prologue
Autonomous architecture rejects the ideals and principles of orthodox architecture. Precedents stand alone by inhabiting their own design principles and rules. The conviction that new architecture is influenced not only by the improvements of the post-modern era but the historical age, heavily relies on the progression of architecture in the next years. We must continuously look back into the past to advance forward, and solely re-evaluate contemporary architecture with utilization of prior design to grant value to our new designs. Architectural theory is perpetually shifting into a phenomenon, and with this sense of harmony and re-assessment of history, further intellectuality is yet to birth.
education
2020-2024 college station, united states college of architecture bachelor of environmental design
texas a&m university
fall 2022 barcelona, spain college of architecture
barcelona architecture center
2020 struck an international dilemna for everyone. However, for artists, it was an open door to innovation and creativity. Whether the music created was home-based or in a professional studio with safety precautions, artists and producers were in need of a space that could alleviate the creative experience without having to vacate their property. During 2021, Beyoncé made the decision to commence a recording studio project to the Knowles-Rowland Center for the youth in Downtown Houston. The intention of the facility was to service young black female musicians and producers. For the curation process, good design heightens creativity, therefore, it is vital to create an artistic space that enhances the overall functionality.
Spatial Roles
In The Crisis of the Object: The Predicament of Texture, Collin Rowe and Fred Koetter touch upon the development of the modern city in architectural context and how it stems from the object and its character. Instead of rejecting utopianism, they compromised a connection between tradition and modernism to which fiction and reality should be linked. The significance of building-to-surrounding or figure-to-ground brings the context of subject-and-object together which depicts a role for each element—a spatial occupant and a spatial definer. In this project, a plethora of spaces were produced through figure which began to define those spatial conditions.
Facade Studies
A facade is evasive. Rather than just being an indication of a public and private boundary, there is more in a sense that “the reality has now become what lies behind.” Through a series of facades and colour implemented onto the object, this offers more value to the contextual and cultural aspect of the audience through a translation in art and design.
Ground Floor Plan
Organized around an occupied void, a rock façade was used to implicate the overall establishment of our building. Spatial organization stemmed from relation of the object to the subject. Not only is the observation of space studied internally in the object but of its surroundings as well. Rowe and Koetter sought to analyze the analogous qualities of LeCorbusier and Auguste Perret’s competition projects from 1931. While Perret’s design regarded the surroundings and existing context, LeCorbusier’s project does not aim to reference a relationship amongst the surrounding of its urban context.
As you emerge into the second level, the offices are isolated on the west end of the plan, and the second story of the auditorium balcony shares this space as well.
Second Floor Plan
The recording studios include thicker walls where acoustic panels will be implemented along with careful placement of the double facades that help with muting external sounds.
The Agents of Architecture
Continuing to curate designs with intentionality and using theory to generate solutions to architecture will only further advance the ideologies of why we are creating in the first place. Hybridizng the concept of traditional intent and contemporary theory will ultimately produce this advancement, we long for in these next years. Attention to cultural agency was exhibited in this project in order to give the subject relevance and create meaningful architecture. Finding the middle to all these intentions not only created a solution to a problem but a longevity of the architecture in terms of its ability to remain relevant. Culture is a custom that will never be terminated, therefore, the relationship of the architecture to the subject remains essential.
The role of the color pallete serves to stimulate the user in terms of comfort, mood, and and space use. The intent is to invoke a creative response and welcome curiousity.
A reflection of the exterior pallete onto the interior is the necessity needed to maintain the sensory creative experience within and around the object.
Ecocentric Topologies
Spring 2022
Collaboration: Christina Albers
Site: College Station, US
Carter Lake
Architecture should never neglect or stand alone from the site. The architecture is meant to engage or even embed itself into the site. As we know, the site does precede the architecture. It is the term anthropocentricism that began to generate the importance of the human over its universe. After all, it is the site that has given us these advancements in technology in the first place! But, what about the importance of both? How can we intend to accentuate this idea of ecocentricism between the ecology and the existence of humankind?
Observing Material
Putting forth this concept, we must first gain a sense of experience as to how the environment behaves physically. Analysing the patterns of the natural begin to reflect in the creative process. In this phase, not only was the natural enviornment the only observeable factor but the analysis of the material as well. The commonality between ecosystemic and prefabricated material is that the two exhibit their own natural contours. With use of wire (at different gauges) aluminum foil, and chicken wire, through a series of phases, an understanding of prefabricated material presented itself in various ways. The thinner the wire, the more flexibility of the contours. The wire’s flexibility reduced when the gauge increased but the stability improved. The foil material had a less flexible surface than the chicken wire.
As we observed, not all material is flexible. Some provide more stucture than others. Others are more linear but have the ability to curate complex forms through patterns. This example of framework can be examined in the natural through arboreal mimicry. The way we examine how a tree and its branches are able to withold itself is an example of analysing the behavior of the environment and translating that into design. The wooden dowels serve to represent those “branches.”
Concrete is a material that has been predominantly known for its inflexible ability to change form. By using an inventive approach to create curved surfaces, it was possible to create a form despite the permanent conditions of casting concrete. The concrete mix was poured into a box that contained pre-sculpted clay which was manipulated to ultimately produce the surface conditions of the final form. The voids were the result of the two materials behaving together and the rejection of the two from weaving together.
Being that the site is a private property, this project catered to a smaller population. A way to gather neighbors into one community center, can be inclined to improving the social relationship of those in the area.
The programmatic function of the topology is designed for the neighbors of Carter Lake. By examining the already given functions of the site, locals tended to desire a more recreational activity center. This space provided a mix of a leisure and social center.
Residents are able to locate anywhere within or outside of the topology. Therefore, implimenting multiple levels brought value to the gain of perspective of the site.
The section depicts the relation of the human to the surface condition and how the interior experience is no different than the exterior. The ability to adapt to these ground conditions does not remain as a challenge but instead allows us to understand the symbolism between the relation we humans have with the natural environment. Nature will continue to grow with no limitations, so we must embrace or enhance the existing qualities and characterisitics of the preexistent.
Connecting Corners
Fall 2022
Collaboration: Samantha Guzman
Site: Barcelona, Spain
Travessera de Gràcia
Barcelona is an urban fabric made of corners. Analysing the urban structure, the integration of expanding public spaces within the city blocks has increasingly developed throughout history. Cerda’s Plan was an urban design reformation in 1860 to extend the public and green spaces through a new layout for the Ensanche expansion. A unique characteristic was the integration of the chamferred corner which opened the area of street intersections and created a sense of connection between different directions. With only few plazas in the neighborhood of Gracia, the problem of the original orthogonal orientation was identified to eliminate public space and curate rigid entrances restrictive to four facades. The building is orientated thiry-five degrees from the intial orientation with entrances now facing the north and south direction. The new orientation developed six exterior corners that began to weave into the preexisting public space. The result of the rotation generated new perspectives in relation to the adjacent balconies. Instead of designing with the original structure, the project site now behaves as a block to reestablish the connection and iteraction amongst the people of Gracia with relation to the public space extension.
Once the orientation was set to 35° north, new north and south entrances emerged, thus, the issue of the minimal exterior public space then produced an extension of this space.
Just how there was a demolition of the city walls in regards to extend beyond traditional limits, we sought to translate that notion onto our building What originally was the old Abaceria Market on the left, which had occupied the entirety of the block, only left the exterior public space along the perimeter of the market.
once weren’t usable.
Ground Floor Plan
The most essential floor of any building can be argued as the ground floor. Labeled as the most shared space, it is necessary to consider as the initial experience of a building. Office buildings are set in the west plan along with the reception desk by the north entrance. A cafe is situated in the south plan and a juice bar in the north which aims to reflect the program of the adjacent buildings and bring in the public. This floor also includes a mini-ampitheater for integration and preservation of Spanish music culture.
First Floor Plan
A multitude of kitchens align with the cultural significance of food in Spain. Outdoor dining terraces wrap the first floor facade and translate the relation from inside the kitchen to the outside which also establishes a connection with the surrounding facades.
POOL LEVEL -001
Being that Barcelona is located on the coast of Spain, the identity of the Spanish resides in the water. This floor generates that need for preserving culture into the program while maintaining the spatial qualities and orientation of the above floors.
LEVEL -002
Mechanical and storage rooms.
LEVEL 002
Roof plaza.
The materials used are recycled terracotta and wood for structure and finsihing ceramic of the building. This sustainable solution for the exterior facade uses a steel frame and thin wire to suspend the flexi brick, not needing any mortar. These facades also control and allow natural ventilation to flow into the interior. The ramps are supported by wooden cantelievers that connect to wooden columns throughout the course of the ramp.
Barcelona: City of Corners
