mention that I also love hosting and organising parties? They always get the full Graphic Designer treatment of course.

Some web design on the side, UI/UX which makes me feel like a programmer, but truly I just pretend it’s an InDesign that moves.

I also have a thing for making brochures and all kinds of communications for fun. This was for a friend working at a hotel in Venice (the blue line is the Grand Canal!)

And last but not least!

When I get some offscreen time, I love drawing. More than anything! Absalon’s croquis evenings are my favourite.

Well, that was it!

If you made it until here, I hope you enjoyed it. It’s not easy to speak about serious things in a fun way, but I think it’s worth it.

If it’s not fun, you

shouldn’t be doing it!

Aurora