GRAHAM GARCIA
Architectural Fellow
Phone: 0423083234
Email: grahamgarciaa@gmail.com
Web: https://issuu.com/ggrgaghgagm/docs/2024_portfolio_graham_garcia
Passionate about enhancing everyday living conditions, I am interested in the intimate relationship between architectural spaces, people, and places.
My design intent is to humanise architecture with a focus on designing spaces that are mutually benefit to our communities and the wider environment.
CO-ACADEMY FELLOW at CO-Architecture
GRADUATED 2024
—Sharpened my industry-relevant skills and practical application through mentoring, networking and curriculum revisions
—Gained insight about the architectural industry from mentor-led seminars
BACHELOR OF ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES at UNIVERSITY of AUCKLAND
GRADUATED 2023
—Developed critical thinking and design skills to generate solutions to address design limitations
—Accumulated knowledge on different CAD softwares to strongly communicate ideas
—Gained understanding on sustainable practices
—Worked in a range of group projects to tackle various briefs and design challenges
ASSISTANT STORE MANAGER of Skechers
New South Wales, Australia
TREES
—Inspired by Brick Bay’s history and the struggle of kauri trees, the structures honor nature’s resilience, combating kauri dieback disease and promoting sustainability.
—Drawing from the “hope flower”, the designs metaphorically represent growth and renewal, nurturing kauri seedlings like dispersing dandelion seeds.
MAY 2023 - PRESENT
—Directed retail operations with a focus on exemplary customer service
—Proficiently managed customer interactions, sales, visual merchandising, and inventory
—Honed communication, sales tactics, leadership, and efficiency skills to streamline operations
TABLE GAMES DEALER of SKYCity
Auckland, New Zealand
Rhinoceros 3D
Grasshopper
Revit Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe InDesign
AUG 2021 - FEB 2023
—Managed table games to guarantee fairness and customer contentment
—Oversaw game procedures, cash transactions, and delivered exceptional service
—Enhanced attention to detail, rapid decision-making, communication, and poise under pressure
INSURANCE SURVEY CONSULTANT of AURORA
Financial
Auckland, New Zealand
Middle Blocker for HITTERZ Volleyball Team
Vice-Captain for DELIKADO Basketball
JUL 2020 - MAR 2021
—Proactively engaged homeowners to circulate crucial insurance information
—Utilized canvassing techniques to initiate conversations and cultivate leads
—Demonstrated exceptional communication, rapport-building, and persuasive skills to effectively convey insurance details
TAURANGA MOANA 02
—Merging Pacific and Maori architectural traditions with modernity, aiming to balance practical and cultural needs within larger infrastructural contexts.
—Blending tradition with contemporary needs, inspired by canoe symbolism. It symbolizes unity and progress by mimicking two bound canoes, celebrating Pacific and Maori heritage with a floating sensation.
GEARS OF CLOCKWORK
—The WW AUT Building, an educational landmark, undergoes refurbishment into a student relaxation space -a bathhouse, lever aging its age as a strength
—Reflecting a trend of valuing old structures amid urban change, it underscores the importance of preservation and repurposing in urban planning.
500 Trees
Type: Brick Bay Competition
Paper Leader: Andrew Barrie
In collaboration: Miro Sumich
Sachi Kapadia
Katrina Nielsen
A competition that investigates the intersection between sculpture & architecture with temporary structures that intentionally serve no utilitarian purpose.
The site, Brick Bay, was once a home to kauri trees till it was felled in the 19th century in preparation for farming. Paying homage to the constant decline of kauri trees, especially with the kauri dieback disease, our design intentions share the same vision of sustainability as Brick Bay.
Our design takes inspiration from the concept of the “hope flower”or more commonly known as dandelion. Brick Bay will be the stem from which the seedlings disperse to different homes in order to grow into healthy, mature kauri trees.
In architecture, a folly is an ornamental structure that lacks practical purpose. Our folly seeks to find meaning in a name that inherently defines it as meaningless.
Inspired by the impermanence of a dandelion, our design mimics the same nurture and disperse phases. It acts as a harbourer of kauri seedlings.
After the exhibition’s two-year lifespan, the seedlings disperse, ready to be planted, while the structural materials are recycled and returned. The structure dissapears, leaving behind a legacy of forest rejuvenation.
What if the building is just a by-product?
The folly shares a moment within the lifecycle of a kauri tree. It comes together using re-used pallets that are found at Brick Bay and are recycled afrer the duration of the folly.
Sharing Brick Bay’s vision of sustainability, materials that are found in abundance within Brick Bay -pallets, fence posts and bolts are redefined. Coming together to create dandelion-like units.
M12 BOLTS
KAURI UNITS
TIMBER POLES
PALETTES
Dandelion units configured together to form the following floor plan. Pallet shelves inserted to incubate kauri seedlings in green. The tessellated arrangement forms a forest canopy of sorts that provides shelter and protection for the young seedlings.
The folly shows it’s age as it acts as a transitional space in the Kauri’s life while they mature to plantable size.
1000X1200MM RECYCLED, STRINGER CLASS DOUBLE FACE, NON-REVERSIBLE 2-WAY REUSABLE, NEW MANUFACTURE PALLETS
M12X150MM GALVANIZED HEX BOLT & NUT
800MM TTT MULTIPOLE WITH M12 CONNECTOR
M12X540MM GALVANIZED HEX BOLT
275-300MM KIWI TIMBER HEXAGONAL POLE HS
BARK/MULCH TOP FILL
GRAVEL BOTTOM FILL
500MM MANUFACTURED SQUARE STEEL PLATE
RECYCLED 1000X1200MM STRINGER-CLASS. DOUBLE-FACED, NON-REVERSIBLE, 2-WAY, REUSABLE, NEW MANUFACTURE PALLETS
Over the two-year exhibition period, the Kauri seedlings will grow to be about 350-400mm tall, at which point they will be ready to be planted out in the various locations we found.
The 2-way pallets are orientated to protect the seedlings from wind and gain from sunlight. The implementation of a hosing system leading from the garden at Brick Bay ensures the seedlings get enough water. As they can grow to be over 50m high and 13m in diameter, it is essential to avoid overcrowding when replanting the seedlings in nature.
210MM TALL, GRADE 1 LP KAURI SEEDLINGS IN 1L POTS
M12X450MM GALVANIZED HEX BOLT & NUT
HOW TO PROPAGATE A KAURI
Components are pre-fabricated in workshop to site specifications
Plant seeds with wing poking out of soil and water until sprouted
A month later at 30mm in size plants are ready to be potted
Potted in 1L pots and ready for the folly
1000mm holes are dug on site
Steel plate foundation is inserted and laser leveled
Substrate layer (gravel-mulch) added and compacted
Our folly has 3 major components; the top pallet unit, the wooden pole and the steel base. Constructing our design is akin to that of planting a kauri seed in where you; dig on site, root the steel base onto the ground, insert the stalk pole with the pallet leaves thereafter.
Collect seeds from a kauri cone
Crane used to connect timber pole onto pile system
Pallet canopy head connected to timber pole
Side pallets are fixed using M12 bolts at 400mm ctrs Pallets are fixed using triangle connecting elements to create a structurally sound canopy
HOW TO BUILD A FOLLY
HOW TO PROPAGATE A KAURI
Kauri saplings have reached maturity after 2 years
HOW TO BUILD A FOLLY
Saplings are packaged and transported to their specific location
Hole is dug using spade ensuring it is deep enough to bury all roots
Sapling is planted and propped up using stakes, growing ever larger
Pole is unbolted and removed from pile system
Substrate is excavated and steel plate footing is removed
The land is filled in and left unchanged from its original form
Materials re-enter the cycle
In a familiar sense, deconstructing the folly could be interpreted similarly with transplanting kauri trees toward a forest. You remove the plant unit, deliver them to its natural place for it to serve its purpose. The construction-deconstruction of our design resonates strongly with that of a dandelion spreading its seeds.
Pallets are removed from main pole
Pallets and poles are transported back to source
Following the concept of a dandelion, Brick Bay will be the stem from which the seedlings disperse. The following locations around the north island will be homes for the seedlings to grow into healthy, mature kauri
We seek a permanent impact through an impermanent structure
two seeds, one purpose
Tauranga Moana
Type: Architectural Design 6
Paper Leader: Lama Tone
Adapting to the customary Pacific (including Māori architecture and concepts to contemporary situations with the use of new types of formalism, concepts, materials and other technologies.
This paper hopes to culminate all aspectsconceptual, formal, material, tectonic, environmental, structural- of architectural design within the context of a larger network of infrastructural services showcasing the building as both an active “machine” and a place for human comfort.
Inspired by a canoe, the design mimics the different intricacies within it to conjure and create articulating spaces that speak to us architecturally. It imitates two canoes lashed together with paddle-like columns holding the hull as it seemingly floats above water.
In the past, Māori used waka (canoes) just as we use cars today. New Zealand’s waterways were like roads, running along the coast and up rivers. These wakas would be paddled along them, carrying people and goods.
It signifies the arrival in New Zealand of Māori ancestors from a place most often called Hawaiki, carrying motifs such as conflicts before departure, voyaging at sea, landing, inland and coastal exploration, and the establishment of settlements in new regions.
On occasions when the tide is low, users are invited towards the lower floor to experience a whole new atmosphere of the design
The idea is to implement these kind of symbols, ideas and motifs, and giving them form creating this sense that architecture is no more an aesthetic and firm thing but rather something that transforms, something alive, something new and poetic.
These designs adapt in time capturing an instant, highlighting architectural poetry of the built environment.
Wakas were usually moved with wooden paddles or poles with sails made of raupo (a reed) or flax and stones tied with rope as anchors
Most vessels structurally consisted of a -hiwi (hull) which made up the body, tauihu (prow) the front, taurapa (stern) the back, and the rauawa (gunwales) the upper edges along the side
It remains a strong concept of symbolism that is important to the identity of Māori. Whakapapa (geneological links) back to the crew of founding canoes served to establish the origins of tribes, and defined relationships with other tribes.
They not only explain origins but also express authority and identity, define tribal boundary and relationships. They merge poetry and politics, history and myth, fact and legend.
The idea stemmed from hanging canoes within a museum backed with a strong desire to showcase the canoe within it’s natural environment. It expands our design to go beyond the horizon (land) and rethink our approach as architects acting as a mediator between the relationship of people and the built environment.
The proposed design showcases the museum artifacts (past), looking through the never-ending horizon (present) and the endless possibilities the freedom of architecture gives us to express our ideas and beliefs (future).
An atmosphere where the past is celebrated within the present to eagerly await what the future brings.
The proposal was designed with intent to perceive the multi-sensory nature of the human mind to further indulge its users about the spatial qualities and atmospheric interactions one shares with a building.
The void centre floor amplifies our senses to feel, hear, smell and almost taste the building within its particular surrounding promoting social, cognitive and emotional attachments one experiences within.
It hopes to distinguish the relationship between sensory atmospheres and environmental cues above the visuals, projecting a stronger sense of reconciliation between ourselves and the world.
Thoroughly inspired by movement in the creative arts showing the influence of depictions towards the future produced in an earlier era, Gears of Clockwork explores the themes of tension between past and future, and between the alienating and empowering effects of technology.
From a period characterized by its intense and rapid technological change, it serves as a history of an idea, or a system of ideas - an ideology as the future does not exist except as an act of belief or imagination.
The design proposal incorporates two overlapping trends which may be summarized as the future as seen from the past and the past as seen from the future.
These futuristic visions are refurbished and updated for the present, and offer a nostalgic, confectual image of what the future might have been, but is not.
The reconstruction of the AUT WW Building will alleviate itself from it’s surroundings, highlighting it’s uniqueness & individuality amongs the environment. It offers a great contrast similar from learning and relaxation to urban and rural qualities.
From ancient times, thermae spaces have always been a place of cleanse and had significant religious relevance, especially in Roman cities. It is viewed as a popular form of therapy, a method of cleansing, and a place of relaxation during the Victorian era.
It provided for the needs of ritual ablutions but also provided for general hygiene in an era before private plumbing and served other social functions such as offering a gendered meeting place for men and for women.
In many ways, baths were an ancient equivalent to community centres. Because the bathing process took long, conversation was necessary. It was used as a place to invite their friends to dinner parties, and many politicians would go to the baths to convince fellows to join their causes.
One important function of the baths was their role as what we could consider a “branch library”. Many in the general public did not have access to grand llibraries and so as a cultural institution, the baths served as an important resource where the common citizen could enjoy the luxury of books.
The spatial characteristics sensibly recall the older but still modern eras in which technological change seemed to anticipate a better world, one remembered as relatively innocent of industrial decline. It invites us towards historical imagination and invites us to roll up our sleeves and get to work re-shaping our contemporary world.
