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Corin Afzal | Portfolio Master of Architecture M.ARCH Kansas State University
BA English & Studio Art; Painting Truman State University
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Corin Afzal | Portfolio
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Fortune Fades Adobe Photoshop & Image Transfer 2024
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Corin Afzal | Portfolio Master of Architecture M.ARCH Kansas State University
BA English & Studio Art; Painting Truman State University
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Projects 10
Amphibious Siam Bangkok, Thailand A project proposal on amphibious architecture in Bangkok, Thailand with particular interest in public infrastructure and local ecology.
Critical Regionalism & Contemporary Developments in Tropical Architecture Research paper on critical regionalism and its development through tropical architecture, particularly South East Asia.
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The Sculptural Thread An Exploration of Tectonic Sculpturalism Research on architecture as sculpture, a collection of nine buildings positioned as “tectonic sculpturalism.”
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Karjaranta Revitalization IFHP Urban Planning And Design Summer School Master planning project for the town of Pori, Finland.
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Pavilion at Anderson Lawn Manhattan, Kansas Pavilion designed through the lens of montage and human perspective on Kansas State University’s campus.
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Artwork 46
Selection of Art Portfolio
Teaching 50
Environmental Design Studio II
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Architectural Design Studio IV
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Changing Spirit Photography & Collage 2025
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Amphibious Siam A Study in Thai-Chinese Vernacular & Amphibious Architecture China Town, Bangkok, Thailand Faculty: Otto Chanyakorn, PAVA Architects Bangkok is underwater, and is sinking yearly because of its shear weight. The city floods every year, and locals have become accustomed to walking and wading through waters that can last up to a month because of the city’s inadequate infrastructure. When designing along the Chao Phraya River, the ethics of building here became apparent, and the flooding that will continue to become worse in the coming decades had to be directly addressed. Through studying Thai vernacular, as well as other tropical and flooded area’s architectural adaption to extreme weather, the design for Amphibious Siam was born. A laboratory facility studies what is survives while contributing to the community through infrastructure and public space. The existing parking lot along the river is broken up, adding approximately 1,300 sqm of permeable surface, 525 sqm of this being a man made marsh land, water retention infrastructure to hold 840 m3 of storm water.
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South Sudan terraformed islands
Mother and child navigating flood waters
Indian house boat Uros Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca Man on raft
Brothers and a floating refrigerator Amphibious House Site-Specific CO Bangkok, Thailand
The Tanka people of Southern China
Southeast Asian stilt home Thai woman carrying bag above head
To survive is to adapt. Who Gets Submerged? Photography & Collage 2025
Cultures across time have pushed vulnerable populations into the water. Bangkok, Thailand is actively sinking and who will be submerged?
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2025: 1 Meter
2030: 1.5 Meters
2050: 2 Meters
Amphibious Architecture
Bangkok Flooding Maps
A simple solution to a complex problem.
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Laboratory Section 5m
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1 Parking 2 Air Quality Wet Laboratory 3 Air Quality Office 4 Conference Room 5 Employee Break Space
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Employee Lounge & Study Soil Studies Office Soil Studies Wet Laboratory Water Quality Wet Laboratory Water Quality Office
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Community Connection, Education, Critical Infrastructure, One Site.
Connect
Collab
A laboratory and research facility that actively studies what it survives.
Learn
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Community Infrastructure Section 5m
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Amphitheater + Water Detention Administrative Office Education Center Lobby + Gathering
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Layers of Design: Standing seam roof Reflective tin keeps harsh sunlight from entering the site’s interior spaces. Cut outs allow sunlight to enter in vegetation areas, while the vegetation itself continues to shade the ground. Tin reflects surrounding context.
Steel Structure Steel and concrete were chosen because of their durability against pests and longer spans. It is coated in a red rust preventative primer to aid against the high humid environment. C Laboratories
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Inspired by the craftsmanship of traditional Thai vernacular, the laboratories and collaboration center are clad in teak wood siding and treated to resist pests and humidity damage. The laboratories research water quality (A), soil studies (B), and air quality (C).
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Connection
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The strong central axis pulls the user through the site. On the lower level, the public is led to the Chao Phraya Riverfront.
D Support Space Along side the laboratories are the Collaboration Center (D) and the Learning Center (E).
Terraforming Flood Mitigation
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View of Water Quality Laboratory
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Amphibious Architecture Laboratory Design
1 Mechanical and Air Filtration Systems 2 Office 3 Wet Lab 4 Recycled Blue Barrels Cage
Public Waterfront Re-greening
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Floor Plans 20
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Soil Studies Wet Laboratory Below-Grade Access Elevator Public Dock Wetlands Water Quality Wet Laboratory Soil Studies Office Employee Lounge & Study Wetlands Water Quality Wet Laboratory Soil Studies Office Employee Lounge & Study
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Amphitheater Parking Lobby & Gathering Space Restrooms Water Quality Office Employee Break Space Air Quality Wet Laboratory Community Engagement Center Community Engagement Office Storage Conference Room
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Public Infrastructure + Solution Seeking Research Facility Public Infrastructure flooded during monsoon season and a public space during other seasons.
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The Sculptural Thread: An Exploration of Architectural Tectonics. Anthology of architectural and sculptural works that explore the fine line between spatial design as objects vs building.
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The Sculptural Thread An Exploration of Architectural Tectonics Manhattan, KS Academic Advisor: Chad Schwartz For a moment suspend your disbelief, and imagine any architectural work could be transported to a sculpture park without considering ethics, cost, and transport. The Sculptural Thread was sited in the Ashokan Reservoir, north from New York City, because of its closeness to a major capital of art and architecture, but disconnection from urban context. The works are dispersed along a created path towards the lake, each expressing a sculptural expression in architecture, gesture, abstraction, and or immersion. The forest acts as the white gallery wall, placing the architectural works outside of their original context. The intension of mimicking the gallery’s white wall is not to neutralize the work, but contrast with it. There is no such thing as a neutral gallery. The main architectural design component, the entry gallery, was designed in this vein of logic, utilizing stone and wood to convey forest as contrast for visiting artworks.
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Sculptural Thread Site Plans Ashokan, New York 50’
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Entry Gallery Sequence Richard Serra Serpentine Pavilion Junya Ishigami The Twist BIG One, Two, Three Sol Le Witt House to Watch the Sunset Not Vital Prostho Museum Research Center Kengo Kuma The Oak Room Andy Goldsworthy Twilight Epiphany James Turrell The Blur Building Diller Scofidio + Renfro
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The Oak Room Andy Goldsworthy
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Prostho Museum Research Center Kengo Kuma
4, 10 The Twist BIG, The Blur Building Diller Scofidio + Renfro
A Collection of Architecture as Sculpture
An Entry Gallery and nine works of architecture are organized in an outdoor sculptural garden, connecting Ashokan Reservoir’s waterfront to the town and hiking trail.
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Forest as Gallery Taking the buildings from their original, mostly urban context and placing them in the midst of the Ashokan Reservoir forest acts as the white gallery wall. This is not intended to be neutralizing, but contrasting to the original context. The Ashokan Reservoir’s forest was planted with invasive species of trees in the early 1900’s. These trees are now sixty to one hundred feet tall, densely populated, and falling down. Placement of the sculpture park in this location allows for careful deforestation to aid in the local ecology.
Access is carved from Ashokan to the lake front in order to create green ways for flora and fauna, as well as safe passage of visitors. The existing bike and hiking trails are extended to the lake front.
Serpentine Pavilion Section 5
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Gallery as Entry At the top of the Ashokan Reservoir’s topography, connecting town to waterfront, the Entry Gallery acts as a gateway into landscape.
Because the Ashokan Reservoir forest acts as the white gallery wall, the gallery walls themselves mimic the forest.
Visitors enter the site from the existing Ashokan Rail Trail. Visitors then pass through the thick stone entry to reveal gallery spaces that blend into the surrounding forest landscape.
Visitors move through and down the gallery spaces to the basement level, where works of art and architecture tell the story of The Sculptural Thread. From this space, they then move to the exterior sculpture park.
Entry Gallery Section 20 5 10
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Entry Gallery Entrance A. Canopy B. Forest Cover A.
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C C. Forest Floor
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Entry Gallery Upper Exhibition Space
Entry Gallery Lower Exhibition Space
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1 Extrusion
2 Division
At a peak of Ashokan, a massive stone wall extrudes towards The Blur Building on the lake below. Materiality calls to surrounding stone.
3 Stack
The mass splits at the peak to form entry.
Programmatic elements stack on the other side of the mass.
4 Nest Gallery nests inside, compressing museum below.
Entry Gallery Section 10
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Karjaranta 2050 Vision
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Karjaranta Revitalization IFHP Urban Planning And Design Summer School Pori, Finland Project Partners: Elias Pfeiffer & Uri Yokomori The town of Pori, Finland has a unique and rich industrial and fishing history. The town currently has a dwindling population and its youth often move out of town to seek better opportunities. The local government reached out to the IFHP Summer Planning and Design Summer School to asses Pori’s population problem and propose solutions. After careful research and poling of locals, we found the area was being heavily gentrified with new housing, later confirmed by the local government, that was intended to provide new river side living, but lacked the youth to fill it. Our group proposed a new community center that rehabilitates industrial buildings, connects with the local culture, and could provide training and jobs for younger families to retain them in the area.
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DETACHED HOUSES CABLE FERRY
HANHIPUISTO PARK
DETACHED HOUSES
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FACTORY
METAL PRODUCTION
FITNESS STUDIO
H SUPERMARKET
APARTMENT HOUSES RESTAURANT
STORAGE AREA BUS STATION
H GRAVEYARD
HOSPITAL
Karjaranta Existing Conditions
Pori has been proposed a new luxury apartment development along the Kokemäenjoki River, demolishing and displacing the existing industrial complex and workers currently located in the Karjaranta. District. Our goal was to propose a revitalization of the industrial area to include a youth center, local markets, and saved heritage of the site. Pori’s current population is dwindling each year with young people moving away for other opportunities. Vacant homes already sprawl through their neighborhoods.
Whilst other teams proposed neighborhood revitalization, we focused on re-greening the current site, promoting and celebrating industrial heritage, as well as providing third spaces for young people to flourish. Instead of privatizing the river front with apartment complexes, we opened it to the public with a board walk, planted with local wildlife to promote ecosystem health.
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Pori is lacking Connections Heritage & Culture
Environmental Conditions
Transportation
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Karjaranta Public Waterfront
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Karjaranta Master Plan 20
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Housing Ravintola Maku Porin Variassat Oy Autofit Pori Porin Korjausrakennus Oy Crossfit Karjaranta
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K Supermarket Valta Works Oy Mobility Hub Community Center Green Way Boardwalk + Marsh
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The Pavilion at Anderson Lawn Manko Design Competition Nominee RFP: Enhancing Outdoor Spaces Submittal Manhattan, KS Academic Advisor: Grant Alford The Pavilion of Anderson Lawn was inspired by a study of architecture through film and the subjective grid form utilized by several architects and sculptors. The grid montages and divides views of Anderson Lawn while reflecting the surrounding context. The form asks for participation from viewers, allowing for experiential projection onto its form. It was designed with construction in mind. Prefabricated carbon fiber dowels allow for its slender members while remaining structurally sound. A reflective glazes roof reflects the sites slope in angle, while continuing the grid and context into another dimension of space.
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Sections Through Film The study of architecture and film occurred , concurrent to studio, in a seminar. Specifically, how directors utilize architectural spaces and operative language to intensify emotional experience. With focused study on the frame and montage, and the subjective form of the grid, The Pavilion at Anderson Lawn’s design came into fruition.
Film Frames & Collage Stalker (Top Left), Paris Texas and Asteroid City (Top Right), 8 1/2 (Bottom Left), Playtime (Bottom Right) 2023
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Floor Plan 1
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A subjective form to initiate public inhabitation. The grid called a “formless form” (Fujimoto), “a-moral, a-social, and a-establishment (Le Witt), or “anti-object architecture (Kuma) montages perspective and lures participation from outside or in. Study of montage in film inspired the subjective grid to take shape. Each bar acts as a “cut” splicing space, view, and memory. Seeing is itself subjective.
Anderson Lawn, Kansas State University 10
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Subjective Form
Subjective Perspective
Subjective Object
Grid Vs. Void
Site Response
Scale
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Roof Connection 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Carbon Fiber Square Tube 25x25x762mm, Tapping Diameter 1/2 in. Coupling connection 1/2 in. Welded Screw Connection Threaded Bar 1/2 in. Flat Washer M16 Spring Washer M16 Jam Nut M16 Custom 3D Print Carbon Fiber Glass Bolt Outer Diameter 2 3/4 in., Inner Diameter 1” Neoprene Gasket Outer Diameter 2 3/4 in., Inner Diameter 1” High Reflectivity Glazing 1/2 in. Onsite Epoxy to Glass Bolt Connection
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Grid Connection Ground Connection 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
T Connector Web Thickness 1/4” Reinforcement Nut and Washer M14 Jam Nut M16 Flat Washer M16 Threaded Bar 1/2 in. Concrete Foundation 8 in. Cast in Place Anchor Depth 6 in.
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Designed with universal assembly in mind. The Pavilion at Anderson Lawn was submitted to a design build contest on Kansas State University’s campus. Prefabricated pieces allow for a small construction team and time frame.
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Prefabricated Joint (Above) 1 2 3
Coupling Connection, 1/2 in., Tapping Diameter 1/2 in. Prefabricated Vertical Connection w/ Epoxy Prefabricated Horizontal Notch Connection w/ Epoxy
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Carbon Fiber Dowels Prefabricated “Cap” Custom 3D Print Carbon Fiber Glass Bolt Top High Reflectivity Glazing Custom 3D Print Carbon Fiber Glass Bolt Bottom T Connector, Web Thickness 1/4in. Slot for T Connector Connection
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Wanderer Acrylic On Canvas 58” X 48” 2019
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Artwork
Lost Acrylic on Canvas 24” x 48”
Quarantine Acrylic on Canvas 36” x 48”
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Fortune Fades Photoshop, Colored Pencil and Image Transfer 4” x 6”
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Fortune Fades Photoshop, Colored Pencil and Image Transfer 4” x 6”
Fortune Fades Photoshop, Colored Pencil and Image Transfer 4” x 6”
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Kate Carson
Morgan Erickson
Niko Kleeman
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ENVD II Student’s Work Environmental Design II View + Light Students were tasked with designing a View Station at Rocky Ford Recreation and Fishing Area in Manhattan, KS. This View Station’s “program” required the design to revolve around a major and minor view, rest areas, an interaction with light, and a conscious ground condition. A particular focus on designing through section drawings as a tool, and not just a form of representation was central to the project, as well as the generation of “quality space.” First year students grappled and discussed what this truly means, and how to achieve it through precedent studies of small, impactful projects.
Students were given a large site with sometimes, complicated topographical conditions. They then chose their specific site locations, orientations, and general square footage based on their desired major and minor views. Focus on architectural framing of these views and the intended experience was crafted and iterated for a period of two weeks.
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Vessel Art Exhibition Kristopher Snyder
Arch 404
Professor Afzal
Vessel Art Exhibition is centered on the idea that artworks can function as containers for emotions. Objects that hold, translate, and store feelings. Each piece begins as an act of emotional deposit by the artist, and through encountering it, the viewer is invited to continue that exchange. The gallery becomes a site of exchange, where emotions move between artist, object, and viewer. Through exploring folk art, I was inspired by artists' work where the human figure is often composed without concern for proportion, refinement, or technical perfection, and instead embedded entirely with feeling. These works are less of a creative expression, but rather a representation of a vessel for emotions such as fear, joy, pain, comfort, and the ambiguous states that exist between them. The exhibition is composed of twelve works, arranged across three pavilion spaces: Fear, Joy, and Reflection. These pavilions do not try to categorize emotion, but instead act as a framing for emotional states and atmospheres the viewer moves through. Across all three pavilions, concrete, steel, and plaster act from a place of neutrality. Diffusing rather than competing with emotional content. The architecture does not seek to express emotion directly, but to hold space for it, reinforcing the idea of the gallery itself as a vessel.
The Fear Pavilion is spatially constrictive and fragmented. Its formwork divides, surrounds, and interrupts, pinning the viewer against columns and limiting visual access to the rest of the gallery. In elevation, suspended arcs compress and dramatize the space, heightening tension and bodily awareness. The architecture mirrors the emotional weight of the works, where emotions like isolation, stress, and internal pressure are conveyed. In contrast, the Joy Pavilion is continuous and open. Clear sightlines with generous spacing and rhythmic structure allow a sense of community, comfort, and belonging. Here, emotion is expansive and lifting rather than enclosing, allowing the works to operate as points of connection rather than confrontation.
Logic
Ultimately, Vessel Exhibition reframes artworks from the act of making to an ongoing exchange. What begins as an expression becomes a place of storage, allowing emotions to move between bodies, objects, and space.
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Spacial Connection
The Reflection Pavilion is elevated and transitional, positioned between fear and joy both spatially and emotionally. This space is neither intense or celebratory, but contemplative. Through separation, compression from the ceiling, and distance, it allows emotions to settle into ambiguous states that resist easy classification but are still felt.
Pavilion Spaces Fear
Emotion
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Exhibition Key Eli Montgomery 4. 8.
1. Betty - Letta Vanderhoof, Michigan, 1897 2. Untitled - Riet van Halder, Netherlands, 1998 3. Prisoners - Purvis Young, Florida, 1990s 4. Between Two Worlds - Jon Seri, California, 1982 5. Clown - Schoenhut, Pennsylvania, 1910 6. When Toys and I Were One Quilt - Jane Blair, Pennsylvania, 1988 7. Untitled - Michel Nedjar, NA, 1986 8. Boy with Dog and Airplane - Andrea Badmi, United State, 1970s 9. A Basket is Like a Man’s Mind - Thornton Dial, Alabama, 1989 10. Socks and Music - Justin McCarthy, Pennsylvania, 1964 11. Crouching Man - NA, New York, 1970 12. Bath - Victor Gatto, New York, NA
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Joy Gallery
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Movement vs Exhibit Exhibit Spaces Circulation Spaces
Reflection Gallery
Lines of Sight Clear Views Obscured views
Anderson Underwood
Floor Plan Scale 1/8” = 1’-0”
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Fear Gallery
Section A-A’ Scale 1/4” = 1’-0”
Kristopher Snyder
Reflection
Joy
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ADSIV Student’s Work Architectural Design Studio IV American Folk Art Exhibition Students were tasked with designing a traveling exhibition for the American Folk Art Museum’s collection. They began their project by curating a collection of works for their temporary gallery’s concept to be affixed.
demounted within the library’s main body.
The location of the exhibition was at the Central Library in Wichita, Kansas, a historically registered, brutalist building. Students could not design outside of ten thousand square feet and had to carefully choose where to locate their exhibitions within the large library space. Exhibitions had to be designed to be fabricated and
Each gallery poses a unique concept, material reaction, and spatial generation.
Curated artwork was then placed within the crafted gallery space with particular emphasis on the work and the architecture’s creation of promenade, views, and visitor experience.
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