Undergraduate Portfolio

RICARDO A. LEON UNDERGRADUATE PORTFOLIO 2010-2011

Presented to UCLA Architecture and Urban Design for consideration to the MArch I program

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RICARDO A. LEON UNDERGRADUATE PORTFOLIO

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RICARDO A. LEON Bachelor of Science in Architecture The University of Texas at Arlington School of Architecture

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CONTENTS Introduction to Architecture The Belmont Hotel Baths and Spa Horton Plaza v3.0 Competition N.T.U.T. [Array] Competition Museo dell’Opera del Duomo Expansion Digital Fabrications - Light Screen Airport of the Future

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INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURE A DIGESTING STUDIO

PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor:

Columbia University GSAPP Summer 2011 Joaquim Moreno

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Manhattan’s Meatpacking District has developed into an active neighborhood with a mix of art, people and sights. Across 10th Avenue from the re-developed High Line sits the Gansevoort Marine Transfer Station which serves to distribute most trash collected on Manhattan to nearby landfills. Owned by the City of New York’s Department of Sanitation, yet also part of the Hudson River Park, the question of what to do with the Gansevoort peninsula has uncovered a deep conflict of interests between various communities.

This studio called for a solution to unite the Meatpacking District with the transfer station. A series of sectional models and diagrams were used to analyze the site and develop a new program for the site.

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02_Transitional chemicals

01_Food

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03_Decomposed matter

01_CLOACAL SYNTHESIS The first impression about the Gansevoort Transfer Station is that despite all the negative implications of a trash collection facility it is simply a transfer station. It does not process, sort or transform in a meaningful way. On what regards waste, it is a sort of wasted opportunity. And it is in this sense of optimizing an urban process, a digesting studio makes sense. In its current state the site is not capable of processing, of breaking down, sorting, filtering, absorbing nutrients or retaining liquids. It is equally incapable of demonstrating and raising awareness about its value for the urban process and infrastructure.

This idea of digestion was further investigated by analyzing a machine called the Cloaca designed by artist Wim Delvoye which recreates the digestive system. The food begins at a long, transparent mouth, travels through a number of machine-like assembly stations, and ends in hard matter which is separated from liquid through a cylinder.

05_Wasted excess

04_Final product

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With the investigation of the Cloaca, I wanted to explore the idea of moving through a space in an infinite amount of variations as opposed to one direct sequence like the Cloaca. With the multiple layers found in the Meatpacking District of various age groups, historical artwork, gentrification, and new developments, no person truly experiences the district in the same way. In the model above, a section of the site was taken and nodes were established mapping out potential areas or spaces that could be explored in a number of ways. This lead to an investigation of psycogeography. The theorist Guy Dubord describes it as, “the study of the precise laws and specific effects of the geographical environment, consciously organized or not, on the emotions and behavior of individuals.�

02_PSYCOGEOGRAPHIC MAP 10

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01_Sectional Models

02_Site Strategy

03_Diagramatic Section

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03_INTERVENTION

The result of these investigations led to a project that encapsulates the notion of creating a public space for the individual. The nodes of the sectional model become clusters of various sensory spaces designed to create of new reading of space in time. These spaces could be explored in a number of ways: across, up, down, around, etc.

Each individual would experience the project in a unique way.

Aerial photograph from the film The Sandpit by Sam O’Hare

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01_Photomontage

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02_Photomontage

“The spectacle is not a collection of images, but a social relation among people, mediated by images.�

-Guy Debord, The Society of the Spectacle

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THE BELMONT HOTEL BATHS & SPA

INSIDE/OUTSIDE: SPACE, TIME & THE BODY PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor:

The University of Texas at Arlington Fall 2010 Wanda Dye

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Belmont Hotel, located in the historic Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, TX offers a unique site in comparison to the greater city area due to its steep topography. The hotel has an unobstructed view downtown so taking advantage of its location is key.

The project was to design a series of communal spaces, baths and a spa. The site is ideal for such a program in terms of locale, topography, and vistas. The entire project was thought of as an overall landscape, an interweaving of spaces, light, structure, material, water, and ground. Through these careful considerations the challenge was to create a place that relates urbanistically internally, as well as externally to the Belmont, the neighborhood and the city beyond. It is through this exchange and connection physically and visually that the project would contribute back to the collective memory of the city similarly and as successfully as the historical Belmont Hotel.

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01_SITE / CONCEPT

The concept of this projects deals with heightening of senses. The building itself will act as a spa in addition to the traditional spa treatments. One gradually walks down a ramp starting at the hotel entrance and ending up “submerged” in the earth. The viewer walks under a “floating” volume creating drama and ends up in the plaza for social gathering.

Programmatically, the baths and spa are located in the first two levels of the building. An auditorium is locate in the lower floating volume and an observatory with views to downtown Dallas is located in the highest volume. Access to the observatory is through an elevator in the plaza.

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Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

Level 4

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01_Stack

02_Separate & Shift

03_Rotate

04_Rotate and Shift

02_FORM & FUNCTION The building is derived from four shifting and rotated volumes, stacked and elevated to visually stimulate the audience and provide a sense of lightness. The cylindrical volume protrudes through the two floors and entices the viewer to enter and discover the space. A plaza is formed from the spatial containment of the floating volumes and becomes a public space to enjoy the view, listen to concerts and experience a new reality.

05_Slice

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03_LONGITUDINAL SECTION Sectionally, the cylindrical volume where the meditation and massage rooms are located establishes a hierarchy throughout. The plans show a sequence of spaces gradually becomng more private. The end result shows a dichotomy of silence vs. noise, private vs. public and light vs. dark.

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HORTON PLAZA v3.0 COMPETITION BREATHE_BLUE

PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor: Teammate:

The University of Texas at Arlington Fall 2011 John Maruszczak Nikita Gyawali

PROJECT DESCRIPTION Horton Plaza v3.0 was an open ideas design competition created to encourage critical design approaches and public debate around a vitally important urban space in the heart of Downtown San Diego.

Horton Plaza is one of San Diego’s largest outdoor malls attracting thousands of visitors each year. On the north end, a former Sam Goody was razed to construct a new plaza adjacent to the historic Horton Plaza park. The competition was used to gather more ideas for the proposed sites. The entry had to unite a fountain at the center of Horton Plaza Park and the outdoor mall.

Finalist (Top 20)

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01_SITE STRATEGY

The project begins as a bubble which emerges from the San Diego shores. The bubble travels through the urban fabric of the city and washes through the Horton Plaza Mall. The water draws out the vibrancy of the plaza and carries is out to lot where the intervention occurs. The result is a fluid water line which will influence various programming.

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Section depicting water filtration system

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02_FLUCTUATING MICROCLIMATES The idea of a water line penetrating through the Horton Plaza and circulating through the site is manifested through the proposed structures. This closed loop water system takes the water run off from the site and its neighbor and utilizes the water to create various programmatic elements engaging the plaza. The triggers for each zone are the various microclimates found throughout San Diego. The idea of the fountain in the existing plaza park has been redefined. It now becomes a topographical condition which divides itself into these zones.

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In response to the ongoing public debate for a passive landscape vs. an active hardscape, the project resolves the issue by incorporating both proposals. The lush, green grasses form the outer edge of the lot and create unique paths which lead to the large, central plaza. Once leaving the existing shopping centre, one can walk through a lattice structure which provides a space which can adapt itself to various programming, where the term “fluctuating microclimates� is taken into a whole different level. The structure bathes the audience with mists and lights. It also serves as a seating area facing the central plaza which can hold concerts; the structure would provide acoustical sound within the structure.

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Continuing on the water line curve, a fog pool blurs boundaries of landscape and hardscape and acts as an installation to reorient viewers by the Gruen transfer. This is the moment when people respond to “scripted disorientation� cues in the environment. Spatial awareness of their surroundings plays a key role, as does the surrounding sound, art, and music. The effect of the transfer is marked by a slower walking pace.

It uses steam pumped from the filtering system.

One can enter the pool and continue on to the central plaza which becomes interactive with a pivoting fountain which sprays water at various times of the day. A water wall attached to the existing Citibank building pours onto the central plaza allowing for a thin film of water to gently flood and activate the space. The water can drain and the plaza becomes a dry zone where social interaction, assemblies and performances occur.

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N.T.U.T. [ARRAY] INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION ENTROPIC SPECTRUM

PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor: Teammate:

The University of Texas at Arlington Fall 2011 John Maruszczak Nikita Gyawali

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The competition sponsored by National Taipei University of Technology focused on an elemental perspective to architectural design and sustainability. Entrants revisited the methods of ARRAY spaces to produce creative proposals for a set of ARRAY structures that highlight ecological design.

Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”, is a process which involves drilling deep into earth’s layers to release the trapped gas. It involves pumping of water,sand and chemicals under high pressure to fracture the shale layers. Originally viewed as an alternative clean source of energy, it has since then raised many environmental and health related concerns.Apart from the noise,light and air pollution,soil contamination, the abuse of water has been the most dominant.

Semifinalist

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01_SITES

The project tries to solve some of the water related issues with an array of green sites around the fracking sites. The contaminated water from the waste water pits and the water lost below ground in the fracking process are brought to the green sites.The water is then used as a source of nutrient for the blue-green algae for the algae farm.The algae helps clean the water and also serves as an important source of bio-crude oil.The clean water then can be sent back into the water reserves and could also be used for recreation purposes.

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02_DEVICES 01_The Floater These devices are primarily used for algae growth and leading to development of new flora

02_The Gatherer This is a movable device which is designed to travel to the various waste water pits to suck the oil and waste water particles

03_The Dissolving Algae Pill This is a movable device that is designed for the waste water pits which utilizes open pond algae cultivating methods

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MUSEO DELL’OPERA DEL DUOMO EXPANSION THE CONSTRUCTIVE CONTEXT PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor:

The University of Texas at Arlington Spring 2011 Steven Quevedo

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The Museo dell’Opera del Duomo (Museum of the Works of the Cathedral) in Florence, Italy is a museum containing many of the original works of art created for the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral of Florence. The museum is located just east of the Duomo, near its apse. It opened in 1891, and now houses what has been called “one of the world’s most important collections of sculpture.”

The project called for an expansion to the museum with galleries to house Lorenzo Ghiberti’s doors for the Florence Baptistery called the Gates of Paradise, a scale model of the Duomo in section celebrating its construction and innovation, a forced perspective room as well as galleries for the works of art by prolific Renaissance artists.

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01_SITE / CONTEXT MODEL

The fundamental objectives for the project were to (1) develop the parti and plan of the building as an in-fill condition with links to the existing museum, (2) investigate the role of the building in the context by the use of historical precedence, contextual relationships and strategies based on the site analysis, (3) investigate the role of the facade as the public face to the urban context, (4) investigate the development and articulation of the facade by means of structure, materials and response to the immediate context, (5) explore through sketches and study models the development of plan, section and facade.

The galleries in the museum showed the construction of the cathedral’s dome. A class model was built to show various methods of scaffolding as well as the layers and thicknesses of the structural members. Role: Constructed main cathedral apses, naves and front facade

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Lower photograph by Luis Olivares 43

Collage Analysis

Final Facade

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Ground Level

Level 1

The facade, made of vertical corten steel louvers which allow for the museum to be transparent from the outside in. The celebration of the dome occurs withing the cylindrical volume located in the east end of the building. The Doors of Paradise are shown from the street view with a perspective window drawing the public inside to experience the space. Sectionally the spaces form interlocking volumes which allow for the relics to be viewed from multiple heights and vantage points.

Level 2

Level 3 45

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DIGITAL FABRICATIONS LIGHT SCREEN (POLY)TECTONIC CLOUD PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor: Teammate:

The University of Texas at Arlington Fall 2011 Brad Bell Lucien Menair

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The project acts as a light screen using multiple digital fabrication techniques. The main idea of using a dot matrix was implemented to project an image through multiple layers. The image chosen was a portrait of the father of pointillism, Georges Seurat. The dot matrix was created and then separated to form a diagonal matrix and linear matrix. The matrices were projected onto a form that was paneled with triangular facets. The two paneled forms with two different dot matrices were made of acrylic and plywood to begin the investigation of materiality. These panels were formed onto a base and then held up by metal fasteners and hardware to give a “floating” appearance.

Design criteria for the project included: • Material tolerance • Assembly sequence • Connection detailing • Non Euclidean geometry • Artificial light filtration • Natural light filtration

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01_Seurat portrait

02_Dot matrix

03_Split

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Sequence from curved form to panelled surface

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The diagram on the left shows an exploded axonometric view of the system showing the connection points to unify the panels. The end result is a lightweight modular system which not only functions as a screen of light, but also as a source of information for the viewer to experience.

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AIRPORT OF THE FUTURE COMPETITION MANHATTAN MUNICIPAL AIRPORT PROJECT INFO School: Year: Instructor: Teammate:

The University of Texas at Arlington Fall 2011 John Maruszczak Charles Cupples

PROJECT DESCRIPTION The competition sponsored by Fentress Architects aims to gather ideas for potential airports of the future. With the growth of world’s population increasing at an incredible rate, the idea of smaller municipal airports being built more frequently would be a likely response. The municipal airport for this project was thought of as a tower which would be in the heart of a dense urban fabric.

The Manhattan Municipal Airport was designed as a transportation hub approximately 70 years into the future. The primary means of transportation will have been switched over from fossil fueled engines to electromagnetic propulsion devices, originally conceived by Thomas Edison.

The tower not only responds to the future but to the past and creates new ideas about air travel.

Competition is currently in progress.

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01_SITE STRATEGY

There is currently no airport in Manhattan. Travel time from each adjacent airport becomes a lengthy commute. Because of population growth, densification will only continue to thicken and the need for mass transit as a vertical condition will be necessary. Located on the top of Madison Square Garden, the tower airport will preserve a historical artifact and disallow it from being demolished similar to its predecessor, Penn Station. The new airport will reference the memory of the old station and perform its functions while a proposed subway line would be connected to LaGuardia. The first of its kind will stimulate the switch to more sustainable forms of transportation. This switch will also likely launch the progression from tension associated with the 9/11 attacks.

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World’s Largest Airports

Terminal areas of New Jersey and New York

The image on the left shows the connection, both above ground and below ground to LaGuardia Airport by new or old means of transportation.

The airport would become a node in a network linking citizens to new means of high-speed transportation.

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The intent of the project is not to create controversy on a subject that impacted the world. The way we travel by air changed in one day and a new sense of alertness and security was created. This project is not only a physical manifestation but a symbolic representation of strength in a time of darkness. It would be the next step in bringing the true joy of flight from the past to future generations.

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