Architecture Portfolio
Nilo Exar
Ferry House Arizona State University, Fall 2021 Graduate Studio, ARC 621
Architecture of Cooperation
How will education change the built environment in the 21st century? As many college campuses undergo drastic changes - from new dorms to lecture halls, universities are faced with the challenge of “renewing” older buildings to fit the modern fabric of the institution. Ferry House, a cooperative dormitory at Vassar College, was designed by Marcel Breuer and completed in 1951. This is no ordinary dormitory, though. Vassar students that reside in the dorm maintain the building and its community, be it cleaning, cooking, and gardening. The challenge was how to best modify the dorm to be more modern and more inviting to the broader Vassar community, while still maintaining its original character of being a cooperative experience. This was an academic group project. I played a direct role in creating (in chronological order): the rendered floor plan, parti & diagrams, model, perspective renders, solar panel detail, and rendered longitudinal section, and contributed to the drawn floor plans, sections, elevations, rain garden detail, and rendered section.
Footpaths Map Students’ journeys around campus often bring them to the quad at the center of campus, as many of the academic buildings are clustered there. The footpaths map visualizes the foot traffic to and from buildings on Vassar’s campus, with Ferry House receiving many passersby at the southern point of campus. Ferry House, in a black outline and fill, sits just next to the main buildings of the campus. Opportunities for renewal included expanding the gathering spaces on the first floor of the dormitory to invite more students in and accommodate a growing college throughout the 21st century.
Hubs Map Ferry House is unique to the Vassar College community, in that it lies in a central location on campus. The broader student community was quite familiar with dormitory and its cooperative nature. In turn, it serves as a gathering point for students across the college, for events such as yoga, cookouts, an d socials. Opportunities for renewal included creating the ability to accommodate more students in the dormitory community. A stronger presence in the community will help foster a spirit of community beyond the walls of Ferry House.
Site Map Vassar College is a campus mainly traversed on foot or bike, allowing for natural ebbs and flows in the livelihood of the campus based on the time of day or year. Ferry House finds itself situated in the geographical heart of the campus, ensuring that it is a familiar sight to all passerby.
First Floor Plan - Original
1/16” = 1’
Second Floor Plan - Original
1/16” = 1’
19 ft
14 ft
Twist into Two Volumes
One Volume
Stretch, Push, and Pull Volume
150 ft 40 ft
35 ft
17 ft
95 ft
50 ft
Parti Diagram YO U R H EA LT HY O P TI ON S FR O M FA R M TO F OR K
The best vegetarian event in all of Poughkeepsie
Ferry's Kitchen Supporting Residents of Ferry House $10 Entry Friday, October 22nd Ferry House - Main Circle
FERRY HOUSE FARMERS MARKET with local Poughkeepsie vendors!
Every Sunday 9am to 2pm The Ferry House - Main Circle - Vassar College C h ec k o ut @ v as s ar fe r ry h ous e on In s ta g r a m for m o r e in f o
Ferry House Posters
Waste Based Bricks (WBB)
Ferry House Posters
First Floor Plan - Improved
1/16” = 1’
Second Floor Plan - Improved
1/16” = 1’
Longitudinal Section (A)
Longitudinal Section with Structure (A)
1/8” = 1’
1/8” = 1’
Transverse Section (B)
1/8” = 1’
West Elevation
1/16” = 1’
North Elevation
1/16” = 1’
PV PANEL
IRONRIDGE XR100 RAIL PV PANEL
A LAG SCREW INTO SHADING
DETAIL A - CONNECTION RAIL CLAMPING ZONE
Rain Garden Detail
1/8” = 1’
Rendered Longitudinal Section (A)
1/8” = 1’
Stargazing
University of Maryland, Fall 2019 Undergraduate Studio, ARCH 401
A “North Star” for Community in NW D.C. Stargazing is not just a library that specializes in astronomy. Nestled in the heart of downtown D.C.in an infill site on Connecticut Avenue, it serves as a community center, cultural center, and space for young people to explore and kindle their passion for all topics science - especially those in the realm of outer space. Stargazing is a library with a specialization in astronomy, outer space, and the cosmos, evident from the Milky Way pattern on the façade, the hexagonal spiral staircase, or of course, the astronomy collections in the “stacks” of the library. Curious minds young and old are welcome to lose themselves in the library’s community events, rooftop cosmic encounters, or astronomy books.
Connecticut Avenue, Nw Elevation
3/16” = 1’
Rear Elevation
Vertical Circulation Diagr
Transverse Section (A)
Longitudinal Section (B)
Drawings and Diagrams
ram
Public / Private Diagram
1/8” = 1’
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan
Top Floor Plan
A
B First Floor Plan
1/16” = 1’
“Stacks” Perspective
Lobby Perspective
Re-imagining PT Arizona State University, Spring 2024 Applied Project, GIT 620
Empowering Providers and Patients Alike While an ever-changing digital world is often seen as daunting to many, therein lies opportunities to benefit different facets of our lives with technology that makes the pathway to one’s goals and betterment easier, and not more difficult or stressful. The covid-19 pandemic exacerbated roadblocks in a physical therapy field where many had access issues due to transportation, time, and financial constraints. As the need for physical therapists increases in the coming decades, the need for an intuitive mobile application that aids the patient to complete their physical therapy goals and empower them in their health and well being will not diminish. Rather, the opportunity to help patients achieve better physical therapy outcomes and cultivate beneficial lifelong habits is an opportunity that will change the lives of physical therapy patients, their therapists, and the realm of physical therapy for the better, and set the course of physical therapy on a sustainable path in the coming decades for both patients and therapists.
The Need
Challenges
Literature Review
User Research - Survey Results
User Personas
Site Map
Low-Fidelity Wireframes
High-Fidelity Mockups
Usability Study Testing Plan
Test Exercises
Usability Scores
Usability Study - First Impressions
Usability Study - Pain Points / Opportunities
Usability Study - Takeaways
Project Summary
Thank you
for viewing!