Academic Sample Portfolio 2023 - 2024
RIBA Part 1 Architectural Assistant
University of Westminster
Leonardo Silva Ritter
MERCATOR(Y)
A factory of mapping explorations as an architectural desgin tool
Module: Y3 / Sem 2
Site: Somerset House, London
The Mercator(y) challenges traditional cartography ideals by arguing for alternative urban mapping that overcomes the strictly instrumental approach of current maps.
The investigation of new ways to perceive the urban fabric allows for a more holistic understanding of what is around us, opening new ways of creating architecture that is reactionary and critical of existing and historical urban relationships. This new methodology offers an effective transformation of current design principles fostering ideas of conservation and understanding of pre-existing conditions.
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(Above) Programmatic Axonometric (Right) Path through methodology
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(Right) Section Sketches through each program (Below) 1-100 Staggered Section
5 10 metres 1-200
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(Above) Distributon 2 Plan (Right) View upwards from Investigation corridor
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Arrival view from Somerset House courtyard
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(Above) 1-100 Model (Right) Model Manufacturing Isonometric
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Operative Cartographic Explorations
Module: Y3 / Sem 1
Site: Somerset House, London
The project’s critical ambition is to create operative maps by investigating the history of Somerset House through the dissection of visual and literary theory in relation to the allegories of the Lion and the Unicorn during the Festival of Britain to construct a new surveying method for 2030.
Dissections of the various measures of the Festival of Britain help construct a physical cartographic tool served to aid in telling the many underlying narratives present during the Festival. This tool also reinforces the idea of a revival and the interconnection between history and the future we seek for.
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(Above) Mapping as a 3D tool (Right) The Unicorn in 2030 collage
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(Above) Dissecting James Corner’s Taking Measures Across the American Landscape (Right) Measures of Connection
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The Terminus
Module: Y2 / Sem 2
Site: Broadgate, London
Focusing on the ongiong RMT strikes, The Terminus Provides these laidoff workers with the necessary materials and space to reimagine their skills and regain their power.
The Terminus counts with workshop and storage spaces, alongside ‘thinking pods’, where automatas could be fabricated. A canal runs through the proposal, linking the Terminus to the Thames on the south and the Regents Canal Network on the north. Automatas would be designed, assambled, and exported all from the same site, with all profits benefiting the former RMT strikers.
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(Above) 1-20 Rammed Earth Section Model (Right) View of the Terminus from Broadgate Street
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1-100 Section 17
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