JORGE RAMIREZ PORTFOLIO
MANHATTAN,NEW YORK-CIRCUITS OF MANHATTAN
MANHATTAN,NEW YORK-388 HUDSON FOREST
CHARLESTON,SOUTH CAROLINA-THE CHARLESTON BANDSHELL
GAINESVILLE,FLORIDA-THE GAINESVILLE BICYCLE FACTORY
388 HUDSON FOREST
by jorge ramirez and alberto badra design 6 professor donnna cohen-8 weeks
From our visit to NYC we extracted 3 aspects in which we incorporated in to our design. First being mass timber used in our structure and facade in which we saw in our visit to SHOP architects, then in the timber high line bridge by SOM. Second a grand cantilever entrance seen in NYC used in our form. And lastly from our site visit two programs inspired by NYC a skatepark which acts as a music venue and an open market.
MODEL 1
MODEL 2
MODEL 4
MODEL 3
CIRCULATION FACADE
RESIDENTIAL FACADE
OPEN MARKET
SKATEPARK
MUSIC VENUE
PARTIAL SECTION OF SKYPARK
JAMES J WALKER PARK
STREET VIEW FLOOR PLAN LVL 5
CHARLESTON BANDSHELL
design 5 professor mark mcglothlin-7 weeks
This project has two faces of inspiration the first being Keith Jarrett’s Koln performance in which myself and two partners had to create a collaborative drawing where we passed the drawing every hour while drawing what we heard in the song. From this drawing I used parts of it to inspire the form of my second face of inspiration which is this old organic form I saw all through out Charleston. Seashells. This led a series of models I call shell studies that were made from shells that I collected in Charleston and other materials such as acrylic and rockite. In these shell studies I was able to come to the thesis of my project, which is the idea of a shell as a protective layer that shelters a complex living organism, this concept of the shell is seen in the form aswell as in the experience of the building.
The concept of shells are expressed in the floor plan most evidently in the 500 seat performance space. But it is also seen in the roof facade, the roof starts as a uniform shell via the 500 seat performace space then it is broken into fragments that overlap the smaller programs. This design choice was made after the shell studies. When building the models from the shells I collected in Charleston I realized that a majority of the shells are fragmented and broken, it is quite hard to find a perfect shell. But nonethelss this helped create a hierarchy with organizing the roof and the spaces. The largest space would be a full shell while the other fragmented. This roof structure also functions to diffuse light entering through the skylights and it creates shade for the park underneath.
LEVEL 2 TEACHING CORRIDOR
CIRCUITS OF MANHATTAN
by jorge ramirez and alberto badra design 6 professor donnna cohen-3
weeks
Circuits of manhattan is a speculative water powered circulation system that helps transport elderly citizens efficently from the subways to the Alfred E Smith Houses, which is a public housing community that has the largest elderly population out of any NYCHA housing project. The form of the plazas and stations which connect the transport tubes were taken from the idea of breaking the city down to some of its simple typological forms that we identified as parks,towers in the park and institutions. These forms can be seen not only in the plazas but in the stations where these forms are organized with different colors which represent the subway station color they are located within to simplify navigation for passengers.
Process drawing (top left) shows the merging of different typologies in NYC such as the towers in the park, institutions such as city hall and parks that make up the fabric of the city. Forms and outlines of these typologies were taken to create a compilation of NYC which is then used for the form of the subway stations (top right) and the plazas (bottom).
This chunk drawing shows how the main plaza is situated on part of the existing city hall park. The plaza offers a new main entrance to the city hall park and the subway station underneath. The plaza also connects to the accelerated circulation system and offers a variety of ammenities aswell such as markets, playgrounds and seating areas.
THE GAINESVILLE BICYCLE FACTORY
design 5 professor mark mcglothlin-4 weeks
The Gainesville Bicycle Factory is an in house bicycle store all the bikes are fabricated, assembled and sold on the property. The idea for a bicycle factory came after reading The Craftsmen by Richard Sennett where the idea regarding the motivation of craftmanship is investigated. From this reading I took the idea of old time craft for example metal black smiths and I investigated the context of the site in Gainesville to see how can a craft fit in this modern contextual site. After the site visit there were aspects which helped lead to the conclusion of the bike factory first being a process model made of metal staples and lastly being how the site is parallel to several bike paths.
The series of staple models which represent modular movement inspired a bicycle transport system which mechanically moves the bicycle throught the assembly line. The staples modular form also inspired the idea of a facade which mimics it modular functionality but the design of the perforation on the screen comes from the idea of a rotating bicycle wheel as you can see from the diagram on the right.
The programs of the Bicycle Factory function as a mixed use development where all the craftsman which would be only about a group of five live and work in the factory. The back wing functions as the living quarters and this wing is separated to create a clear distinction between work and rest. The programs of the factory are stacked opon eachother and you move through the building with the design process and assembly. For instance, the first level is the drafting and display area. On the second level is where pipe cutting and welding occurs, then it is brought to the third level where it is painted then it is put on the bicycle transport system to become assembled and finally the final product is transported back downstairs through the system directly to the display area on the first level.
FRONT FACADE ELEVATION
THE SUN STATION-PAPER ARCHITECTURE
MOMENTS PATHWAY-PAPER ARCHITECTURE
SPACE FOR TWO-PAPER ARCHITECTURE
LANDBRIDGE LIBRARY ALLAPATTAH,FL
ANCIENT SPANISH MONASTERY REUSE MIAMI,FL
THE SUN STATION
design 2 professor bobbie walker-6 weeks
I began this project by reading the story “The Long Rain” by Ray Bradbury, where four astronauts land on Venus and receive the task of locating a sun station—a secure dwelling emitting light for travelers to navigate the hazardous planet. Subsequently, I designed my own sun station. Given the space setting of the story, I opted to incorporate Saturn into my design. My choice of Saturn was deliberate, as half of its surface is in darkness, with the rings illuminated. Utilizing this information, I Created a light source consisting of a series of circular elements wrapping around half of the building, emitting light similar to Saturn. While working, thoughts about vertical sites in my personal life led me back to my grandma’s house in Brazil. The favelas where my family lives are constructed on an extremely vertical site, with buildings stacked on top of one another, lodged and built into the mountain. This inspiration prompted me to stack vertically the spaces of the sun station, drawing parallels to the favelas in Brazil.
SLEEPING SPACE
MOMENTS PATHWAY
design 3 professor bobbie walker-4 weeks
SPACE FOR TWO
design 2 professor bobbie walker-6 weeks
The Space for two consists of five programs which are the meditation space (blue), eating space (orange), outdoor space (purple), community space (pink) and the sleeping space (grey). The design process started with wire form models which I drew sections of. After I took one of the sections and extruded and manipulated the form until I got a floor plan which resembles a U shape that you will see in my project.
MODEL COLLAGE
PHYSICAL
LANDBRIDGE LIBRARY
design 3 professor bobbie walker-8 weeks
Diagram of site shows three points on the site where the sidewalk ceases to exist due to a road which splits the park in two. As a result my landbridges form is a connection of these three points as shown in diagramattic models above.
SITE PLAN
ANCIENT MONASTERY REUSE
design 4 professor lyle culver-8 weeks
On the site of the Ancient Spanish Monastery there are two landmarks on the site to first is the original monastery, shipped from Spain and assembled in Miami (A). Next was the visitor building (B). From the site visit, I was able to map the path I took to create a circulation diagram that shows movement in out of buildings which is the basis around the idea of my bridge.
Master Site Plan
Programs: A Visitor Building (LVL 1 Eating space) (LVL 2 Lounge)
B Underground exhibition Area
C Library
D Old worship space
E New worship space
