Portfolio 2023

ERIBERTO LUNA ROJO

EXPERIENCE

Have received the opportunity to take place in the construction process over a few summer and winter breaks. To be more specific I’ve worked in masonry and seen the process of laying down anything from brick, CMU, and stone

CONTACT

Phone: 832-687-7820

Email: eriberto.luna16@gmail.com

Address: Houston, TX

EDUCATION

Bachelor - University of Houston (2020 - Present)

High School Dimploma - KIPP Houston High School (2020)

OUTSIDE WORKS

BYOB (Bring Your Own Beamer) - The Menil Collection

LANGUAGE

Spanish - Native

English - Full professional efficiency

SOFTWARE

Rhino

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Premier

Revit

SCHOOL ORGANIZATIONS

APX (Alpha Rho Chi)

AIAS (American Institute of Architecture Students)

LIA Mentorship Program (Latinos in Architecture)

BYOB- THE MENIL COLLECTION

Inverse Streetscape

Location: The Menil Collection

Year: 2nd Year 2nd Semester

PROJECT INFO.

As our site is located in a quiet yet busy area, I decided to compress the program elements in longitudinal blocks with easy central access to either the left or right of the program spaces. After determining the rough placements of the spaces, I decided to use the pedestrian street as a leeway to create a distinction between the structural elements on the left and right sides of the street. Inspired by my precedent, the Burton Barr Library had interesting features that caught my attention: the natural curtain of light that illuminated the concrete walls, intelligent use of public vs private space, and solar tracking louvers. However, the ones that caught my eye the most were the massive, uniform columns placed within the building. As the hero of my project relied heavily on the visualization

of columns, I created a forest-like column structure on the leftmost part of my design as opposed to the right side that consisted of the aforementioned, V-shaped columns. With the structure set in place, an interesting space arose from within the center of the program elements, and the pedestrian street became the heart of the design, as the main source of circulation now takes place within the ground floor. Taking a step back, one can see an interesting streetscape that was created not only with the help of the program elements but also due to the difference in structural columns that come with each program space and are left now with an inverse streetscape.

Extracting Element

Although the Burton Barr Library had plenty of unique elements, I decided to center my project around the structure design that came along with it to build upon it and make it my own.

Program Placement

By placing two program spaces fairly closely adjacent to one another, I created a single stream of circulation to flow throughout the ground floor of my design and amplified that sector by stacking program spaces.

FLOOR LAYOUT

With program spaces located on both eastern and western areas of my site, a singular pedestrian street is generated within the center of the program spaces and invites the public to explore the area, heading eventfully to ascend the interconnecting bridge on the upper floor.

CONTINUED...

Incorporating a circulating bridge above the program spaces allows the public to get an elevated view of the quiet green space perpendicular to the Menil Drawing Institute while maintaining a rather busy yet enriching domain along the pedestrian street and into the sports field.

As all the activity is taking place within the eastern and bottom portion of the site, it allows for the still space to keep expanding upwards across the Drawing Institute into the student dorms located at the uppermost sector of the building.

STUDENT DORM CONDITION

To protect against the sun in both the east and west directions, a copper shell was installed around the outside of the dorms to provide the rooms with an ambient temperature and encourages students to socialize on both the northern and southern sectors of the dorm areas while enjoying the view looking out towards the Menil Drawing Institute and the future Menil Master Plan on Colquitt St.

SPORTS FIELD CONDITION

With a polycarbonate roof and screen covering up the sports field, it allows for the mass timber structure to be seen from a distance and invites the public to observe the structure more closely.

Public

2 Plaza Alacran

Location: Second Ward

Year: 2nd Year 1st Semester

PROJECT INFO.

In this densely-populated hispanic neighborhood of Second Ward, we were assigned with the task of incorporating a House+ project that could give the surrounding community a place to come together and thrive while living in it. I built upon the idea of public plazas to provide people a place of gathering: to celebrate festivities, set up pop-up stores and boost the economy, and feast in a diverse dining area, all within Plaza Alacran

PLAZA AREA

Ground Floor

Second Floor

RESIDENTIAL AREA

To better provide privacy for the residents of Plaza Alacran, a separate path of circulation was added in the southernmost area of the site to avoid all the activity of the dining and shop areas and to make it easily accessible to get in and out of their residences while giving them the leisure to lounge in their residential terrace area to enjoy all the activity taking place.

A clear divide is generated by the building front that acts both as a way to block off noise and create a safe space from the busy street of Navigation Boulevard to Plaza Alacran.

Site Model

Portfolio 2023|Plaza Alacran

The Drive

Location: Brady Island

Year: 3rd Year 1st Semester

PROJECT INFO.

The location of Brady Island is a highly industrialized area as it is positioned right next to the Port of Houston through which many goods and resources get distributed into the City of Houston. The project for Brady Island will tend toward self-sufficiency environmentally and ecologically, while providing an open and sociable environment for the public, all in efforts to reuse what the island itself provides for us. To achieve that goal, I took up the task of laying out and designing a compost

facility alongside a restaurant for the public, and the neighborhood located close to Brady Island. As a means to create a distinction between those two program spaces, my concept physically allowed visitors to drive towards my design itself but also conceptually allow my design to drive the people towards the end result of what lies at the end of the drive.

CONCEPT LAYOUT

Our site was located in the northwestern region of Brady Island, and the geography of the island itself was driving me towards the edge of the site. To address that concept and our program spaces, it was best to allow the heaps of compost to naturally flow in that direction all while making their way to the edge of Brady Island. Eventually, creating a clear divider between composting and urban areas with the help of the parking for the compost facility and restaurant hanging off the edge of what is Brady Island.

FROM WATER TO LAND

To merge best with the northernmost edge of Brady Island, a boat deck was added to allow the public to arrive not only on land but on water as well and give the Port of Houston an enriching, new location.

PUBLIC VS PRIVATE

With public circulation mostly happening on the ground floor, it allows for a divison to be created amongst the visitors and workers of Brady Island. With the southernmost region facing the industrial part of Brady Island and the western region facing the urban/park area, both parties can enjoy their own respective zones within the same space.

Below

Ground Floor

CONCEPTUAL DRIVE

With the physical drive having come to an end, the wooden slates along the eastern and western facades act not only as a shading device but also as a visual aid to introduce the expansive greenery.

Technical Section

4 BYOB- The Menil Collection

Collaborative Project

PROJECT INFO.

The Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) project is a free and open exhibition for the public at the Menil Collection where my teammates and I explored the medium of projection. Although there were many ways to approach this assignment, we took the initiative of exploring silence in motion. By accumulating multiple videos expressing movement, we were able to create a 5-minute video where we gave the public a chance to discover how their own minds can link sound to visuals.

Clips of “Silence in Motion”

Silence in motion video