Vestiges

vestiges|10-14 ismael olivares

Architecture appears for the first time when sunlight hits a wall. The sunlight did not know what it was before it hit a wall. louis kahn

high school drafting course 03-04

digital media I / II 43-44 ∆11

freehand drawing I / II 47-48 photography

supplementary projects/resume

spatial reasoning

intro to architecture 07 space | form studio I 08

studio II 1 concept | function

studio III 1 studio IV

structure

studio V 1

skin/envelope

studio VI 37-40

urban design

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spatial reasoning professor cecilia orozco course high school drafting class

Just by chance was I able to participate in this high school drafting course. The chance to get out of class on a field trip to the Center for Career and Technical Education led me to Ms Orozco. I had already had it in my head that I was to be an architect but it was not until I took this course that I was absolutely sure of this decision.

I would learn Revit and the basics in architectural modeling. This class revolved around a couple of drafting and design competitions. The first was a speed and accuracy test where we were challenged to measure and re-draw a small house drawn to scale as quickly and as accurately as we could with with corrections should it not be drawn right.The second was a district/city wide design competition that lasted the entire year. In this competition we were given a brief that set design guidelines and challenges that were to be resolved. Then we would have to develop a full set of drawings that included floor plans, elevations, sections, wall sections, electrical/mechanical plans, and renderings. All of these drawings were accompanied with a physical model that was to a scale set by the jury.

This class proved to be instrumental in the development of spacial reasoning. My first year at CCTE proved to be a great experiment for me as I tried to balance design ideas and spatial needs. The second year proved to be a refinement of what I learned the first year with a closer attention to detail and better time management which led to a more balanced and efficient design. Many design patterns such as a focus on interior/exterior interactions and the use of large open spaces in my designs stem from these early projects.

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6526 Omega Drive high school drafting | prof. cecilia orozco

1st place scholarship

Fairview Olea high school drafting | prof. cecilia orozco

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space | form | concept | function El Paso Community College Associates of Science - Architecture

El Paso Community College was not my first choice when I was applying for my undergraduate degree. A combination of not knowing how to apply properly and a lack of financial resources to go anywhere else led me to EPCC. The program is very conveniently located in my hometown and has an on-going partnership with Texas Tech University. This program allows for students to complete their first two years then fully transfer their credits to Texas Tech University after a portfolio review.

The program blew me away in it’s ability to be at the same level as other top universities in Texas. The program provided great opportunities for exposure and learning. I participated in early submissions in Team Texas’s entry in the international solar decatholon competition and took advantage of an opportunity to travel to Spain, Italy, and Greece with a couple of professors. In this trip I learned a great deal about photography and the value of public spaces.

More importantly a new understanding of architecture arose. Architecture was no longer a study of building design but rather a study of spatial design. Diagrams hit my design philosophy sideways and radically changed the way I approached design. Concepts and programs then made the diagram more plastic to what the site and design challenge dictated. My design approach became free to whatever the influences of programming and research rather than style and personal motives. Various softwares such as Revit, AutoCAD, Rhino, Vray and others started to overlap and model-making skills were honed.

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Diagramming and analysis were the main focus of the intro to architecture curriculum. The first three projects used diagramming as the a dictator to form. The first project analyzed a picture of animal cells, the second analyzed parking in downtown El Paso, and the third analyzed the facade of the Mills Building.

The last project took a cube and redefined it. This cube was then combined with four other cubes to create a new composition.

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Diagrams and Cubes intro to architecture | prof. cesar gonzalez

Studio I had two major projects the first was a study on Frank LLoyd Wright and his use of the grid as an organizational system in his design of the Robie House.

The second used a picasso painting and took three similar squares. These square were laid out on the painting. The shapes that were enclosed in the squares were then extruded and juxtaposed onto each other at three different angles.

Juxtaposition and Proportion studio I | prof. emmanuel moreno

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The redesign of scenic drive in El Paso, Texas is a space meant for personal reflections. The three platforms are oblongly shaped to emulate water droplets on a smooth surface. This canopy provides extra room for events and gatherings while providing much needed shade to on the bottom.

There are many pockets here and ther for private introspection but one of the largest and most prominent features is the sculptural fire pit.The large fire pit traverses the large open cantilever so as to create warmth and serenity to the space.

The large mass would have been imposing on the natural landscape but the cladding on the building allows for a smooth transitio from the mountain onto the platforms. The cladding would be made out of the rock removed during the construction of the building.

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Scenic Drive studio II | prof. alejandro mireles

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The warplane museum derives it’s shape from the two offset circles created by the rotation of the propellers and the rotation of the pistons. A series of louvers run parallel along the organic glass facade so asto emulate the cooling fins of the fins on the radial engine. Finally a sinuous solid mass wraps around the facade alluding back to the smooth continuous design of airplane propellers.

This project did not have a physical component to it but was intended to try and create a digital composition that would resemble an advertisement or a flyer rather than a technical architecture oriented layout.

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Warplane Museum studio II | prof. alejandro mireles

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The water garden project was a purely physical project that required a lot of engineering and planning. The water garden has a pump that pushes water into two nozzles that direct water to the top of the bowl. From there the water cascades down into two different beds that then direct the water over to a gentle river. This river then completes the loop bringing water back to the pump.

The model also has water proof lights and is scaled to 1/4” = 1’ - 0”.

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Water Garden studio II | prof. alejandro mireles

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The Ascarate Gala and Event Center is a proposal for a building in Ascarate park in El Paso Texas. The Center is a mixed use building that housed lecture halls and conference rooms that were aimed at a higher level of clientel with large expanses of glass and delicate columns meant to emmulate drapes.

One of the key components of this design is the detached open auditorium. This dynamic auditorium features a waterfall backdrop that could be used for projection and scenery during performances. If an event were to choose to open the auditorium clear unfiltered views of the sunset could be reached by lowering its arches like the petals on a flower.

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Ascarate Gala and Event Center studio II | prof. alejandro mireles

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The downtown child care center in El Paso’s downtown historic district derived its form from a study done on a four year old child. The study was focused on a child’s reaction to primary/secondary colors and primary/secondary shapes. The primary shapes were triangles, squares, and circles and the secondary shapes were stars, stairs, and ameobas. It was found that the child preffered the primary shapes and colors to any secondary shapes and colors. After making each shape in every color the child was then aske if he could arrange them however he wanted on two sheets of paper. The study then found that th child arranged the squares to line up to the sheet’s edges, triangles lined up with squares, circles were usually arrayed to line up with the squares. All of the secondary shapes were filler shapes and played no major role. One of these collages would then become the design of the mullions on the buildings curtain wall. The main facade materials on this building would be white terra cotta withh a red trim. This is the inverse of the surrounding buildings. In doing so the proportioning of the building alludes to it’s surroundings while expressing that it is not from the same era as the surrounding buildings. The building features a playground that goes up two stories through a ramp and floor plans that derive their form from an analysis of the downtown district.

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e san antonio ave.

s el paso st.

Downtown Child Care Center studio III | prof. cesar gonzalez

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downtown business diagram

subterranean level

west facade

ground level

north facade

east facade

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downtown residential diagram

second level

downtown public space diagram

third level

wall section

longitudinal section

transverse section

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structure | skin/envelope | urban design Texas Tech University Bachelor of Science in Architecture

The Texas Tech University College of Architecture at El Paso is a fairly new program. The program is based out of a running Daniel Burnham designed train station called the Union Depot. There are two main advantages that we have over the main campus. The first is that we are required to travel every semester to expose us to new architectural spaces and urban landscapes. So far the trips that I have been on have taken me to Big Bend National Park, Marfa, Dallas, Fort Worth, and Boston. The second is that because we are such a small program, we get classes with 13 - 30 student taught by local architects.

The time that I have spent with Texas Tech has been filled with new lessons in architecture. The first semester at TTU we would focus on structure in most of our classes. Our studio IV projects which dealt with bridges provided a great challenge to use our knowledge of structure for design purposes while keeping urban and social challenges in mind.The next set of classes were more varied in that we got courses in sustainability and real estate. When combined with a skin and envelope focused studio the results were a very well rounded project that balanced many topics tackled throughout the semester.

One great opportunity that I was able to participate in while at TTU has been to study abroad in Verona. My 6 week program in Verona took me to Rome, Florence, Venice, Vicenza, Innsbrook, and Munich. All the while I still had to finish a studio project which is not quite as developed as the studio V project due to time restriants.

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Studio IV was a studio that was focused on structural systems through bridges. The big bend international bridge is a merger of the styles of Frank Lloyd Wright and Luis Barragan. This merger of styles helps to create a more powerful connection between both countries. The long and flat Wright inspired profile of the bridge allows for a better integration with the landsape by being slim and delicate. The Barragan inspired sharp and geometrical facades help to accentuate the landscapes natural beauty and provide easily understandable programmatic moments. The unorthodox cable stayed system helps to keep the bridge from overturning. This method was studied using a rubberband model that helped to understand the forces at play.

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Big Bend International Bridge design studio IV | prof. carlos lievanos

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The Union Depot pedestrian bridge focuses more on the social and urban issues that are part of a bridge’s design. It is meant to be a smooth transition between the natural greenscape at Grace Chope park and the urban cityscape of the Union Depot district. The bridge is composed of three distinct components. The bridge is a radially cable stayed platform that rests on an organically shaped parking garage.

This platform ends on a triangular mass that would house a new concourse for Amtrak, restaurants and large areas for people to congregate. The massing and landscaping of the bridge alows a smooth transition beetween these areas and closes a pedestrian friendly entertainment loop that would include the ballpark, the convention center, the bars/clubs, school of architecture and a proposed rehabilitation of an are to become family friendly entertainment.

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proposed family-oriented eateries/shops

ballpark

convention center/ abraham chavez theater

TTU college of architecture existing bars/clubs

Union Depot Pedestrian Bridge design studio IV | prof. carlos lievanos

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The Santa Fe International Park is a bridge that creates a neutral international zone between Mexico and the United States 100 years in the future.

The bridge splits the pedestrian and vehicular traffic into two distinct v shaped paths that overlap in the middle. The pedestrian bridge passes underneath the vehicular bridge and opens up to a large platform that can be used for public performances and gatherings. The pedestrian bridges end on two platforms on each side that are still part of an international neutral zone so as to provide people an opportunity to visit relatives and relax without the need for visas and passports. The vehicular bridge is a one way ride that does not allow for the changing of lanes so that customs offices can monitor and check vehicles and people on the their way across the bridge thus speeding up the revision process. There is also a large building at each end that serves as the offices for customs and a museums that showcase each country and city respectively.

The cable stayed system was explored further in this project through the use of tensegrity. Tensegrity is a system of cables and members in compression to create free standing structures.

There are two distinct systems being used. The pedestrian path uses an expanded FInk truss and replaces all of the slanted members with cables so as to reduce wieght and provide transparency. The vehicular path uses a new design that uses a series of interconnecting perpendicular poles anchored at the end for stability.

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Santa Fe International Park design studio IV | prof. carlos lievanos

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pedestrian path

center platform physical model vehicular path

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The TTU Design Brainery combines the resources of the Texas Tech College of Architecture at El Paso and those of businesses to be able to research and develop design solutions together. The whole building is an ecosystem that runs on knowledge. Inspiration trickles from top to bottom and on eachlevel it is refined and molded into a product that the general public can use. The massing of the building was formed by social forces and a non-traditional view of setbacks. The building shocases a number of sustainable features that use natural daylighting, heating and cooling. Each level is completely open and unobstructed allowing the facility to be flexible fto the user’s needs. The building features seven levels and six living units meant to house 2 professionals, 2 professors, and 2 students for set amounts of time. The building uses concrete as the main building material with corten steel louvers. The whole building rests on two structural cores and two large columns. A waffle grid floor construction allos for very thin floor plates that can span large distances. The focus of this studio was on skin and envelope and many of the systems in the TTu Design Brainery serve various purposes.

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culture and nature Inspiration arrives from nature and culture

education Inspiration is rationalized into data laboratories and conference areas business Data is then refined into a product.

free space for non-contributing organisms inhabitant modules, administrative areas, and culinary kitchen ecosystem running on knowledge

TTU Design Brainery design studio V | prof. guillermo barajas

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maximum building envelope new envelope with 40’ tall void with 40’ height limit and a new limit of 115’ (5’ below Union Depot Tower height)

public area

programming shapes building mass and floor slabs and core positions are established due to pedestrian traffic core

Union Depot

pedestrian tr

affic

core

longitudinal section

landscaping is molded by the erosion caused by pedestrian traffic

Bar/Club Area

pedestrian tr

affic

transverse section union depot tower | 120 ft. northern crown | 115 ft.

void limit | 40 ft. ground level

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inhabitant living modules and public living room

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studio/presentation platform

2

business office platform

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studio and classroom platform

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lab/conference platform

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theater patform

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modular table and sleeping cell

rooftop platform

inhabitant living modules

theater seating

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theater structure

waffle grid platform structure

skin diagrid

columns and cores

theater section

skin diagrid

structure

east/west facade double skin

theater shutters

skin systems 35

top detail

bottom detail

final model

concept model

physical models

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1 - TTU Design Brainery site 2 - El Paso Museum of Arch.

3 - Gallery/Solar Array/Train Concourse 4 - TTU Classrooms/Labs/Urban Farming/Rec. Center 5 - TTU Dormitories 6 - Recreational Fields and Berm 7 - Wind Farm 8 - Sports/Concert Arena 9 - Supermarket/Eateries/Retail/Apartments

master plan In addition to our individual design projects were also challenged to create a new master plan for the recently acquired land for the Texas Tech College of Architecture at El Paso. The studio class chose a set of needs that were lacking or inadequate as represented by numbers 1-5. Once we started laying out and massing the buildings and areas we found that we could rehabilitate an old rail yard adjacent to our site by placing an existing arena proposal for El Paso along with a multi-use conglomerate to help to diversify the use and development of the area. The general concept for our massing is that of the Rio Grande flowing int our site and blending into the urban fabric of the city as shown in the diagram above.

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The focus of the study abroad project was to reimagine a riverfront property that is greatly underutilized as a public space.

Diagramming and site analysis gave the project it’s form. The importance of materiality was stressed and the patterns of the stone work became an extension of the initial diagramming. There were two main

encroachments on the site. The first was that of a pizzeria at the northern-most part of the site that

blocks traffic flow into the site. The second was that of the Dogana which was the old customs building that got bombed World War II. The Dogana was an interesting subject in that the exterior walls and interior collumns were still relatievely intact. The ruin-like feeling was accentuated by plants and vegetation on the inside that furthered this ethereal effect.

The Dogana and the river were the greatest assets to the site. As such the entire site is oriented to get you to either one or both. The main technique for the site is to create moments of relief throught the use of expansion and contraction of space. As one enters or is about to enter a new space the surrounding space becomes more confining before revealing a new open moment.

There are three main moments in the design. The first is a large cantilevering platform that overlooks the river and gives a panoramic view of the site. The second is down at the river wher a new artificial beach slopes down to the water’s edge. The third is in the Dogana where a new translucent glass roof that is a “ghost” of it’s predecessor sits delicately on only the exterior walls of the building juxtaposed y a set of clear glass volumes that mark landscape on the inside.

white granite

marmo verona rosso

tzrachyte

marmo verona bianco

Study Abroad Verona

design studio VI | prof. maria perbellini / prof. dustin white trachyte

perforatted steel

marmo verona rosso

marmo verona bianco

glass

vegetation

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scale:

1:200

marmo verona bianco

porfido

trachyte

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Study Abroad Verona design studio VI | prof. maria perbellini / prof. dustin white

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digital | furniture | drawing | fotography Supplemental Material EPCC | TTU | Personal

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Digital Media I was focused on using AutoCAD, Rhino, Illustrator, and Photoshop to be able to design and illustrate. There were smaller assignments meant to develop our undertanding of the different software but the class revolved around semester long process.

A picture of a cell was traced in autoCAD and a small portion was then reflected and arrayed into an interesting composition.

This composition was then used to create the tree below. A couple of the curves from the composition were then taken into rhino where the the table came into fruition.

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Much like Digital Media I, Digital Media II was centered around a single project. This time however a couple pictures of the Guggenheim Museum in New York City were pieced together to make a new composition using photoshop.

This collage was then diagramed in Illustrator where hierarchies and patterns were established.

These lines were then imported into Rhino where a new 3-dimensional composition was created.

Digital Media II Digital Media II | prof. craig dixon

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in Fo ld

Fold in

∆11 is the product of the last assignment from Digital Media II. In this assignment laser cut modules were to be tesselated into a new form that would help the TTU College of Architecture in some way or another. ∆11 is a presentation table that is low to the ground and made for final crits and for the general display of student work. It’s low profile makes it ideal for crits as it would not block the view of any posters. The ∆11 is made of 11 modules with one being double the scale as the rest of the table.Part of the assignment was to make a mock up of the object. The first mock up was made of cardboard and styrene.

The second mockup was built by Joseph Boring and Ismael Olivares out of wood. partners: joseph boring | erick carrasco | arturo loya

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∆11

Digital Media II | prof. craig dixon

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Freehand Drawing I used the abscence of color left the subjects of the drawings in a raw state. The class dealt in pen and pencil. The subjects in this class ranged from architectural subjects and details to staged compositions.

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Monochrome

freehand drawing I | prof. emmanuel moreno

The drawings from Freehand Drawing II cover a variety of mediums that include pencil, graphite, conte crayon, prismacolors, watercolors, pens, and pastels either by themselves or in combination. The added touch of color created new level of depth and detail. The different subjects of the drawings ranging from live models to redrawing digital pictures also allowed for a great opportunity to push my drawing abilities.

Polychrome

freehand drawing I | prof. alberto rivas

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Photography

personal photographs | 2012-2014

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Photography

personal photographs | 2012-2014

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Photography

personal photographs | 2012-2014

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Photography

personal photographs | 2012-2014

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This team project revolved around understanding basic concepts and strategies within a structural system. This project started with a focus on suspension but design moves ultimately transformed the structural system into a combination post and beam and cable stay.

The tower is a mixed use building that contains restaurants, underground parking, student housing, apartments, and penthouses. All of the living units are composed of modules that measure 20’ x 40’. Both elevator shafts work as key structural members one is the anchor for the cable stay at the top while the other is a slanted column. Both help sustain the penthouses at the top. partners: raquel bitar | andres gandara | hector rodriguez

construction II | prof. guillermo 2 0 2

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The 202 San Antonio tower was an interesting assignment in that it used the same site as had been used for the Design Studio III project but with a different focus. This time the focus was purely in reaction to the historic nature of the site.

This project combined previous research of the area with some precedent studies to help guide the design . The focus of the tower was to create a modern building that did not reflect or emulate it’s neighbors but rather accnowledged them with modern shapes and materials that better reflect the lifestyle of today.

intro. historic preservation | prof. providencia velazquez

Supplemental Projects

Honors

El Paso Builder’s Association 1st Place Scholarship (hs) El Paso Community College Dean’s List (fr/so) Texas Tech University Dean’s List (jr) TTU Proven Achiever’s Scholarship (jr/sr) Edmond and Helen Anderson Scholarship (jr/sr) Robert L. Coombs Bequest/Robert Leon Coombs Scholarship (jr/sr)

Clubs

El Paso Community College Architecture Society general member (fr) secretary (so) PHI THETA KAPPA general member (so) AIAS secretary of liasons (jr) general member (sr) TAU SIGMA DELTA general member (sr)

Vounteer Work

EPCC Rain Water Collection System 115 hours (so) Lydia Patterson Institute Design Charrette (jr) GRO El Paso 2014 20 hours (jr)

Internship

Alvidrez Architecture Inc. Aug. 11, 2014 to present

Resume 1 (915) 244-9815 | iolivares_05@yahoo.com

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