LUCIA ESPINEL ROIG
Architecture Portfolio
I am a curious, fast learner and determined architect, originally from Barcelona, passionate to get the most of architecture and cities as to learn how to improve human habitat. After an extremely enriching experiences in vibrant cities I called home, Brussels, Valencia and Chicago, I am sure that travelling feeds my imagination, meeting new people in new cultures has personal and professional benefits. Over the first stay at IIT, I have found a big interest in Urban Architecture and Public Spaces. I worked in a large scale urban design at Laredo US-Mex border where I learnt from the big picture; how trade, comunities, systems are tied within architectural response. That was indeed a perspective shifter for me to what the role of an Architect should be.
As for my work, I found my interestest in Iconic Architecture. Buildings that stimulate an economic system, brand a city, develop its culture, change how people relate to a public space. This was mainly because of my obsession over city infrastructure, and how it re energised the culture in the city. At ETSAB-UPC I had the opportunity to research on the urbanity of elevated linear parks. For my M.Arch thesis I worked on a mixed used development that integrates a neuralgic center for the community and affordable housing.
I have developed a refined sense of architecture design, good technical skills and conceptual thinking. Over the last years I have devoted my interest in urban landscapes, arts and technology and tried to gather knowledge about different areas outside my practice to truly understand the implications of each project.
At the moment I am learning from architectural engineering applications at Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago. I am competing in the US Solar Decathlon learning how to design net zero amongst developming energy modeling and integrated building design skills.
Overview
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LANGUAGES
English Fluent TOEFL_C1
Spanish Native
Catalan Native
French Basic Level
SOFTWARE SKILLS
AutoCAD Design
Revit (BIM)
SketchUp
Rhinoceros
Grasshopper
InDesign Graphic
Illustrator Design
Photoshop Rendering
VRay
Enscape
Microsoft Others
Word, Excel, Power Point
Open Studio Engg
IESVE
Sefaira
Insight 360
RStudio
PERSONAL SKILLS
Time management
Proactivity
Team work
Problem solving
Communication
Multitasking
Goal oriented
EDUCATION
2023 Master of Engineering, Architectural Engineering
Current Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago, IL-US
*Honours: Top 1/5 (GPA:4)
2022
Master’s Degree in Architecture
Universitat Politècnica de Valencia (ETSA-UPV)
Valencia, Spain
2021
Bachelor in Architecture Studies
Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB-UPC)
Barcelona, Spain
2019 (fall)
Bachelor in Architecture | Exchange Programme
Illinois Institute of Technology | Chicago, IL-US
*Honours: Dean’s List 2018
2018 (fall)
Msc1 Architecture | Exchange Programme
KU Leuven | Brussels, Belgium
DESIGN EXPERIENCE
2020 -2021 Vasilko Architects & Associates | Chicago, IL-US Junior Architect (remote)
-Development of design and construction documents
2019 (spring) Vasilko Architects & Associates | Chicago, IL-US
Architecture Intern
-Drafting of existing edifications to be renewed.
GRANTS, COMPETITIONS
March 2019 Full Tuition grant for IIT
Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB-UPC)
Barcelona, Spain
-Grant Covering for Tuition Costs.
Sept 2019
Workshop Trade Talks | Collab with Monterrey Tech
IT College of Architecture | Chicago, IL-US
-Travel costs for a 1 week urban workshop in Mexico
May 2021
Honourable Mention, #Madrid Call Competition competition
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Profile
Contents Architectural Design The Growing Haven 8 2022-2023 M.E Arch. Engineering | IIT, Chicago Atelier Edoarda Corradi Dell’Acqua CommunityLAB 10 M.Arch Thesis | ETSA, UPV Atelier Manuel Lillo 4 | Arch Portfolio
Models
Urban Design Trade Talks : Re-connecting Laredo 34 2022-2023 B.Arch project | College of Arch, IIT Atelier Phil Enquist and Martin Felsen The Urbanity of elevated linear parks 36 2020-2021 B.Arch Thesis | ETSAB, UPC Atelier Julian Galindo
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Architectural Design
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The Growing Haven, net zero
Affordable/flexible housing and comercial development
Woodlawn | Chicago, US
SOLAR DECATHLON Design Competition
Tools: Revit, IES, AutoCAD, Adobe Suite, to name a few. Academic Project, Group (8)
The Growing Haven is a proposal for an affordable Multifamily Mixed-use building in the Woodlawn neighborhood of Chicago. The population of the once thriving Woodlawn neighborhood has declined by 67% over the last 40 years due to extreme racial transition. The restrictive policies and exploitive real estate maneuvers left an economically deteriorated neighborhood.
The Housing Equity Initiative (a program by Sunshine Gospel Ministries) works in the Woodlawn neighborhood to promote equity by empowering families to build generational wealth through homeownership, retention, and neighborhood revitalization. Through our partnership with HEI, we are designing an affordable multifamily building with commercial space on the first floor.
The end use will not only establish homeownership for future residents, but the design allows for residents to generate income by renting part of their unit to local college students. Additionally, the retail spaces on the street level will be rented out to entrepreneurs in the neighborhood; part of the money generated from the commercial programs will lower the costs of shared spaces within the building.
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June 2022
CommunityLAB
Affordable housing & community center
La Zaidía | Valencia, Spain
ETSA | M.Arch Thesis
Tools: AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, Models (laser) Academic Project
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The proposal is understood as a building that flies over the existing park space, connecting the green routes and integrating into the environment. Its shape is capable of adapting and appropriating native and protected vegetation species. It is a multiple exercise in enhancing the existing ‘green’ and revealing public space.
The implementation of the concept of a single platform is proposed with the intention of generating an accessible space, without traffic (protected), together with an extensive program on the first floor that works as an urban interchange.
The formal solution manages to generate situations of permeability and an open dialogue within the neighborhood and city scale.
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PROYECTO DE EJECUCIÓN ESTRUCTURAL Profesor: Verónica Llopis Alumno: Lucia Espinel
Proyecto: BLOQUE DE VIVIENDAS EN LA ZAIDÍA PLANOS ESTRUCTURALES ESQUEMA PLANTA PRIMERA
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Grupo B
Escala: 1/250 Nº plano E03
14 | Arch Portfolio D2 D1 D3 D5 D4 +0.00 +3.40 +3.80 +6.50 +7.15
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16 | Arch Portfolio 55 56 33 34 35 57 33 59 58 34 35 57 55 34 35 57 56 33 · Pavimento pétreo de mayor formato · Capa base · Sub-base compactada · Terreno compactado · Angular de acero 20mm ó más · Pavimento de piedra natural caliza tipo Altamira Rosal o similar Cambio de pavimento con pletina de acero 58 34 35 57 56 33 · Hormigón · Capa base · Sub-base compactada · Terreno compactado · Angular de acero 20mm ó más · Pavimento de piedra natural caliza tipo Altamira Rosal o similar Sumidero lineal 59 · Sistema sumidero lineal T invertida D6 D7 D6 D7
Revealing the park of Laeken
KU Leuven
Tools: Rhino, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, models.
2020-2022 | Fall
Heembeck Station & Auracaria Pavilion
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Academic
Can 70 - Intergenerational housing
Poblenou | Barcelona, Spain
ETSAB, UPC | Housing & City Tools: AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Suite, models. Academic Project, collab. Omayma El Aakel
The project was born after a long formal experimentation based on the dynamics of thepublic space, movement, and affordability. A double exercise is proposed; intergenerational housing of new construction and warehouse retrofit. The proposal stands on a structure of reinforced concrete cores where the wet program is housed. This provides flexibility to the way of inhabiting the space. The building is integrated between existing medians. The envelope responds in its materiality to the climatic needs, proposing a ceramic skin of different thickness and pattern, that allows light and shadow, reminiscent of a very autochthonous element that acts as a filter.
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Music School
Camprodon | Catalonia, Spain
ETSAB | The objective form in Architecture
Tools: AutoCAD, models.
Academic Project, collab. Omayma El Aakel
Due to the great urban character of this building, located on the edge between the historic Camprodon Eixample, at the foot of the old fortress , in front of the tree lined walk of the Font Nova at the River Ter; the façades are very significant. Therfore, the structure will determine the façade of the building. The project goes from the massive part fortress to the river, from ‘stereotonic to tectonic’. The walls perpendicular to the river, are emulating the typical terrace houses of the town. The program has been organized in as sytem of patios that communicate three levels. Likewise, an entrance for the audtorium has been created in the basement floor which allows independent access. The building its bound to be Camprodon’s neuralgic center.
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Escuela de música en Camprodon Lucia Espinel Roig
Prof. Jaime J. Ferrer
2016 | Fall
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Lucia Espinel | 33 PROYECTOS I-II Escuela de 4MEB EL edificio en el sitio - Plantas E 1:200 PROYECTOS I-II Escuela 4MEB EL edificio en el sitio - Plantas E 1:200 2nd Floor Basement
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Urban Design
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Fall 2019
Re-connecting Laredo
Elevated street
Laredo and Nuevo Laredo | MEX-US
IIT School of Architecture | Chicago, US
Tools: Rhino, Adobe Suite, 3D modeling Academic Project, collab. Pim Rattanathumawat, Seong Kim
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Trade Talks: Mexico and United States in the Twenty-First Century
The studio researched how the U.S./ Mexico trade economy works and explored the physical infrastructure of networks and urban systems that make up this economy. Some of the questions asked include: What are the physical logistics that create the basis of a global trade economy? How does this economy employ people, what are the supply chains, and how sustainable is this economy as we look into the twenty-first century? For example, a high percentage of international trade is in vehicles, fossil fuels, and industrial agricultural products. As we progress toward electric vehicles, electrified transportation systems, and urban agriculture, how will this global economy adjust? What do we know about this complex and hard to grasp economy? How does it translate into sustainable urban forms? What is the role of a designer in this broad regional view? Ultimately, the studio focused on the Monterrey-Detroit corridor and how cities along the corridor share future strategic solutions.
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The ‘urbanity’ of elevated linear parks
The High Line - Seoullo 7017 - Jardines elevados de Sants
Comparative study of the interaction between artifact and urban fabric. This comparative research aims to shed light on the idea of seeing how large infrastructures roads, which usually generate large discontinuities in the urban fabric, are capable of reformulating and have a new life, generating a city for the pedestrian. The object of study is the linear park, the elevated street that has the ability to connect and build city at different levels.
Based on the concept of “Urbanity” defined by Manuel de Solà-Morales regarding the relationship between architecture and the city, according to the following considerations:
“The ground plane is the common plane, it is not only external, of the city, but also of the buildings themselves”.
“The importance of the ground floor of the buildings: for the city, because with the isolation not only the buildings leave the city, but also the city leaves the buildings”.
Fragments extracted from the reflection collected in the article “The urbanity of architecture”, 2009.
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Other models
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Detail | Envelope
Anatomy of a Building | ED KAPLAN FAMILY INSTITUTE
John Ronan Architects
| Chicago
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Energy Model Analysis | Willis Tower & Hermann Hall
Mixed use office space | Chicago
IIT | Energy Conservation Design
Instructor Prof. Mohammad Heidarinejad
Lucia Espinel | 41 2022-2023
lespinel1@hawk.iit.edu lucia.esro@gmail.com +13127099376
