Axiom 2018

AXIOM 2018

AIAS

TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

CO-EDITOR

CO-EDITOR

SYDNEY FARRIS

MARIA FUENTES

HANS STEFFES

Our profiles, professional and personal, have increasingly made their home in social media. In fact, this magazine, like three of its predecessors, will be published online and most likely reach more people and more places than the 350 hard copies will. But even today, there is something wonderfully genuine about holding paper in one’s hands. Publishing, though augmented by digital advances, is still a craft. The magazine is a tangible object and has a sense of finality and respectability. That is the respect we have for our peers featured in this publication, as well as the respect we want to help them garner. When we elevate each other we elevate ourselves, and that is why we produce Axiom.

There is an impending demand looming over us, searching for academics and scholars. The creation of buildings & production of drawings influence our perspectives on ontology and aesthetic; thus affecting the discipline and representation of our time. Architecture will always be reordering & redistributing theory, thought, epistemology and discourse.

From an overwhelming amount of interest in digital publications comes a desperate need to abolish the tangible, caused by unassuming accelerationists. This attempt to leave the analog in the past has indeed catalyzed a resurgence in the need to create tangibly. We have a duty to students rising in schools worldwide to advocate for the analog. Here is ours.

The medium of print, much like the discipline of architecture, is one that finds itself in perpetual crisis, most recently negotiating the shift from the drawing and the photograph to the image. The Image, as a distinctly digital medium, is often hard to represent in an analog medium as its conception and production are entirely digital processes. Even the pseudo-orthographic and pseudophotographic, which still hold onto the aesthetic of their predecessors, have been affected by the eventual intent of digital showcase. It then becomes the task of the editor to select those works whose qualities transcend medium and stand as work not defined by their representation, but by the thought and agency of their design.

CONTENTS ARCH 405| INTEGRATED STUDIO ARCH 205| SOPHOMORE WORK ARCH 206| 8TH T4T LAB SELECTED WRITINGS ASSORTED| INTERIOR STUDIES CARC 301| STUDY ABROAD

THE AIAS MISSION TO FOSTER AN APPRECIATION OF ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED DISCIPLINES. TO ENRICH COMMUNITIES IN A SPIRIT OF COLLABORATION. TO ORGANIZE STUDENTS AND COMBINE THEIR EFFORTS TO ADVANCE THE ART AND SCIENCE OF ARCHITECTURE. TO PROMOTE EXCELLENCE IN ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND PRACTICE. WE ARE THE STUDENT VOICE. WE SERVE THROUGH INNOVATIVE DESIGN. WE PROVIDE PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND NETWORKING.

All work from the 2017 calendar year / produced in 2018

CONTEMPORARY ARTS MUSEUM HOUSTON [COVER PROJECT] TUNG NGUYEN REUBEN POSADA

PROFESSOR: CRAIG BABE The museum uses a simple form to become an iconic landmark in the Montrose area. The monumental structure reinforces the main concept, creating an elegant, yet exciting facade for the museum. A system of louvers creates proper daylighting for art and a public promenade is available to all users. The transparent facade engages the public by revealing the intersection of interior volumes, creating the secondary facade.

CHELSEA LIBRARY PAUL MCCOY LUIS MUNOZ

PROFESSOR: KOICHIRO AITANI With an inherent interest in Chelsea’s past relationship with film and theatre, it became relevant to treat such consumption of information as a performance of itself to give a sense of belonging to a gentrified area of New York, so the performance is done by the user as they navigate an open stage.

Populated by what appear to be ephemeral objects, users navigate above, below, next to, and sometimes within these props that facilitate intimate spaces for contemplation or exposed spaces for expression.

STUDIO MATTHEW FAULKNER ARCH 205 Students designed furniture based on the guiding principles of a precedent study, culminating in 3D prints of the final products.

HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID SAMANTHA OFFUTT PRECEDENT: ARCHITECT FELIX CANDELA THE CHAIDORI JONATHON MARCEL PRECEDENT: GC PROSTHO DESIGN RESEARCH CENTER, KENGO KUMA

STUDIO GABRIEL ESQUIVEL ARCH 205 This project is a museum dedicated to Louise Nevelson, located in Houston Texas, across the road on the north side of the Museum of Fine Arts.

THE TEASET DANIEL EYNON TOTEMISM CHRIS LOOFS

DELUZIAN BIG DATA EZEQUIEL CAMPOS HANNAH GALBRAITH JASPER GREGORY AARON ROSAS INVITED PROFESSOR: CASEY REHM PROFESSOR: GABRIEL ESQUIVEL We can use the machine as an interface to produce repetition and repetitive geometry drawn out of context images to then organize public and private spaces in the architectural manifestation, creating different interfaces inside and outside the building. This residential apartment in downtown Los Angeles accepts these new truths and provides spaces driven by our usage and interaction with big data. Driven by rules of perception, it allows the user to always feel connected back into the public collective, while simultaneously being in a private space. The use of mirrors and column spacing allow separation of spaces without complete enclosure, thus allowing the user to feel simultaneously in two places at once, while still being able to observe themselves interacting with others. The private spaces in the home like the bedrooms and bathrooms as figural entities can become interactive screens, updating social media content and allowing personalization and mixture across the media-scape. As the user update their own feeds, their data can likewise be mapped on the outside of the building, thus completely the circle of interaction of the perceiving and the perceived.

PASSEIG BARCINO: INTERFICIE DE BARCINO BENJAMIN BAASKE How can architecture contribute to the architectural experience of archaeology?

Architecture is the manipulation of sensory elements encountered by inhabitants of a space. Therefore, architecture serves as interface for the architectural experience of the inhabitant i.e. the building as interface. Architectural experience is the sensation evoked in an inhabitant by the manipulation of sensory elements in a space. The architecture exists as an objective reality, while the architectural experience is unique to each individual. The objective reality of the architecture is misinterpreted, but the pooling of collective experiences in a cumulative discussion of events creates an optimal understanding of the architecture.

This concept lies at the core of epistemological and hermeneutical study, particularly in the study and interpretation of archaeology.

Archaeology is the recovery and observation of material information to create interpretive narratives of the past. Building more accurate interpretive narratives of the past relies on the ability to accumulate knowledge and multiple perspectives of the objectively true reality, while presenting and discussing that information. These perspectives take the form of unique events in place and time. Optimizing the presentation of such events requires the manifestation of a plurality of events given equidistance from the central, objective reality. Such an intervention calls for the space to be the object, ungrounding an envelope, and identifying with the geochronological law of superposition through reverse stratigraphic behavior.

Archaeological remains from the Roman city, Barcino, in Barcelona’s Gothic quarter have been well documented and preserved, primarily by the Museu d’Historia de Barcelona (MUHBA).

However, observation of Barcino sites

in their contemporary context reveals the need for a more coherent system of connection between sites in order to create a more authentic and hermeneutic experience for visitors. The new system consists of design intervention at four scales: biannual, temporary installations; permanent, urban-scale infrastructure; a permanent, augmented reality application; and a permanent archaeological interpretive center. The new center, Laboratori de l’Hermeneutica de Barcelona (Laboratory of Hermeneutics of Barcelona, i.e. LHBA) will facilitate the installation, operation, and management of the other three interventions. Underlying the center’s programmatic functions is the mission to contribute to the architectural experience of archaeology through architecture.

Focus, Scope, and Position This design research focuses on the notion of interface as a solution to question, how can architecture contribute to the experience of archaeology? In the context of this study, interface is a barrier, connection, and a crossing.

In the communal space of an adaptive reuse project in the Can Batllo community of Barcelona, an old stove furnace is contained within a metal cage. Here, the interface is the metal cage. The metal cage protects the stove furnace and implies value in the object. Is this the most dignified existence for the stove furnace?

Is the object still a stove furnace? The object is a stove furnace, because that was its “original” ontology. Original ontology could also refer to the minerals and elements that compose the stove furnace.

Interface can influence the “authenticity” of an object and its ontology.

The base programmatic thesis of the memorial, museum, interpretive center, or archaeological reserve is preservation of this past ontology. Hermeneutics is the study of the interpretive method. Referring to Porter, hermeneutics is, “the many ways in which we may theorize about the nature of human interpretation.”

Hermeneutics questions the interface and ontology of the observer and the object. The interface refers to the separation and interaction between observer and object. The observer has an idea of the object and their relation to the object. This is preconception, a developed view without knowledge and consideration. Complete removal of bias from the historical record is impossible, as long as the observers are writing the story. However, understanding and accommodating these perpetual forces will create a framework with which to limit the influence of bias in the story of human existence.

Reverse stratigraphy deals with the phenomena in geology where synthetic and natural forces disrupt the natural law of superposition. Forces push later strata beneath earlier layers in the strata.

Accurate detection and definition of these stratigraphic shifts is possible using sophisticated techniques in geology and archaeology. As part of the Passeig Barcino, the permanent design intervention, Interficie de Barcino, explicitly executes the dichotomy of verticality (height above and depth below).

Urban Scale Investigation The archaeological remains of Barcino consist of fifteen sites in the Gothic Quarter of Barcelona: Each of the sites have various levels of intervention in relation to the contemporary urban fabric.

Placa de Ramon Berenguer El Gran and Placa Nova are the most prominent plazas with extensive remains of the Roman city wall of Barcino. These plazas, as well as Placa d’Emili Vilanova, boast the longest remaining continuous spans of the Barcino city walls. However, unlike Placa d’Emili Vilanova, these spaces allow considerable distance and better vantage points to view the remains. Placa de Ramon Berenguer also has hardscape that allows visitors to go to the wall base and touch the remains.

Once the directory of Barcino is established, navigation to each site in a

sequence is the interface. The path study, i.e. promenade as interface, examines nine logics with which to visit the archaeological site. Given the complexity and nuance of the urban fabric of the Gothic Quarter, many more paths would emerge, creating a multitude of experiences. These experiences become the baseline for a visitor’s perspective of the sites, and influences their interpretation of the narrative of Barcino and Barcelona. The decisions made by the visitor influence their perspective of the context; each individual would tell a different story with different characters in different sequences. The path study shows a small sample of the seemingly infinite stories to be experienced in relation to the history of Barcelona. These specific path rationales serve as lenses, framing a particular narrative of the sites. While differences in context and sequence enable the development of different narratives, these narratives have constant factors that indicate their adherence to a common narrative. The overall context and main characters are always available if the story explored is the story of Roman city remains of Barcino. In order to implement a permanent urban scale network connecting the sites, an “ideal path” takes into consideration logics from all the paths to produce a scheme to implement a paver strategy. The paver strategy serves as analogue wayfinding for visitors. While characters and context flux in response to their various institutional and environmental structures, the connecting network of pavers indicates the exploration of the narrative, perhaps in a few hours, or on another day. The permanency implies an experience that can be paused and revisited on another occasion.

The Passeig Barcino explores the multi-perspective interpretation of the archaeological remains of Barcino. The promenade achieves this through a maze promenade logic, a framework with options and opportunity to expand

the framework. The explicit implication of a “path” also allows the opportunity for rejection of the framework in order to discover new maze promenades, and new event sequences, expanding the range of perspectives on the narrative. The path study of the Passeig Barcino amplifies the embedded plurality of the narratives of the archaeological sites. The narratives share a common thread, but each have their own bias, sequence, and context.

In addition to the permanent urban scale intervention, Passeig Barcino also consists of a digital wayfinding intervention and a temporary urban scale intervention: the Passeig Barcino mobile application and the Passeig Barcino Biennale. The mobile application allows visitors to view the path framework and sites beyond their immediate position, which invites planning their own event sequence and context.

Passeig Barcino Biennale facilitates temporary installations as interpretive responses to the framework, context, and characters of the Passeig Barcino.

The Passeig Barcino Biennale will be a design installation competition with sites at intersections of the Barcino city wall and contemporary streets. Sites are broken into three tiers based on proximity to existing segments of the wall and scenic value of the wall-street intersection.

Tier-3 sites lie indiscriminately on all the remaining intersections of wall and street.

Design submissions must question an understood notion of interface; these sites are passageways where their antithesis once stood, a wall.

Designers must propose solutions to be self-

supporting, non-impeding (of traffic), and able to withstand the elements for one month. A panel of designers, city planners, artists, architects, construction managers, archaeologists, historians, et al. will judge the submissions. Initial submissions are conceptual, image-based, and without a specific site requirement. Finalists are required to submit design-developed drawings and half-scale, detail models, focusing on fabrication. The winner for each site will build a full-scale installation at their site.

The biennale will allow artists and designers to engage with the archaeological sites of Barcelona and question design philosophies. The biennale provides a program with which to draw attention to the Passeig Barcino and amplify public interest in the archaeological sites of Barcelona. Installation projects at sites present opportunities to juxtapose ancient expression with the contemporary zeitgeist. Associations and interests in archaeological sites accumulate over time, and new construction is subject to the highest criticism. Installations are temporary, so the public grants them leniency. Permanent interventions with archaeological sites generate great public interest. Therefore, these interventions must be surgical, deliberate, and amplifying.

FACADE FOREPLAY:

SAN FRANCISO MOMA PAUL MCCOY HANNAH TERRY When a designer creates an object, she understands it as a whole. Sometimes that object is conceived with an understanding of how it will present itself to the observer. In the case of the extension of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art by Snøhetta, the object is understood through the selective glimpses of its undulating facade. The series of photographs delineates the reality and allure of a building fractally emerging from the background.

Walking by the San Francisco MOMA makes me think about how false my perception was of the new extension by Snøhetta. The aerial views I had previously seen on the internet gave me an understanding of the object as a whole, but did not convey what I am really interested in: how the building is understood from a pedestrian’s perspective.

Built in 1995 by Mario Botta, the original building has a royal position overlooking a plaza, symmetric and central, commanding. Botta describes the original project as an “anchor” amongst the vertical tension in the urban scene. In its orthogonal mass, an oculus perforates the solid to create

a void, becoming an interface for the human condition which naturally draws the subject’s eye upward.

Snøhetta completed the extension in 2017. The discussion of how these two projects interact is as young as the project, but I think we can speculate on the part to whole relationship and how we, the user, understand and engage with the interface in its entirety. The ungrounded solid questions the metaphysical contrast of presence between both objects in the way that they are perceived by the subject.

Moreover, there is a striking presentational contrast between the buildings. It is perhaps unintentional, due to the timing of construction and lot allocation, but nonetheless renders interesting observations about direct revelation vs. subtlety and the resulting observational affect. The site situation of the Botta building is expected and ideal, provoking instantaneous comprehension, while the Snøhetta building seems claustrophobically pinned between Botta’s original and its neighboring highrises. The Botta building grandly bares all, while the Snøhetta is inadvertently concealed, evoking curiosity of what resides in its interior. The two objects denote the difference between understanding an object through a sort of holistic “aha” moment, and understanding it through

small teasers by “leaving something to the imagination...”

Formally, the extension projects itself onto the slim alleys left behind by the same vertical tension. The projection’s swelling is caused by the cascading staircases that orient and move humans up and down the section. To me this speaks to the physical versus visual movement that occurs within the interior and exterior of the object. Trimmed at the sides by the site’s boundaries, its horizontal movement contrasts with the city’s occasional verticality. Snøhetta cites the waters of San Francisco as the source of inspiration for the lines extruded along the swelling facade.

Curiously, the surface neglects the street adjacent to the alley by bluntly slicing the mass and activating the alleyway to “open up new routes of public circulation” throughout the urban interface. As the building is circumvented, the veil is lifted in glimpses.

An analysis of these two approaches raises questions about how we expect to experience a building. As designer we develop a holistic understanding of our project, yet our sensorial contact with it is always discretely revealed through our fragmented experience of it. The grounding versus ungrounding of the project and the part to whole relationship between itself

as two objects functioning in unison and to the city as a larger whole to which it engages on levels of both contextualism and abstraction.

The series of photographs demonstrates the inseparability of the building from its context. If the building can only exist as it can be understood, and if the building cannot be visually accessed from the ideal vantage point, it can be said that it does not exist in the privileged, diagrammatic way we, as architects, want it to, as we design

from above. As much as it would please architects to alienate the building from its surroundings, pose it, and discover its most flattering angles, the building is still ultimately framed by the unplanned, disorderly milieu of the city. What do curated attempts at holistic visualization do for a built project if the public never bears witnesses to it? To assume detachment is to falsify the experience of a project.

We must admit the inaccessibility of some aspects of our design, and the

glaring prominence of some our least favorite portions of it as we view it from below. The Snøhetta addition is rarely experienced as it is commonly represented, perhaps for the better.

It is unclear whether the shell of the extension was poised to be viewed from above, but intentionally or not, the restricted access to this view forces a new, more nuanced perspective, one that is driven by unrestrained and fluid urban “frame.�

MUSEUMS AND ARCHITECTURE:

DESIGNING A SPACE FOR THE PAST CHESLI LOBUE When most people are asked to describe a museum they mostly think of a traditional box structure filled with art pieces, historic artifacts, and science exhibits.

They’re honestly more likely to describe the interior and the content than the outside. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, the exterior can definitely be developed to help draw in visitors and set the tone for the interior. The difficulty of addressing this opportunity is that there is no simple solution to designing for the wide variety of museums and audiences. Nevertheless, by looking at the development of museums and seeing what style of architecture has worked in the past, the future of museums may be determined.

Museums, by definition, are institutions which care for the conservation of a collection of artifacts/objects which have some artistic, historic, cultural, or scientific importance. This means the various types of museums are numerous and expanding constantly; most people would be familiar with art, science, natural history, and children’s museums, etc. Museums in their infancy began as private collections of wealthy individuals or groups of people showcasing weird or unique pieces typically as a cabinet of curiosities.

As time went on, these collections shifted from private to public as cities and organizations set out to make the information available to the public.

The goal of museums throughout time has remained the same: to preserve information for future generations to learn which they would not encounter in their daily lives.

First, a museum is a place for learning and experimentation. The

layout should enable the visitor to explore and see the exhibits at their own pace. Another option is a loose interior where the guests are free to bounce between pieces and sets to better tailor their visit to what they want to experience, portrayed as an invitation. A plain brick building surrounded by other boring volumes is likely to be passed over by someone walking by. A tremendously complex building which appears chaotic and intricate may peak a viewer’s interest but appear too intimidating for just anyone to walk inside. A balance between comfort and ingenuity must be found.

Lastly, while museums have set programs (i.e. education, preservation of artifacts, research, etc.), they need to have the ability to adapt to new exhibitions. This means the exterior should adapt to new additions and partner buildings without it being too difficult to match the style and function of the context. The building overall will be a public facility, so the interior should foster a wide variety of interactions both for the individual and for groups.

Let’s look at three different examples of museums notable for their architectural design: When Lina Bo Bardi was designing the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), she was tasked to maintain the panoramic view of the city. To achieve this, she elevated the main volume of the museum on eye-catching bright-red stilts which created a plaza below. The museum would become social housing as well as exhibiting art, while also providing a stage below for a variety of events to be held. This aided the building to become a public catalyst. The interior features specially-designed stands consisting of a single block of stone supporting a pane of glass on which the work would be displayed. These would be arranged in an open floor

plan so as not to categorize the works and to allow the viewer to choose his or her own path.

Next, there is Libeskind’s Bundeswehr Military Museum, a modern-day renovation and extension to an existing building. The original neo-classical building was completed in the 1870s; an imposing metallic triangular figure jutting out to the left of the museum’s entrance. This throws off the façade’s balance and serves to symbolize and invoke the blending of history with modernity. Overall, this addition sparks a conversation with the public and prompts them to further explore the interior.

Lastly, The Guggenheim Bilbao

by Frank Gehry is easily the most abstracted piece out of the three.

Constructed from titanium, limestone, and glass, the museum’s façade is different on every side. The side facing the water almost mimics the freeflowing, silvery movement of liquid.

The side facing the town has a more traditional stone face. Not all were eager to accept its bold exterior. The interior is just as varied, with a variety of individual spaces for work to be displayed. While these precedents do not speak for all museums, they do offer a view as to how this program has developed.

What will museums of the future look like? It seems they are open to experimentation if it won’t hinder their primary functions.

Developing construction methods and technological advancements will aid not only in the fabrication of these institutions but will also add to the success of the exhibits within the museum once open to the public. The only limiting factors are the designer’s capabilities and people’s adaptability.

With this, there is a word of caution to never sacrifice people’s enjoyment of the museum in the attempt to push the aesthetic limits of the museum.

INTERFACE

A DISCUSSION BETWEEN PATRIK SCHUMACHER AND MARK GAGE TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY 04/21/2018

SCHUMACHER:

GAGE:

It was a bit of a shock to be faced with this wave of defamation and vilification and demonstrations, epithets like fascist and extremist. So I had to come back to clarify and try to plead that anybody who is entering the public domain out of his own impetus and free initiative to discuss issues of such agenda we should at least give the presumption of wanting to contribute to the proactive good … It seems the problem is with our discourse condition, that there are a lot of sacred cows that one can’t touch, and start to [discuss] without having that backlash…and that’s a pity. So I came back with this statement and what I’m [proposing] is my way to think through the reasons for that housing crisis which has been widely debated in London…my take on this is that the explanations and recipes don’t hold up, and so I was picking up a series of Guardian headlines [saying] that this was a kind of rampant capitalism and that the solution is to stop capitalism… and my solution is that there wasn’t enough capitalism, that there wasn’t enough ... entrepreneurial freedom, and freedom of choice with respect to potential buyers and tenants who are ... infantilized by state regulatory apparatus which prevents the market to work as a discovery process and also prevents us as architects to be codiscovers and co-inventors with developers and entrepreneurs to address these issues.

Issues in this new historical condition of urban concentration that needs new innovations, new solutions, and can’t be the old land use plans, the old standards and expectations about density and separation of functions, and the old kind of worn out models of state rationing of land resources.

So that was my point, not to attack social housing but to ask for degrees of freedom for those who are challenged and researching and wanting to address a new urban condition. That’s what my primary call was for. I do believe in market process, and entrepreneurship, and freedom of choice to explore and allow entrepreneurs to use a profit and loss system...

I’m a big fan of provocation and Patrick’s a big fan of provocation, and we slap each other with lilies on the internet...but we’re good friends, I met him seventeen years ago and I have a very high level of respect for Patrik and Zaha and their work together, but when I heard the world architecture [forum] thing I decided that I would come here to rescue Patrik from destroying his own career. That’s actually what I’m here to do, [to] say that Patrik was being very provocative with those statements but I don’t think he actually believes everything he said. The statement at the end which was, and I’ll tell you why I disagree with it, but his statement number nine in his demands presented at the World Architecture Forum were to privatize all streets, squares, public spaces and parks, and possibly whole urban districts. I think that’s a provocative statement, but on the internet where you have people reading that out of context and not knowing how dedicated Patrik is to an intellectual project you just see rampant, capitalist, neo-liberalism. I think that’s dangerous for a few reasons: one is that it may work in London to help Patrik with the problems he’s facing Which is a high degree of over-regulation but it also runs the risk of producing, and I mean you no offense by this, of Houston, of cities that don’t have any land use or planning, or you run the risk of Neo-liberal capitalism taking over not only the public areas and infrastructure but their future. For instance I went to school and at Notre Dame which is near Chicago, Chicago just sold the running of their Chicago Skyway toll bridge to a Spanish-Austrian conglomerate for a half a billion dollars. So the Spanish-Austrian conglomerate runs the bridge, formerly public bridge, for the next 75 years. That limits the amount of innovation and productivity that people like you, if you have an idea like the next Airbnb of parking. That area of expertise ... is off-limits for anyone because it’s been sold.

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GET INVOLVED, GET CONNECTED, GET AHEAD

THE TOWER HANS STEFFES PROFESSOR: VAHID VAHDAT ZAD ARCH 305 The discrete Indescretion attempts to address this question and take on the task of designing an intentionally broken system that manages to still be functional. This broken functionality is a reflection of both it’s program and its context, the broken zoning of Houston and the broken social programs of neo-liberal capitalism. The geometry of the floors and walls force a new understanding of spatial division blurring the boundary between the room and the open floor plan and embracing elements of Loos’ Raumplan.

MEMORIAL WAR MUSEUM ROBERTO DIAZ-MANZANAREZ CATALINA MORALES PROFESSOR: JAMES HALIBURTON ARCH 406 Located in College Station, Texas, the 27,000 sq. ft. Memorial War Museum is a facility in which visitors can remember the roots of war and the hope grown from it.

The intersecting walls create two volumes that coalesce into a central atrium around which exhibits, interactive learning space, café, and offices revolve. The objective is to evoke hope by integrating natural light with continuous circulation. This concept, among others, was displayed in the Stark Gallery’s exhibit “Texas Aggies Go to War.”

MIXED-USE COMMUNITY CULTURAL COMPLEX ANNA COOK GARRETT FARMER SUTTON JOHNSON PROFESSORS: PAULO BULLETTI + JULIE ROGERS STUDY ABROAD (SANTA CHIARA) Renaissance ideals led to commitments in art, culture, and learning that advanced the development and application of cutting-edge technologies. The proposed Community Cultural Center for Piazzo Garibaldi in Castiglion Fiorentino will serve as a platform for knowledge through experience. Art exhibitions and fabricatin labs will introduce new design ideas that derive from existing typologies. The new Community Center will not only rekindle historical culture, but will have the capability of evolving wiht its users over time. A foundation of the Renaissance was to pursue innovation and revitalize art and culture:� by creating a modern parallel, the Community Center will bring new insight and learning to Castiglion Fiorentino.

BILLOW) noun, a great wave or surge of the sea MCKAYLA HENRIK ALEXIA HIX PROFESSOR: MIQUEL RODRUIGUEZ STUDY ABROAD (BARCELONA ARCHITECTURE CENTER) Designing just a gallery would not have reaped any major benefits in the area, as many art galleries already exist. The project first brings art into the streets of the Eixample. The building operates first as an art gallery, but also provides bountiful studio spaces for the artistic community, a cafeteria, an urban garden, and an outdoor venure for concerts, The name of the project draws from the sculptural element that embodies the atrium, roof, and double envelope.

THE REEF GRANT PARKER LOGAN WHITLEY PROFESSOR: MIQUEL RODRIGUEZ, MARTA GARCIA-ORTE STUDY ABROAD (BARCELONA ARCHITECTURE CENTER) Barcelona, like other Mediterranean cities has seen a boom in technical industries, but it can’t meet the current housing demand because the city has no more available land for new developments.

Since the 1980s, the city’s housing stock has increased by less than 4,000 units, instead of the 20,000 units per year required to meet the demand. The Reef seeks to occupy beachfront land with sustainable, affordable, and modular apartments without removing public and commercials territories.