2021 Portfolio Prize First Place Winner-Jake Okrent

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ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO JA KE

OKR ENT

UNDERGRAD

N.U.

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS 4 DESIRE, SATISFACTION AND TURNING OPEN AIR LIBRARY PAVILION

16 PERSPECTIVE ENFILADE CHINATOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY

26 VERTICAL DYNAMISM MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING

34 BRIDGING THE DIVIDE PARK URBAN INTERVENTION RISE NOMINATED PROJECT

40 MIXED-MEDIA WORKS

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4 PAVILION PROJECT

EXPLODED AXON

D E S I R E , S AT I S FA C T I O N A N D T U R N I N G OPEN AIR LIBRARY PAVILION

FALL 2019

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6 INTRODUCTION

SEQUENTIAL DENSITY

SEQUENCE

A user who enters into any space has an innate desire they believe that space can satisfy. Entering, then embodies the experience of desire just as exiting embodies the same of satisfaction should the space meet its potential. Architecture manifests the sequence affixing these two contradictory states and suggests, within that sequence, a turning point: a moment or series of moments which transition between desire and satisfaction.

Because finding a book is the desire associated with its program, library stacks possess a sequence whose turning point is singular and bound to a particular spatial relationship. Two individuals, therefore, no matter their similarity of physical entry and exit, will experience entirely different conditions, if their desires are contrasting.

This pavilion focuses on the architecture of library stacks as a catalyst for sequential density, informed by an individual’s programmatic desires. As users are capable of experiencing their turning point anywhere, the entirety of the structure has programmatic potential. Stepped corridors present their own potentials to satisfied users by introducing them to new programs like seating. Engagement is built out of the relationship between stacks as turning points for preconceived desires (book finding), and steps which introduce new relevant programs (seating) thereafter. The mapping to the right overlaid onto the pavilion’s floors signifies this infinite potential for sequential form.

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8 ITERATIONS

ITERATIONS

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12 CIRCULATION

Circution patterns encourage exploration, most level changes permitted by stairs obscured from view upon entry.

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INTERIORS

SLIVERS

The project is constituted of an assemblage of slivers whose own programmatic layering negotiates a user’s sequential transition between book finding, seating, and circulation.

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16 CHINATOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY

CONCEPT ART

P E R S P E C T I VA L E N F I L A D E CHINATOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY

FALL 2019

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18 MOMENT

BENDS

Advancing turning points from the open air pavilion, the strategy for this library questions the idea of turning formally to craft a linear sequence progressed by bend generated warping. Schematically, the sequence is generated by a linear array of 35 bays whose total length exceeds twice the linear capacity of the existing site. Bending this armature about itself allows for a linear sequence while satisfying the spatial needs of a public library. In response to compression on the interior and tension on the exterior of the turn, the gridded formwork of bays deforms to accommodate spaces of variable use and sequencing. Egress stairs which commonly function as rigid bodies, warp fluidly and sculpturally through 9 total levels of variable heights and positions.

MOMENT

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20 GRID

PLANS

LEVEL 2

The character of the linear overlapping arangement of bays informs the character of the structure post-bend.

LEVEL 1

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22 FRAMES

FRAMES

Bay orientation permits their function as perspectival frames for users on the interior and exterior of the project. A façade treatment of curved glass extended past grid boarders into adjacent facades results in small pockets of overlapping glass shared end to end by each consecutive bay. Introducing art from creators engaged with the Chinatown community into these pockets generates a façade which mirrors the culture of its context. Where the glass is not occupied by public art, the perspectival nature of the bays present the dynamic activity within as the façade. On the inside, panoramic exterior views accompany community works in celebration of the context.

The expanded relationship between the library and its façade drives sequences from a centered circulation path into the bays offset from it. Most often, these positions along the façade become reading areas facing the glass.

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26 MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING PROJECT

V E R T I C A L DY N A M I S M MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING

SPRING 2020

Amidst the Corona Virus, this multifamily housing development prioritizes experiential variety through verticality, in a site covertly sustained by Boston’s South End community . Units are composed of two main volumes connected by a main stair which bleeds from the interior into exterior balconies. Each end of the stair leads directly to a small multi-use space with operable interior sliding doors. Fully flexed doors may allow for adjacent programs to grow into the space, or create a new room entirely.

The aggregation of units resist convention for dual-level multi-family housing buildings by shifting the second floor off of the first. What results are dual-level units which grab space from both the corner and middle of the building while cutting the need for public circulation at the second and fourth levels. *Published in Northeastern University’s “Urban Walk-up Housing: Arch2140 Urban Institutions” by Tim Love

CONTEXT

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28 UNIT PROLIFERATION

UNIT PROLIFERATION

1) CORE

2) FLOOR 1

3) FLOOR 1

4) FLOOR 3

5) FLOOR 3

6) FLOOR 3

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FLOOR 1

FLOOR 2

FLOOR 3

FLOOR 4

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ABSTRACT RENDERING

ABSTRACT RENDERING

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RISE NOMINATED BRIDGE PROJECT

SOUTH END FENWAY

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BRIDGING THE DIVIDE RISE NOMINATED PROJECT (RISE ONGOING) FALL 2021

Boston’s Southwest corridor is recognized as a conglomeration of diverse neighborhoods between the Back Bay and Forest Hills stations, integrated through the linear 20-foot deep orange rail channel by urban designers in 1989. The form of this rail channel is inaccessible at the pedestrian level, but its relationship to a string of green footpaths transforms this linear system into an engaging transportation and orientational armature for residents and visitors. The system’s drawback is the pressure it places on land bridging over the channel to foster community engagement between neighborhoods stranded by the rail’s physical nature. Many land-bridges currently succeed in creating a physical connection, but have potential for far more engagement. By developing these pivotal land-bridges to their full potential, adjacent communities can productively interface with the greater urban environment.

This project proposes a method for gauging the role of these urban land-bridges, while simultaneously developing a toolkit for constructing impactful urban developments applicable across other similar urban transit spines. The project presents an extensive conditions analysis on the existing physical and socioeconomic environment. This analysis forms the basis for its taxonometric investigation to compare and measure the success of these conditions.

Categories within this taxonomy receive a numeric connectivity value whose collective sum hypothesizes how well or poorly an area successfully manifests a dynamic urban environment for its surrounding community. This analysis and method not only provide a system for identifying and prioritizing areas for urban and community revitalization, but also reveal the necessary formal relationships to accomplish it.

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ROXBURY

JAMAICA PLAIN

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QGIS

JACKSON SQUARE TAXONOMY

JACKSON SQUARE CONTEXT

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DESIGN RENDERS

DESIGN RENDERS

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INK AND GRAPHITE

ACRYLIC PAINT

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42 OIL PAINT

COLORED PENCIL

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INK / OIL PAINT

OIL PASTELS

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ABSTRACT INK

DE-CONTEXTUALIZED FORM

Form is the visual language of experience, and it possesses translational losses just as any other language does. While the tangible form of our environment may appear as absolute truth, the language it speaks has no definitive truth. Interpretations of the world around us are unique to every individual. How far can we remove form from a reality of contexts that indicate the form’s meaning or language?

The ink abstractions which follow are just a few of a collection of pieces using texture to reference a formal construction symbolic of a randomly chosen word. In so doing, formal arrangements and texture continuities can be in solitude. Furthermore, the form-work overall can be experienced by other individuals whose interpretations can compare to or contradict the subject of the piece.

CHIP

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ABSTRACT INK

BOARDERS

SKIP

EMPIRICAL

PLACE

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PLANT

THANK YOU

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