2023 Portfolio • Gabriela Robles-Muñoz

about

Gabriela Robles-Muñoz is a fifth-year Bachelor of Architecture student at Iowa State University, pursuing minors in both Sustainability and Critical Studies. At Iowa State, she has been awarded for exceptional project development, most notably with respect to how her designs aim to reconcile pragmatic concerns within critical conceptual frameworks.

Outside of her schoolwork, she is a research assistant under the 3DAIT Housing Project, works with the Department of Architecture as an undergraduate assistant, and is the co-leader of DATUM Student Journal of a/Architecture, a student-run publication focused on critical academic discourse surrounding architecture and related topics.

Gabriela approaches architecture with a strong focus on design theory, philosophy, and history; leading to an accentuated interest in architectural research, critique, and analysis. She is particularly curious about the role architecture plays within various socio-political contexts, specifically with regard to how formal expressions and ideological agendas have a lasting impact on architecture, culture, society, and place.

gabriela robles-muñoz

relevant experience

architectural intern - dlr group / portland, oregon

gk.robles@gmail.com

(832)-425-1129 archigabby.com

• assisted in the design and representation of several architectural projects in different stages of project development. specific tasks included adaptive reuse documentation and analysis, modelmaking, massing studies, space planning, digital modeling, and generation of presentation imagery.

undergraduate research assistant - 3dait housing project / ames, iowa

• assisting in the development and application of computational design systems to implement full-scale prototypes of 3D-printed concrete homes to address the need for affordable housing in the state of iowa.

select awards + achievements

som foundation robert l. wesley award - recipient, fellow

• award aims to support bipoc students in architecture and related fields. Three recipients are granted a financial award alongside a year-long mentorship with leading bipoc practitioners.

substance design forum - finalist

• finalists’ works are considered to be the best examples of iowa state architecture design quality and ambition. competition considers final year students in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

dlr group integrated design studio prize - winner

• finalists’ architectural proposals rigorously examine architecture’s relationship to its socio-political context, while successfully addressing physical site, programming, structure, form, materiality, and building systems.

summer 2022

august 2022 - present

january 2023

december 2022

december 2021

“Forms which are in themselves quite ugly turn up fortuitously, without design, in such incredible surroundings that they sparkle with a sudden wondrous poetry.”

- milan kundera

vigil

Situated within a dilapidated seed-drying bin on a defunct farm, Vigil is a work of drawing, installation, architecture, and performance.

Setting the stage for Vigil was a labor of love, a process laden with consequence and unpredictability. In every step of making, we were concerned not only with crafting an assembly, but allowing the assembly to craft itself. The following is a poem, written as a complement to the performance, which attempts to capture its essence through prose.

Steel rods joined together with tie wires

Conduit cut to house candlesticks

A snow fence scavenged from a barnSkeletal remains joined into one body.

The scent of campire fills your nostrils, Smoke creates a haze that simplifies the equation. It calls attention to the roof leaksWhere sun cuts through, dwarfing candlelight.

Inverted candles begin to drop Their own brightness becoming their demise. They join their siblings on the groundEvidence that what they endured is only natural.

Flames grow tired, Begging for dark once again. Their performance seeks an endEither naturally or by force.

The bringer of flame circles, Extinguishing sources. One, two, threeGusts of breath tease the dark again.

The end draws near, Fingers plucking out flame. The chanting continuesFor one final breath.

One candle remains, The single source of light. Eyes adjust once more This time to darkness.

across: grain conveyer, black’s heritage farm

2022 substance design forum finalist

ames, iowa • black’s heritage farm 5th year academic work • fall 2022 in collaboration with aaron koopal oliver goché jia lan chow

instructed by peter p. goché

The bark of the elder makes whistles for children

To call to the deer as they rove over the snow; ‘I am born in the dark’, says the Green Man, ‘I am born in the dark’, says he.

below: rig + snow fence, details

The alders are rattling as though ready for battle Guarding the grove where she waits for her lover; ‘I burn with desire’, says the Green Man, ‘I burn with desire’, says he.

left: rig + snow fence right: flame details

left: rig + snow fence

right: rig, tie wire detail

The holly is flowering as hay fields are rolling Their gleaming long grasses like waves of the sea; ‘I shine with the sun’, says the Green Man, ‘I shine with the sun’, says he.

The bark of the elder makes whistles for children

To call to the deer as they rove over the snow; ‘I am born in the dark’, says the Green Man, ‘I am born in the dark’, says he.

if found, please destroy

The City of Des Moines is the capital of Iowa, home to the caucus and first round of primary votes during federal election cycles. Iowa, historically, is a swing state, whose results on caucus day have the potential to drastically sway the course of elections across the nation. Normally perceived as a sort of ‘dead zone’ for large ripples in political action, it becomes pivotal and charged with energy during election cycles. Those who seek power and control can take these facts and come to a harrowing conclusion: If you can control Iowa, you can control the vote.

In the year 2096, 66 years after voting reconstruction, voting day has moved to July 4th, Independence Day. Government surveillance over the populus has expanded to the point of suffocation. Iowa caucus day is approaching, and the current administration fully intends to maintain its control over the nation.

The administration, who long ago realized the vital role of this place in the election process, has acquired land on which to build an election center, which will commemorate the history of their leadership and become the central caucus and voting location for the state’s capitol. Voting, especially in this caucus state, has been stripped of its privacy. Citizens in Des Moines cast their votes in the center of the Election Center’s Plaza, under the watchful eye of government officials and the general population.

The election center itself, a seamless mass of stone that seems to float slightly above the ground, has the illusion of being impenetrable; this is just that, an illusion. The architects of the election center, unbeknownst to the officials that commissioned them, are revolutionaries.

As rebels, the architects are fully aware of what is at stake if they are caught creating spaces that foster opposition to the administration, so they must do so carefully. In the construction documents proposed to the administration, the structure presents itself as a solid mass of stone walls and floors, strong against all that may oppose it. However, this too is an illusion; these redacted drawings obscure the true nature of the structure – which is visible through the architect’s plans, notes, and sketches. These drawings are handled with care and secrecy, and are passed through many hands; members of the opposition are present in every step of the process. They are the contractors, builders, engineers, permit writers, and office employees. To protect themselves and the integrity of their mission, they honor one request:

If Found, Please Destroy.

des moines, iowa • court + fifth ave. 4th year academic work • fall 2021 in collaboration with andrew moon

2022 DLR group prize winner

instructed by andrew gleeson

top: west elevation, longitudinal section left: central plaza

translucent slate stone panel

construction adhesive steel stud + mounting clip

steel catwalk

opaque slate stone panel

adhesive

aluminium honeycomb backing

vapor barrier

gypsum board

plywood

steel stud + mounting clip

left (top): voter history museum, details left (bottom): hidden corridor below: double skin façade / corridor assembly

as presented to the administration, the walls and floors of this structure appear solid.

this act of redaction conceals the reality of the structure.

right: level 2 plan (redacted)

the architect's plans reveal hidden passages and corridors, used by the resistance to peer in on the administration.

you see what they want you to see.

left: level 2 plan (revealed)

publication + writing

Over the course of the past several years, I’ve been increasingly involved in a series of publications, which have led me to discover an accentuated interest in architectural research, writing, critique, and analysis.

Each publication requires a unique and delicate approach. Writing and design work in tandem to tell a story, and become an extension of the things they seek to catalog, analyze, or critique.

DATUM is a journal of A/architecture and design founded and edited by students at Iowa State University. The publication is a medium for critical academic discourse through the exchange of bold design and progressive ideas. My work for the journal has taken the form of research, analysis, publication design, and editing.

VIGIL is a compendium publication of a project of the same name. It contains photos documenting the differing stages of the installation’s performance, poetry which speaks to the performance’s overarching meaning, and provides additional context about the installation’s site.

The IOWA OPERATOR’S MANUAL is a semi-satirical publication, whose design and presentation emulates a traditional owner’s manual. The manual, which analyzes elements of the Iowan landscape, likens this landscape to a machine. Although it is presented in a satirical manner, the symbolic parallel the publication alludes to is one that is corroborated by a range of academic research, and the analysis it presents is considered through the lenses of material, historical, political, economic, and social contexts.

My passion for print publication and writing came to me as a side effect of my passion for architecture, but have become integral to my design practice.

across: iowa operator’s manual

top: datum: student journal of architecture

middle: vigil, compendium

bottom: iowa operator’s manual

strata

Throughout the history of urban development within the city of Rome, much of the focus has been on what lies inside the Aurelian wall. Our site, the San Lorenzo neighborhood, lies just outside this wall. Its exclusion and separation from what is considered to be the archaeological heart of the city may lead some to overlook its rich history.

In the contemporary era, we are actively participating in the ongoing creation of the archaeological history of Rome.

The architecture’s arrangement came about with this principle in mind. The structures are pairs, couples that serve differing functions. Their placement is determined by the site’s datum lines, grid, and the preservation of existing vegetation. Maintaining the natural slope will allow for terraced green spaces within the central piazza.

The layering of history and the concept of contemporary archaeology have become the main focus within our form. Open faces along each volume suggest areas meant to engage with the public. Their form is low to the ground, limiting obstruction of the site’s historic monuments. The two volumes are submerged within the natural slope to create subterranean levels where the levels of history begin to emerge more intimately. Through the section, we can see the interaction of this contemporary intervention with the levels of history within the natural slope.

This approach, both in form and program, will emphasize how we in the contemporary era are engaging with and creating levels of archaeological history.

rome, italy • san lorenzo neighborhood

4th year academic work • spring 2022 in collaboration with morgan bennett erica halstead

across: piazza, east entry

instructed by simone capra

Strata is intended to merge the lively, contemporary culture of the city of Rome with its historical roots, by fostering a connection between community space and the historic Aurelian Wall, which hugs the borders of the old city.

Strata’s two volumes emerge genty from the surface of the earth, maintaining the area’s natural slope, and allowing the community to engage intimately with the material archaeology of the site.

Retail and community spaces make up the ground level, opening up to the fabric of the city, while housing and other functions sit in the upper level, overlooking the expansive piazza and surrounding city.

across: axonometric site plan

top: ground floor plan

bottom: longitudinal section, north building

below: transverse section, north building

The distribution of program throughout the two volumes is balanced between public and private access, in order to properly engage with the expansive length of the green piazza.

The northern building, which emerges from the lowest part of the site’s slope, invites the community inward. Its western end, glazed on all sides, houses a generous community center, which can be utilized for markets, performances, art installations, or any number of large gatherings.

dia: beacon artist residency

Art and architecture are mediums that, through their creation and expression, are a reflection of their makers and the circumstances they endure. The creation of and final forms of each are laden with circumstance. The product cannot exist without the process.

Together, art and architecture become the physical artifacts that document the metaphysical aspects of contemporary reality, particularly in regard to how said reality interacts with the human condition.

Within the scope of this architecture, we are concerned with the delicate relationship between the part and the whole. This architecture is meant for those whose lived experiences inform the things they create, whether these creations are tangible artifacts, writings, spaces, or just thoughts. Both of us, through examining our own creative processes, were drawn to how work is made. The creative process is iterative, destructive, and highly personal.

In order to create a residency that we felt could accommodate the needs and desires of creatives, we deliberately moved towards design decisions that would create open-ended, ambiguous spaces whose prescription would ultimately be determined through their usage. Those who inhabit this space, both through the things they create and the simple fact that they inhabit, participate in the relationship of what is to what can be.

The self, through presence, absence, and potential, is the link to the whole. The occupation of the building affects the lives and processes of those within it, just as the occupants inform the program and subsequent usage of the space.

This architecture, through intentional exposure of its connections, details, layers, and inner workings, lays itself bare. Although it exists as an entity separate from those that interact with it, this architecture reaches its fullest potential when its inhabitants, through occupation, bring definition.

The material conditions of the space, through their consistent nature, fade into the background. Lack of interruption or ornamentation allow users to focus on how the space makes them feel. This quality contributes to the things created here - works whose focus is on introspection and the varied individual experiences that occur within a shared reality.

across: pin-up space

2021 bwbr prize finalist

beacon, ny • dia: beacon contemporary art museum grounds

3rd year academic work • spring 2021 in collaboration with aaron koopal

instructed by peter goché

dia: beacon, home to a collection of legendary and site-specific bespoke artworks, seems to beg for a space that fosters creative minds and hands.

right: lounge

right: pivot window detail

left (top to bottom): level 1 plan (gallery) level 2 plan (dwelling) level 3 plan (dwelling) level 4 plan (studio)

top : connection details

bottom: gallery, unit plan

top : 1/16” physical model bottom: west elevation

will in time embody its dwellers as if they were its makers

this architecture, created by and for those who put their souls into their work,

gabriela robles-muñoz

gk.robles@gmail.com

(832)-425-1129 archigabby.com

education

iowa state university - b.arch professional degree / ames, iowa

• minors in sustainability studies and critical studies in design, dean’s list

experience

architectural intern - dlr group / portland, oregon

• assisted in the design and representation of several architectural projects in different stages of project development. specific tasks included adaptive reuse documentation and analysis, modelmaking, massing studies, space planning, digital modeling, and generation of presentation imagery.

undergraduate research assistant - 3dait housing project / ames, iowa

• assisting in the development and application of computational design systems to implement full-scale prototypes of 3D-printed concrete homes to address the need for affordable housing in the state of iowa.

undergraduate assistant - isu department of architecture / ames, iowa

• assisting in the coordination and execution of public program lectures and exhibitions, student organization involvement, student outreach, and faculty research within the isu college of design dept. of architecture

undergraduate teaching + research assistant - isu computation + construction lab / ames, iowa

• conducted research on machine learning, material studies, digital fabrication, and computational design. assisted students in the use of computational design tools and digital fabrication machinery.

awards + achievements

som foundation robert l. wesley award - recipient, fellow

• three recipients are granted a financial award, year-long mentorship with leading bipoc practitioners, and are established as som foundation fellows. award aims to support bipoc students in architecture or related fields.

substance design forum - finalist

• finalists’ works are considered to be the best examples of iowa state architecture design quality and ambition. competition considers final year students in both undergraduate and graduate programs.

lightfoot scholar

• endowment provides stipends to awarded students to support their architectural internship experiences.

dlr group integrated design studio prize - winner

• finalists’ architectural proposals rigorously examine architecture’s relationship to its socio-political context, while successfully addressing physical site, programming, structure, form, materiality, and building systems.

bwbr prize - finalist

• finalists’ proposals exhibit the highest degree of design merit, rigor, organization, and graphic communication.

richard f. hansen student prize - finalist

• finalists’ proposals are recognized for exceptional project development regarding concept, landscape integration, graphic representation, and site experience.

organizations + involvement

datum: student journal of architecture and design - president, editor, contributor, member nomas: national organization of minority architecture students - member

2018 - present class of may 2023

GPA: 3.73

summer 2022

august 2022 - present

august 2022 - present

august 2020 - 2022

january 2023

december 2022

summer 2022

december 2021 may 2021

december 2020

september 2020 - present

august 2019 - present

references

deborah hauptmann, phd chair, dept. of architecture, isu deborah@iastate.edu • (515) 294 - 7185

shelby doyle, aia director, isu ccl + assoc. professor of arch, isu doyle@iastate.edu • (540) 454 - 4390