Tarun Abraham ’20 MSAAD Columbia GSAPP

BOOK TARUN TONY ABRAHAM

8.5 X 11 67 PAGES

Studio Elective Workshops Theory History Seminars Lectures Making Presentations

THE

LIN EAR NARRATIVE 2019 - 2020 M.S AAD

GSAPP COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

PORTFOLIO

INTERPRETATION

Program Housing Development Renovation Standardization Real Estate Urbanism Megastructures Arguments Writing

ILLUSTRATION

ON ?

NO

Studio Brief

Framework for Living Systems Instructor : Emmett Zeifman Group : 2 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : June 2019 - August 2019 Site : New York

This studio revisits the “new brutalism,” working from the principles for architecture articulated by Alison and Peter Smithson and Reyner Banham in the early 1950s: a legible (or “imageable”) synthesis of spatial, structural and material organization; individual buildings conceived as urban theses; the ambition to directly express new technologies and social relations through architectural form. Students are asked to critically evaluate the efficacy of these principles today, considering parallels and differences between the postwar years and the present--both periods marked by the aftermath of global crisis, rapid transformation in technology, media and consumption, shifting horizons of political possibility, and the need to rethink the nature of urban inhabitation.

Project Brief Housing developed by the real estate market is designed on the basis of the homogenization and standardization of individuals within our society, targeting the nuclear family and their supposed way of life as the basic social unit of cities. The project uses a lot adjacent to the highline – current setting for mediocre high-end housing - as a prototypical proposal to question this inadequate system and to explore an architecture that frames the constant changes in social structure in regards to genders, constitution of family, individual and collective needs and the infinitely diverse relations between living and working within our society generated by our modern means of production.The project makes this possible through aspects such as modularity in the habitable spaces, a shared economy based on kit of parts, an extended infrastructure, and curated flexible spaces. The architecture proposes through the possibility of horizontal and vertical mergers, the accommodation of individuality and the creation of social dynamics.

Framework for Living Systems

Concept Diagrams

GROUND ACCESS Ground units have storefront access.

Three other separate access to the core and one entry to the warehouse

VERTICAL CIRCULATION Three Cores provide vertical circulation from the ground while one is directly accessible from the Highline.

INTERNAL CIRCULATION The internal circulation is primarily on metal floor plates sandwiched between the modules and the automated storage system

STORAGE SYSTEM The storage system comprises the warehouse and the delivery mechanism of the storage boxes to the modules.

THE MODULE The module is essentially split into two parts - the preset infrastructure and empty structural grid.

Residential | Infrastructure | Shared Economy

Site Plan

MASSING Pin wheel formation to ensure every unit gets views of the city

Framework for Living Systems

Floor Plans

GLASS Glass is used on the external facade to match the typical New York City scape. Frosted Glass is used in the interior partitions of the empty structural grid

WOOD Wood is used for the as the primary material for the construction of the inbuilt infrastructure of all the unit modules. The wood sits on the steel framework and provides better insulation

STEEL Steel is the structural element for the entire project. The steel framing enables easier flexibility to the module like design of the building. It also enables more efiicient laying of the floor and wood panels.

Material Palette

Residential | Infrastructure | Shared Economy

BLACK STEEL/ALUMINUM The core is made of blackened steel exterior to avoid corrosion . This extends to the interior of the storage system which in turn holds aluminum storage boxes to reduce the weight on the structure as a whole.

Framework for Living Systems

Section - System

Section - System

Complimenting the unit, the building houses an automated storage which holds a shared economy system within the building itself. This helps facilitate the customizations mentioned before. The system would be made up of boxes in which a variety of items would be held that could be accessed by the unit’s user at any time. This would range from prefabricated construction materials to household utensils. Through access to this system, the building’s user would be able to easily customize his own unit in order to accommodate any short, medium or long term need he might have. This could range from furniture and equipment for a party to be held one night and returned the next morning, to the installation of a pool during the summer months. In NYC, where space is a luxury, this capacity to change space would amount to luxury.

Residential | Infrastructure | Shared Economy

Each unit is divided into two, one being a minimum living space with preset infrastructures (plumbing, heating, ac, etc.) and the other half is constituted by an empty structural grid, located in the perimeter of the building. The empty grid would act as the agent to democratize space within the building. Social interactions within the building would be therefore not only confined to quick elevator interactions but would also expand to talks where the action of one part would necessarily involve others. Beyond being able to buy two units to merge and expand their own space, users would be able to use or rent the empty grid space as they pleased making it possible to merge units and air space to create unique spatial combinations that would allow for a infinitely wider possibilities of use and would itself create unique social dynamics.

Framework for Living Systems

Unit - Diagrams

Residential | Infrastructure | Shared Economy

Urban fabric - Section/Isometric

Framework for Living Systems

Catalog

Residential | Infrastructure | Shared Economy

Catalog

Elective Brief Providing adequate housing is a challenge for nations around the world – both in advanced and developing economies. One of the biggest leaps in productivity could be achieved through the use of more prefabrication and modularization in the construction process This course proposes a framework to capitalize on this inflection point by leveraging a system-based, modular approach to architectural design with emerging material and manufacturing technologies. The objective of the course is to equip students with an advanced toolkit for developing modular systems and to explore how modularity can enable adaptive housing environments, treating time as a key design parameter.

Manhattan Billboard Project Brief

Instructor : Andreas Tjeldflaat Group : 2 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : January 2020 - May 2020 Site : New York

New York City’s residential architecture displays terminal boredom. Tight pigeon hole and expensive rentals to gracious but criminally expensive condos, the options are fixed, dull and reeking of modernist analogies. Embracing the availability of rectilinear plots, can residential rigidity be challenged by reverse engineering the domestic?

Challenging the binary of residential architecture where units always exist alone and only as a collective building, this project introduces notions of plurality in order to reconfigure domestic space and interactions.

By introducing play as a programme and an act, the project tackles reconfiguration as an interior level and interaction at an intra-unit scale. Part one establishes a mutating interior through move-able interfaces that act as modules. Instead of rendering a unit as a fixed island, it transforms it into a dynamic archipelago of functions and utilities. Part two is a play of units, interstitial spaces and spaces for play, using them collectively to reverse engineer a residential building as a vertical micro- neighborhood.

Manhattan Billboard

Case Study - Spatial Analysis

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Case Study - Moriyama House

Manhattan Billboard

Case Study - Function Structure Diagram

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Case Study - Functional Analysis

Manhattan Billboard

Modules & Interfaces - Phase 1

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Scenario Configuration Test

Manhattan Billboard

Modules & Interfaces - Phase 2

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Battleship Interplay - 30’x30’x30’ Test Block

Manhattan Billboard NYC Billboard Sketch Test

Manhattan Billboard

battleship battleship battleship

interface interface interface

abstraction abstraction abstraction We revisited the battleship interface, analyzed, interpreted and abstracted and combined We revisited the battleship interface, analyzed, interpreted and nuances of theand game,combined the interface, interface analyzed, and the representation.

Battleship isinterface played with We revisited battleship interpreted abstracted combined abstracted nuances of the and game, the and anuances partner. two interiorized interfaces, players interact guess theWith other’s and theofWith representation.

Battleship is played with atopartner. the game, the interface and theboth representation.

Battleship is played with two interiorized interfaces, both players guess the The manifestation are twoboth interfaces butted against each other with asequence. partner.

Withphysical two interiorized interfaces, playersinteract interact totoguess the other’s other’s sequence.

The ships. physical manifestation are two interfaces the same army of deployable Information is of one’s navy is placed inother planwith and sequence.

The physical manifestation are two interfaces butted against each butted against each other with the issame army ofplaced deployable the other recorded in elevation. the one sameofarmy of deployable ships.

Information of one’s navy is in plan and ships.

Information is of one’s navy is placed in plan and the one the one of the other recorded in elevation. of the other recorded in elevation.

volmetric grid volumetric grid volumetric grid The firstfirst extraction lies in the logic and it logic visual representation. board The extraction liesspatial in the spatial and it visualThe repreworks withextraction a simple with allwith shipsand in square either north-south eastThe first lies in grid theworks spatial logic it visual representation.

Theorboard sentation.

The square board adeployed simple grid with all west orientation.

Thesquare planar and vertical interfaces identical grids.

Projecting ships deployed in either north-south or hold eastwest orientation. works with a simple grid with all ships deployed in either north-south or eastThe planarand and vertical interfaces identical grids.

Projectboth vertically horizontally respectively, onehold arrives at a identical volumetric representation west orientation.

The planar and vertical interfaces hold grids.

Projecting both vertically andrespectively, horizontally respectively, one representation arrives at ofing thevertically grid. This the building’s primary logic and structural system.

A 10’x10’x10’ both andishorizontally one arrives at a volumetric athe volumetric representation ofislogic the grid.

This is the building’s volumetric with steelprimary joints manifested as the building, billboard, of grid.grid Thisinistimber the building’s and structural system.

Athe10’x10’x10’ primary logic and structural system.

A will 10’x10’x10’ the framework the modular interface. now we inhabit the volumetric billboard. volumetric gridand in timber with steel joints And is manifested as the building, the billboard, grid in timber with steel joints is manifested as the building, the the framework and the modular interface. And now we will inhabit the billboard. billboard, the framework and the modular interface. And now we will inhabit the billboard.

game play game play game play

components components components

semantics to social programming semantics totosocial programming semantics social programming The unique feature of the game is the dual relationship with the partner/competitor -The youunique cannotfeature see his/her navy, yet you dual begin gathering information about it till you The unique feature the isrelationship the dual relationship with the of theof game isgame the with the partner/competitor - you cannot seegathering his/her navy, youasitbegin know everything person.

Thisbegin duality is abstracted andyet applied atillsocial -partner/competitor you cannot see about his/herthenavy, yet you information about you gathering information about it duality till you know everything housing scheme.

Aimed hierarchies ofisneighborly interaction and establish know everything about to theintroduce person.

This abstracted and applied asabout a social the person.

This duality is abstracted and applied as a social as a mid-rise micro-neighborhood, different social and interfaces established housing scheme.

Aimed to introduce hierarchies of spaces neighborly interactionareand establish housing Aimed introduce hierarchies of neighborthrough thescheme. building. The range to from common corridors toestablished rooms, to as a mid-rise micro-neighborhood, different social windows spaces andtointerfaces are ly interaction and establish as a mid-rise micro-neighborhood, different the categories of The play range spacesfrom and play floors. windows to corridors to rooms, to through building. common different social spaces and interfaces are established through different categories of play spaces and play floors. windows to corridors to the building.

The range from common

elementarism and modules elementarism and modules elementarism and modules The final reading of battleship gives us a navy of ships. Standardized to fit in a standard grid, these embody modular behavior. is to placement The final reading of battleship gives us Standardized a the navy oftoships.

StanThe final reading of abattleship gives us a This navy ofapplied ships. fitof in aresidential standard dardized to fita units in a are standard grid, a modular beand play units.

These modular simultaneously syncretion of modules.

The grid, these embody modular behavior.and This isthese appliedembody to the placement of residential havior.

This is applied to theare placement residential and play play, services and circulation deployed as aof fixed logic whereas residential and play units.

These units aremodules modular and simultaneously syncretion of modules.

The units.

These units are modular andand simultaneously syncretion modules have the circulation freedom tomodules combine, play withing thewhereas rest of residential the space play, services and aredetach deployed as a fixed logic oflevels. modules. The play, services and circulation modules are deand modules have the freedom to combine, detach and play withing the rest of the space ployed as a fixed logic whereas residential modules have the and levels. freedom to combine, detach and play withing the rest of the space and levels.

rooms, to different categories of play spaces and play floors.

Modular Anatomy A4870 Modular Anatomy

A4870 Battleship Interpretation

Manhattan Billboard battleship interpretation Manhattan Billboard battleship interpretation

Kabir Sahni, Tarun Abraham x Play Kabir Residential Sahni, Tarun Abraham Residential x Play

Manhattan Billboard

Wall Modules & Combinations

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Floor Plan Configurations

Manhattan Billboard

Interior Modules - Kitchen

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Interior Modules - Compounded

Manhattan Billboard

Interior Modules - Study

Residential | Infrastructure | Modular Anatomy

Interior Modules - Bathroom

Studio Brief

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives Instructor : Sarah Dunn + Martin Felsen Group : 1 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : January 2020 - May 2020 Site : Tokyo

Can we invent an urban-scaled architecture that is both formally compelling and ecologically sound?

The studio engages and explores the formal and programmatic possibilities of invented large-scale architecture in the city.

The addition of program will imagine new forms of collective associations as promised by Modernism. But, whereas Modernism proposed rationality and singularities to deal with the problems and potentials of the city, the studio will play with irrationality and multiplicities. It will engage density directly. The studio will begin with a contrary hypothesis: viewing globalization as reinforcing differences in patterns of localized urban behavior, formal uniqueness and infrastructural specificity.

The addition of infrastructure will posit that architecture can be both/and — it can be both about growth and about the environment — through the manipulation of form and the tactical deployment of ecologically based systems.

Project Brief What if, there was an urban scaled megastructure in the Akasaka - Hibiya district of Tokyo, that could accommadate a wide spectrum of both existing new physical work environments by using strategies that involve stacking up of different program modules and how these modules interact and interfere with the city.

Then, there would be a whole new collective of work spaces in Tokyo that reacts with the city creating its own new set of workspaces and in turn develops a wide rnge of new social circles.

The previously narrow streets of Akasaka would now have more space and shade for shoppers. The otherwise imperceptible skyscape of Tokyo could now be enjoyed through the multi use terrace spaces. Finally, the glimpses of Japan’s geography could now be viewed from the comfort of your workspace

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Reimagined Section - Modular Stacking

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Strategy Exercise - Continuous Monument - Superstudio

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Reimagined Section - Contextual Influence

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Strategy Exercise - Walking City - Archigram

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Isometric Urban Diagram

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Isometric Urban Diagram

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Long Section - Overview

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Isometric Section Zoom in

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Short Section - Context/Grounf Condition

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Isometric Section Zoom in

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Enclosed Section - Units/Program

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Isometric Section Zoom in

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Street Perspective - Reimagined

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Street Perspective - Existing

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Skyscape - Reimagined

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Skyscape - Existing

The Great Wall of Modular Urban Collectives

Workspace Experience - Reimagined

Collective | Urbansim | Megastructure

Workspace Experience - Existing

Studio Brief

Manor House at Guy Park Instructor : Christoph Kumpusch + Kate Ascher Group : 2 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : Sept 2019 - Nov 2019 Site : Amsterdam, NY

Urban resilience is a complex process, with economic, social, temporal and physical dimensions. Nowhere is this more true than in the flood-prone communities still served by one of the 19th centuries engineering wonders – the Erie Canal. The town of Amsterdam, NY has struggled over the last half century to address issues of shrinking tax base, loss of jobs and population and a general decline in property values and quality of life. To tackle these issues, it first must confront questions of physical resilience, which hang like a pallor over the city’s future.

How can infrastructure and geography that gave rise to the town itself now be redeployed to greatly reduce the risk of flooding in Amsterdam – allowing property values to rise, development to occur, population to stabilize, and tourism be attracted? This studio will use the experience of the Netherlands “Make Room for Water” approach as the foundation for developing a water-based development plan for a series of sites in Amsterdam.

Once familiar with the history, urban geography and hydrology of the area, MSRED and advanced architecture students will work in teams to identify development strategies and interventions underpinned by appropriate flood reduction initiatives.

Project Brief Guy Park Manor will become a historic resort destination and a cultural hub of Amsterdam, with Guy Park Manor anchoring the site as a heritage attraction. The programming will be manifested through a hotel, restaurant, bar, spa, and activity center. The development will span the two opposing strips of land adjacent to Erie Canal Locks 11 and will connect across the Mohawk River via a pedestrian bridge. Yearround programming will activate the site, with space to play, relax, and learn

Manor House at Guy Park

Live Study - Photo Documentation

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Case Study - Collage

Manor House at Guy Park

Site Map

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Context Map

Manor House at Guy Park

Overview

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Isometric Site Map

Manor House at Guy Park

Guy Park Manor

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Guy Park Manor

Manor House at Guy Park

Guy Park Manor - First Floor Plan

Main Entrance W/C

W/C

Kitchen

W/C

Lobby/Reception

W/C

Lobby/Reception Pantry

Restaurant

Admin

Restaurant

Cafe/Lounge

Connection to Bridge & Walkway

Cafe/Lounge

W/C

Guy Park Manor - Ground Floor Plan

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Gift Shop

Manor House at Guy Park

Guy Park Manor - Section

Restaurant Cafe/Lounge

Admin

Storage

Guy Park Manor - Section

Lobby/Reception

Laundry

Hallway

Dining

Staff Lockers

Food Storage

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Gift Shop

Dining

Manor House at Guy Park

Hotel - Plan & Section

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Hotel

Manor House at Guy Park

Elevated Unit - Plan & Section

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

ADA Unit - Plan & Section

Manor House at Guy Park

Spa - Schematic Plan & View

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Sunken Unit - Plan & Section

Manor House at Guy Park

Cabins - Layout Plan

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Cabins

Manor House at Guy Park

Cabins - Activity Diagram

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Cabins - Unit Plan

Manor House at Guy Park

Cabins - Section Perspective

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Cabins - Unit

Manor House at Guy Park

Cabins - Layout Configuration

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Cabins - Unit

Manor House at Guy Park

Camphouse - Exploded Axonometric

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Camphouse

Manor House at Guy Park

Boathouse - Isometric

Real-Estate | Development | Programming

Boathouse

Lever House l SOM Workshop Brief

Contentious New York Workshop

The workshop will focus on reconstructing the design history of the contentiousness that has shaped 32 selected architectural entities in New York.

Contentious New York Instructor : Bart-Jan Polman Group : 3 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : June 2019 - August 2019 Site : New York

The Project takes the following propositions as its starting point: 1. Architectural design is a player that mediates, takes part, and is shaped in/by disputes and controversies.

2. The evolution of a conflict is reflected and participated in/by design evolutions or alternatives.

3. The content of the conflict is articulated as a disciplinary (in-field) discussion affected by and affecting interdisciplinary (off-field) discussions. This is to say that the dispute is simultaneously happening as a discussion within the field of architecture and as a non- architectural dispute.

4. The workshop will identify contentiousness as material, compositional and performative; and it will characterize architectural devices as trans-sectional enactments.

5. New York’s architecture participates in a numerous and densely spatial distribution of design-embedded contentiousness.

Each of the cases will be characterized as the site of one or more conflicts. The goal of the workshops is to identify these conflicts and to trace and translate into documents the ways in which architecture becomes part of them and of their evolution.

Students will engage with the reconstruction of the conflict both through writing and through drawing, and will map out the evolution of the architectural device studied (materially, compositionally, performatively) as a result of/as part of/by the trajectory of the dispute. In this workshop, (architectural) form is understood as being the result of tensions. The identified conflict and its subsequent evolution will be characterized as transscalar, as operating on many different scales simultaneously.

eo

Lin

g

nin

o fZ

e Lin

of

ing

n Zo

Transscalaraties Contentious New York

Contentious New York - Lever House

Transscalaraties

Zoning The 1916 zoning law played an important role in the form of the building. The red highlighted zone shows the actual maximum area the building could have occuppied under the zoning act. But the design intent of the actors resulted in the vertical slab design.

It later led to the controversy of developers wanting it to tear it down,as it did not utilize the zoning law to the fullest and the eventual landmarking of the building.

Writing | Documentation | Illustration

The case of the Lever House begins with a look at the prominent British 20th Century soap company, Lever Brothers Company. After great success in moving their operations abroad to the United States in 1895, the company had decided to build a new world headquarters in New York City. The new president of Lever Brothers at the time, Jervis J. Babb, had been profoundly enamored with the ideals and values of architectural modernism. He had worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s glass-towered Johnsons Wax building during his time as vice president there. His experience, along with the Lever brothers’ ideologies , influenced them to bring a modern image to their new 1 headquarters. It is because of these intentions that the company went on to choose Gordon Bunshaft of Skidmore, Owings, Merrill as the architect of the project. Responding to Lever Brothers’ desire for an image of sparkling cleanliness and their intention to convey cleanliness and innovation to their project, SOM proposed a modern building of steel and glass in the International Style . Completed in 1952, it was the 2 second curtain wall skyscraper in New York City after the United Nations Secretariat Building. It paved the way for midtown Manhattan to change from a street of masonry apartment buildings to one of glass towers. Also, the Lever brothers’ statement, to make their world headquarters ‘a symbol of everlasting cleanliness,’ the first window-cleaning scaffold in New York was built in 1952, to maintain the outside of Lever House. An electrically operated platform built by the Otis Elevator Company set the standard for how the city’s rising thicket of glass, steel, and sealed windows would be cleaned. The government or zoning laws of that period also played an essential role in the design of the lever house (specifically the 1916 Zoning Act) . The complex of skyscrapers being 3 built in New York were making streets narrow and creating dark alleys. The idea of this act was that light and air would reach the sidewalk. Instead of setting an absolute cap on height, the law required that after a prescribed vertical height above the sidewalk (usually 90 feet for cross streets or 150 to 200 feet for avenues), a high-rise had to be stepped back within a diagonal plane projected from the center of the street. The proposed office tower of Lever House, a vertical slab, conflicted with apparent solutions to zoning ordinances that required setbacks for light and air. In response to the civic regulations, the footprint of the tower was minimized to be less than 1⁄4 of the site. This was done so that the design of the office volume would be a clean and pure vertical slab that went straight up. Lever House was the first New York real estate venture to take advantage of the zoning provision . As a result, Lever House broke the tradition of 4 “shaped tower” skyscrapers which had prevailed since the 1910s. The vertical office volume surface was designed as an all-glass window wall system. The surface, based on a 4’8” module, was composed of 6’6” high sealed tinted green heat-absorbing transparent glass, 30” high blue wire spandrel glass, and stainless steel mullions. The tint of the transparent glass and spandrel glass was drawn from the color of many of the company’s iconic products. 2 1⁄2” wide, the mullions projected only 1” to reduce the amount of shadow cast on the glass. This allowed the window wall enclosure to appear as a smooth flush surface with minimal depth.

In addition, according to the company’s intent, the specified glass was highly reflective to help facilitate the appearance of a thin clean, polished surface. The reflective glass was placed outside of the columns and wholly obscured any indication of the structural system from exterior views of the vertical office volume in the daylight. This askew relationship between enclosure and structure seems to favor the corporate intention of self-promotion over the modern design idiom of structural honesty. However, the desire for this image of the building did not meet the requirements of the government building regulations, the fire code to be exact. The New York City fire code required a distance between the top of one window and the bottom of the next window. To meet these construction criteria, a 4” thick fireproof masonry wall was placed behind the spandrel panels. This conflict of intentions between civic regulations, technological know-how, and design philosophy resulted in the construction of a multi-layered building enclosure. The enclosure was composed of a conventional masonry wall, constructed to meet the fire code, which was then concealed by a reflective glass spandrel panel to maintain the smooth, consistent surface of the floating volume intended by the design. The clean, seamless facade that the company and the architects were describing as their ideology and concept was just a veil that masked the flaws and mishaps of the actual building. It is almost as if they were promoting a mirage. In 1982, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Lever House as an official landmark. By that time, however, much of Lever House’s original brilliance had been dimmed.

The building’s blue-green glass facade deteriorated due to harsh weather conditions and the limitations of the original fabrication and materials. Water seeped behind the stainless steel mullions causing the carbon steel within (and around) the glazing pockets to rust and expand. This corrosion bowed the horizontal mullions and broke most of the spandrel glass panels. By the mid-1990s, only one percent of the original glass remained, leaving the once glimmering curtain wall a patchwork of mismatched greenish glass. In 1998 the leasehold position was acquired from Unilever by German-American real estate magnates Aby Rosen and Michael Fuchs.

Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the building’s architect, were the ones who performed the renovations as well.

The deteriorated steel subframe was replaced with concealed aluminum glazing channels, which is identical to the original in appearance. All rusted mullions and caps were replaced with new and identical stainless steel mullions and caps. All glass was removed for new panes that are nearly identical to the original, yet meet today’s energy codes.

Contentious New York

Transscalaraties

Facade - SOM ( Architects)

The Lever brothers’ envisioned the building as a modern, futuristic building. They imagined a building full of glass that represented the future of their company in terms of principle and goals.

SOM was brought in as the architects for the design of the building. Their introduction led to the minimal stainless steel mullions that were needed to structurally support the building but at the same time maintain the image of the modern building.

The image represents their vision of having a complete glass paneled building with no obstructions between the interior and the exterior.

This image represents the glass panels split by the mullions indicating the the influence of the architect on the building.

Transscalaraties

Writing | Documentation | Illustration

Facade - Lever Brothers ( Owners)

Contentious New York

Transscalaraties

Facade - Deterioration/Renovation

However, the fire code of the time required the building to have fire resistant brick walls between the glass panels. This led to the introduction of the spandrels and the double layer glass panels to hide the brick walls from the exterior.

Towards the late 90’s, the facade had started to deteriorate with the glass panels fading.

This was caused by the long term weathering and moisture on the facade which led the spandrels to break and inturn crack and fade the glass panels. This called for its renovation.

This image represents the spandrels that woudn’t have been present in the original design if not for the influence of the fire code.

This image represents the different panels that were replaced and the struggle to replicate the original color of the panels to match with the remaining panels.

Transscalaraties

Writing | Documentation | Illustration

Facade - Fire Code ( Government)

Elective Brief Our capabilities as architects today to create and leverage organized building data is continuously expanding the possibilities for designing and understanding what we build and how we can build it. At the same time, this kind of literacy is becoming even more essential as our daily lives are increasingly saturated with structured data; of which provides us with invaluable insights and feedback that alter our decisions, behaviors, and validate our ideas.

ReThinking BIM Instructor : Jared Friedman Group : 2 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : Sep 2019 - Nov 2019 Softwares : Rhino, Revit, Grasshopper, Skin Designer

This class puts forth the challenge for students to develop robust data driven methodologies and computational frameworks that intensify creative iteration and validate design solutions by utilizing various parametric design platforms to build tools and workflows for analysis, automation, simulation , optimization, representation, and so forth.

This course is intended to provide foundational knowledge of relevant modeling software and visual programming interfaces, while also discussing contemporary applications of these tools in the industry.

Project Brief Lever House is one of the oldest landmark buildings in New York City. It symbolized the shift towards the New York City that we see today. But it’s deteriorating and non energy saving facade is a relic in today’s age.

The proposal is to redefine the existing facade to be more energy efficent while ensuring that there is minimal alterations to the original aesthetic of Lever house.

Glass panels and spandrels that vary in size and type based on the amount of heat it receives.

ReThinking BIM

After

Technical | Renovation | Parametric

Before

ReThinking BIM

Configuration 2

Technical | Renovation | Parametric

Configuration 1

ReThinking BIM

Configuration 4

Technical | Renovation | Parametric

Configuration 3

Elective Brief The use of perspective and rendering is often an afterthought. With the abundance of 3D modeling software and the ability to see every angle of a project instantaneously, renderings are often thought of as a last minute tool for representation.

Ultrareal Instructor : Philip Crupi + Joseph Brennan Group : 3 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : Sep 2019 - Nov 2019 Softwares : Rhino, 3ds Max, V-ray

This class challenges the participants to not only think of rendering as a method of presentation, but also a tool for design. We encourage the use of perspective and rendering early and often in the design process. In addition to learning techniques for creating ultrarealistic images, we will teach a workflow that encourages early exploration. We will focus on color, light, material, context, reflection, and opacity throughout the course of the entire design project. Will will look for inspiration in many places, including art, photography and cinematography.

The class will use V-Ray for 3D Studio Max as the main engine for exploration, but will also encourage the use of other modeling applications, post processing software, and 3rd party plug-ins. Students will also be required to explore additional methods of composition, including sketching and photography.

Project Brief The proposal is a design that interacts with land, surface water and underwater.

A project that hangs on the line of balance between fiction and reality.

Minimal detail, viceral context and basic materials define this project.

Ultrareal

Material Palette

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Photography Assignment

Ultrareal

Interior View

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Final Rendering - 1

Ultrareal

Sunset View

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Final Rendering - 2

Ultrareal

Underwater View

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Final Rendering -3

Elective Brief This course will focus on the daylight as a prime generator and articulator of architectural space.

To do so students will: •Review and discuss precedent buildings that exemplify the potential of daylight as a design agent •Explore the role of climate and contextdriven daylight access in the understanding and application of that potential.

•Learn how to use Diva for Rhino to create physics based light renderings as applied to a small sanctuary structure.

Daylighting Instructor : Davidson Norris Group : 1 Platform : M.S AAD Timeline : January 2020 - May 2020 Softwares : Rhino, Diva

•Study daylight phenomena in Nature broadly applicable to the design and experience of architectural space.

•Apply Diva for Rhino to the quantification of daylight within a classroom.

•Coordinate daylight and electric light in the classroom using Diva for Rhino.

•Investigate a day lighted space of their choosing or design using a scale architectural model.

Project Brief There are two proposal for this elective.

The first is a light sanctuary that uses multiple light apertures to create a wholeshome experience that complements the dynamics of the space The second is a response to the current pandemic crisis we are in right now. Light chapels in Central Park that provide a space for isolation and thought with light paving the experince of the user.

Plans Daylighting

NORHTERN LIGHT IS MUCH LENSE INTENSE AND THUS THE NORTH SIDE OF THE CHAPEL RECEIVES DIFFUSED AMBIENT LIGHT

THE WALL IS SIMILAR TO WHAT CORBUSIER DID IN RONCHAMPS. THE AIM IS TO HOLD THE DIRECT SOUTHERN LIGHT IN THE WALLS.

THE FENESTRATION AT THE NARTHEX RECIEVES THE SOUTHERN LIGHT AND EMITS THE PATTERN AT THE ENTRANCE CREATING A FEELING OF DIVINITY

THE APERTURES ON THE NAVE OF THE ROOF CAPTURE LIGHT AT DIFFERNT ANGLES AND WASHES LIGHT EVENLY ACROSS THE NAVE.

Light Sanctuary

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

THE HOLLOW APERTURE EMITS A DIRECT BEAM OF LIGHT ON THE ALTAR EMPHASIZING ITS IMPORTANCE

Daylighting

Cross-Sections THE NAVE APERTURE IS MEANT TO CAPTURE LIGHT AND TAKE IT ALONG ITS DEPTH TO LIGHT UP THE NAVE EVENLY.

THE NAVE APERTURE IS ANGLED TO CAPTURE LIGHT IN MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS AND EMIT THE REFLECTED LIGHT EVENLY ACROSS THE NAVE THE HOLLOW TUBE APERTURE ON THE APSE IS MEANT TO EMIT DIRECT LIGHT ON THE ALTAR TO EMPHASIZE ITS IMPORTANCE THE APERTURE IS MEANT TO HOLD THE LIGHT IN THE WALL AND HIGHLIGHT THE SHAPES OF THE APERTURE FROM THE INSIDE.

THE ANGLED APERTURE IS DESIGNED TO CAPTURE MAXIMUM NORTHERN LIGHT AND CREATE A SENSE OF AMBIENT LIGHT INSIDE.

THE FENESTRATION AT THE NARTHEX RECIEVES THE SOUTHERN LIGHT AND EMITS THE PATTERN AT THE ENTRANCE CREATING A FEELING OF DIVINITY. MOST EFFECTIVE WHEN SUN ANGLE IS LESSER THAN 35*

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Longitudanal Sections

Daylighting

Hemi-spherical Images

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Isometrics

Daylighting

Daylight Rendering

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Daylight Rendering

Daylighting

Light Chapel 1 - Plan & Section

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Light Chapel -1

Daylighting

Daylight Rendering

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Daylight Rendering

Daylighting

Light Chapel 2- Plan & Section

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Light Chapel -2

Daylighting

Daylight Rendering

Daylight Rendering

12:00 pm

01:00 pm

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

11:00 am

Daylighting

Light Chapel3 - Plan & Section

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Light Chapel -3

Daylighting

Daylight Rendering

Technical | Rendering | Visualization

Daylight Rendering