PORTFOLIO_________2025

Architecture Por t folio Nico Montaño | Selected Work 2025

Nico Montaño Contact Education

520-260-4173 namontan@gmail.com

Master of Architecture University of Arizona June 2022 - May 2025 GPA 4.0

Industrial Design BSD Arizona State University August 2013 - May 2017

Awards

AIA Medal for Academic Excellence Design Excellence | Fall 2024 AIA Arizona 2024 Community Design Award CAPLA Design Excellence | Spring 2024 CAPLA Design Excellence | Spring 2023 CAPLA Design Excellence | Fall 2022

Experience

Swaim Associates

Architectural Designer May 2023 - Current Contribute to all phases of architectural projects, specializing in schematic design, construction documentation, and digital visualization. Develop detailed construction documents for remodels, renovations, and interior finishes, ensuring accuracy and alignment with design intent.

Utilize Revit and Lumion for master planning and conceptual design, including a 550seat addition for the Newman Center Church at the University of Arizona. Conduct field measurements to create accurate Revit 3D models for healthcare and hospitality projects.

Assist in refining construction document submittals by implementing redlines and coordinating revisions.

This experience has helped to strengthen skills in project management, technical detailing, and problem-solving while delivering cohesive and high-impact architectural solutions.

Nurse Gemavie Aesthetics

Co-Owner July 2020 - Current As co-owner of Nurse Gemavie Aesthetics, my responsibilities include overseeing financial and marketing strategies while managing daily operations. This includes patient bookings, social media marketing, and automating financial tools. Designed and built the brand’s responsive website using Webflow to ensure a seamless and engaging user experience.

Applied expertise in product photography to establish a cohesive brand identity and visual narrative. Led the planning and execution of the tenant improvement project, incorporating construction and brand design principles to create a welcoming, luxury aesthetic for clients.

Developed a brand focused on personalized medical aesthetic care, ensuring each patient receives a unique and tailored experience.

NOCO

Product and Brand Designer May 2017 - June 2020 Collaborated on refining the NOCO Boost website and marketing to align with a new product branding strategy. Designed web content using 3D renders, illustrations, and photography to showcase product functionality and benefits. Utilized SolidWorks and Photoview for contextual rendering, Adobe Illustrator for packaging, sell sheets, and internal documentation across NOCO’s product lines.

Enhanced internal product photography strategies with advanced DSLR techniques, lighting setups, and post-processing in Photoshop and Lightroom. Created photography and video content for social media, websites, Amazon web store, and international print campaigns. Led planning and coordination of product video shoots on-site and off-site.

Represented NOCO as a brand ambassador, traveling domestically and internationally to support the sales team and strengthen brand awareness.

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Suppor tHAUS

Empathy in Design

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To ’ N a n e e z D i z i Cultural Enterprise

3’ - 8”

3’ - 10”

14’ - 9”

12’ - 0”

46’ - 11”

43’ - 4”

11’ - 6”

27’ - 0” 12’ - 0”

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North Gateway

Civic Space in the Desert

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A C o m m u n i t y, a Facade, & M o v e a b l e Wa l l s Temporal Resilience Hub

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LOCATION 1210 East Van Buren Phoenix, Arizona WARD Garfield Historic Neighborhood Studio Housing LOT SIZE 6,400sf

Suppor tHAUS

Spring 2023 Empathy in Design At the edge of the Garfield Historic Neighborhood, this proposal for medium density housing reimagines a vacant parcel along Van Buren as a place of care, refuge, and community. Twenty supportive housing suites are organized into clusters around shared kitchens and living spaces, balanced by dwellings for caregivers.

A street-facing clinic, community kitchen, laundry, and gardens extend the program beyond private rooms into spaces of dignity and connection. Responding to climate, the architecture works with shade, light, and vegetation to create tempered microclimates and moments of repose. Designed for individuals living with longterm disabilities, the project embodies an empathetic approach, offering stability, access to resources, and a sense of belonging within the layered history of Phoenix’s urban fabric.

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24’

30’

21’

30’

88’

30’

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93’

28’

28’

30’

17’

30’

28’

28’

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28’

28’

28’

NORTH 13TH STREET

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NORTH 12TH STREET

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28’

28’

48’

24’

E A ST VA N B U R E N ST R E E T

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11’

17’

09 17’

17’

17’

26’

Supportive Housing

Rooftop louvers

Twenty Units

26’ 17’

Light Wells

26’

Communal Showers Six Stalls

17’

Caregiver Housing

26’

34’

Nine Units

Community Kitchen Stair Wells

Community Laundry

Clinic Space

Four Treatment Rooms

Garden Ramadas

Elevator

Perforated Facade

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Vehicular Circulation 4

E A S T V A N BSidewalks UREN STREET Green Space

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1 City Services 2 Valley Metro 3 Ride Share 4 Personal Vehicle

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Private Water Closet Private Living Private Outdoor

Skyway

Built-In Cabinets

Balcony Shared Kitchen Private Outdoor Private Living

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Perforated Facade

Reflective Louvers

community garden

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Community Kitchen

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Community Laundry

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LOCATION Tuba City, Arizona STUDIO Indigenous Design PROJECT SIZE 19,192sf TEAM Laura Darby Nico Montaño

Enterprise

Cultural Enterprise Spring 2024 The To’Nanees’Dizi Enterprise Concept is a collaborative development which responds to cultural and site specific influences happening on a 40-acre parcel of land owned by the Tuba City Chapter.

The Enterprise site lies between a proposal for a new market and Change Labs, a non-profit incubator helping Navajo entrepreneurs grow their outreach and profitability. The Enterprise site’s mission is to serve as a new development for retail and dining that attracts visitors. The site’s predominant feature is a makerspace which aims to bridge the gap between vending at the Navajo Market and scaling a business with Change Labs.

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Tu b a C i t y, A r i z o n a

Tangled Waters One of the larger communities on the Navajo Nation, serving as a vital hub for the surrounding region in Northern Arizona. Located along U.S. Route 160, it connects to key destinations like Flagstaff, the Grand Canyon, and Monument Valley.

The Tuba City Chapter is one of 110 chapters within the Navajo Nation, providing essential governance and services to a broad population across Northern Arizona’s remote areas. With a strong cultural presence, this area plays a crucial role in regional trade, welfare, and community, supporting both local residents and travelers exploring the vast landscapes of the Navajo Nation.

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Cultural Goals

Keep local traditions and social connections thriving.

Provide places for cultural activities, spiritual teachings, and storytelling.

Leverage the wisdom and traditional knowledge held by the Navajo People to inform contemporary design that works in harmony with the environment and community they live in today.

Economic Goals

Provide growth potential for small businesses.

Attract new vendors.

Support cross-cultural exchange

Collect sales tax to provide additional revenue sources.

Support the community long-term.

Community Goals

Highlight Tuba City’s place in and continued adaptation to the modern world.

Design circulatory routes to encourage community engagement and facilitate intergenerational interaction.

Design which supports communal growth, environmental stewardship and build resilience

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Iterative

The responses and interventions of this project were derived from a playful and iterative design process.

Many sketches and physical models, completed at different levels of fidelity informed the design decisions.

The hypothesis of the semester’s research and the proposal’s iterative development served to inform and shape the intention of creating architecture that allows continued cultural amelioration for the Navajo people. Enrichment through the refinement of traditional crafts and the exploration of how Tuba City’s stories can be embedded in these artifacts in order to transform over time.

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Project

Programmatic divisions, the influence of neighboring site lines, and radial projections create voids that divide the building mass into public and private programs while carving out space for visitor circulation.

Slope

Sloped walls receive less solar gain in the summer, but have increased solar gain in the winter.

Separate

Separation of the mass creates an interior canyon with decreased solar gain in the summer.

Angle

Angling the massing towards the south increases solar gain in the colder months of the year.

Layer

Layering the masses decreases solar gain in the warmer months of the year.

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more sun less sun DIRECT SOLAR HOURS

more sun less sun DIRECT SOLAR HOURS

Digital Analysis

To mitigate solar gain on areas that receive several hours of direct solar during the summer. Parametric digital analysis with Ladybug informed the deployment of trellising, louvers, and door shroud strategies implemented.

The off axis angle of the site revealed the building faces where light could be introduced to the interior during the winter for potential solar gain and pleasant interior daylighting.

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Wa t e r F l o w

The parcel has ~12ft of topography change, but lacks a strategy to slow the water down.

Collect

Rainwater Harvesting Potential Total roof area: 17,299 sq ft Tuba City precipitation amount: 1.04 inches/year

to civic

Multiply by 0.623 (1” of rain yields approx. 623 gallons) Roof water harvesting potential: 11,208 gallons/year

Divert

Bioswales are utilized to slow the water down to recharge the aquifer, and utilizes culverts to divert extra water across to the civic parcel.

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e

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b a

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f

Enterprise Program Level One a Tourism d Enterprise f b Restaurant Mixed Use c Chamber of e Outdoor Commerce Makerspace

Level Two Enterprise Mixed Use

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LOCATION Phoenix, Arizona VILLAGE North Gateway Studio Civic LOT SIZE 160,000sf

North Gateway Civic Center

Civic Space in the Desert The 36,000 sf North Gateway Town Center is a culmination of design development that aims to create opportunities for the Town Center’s visitors to unplug, share, perform, retreat from the desert heat, and most importantly to gather together.

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Intention

Intention subconsciously shapes the desired ambiance, revealing or concealing ideas that eventually take form. In tangent with the intention, the project program and its square footage bound the needs to the site. Iteration after iteration; forms emerge…

Adjacencies create an equilibrium that resolve preconceived notions about the North Gateway Site and the Civic Program.

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Le ve

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T1

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T3

C3 C4

T5 T4

C5

C1

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lT wo

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S2 L2

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P3 P1 P2

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CAFE S5

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S6 F3 F7

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PUBLIC BUILDING SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICES VERTICAL CIRCULATION

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Parti Diagram - Exploded Adjacency

F1

F4 F5

F2

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L i g h t We l l

Roof Overhangs

Facade Fins

Louvers

Per formance

The project’s clients needs are met by: recommending long term sustainability strategies that leverage natural landscaping, self shading passive strategies and encouraging investments in systems that reduce the building’s energy demand and reliance on the City of Phoenix’s electrical grid.

Facade Fins

Start blocking direct sunlight, once the monthly mean temperature exceeds the annual comfort high max temperature.

L i g h t We l l

Increases year-round ambient lighting in the building’s central interstitial zone and its Level One exterior Civic gathering area.

Roof Overhangs & Louvers

Block direct sunlight, once the monthly mean temperature exceeds comfort high max.

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L3 L2 L1 L4

C2

L5

F1

F6 F5 F7

C - Gathering Spaces C1. Internal Multipurpose Space 6,000 nsf C2. Exterior Multipurpose Space 6,000 nsf C3. Public Restrooms 800 nsf C4. Reception/Security 800 nsf C5. Storage 800 nsf

F2 F4

F3

F - Fire Station F1. 4 x Fire Truck Bays 3200 nsf F2. Lecture Room 800 nsf F3. Dining/Kitchen 800 nsf F4. Dormitory 1200 nsf F5. Locker room 800 nsf F6. Equipment Storage 800 nsf F7. Fire Chief / Admin ofc 200 nsf

P - Police P1. Police Chief Office 120 nsf P2. Admin Office 80 nsf P3. Staff Office 400 nsf P4. Locker Rooms 800 nsf P5. Rest Rooms 800 nsf

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P5

P4 P1 P2

C3

C1

P3

T - Town Administration T1. Selectmen’s Office – 600 nsf T2. Town Clerk – 300 nsf T3. Waiting Room – 600 nsf T4. Rest Rooms - 800 nsf T5. Pantry – 300 nsf

C4 C5

L - Library L1. Reading Room - 1200 nsf L2. Lead Librarian – 800 nsf L3. Staff Librarian – 800 nsf L4. Front Desk – 800 nsf L5. Cafe - 800nsf

T1 T2

T3

T5 T4

S - Facilities S1. Central Plant – 1800 nsf S2. Central Server Room - 600 nsf S3. Fire Riser Room – 200 sf S4. Electrical Closets – 300 sf S5. Shipping and Receiving - 1200 nsf S6. Maintenance Room - 600 nsf

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LOCATION San Francisco, California VILLAGE Tenderloin Studio Master’s Thesis LOT SIZE 10,000sf TEAM Yuseph Sakr Nicolas Montaño

A Facade, a Community, and Moveable Walls

Temporal Resilience Hub 64 Golden Gate Avenue sits at the collision point of vulnerability and vitality; where social service corridors meet the theatrical and commercial downtown core. A Facade, a Community, and Movable Walls transform a fire-damaged garage into a Resilience Hub, that responds to this layered context with adaptability, dignity, and light.

At its core, the project asks: how can architecture foster equity and resilience in the everyday, while standing ready for moments of acute crisis? Its answer is both specific to this place, rooted in the Tenderloin’s granular social patterns, and exportable to other urban edges facing the same tension between scarcity and abundance.

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San Francisco, California

Positioned within the dense socio-economic web of the Bay Area, the Tenderloin is both proximate to wealth and historically exclud from its benefits. The neighborhood’s challenges; housing insecurity, health disparities, and fragmented public space are intensifie regional displacement pressures.

Napa

Solano

Marin

Treasure

North Beach

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sts & Rugged Coastline

Contra Costa

Russian Hill

Marina

San Rafael

Presidio

Chinatown

Richmond

Nob Hill

Pacific Heights

Financial District/South Beach

Seacliff Presidio Heights

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Japantow

Lincoln Park

Tenderloin

Western Addition Inner Richmond Lone Mountain/USF

Outer Richmond

Berkley

South of Market Hayes Valley

Golden Gate Park

Oakland

Mission Bay

Haight Ashbury

Castro/Upper Market Mission Potrero Hill

Inner Sunset

San Francisco

o, Ca

Alameda

olis Twin Peaks

Noe Valley

Sunset/Parkside

Bernal Heights

Glen Park

West of Twin Peaks Bayview Hunters Point San Mateo

ature Preserve

Bay Marshland

ncisco Regional Map

Portola Outer Mission

McLaren Park

Lakeshore Excelsior

Oceanview/Merced/Ingleside

Visitacion Valley

Palo Alto

Santa Clara

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6 Miles

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ded ed by

e Island

Tenderloin Neighborhood Area of Interest

Post St

The Zone

Taylor St

Mission Street

Area of Interest

6th St

Van Ness St

Market Street

Mission St

Area of Interest

10 St

Downtown San Francisco

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The Zone

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1 Mile

The fringe of the Tenderloin is defined by its service-oriented streets transitioning across Market Street into South of Market. This overlap creates a unique edge condition: scattered social resources mixed with commercial and entertainment infrastructure. The infill site, the project acts as a connective tissue, strengthening daily life and emergency preparedness through spatial flexibility and shared programs.

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175 175Turk TurkParking Parking

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180Jones Jones 180

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HotelLyric Lyric Hotel

Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community ++ Dignity Dignity Community Supportive Housing Housing Supportive

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Bay BayHotel Hotel

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AlSabeel Sabeel Al

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8686 Golden GoldenGate Gate Ave Ave

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Turk Street Apartments 201201 Turk Street Apartments

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Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community Community Mosque Mosque CellCondition: Condition: Cell Existing Existing Comercial Mixed Mixed Use Use Commercial

Cell Cell Condition: Condition: Community ++ Dignity Community Dignity Affordable Affordable Housing Housing

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CellCondition: Condition: Cell Community ++ Dignity Dignity Community Supportive Housing Housing Supportive

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ue

CellCondition: Condition: Cell Community ++ Dignity Dignity Community Family Housing Family Housing

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Turk StreetApartments Apartments Turk Street

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Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community ++ Dignity Dignity Community Affordable Housing Housing Affordable

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CellCondition: Condition: Cell Noncontributory Contributory Non HistoricParking ParkingGarage Garage Historic

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Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community ++ Dignity Dignity Community Section 8 Senior Housing Section 8 Senior Housing

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Turk & EddyApartments Apartments Turk & Eddy

e Stre ket

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CellCondition: Condition: Cell Community Community

Community

Community + Dignity

Community+Safety Community + Safety

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aa

Warfield Warfield

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Golden Gate Golden GateTheatre Theatre

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50 Ave 50Golden GoldenGate Gate Ave

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SanCristina Cristina San

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Prism Prism

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CellCondition: Condition: Cell Community Community Historic HistoricTheatre Theatre

Cell Condition: Cell Condition: Community Community Historic Apartments Historic Apartments Cell Condition: Cell Condition: Community Community

Cell CellCondition: Condition: Non-Contributing Non-Contributing

50 50Jones Jones

Cell CellCondition: Condition: Non-Contributing Non-Contributing

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Vera Bay Haile Hotel

h h

Al Sabeel Hotel Boyd

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111 StSt 111Jones Jones

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Community + Dignity + Safety Community+Dignity+Safety

Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community Community Historic HistoricMusic MusicVenue Venue

Cell Condition: Cell Condition: Existing C+D+ Dignity Community Senior SeniorLiving Living CellCondition: Condition: Cell ExistingCommunity Community Existng SRO Housing SRO Housing

Cell CellCondition: Condition: Community Community ++ Dignity Dignity FamilyHousing Housing Family

G o l d e n G a t e Av e n u e

The demographics of this cell can be represented through three personas: Street Dwellers, Section 8 Residents and Apartment residents. The people that inhabit this zone and those who receive resources on Golden Gate Avenue live with an array of met and unmet needs.

The project’s strength lies in its ability to centralize scattered resources and centralize them to: provide experiences centered around sharing food and skills, create a third space that encourages community gathering and socializing, Leverages the sites minus one level to store rations and supplies for emergency scenarios.

This program positions temporal architecture as a spatial catalyst for community resilience.

Taylor St

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Market Street

Jones St

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B e t w e e n Ta y l o r a n d J o n e s

By looking at the elevation of Golden Gate Avenue between Jones and Taylor street there is a noticeable contrast of historic buildings and contemporary buildings that create a sense of gentrification abutting the Tenderloin Neighborhood.

In plan the accessibility into these surrounding buildings maintains a boundary between individuals inside and outside. The identified infill site has a special condition that is conceptually porous allowing movement in and out of the site - the site’s porosity is a strength that reinforces a unique characteristic that is rarely observed in Downtown San Francisco.

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Emerge

Mid - Big Events 7

Olabi - Unhoused Gets a free meal from the Community Kitchen

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Amy - Apt. Resident Volunteers in the Community Kitchen

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4 Juan - Section 8 Resident Visits for Job training

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Olabi, Amy and Juan Share a table together in a public community celebration event

1- Public Bathroom 2- Entrance 3- Exit 4- Car Ramp to -1 5- Seating Areas 6- Prep. Kitchen 7- Secluded Spaces 8- Gathering Area

1 Juan Helps by distributing resources to the community

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ency Events 10 8

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4 5 3 2 Olabi Gets has access to resources postemergency

1- Public Bathroom 2- Entrance 3- Exit 4- Distribution Area 5- Seating Areas 6- Prep. Kitchen 7- NPO Mobile Offices 8- Mobile Clinic 9- Gathering Areas 10- Secluded Areas

Amy Volunteers for psychological well-being support postemergency

Behind the Historic Facade

This temporal architecture flexes between scales of use, from everyday nourishment to neighborhood festivities and large-scale relief. For Olabi, Juan, and Amy, the site becomes a shared resource where movement and gathering foster connection, resilience, and a renewed sense of place in the Tenderloin.

Its adaptable framework accommodates shifting needs, whether through a pay-what-you-can meal, a block party, or a coordinated response to disaster. By centering flexibility and porosity, the project empowers diverse users to engage with dignity, safety, and agency, creating a common ground that transforms moments of instability into opportunities for solidarity and care.

A

Column to Beam Detail

B L-Shaped Connector Detail

C

Column Detail

Bosch Rexroth Aluminum Extrusion 270mm x 45mm Custom Fabricated L-Bracket m8 x 20

B

m8 T-nut

Bosch Rexroth Aluminum Extrusion 45mm x 45mm

Bosch Aluminum Extrusion

Cross Brace Flange

2 - 180mm x 45mm 1 - 90mm x 45mm Crystalline Silicon PV Glass

Base Plate

Community Kitchen

Dignity

Quiet places for reflection surrounded by nature, help reduce stress and increases percieved wellbeing

B Community Parklet

Community

Cooking Class help us to get to know our neighbors!

C

Existing Level One

6” Concrete Floor Tongue and Groove 2” x 6” Wooden Rafters 2” x 12” - 10”o.c.

Loading Do

ock

E Sliding Door Detail

D Track Lighting Detail Bosch Rexroth 45mm x 45mm

Bosch Rexroth 4 Piece Beam m8 x 20

4000 Kelvin LED A23 Bulb

Pro Track 8.5 Watt

Sliding Door Trolley

Bosch Rexroth 45mm x 45mm Plexi Glass

Bosch Rexroth Sliding Door Panel E

4’ x 8’ Plexiglass 1 - 90mm x 45mm

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Resilience Parklet

Resilience Trash Cans

Safety

Adaptable storage space helps the community stay organized and prepared.

Accessible public space fortifies community around a shared resource that the people of the Tenderloin are proud to call their own.

Wood Planter: Wood Slats Soil and Mulch

Architecture Por t folio Nico Montaño | Selected Work 2025