Celeste Beistegui's Design Portfolio

A PORTFOLIO OF IDEAS

CELESTE BEISTEGUI

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURE WOMEN’S STUDIES MINOR CLASS OF 2025

METRO

COOPERATIVE HOUSING

1400 RICHMOND AVE., HOUSTON, TX

“HOME VALUES ARE ALWAYS IN PERMANENT MUTATION, AND TODAY, THOSE WHICH DEAL WITH THE KITCHEN ARE PRECISELY THE MOST CAPABLE OF RADICALLY CHANGING PRESET GENDER ROLES AND DOMESTIC LABOR STRUCTURES.”

—ANNA PUIGJANER

INTERMEDIATE STUDIO

JAN 2022 - MAY 2022

“TECHNICS AND ENTANGLEMENTS”

METRO COOPERATIVE HOUSING

receives its name from the Latin word “Metropolis,” which translates to “Mother City.”

This name embodies two key themes that the project seeks to convey: Domesticity and Urbanism. Loosely based on the Cerda Urban planning project in Barcelona, Spain, the project takes on the form of a block intersection with chamfered corners that provide public spaces. These shared, public spaces, inspired by the urban kitchens in Lima, Peru examined in Anna Puigjaner’s e-flux Architecture article “Bringing the Kitchen Out of the House,” take on the form of traditionally domestic rooms such as a laundry room, kitchen, and garden. The encouragement of socializing in these traditionally domestic spaces challenges the dweller’s perception of not only who these spaces are for, but also the importance of the domestic role in the maintenance of an urban social fabric.

The building is designed to be customizable and eventually multiplied. This creates a campus which seeks to emulate a microcosmic urbanism. In order to refrain from monopolizing the park in which the originally assigned site location lies, the project takes on various environmentally conscious design aspects in order to not only decrease its environmental footprint, but to blur the lines between the natural and the built environment. For example, the exterior north-facing wall is a solar powered, self operating wall of moving panels which help to naturally control the climate inside the building. Several rooms in the building contain folding or pocket doors in order to expand the room outdoors, further fostering the feeling of simultaneously being indoors and out, and challenging the dweller’s perception of nature’s role in both the domestic realm and the urban.

INSTITUTEMENILDRAWING BRANARDST. WMAINST.

SITE AXONOMETRIC

DANFLAVIN INSTALLATION

DIAGRAMATIC AXO

GROUND AND FIRST FLOOR PLANS

NORTH ELEVATION

EAST ELEVATION

The “H”at White Oak

COMMUNITY CENTER/PUBLIC HOUSING 2702 N MAIN ST, HOUSTON, TX

INTERMEDIATE STUDIO JAN 2021 - DEC 2021

“HOUSE + CONSIDERS THE OPPORTUNITIES CREATED BY COUPLING TWO PROGRAMS - A DWELLING + ANOTHER PROGRAM - IN AN EFFORT TO REIMAGINE WHAT IT MEANS TO DWELL IN OUR CONTEMPORARY CONTEXT. ”

THE “H” AT WHITE OAK

Is a community center hybridized with public housing, located in the White Oak neighborhood in the Heights, Houston.

The “H” in the project title not only represents the form the project takes on the site, but also the 3 “H” elements the project hopes to highlight for the site and its local inhabitants: history, housing, and horticulture. The open, arid space within the community center portion of the project provides the community a space to gather and hold events, while the more closed off areas act as small libraries and reading rooms where historical records of the community can be kept and accessed. These spaces work together to help the community celebrate and keep in touch with their historical backgrounds in their neighborhood undergoing a process of gentrification that threatens to take it away from them.

Located towards the back of the site away from the widely-public main road, the affordable housing units offer local residents a place to dwell if they are displaced by the ongoing by gentrification. The bridge connects the housing to the community center to allow the residents to use it as a shared space. The bridge also symbolizes and emphasizes the importance of equitable housing the way to acheiving a thriving community.

Finally, the community garden on site is open to the entire community in hopes that it would mitigate effects of being a food desert. The garden also serves to help the community learn about sustainability while also giving them a purpose in their community and a reason to collaborate with one another.

Looking for a unique yet functional addition to an empty corner of the client’s room, we decided on a bean bag for its nostalgic appeal and its simplicity without the compromise of comfort. The bean bag’s cover, inspired by the balls of the classic game of pool, was chosen to play more into the idea of nostalgia and other vintage imagery. While there are many pool balls to choose from, the decision to recreate the 14-ball for the bean bag cover was ultimately determined by the client’s favorite color, green, and the aesthetic preference for the stripe, rather than solid ball.

Determined to make it as functional and durable as possible, the bean bag includes an inner-lining bag used to hold the stuffing, and a zipper on the bag cover to allow for removal and machine wash without compromizing the overall construction.

hand-made with love. inteded to last. always.

14

black smooth faux leather fabric

joann fabrics - item # 18242503

97% polyester, 3% spandex

white stretch corduroy fabric

joann fabrics - item # 19475557

97% polyester, 3% spandex

duck green medium corduroy fabric

joann fabrics - item # 19475573

99% cotton, 1% spandex original sketch pattern

other materials: inner lining bag stuffing (1/2 styrofoam, 1/2 memory foam) zipper

18” diam.

21” width

panel (w/ number) x1

panels (no number) x5

bows, bows, bows!

stay cool (literally) and trendy this spring with the season’s latest fashion trend complete with open sides with adjustable ties to fit every coquette girlie’s needs

classic

red

blue

reference / inspiration

sinead on tiktok, 02/28/2024

concept / research pattern construction

emiko studio: seersucker pinafore vest

$136.39

made to order

black checks quilt cotton fabric by keepsake calico joann fabricsitem # 1000694 100% cotton