MARIANA AVINA
MARIANA AVINA
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN Bachelor of Architecture
marianaavina63@gmail.com 818-421-6662
REIMAGINING THE ROW HOUSE
DESIGN VI | ALL TOGETHER NOW
INSTRUCTOR | PIERGIANNA MAZZOCCA
The forms that are built within communities facilitate relationships and communication among those involved. Everyone interprets architecture differently but we all experience it through the arrangement of space and the interaction we have with it. As a result, infills are often seen as suboptimal locations due to their limited space and constraints. However, this design utilizes the seclusion of the infill condition within the site to create a smaller community between neighbors while maintaining a sense of privacy. Usually in large cities outdoor spaces are sacrificed for more interior space, but while this allows more privacy it robs inhabitants of the opportunities that personal outdoor spaces encourage among neighbors. Therefore, this design ensures that both indoor and outdoor spaces are treated equally. The ground floor of the entire lot is arranged so that approximately 70% of the square footage is dedicated to shared green space among the dwellings while the floors above branch out in forms that create public and private balconies for each space. The arrangement and function of the spaces therefore fosters the formation of kinship within the row house community.
1" roof finish
tapered batt rigid insulation sloping at 1/4" per foot
fiberglass batt insulation in stud space
2" x 6" studding 24" o/c
4mm waterproofing
2" x 11" joists 24" o/c
2" x 6" sole plate
2" x 11" header
2" x 6" double top plate
1/2" plywood sheathing
1" plywood subflooring
10" x 11" wood beam
1 mm weather barrier (house wrap)
1" x 3" furring strips with air gap in spaces between
1" wood cladding drywall
1" wood decking finish
2" steel reinforcement
WALL SECTION
ALLEY INFILLS
DESIGN IV | SPECULATION: DISCRETE FUTURES
INSTRUCTORS | SUHASH PATEL + KEVIN SULLIVAN
Due to an increase in the pollution of traffic, noise, and other unwanted and unwelcoming factors in the near future, public streets have become dangerous and unhealthy environments. This has forced people to turn inwards into the alleys as a kind of prized and safe oasis away from the chaos.
In these alleys smaller residential buildings, who do not have the amenities that the larger surrounding residential complexes have, utilize the gathering spaces created and introduce wooden structures that create spaces they can use for some of the amenities that they lack, in this case specifically study and social gathering areas. Additionally, linear wooden members are ideal in this situation because they are lightweight and simple enough to be moved which, when combined with the different connections, also allow for quick assembly and disassembly when needed if the social spaces want to or need to be moved. This speculative project explores the experiences that could be created in these alley infills.
A1
A2
A3
B1
B2
B3
C1
C2
C3
FORMAL OUTPUT
The set of unit rules created a catalogue of outputs, all of which explored different conditions. Group A explore possible platform conditions that could stack to create enclosure and bridging between smaller residential buildings. Group B are in a different site condition and explore more out of control outputs with fewer constraints and more connection rules added to the equation. Group C is also aggregated in a different site condition and show more controlled and direct outputs. For the final form I decided to merge different aspects of A2, which created a successful change of path, and A3, which successfully creates a bridging condition between the buildings. This created an output that has multiple levels for maximum space, while the enclosures and paths allow for interaction and exploration within the site.
STREET VIEW
VIEW FROM ABOVE
LEONA VILLAGE
COMPREHENSIVE DESIGN
INSTRUCTOR | MICHAEL GARRISON
With the expansion of the University of Texas at Austin and their new graduate medical student housing project encroaching into the Blackland Neighborhood, there was a hesitancy coming from both parties.
Student housing can feel isolating, cramped, and detached from the local communities that surround them. Since medical students typically attend university longer than other students they have a unique opportunity to form a better relationship with their local environment, and in this project this includes the Blackland community. Leona Village is a space where not only residents go to sleep and rest, but an environment for them to network and have a sense of identity.
Public and retail spaces run along Leona St. to encourage interaction and merge the two communities together. While organizing the residential units into mixed clusters around small courtyards creates microclimates within the village.
Designed in collaboration with Ana Martinez
TRANSVERSE SECTION
SCISSOR TRUSS GABLE FRAMING
1” FASCIA BOARD
3 1/2” X 16” PLYWOOD I-BEAM
2 X 6” DOUBLE TOP PLATE
2 X 8” HEADERS
DOUBLE HUNG STL WINDOWS
GALVANIZED STL FLASHING
RAILING
3 1/2” X 16” GPI 90 I-BEAM JOISTS @ 24” O.C.
CEILING SUSPENSION SYSTEM
ACOUSTICAL CEILING TILES
CEILING SUSPENSION SYSTEM ATTACHMENT CLIP
FIXED STL CLERESTORY WINDOW
DOUBLE GLAZED STL SLIDING DOOR
1/2” EXTERIOR TILES
RIGID INSULATION SLOPING @ 1/8” PER FT
TRESPA METEON PANELS
2 X 6” WOOD STUDS @ 16” O.C.
6” MINERAL WOOL INSULATION
3/4“ ZIPBOARD
1/2” STUCCO INTERIOR FINISH
3/4” BAMBOO FLOORING
2 X 4” SLEEPERS @ 12” O.C.
4” DIAMETER FRENCH DRAIN
5” MONOLOTHIC POUR FOUNDATION
CONCRETE PILE FOUNDATION
FUTURE HUB
ADVANCED DESIGN
INSTRUCTOR | DANELLE BRISCOE
This studio applied a biophilic systems-based look at infrastructure to improve the environment and energy production of a future multi-modal transportation hub for the proposed high speed rail system in Dallas, TX. While there is going to be a range of users experiencing the space, the main focus for this project were children and cart vendors and the relationship between the two. From the beginning of the project, our team pushed to maintain symbolic relationships between structure, environment, and the intended users. We decided to encourage these relationships with the use of a triangular grid system, which in turn guided the structure and spaces created.
Our goal was to develop a design that creates warmth and has some give for the users. We created a station that is full of integrated wood columns, which double in structure and user function, that guide and create the canopy structure that covers a range of public and private programs, including a mezzanine waiting area with an integrated playscape and a seating garden.
Designed in collaboration with Damini Sayeed
A SPACE FOR ALL
Another main focus that we wanted to address with this space was the overwhelming and chaotic nature that surrounds the notion of transportation stations or hubs. This design blurs the line between interior and exterior spaces . It is set to create an environment that offers comfort and familiarity to all users, from a four year old to a cart vendor and everywhere in between and beyond. It begins to transcend beyond a multi-modal transportation station into an experience for the community.
TWIST AND SHOUT
ADVANCED DESIGN
INSTRUCTOR | TYLER SWINGLE
This studio prompted us to design a dance hall and community space in Nacogdoches, Texas. For this project in particular, emphasis was placed on pushing the boundaries of what can be done with laminated timber, how we can employ benefits of off-site manufacturing, and reduce the environmental impact of the space.
While the overall use of the design serves as a dance hall, other programmatic uses of the project aim to create environments that draw off the cues of what a typical “dance hall” could be viewed as and its active nature Therefore, throughout the project we focused on providing an extension of spaces for students attending the nearby Stephen F. Austin University, who have expressed a need for more activity and learning spaces, while also speculating uses based on the site’s location in the city. All of these goals were guided by our timber lamination strategy and construction.
We developed a system that alters the typical CLT process and results in twisting timber panels. The idea for the final project was is to utilize this twisting system to create a moving gradient that flows along an axis creating and connecting spaces for different uses.
Designed in collaboration with Curtis Lechner and Osvaldo Herrera-Garcia
SYSTEM RULES
Our design uses an altered experimental CLT process to create its experiential twists and uses. The middle layer of the timber panels consists of grain running in the transverse direction, rather than the longitudinal like typical CLT construction, while the outer layers run in 45 degrees and -45 degrees. The more panel overlap between the opposite direction outer layers creates a greater twist. This understanding gave our team control over how we used the twist to achieve specific conditions in the project.
The Twist and Shout, Project Development
A site was provided in Nacadoches, Texas (figure 19) and the dance-hall prompt was left open to encourage the addition of relevant program. Figure 21 explains the logic of shaping space with our system: employing both flat 8’ CLT panels that work with our 4’ or 8’ twisting panels. The idea for the final project is to utilize the twisting system to computatioanlly create a gradient that flows along an axis connecting entrences (figure 20). This gradient flows from less to more twisted, as the project flows from shorter to taller as it moves north.
The cafe is placed at the street corner to bring in the public with its porous street facing facade. This language reverses for the classroom and dance studio proposals, where facade porousity is present facing the river while a dense face lines the public courtyard. The dance hall sits at the wide end of the site, with a stage that both serves it and the park behind it, making it one continuous complex. 20 Site Analysis:
SUSTAIN
ADVANCED DESIGN
INSTRUCTOR | COLEMAN COKER
Sustain is a product of the Gulf Coast Design Lab studio. This studio is the first long-running ecologically based program that promotes environmental activism for the public through design. For this project, this semester long studio focused on taking us through the process of designing and building an outdoor classroom for the Crenshaw School of Environmental Studies in Bolivar Peninsula, TX, all the way from schematic to construction. The space created is supportive of the school’s educational and communal needs, as well as helps foster a nourishing relationship between the students and their natural environment.
PROJECT TEAM | Mariana Avina, Stefan Britts, Alfredo Corona, Emily Dauskurdas, Jonathan Malott, Shen Ni, Melannie Ruiz, Zein Tao, Coleman Coker
MISSION
In our initial design phase the studio had the opportunity to meet with the Crenshaw School of Environmental Studies and address the program and scale of the project. This meeting revealed the importance of programmatic flexibility and protection from the elements. In addition to these requirements, we made it a goal to design a space that was nurturing, stimulating, and supporting. A space that encourages student and community engagement.
IN THE DETAILS
Our team continued to let our client interactions to guide our design, and focused on creating a space that was specifically and intentionally for the children. We designed and built a furniture set fitting for children of all ages using. To address the school’s need for programmatic flexibility, we designed eight benches that can be moved on and off the deck to support the children and staff’s needs and curriculum, along with two tables all at comfortable heights. This set is designed to express the working systems of the building at smaller scale that is teachable to the students and marries the small details to the overall classroom design.
1.ALL CONNECTIONS FULL WELD FOR
2.FABRICATOR TO ADVISE ON MATERIAL THICKNESS AND WELDING REQUIREMENTS
