Federico Chiavegati - Portfolio 2017/2024 - Selected Works by Federico Chiavegati

fchiavegati@gmail.com

+49 176 64309921 insta: @innovativebox

Lived in Munich, Budapest, Milan, Oxford, London, Eindhoven and Venice; German-Italian dual citizen. My architectural approach is driven by an international exposure; sustainable, socially aware, detailed and innovative design remains a driver for a better, happier and safer world. I strive to be on the forefront of innovation and beautiful change with a consciousness of local culture, building history and social needs.

PROGRAMS/SKILLS

BIM/CAD

Modelling

Rendering

AdobeCC

Simulation

Paremetric Coding

3D Printing

Modelmaking

LANGUAGES

English

Italian

German

French

AutoCAD | DesignBuilder | Revit

Rhino | SketchUp

VRay | Mantra | Lumion | Redshift

Photoshop | Illustrator | InDesign | After Effects | Lightroom

GSA | One-Click LCA | BHOM

Grasshopper | Houdini

Clay FDM | Resin Laser | Concrete FDM

Lasercutting | CNC | Wirecutting Native Native

FEDERICO CHIAVEGATI

2022-2023

9 Months 2021 3 Months

Parametric Design and 3d Printing Lead

TU/e Computational Design Lab, Prof. Cristina Nan

• Development of architectural elements and furniture prototypes using FDM printers in clay and concrete. This involved additive manufacturing, gcode developement, parametric design development and digital fabrication methods. Many of these designs were featured prominently in various exhibits (see below).

Architectural Development Assistant

Bollinger+Grohmann

• Assisted in early design stages of various projects at the firm (RIBA PoW 0-3, LPH l-3); planning, drafting & budgeting with BIM/ CAD Tools. Assisted in the development of OneClick LCA, a C# lifecycle assessment plugin for grasshopper for the production of parametrically and procedurally defined sustainable projects.

2 Years

3 Months

4 Years

Master of Science (MSc) in Architecture, Building & Planning

Eindhoven University of Technology

• Creating diverse architectural projects (ranging from new builds to revitalisations/renovations) through conceptual design stages with an emphasis on sustainable materiality and innovative technologies.

IUAV University of Venice (Erasmus)

Venetian typo-morthological, social community and historical research.

MEng and BArch with first honours (summa cum laude)

ARB/RIBA Part 1, JBM & Cibse Accreditation

Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, University College London

• First generation graduate of MEng Engineering and Architectural design, blending creative design practices within robust engineering education alongside a rare triple accreditation; cutting-edge sustainable proposals with the backing of civil /BSE standards.

AWARDS/FEATURES

Beton Bauteile 2023 (BFT International, Book)

Drivers of Change: Dutch Design Week 2022

BAUMA 2022 (Lanxess Exhibit)

Robots that Build: The Extensions of Man

Bartlett Summer Show 2021

Bartlett Summer Show 2020

Council for Aluminium in Building: Aluminium Tectonics Prize

01. AD POPULUM

Course: Rational Futures: Venezia (MArch thesis), TU/e

Tutors: Christian Rapp (Rapp+Rapp), dipl. ing. Arch.Haike Apelt (HAMA architecten), Prof. Wouter Hilhorst, Prof. Marko Pogacnik (IUAV).

Classification: Individual work (Post-grad rework), 9 months

Typology: School expansion, aquaponics facility and marketplace

Location: Castello, Venice, Italy

Venice, with its labyrinthine canals and historic charm, draws millions of tourists each year, but this influx brings significant challenges for the local inhabitants. The constant stream of visitors strains the city’s infrastructure, inflates housing prices, and erodes the quality of life for Venetians. Despite the vocal demands from the ever decreasing residents for the expansion of essential community infrastructure, schools and community center projects are regularly sidelined in favour of more luxury hotels.

Ad Popolum is a proposal designed to revitalize the local population by blending community, sustainability and tradition. This multifaceted complex features a school expansion acting as a community center, an aquaponics farm, and a marketplace of locally sourced and represented produce; all integrated to serve the diverse needs of Venetian locals. At its core, Ad Popolum aims to provide a communal hub where locals can gather, socialize, and engage in cultural activities, fostering a strong sense of community as well as providing a linking space between the remaining population of the old city and the farmers of Sant’Erasmo across the water further North. The aquaponics farm introduces a sustainable method of food production, ensuring food security and promoting environmental stewardship.

By incorporating and modernising elements of traditional Venetian architecture, particularly those of Rialto’s historic commerce zones, Ad Popolum not only preserves the city’s historical aesthetic but also breathes new life into it, creating a vibrant, functional space that honors the past while looking towards the future.

Mind and Body

The west building acts as an extension to the local school and space for the community to come together. Within is a multi-floor library, an auditorium, and a gymnasium; all spaces requested repeatedly by the locals of Castello on the Venice governing forums.

An important element to the site is making sure that the locals have a space to voice their opinions for both the direction of their community and broader Venice as a whole. Spaces like the auditorium and library, as well as the extensive rentable study rooms on the top floor, act to further connections between local groups; parents, farmers and political entities. This becomes increasingly important as the mid 21st century looms in, where sustainable farming, food scarcity and preparing against floods will become increasingly contentious issues for Venice and its surrounding region.

1. Library

2. Auditorium

3. Control Booth & Office

4. Sanitary Closet

5. Study Zones

6. Circulatory Core

7. Changing Rooms

8. Cardio Zone

9. Library Reception & Office

10. Theatre & Understage

11. Group Exercise Space

12. Free Weight Zone

13. Technical Room

14. Gym Reception & Office

Growth and Sale

The east building envisions commerce and production spaces, with the aim to sell locally sourced produce and products supported by an aquaponic farm system.

The upper floors enable the cultivation of fresh produce and fish in a circular, water use system while the ground floors are dedicated to selling the produce made on site and sourced from local farmers on the surrounding Venetian islands and the aquaponics system.

This design aims to bolster food security for the water locked island as well as providing a direct sale point for local produce; resulting in much more cost effective and sustainably profitable rates for the farming community.

With a proposed canal between the east and west building, products can be shipped and exported from the site with ease.

10.

11.

1. Aquaponics Greenhouse 2. Sun Terrace

Beccaria & Cafe 4. Beccaria Staff Rooms

5. Minimarket Staff Rooms 6. Minimarket

Aqua. Process & Storage

Bakery Staff Rooms

Bakery & Pastry Shop

Public Bathrooms

Aqua. Temp. Load Zone

12. Bakery Kitchen

02. PLASTIC PATHWAYS

Course: Hacking Infrastructures, TU/e, Prof. Cristina Nan

Tutors: Prof. Cristina Nan, Prof. Fraser Morrison

Classification: Individual work, 3 months

Typology: Plastic recycling facility, community arts centre and cafe

Location: Walthamstow, London, UK

Plastic pathways is a proposal for an educational plastic recycling pavilion assisted by a nearby art workshop. The design focuses on the recycling facility, in which public users can bring in and process plastics for reuse in return for on-site community benefits; including art works created on site and discounts on local coffee service. The idea is to create a small-scale circular economy in which material is provided cheaply to artists working to reuse the plastic in a variety of methods.

This facility not only transforms discarded plastics into vibrant art projects and practical everyday items but also fosters community engagement and environmental stewardship, illustrating a creative and proactive approach to tackling plastic pollution.

This project was made within TU/e’s Hacking Infrastructure unit headed by Prof. Cristina Nan, focusing on digital fabrication methods and material experimentation. The structure of Plastic Pathways is a result of researching active bending patterns within recycled plastics, mitigating the downside of stiffness typically seen in the melting and remoulding process of sheets. The structure is modelled parametrically in grasshopper to load test.

Tokens are traded on site for various goods created by the nearby art community; anything from furniture to a simple coffee discount on site.

Guests can trade in their processed plastics for tokens.

The plastic granules are pressed sheets for reuse.

Stages 1-4 are supported by a ground rail system, allowing for easier movement of items.

The plastic granules are extruded into either filaments for reuse. granules pressed into reuse.

Plastic brought in by guests is shredded into granules by RID Code.

Guests are equipped with safety gear.

03. CARBON DRAIN

Course: Industrial Heritage: Alternative Futures (MEng/RIBA p.1 thesis)

Tutors: Assoc. Prof. Yasemin Didem Aktas, Assoc. Prof. Fabio Freddi, Prof. Daniel Ovalle Costal

Classification: Individual work, 1 year

Typology: Community centre and carbon absorption plant.

Location: Greenwich, London, UK

The Greenwich Power Station, a relic of the fossil-fuel-driven industrial era, stands as an abandoned historic monument. The ‘Carbon Drain’ renovation proposal envisions transforming this site from a carbon emitter to a carbon absorber while providing growth and recreational spaces for the dense suburban landscape of Greenwich. The project aims to preserve the station’s industrial aesthetic, showcasing its original interior elements to the public for the first time since its creation and maintaining material and design consistency in new extensions.

Developed as both an engineering and architectural student project, the proposal prioritizes sustainable design, employing passive and active strategies to meet RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge goals. Furthermore, the project aims to familiarize the public with carbon capture technologies by incorporating them into the site’s various communal and recreational areas, an example of such being the skatepark’s ETFE pillow elements deflating and inflating with the sites carbon absorption cycle. As direct air carbon capture remains theoretically carbon negative, this experimental proposal seeks to promote public support for its development. With the use of green energy, the project is expected to help northern Greenwich achieve a carbon-negative status within five years.

Sustainability Throughout

A successful low-carbon impact building is achieved through the considerion of local climate conditions and the use of sustainable design methods throughout all design stages, especially during planning and drafting.

Environmental conditions, including solar and ventilation needs, dictate the hierarchy of space positioning within the building. For instance, the large greenhouse-like structure on the southern side is positioned to maximise solar intake, which combined with reusing the existing chimneys as heat stack ventilators, creates an effective passive heating and cooling strategy for the winter and summer conditions.

Additionally, implementing direct air technologies downwind significantly enhances carbon absorption rates while decreasing energy requirements in the usage of fans.

Annual Sunlight Hours on Dominant Faces

Annual Wind Rose

Entrance & Circulation

Offices & Labs

Greenhouse & Allotments

Skatepark & Carbon Storage

Direct Air Capture Setup

1. Screw hatch for air flow output and rain cover

2. Debris net and bird avoidance hairs

3. Insulated hatch for winter closure

4. Slant vents for passive airflow output

5. Fans for airflow output support

6. Skylight openings for airflow output support

7. Pin hinged windows for airflow input

Solar lens collectors

Solar panels and glazing

Heat recovery systems

Direct carbon capture

Carbon storage elements.

Walkable canopy structure for water/moisture collection/retainment, using solar collectors as pillars. 1:100

4. SELECTION OF WORKS

Prototypes of small scale load bearing forms printed in clay to simulate larger concrete structures.

TU/e Computational Design Lab

During my masters degree I worked as a design lead and teaching assistant at TU Eindhoven’s computational design lab under Prof. Cristina Nan.

I specialized in the development of parametric and procedural designs and converting them into gcode, as well as prototyping additive manufacturing, circular material systems and workflow optimisation methods.

My responsibilities involved the operating and maintenance of Delta WASP 40100 clay FDM printers as well as teaching grasshopper principles and methods to students and constructing exhibition spaces (Robots that Build, 2022).

During this period I collaborated with a variety of robotic manufacturing companies in the field of architecture, including Stack3D (Moergestel), Vertico3d (Eindhoven) and Lanxess (Cologne).

My work was featured prominently at the Drivers of Change Exhibition during Dutch Design Week 2022, at Robots that Build: The Extensions of Man and at BAUMA 2022. It was also included in the Beton Bauteile 2023 book by BFT International.

Robotically built wall inspired by Eladio Dieste’s Atlantida church.

Functional prototype for load bearing column in multi story structure,

Public bench installation designed for a competition by Vertico3D in Eindhoven.

Analytical Iconography

A collection of visual pieces developed as a chapter for the ‘Types & Methods’ booklet, released annually by TU Eindhoven.

It analyzes and expresses the design methodology and conceptual ideas behind the municipality building of Noceto designed by Zermani and Associates.

The drawings are formatted for limited color printing and long term, dry storage.

Nature: Educational, TU/e, 2022.

Course: Types & Methods

A creative pursuit and personal hobby of mine is animation. My choice of medium is primarily collaging and editing photography and the creation of procedurally developed 3D models. Currently I’m exploring audio synced animation through the usage of 3D design programs such as Houdini and Blender. Having previous extensive experience in Rhino’s grasshopper based language, I have found working with node based, visual design languages to be a natural process.

To see these animations in action, please consider visiting my instagram reels: