Christian Camacho - GSAPP

A CARTOUCHE OF

PERPETUAL PROCESS Columbia University GSAPP Master of Science Advanced Architectural Design Portfolio Christian L. Camacho

PROCESSES, ESSAYS, QUOTES, AND DRAWINGS, INTERNALIZED.

PORTFOLIO CONTENTS

Cartouche 1 BOTANICAL MODULE Critic: Jing Liu

pg 4 - 15

Cartouche 2 ELBPHILHARMONIE RE-INTERPRETATION Critic: Lise Anne Couture

pg 16 - 19

Cartouche 3 VELO - LOOP NYC Critic: Lise Anne Couture

pg 20 - 29

Cartouche 4 THE PHANTOM PUBLIC Critic: Andres Jaque

pg 30 - 35

Cartouche 5 ENCODED MATTER Critic: Ezio Blasetti

pg 36 - 37

Botanical Module

BOTANICAL MODULE PROFESSOR: Jing Liu AUTHOR: Christian Camacho DESCRIPTION: Time is an architectural element that is constantly rejected in our field. The element of time has certain connotations that are all too Utopian. Services, agencies, and associations in construction now care to minimize the reduction of time to maximize profits. However, time is not in favor of these agencies.

The brick industry is a place where we can find these circumstances. The perception of what a brick wall should look like has been fueled by the sterilization of American-Western thought and propaganda. Power washing companies, pesticide companies, ASTM standards and Landmarks Commissions strive to turn a material such as a brick into something that can last and look a specific way. Why are the materials we as architects design with have to be so domesticated and sterilized?

Wetlands Marshlands 1983 flood Sandy flood 4

Botanical Module

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TIME IS THE DESIGNER 3.

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If we look at New York City it is completely built up and it denounces its main designer, time. However, every twenty to thirty years we see time come into play and redesign the island of New York as we know it. Super-storms have flooded the island through out its history and retrace what were once botanically thriving wetlands that contained a wild life of thier own. Why have we rejected all of these “Architectural� features which were once part of this island?

We cannot replant the island of New York, but we can strategically replace areas of wetland which have been claimed by this Utopian society.

The Botanical Module creates a structure that acts as a flood barrier, not to stop floods, but to slow them down, while at the same time creating a space within that constantly changes and allows for wildlife to thrive. In order to design such a module one must understand the wet land and prairie wild life that once existed here by mapping the plants that thrive in this context.

1. Brick Wall 2. Brick Wall Invaded by Time 3. Plants As Structure 4. Wetland Plants 5. Marshland Plants 6. Prarie Plants 5

Botanical Module

MODULE PROTOTYPE How does soil, something that has no form, create a form that can be handled by one person? It is first important to understand the soil and its behaviors in order to choose the correct material that will work with it. In this case the use of expandable fabrics are experimented with soil in order to create an arch of soil that can work in compression in order to understand its potentials. It is also just as important to comprehend how one module can also create a texture, space, and environment.

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1. dry soil arch 2. wet soil arch 3. vaulted 4. space 5. compressed texture 6

Botanical Module

Stitching fabrics infilled with soil in order to control its formation 7

Botanical Module 2.

TIME AS A MODULE

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Botaincal Module 1. Pea Plant 2. Salix Alba 3. Capparis 4. Lettuce 5. Fabric Drapage 6. Root expansion 7. Roots interlocking

We have denounced time as a designer.

Time is a designer, if you allow time to happen. Todays society the idea of a module has certain connotations, where it should look and perform to specific requirements, where the concept of time has been completely eliminated. A brick for example, has to undergo an incredible amount of specs, and inspections before performing against the elements.

It also has a plethora of warranties and agencies to service it.

The growth of plant life on our built fabric has been considered detrimental to it’s performance.

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Plant life is in fact a symbol of life, a symbol of time. If we can understand how plant life functions, we can create a module that works with time instead of against it.

It is important to understand the way plants live together, the root systems they create, the ecosystems they dwell within in order to create a module that gets stronger over the passage of time, where in fact time is the designer.

Through the use of different fabrics that vary from porosity, elasticity, strength, absorption, drape, and retention it allows for a variety of ways to control the behaviors of soils and the root growth

of plants. The root structure of one plant becomes intertwined with its neighboring plant in order to create a bond that strengthens between the two over time.

We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.

- Albert Einstein

Botanical Module

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Quality vs. Quantity New York City exists as one of the most utopian societies that contains much more quantity than quality in its built fabric.

New systems of construction have turned the meaning of ergonomic materials, such as a brick; something that can be handled and stacked by one person, into a material that has to be entirely managed by a fleet of construction masons, specialists, construction managers, and machinery, which is quite opposite to the original methodology that the brick module has been intended for.

It has become apparent that the different materials that are used to make up the city have one thing in common and that is that they have all traded Architectonics for veneers, Presence for aesthetics, Character for “looks�, Aging for preservation, and Time for warranties.

The Botanical Module allows for the passage of time to happen by letting the plant dwell within a piece of fabric that caters to its needs of water, sun light, soil nutrients, interaction with other plants, and promotes the vital life of insects to cross polinate.

Botanical Module Fabrics 1. Felt Fabric 2. Dense Netting 3. Semi - dense Netting 4. Phiphertex fabric 5. Loose Netting 6. Polyurethane fabric

It is not Quality that is important, it is enough quantity of that quality that is. – Aldo Van Eyck.

What if a plant can become a module that creates structure over time?

What if temporary was in fact more permanent than permanent?

What if there was a module that creates a structure that has a life, death, and rebirth?

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Botanical Module

THE LIFE, DEATH AND REBIRTH OF A MATERIAL

L-1 R-6

L-3 S-2

L-2 R-7

L-5 R-1

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A-2 (6'-0 5/8")

L-4 R-1 L-3 R-2

A-8 (7'-7 5/8")

L-1 R-5

L-7 R-1

A-5 (5'-1 7/8")

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L-4 R-2 L-5 R-2

L-6 R-1

Our materials have lost the meaning of a life cycle. The life, death, and rebirth of a construction created a relationship with their users like that of the Shintu Shrines in Japan that brought people together in the act of construction or the annual construction of Amazonian huts during flood season, where there needs to be a death of an architecture in order to avoid permanence, making temporary more permanent than permanent. The death of a material is not the end, life cycles can repeat.

A-1 (8'-5 5/8") L-3 R-3

L-4 R-3

A-1 (8'-5 5/8")

L-2 R-6

L-4 R-6

L-5 R-3

A-10 (5'-3 5/16")

L-7 R-2

A-5 (6'-6 1/4")

L-1 R-4

L-6 R-2

L-4 R-4 L-7 R-2 L-3 R-4

A-6 (6'-0 13/16")

L-7 R-3

L-4 R-5

L-5 R-4

L-4 R-5

L-2 R-5

A-4 (5'-0 1/4")

L-1 R-5

L-3 R-8

A-7 (4'-6 9/16")

L-5 R-1

L-3 R-5

A-11 (7'-10 3/16")

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L-6 R-1 L-4 R-4 L-1 R-3

L-6 R-3

L-4 R-6

L-7 R-4

L-5 R-5

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L-7 R-7

L-5 R-2

L-2 R-7

L-3 R-9

L-1 R-4

L-3 R-7

A-9 (8'-8 9/16")

L-7 R-3 L-4 R-1

L-4 R-4 L-2 R-4

L-2 R-6

L-2 R-4

L-3 R-6

A-4 (4'-4 1/8")

L-6 R-2

L-5 R-1

L-3 R-8

A-3 (4'-5 5/15")

L-5 R-3

L-7 R-5

L-6 R-4

L-4 R-3

L-1 R-2

L-7 R-6

L-1 R-3

L-7 R-4

L-3 R-6

L-4 R-2

L-2 R-5

L-3 R-7

L-5 R-2

L-6 R-3 L-3 R-7

L-4 R-2

L-5 R-4

L-4 R-3

L-2 R-3

L-2 R-3 L-7 R-6 L-1 R-2

L-3 R-5

L-6 R-5

L-3 R-8

L-1 R-1

L-7 R-5

L-7 R-5

L-2 R-4

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L-5 R-3

L-3 R-6

L-5 R-5

L-4 R-4

L-6 R-4

Temporary is in fact more permanent than permanent......

L-4 R-1

L-1 R-1

A-8 (7'-7 5/8")

L-7 R-6

L-7 R-7 L-4 R-5

A-10 CONNECT

L-5 R-4

A-10 (4'-7")

L-7 R-4

L-2 R-2

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L-7 R-8

L-6 R-5

A-3 (4'-5 5/15")

A-8 CONNECT

L-3 R-3

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L-2 R-2

L-2 R-3

L-3 R-2

L-3 R-5

The act of construction is important in societies, it has been for centuries. This means that transferring construction technique and knowledge from one individual to another is crucial. Prototyping and building as part of design is essential in the learning of how to build something designed on paper. By prototyping a system or technique is developed that can be transferred to someone else.

1. Frame Template 2. Kit of Parts 3. Prototype Test

L-3 R-4

A-6 (4'-9 3/8")

L-4 R-6

L-7 R-3

L-2 R-1

L-2 R-1

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L-7 R-7

A-7 (5'-4 15/16")

L-5 R-5

Botanical Module

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1. Frame Construction 2. Botanical Module 3. Passage of Time 4. The Act of Construction 11

Botanical Module

(Brooklyn Bridge Waterfront Park )

VIEW FROM BROOKLYN BRIDGE WATERFRONT 12

Botanical Module

All creative effort - including the making of an omelet - is preceded by destruction. - Yi - Fu Tuan

extraversion INTROVERSION 13

Botanical Module

Botanical Module

Botanical Module

INTERIOR VIEW OF VAULT 14

Botanical Module

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Elbphilharmonie re-interpretation

ELBPHILHARMONIE RE-INTERPRETATION PROFESSOR: Lise Ane Couture TEAM: Christian Camacho DESCRIPTION: Buildings intended for public events such as a concert hall, theatre, circus, museum, etc. have turned into a typology that is not public, but rather for a specific audience. What happened to the word “Public” in the phrase “Public Architecture”? Why can’t these typologies of buildings be used even when events aren’t held? Buildings are becoming less public and an exercise calls for the carving of public spaces within these privatized buildings. What if buildings of this nature can allow for a variety of uses that encourage urban life to invade it. The Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall falls under this “public” realm. This exercise seeks to exploit its spaces to the urban scale to allow the public at large to use it in ways other than a concert hall.

The project carves spaces and re-articulates circulation within the existing building in order to create a dynamic combination of urban situations.

INTERIOR VIEW OF PUBLIC POCKET 18 16

Elbphilharmonie re-interpretation

CIRCULATION DIAGRAM 17

Velo-loop NYC re-interpretation Elbphilharmonie

VIEW OF ESCALATOR ENTRANCE 22 18

Elbphilharmonie re-interpretation Velo-loop NYC

INTERIOR VIEW OF PUBLIC POCKET 23 19

Velo-loop NYC

VELO-LOOP NYC PROFESSOR: Lise Ane Couture TEAM: Christian Camacho, Pablo Ampudia DESCRIPTION: New York City is a Velodrome! The bicycle path which surrounds NYC creates an endless loop of fast pace adrenaline that allows people to exercise, commute, and compete!

The objective of this project was to give meaning to a “Squeeze Space”, the interstitial space between a buildings program and its shell. We approached the project not to eliminate the squeeze space of a building, but rather to squeeze it some more, way more!

Squeezed in between the West Side Highway and the Hudson River is the Hudson River Park. We propose a Velodrome in front of the new Whitney Museum that intertwines the existing bicycle path into its program, further squeezing program and creating a rich and dynamic sequence of spaces that New Yorkers can call a Squeeze PLACE.

“SPACE IS SOMETHING ABSTRACT, WITHOUT ANY SUBSTANTIAL MEANING. WHILE PLACE REFERS TO PEOPLE WHO ARE ATTRACTED TO A CERTAIN PIECE OF SPACE. A PLACE CAN BE SEEN AS A SPACE THAT HAS A MEANING” – YI-FU TUAN

CYCLIST’S VIEW UPON ENTERING BUILDING 24 20

Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

SQUEEZING THE SQUEEZED SPACE INTO A SQUEEZED PLACE

125th st. Manhattanville

The Hudson River Park is essentially a long room squeezed on both sides by the highway and the river. By squeezing the bicycle path even further it tangles itself, essentially creating a series of loops that make up pockets of space. This provides the opportunity for dynamic spaces and experiences that can become a place.

Squeezing the Squeeze Space

Whitney Museum

(existing site)

(velodrome)

(loop integration)

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Battery Park

Velo-loop NYC

loop layers study models

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Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

GUTTIWUTTS! 24

Velo-loop NYC

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Velo-loop NYC

LOOP ORGANIZATIONS 26

Velo-loop NYC

LOOP LAYERING STUDIES

LOOP PERSPECTIVE

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Velo-loop NYC

LOOP PERSPECTIVES

(spatial carving)

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(light and shadow studies)

Velo-loop NYC

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Phantom Public

The Phantom Public Of The Phantom City PROFESSOR: Andres Jaque TEAM: Christian Camacho, Yi Wu, Toru Okada, Xiaoyu Huang, Jiapei Li, Eduardo Tazon, Peiran Qiu, Cynthia Xinyu Hu, Remi Conolly - Taylor, Zijiang Wang, Diego Soto DESCRIPTION: Public society remains as a phantom - invisible, unnoticed, detached from the collective and unable to take responsibility - unless material devices such as buildings, trucks etc. are made available to support the circulation of daily information to others. New York Public Library’s architecture has played a key role rendering the “phantom publics” (as Lippmann called them) as a visible agent equipped with political agency. Its capacity to associate different institutions (Astor Library, Lenox Library and Tilden Trust) in the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (1902-11 John Carrère and Thomas Hastings, architects), to collect the world’s state of knowledges in its 7 story stacks - and in 1980-added 40 miles of stacks of its 11.600 m2 extension below Brian Park, to bring together the general and scholarly public with inventions like the Rose Gallery, to provide proximity to readers through its 39 branches, to circulate books with its logistic and sorting center in Long Island City and its extra storage space in Princeton NJ. NYPL’s configuration as both a collection of independent architectural objects and as a networked enactment, by which those independent architectures collaborate together.

PHYSICAL MODEL 30 38

Phantom Public

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Phantom Public

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

THE MOBILE BOOKWORM

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

the architectural devices such as the library itself.

However, in order to reveal these phantoms, patents for architectural devices have to be created in order to allow certain hidden societies to be empowered by them. With many working class families it is difficult for parents to provide their children with proper access to libraries.

The mobile book worm is a device that addresses this issue by invading areas of NYC in order to give children of any class a chance at having access to library utilities.

PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

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PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT

At the same pace that New York is increasing its power to produce social inequality, the New York Public Library is progressively confirming its capacity for inclusivity and to articulate difference. Whereas the city is seeing its human diversity being replaced by a sanitized healthy and safe homogeneity, it could be argued that the New York Public Library is confirming its capacity to host conflict, accommodate minorities and to innovate modes of citizenship. The New York Public Ghost functions through

Botanical PhantomModule Public

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PHYSICAL MODEL

1. Peiran Qiu 2. Remi Conolly - Taylor 3. Christian Camacho 4. Toru Okada 5. Eduardo Tazon 6. Xiaoyu Huang 7. Yi Wu 8. Diego Soto 33 41

Phantom Public

Courtyard Details

THE ISSUE OF STORAGE The New York Public Library is increasingly needing more storage space. Recently, the library has built ReCap, a storage facility in Princeton, NJ, that is shared with Princeton University and Columbia University. However, it has been estimated that in 4 years the storage facility will be full. Everyday a truck circulates books from the storage facility to the NYPL’s main reading room. The transaction takes about 1 to 2 days.

With the advent of data centers, storage servers, and digital books there is an opportunity to create a solution for storage space. Every year the amount of data you can store in a server increases, at the same time the size of the server decreases. The proposal is to totally invade the NYPL and install two data storage towers that contain all the needed utilities and information for library users. This eliminates trips to Princeton, NJ and gives a presence that is very much a public collective in a an area that is surrounded by corporate / bank towers.

Detail of Main Reading room

Where has our wisdom gone to knowledge and our knowledge to information – T.S. Eliot.

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Botanical PhantomModule Public

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PHYSICAL MODEL

1. Eduardo Tazon 2. Peiran Qiu 3. Christian Camacho 4. Jai Pei 5. Toru Okada 6. Remi Conolly - Taylor 7. Xiaoyu Huang 8. Zijiang Wang 35 43