Benjamin Bromberg Gaber Portfolio \\ Winter 2018

benjamin bromberg gaber harvard gsd master in architecture I candidate

no shirt, no shoes, no park: a park for the boston seaport | option studio mikyoung kim | fall 2017

This project creates public space in the Boston Seaport neighborhood that suggests methods of occupation but does not dictate the activities of its users. It allows for the users to negotiate amongst themselves what activities will happen 2

here, when, and how. It will allow for groups of all shapes and sizes to gather and participate together.

Cities must create cohesive spaces for public gathering while incorporating all different kinds of activities in the same

place. Parks should offer sites for social respite and friction for people at all times. The brief also called for a public space that could be used for massive protests, while being an enjoyable place for small groups of people. The project began with

an exploration of materials and models that capture kinetic activity in static form to create an engaging environment that would encourage movement throughout the site. The connection between the city and site was analyzed and 3

diagrammed. Retail L's were proposed to attract people to the project beyond times of protest. An undulating skin topography was then placed above, composed of hexagons at the scale of human occupation. At various "suggested" 4

places of program, the spaces aggregate together to allow for flat or angled gathering places at the small, medium, and large scales. The fractalized units of pentagons allow for fraying of structured space; enabling any user of the space

to choose how to occupy the specific moment, and permit a wider variety of topographic elevation. This project is not about the hexagons, it’s about the moments; the geometric forms are the vehicles for unlimited journeys. Materials are

applied to enable activities, but the edges and colors hide the “intended� program in favor of a more fluid experience.

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olympic flame development, inc. | core IV jennifer bonner | spring 2017

Project teammates: Marianna Gonzalez + Khorshid NaderiAzad.

This project rethinks the role of luxury in multi-family housing 10

today. It injects cultural phenomena (including the GIF, the representation tool engaged with throughout the semester) that are symptomatic of our lives into the traditional residential typology of Boston, the triple decker, to propose

a new set of typologies that more productively engage with who we are, how we live, and what we care about.

We closely studied the song “Bad & Boujee� by the Atlanta rappers Migos, which expresses the dichotomies embedded

in contemporary conditions and ambitions. The artists drink champagne while eating microwaved ramen, they smoke weed inside a BMW X5 while pulled over at a housing project.

Contemporary luxury is about layering. This project uses the 11

TOWER No. 13 COMPLEX No. 14

ways that people misread objects, forms, spaces, and social constructs, to shape a housing development where all people can share city. Through purposeful misreading, it obscures and disguises luxury in the contemporary city.

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Olympic Flame Development consists of 135 buildings that are variations of 5 new residential typologies. These 5 types are all alterations of the traditional triple decker. Variations on luxury were produced by taking the volume of the 5 types,

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stretching and squashing the mass to produce different heights and slenderness ratios while maintaining the same number of occupants.

No building in the development matches another, but no

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building is foreign. The urban fabric is cohesive but not monotonous. The project revamps the ordinary triple decker to embody the complexities that we experience in our contemporary lives by layering and misreading.

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mixed-use hotel tower in doha | core III elizabeth christoforetti | fall 2016

Typical floor - back of house

Diagram - outdoor / public / semi-private / private Despite traditions of hospitality within the harsh environment, Doha is a segregated city (expressed as a waffle). In this project, the nested distribution and mixing of programs, people, and environmental systems/structures attempt to 18

provide answers to questions of social and environmental responsibility, bringing the users together (expressed as a pancake).

Programs are distributed such that user groups shift up and

down throughout the building, sliding past one another.

Tourists using the gym and restaurant are forced past the locals checking out the art gallery, who are forced past the migrant workers in the clinic, who are forced past the service

workers using the kitchen facilities.

On one side of the central core are the private rooms with access to views of sunrise and the Persian Gulf. With Vierendeel trusses throughout the floorplates, the public 19

Gallery - 17th floor

Fitness - 37th floor programs can be located on the opposite corner, creating cantilevers when the program requires a larger floorplate. The rigid, cellular private half of the building provides structure while also creating a constant dichotomy between private 20

and the freeform, cantilevered public spaces.

Above these enclosed, fully conditioned cantilevers are gardens, wrapped in an additional layer of building envelope for maximum environmental efficiency. This double enclosure

creates additional opportunities for interaction between users of different programs, across public and private space, while expressing a stance towards energy use in a climate like Doha's.

Through the social and spatial organization, a new architecture is proposed to fully enable the political and social agency of the hotel users and wider community.

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Cafe - 42nd floor

Conference - 49th floor

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circulating + rare book library | core II max kuo | spring 2016

An extended precedent analysis of the Sou Fujimoto Musashino Art University Library analyzed how although the spiral organization suggests a gradient of experiences, the interaction of users with books and social dynamics among 24

users is fairly homogeneous.

This proposal offers a range of experiences for the users although it is suggestive of a consistent experience throughout with platonic geometry and the same pixelated

shelf system as found in the precedent. Public, fully accessible, circulatory portals skewer the buildings, instigating incisions, clefts, cantilevers, and shafts. The resultant networks and their associated shelving system and level of

transparency to the sky or to the landscape offer a variety of experiences into each building and within each building.

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The puncture of the facade by the portals enhances the formal and programmatic organization of the library while also providing the public with new experiences within the park.

By trading public space in the Boston Fens Park for enhanced 26

public pathways that connect users to the MFA, the city, and the park, the library reinforces its relationship to the site. The divide of the river and difference in formal systems allow users of the library, MFA, and park to engage with the seemingly

arbitrary distinctions between circulating and rare library collections, and the status and attitudes towards each held by the larger knowledge and arts communities.

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cancer club | core II max kuo | spring 2016

2nd floor

ground floor Although millions of people are diagnosed with cancer each year, undergoing treatment is an isolating and lonely process.

This is especially true for millennials; for whom it is rare to be diagnosed.

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This project for a cancer “club” inserts itself into the existing cancer treatment infrastructure as a healthcare facility that not only battles the disease and treats member’s symptoms, but also cares for the member’s social well-being.

Although the project centers around communal spaces, the treatment and housing of the members is the primary concern for the club. Thus, the architecture is based around the individual private nodes, the guest rooms and

treatment rooms, designed on a rotated 13’x13’ grid to enable full handicap accessibility while preserving privacy. The aggregation and integration of public and private spaces creates a fluid experience for members, in which they are 29

able to socialize with fellow members constantly while still being able to find moments of quiet and private refuge. By distributing public and private spaces throughout the project around a central atrium, the architecture is an enjoyable and 30

flexible social experience on each floor and throughout the building. The facade treatment reflects this sifting of public and private spaces; the material treatment and orientation represents the difference in use of the space, while the

geometry breaks down the barriers between intimate and community spaces. The facade also reflects the club's position within Brutalist Boston.

Instagram, similarly blurs these lines, allowing for the merging

of public and private spaces through the exposure of private spaces to a general social media platform while private users can interpret and experience public spaces on their own.

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cathedral of saint thomas more | seminar: making sacred spaces christine smith | spring 2016

The final project for a seminar on cathedral design, the Cathedral of Saint Thomas More, located in the Columbia Point neighborhood of Boston is designed to serve as a paradigm for future cathedrals. The arrangement of the 32

cathedral’s programs and liturgical furniture enhances the experience of the congregation joining the clergy in worship.

Located in a politically important location within Boston, and oriented to honor the patron saint of statesmen, the cathedral

confessional daily chapel sacrament chapel deacons clergy light from skylight (aligns with altar on Feast of Saint Thomas More)

bishop gospel baptismal font

narthex

congregation

altar epistle choir master organ choir communion

back of house

will serve an important role within Boston’s Catholic and political community. Built with simple materials, the church reflects the values of the congregation while enhancing the congregation’s spiritual experience. Congregants and visitors

from around Boston and the world will look forward to their time spent celebrating the liturgy together as they celebrate the glory of God, praise Christ, and yearn for a future redemption.

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ouagadougou bus shelter network | j-term studio d. francis kĂŠrĂŠ | winter 2016

This project proposes a network of bus shelters in Burkina Faso that will improve public transit experiences for residents and visitors, provide community public spaces, promote education for all ages, provide electricity for the public, and 34

create rent-able spaces.

In addition to seating for bus users, the benches could be used by community members, and the central chalkboard could host tutoring sessions, business meetings, or children

learning to write. A design for one medium-sized shelter is explored but a network of various sized shelters is proposed.

Lightweight yet durable, the structure is easily constructible and replicable across the city.

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extensive/intensive | core I cristina parreĂąo | fall 2015

This project uses a transformation system in Grasshopper to create an architecture that uses intensive processes of conduction and convection in one state, and radiation in a second to inform the extensive properties and form.

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The form enables maximum sun exposure in the compact state and maximum sun and wind exposure in the exposed state.

Through a thick envelope, compact structure and central

temperature/people circulation system, the first state utilizes the attributes of the stack effect to drive and enhance its thermodynamic system. As the Grasshopper armature unfolds the geometry into a second, exposed state, the radiation

and shading creates a completely different thermodynamic and organizational environment. The proposal references, enables, and explores the dichotomy between environments, geometries, and thermodynamic systems.

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quad neighborhoods dorm | core I cristina parreĂąo | fall 2015

This project, a dormitory, proposes a system of quad rooms types composed of two doubles lofted together in order to maximize the use of space. Often dorm quad typologies are used in cases of over-crowding or are remnant space, 40

leftover from other room configurations or converted from common spaces. This proposal creates a dorm centered around this complicated typology, as the rooms combine into a neighborhood arrangement of quads, providing 3 different

living styles for students according to their preference for more individuality, smaller clusters, or larger groups.

The project emerged from a brief that had restrictions on the plan, overall organization of the building, and use of stairs,

along with a requirement for 270 beds in a given footprint.

The eeconomy and efficiency of the quads allows for 330 beds, along with significantly more common space, an important amenity to a college dorm.

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resources in istanbul | design III karen fairbanks | fall 2014

1950 1980

1960 2010

first gecekondus

gecekondus settlements

gecekondu “landed over night”

population growth millions of people 20

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0 1900

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This traveling senior design studio was focused on how students tackle design issues in a foreign city (Istanbul), through issues related to resources in the city. The city’s morphology was analyzed with special attention paid to the 44

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horizontal development of the city and the treatment of city’s public spaces.

Some diagrams focused on Istanbul’s rapid development, while others focused on the historical, political, and social

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1960 2010 2012

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area of development compared to prior years & current roads

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changes through the lens of certain places around the city including Taksim Square, a former barracks and site of political protests. Further map analysis tracked infrastructure and demographics development.

1950

Project teammate: Rhea Schmid

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inhabiting connections | design III karen fairbanks | fall 2014 kit of parts packaging and constructing the pavilion for rebuild 3 ft.

1 ft.

bulbs

metal meshing

attachments

lighting

poles: 9 ft.

corrugated metal sheeting

packaging

Working in collaboration with a transportation-focused group, the midterm proposal was a temporary structure based on connecting people physically and socially to the Galata Greek School, the site of the 2nd Istanbul Design Biennial. The 46

scaffolding structure allowed for a view of the city (as well as its traffic and development), connected people across a busy street, and referenced the abundance of construction sites around the city. Its structure also served as a beacon

to advertise the Biennial to passerby with exhibits flowing out from the Biennial into the street while also creating connections into the impermeable facade.

Project teammates: Lauren Espeseth, Rhea Schmid, Sara Shalam

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datascapes and the informal city | gis leah meisterlin | fall 2014

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This course was focused on various representational techniques that are possible through web mapping which can represent information that is invisible in the city. The final product was a static and interactive web map that 48

investigated accessible data and visualized the changing demographics around Canal Street. This project also comments on the ways that data representation has evolved alongside the development of the city.

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870,000

business information

370,000

% of total immigrants

asian eastern european other total # immigrants

180,000

50,000

county

tract

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number of immigrants

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block group

Final project teammate: Sara Shalam Interactive web map: www.benjaminbg.com

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barnard college library | design II peter zuspan | spring 2014

Before proposing a library design to replace the existing library on Barnard College’s campus, analysis of library social systems and the site was undertaken which focused on the “peer pressure� that organizes and controls social systems.

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Using the example of the panopticon, an analysis of the libraries on campus revealed a similar pressure to focus on studying. In addition, the analysis revealed the social system of occupying space through placement of books and other

belongings. The proposal also included an system in which books could be rearranged throughout the library's winding stacks of shelves, and new academic connections could be forged by the new adjacencies in content. Analysis of the

site also revealed the typical building and material typologies on campus, and explored the “jig-jogs� of the site which force users to constantly turn while moving throughout the campus.

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Using program and site analysis, this proposal exploits and utilizs the peer pressure created in the library in a positive manner. Through books that could be removed or rearranged on the shelves, users organize and occupy each reading room 52

according to their own personal study habits and desires.

Rearrangment of academic materials would be possible, providing users with new conditions between content while also creating a unique study environment. The entire

proposal is designed to encourage users to utilize the social system of the peer pressure enabled via apertures in the wall/ shelving units, in addition to responding to the unique built environment and circulation of Barnard College. In addition,

the proposal adds green space as well as performance space, which is limited on campus.

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third SPAce: a spa without doors | design I rosalyn shieh | fall 2013

spa experience

heat hot

70-90 °

95 °

4F

sauna

hot tub steam room 90 °

95 °

5F/ int.

massage

85 °

3F 85 °

showers 80 °

5F/ trans.

cooling area

75 ° lockers

2F

more personal space

less personal space

warm pool

cold pool

changing

70 °

5F/ roof

sun deck

65 °

75 °

cafe

65 °

1F

waiting area bathrooms

Cold

This spa proposal uses properties of thermodynamics and air movment to eliminate doors, permitting 24 hour access to spa amenities and programs. The heat and personal space required for each program within the spa organizes the 54

experience for users through a system of constant shifting between hot, cold, public, and private. Within the spa are also third spaces that create a space for socializing and interacting outside of the home and workplace regardless of weather

70-90 °

95 °

85 °

75 °

65 °

or time of day. The spa programs add much needed spa and publicly accessible programs to the site, 6th Avenue and Vandam Street, New York City.

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women’s changing

cold pool

lockers

men’s changing

waiting area

women’s room entrance/exit

cafe cafe

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men’s room

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ice melting analysis | design I rosalyn shieh | fall 2013

plaster

Analysis of ice dropping into water droplets from plaster and metal ramps compared to “ideal� water drops. Concludes that metal creates more centralized water dispersion and droplets than plaster melting structures.

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ideal drip zone

metal

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hair growth analysis & salon concept | perceptions nicole robertson | spring 2013

An analysis of hair growth over three months after shaving hair, describing the directions in which hair grow over time and the directions in which the razor shaves.

The shaving directions and hair growth directions evolved into 60

the form for the next project, a hair salon. The brief called for a concept for a ‘pop-up’ hair shaving salon in Times Square, so this design responded to site research and provided tourists and locals with a location to shave. The proposal also serves

as a tourist surveillance device with exterior mirrors for police officers.

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professional work

SQFT by Program

Square footage by program type in basketball facilities

SchoolShort / FacilityType

Arka.. Baylor Georgia Tech

Iowa State

Kansas State Minn.. Oregon State Syrac..

Texas Christian

Texas Tech

UCLA

USC

Wake Utah Virgi.. Forest Was.. West Virginia

FICM Types Sports Medicine Practice Lounge Study Athletic Service Spectator

300K

Office Other

250K

INT SQFT

200K

150K

sports medicine practice

100K

lounge 50K

study service Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball Operations

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

Basketball

Basketball Operations

0K

spectator office other

Sum of INT SQFT for each FacilityType broken down by SchoolShort. Color shows details about FICM Types. The marks are labeled by sum of INT SQFT. Details are shown for RoomType. The view is filtered on FacilityType and SchoolShort. The FacilityType filter keeps Basketball and Basketball Operations. The SchoolShort filter excludes Arizona and Texas A&M.

Texas A&M Facilities

TEXAS A&M

Sport1 Baseball Basketball Basketball Operations Football Football Indoor Football Operations Olympic Sports Soccer Softball Swimming Tennis Track and Field Track and Field Indoor Volleyball SchoolShort Texas A&M

Map based on Longitude and Latitude. Color shows details about SchoolShort. Shape shows details about Sport1. Details are shown for FacilityName. The data is filtered on Conference, which keeps ACC, BIG 10, BIG 12, PAC 12 and SEC. The view is filtered on SchoolShort and Sport1. The SchoolShort filter keeps Texas A&M. The Sport1 filter excludes Golf.

Texas A&MStar Football RecruitsRecruits FB

new indoor practice facility

populous renovated Football stadium Year

SchoolShort

40

Alabama Arizona

Stars Total

30

total star recruits

Arizona State Arkansas Auburn

20

Baylor Boston College

10

California Clemson

0 0 30

Colorado Duke Florida

20

Florida State

5 Star

5 star recruits

Georgia Georgia Tech

10

Illinois Indiana

0 30

Iowa

0

Iowa State Kansas Kansas State

20

Kentucky

4 star recruits

4 Star

Louisiana State Louisville 10

Maryland Miami

0 30

Michigan

0

Michigan State Minnesota Mississippi Mississippi State Missouri

3 Star

3 star recruits

20

Nebraska North Carolina

10

North Carolina State 0

Northwestern

0

Notre Dame 2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

The trends of sum of Stars Total, sum of 5 Star, sum of 4 Star and sum of 3 Star for Year Year. Color shows details about SchoolShort. The data is filtered on Conference (CollegiateFacilitiesDatabase), which keeps ACC, BIG 10, BIG 12, PAC 12 recruitment year and SEC. The view is filtered on SchoolShort and Year Year. The SchoolShort filter excludes Null. The Year Year filter excludes 2018.

Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon Oregon State Penn State Pittsburgh Purdue Rutgers South Carolina Stanford

Populous Architects, Boston, MA May 2017-August 2017

Syracuse Tennessee Texas Texas A&M Texas Christian Texas Tech UCLA USC

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, NY June 2016-August 2016

Utah Vanderbilt

University athletic facility research project

Virginia Virginia Tech Wake Forest Washington Washington State West Virginia

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Wisconsin

1:200 model for Jerusalem mixed-use development

Experion Design Group, New York, NY June 2014 - May 2015

Fentress Architects, Shanghai, China June 2013 - August 2013

3D modeling for Miami residential competition proposal

Sketches and presentation - Kunming, SD 3d model - Xian 63

benjamin bromberg gaber portfolio: winter 2018 harvard university graduate school of design master in architecture I expected 2019

www.benjaminbg.com benjamin@benjaminbg.com bbromberggaber@gsd.harvard.edu cover: analysis of internal construction system in gropius house, lincoln, ma - spring 2016