WEST RAIL TRAIL

YEAR: 2017

INSTITUITION: TEXAS SOUTHMOST COLLEGE

PROFESSOR: SERGIO ELIZONDO

PROJECT LOCATION: BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS

The West Rail Trail is a decommissioned, historic railroad route in Brownsville, Texas. Pavilions were to be built along the trail as part of this project. The pavilion’s shape was produced by focusing on verbs that affected the environment. As a consequence, three pavilions were constructed to form a tunnel. Because the tunnel is not linked, it allows for open ventilation, preventing the hot and humid temperatures of the Rio Grande Valley from remaining within the pavilion/tunnel.

Project 07

Parametric Grid

YEAR: 2021

INSTITUITION: TEXAS TECH UNIVERSITY

PROFESSOR: ERIN HUNT

TEAM MEMBERS: KEVIN FLORES + MOHAMMAD KARKOUTLY +

ADRIAN REYNA + DEREK WILLIAMS

The design utilizes a gridded array of squared protrusions that emerge out of the surface and out into the Z-axis. Our positive form was utilized to create a negative or invert form allowing for a waffle structure pattern to be displayed in the mold. The result is a solid, parametric textured gridded surface on the face of the object which can potentially be used as a façade or used for other design related purposes.

The iteration of the cast was as a single piece and the huge surface area created some issues when it came to removing the cast from the formwork. The solution that we came upon was to place the cast and formwork in the freezer for a few minutes and this made it easier to remove. However, doing this every time was not efficient since it did not allow us to reuse the cast right way. The benefit of this iteration was the detail and resolution of the casted object was very clear and easily readable. The detail of the 3D model was reciprocated almost exactly within the cast providing a great model. So, for the next iteration the formwork was redesign to allow for the cast to be more easily removeable so that it could be reused quickly.