2019 - 2023 Portfolio

KINTSUGI GROTTO | Spring 2021

A Permissible Building at an Urban Scale

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APLIN SCHOOL FOR HOSPITALITY + EDUCATION | Fall 2022

A CLT Hotel Building in College Station, TX

IMAGING THE ALAMO | Fall 2021

An Exhibition Center in San Antonio, TX

TRANSPARENCY’S OTHER | Spring 2020

Loos/Hejduk Precedent Study

L’AI ET LOUIS | Fall 2021

AI Generated Facades

ENDURING THE AUTOMATA | Fall 2020

An Aviation School for Women

WEAVING CONTINUITY | Spring 2022

An Archive Building in Barcelona, Spain

“Knowledge is not for knowing: knowledge is for cutting.”

— Michel Foucault

KINTSUGI GROTTO

ARCH 206 | SPRING 2021 (2nd year)

Role: Design | Representation | Physical Model

Software: Houdini, Rhino, Keyshot, Unreal Engine

A grotto is an artifact that by design displays its natural state, operating between an object and a garden. By studying the ambiguity between natural and artificial, our building explores ancientness as an aesthetic condition that creates an environment allowing for the coexistence of human and non-human. The building is composed of fragments that vary depending on their perceived age, material, and the extent to which they display their natural state. In the shift from Anthropocene to ecocentrism, moments of coexistence have been designed such as the striations, slopes, cracks, and pockets on the exterior surfaces that are inhabited by plants, seeds, and other organisms. In certain moments, the rose gold metal seam performs similarly to the Japanese technique of kintsugi; it highlights the role of time, weathering, and imperfections within the life of the artifact.

Professor: Barry Wark & Gabriel Esquivel | Collaborator(s): Shane Bugni, Jeremy Grail, Aaron Keller, Joel Oelze

(above) Joining of fragmets detail (right) Grotto interior exhibiting both scales: human and non-human

The notion of the grotto as an artifact designed specifically for the interaction of humans with non-humans was taken advantage of in terms of the experiential perception of the building. As one enters the building underground, the metal becomes inhabitable through its transitions into familiar human spaces such as the staircases and balustrades to the nonhuman spaces in the grotto itself. It highlights the natural state of materials as well by acting as a border between the material in its natural state versus a polished, maintained, artificial.

Chunk study: Entry point close-up

Chunk study: entry points

1. Entry point 1

2. Longitudinal elevation

3. Unreal Engine fly-through

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The project displays the ability of the non-human to be implemented into a site and propagate within a controlled region. By working with parts, the ambiguity about the overall figure of the building can be created. This makes the building more challenging to be immediately perceived by a human, and begins to raise questions about its other inhabitants and the forces that shaped it.

3D-printed model

APLIN SCHOOL FOR HOSPITALITY + EDUCATION

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ARCH 405 | FALL 2022 (4th year)

Role: Building Design | Drawins | Construction & Systems details | Visualization | Physical Model Software: Rhino, Enscape, Illustrator

This project is composed of two buildings, a 3-star urban business hotel and an education center at the Texas A&M university campus. The hotel hosts 200 guest rooms and various amenities, using a 4-story atrium as a connection point to the education parcel in order to take advantage of the program diversity. As prompted, the hotel building is composed of CLT. We decided to utilize CLT prefabricated modular units with the timber sourced from the East Texas pine forests; that way, the construction process is more efficient as the units can be assembled off-site, arranged as a kit-ofparts to accommodate various numbers of building inhabitants, and allow for a dynamic building shape responding to specific site conditions. This technique takes advantage of the upstream processes of timber production to create unique and conscious design solutions.

Professor: Matthew Faulkner | Collaborator(s): Samantha Garza, Colby Cox, Patricia Rocha

(above) Atrium perspective

(right) Hotel Axonometric View

1. Combined ground floor plan

2. Floorplans level 4 - 6

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1. Amenities assembly: roof bar, courtyard, atrium, and cafe modules

2. Hotel lobby

3. Exterior perspective

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1. 3D printed model

2. Envelope Details

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IMAGING THE ALAMO

ARCH 305 | FALL 2021

year)

Role: Design | Drawings | Representation | Physical Model

Software: Rhino, Illustrator, Zbrush, Keyshot, Photoshop

This studio focuses on the issue of representation and the impact that it has on the understanding of architecture. Our project studies the Alamo, a Texan landmark to the Mexican War of Independence, through ornamentation and cinematography to challenge and expand on this landmark’s romanticized history. The exhibition center is designed as a timeline, which begins on the exterior with etched concrete panels with images that guide the visitor to experience the building chronologically. The narrative continues on the interior through permanent niches and interchangeable storefront window displays, staged to represent various facets of the fort’s history through its function as a Catholic mission to the museum that it is now. These images are a reflection on the cultures, their codes and signifiers, and how they can be used to produce a new work of architecture.

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Professor(s) Nicole McIntosh & Mehdi Farahbakhsh | Collaborator(s): Elijah Huggins

The Alamo complex site plan

Exhibition chunk

1836 fortress

1806 hospital

1718 artifacts storage

1885 grocery wholesale

1803 Mexican War of Independence

1793 Catholic mission

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1. Artifact storage interior

2. Transverse section

3. Ground floorplan

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4. 5.

Exhibit 1: 1793 Catholic mission Exhibit 2: 1885 mission reconstrction

The storefront window displays were chosen as an alternative means to the artifacts storage; they are interchangeable and are carefully staged to represent a three-dimensional episodal narrative of the Alamo, inclusive of various cultural codes.

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Exhibit 2: 1793 Catholic mission

Exhibit 1: 1803 Mexican War of Independence

Exhibit 3: 1885 grocery wholesale store

3D printed resin chunk model

TRANSPARENCY’S OTHER

ARCH 108 | SPRING 2020 (1st year) - AXIOM Publication

Role: Research | Drawings | Physical Model

Software: Rhino, Illustrator, AutoCAD

This project focuses on a critical study of the architectural plan logic and components as a way to enter the architecture discipline. It compares Adolf Loos’ Raumplan and John Hejduk’s 9-square approach through interpreting two buildings, the Tristan Tzara House and Texas House 4. Each plan was studied with respect to the writings of both architects and a variety of drawings, which we analyzed in terms of axiality, processions, hierarchy, as well as arrangement, functional distributions, and the relationship between the interior and exterior. The study culminated in a set of drawings through which both buildings were accurately reconstructed as acrylic glass models each with interchangeable blocks to illustrate the inner workings of the distinct spatial compositions.

Professor: Andrew Tripp | Collaborator(s): Phoebe Latham & Stephanie Shupak

(above) Tzara House south facade (right) Acrylic glass model

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Shows how the horizontal movement through the floors incorporates the use of uneven levels on each floor. This means that each space is separated into its own space, smaller or larger, creating a level of hierarchy.

Raumplan section

02 PROCESSION

Shows vertical expansion through the circulation of the house, which is on the periphery, and is purposefully divided by users (patrons and servants), skips floors and follows intricate paths depending on its purpose.

03 HIERARCHY

Shows how the spaces unfold within the boundaries of the home, instead of following a strict grid. This unfolding reflects the patron’s character as well, making for dramatic and theatrical entrances and exits from the rooms.

Floor 4

L’AI ET LOUIS

ARCH 317 | FALL 2021 (3rd year) - TRAITS of Neobaroque PUBLICATION

Role: Research | Design | Representation | Physical Model

Software: Google Colab, Photoshop, Houdini, Keyshot

This project explores the correlation between architecture and graffiti from the perspective of AI and semiotics. The main focus of the study is the facade and its meanings, which we began exploring through the lens of Eisenman’s canonical argument about the architectural sign. Here, the facade becomes a motivator, a mobilizer, and a disruptor changing the architecture in intricate ways and at the same time conveying different relationships. If a facade is inherently a system of signs, and if graffiti is a cultural sign, the two should mix well together. The objects were mainly derived using VQgan, where the text prompts act as the signs of materiality derived from our cultural definition of what a particular object is based on what is available on the internet. The resulting image was three dimensionalized and analyzed through the process of semantic segmentation.

Graffiti as ornament VQgan

model

Front facade in urban context

Front to back facade transition

ENDURING THE AUTOMATA

ARCH 205 | FALL 2020 (2nd year)

Role: Design | Drawings | Respresentation

Software: Rhino, lllustrator, Keyshot, Photoshop

Bessie Coleman was a black woman who became an amazing aviation pilot. Her story reminds us of the relevance of race and gender in the discourse of Architecture, which was the basis for the design of this aviation school for women in Atlanta. In this project, we worked with a collection of objects from the previous precedent studies (St. Peter’s Basilica, Diamond House), and sectional explorations inspired by Japanese wood joinery. Confronted by this variety of parts, we began picking out the objects that correspond best to the program specifications of our project, aiming to challenge the standard typologies dictated by function and emphasizing the idea of found objects, assemblage, and kit-of-parts. This way, the different systems and narratives come together in order to enrich the meaning of the site and the buildings overall.

Professor: Gabriel Esquivel | Collaborator(s): Kaitlyn Senelik

(above) Site aerial view (right) Site perspective

1. Library worm’s eye view

2. Gallery transverse section

3. Gallery longitudinal section

4. Library longitudinal section

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The result is the 3 buildings: a gallery, an aviation center, and a library which are formed by combining discrete objects in plan and section. This technique creates new object relationships through the act of joining as well as enriches the meaning of the overall assembly by introducing a variety of narratives associated with the original parts.

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1. Aviation gallery (elevation - 2nd floor plan)

2. Training facility (elevation - 2nd floor plan)

3. Library (elevation - ground floor plan)

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WEAVING CONTINUITY

STUDY ABROAD (BAC) | SPRING 2022 (3rd year)

Role: Design | Drawings | Respresentation

Software: Rhino, Illustrator, Houdini, Keyshot

The project is an archive building, which we designed as a hub of connections that bridges the defragmentation present around Ciutadella Park and Parc de Charles. While addressing the necessity of enclosed archive space, we wanted to encourage interaction among the public through our circulation, not only physically bridging the neighborhood together, but also socio-culturally. The nature of the program demands a particular system of classification and weaving of public and private functions as we wanted to create a space for interaction while maintaining a level of security as opposed to isolating the artifacts. On the exterior, the facade displays an aggregation of various diverse elements. It is meant to echo the convergence of different artifacts and identities on the building’s interior and invert that organizational system to the building exterior.

Professor: Miguel Roldan | Collaborator(s): Colby Cox

(above) Inverted archive facade (right) Hub of connections 1:50 section

Bridge entrance from Parc de Charles

Floorplans + frame diagram (level 0 - 4)

The form is organized by two datums that converge in the atrium. Objects and people enter through different points of the building, but moments of interaction are woven together at the intersection of these axes. The public entrance goes through the lobby and then encourages circulation along the horizontal axis to view exhibition spaces. Artifacts enter along the diagonal axis and are distributed through the vertical cores after they pass through a series of preparation rooms. The 3 main materials are steel, concrete, and tinted glass; the combination of these materials represents the interconnection of diverse artifacts and their organizational system. It visually represents the act of flipping the interior steel frame to the exterior, changing its function from container to contained.

Weaving of building elements

The building encourages public interaction within the interior where curiosities unravel as one traverses from space to space; just as it bridges the urban scale defragmentation on the exterior.

Public gallery

Atrium: the interior hub

CV: OLGA KEDYA

College Station, TX

EDUCATION

EMPLOYMENT

PUBLICATIONS

Contact: +1.346.234.4600

olga.kedya.47@gmail.com

The Woodlands Preparatory International School

2015-2019

International Baccalaureate student

Barcelona Architecture Center

2022

Study Abroad Semester

GPA: 4.0

Texas A&M University

2019 - present

Bachelor of Environmental Design; Minor: Business

GPA: 4.0

Angels Unites LLC

June 2021 - August 2021, Houston

Freelance; worked on rendering and visualizing a residential complex

Champions Real Estate Group

June 2021 - September 2021, Houston

Freelance; worked on rendering and visualizing various commercial projects

HWKN Architectural Intern

May 2022 - present (par t-time)

Worked on designing mixed-use buildings and competition pr ojects, 3D modeling, rendering, creating drawings, model-making

S.A.A.M.A “Transparency’s Other” Publication

Spring 2020

“Transparency’s Other” project model published through competition

AXIOM Publication

Spring 2020-2021

“Transparency’s Other” and “Kintsugi Grotto” projects selected for student-led publication

TRAITS Postdigital Neobaroque Conference

Fall 2022

Selected part icipant for research presentation through a doubleblind peer review

AWARDS AND HONORS

IB Diploma

Fall 2019

Awarded upon graduation

College of Architecture Honors

Fall 2019

Awarded the College of Architecture Honors distinction

Dean’s List

2020, 2021, 2022

EXHIBITIONS

IB DP Ar t Exhibition, the Glade Gallery

Spring 2019

T4T “Kintsugi Grotto” project model par ticipated on display

T4T Exhibition, the Wright Gallery

Spring 2021

T4T “Kintsugi Grotto” project model par ticipated on display

Fresh Vision Exhibition, the Wright Gallery

Summer 2022

“Imaging the Alamo” project model par ticipated on display

INVOLVEMENT AND SERVICE

Montgomery County Food Bank Volunteer

2018 - 2020

AIAS Member

2019-2022

Texas A&M chapter membership and event organization

AXIOM co-editor

2022

Curated, designed, and distributed a student-led design publication both digitally and in print

AIAS Mentorship

2021 - 2022

Mentored groups of undergraduate students to provide software tutorials, resources, and design suggestions; organized events

ENDEAVR Volunteer Par ticipant

2021

Worked with an interdisciplinary team of 7 on a rain garden volunteer project in Nolanville, TX, to solve the community’s flooding issue

SKILLS + LANGUAGES

Bilingual Russian + English, conversational Spanish

Adobe: Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Lightroom

CAD: Rhinoceros 3D, Grasshopper, Houdini, Revit, SketchUp, AutoCAD

Rendering: Lumion, V-Ray, Enscape, Keyshot

Microsoft Office Suite: Full

Fabrication: Cura, slicer software

Thank you for your consideration.