Isaul Josue Garcia Lozada Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Design isaul.josue@gmail.com Urb. Santa Rosa Cll Neisy E-9 Caguas, Puerto Rico isaulgarcia.com
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Nurturing the attitude towards our environment
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Experience the island from multiple views
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A small urban assistance with big imact
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Experimenting with behavioral materials
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Transforming trash into something new
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Lights out? Relax and charge
Nurturing the aitude towards our environment
The ROCa primary school is located inside the San Juan Botanical Garden, more specifically at a former water purifier by sediment, taking water in from a nearby river. The design of ROCa was inspired by the movement of water and the effects of erosion to its own path the stones along the way. ROCa bases its curving shape on the site’s countours. Its skin is made up of see through 3D printed bricks allowing for a vision to the exterior and natural ventilation. Right in the center of the school there is a nursery garden where the students get to take care of plants that later serve for food purposes, fundraising or for them to take home. The program at ROCa consists of an education that revolves around nature, teaches children to enjoy their natural environment and take care of it. In addition analyzing the master works of Ricardo Porro’s art schools in Cuba helped as a great source of knowledge and inspiration.
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The given program was examined and linked based on priority and closeness. The site was divided into three potential areas based on the terrain and their level. After making the bubble diagram with the areas, the diagram was iterated at scale right on top of the site. These positions were later used to shape the different buildings.
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Admin.
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Showroom
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Classrooms
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Bathrooms
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Greenhouse
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Cafeteria
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Library
After the program was situated on site, I used Grasshopper to generate the shape I wanted to achieve. Guided by the site’s contours, I created metaballs that molded the shell where the bricks would be placed. The metaballs where trimmed to form the ribbon-like shapes.
To place the bricks, I used the generated surfaces and made another definition that would create the brick dimensions and place them along the surface accordingly.
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The bricks are fabricated by a 3D printer. There where three designs made to make a dynamic skin that had different degrees of filtering. The filters varied according to the space. Since the library and the administration offices both have air conditioning, the bricks would be solid, with transparency where there would be windows that still encloses the space. Most spaces would have mainly transparent filters to allow for air flow and vision to the exterior. To place and dissolve the filters I used the previously made definition and added modules that detect placed curves around the walls and manage the lenght of the filter.
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I fist created a model with foam, seen in figure C, to help me visualize the initial idea i had for ROCa’s shape. After generating the real shapes using grasshopper I constructed a second model that was more accurate to its last shape.
The spaces in ROCa were design to feel spacious and allow for light to come in. Its transparency, seen in figure A, help create a unique environment that is aimed to inspire students and help them enjoy their learning experience. The school’s nursery gaden is made up of a metal structure that holds up a screen that protects the space from rain and filters sunlight while still allowing for natural ventilation to come through. The roof has funnel like shapes that collect water that can later be used to water the plants. A close up of the funnel design can be seen in figure B. The garden’s roof also covers the paths on its perimeter outisde.
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Experience the island from multiple views
The project consisted in creating a treehouse with a simple program which could have been an open space for recreation or one of a simple house. The main task was to create a presentation using VR or other emergent technology that could better present your other upcoming architecture projects in the future. The specifications for this project where quite open. For my project I decided to make a self sustained house that lived among the woods, where you could rent short-term for a time off, or plan scheduled trips that would take you around other :treehouses around the island. Rising above the treeline or peeking behind a mountain’s back, its design is ment to accentuate the view of the specific location. The [ : ] stands for its shape that consist of two floating cubes held by a tall metal structure. It has 5 levels, 4 of which contain the actual program, the remaining level is a small corridor in between the two cubes that have an open view of the panorama. The idea behind the :treehouse experience is to showcase the green side of Puerto Rico. Make it easier for locals and tourist to go around the island and experience different parts of it, not just the more populated areas. The :th network provides a seamless experience that allows you to enjoy the place with no worries.
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4 2 Bedrooms 1 Bathroom
3 Family Room Dining Area Desk
2 Garden
1 Kitchen Sitting Space
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The :th network is the web of :treehouses around the island. Using the interface you can schedule your trip and select your path from the available :treehouses.
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The houses are packed with multiple sensors allowing for a modern seamless experience. Bluetooth Low Energy Beacons (BLE) automatically confirm your identity allowing access to the house. IoT services seamlessly manage the lighting, security, and appliences. Any prefered settings are carried with the user’s id throughout all of the :treehouses. For the presentation part, ‘Augment’ mobile application was used to present a digital model using augmented reality and ‘Sketchfab’ was used, along with ‘Google Cardboard’, to provide a walk trhough experience with virtual reality.
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https://skfb.ly/6szAs
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A small urban assistance with big imact
Cities are important nodes of information and human interaction. Despite the constant activity, important data often goes unnoticed. With emergent technology we’re begining to understand how much sensors and connectivity can help to smarten up our cities and improve our lifestyles. MODs was designed with the idea to bring a hardware and software platform that would make it easier to bring this new technology to the city or any community. The specifications for the project where to create an object scale intervention that would have impact at an urban scale utilizing the city of Santurce as the city to intervene. Santurce is one of the most active districts in San Juan. It is known for its artful attitude, its busy streets during the day and its amazing night life. Even thought it has a lot of activity going on, the city suffers from a patchy distributuion with big areas of abandoned buldings and dark streets. The intention behind MODs is to bring together these spaces and connect the city with its residents and visitors, improving communication and exposing data that can help solve these problems.
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The city could be visualized as a giant computer, where different components work actively, in the same place, serving different purposes. However, unlike computers, most of our cities lack connectivity and data interpretation. The activity ocurring around the city goes unnoticed. One of the main goals with this project is to add a new layer to the city that collects data and transmits data in real time. MODs systematizes both urban necesities and new technological solutions, opening up the posibilites for data interpretation and service development that use the generated data to improve the urban ecosystem. MODs will be an open source project with the idea that anyone could develop new functionalities or use the data collected to create new services. MODs where inspired by microchips’ organization, shape and function.
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Different Forms
MODs are placed around the city to collect and transmit data. They provide secure servers and sensors that belong to the city. Citizens can phisically interact with MODs or through their mobile phones using an application or other developed services.
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MODs Composition Side B
Side A
Location Categories
Available MODs
Form
MODs are composed of two slates that combine together to lock in place. Each side can have its own function, if not prevented by the other. A few MODs have been established to cover some basic demands. Its design allows for easy upgrading or fixing.
Arrangement
An interface was created to generate the MODs setup. Begin by providing the location along with some descriptions. Based on your demands, choose from the MODs available and lastly choose its form. An arrangement will be generated with the given information. Likewise you could edit the placement or randomize it. Diverse iterations of MODs can be generated using this method.
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Hato Rey, San Juan | Sidewalk
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Sensors
Speaker
Wayfinding
Antenas
Display
Focused Lighting
Lighting
Solar Panels
Power Plugs
Alternative Outcomes
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Plants in Pots
Compact Sitting
Wall Plants
Bike Stands
Experimenting with behavioral materials
The base for the Wood+Latex exploration comes from our professor Rafael Vargas who provided us with the composition of wood + latex and demonstrated its reaction to water. We would then have to experiment with the composition to individually come up with results that could potentially become something useful. For my project I came up with a technique that would shrink the piece of W+L from one end to the other the closest. This was later transformed into a smart roof that reacts to rain and brings cover to the space underneath.
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Dry Liquid Latex
Damp
Maple Wood Chap
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Primarily we knew the composition was made up of liquid latex and a maple wood chap. When the piece gets wet, it curves. The first thing I wanted to analyze where the factors that made the curve more or less severe, so I tested with different lengths, seen in figure 1. The results showed that the proportions could have direct consecuences on the size of the curve. Using those results I tried applying the latex on different sides of the wood creating different patterns with the goal to to see which pattern folded itslef the smallest, seen in figure 2. After the results of the second experiment I came up with a third concept idea that incorporated both tries into one, resulting in a reactive roof that closes up when it comes in contact with the rain, seen in figure 3.
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Latex Placement
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Recorded Movement
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Recorded Movement B
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Latex Placement
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Transforming trash into something new
RFS DRESS The RFS Dress was made for the AIAS Recyclable Fashion Show competition alongside with Ambar Carolina. We constructed the dress using plastic vertical blinds and cardboard tubes as the main materials. We got second place in the competition.
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Light out? Relax and charge
HMK was designed for the “Y se fue la luz!” Industrial Design Competition alonside with Osvaldo Santiago and Desiree Tapia. The objective of the competition was to design a product that would help in a blackout situation. Inspired by the tropical lifestyle, HMK was designed as a product that would charge up with the hammock’s swing. When the lights go out, use the HMK to charge your phone, use a fan, connect some lighting, or more. If the charge is out, you can recharge it with minimum effort, just lay back and swing away. We got first place in the competiton.
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