folio CARLOS T. ACOSTA PEREZ
DESIGNING SPACES TO BE ADAPTABLE
& EVERCHANGING.
THAT’S THE PURPOSE OF ARCHITECTURE.
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This Portfolio is structured to start from an architectural discourse toward a more experimental object approach.
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Dos Fabricas Rok- Room Of Knowledge Conerstone Drowend Memories: Newness, Culture and Architecture
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Coda Terra Nova Skyscraper Peb-L Terraforming
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Dos fabricas Dos Fabricas is an industrial structure that incorporates the two processes, such as recycling and waste, into an energy facility and an educational component of a public gallery. The juxtaposition between industrial processes that deal with garbage and art combines high and low culture elements that bring a new perspective to what these facilities can be. Recognizing the future flood plains in the Brooklyn Navy Yards, the project welcomes the water into the site boundaries to create a new urban ecology.
Typology: Waste managment
Location: 492 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Type: Studio Project
Year: 2020
Collaborator: Cecilia Concepcion
CLT Arch Stucture
East Gallery Facade
CLT Arch Structure Observatory
East Gallery Facade West Gallery Facade
Gallery
Gallery
HVAC System
HVAC Shell
East Facade
Kalwall Skylights
Kalwall Skylight
Recyling Wall & CLT Beam System
Recycling wall & CLT Beam system
Incinerator Machine
Recycling Machine
Gallery & Restaurant
Gallery & Restaurant
Recycling West Facade
Incinerator
West Facade
Vault Structure
Vault Structure
The juxtaposition of the facade plays out, recognizing the context that surrounds the building. On the east side, it expresses Fishtank (workshop)
a more monolithic approach to provide privacy for the workers and serves as a barrier to any outcome of smell. On the other hand, the west facade takes advantage of the views that surround the building, and it’s developed under a more translucent approach. As a result, a better quality of workspace while keeping the sense of safety. In addition, the building
Exploded Axonometric
Pool
is lifted from the ground allowing various programs to continue uninterrupted for future water flooding.
Exploded Axonometric
Lift doors for barge’s quick access to recollect and transport
Stairs circulating the chimney that direct towards the viewing deck.
Lift doors open to a large platform for quick access to deposit the waste.
Incinerator facility
The dock station is cantilevering for accessible ferry access.
A sizeable open floor plan for art installation flexibility.
Double height arch space for more significant sculptures.
Gallery
The incinerator facility recognizes the smell and needs vast space to process trash. For that reason, we
The gallery serve as the latter portion of the project and houses a large CLT vaulted interior to mantain
provide an area with thick walls that would mask these undesirable traits while mainly giving room for a
certain flexibility for art space while respecting public space for the community by having the gallery
significant roll-up door to provide full access to dispose of trash and in the location of needing to dispatch
uplifted and the first floor serving as direct access for ferry transport and a public pool.
and update large machinery to extend the purpose of the building.
Recycling facility Composed of a set of arches made from crossed Laminated Timber, the recycling facilities obtain the capacity to withstand a large open floorplan and provide sizeable, flexible space for any addition and arrangement the recycling machinery may need. As well as making use of natural light and transparency from both sides of the lateral walls provides a clear sense of the process that goes into recycling for any visitor using the facilities while providing safety on the factory floor.
Recycling facility Interior
Main Floorplan
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Short section
Longitudinal section
Gallery detail Drawing
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Coda Taking a cue from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reef initiative, where they used the outdated train cars by disposing them of harmful materials and tossing them into the ocean to serve as artificial reefs and house sealife; we recognize that we could accommodate a portion of the population that is in desperate need of sheltering and who already depend on this train car for survival. By reusing these cars, we tackle a portion of the cost and do not rely on the production of new materials. Instead, we adapted the layout and materials the train car already had to cater to a comfort station capable of providing daily essentials for hygiene, health, and rest. In other words, a kit of parts that would serve as a sleeping pod, service station, and bathroom.
Typology: Shelters
Location: Manhattan
Type: Workshop Project
Year: 2022
Collaborator: Luca Gargano & Lindelwe Nziramasanga
MTA Services The project CODA consists of providing the homeless community with the essential elements day by day as they wait for the process of permanent shelter. While there’s a good level of homeless’s refuge in the city, we are proposing a system that provides a flexible approach to daily living by giving the user longer times of reservation and having the facilities reach them rather than the other way around. For this reason, the module needed to have the capacity to transform and follow the rules of a specific location, as it is with the train station, which approaches the deployment as a restroom and small bodega layout.
Refurbishing parts To make this approach more feasible, we looked at materials that were already accessible for the city of NYC, and understanding that on recent news, plenty of train wagons would be decommissioning for new models, we saw this as an opportunity to provide a second life to this resources, particularly ones that already serve as a substitute for the people in need of shelter. Knowing that these wagons are prefabricated modules composed of a kit of parts, we approach the design by “dissecting” the modules and repurposing the elements we found essential to provide the services required for the comfort station. Exploded Axonometric
System arrangement After evaluating the pieces, we developed a set of modules that would provide essential amenities such as a sleeping pod, bathroom, and center pod that will cater to an assistant to provide security, supply, and maintenance of said facilities. This module serves as a shifting pod that can provide different services depending on the needs identified in the location. Companies like thrift stores, food chains, barbers, and organizations can establish the services in this pod. Additionally, we saw graffiti as an approach to monetize the shelter organizations by using these pods as a canvas for artists and companies in exchange for donations.
Kit of parts
Sleeping Pod
Bathroom facility
Shell Standard
Module types
Detachable platform Lastly, to make the modules as off-grid as possible, we redesign the bottom portion to facilitate the detachment and replacement of use filled up containers that would serve as composed and have them replaced weekly by the use of the already maintenance train car that goes in the lines of manhattan or the trash trucks if located outside the perimeter of a train station.
Bathrooms+Lobby+Pop-up service pod+Sleeping pods Module Variations
03 Drowned Memories: Newness, Culture and Architecture Parting from the studio’s questioning of Newness & Obsolescence in the field of architecture, we look upon the qualities that empower or weaken how we view these two subjects. We recognize that newness brings a sense of the unfamiliar while providing innovation, while obsolescence gives a sense of familiarity while having a fragile stand through time. For this reason, we wanted the project to find a middle ground between these two concepts, obtaining an ambiguity of sorts that we come to define as anachronistic architecture -Use historical narratives as a way of exploring our project, starting from the point of historical fact, and imbuing newness with a sense of ambiguity and time. We wanted to recognize layers over layers of information lost through time with our proposal. Questioning two key components, can we use the obsolete to create newness? and can a narrative produce an anachronistic behavior for the sense of preserving the history that makes us? Anachronics
Familiar Fragile History
Newness
obsolescence
Unfamiliar Innovation Change Ambiguity
Typology: Restoration/ Landscape
Location: Lago Caonillas Puerto Rico
Type: Studio Project
Year: 2021
Collaborator: Gabriela Calzada
Site Plan The old town of Caonillas would serve as a perfect backdrop for the study and approach of the studio. A town that due to a dam that would provide Hydropower to the island, forcing the community out for the replacement of water reserve. Today the dam is an abandoned project, and the town lies under a human-made lake, only kept alive by articles of the last decades and the occasionally resurfacing of the church when the water ties lower. The project’s purpose is to frame the facilities that still might be standing under that lake with the help of large retaining walls that would also serve as connecting paths from the land to the water bringing back to light a lost portion of history.
Pathways Recognizing that the buildings, in theory, would be dug out at different altitudes and are of different scales, the proposal takes advantage of this a develops pathways that would change heights depending on the location. As a result, it provides an exciting change as you dwell inside the facilities, from being able to see the water surrounding you to enclosing the area, narrowing your view of the project and the sky.
Floating Pathways To answer the changing tides of the lake and not overproduce with thick concrete walls throughout the project, we provided suspending path that would aline with the water levels. Using these paths makes it possible to connect large spans and not need overly done structures to support. As a result, I will produce an exciting connection between the body of water and the landscape.
Old sheriff station
remains of factory worker houses
Old town mini market
Lost facilities of the town
Here is our interpretation of how the spaces would look once dugout and how our intervention would repurpose the rooms while maintaining a respectful and safe restriction of the structures for preservation purposes. As a result, it brings connections between pieces of the past and connects them with the generation of the present to extend the use of space for the future. Working as a public space for the Puertorican community, these facilities would now serve as Galleries, a venue for local shops and coffee plantations.
Church of St. Bosco
Sheriff station
Remains of worker’s houses
Don Juans Plaza
Mansion Vivoni
Dona Lucia Mini Market
housing + Plaza + Mini Market The retaining walls will permit easy access by parting the waters, creating a dynamic experience when dwelling around the pathways—switching from being surrounded by large trees to an open sky and large communal spaces for daily activities that connect the framed areas of the old town. In this case, the old housing of the workers, Mansion Vivoni, the plaza, and the mini-market.
Church + Sheriff building The frame that surrounds the old building is left open to symbolize the church’s resurfacing that would happen at lower tides and to provide sensory detachment from other spaces, forcing the dweller to experience only the room, focusing on the old areas that are the only ones left remains of a town lost in time.
04 Conerstone Our site in the Brooklyn Army Terminal has a particular asset to deal with when facing context & location. While the Industrial factories heavily control the coast, a prominent community lies behind it. It is made mainly by Asian and Latin demography; sunset park hosts an overlooked diverse community. Said elements make our site a keyspace to embrace the connection between these two typologies in one place. Thus the project cornerstone. A cultural center and harvesting facility accommodate recreational spaces for the communities to manifest their cultural needs while providing jobs that reflect the demography. It offers open areas that embrace developments of markets in the communities, recreational activities, places to fish, and land for harvesting. All taken out of what the community is trying to establish in the space.
Typology: Mixed Use
Location: 492 Kent Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11249
Type: Studio Project
Year: 2020
Collaborator: Sirinya Wutthilaohaphan
Main Level
Lime stone walls+ conrete + mirror glass
Mycelyum paneling + mirror glass
North Facade
Mycelium paneling
Taking advantage of the existing building on-site, we take a deconstructive approach that would slightly deform the characteristic of the building to extend the lot area and provide new openings that would facilitate the integration of the community center for the arts and the algae farmhouse. While having further alterations, we wanted the building to reflect on its surroundings, and for said reason, we selected a mirror glass for the openings and mycelium for the paneling of the building’s facade. In addition, the mycelium would react to the changing condition of the environment, providing a unique expression in the envelope of the building. These formal qualities come out from an abstraction of the site that we then project towards the facade.
Longitudinal section The same abstraction used in the facade is projected as well towards the pier to create a clear connection with the site and to provide a continuous language that we take advantage of to produce pathways and wall extrusion to provide shelter and space for art installations in the exterior and as a result, making the area cater for the people rather than focusing on the vehicle experience.
Building + floor alterations
05 Terra Nova Skyscraper The skyscraper typology has made it possible to duplicate and compress the presence of population in a city while having a small percentage of the sprawling but in the process has lost and obligated their inhabitants to live a certain way, limiting diverse lifestyles to mass produce units throughout the building. What if we part from creating a mix of units that answers to the diversity of the inhabitants as it goes upwards? What if we develop structures in phases as the inhabitant decides to come instead of creating a building in one go? Thus the Terra Nova Skyscrapers. A building is made to work for its user and evolves to adapt to the times and usage.
Typology: Mixed use
Location: 383 Gold St, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Type: Studio Project
Year: 2019
Collaborator: -
Program section The building’s envelope and exoskeleton structure are built entirely in the project’s first phase, but the spaces between are kept as open public spaces until housing is needed. This step starts after the public space that divides the offices from the accommodation spaces. Next, the envelope of the building reacts to the exterior by angling its form to provide privacy and better views. Finally, the proposal caters to different types of housing and public spaces to give a more extensive range of people who can own, rent or use spaces in the building. Facade
Program section
S7
S1
S5
Adaptower
S8
S6
E
D
F
G
H
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1 A-100
S4
S2 S4
S1
S3
A-102
1/2”=1'-0"
S8
S9
1/2”=1'-0"
S1
Timber Floor Aluminum Frame
S3
Water Proofing
L9 100'-0"
L9 100'-0"
L8.5 100'-0"
L8.5 100'-0"
1 A-102
S4
Insulation
S5
Air gap
S6
Exterior Photochromic Laminated glass
S7
Interior Lowe- E IGU
S8
Concrete structure Wall
Detail Drawings
FRC Panel
Stephen Chu
S9 S4
Facade Joint detail
S2
S10
L9.5 100'-0"
S9
9’
2
Window joint detail
L9.5 100'-0"
1’
A-102
S9
9’
S10
1
S3
S2
L8 100'-0"
L8 100'-0"
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1’
S7
S5
1’
S6
S4
L7.5 100'-0"
L7.5 100'-0"
Carlos Acosta Perez Carlos Acosta Perez
Concrete slab
Drawing No.
L7 100'-0"
L7 100'-0"
4’9”
3
A-102
Structure joint Detail 1/2”=1'-0"
1
Section
A-100
1/2”=1'-0"
A - 102
2
Facade
A-100
1/2”=1'-0"
Scale: 1’= 1/2”
3 A-102
D
2 A-102
I
E
3 A-100
H
Floor-plan 1/2”=1'-0"
G F
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South Facade The exoskeleton provides circulation throughout the building, placed strategically at three points of the building to provide circulation flexibility without limiting the layout of the building. Keeping in mind that larger weights will be applied, I propose larger floorplates to withstand larger bearing loads while providing the flexibility of the units to change drastically through each level. Floorplan
06 Rok - room of knowledge Good architecture is the one that adapts to the needs of the population and environment when the previous becomes less applicable in the modern, more fragile present. Education should adjust to the same standards or, even better, be a tool that is accessible to all. The way most education has been taught for decades without change becomes a domino effect that affects future generations. Today information has become easier to access. However, the interaction is still lacking and starting to catch up, but we need to push it to the next level. What if we could develop a better connection with the way we gather knowledge with today’s technology? Elements that concern space, smell, and visualization of an environment that is no longer physically available for us to experience can create a whole experience. ROK fulfills this push to a more immersive way of learning. What if this is the next natural history museum?
Typology: Installation / Education
Location: Museums
Type: Competition
Year: 2020
Collaborator: Luz Wallace
MAGNETIC JOINTS OLED WITH ACRLYLIC COVER
MIRROR GLASS
Projection Diagram
OLED Panel
Functions
Section A
SECOND PLACE Charrette Competition 2016 ¡Y se fue la luz!
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PEB L
The PEB L (Portable Everyday Battery Life) Its a modular element based on the possibillity of caring the basic essential you need to keep a better and more educate lifestyle, taking it a step further than just an emergency object. The PEB L serve as the endoskeleton for diferent modules that where design to cover the basic needs for an emergency. as a starter pack, the module consist on a modular lamp and a charging station, but the PEB L can serve for many other possibilities.
The PEB L (Portable Everyday Battery Life)
Its a modular element based on the possibillity of caring th essential you need to keep a better and more educate lifes it a step further than just an emergency object. The PEB L s endoskeleton for diferent modules that where design to cov needs for an emergency. as a starter pack, the module con modular lamp and a charging station, but the PEB L can se many other possibilities.
4 in
Typology: Health
5 in
Type: Competition Project Collaborator: David Davila
Location: Year: 2017
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PEB L
The PEB (Portabl
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The obj one stat OF PEB the ene of letting
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The PEB L (Portable Everyday Battery Life) The objects uses technology such as magnets to pass the energy from one station to another and create the possibility to connect A VARIETY OF PEB L . It also contains a solar panel on the inside so it can obtain the energy it needs to work and has nano suction, creating the liberty of letting the obeject stick in any surface.
(Parts of Lamp Detail ) 1. froasted bio plastic 2. light with sensore recognition 3. metal cover with magnet 4. bio plastic cover with battery 5. safety shell 6. solar panel 7. bio plastic shell 8. micro suction layer
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(Parts of Lamp Detail )
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(Parts of Lamp Detail ) 1. froasted bio plastic 2. charger 3. metal cover with magnet 4. bio plastic cover with battery 5. safety shell 6. solar panel 7. bio plastic shell 8. micro suction layer
(Parts of Charger Detail )
08 Terraforming Terraforming comes out of a micro and nanoscale image research, focused on patterns formed in nature. The formal qualities study provided considerable similarities that upon further examinations, we understood the shapes and characteristics are results of the environmental factors surrounding them. Thous the creation of the project Terraforming. A tiling system that expands continuously in any direction, reacting to the environmental factors that surround it with the purpose of providing diferent soil and lanscape areas that would cater as housing for diferent species in places that tear down there housing in the first place. Formal study
Typology: Tiles ( object)
Location: Lago Caonillas Puerto Rico
Type: Research Project
Year: 2020
Collaborator: Kathleen
SEM’s studies
This natural probe began by looking at manual tracings of selected SEM images. The specimen itself does not matter as much as its traced formal qualities and how they could connect to other selections. Linework from SEMs is joined in pairs of two or more and then merged into a collective of all tracings. The final result was to repeat some of these connections without simply mirroring to create an authentic hybrid that could make a tile format to provide a new space composition.
SEM secondary Qualities
A1 FLOW / CHANNEL
A5
SCALE / LAYER
TECTONIC / AGGREGATE
A3
A2
A4 8
FRAGMENT / BREAKAGE
SEM’s PRIMARY QUALITIES
Traits merge
Modular Arrangement
Relational Images to Create a Total Composition
We recognize patterns in nature at many scales of observation. While the micro and nano-scale are imperceivable in our experience of everyday life, we can witness their formations and ordering principles from a closer glance. When we pull ourselves away from this close observation of life, we can see the similarities in their formal qualities. Collaged together, they create a composition of life. Upon further inspection, we may notice that the way form arises in seemingly different specimens is not so different but shaped by environmental and other external factors.
A1
A2
A3
A4
A5
Formfinding
Material exploration #2
Material exploration #1
Physical and digital stuies
After selecting the tiles, we moved the studies to physical form in hopes of better understanding the qualities and possibilities of arrangement between the pieces. We also took the liberation of experiment with different materials to serve as abstract approaches in substitute of natural soils with the hopes of better understanding the potential of these pieces
Computal Formfinding