MARCELA ALVAREZ
ARCHITECTURE
PORTFOLIO 2020 - 2023
THE GARDENS OF EARTHLY DELIGHT Rediscovering the Tiber's Edge SPRING 2023
Program: Riverfront Master Plan Location: Rome, Italy Critic: Frederick Biehle Design Partner: Olivia Chow With the construction of the 40 ft high walls along both sides of the Tiber River, the buildings along the river bank were all demolished, eliminating the Roman urban fabric. This included the destruction of numerous local green spaces located along the river’s edge. The historical centers of the city have also become gentrified through the substitution of traditional economic activities, leading to the commodification and standardization of urban space. This proposal addresses these issues by regenerating the urban fabric for the local people and spatial consistency is maintained by extracting and modifying existing and past urban form. Through the creation of a network of paths and spaces on the water's edge and descending down to it, the direct connection between the city and the Tiber River is reestablished. The layering of spaces generates a dialogue between interior and exterior that is characterized by the integration of vegetation, which became an integral part of our strategy to provide a sense of privacy and repose.
LOWLINE GARDEN
REFERENCE: PRE-EMBANKMENT
VIEW FROM BRIDGE
SECRET GARDEN
COURTYARD GARDEN
SCULPTURE GARDEN
ARBOR GARDEN
COURTYARD GARDEN
“ THE LAYERING OF SPACES GENERATES A DIALOGUE BETWEEN INTERIOR AND EXTERIOR”.
COMMUNITY GARDEN
BELOW THE BRIDGE
PLEASURE GARDENS
SECTIONS
CENTRO CULTURAL PELLEGRINI FALL 2022
Program: Community Center Location: Rosario, Argentina Critics: Gonzalo Carbajo & Guillermo Banchini This design specializes in bringing surrounding communities together through cultural activities meant to benefit people in the nearby area and beyond. The building was organized to create physical and visual connection between the building and the existing site, to the point where they begin to merge. The three programmatic volumes were stretched to reach different access points: the street, the university, and the park. They were peeled away from each other to adapt to the site topography and merge into the context. The volumes also overlapped to create tightly organized circulation ramps that would interconnect all the programs. The perforated facade frames the movement of the users inside; the gradient of openings show the vertical movement in each volume, and also allow for a specific amount of light to enter the different spaces. The exterior cladding material is clay since it’s highly resistant to the exterior environment and the economic nature of the material allows the building to blend in better and can be locally sourced.
MAKE ‘N PLAY SPRING 2022
CURVE IN PLAN
CIRCULATION DIAGRAM
PEEL IN SECTION
Program: Youth Community Center Location: Arverne, Queens, NY Critic: Thomas Hanrahan Design Partner: Alyssa Conde This community center is designed for the youth of the Rockaways, providing maker spaces, classrooms, play areas, and a fun, educating, and engaging environment. The building has a continuous ramp system that ties all floors and programmatic spaces together in order for kids to feel safe and free to move around as they wish. The main program within the building is play and there are three different experiential spaces: An outdoor playscape with rock climbing and obstacles that lead to the roof, an indoor playscape with a slide, rock climbing, and crawling spaces, and lastly, outdoor fountain sprays where kids can interact and with the water on-site.
NORTHWEST VIEW
MAIN ENTRANCE
W-E SECTION 1’-0”=1/8”
CLASSROOM Classroom
DINING Dining
PLAY Play
GALLERY Gallery
S-N SECTION 1’-0”=1/8”
WALL SECTION FINAL
PLAN 1
PLAN 2
PLAN 4
PLAN 5
PLAN 3
PLAN 6
HelloFresh Office SPRING 2022
ENTRANCE, BATHROOM
CO-WORKING SPACE, CONFERENCE ROOM
1. Sculpted Wood, Entrance Wall 2. Ceramic Tile, Bathroom Wall 3. Ceramic Tile, Bathroom Floor 4. Limestone, Main Walls 5. Coarse Granite, Reception Desk 6. Slate, Reception Desk Top 7. Hardwood Flooring
8. White Plaster, Wall 9. Wood Panel, Wall and Cabinets 10. Cotton/Polyester, Chair 11. Cotton/Polyester, Chair 12. Jute, Rug 13. Wallpaper, Wall 14. Maple, Tables 15. Bumpy Glass, Side Table 16. Green Carpet, Floor
DIAGRAMMATIC FLOOR PLAN
Program: HelloFresh Office Space Location: Copenhagen, Denmark Critics: Monica Kumar & Andressa Lopes Design Partner: Yuyao Fu After being assigned a floor plan, we had to design an office for a food business in Copenhagen within this space. We chose to make it for HelloFresh, a meal-kit company, and provided the space with a waiting area at the reception, and a variety of collaborative co-working spaces. The space also includes a bathroom, kitchen, and conference room. The design choices branch from Danish culture and the company's typical colors.
RENDERED FLOOR PLAN
INTERIOR ELEVATIONS - LOBBY
INTERIOR ELEVATION RECEPTION
SOUTH ELEVATION AT ELEVATOR
INTERIOR ELEVATIONS - CO -WORKING SPACE & KITCHEN
EAST ELEVATION AT CO -WORKING SPACE
WEST ELEVATION AT KITCHEN
INTERIOR PERSPECTIVES - CO-WORKING LOUNGE AREA
LOBBY AREA
WAITING AREA
RECEPTION
CONFERENCE ROOM
GROWING AS ONE FALL 2021
Program: Multi-Generational Housing Complex Location: Gowanus, Brooklyn, NY Critic: Eva Perez De Vega Design Partner: Viktor Nakev
This proposal is meant to promote social interaction between the community members of all ages in the building and create a symbiotic relationship with butterflies. The layout poses as an organic growth of units defined by the thickness they are given along the curved façade on each floor. There are three different types of units meant to fit the three different age groups; families with children, elders, and single working class individuals. Multi-generational social interaction is promoted by having the different users clustered into the same shared living spaces. The building has been massed in such a way to feed the most natural light to the users as possible with units facing south. Flowers are present in many places around the building to attract butterflies and there are spots where they can hide from the wind. The ground floor is a public park made with a designed topography to accommodate shallow ponds of water where the butterflies can land in and drink from.
FAMILY
CLUSTER
ELDERLY
SINGLE
DETAILED SECTION
THEATER OF THE CITY SPRING 2021
NOW WE ARE READY
Program: Film Production Company Location: Hunter College, Manhattan, NY Critic: Rychiee Espinosa This building is created as a tower extension to Hunter College’s main building and home to their film school program. It’s composed of four interlocking, C-shape, programmatic volumes, two of which are for public programs and circulation, and the other two which are more private for offices and workspaces. The volumes help create a clear separation between the two different types of spaces, but it also promotes interaction and crossing between the people that circulate either space. Direct visual connections were made, however the addition seems more lightweight because of all the curtain wall glass added to contrast the concrete. The main program is theater screening, but most spaces are also meant to be flexible. The idea “theater of the city” came from the multifunctionality of the screening rooms; when the screens lift up, framed views of the city are revealed.
Medium Theater
Lobby
Screening Room
Main Entrance from existing building
Access from 3’ 6’ West0’Building
LOWER FLOOR PLAN
12’
25’
Large Theater
Restrooms
LEXINGTON AVE
Conference Room
UPPER FLOOR PLAN
Editing Office Space
SECTION 1
LEXINGTON AVE
SECTION 2
PARAMETRIC WALL EXPLORA FALL 2020
ATION
Program: Office Tower Lobby Location: Watt Plaza, Century City, CA Critic: Sebastian Misiurek
This parametric wall was made through the repetition of a module taking the shape of its different variables. Once completed, it was placed as a room separation device in the already existing Watt Plaza lobby area. The goal was to experiment with lighting, materials, and textures to create realistic renderings of the lobby and the wall.
APERTURE SIZE
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5.5”
0.5”
2.5”
HEIGHT
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3” 0.5”
VARIATIONS
APERTURE SIZE
HEIGHT
MARCELA ALVAREZ alvarezmarcela12@gmail.com 305-922-7950