Recent Works

Omer Gorashi Recent Works

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NAME

OMER GORASHI

UNIVERSITY

UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

MAJOR

B.S. ARCHITECTURE

CAMPBELL HALL

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ALTERNATIVE INSTITUTIONS

FREIGHT HOUSE

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RE-STAIR-ATION

CASE STUDIES

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PROPORTIONING LIGHT

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NOMAD HOUSE

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METABOLIC SQUARE

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URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY

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DITIGAL WORKS

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OMER GORASHI A byproduct of the Sudanese Diaspora from the Washington DC Metro Area (Reston VA) looking to use design as a means of connecting people to each other as well as their natural, social, political, academic, and spiritual environments to improve the overall human experience existence and wellbeing. Interested in matters of refugee housing, and architecture as a catalyst for reform in underdeveloped parts of the world.

EDUCATION

SKILLS

UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

AutoCAD Rhino Photography Revit Vray Grasshopper Adobe Suite Preparation of CD’S Handrafting SPSS ArchGIS Modelmaking Fluency in Arabic Proficiency in French

2018 - 2021 GPA 3.61 B.S Architecture (Pre-professional) Related courses to Professional Interests PLAN 5892: Environmental Psychology Jennifer Roe Graduate desgin research seminar exploring the relatiionships and applications of environmental psychology on designing spaces that promote universal wellbeing

ARCH 3500: 6D Empathic Design Elgin Cleckley 6D (six areas of design - spaces, systems, graphics, objects, products, and experiences) is a design research seminar utilizing empathic design thinking methodologies for race and cultural design practices.

ARCH 3271: Breaking BIM Seth McDowell Foundational Revit course that looks at how Revit can be used as an actual design tool rather than a means of banal and repetitive project development.

NORTHERN VIRGINIA COMMUNITY COLLEGE 2016 - 2018 GPA 3.5 Pre-requisites for Bachelors Certificate in Computer Aided Drafting 4

REFERENCES Theodore Diamond (Proj. Manager UVA Facilities Management) thd7t@virginia.edu Jaime Sanz-Haro (Prof. Arch 2020) js8yt@virginia.edu

EXPERIENCE UVA FACILITIES MANAGEMENT DESIGN SERVICES May 2019 - CURRENT | Charlottesville, VA | Design Intern Assisting several project managers (mainly Theo Diamond) on tasks related to projects done at the University of Virginia Campus. Most work pertains (renovations will continue until next summer) to the larger renovations at Campbell Hall, UVA’s Architecture department .

Developed an understanding of the processes of Design-Build firms, from schematic design through final construction stages.

LEERS WEINZAPFUL JAN 2020 | Boston, MA | Design Extern Assisted with visuals for early conceptual design (massings, programmatic planning) for a cultural center at a university in UpState Massachusetts. Work was done under the supervision of Principal Tom S. Chung.

COMPETITIONS 2018 & 2019 NOMA Conference Student Competition (participated) 2018 UVA Student Organized Design in Architecture Contest (participated) HKS Mid-Atlantic Fellowship 2019

UVA SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE

AWARDS

Fall 2018 | Charlottesville, VA | Research Assistant

Reston Scholarship Award Recipient 2018

Worked on a research Project called “Smart Cities Atlas” under Associate Professor Ali Fard that highlights the pros and cons of urban spaces that have modern technologies implemented within them. Using software such as GIS, Google Earth, to turn maps and data into more visually legible and appealing information to the public.

AIA/Architect’s Foundation Diversity Scholarship Award Recepient 2017

HKS ARCHITECTS JAN 2019 | Washington, DC | Design Extern

HKS Mid-Atlantic Fellow 2019 Deans List Fall 2017, Spring 2019

In-depth research on the current situation with affordable housing within the District of Columbia. Assisted with daily tasks, from completing drawings to attending meetings. Work done under the supervision of architect Kaitlyn Badlato 5

UVA FACILITIES MANAGMENT PROJECT CAMPBELL HALL RENOVATION POSITION DESIGN INTERN SUPERVISOR (PROJ. MANAGER) THEO DIAMOND DURATION MAY 2019- CURRENT

As an intern for the University of Virginia’s in-house design group, all of the work that I have done involves dealing with institutional buildings at various scales, from detailing a door, to assisting with space planning. Most of the work shown is actually in relationship to the renovations being done at Campbell Hall, home to the University’s School of Architecture. I have assisted with projects from their conceptual design throughout construction

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7 CAMPBELL HALL ELEVATIONS SOUTH (TOP), WEST (BOTTOM)

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CAMPBELL HALL ROOM 126 DETAILS AND INTERIOR ELEVATION

COMPLETION PHOTOS (TOP) CAMPBELL HALL ROOM 126 EXTERIOR VIEWS (BOTTOM)

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ALTERNATIVE INSTITUTIONS ARCH 3010 FALL 2019 PROFESSOR SETH MCDOWELL

The following project is an alternative institute of sorts, in which people are not shunned away for trying to stay out of the rain or rest on a park bench.

This institution was created as a photography guild where street photographers throughout the city can assemble and have a physical space to engage one another. The institution offers spaces for photographers to shoot, teach and learn, publish, and curate their work for the public. Members of this guild also have spaces to then teach displaced populations this medium of such clear-cut representation and art, so that they too can use photography to be their voice in a conversation that they for so long have been prevented from joining in on. The guild is meant to welcome all members of the city (even those who are just visiting) providing hygenic (bathe house), nutritional (community kitchen) and medical (clinic) amenities to all.

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SECTION C

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SUBWAY INTERIOR (TOP) SECTION A (BOTTOM)

SHOT FROM ROOSEVELT PARK

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࣢Through the dynamic openings that create a series of double, triple, and even quadrupleheighted spaces, this alternative institution creates informal spaces for various programs without the need for rooms to define program. This also creates an indoor/outdoor environment for urban photographers who already carry out their craft throughout the city as well as members of society that may not be quite ready to transition from their displacement.࣢The site being right between the Eleanor Roosevelt Park and the busy Bowery of Chinatown, the project becomes a funnel for those

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BOWERY ST. (TOP) STUDY MODEL (BOTTOM)

SECTION B

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CHRYSTIE ST.

FIFTH FLOOR

30ft

FOURTH FLOOR 30ft

B

A

C’

B’

A’

30ft

GROUND LEVEL

30ft

SUBLEVEL 2

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PROPORTIONING LIGHT FALL 2019 ARCH 3010 PROFESSOR SETH MCDOWELL

Over the duration of a week, students were asked to sectionally aggregate and organize solids and voids within assigned sites. This exploration was articulated through two sole materials; Cement and Light, or the lack of it in some cases.

Just as Louis Kahn had once said.

“The sun never knew how great it was until it hit the side of a building.”

Like some sort of modular-obsessed Michelangelo, I carved through my stone, subtracting from the mass with 2” x 1” slats. These slats were first stacked up just as the original skyscrapers, defining the metropolitan site. Through a series of spatial moves, these untouched sites freed themselves from the overimposed city grid, yet stayed within the site’s boundaries. The alterations of the slats allowed for new dialogues beteween levels, forever redifining the sandwich sections they originated from.

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21 ROCKITE CASTS

Model 1 solid/void 50% Longitudinal section cores, corridors, transitions

30ft 22 Model 1 solid/void 50% cores, pockets, transitions

23 Model 2 solid/void 55% shifts, ventilation, shading

24 Model 3 solid/void 60% punctures, undulating, terracing

25 Model 4 solid/void 65% terraces, pockets, excavation

FREIGHT HOUSE ARCH 2020 SPRING 2019 PROFESSOR JAIME SANZ-HARO

The following home was designed for a group of refugees who were once academiacs but now live in a camp off the coast of Turkey. Although they have been displaced from their homes and university, this home created with reporpused industrial scraps found nearby, allows them to continue both their studying of wildlife and living under a safe roof all within under 1200 sqft.

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SECTION FACING EAST

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28 SECTION FACING NORTH

NE AXON

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Professors Division of space Students

Shared Space

Integration of shared space

Massing of spaces

Disruption of elevation

Distribution of shared

Addition of circulation

Addition of bathrooms

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THIRD FLOOR PLAN

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RE-STAIR-ATION ARCH 2010 FALL 2010 PROFESSOR BELEN ARANGUREN-GONZALEZ

The following project is a response to the circumstances within the urban fabrics of Charlottesville, Virginia. Through research I found that public schools, parks for children and the top private employers have been spread out , growing farther away from the historical Downtown Mall. Through the iterative process of mapping out the program the double heighted spaces and exterior circulation the structure attempts to become a middle ground for dialogues between very contrasting demographics of people within green, restorative spaces.

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PRIMARY PROGRAM: SCHOOLS HIGH SCHOOLS MIDDLE SCHOOLS ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS

SECONDARY PROGRAM: TOP EMP PRIVATE COMPANIES GOVERNMENT SECTOR HOSPITALS

TERTIARY PROGRAM: GREEN SPAC PARKS FOR KIDS PARKS FOR ADULTS CEMETARIES

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PROGRAM SPATIALLY MAPPED

TEMPORALITY OF PROGRAM

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1"=16'

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SIXTH FLOOR PLAN

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/LEUDU\ &ODVVURRPV

)ORRU 2IILFHV /LYLQJ VSDFHV

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PROGRAM

The openess of the structure allowed residents of Charlottesville to enjoy the rest of the Downtown outdoor space while still being inside their own office or classroom. The spaces between floors afforded unique moments between the different floors as well as the exterior circulation.

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TRANSVERSE SECTION FACING NORTH

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NOMAD HOUSE ARCH 2020 SPRING 2019 PROFESSOR JAIME SANZ-HARO

The main intent of this design is to give a response or brief polemic about the major shift in the domestic lifestyle carried out in the Arabian Gulf Region that has occured in just a little than 40 years. The Bedouin people, for centuries, have nomadically moved across the desert, making the Saharan and Arabian their home.

Going back to fundamentals of their tent housing system, the Bedouin people’s tent primarily consisted of knitted camel skin that was held up by a system of poles made from nearby timber. Through my proposal of a mobile scaffolding system consisting of modular scaffolds and camel skin, Bedouins can construct shelter for themselves, blocking the harsh desert sun, as well as simple yet reliable furniture that can afford them the programs one would normally carry out during their daily lives. Since the pieces are modular, this allows them to create spaces for an individual as well as groups, both public and private, and to pack up their homes quickly and compactly as they continue to travel.

Although their way of living may be perceived to be primitive (even to those who themselves have abandoned their own tents in the barren desert and have moved to the consumerism-driven megacities of the Gulf), one shouldn’t overlook the nuanced design moves made by these nomads, from their approaches to creating shading and cooling systems based off the materiality of their tents, to the division and aggregation of spaces that allowed for both public and private spaces to surface out of the desert sands. The manner in which they addressed the conditions of the harsh desert climate, as well as the social standards and norms of a people with such a rich culture and history, was nothing close to being primitive or crude.

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SHELF

BED

CHAIR

TABLE

RECLINER

SINGLE SHELTER

DOUBLE SHELTER

MULTI SHELTER

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43 CARAVAN AXON

CASE STUDIES ARCH 2020 SPRING 2019

1'

4'

8'

10'

1'

PROFESSOR JAIME SANZ-HARO

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4'

3'

4'

3'

The following drawings were from two case study excersices from my current studio in which students are meant to explore the different elements and architectural details that create the atmosphere in which residents of these housing projects live in daily.

The first, being an exploration of my own home in Charlottesville, the second being an analysis of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo

45 APARTMENT SECTION

46 APARTMENT AXON

APARTMENT PLAN

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The following project was done with a parnter, Colby Lapointe.

B

Longitudinal S

5.

18 m

6m 16.9

5.73m

5m 13.7

4m 24.91m

A

2.5m

A' 5m 27.7

4m

0m 14.0

Un 11.00m

9m 10.1

B'

48 ELEVENTH FLOOR

2.

5m

1.

5m

2.5m

Section

nit Axon

Urban Axon

Plan 49 NAKAGIN CAPSULES

METABOLIC SQUARE ARCH 2020 SPRING 2019 PROFESSOR JAIME SANZ-HARO

With the rising socio-economic divide between certain demographics within Charlottesville, aka “The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer,� there has been a scarcity of affordable housing for those in need, as well as very evident segregation of people especially with rising values of real estate and rent. The following housing project explores the aggregation of units around circulatory cores to create a variety of spaces that create opportunities for one two feel a sense of community in both public

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LAYING OUT GRID ON PARKING LOT

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LANDSCAPING OF SITE

AGGREGATION OF CORES

FROM INSIDE THE SQAURE

SEWING OF PATHWAYS

SITE AXON NW

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Metabolic Square consists of three unit typologies; capsules for the city dweller that has minimal domestic needs, the flat unit for the average Charlottesville resident, and then the larger duplex unit available for families as well as local students. The commonality between the units are their semipermeable walls that act as the thresholds to enter as well as their connections to the core/courtyard space as well as the community.

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“CAPSULE” UNIT

“DUPLEX” UNIT 1ST FLOOR

“DUPLEX” UNIT 2ND FLOOR “FLAT” UNIT

UNIT AXONS

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“DUPLEX” UNIT 1ST FLOOR

“DUPLEX” UNIT 2ND FLOOR

8'-11"

15'-0"

30'-0" 8'-11" 2'-8"

9'-6"

8'-0"

18'-8"

9'-3"

30'-0"

18'-8"

18'-1"

3'-11"

8'-10"

4'-4"

1'-0"

12'-10" 4'-8"

3'-6" 15'-0"

8'-11"

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(TOP) UNIT PLANS (BOTTOM) SECTION LOOKING NORTH

8'-11"

8'-4"

9'-3"

30'-0"

3'-10" 15'-0"

8'-10"

11'-0"

8'-0"

6'-8" 5'-10"

15'-0" 6'-8" 6'-10"

“FLAT” UNIT “CAPSULE” UNIT

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15'-0"

7'-11"

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SECOND FLOOR PLAN

FINAL MODEL

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URBAN PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography began as a method of collecting visual references for predecents and research, yet with every shutter click , it grew into becoming a medium for looking at spaces differently, every frame becoming a new landscape of its own.Through my work I enjoy looking at relationships between architecture, peoplle and light at from the scale of a person to the scale of the city.

Although I am still working on a publication of sorts that can begin to articulate these relationships through a narrative, my work has been archived online via instagram (@soozysufi)

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DIGITAL WORKS

The following untitled pieces are from a series of everyday’s that I find myself in and out of hiatus from. The pieces may not always be architectural in nature, but they always pertain to matters that genuinely interest me, concern me, provoke me, give me reason to pursue this discipline that I have come to love and appreciate 64

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CONTACT SITE: omergorashi.com EMAIL: omg7sa@virginia PHONE: 571-353-5946

GODSPEED, THANK YOU!

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