cal poly pomona
selected works 2020 - 2024
the baker, the teacher, and the librarian
fall 2024 - interim exhibition
folding tower
spring 2022 - interim exhibition
documenting the mylla hytte
fall 2021
puzzle piece housing
spring 2023
negotiation nest of california
fall 2023
federal park of portland
spring 2024 - interim exhibition
fall 2024 - interim exhibition
The library is a gateway into imagination, a safe haven for dreamers, scholars, and neighbors alike. This mutual appreciation for a communal site of daydreaming is made possible by the institution, a democratic and sympathetic experience at heart. Just as its users dream, the library dreams along with them. Our proposal for the library of Inglewood wishes for a world that did not forget about the human scale. It turns its head on the dense car-reliant fabric of Los Angles and begins to translate those urban patterns into components of a more empathetic view of the city. At its core, Inglewood and the greater context of Los Angeles is a story of many disparate characters squeezed shoulder to shoulder. Abstraction is the means in which our library’s translation occurs. Those typical, drab, industrial monoliths have all of a sudden shrunk and become orangey chunks of traditional adobe brick. The library’s dream manifests itself as a story of three The Baker wishes that all saw the warmth of her hearth and takes the site’s corner. Being the smallest of the three, she has lowered her tone in her invitations to the public. The Teacher on the other hand is proud and has turned to greet Manchester in his entirety. He believes that inspiration is the precursor to education and relentlessly talks about his students to anyone willing to give him audience. To his right, is the Librarian who has humbly sat on the corner adjacent to the alley. She admires the other two and lets them introduce themselves to the public before she does. Although she does not speak as often as the Baker or the Teacher, the Librarian takes care to remind those that enter of what brought the three of them together. The conversations, and sometimes the arguments, that these three friends have with each other is the essence of any urbanism. The ability to freely traverse this pool of dissipating personalities and engage with each character on their own terms is the dream that our library wishes instill in both its users and the citizens of Inglewood.
approach from street intersection
circulation and characters
spring 2022 - interim exhibition
Shelling and envelope are central to this project. Upon entering the viewer is surrounded by the building’s complex scheme of patterning, immersing into the abstract. A balance in figure ground is maintained throughout all design aspects of the building in order to capture a sustained overall gaze, where no feature holds the eye for too long. Varied punctures in the shell and perforation in the facade is treated generously across all sides of the building to ensure that each space receives an adequate amount of sunlight from within the heavily shelled building. The main entrance is found in the border between plinth and tower, the convergence between horizontality and verticality. Drawing attention to both of these aspects, the face of the tower unfolds into the plinth with large scale openings exposing the lobby to an overall view of the plinth as well as the interstitial space of the shelling above. To further ground the tower into its site, the shell of the tower unfolds completely until it reaches the lowest level of the plinth.
Framing the undulating panels of the facade is a structure that continues datums between each figure, making the underlying folds between the figures easily readable. The ability for structure to speak as part of design allows the shell to more cohesively bind to the underlying building.
fall 2021
Through careful analysis of the Mylla Hytte’s assembly and construction, the beauty that underlies its simplistic appearance is able to be fully admired. Throughout the semester findings about standard building assembly are able to be rendered into real world case studies through Revit software. What results from meshing what was learned with what was built is an artifact that is able to be sliced, studied, and understood as all systems must coexist in its conglomeration.
The Mylla Hytte was built by Mork-Ulnes Architects and is located deep within the hills of Norway. Surrounded by nature, this cabin was built to be a sanctuary of peace and relaxtion. Reflecting this tranquil atmosphere is the use of delicate pine, finished with oil to create both a soothing exterior and interior. Configured as a pinwheel, framed views of the vast landscape are implied within each of the building’s four modules. Due to its pinwheel configuration the living room and kitchen located in the cabins center is made the point that houses all interactive activity. The varied sloping of the roof not only ties together each of these four modules together but also allows light to flow in through windows pushed towards the upper edge of the walls.
during a norwegian winter
experimentations with tesselated units
spring 2023
My project can effectively promote a sense of community through an organized tessellation design. By adopting a tessellation arrangement, where the units are interlocked in a repetitive pattern, the building can foster social interaction, inclusivity, and a distinct project identity. The tessellated form of the building, characterized by its porous nature, allows crosswinds to penetrate the structure. This design feature enhances natural ventilation and cooling, reducing reliance on energy-consuming air conditioning systems. The efficient circulation of fresh air not only contributes to a more environmentally friendly building but also promotes the well-being and comfort of the residents. Green spaces variably located on each floor further promote the community within the building. These green spaces, such as rooftop gardens or communal terraces, provide areas for residents to connect with nature, socialize, and relax. These shared outdoor spaces encourage interaction among neighbors, facilitating a sense of community and fostering relationships. They serve as gathering spots for recreational activities, fostering a healthy and vibrant living environment.
3/32" = 1'
fall 2023
This project makes the function of government legible by incorporating a fuzzy logic. The cold monolith of the United Nation’s building is repeatedly slashed at so that the veins and organs are exposed to the air. What results from this move is a lightweight floatiness. The organs within constantly shift and push on each other. The space in between is where thin and fine grain elements of greenery and circulation seep through. What results is a porosity where negotiations are kept close to the open air. Meetings are impossible to be done in secret without first reconciling with the eyes of the public. The fuzziness is then further reinforced through greenery. Elements that would ground people to the earth have climbed their way up the artificial ravine. The straited planters run lengthwise across the project, making this extreme dimension understandable to the human scale. Even though this fuzziness dominates the project there remains some moments of monolith that the building relies on. Two solid egress cores run continually through the building. These are the thumbtacks that keep the building from flying away.
explosion of elements
This building sits on a sacred site of Portland. It straddles the barrier between the tall canyons of the dense urban city and the completely flate and infinte plane of the river. The boundary that it sits in is made obvious as it is a park that sprints alongside the river. Because the park runs for virtually the same length as the river the park becomes a sense of escape for Portlanders.
Any building that should sit on this site should respect the role that this waterfront park has. To make a building that disrupts the flow that occurs within this linear park would mean to take a position as an antagonist to the public realm, forcing all those that venture along the trail to first reconcile with the building. This courthouse takes into account the sensitivity that its position will have onto the site and thus incorporate the trail within itself so that the building and the park are one and the same.
Thank You!
btarenas@cpp.edu
909 - 260 - 5725
chino hills, california
