Professional Portfolio - David Rogelio Alcala

_portfolio _formatting page size: 9” x

11” (portrait orientation)

margins: .5”_all-around title_text: courier-new_fontsize_16 header_text: loew_fontsize_24 body_text: courier-new_fontsize_10

DAVID R. ALCALA +1 (480) 313-8610 davidalcala011@gmail.com

_INDEX M.ARCH _HOTEL HETEROTOPIA _MAD HAUS _HOME.TV _TOTEM NO. 4 _REJUVENATION STATION _REPRESENTATION

B.ARCH _EMERGE _ST. JOSEPHS CATHOLIC CHURCH _CON-AGRA: RE HOME.TV ~

PROFESSIONAL _ARCHRIVAL OFFICE RENOVATION _17th + K PARKING GARAGE _CAPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY

1-6 7-14 15-22 23-26 27-32 33-38

41-46 47-54 55-56

58-59 60-61 62-63

_HOTEL HETEROTOPIA _design-studio-02_propositions

_semester: spring 2018

_professor: jeff halstead _publications: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2018/08/31/hotel-2/

Utilizing insight’s gained by studying Stanley Kubrick’s films and his usage of distilled perspectives, a method was found with which to develop space. Whereas, Charlie Kaufman’s Synechdoche, New York and Michel Foucault’s Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias led to developing a conceptual framework to move forward alongside these initial studies on distilled perspectives.

Synechdoche New York follows Caden Cotard and the production of his ‘Masterpiece’ in which he attempts to replicate the mundanity of daily life in New York City on a 1:1 scale inside of a warehouse.

As his manufactured reality within the warehouse continues to grow and become more life-like, Caden’s life begins to veer off course, and the lines between Caden’s reality and his manufactured reality are increasingly blurred.

The Hotel plays a game of scale, exploring scalar relationships on multiple levels and throughout different building elements of the project. How can a city within a city begin to blur the boundaries between interior and exterior thresholds? How can traditional views on subjectivity and perception be altered and misconstrued within the built environment? A series of frameworks were developed to work on answering parts of these questions.

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The first framework appears as the billboards, taking moments from within the interior of the hotel and projecting them onto the billboard. This creates an obfuscated and skewed reality of what exists within the project as the user transitions from exterior to interior.

Through this transition, the user is given a first glimpse of what to expect within the interior of the building, and yet once inside, the user finds an alternate version of this reality. The billboard is not a true representation, but rather a manufactured and distilled perspective of the activity that happens within. This framework is advanced when one realizes that the billboard can become inhabitable space. Certain spaces of the billboard are real, while others are digital.

As these building elements culminate into a cohesive whole, the architecture seeks not only to be a hotel but utilize this game of Scale, Perception, Subjectivity and obfuscation to bring into question what the potential of what a hotel may really be.

Existing as a place outside of that which is considered “the ordinary”, the hotel aims for a feeling of temporality rather than permanence. All the while utilizing cinema and perspective variations as a vehicle with which to develop formal, conceptual and organizational methods of design.

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_model-photos interior-perspective_front-elevation_section-cut

_elevation.jpgs north(billboard)_east(wallpaper)_south(billboard)_west(wallpaper)

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_massing-studies_1-6.jpg massing + context studies

_axonometric-section.jpg interior shocasing spatial qualities + interior context

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_MAD HAUS _design-studio-03_systems

_semester: fall 2018

_professor: de peter yi

_collaborators: mariana carvahlo + alison truwit

MAD Haus is a collaborative mid-tower housing proposal looking at the needs of a contemporary Detroit. Asking questions such as what does it mean to be a housing tower in today’s contemporary moment as well as working with the city of Detroit to establish criteria and responsible goals that take into account local vernacular, needs, and creativity to develop a housing project that acts and reacts to the needs of its context as Detroit continues its efforts to rebuild and stimulate the rising levels of incoming population within the city limits.

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MAD Haus re-examines the nature of the single loaded corridor within its historical context and adapts it to emerging forms of domestic living and cohabitation made possible by new social, political and economic conditions. Three disparate parts - the corridor, the unit,and the core were used to generate the form and program producing six new inclusive living typologies. Exploring themes ranging from multi-generational housing to large eight person communal apartments, the corridor is penetrated by these units and questions the basic parameters of what private and public spaces mean within this new paradigm of social housing.

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_site plan + unit typologies.jpg context + 2 bedroom units

SITE PLAN 1/64” = 1’ - 0”

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_ground floor plan + unit typologies.jpg site interaction + large units GROUND PLAN 1/16” = 1’ - 0”

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_floor plan.jpg typical floor layout

TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN 3/32” = 1’ - 0”

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_model photo.jpg front elevation + section cut

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_project-section+perspective.jpg construction detailing + exterior perspective

SECTION 3/32” = 1’ - 0”

_project-section+perspective.jpg construction detailing + front elevation

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_HOME.TV _design-studio-04_thesis prep + thesis

_semester: fall 2018 + winter 2019

_professor: ellie abrons

Historically, the home has been both a private and a public space - mediating images of ourselves to a broader public while serving as a retreat from day-today activities. Networked ‘smart devices’ have altered this relationship to our domestic spaces; the home is now a place to present ourselves to a broader digital landscape from within its private interior.

Our ‘layered identities’ manifest through overlaps and disparities between mediums such as Twitch.tv, Instagram, and our offline selves.

Georg Simmel defines sociability as, “the playful experience of social association characterized by the sheer pleasure of being together.” As smart devices continue to change our relationship to domestic space, this thesis posits that the home has become a “Third Place” of sociability, as described by Ray Oldenburg — an “informal space where people engage in sociability, typically not the home or work.” Thus, the home has evolved from a space of retreat to one of collectivity and gathering — a viewing machine and gathering place for online communities to be amongst the online personalities they spend so much time interacting with digitally. This thesis project speculates on a new form of domestic space, where the structures of postwar suburbia are replaced by a radical new vision of layered personalities,

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spaces, and interactions which question traditional means of community, subjectivity, sustainability, and image.

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_zero-degree-axnometric-site plan.jpg site conditions-layout + density

_HOME.TV-streamer house.jpgs elevations and axonometrics of streamer home

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_streamer house + site elevation.jpgs house interaction + view accessibility

_public space.jpgs public amenities and open space

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_exploded axonometric.jpg site interaction + layout

_tent _level-01 _amenities: temporary living

_tent _level-02 _function: temporary living

_tent _level-03 _function: extended living

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_hexayurt _level-01 _function: extended co-living

_hexayurt _level-03 _function: extended co-living

_hearth _level-02 _function: wi-fi + streaming garden

_hearth _level-03 _function: content creation

_moderator stand _level-01 _function: viewing platform

_component catalogue.jpgs living + amenity packages + options

_hexayurt _level-02 _function: extended co-living

_hearth _level-01 _function: wi-fi beacon

_moderator stand _level-02 _function: ADU

_public amenity _level-01/2 _function: varying

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_TOTEM NO. 4 _fabrication-seminar_glow-workshop

_semester: fall 2018

_professor: catie newell

_collaborators: brian baksa + luccas dias

Taking cues from Donald Judd’s writings on specific objects and site specificity Totem No. 4 looks to investigate how differing materials and light qualities can begin to alter and befuddle it’s immediate context through the study of refraction, reflection and opacity. Through intensive and successive studies on and off-site, a combination of mirror and resin casting was used to manifest a physical representation of our collective thoughts and conclusions on ideas of boundaries, site-specificity and the role that natural and artificial light play on our understanding of context.

Located within the forests of Pellston, MI (also known as a ‘dark park’ due to its low exposure to artificial light) Totem No. 4 explores how reflection, refraction, and transparency can alter a location.

By taking this challenge on the project questions whether the placement of the totem within the forest allows it to become one within its site or if the site-itself is brought into the object and itself objectivized and how this distinction can comment on today’s post-digital moment in which ideas of context and specificity have been obscured. While interacting with daylight the totem becomes a reflection

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of its surrounding, only by deep reading the context within which it sits can the totem be discerned as something “other” within the site - even taking cues from the girding on the trees found on site. Once the sun has set the use of color filters and artificial light are used to distinguish the totem from its surroundings, bringing to the forefront the interaction between the multiple light sources and the materiality of the totem. No longer a part of its context the dark forest beyond becomes simply a backdrop for the totem, reversing its role to the context it once held an intimate relationship with. The light reflected creates a notion of directionality and allows the totem to stretch beyond its physical limitations into the context beyond.

The utilizing light as a serious design tool and factor the totem takes into serious consideration the non physical aspects of context and design that impact and interact with all built and non-build objects. Questioning again the importance of site specificity and rigor necessary for design to have impactful and insightful ramifications within its context.

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_context-photos pellston-michigan_university of michigan biological station

_photograph camera_Canon EOS Rebel T6i exposure_1/32sec-f/11-ISO400 date_december-1-2018_3:21:12PM

_photograph camera_Canon EOS Rebel T6i exposure_1/32sec-f/4-ISO400 date_december-1-2018_5:04:39PM

_photograph camera_Olympus E-M10 exposure_1/3sec-f/1.8-ISO800 date_december-1-2018_7:07:43PM

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_photograph camera_Olympus E-M10 exposure_1sec-f/1.8-ISO400 date_december-1-2018_7:39:46PM

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_context-photos pellston-michigan_university of michigan biological station

_photograph camera_Canon EOS Rebel T6i exposure_1/200sec-f/5.6-ISO400 date_december-1-2018_3:47:52PM

_REJUVENATION STATION _design-studio-01_institutions

_semester: fall 2017

_professor: jen maigret

The Rejuvenation Station explores the evolving needs and responsibilities of the contemporary fire station through the lens of pre-emptive self care. As the responsibilities of firefighters evolve from that of traditional firefighting (4% of fire runs nationwide are in response to an actual fire) to more medical aid related calls (which compromise approximately 64% of fire runs made nation wide) the institution that is the fire station has a unique opportunity to reinvent its relationship to and service to the public it serves at large.

Long have fire stations been called outward in response to those in need of assistance, now however, the fire station will invite its surrounding community into its walls to partake in a communal bathhouse and sauna experience. By providing these communal bath spaces fire fighters are given the resources necessary to decontaminate and decompress after fire runs, the greatest risk to firefighters today is over exposure to toxic fumes and chemicals released during fires and lack of proper protocol to decontaminate themselves and gear afterwards, while simultaneously allowing interaction with the community.

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Unexpected moments of connection and threshold are developed through varying levels of heat, moisture, and program.

These changes in heat and moistrue provide physical cues as to a shift in program or space, allowing for a complete sensory experience as both the firefighters and civilians take advantage of the new purpose and facilities provided by the fire station.

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_elevation + plan.jpg front facade_floor plan 1-2

_elevation + plan.jpg front facade_floor plan 3-4

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_sauna + pool.jpgs type-temperature-duration-classifications

_sauna _temperature: 160° - 200°F _duration: 15 minutes _humidity: 5 - 30%

_lap pool _temperature: 70°F _duration: user discretion

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_steamroom _temperature: 110° - 114°F _duration: 15 minutes _humidity: 100%

_caldarium _temperature: 122° - 131°F _duration: 30 minutes - 1 hour

_wet sauna _temperature: 160° - 200°F _duration: 15 minutes _humidity: 15 - 30%

_tepidarium _temperature: 86°F _duration: user discretion

_frigidarium _temperature: 32° - 64.4°F _duration: 5 - 15 minutes

_sauna + pool.jpgs type-temperature-duration-classifications

_infrared sauna _temperature: 80° - 125°F _duration: 30 - 45 minutes _humidity: 0%

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_REPRESENTATION _1-representation-seminar_brushed stuff_2-workshop_of-medium-intensity

_semester: fall 2017 + spring 2018

_professor: jeff halstead

_workshop guest instructor: alfie koetter _publications: http://www.suckerpunchdaily.com/2018/02/28/ofmediumintensity/

1_A semester long seminar led by Jeff Halstead which focused on developing personal sensibilities, bias’ and deep understandings of representation, aesthetic and the social, political, and psychological ramifications of the decisions made when developing images, hoping to promote new ways of thinking, technique and questioning our relationship to architecture and its forms of representation within the contemporary moment.

During the representation section we operated on the periphery of architecture, exploring the relationship between traditional orthographic representation and emerging forms of post-orthographic representation facilitated by new programs and the techniques they facilitate for architecture and the creative process.

Through these explorations we questioned how ‘2.5D’ projection can be used to develop a sense of interiority within an architectural object, doubling as a means for exploring new modes of architectural form, function and representation through digital production.

Work from Rep Seminar PG. 26-30

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2_Many projects that have been deemed “precedents” are themselves preceded by a set of prescribed terms and conclusions that we are meant to emulate, that over time have been continually reaffirmed to the extent that we may recognize them as undeniable, as “correct.” It would be wrong to read the Barcelona Pavilion in terms of density and thickness, right? Pavilion in terms of density and thickness, right? But, what sort of architectural production comes from rehearsing the same conclusions over and over again?

Rather than confirming what we already know about a project (or what we know other people already know about a project), we will instead develop a degree of calibrated aloofness. Like saying the work “fork” over and over again until it is reduced to a phonetic with no meaning, we will draw a seires of buildings over reduced to a phonetic with no meaning, we will draw a series of buildings over and over again – in a precise and serial manner – until those things that we are familiar with have been exorcised. familiar with have been exorcised.

Synopsis By Alfie Koetter Work From Workshop PG. 26

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_chair_drawing + relief model.jpgs introductory exercise

_chair_drawing + relief model.jpgs introductory exercise

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_brushed stuff-triptych.jpgs oblique projection + graphic interaction

_brushed stuff-triptych.jpgs oblique projection + graphic interaction

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_B.ARCH _university of nebraska-lincoln _2012-2016

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_EMERGE _summer_design-build-studio

_semester: summer 2016

_professor: jason griffiths _publications: emerge_archdaily

emerge_architect-magazine

_awards: u.s. woodworks regional excellence in wood design award Emerge was conceptualized in order to provide Bauman Tree Farms a way to give back to their community through architecture and sustainable forestry. As we entered the design process, we knew that we would be moving forward with engineered lumber, CLT specifically, in an attempt to add to the conversation surrounding CLT here in the United States. In order to do this we got the opportunity to tour Oregon local lumber mills and engineered lumber producers such as DR Johnson and Rosboro Lumber. It was critical that we as students understood the lifecycle of the tradition Pacific Northwest Douglas Fir. This forestry cycle is crucial because the micro-dwelling had two objectives. The first being that the dwelling must be able to be used as an Eco-Tourism spot, in order to bring in extra revenue to Bauman Tree Farms. The second is a continuation of Bauman Tree Farm’s working relationship with Forests Forever. Through their relationship, approximately 2,000 middle school students will be given tours through the Bauman Tree Farms, ending at Emerge.

The idea behind Emerge is to juxtapose the forest and architecture in order to educate the next generation on sustainable forestry, and how sustainable practices can be carried through from the very beginning of a tree’s life cycle. Through to the transformation into lumber and being used to create Architecture. The hope is for

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students to think about these complex ideas at a much younger age, developing a passion and interest in both architecture and sustainability, which will in turn prepare a new generation of leaders.

Emerge was an intensive 3 week studio and thus I was involved in all design discussions from conceptualization and ideation through to construction. During the three weeks I led after hours design discussions and helped to develop the main concept of the project with particular emphasis on the site location, rain screen design, interior and door detailing.

DESIGN TEAM: -

david alcala scott kenny kristen schulte joe croghan justin defields virginia gormley eric engler alfredo vera danielle durham devin mclean ruslan white hannah christy

PHOTOGRAPHER - michael lundgren

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_site plan + facade.jpg site interaction + rain screen development

N

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_site location + entry.jpgs entry + door operation

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_building section.jpg site views + interior layout

_building photographs.jpgs interior details + views outward

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_ST JOSEPHS CATHOLIC CHURCH _comprehensive-tectonics-studio

_semester: fall 2015

_professor: mark bacon _collaborator: joshua puppe

_awards: AIA NE emerging architecture unbuilt merit award

SARA NY design award of merit

ASAI architecture in perspective student award of distinction

SGH + Dri Design honor award Located on the threshold between The University of Nebraska – Lincoln and Downtown Lincoln, St. Joseph’s Catholic Church looks to serve not only the campus population but that of the city as well.

The church would serve these communities by facilitating an understanding of human life and death by creating a dynamic relationship between traditional chapel programming, juxtaposed with an elevated columbarium (a room for urns to be stored). Thus presenting inhabitants with a traditional space of worship and hope and one of contemplation and remembrance.

This dynamic relationship is strengthened through the employment of light, material logic and the concept of ascension through architecture. These project goals are achieved by designing spaces around light such as the main chapel, and others around darkness, such as the private chapel to reflect the program of the room through the atmosphere being created.

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A material logic was employed to further this relationship between lightness and darkness, manifesting itself as a contrast between black granite, which houses the columbarium, and an aluminum perforated system with an interior wooden scrim, which houses the main chapel spaces. Through the concept of ascension, the building was laid out in such a way that the user begins in public spaces on the first and second floors, and as they continue vertically, reach more intimate spaces to promote a sense of contemplation and reflection within the architecture. As the user finishes their journey at the rooftop garden, they are reminded of the hope that remains.

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_site plan + concept design.jpg massing strategy and site orientation

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site plan

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CLOSED

IN-USE

OPEN

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_building perspective + plan.jpgs operable panel diagram + floor plan 02

night render

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_buildling section + floor plan.jpgs chapel/circulation section + floor plans 03-05

_building section + render.jpgs chapel/columbarium section + roof garden render

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_buildling detail section.jpg construction detailing + street interaction

_model photographs.jpg overall + detail shots

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_CONAGRA-RE:DEVELOPMENT _urbanism-studio

_semester: spring 2016

_professor: emily andersen

_exhibition: omaha-by-design_reimagined: omaha’s conagra campus

The City of Omaha has long had a lack of activity along its riverfront. With the relocation of ConAgra Foods from Omaha to Chicago, the city has the opportunity to re-shape the future of the riverfront, adding to an already buzzing Old Market district and increasing the long term vibrancy of downtown Omaha. The proposal looks to build on existing conditions and culture within Omaha. With low living costs and high demand for creative minds, Omaha ranks as the #9 city to “be a starving artist in”, the #40 city in the nation for low cost of living (Forbes), along with a #76 ranking in Arts & Leisure.

These characteristics poise Omaha as a city ripe for developing a mixeduse extension of the Old Market. With plentiful availability of creative studio space and makerspace, Omaha can build on the creative class that currently exists.

In addition to becoming an extension of the Old Market, the development will create exterior walkways which lead citizens of Omaha through a series of pocket parks, which will eventually deposit the user onto a reinvigorated riverfront park.

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_PROFESSIONAL _bvh architecture

_2016-2017

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_17th + K PARKING GARAGE _client: city of lincoln government

_firm: bvh architecture

_project architect: dan spiry

_lead designers: dan spiry + david alcala BVH was approached by the City of Lincoln (NE) with the task of designing a new parking structure to update and push the boundaries on what the standard for garage design would be within the city. Sitting at the corner of 17th St. & K St., one of the main arteries into downtown Lincoln and caddy - corner to the Nebraska State Capitol it was of utmost importance for the design team to be particularly sensitive to local context and design decisions made it in the garages surrounding area.

Being surrounded by 4 one-way streets, the garage was inadvertently going to be experienced differently from every perspective the structure was approached from. Responding to this design challenge we took the approach of “Anamorphosis”, a distorted perspective requiring the viewer to occupy a specific vantage point to view the image, utilizing this all 4 elevations of the garage are able to respond to their corresponding orientations in unique and engaging ways. Further playing off the surrounding context a vertically oriented perforated metal panel system was devised to respond to the vertical orientation and ribbon windows on the Nebraska State Capitol.

Utilizing the anamorphic projection on each facade a perforation pattern was reached which responded to Nebraska’s rich culture

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of quilt + pattern making, taking quilt patterns originally developed in the state giving them a contemporary feeling and appearance. As the patterning wraps around the facade the pattern evolves and changes - privileging passerby’s as they hit the sweet spot to fully appreciate the full image as it evolves as they drive up to and past the parking structure.

In order to respond to the needs of the block and the changing character of the structure at different times of day these vertical fins and perforations were utilized to draw daylight into the space during the day and to shed light outwards onto the streetface during the night in an otherwise poorly lit block. The top floor was outfitted with solar panels to assist in the city’s desire to take advantage of renewable energy, adding to the already 400+ thermal wells on which the structure stands, which are utilized to supplement the power needs of the State Capitol.

Throughout the project I was tasked with the creation and upkeep of the Revit model, conceptual design, facade design, diagramming design ideas and developing presntation materials. The final renders views + atmosphere were set up myself and the final renders completed by a fellow architectural intern.

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_CAPITAL HUMANE SOCIETY _client: capital humane society

_firm: bvh architecture

_project architect: cleeve reeves

_lead designers: cleeve reeves + david alcala Having built a working relationship with the owner of the Capital Humane Society in Lincoln, NE over many years, BVH was approached to renovate and update the entryway and main lobby space of its original facilities. Due to restricted budget and the recent construction of a new facility the project team had to think of clever and cheap renovations and material palettes in order to convince the board of directors to sign off on the project.

When taken from the exterior into the interior the main goal of the project team was to open up the space and provide both more spacious offices as well as staff break room. It was of utmost importance to open up the space as prior to plans for renovation the space was defined by not idea lighting conditions and a harsh, non-porous, hallway in which one could not deduce where the check-in window was located.

To facilitate this the exterior architecture is left untouched except for an update in material palette + an update of the entryway. By employing a series of square cut dimensional lumber a privacy fence for employee parking + wayfinding device was created to accentuate the existing entrance in what was before what seemed like a back/private entrance. To further this distinction of entry a floor to ceiling glass system was implemented to promote the entry of daylight and visibility into the facilities front office.

Throughout the project I was involved with early conceptual design, final design, client meetings, and finally in the presentation to the board of directors of the Capital Humane Society.

At the base of the dimensional lumber entryway a garden planter was installed to reflect the nature abundant context within which the building sits, as well as provide for a system with which for this entry way to evolve over time.

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Throughout the project I was tasked with site visits to verify building dimensions, re-build the existing facilities from the ground up in Revit, being a part of client meetings, putting together presentation materials, rendering design iterations, and the actual design of the renovated entrance and new office plan.

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_ARCHRIVAL OFFICE RENOVATION _client: archrival

_firm: bvh architecture

_project architect: cleeve reeves

_lead designer: darin hanigan _photograph: kessler photography Archrival, a creative agency with an expertise in youth culture, was in need of an interior renovation to embody the personality and ethos of the company.

Over the past 20 years, the agency has acquired a number of curious objects – trophies, artwork, nerf guns, luchador masks, sombreros, etc. These curiosities contribute to Archrival’s unique culture, yet can easily clutter an office environment.

Working with high-profile clients such as Red Bull and Adidas, Archrival needs an office space that communicates trust, yet still celebrates their culture.

---In contrast to the staff workstations, open, semi-open, and enclosed meeting spaces are organized around the periphery of the 6,700 square foot office space, creating separation between individual and group spaces.

Strategically locating group meeting areas adjacent to private workstations increases the opportunity for chance encounters: unscripted meetings between coworkers who might not regularly interact. It is believed that chance encounters foster collaboration and increase the potential for innovation given the organic nature of the meeting.

-above text pulled from bvh.com project description-

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Beginning as an inner office design competition between interns and ‘20-something’ architects the archrival office renovation looks to update the firms office space to better exemplify their office culture and ethos.

Being brought in for phase 2 of the project I focused on final floor plan iterations and adjustments and more personally on the design of three ‘Jam Spaces’ or conference rooms within a more conventional office setting. These conference spaces were meant to be the conjunction of “venice beach meets portland”. Through a series of iterational work, discussion with the project team - and personally led in person client meetings the jam spaces were conceived as an open, laid back and most of all collaborative design project between myself , Clint! Runge and Jesseca Marchand, two of Archrivals acting directors.

From here I continued on to construction detailing and material selection of said Jam Spaces and various other portions of the project.

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_portfolio-end _contact email: davidalcala011@gmail.com phone: +1(480)313-8610