ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO
Roy Allen M.Arch ‘25 Rice School of Architecture
IN COLLABORATION WITH JESÚS VASSALLO, ALEJANDRA PEREZ, SO MIN PARK
view from garden
site plan
The intent of this project was to design a micro housing cooperative in Tokyo, Japan to fit the needs of a specific demographic for which my partner and I decided would be new and small families. Additionally, the second floor was designed to house a shared laundry and gym space as well as a daycare to serve the building occupants. Contextually being across from the expansive Yoyogi Park, this project aims to provide more of a variation in scale and accessibility of garden spaces. This is done ultimately in the form of a pocket park on the ground floor, gallery space that allows for planting, and private gardens, connected by short stairs, that puncture the building and serve the individual apartments. This steel framed, thin, adaptable, winding bar, clad in a perforated metal mesh, is based on a 10 ft by 10ft by 10ft module that allows for maximum occupation of the ground floor as well as sunlight through the apartments and the pocket park below.
COURSE: 504 COMPREHENSION II | SPRING 2024
PROFESSOR: GEORGINA BARONIAN
COLLABORATOR: JINGPING WU
WHERE: SHIBUYA IN TOKYO, JAPAN
TYPOLOGY: MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL
transverse section
longitudinal section
view through private garden
interior view
wall section
wall elevation
GROCERY GALLERY
view down telescoping enfilade
site axon
As we all were tasked to combine an art gallery with another program, I chose to design a gallery, in the predominantly Black and African American Prairie Shores neighborhood, that would include a grocery store and restaurant to ease the food desert condition that plagues the area. The plan is an iteration of Remy Zaugg’s original courtyard museum from An Art Museum of My Dreams or a Place for the Work and the Human Being. I wanted to exaggerate the enfilade experience by telescoping the openings to draw people further into the building and towards the art. The program volumes slip past each other, with the help of stepped terraces and a public courtyard on the ground floor, to aid in the mixing of programs. All of these volumes and programs are united by a large sawtooth roof with a subtle kink in the middle and polycarbonate over the courtyard. Glazing and voids that vertically cut through the project illustrate openness and public access of the building and its programs to users.
COURSE: 601 RESEARCH PLATFORMS | FALL 2024
PROFESSOR: LAP CHI KWONG AND ALISON VON GLINOW
WHERE: E 31ST AND S GILES IN CHICAGO, IL
TYPOLOGY: MIXED USE
model photo of north elevation
north elevation
model photo of east elevation
west
model photo towards triple height space
model photo down enfilade on first floor
model photo down bridge on second floor
model photo down bridge on third floor
model photo towards research center
model photo from research center
overall photo of 1/2”= 1’- 0”model
overall photo of 1/4”= 1’- 0”model
STEPPING
Situated amongst commercial, single family residential, and large-scale multifamily housing developments, Stepping Stones is meant to aid in the transition between those differing scales by creating 30 units of intermediate housing for the aging population and incoming young families of Montreuil. Wrapped in wooden slats, the steel column and mass timber floor structure allow the units to step in size to meet the needs of the occupant utilizing nonstructural walls for the enclosure. While the ratio of terrace to enclosed space differs for units on the northwest border, the units along the southwest border differ in height to offer loft space for some units. On a more urban scale, I transformed the no thoroughfare street on the southeast edge of the housing project, currently being used for street parking, to a pedestrian only street lined with planter boxes and benches. Consequently, I needed to make room for parking underneath the new housing complex to store those cars.
COURSE: 620 ARCHITECTURAL PROBLEMS: PARIS | SPRING 2025
PROFESSOR: JOHN CASBARIAN
WHERE: RUE BRULEFER AND RUE DE L’ACACIA IN MONTREUIL, FR
TYPOLOGY: MULTIFAMILY RESIDENTIAL
site aerial
AERIAL PHOTO PROVIDED BY EUROPAN
SUGGEST NEW USES
INTRODUCE BIODIVERSITY
PROMOTE A WALKABLE CITY
southeast elevation
longitudinal section
southwest elevation
transverse section
interior view of loft space
view from balcony
view between buildings
view from new pedestrian street
This civic center complex is meant to act as a performing and visual arts center. There are four different main program areas housed in this complex: theater, art, music, and dance. This center would have the ability to serve the youth in the Westbury neighborhood of Houston that seemingly have limited afterschool options. It can also be a means of entertainment for the local community.
The red clay tiles that invoke theatrical references act as a curtain blocking out the exterior context like the adjacent Home Depot to the southeast of the site. Whether you are viewing them from the exterior or the interior through the glass walls, the red tiles help to frame the project and focus the inhabitant inwards. All of the program faces a generous interior performance plaza meant to be viewed through the glazing of the building, terraces on the second floors, and the plaza itself.
COURSE: 503 COMPREHENSION I — ASSEMBLY | FALL 2023
PROFESSOR: ANDREW COLOPY
WHERE: W BELLFORT AND BURDINE IN HOUSTON, TX
TYPOLOGY: CIVIC COMPLEX
interior view towards tiles
PERFORMANCE
DANCE
detail wall section
interior view
exterior view from terrace to plaza
exterior view towards corner
view of material study model from interior
view of material study model from exterior
view of physical model
community organization
The Santa Clara Courtyard is an affordable housing community dedicated to senior citizens. The Icon research competition specifies that the proposal be 3D printed the size of a designated printer bed and have an estimated cost of construction under $99,000. The efficient layouts of the units, ranging from 385-400 square feet, help the user remain independent with full-sized kitchens as well as living and sleeping space. Additionally, the footprint can be mirrored on an adjacent print bed to generate a spacious courtyard that emphasizes the feeling of community. Furthermore, a larger community can be built by adding multiple courtyard communities and an ancillary building together and separating them by car alleyways and pedestrian streets. “With its load bearing walls and flat roofs, Santa Clara Courtyard takes inspiration from Native American and Spanish Adobe constructions, to create a communal housing typology that offers affordability, as well as a sense of protection and belonging.”
PROJECT STAGE: RESEARCH COMPETITION ICON, INITIATIVE 99 | FALL 2023
PROFESSOR: JESÚS VASSALLO
COLLABORATORS: SO MIN PARK, ALEJANDRA LEZCANO
RENDERS: ANDREA OLIVEROS GRAJEDA
WHERE: AUSTIN, TX
view from entrance plan
photos of chair at full scale
aerial photo of chair
Cascadas, or waterfalls, was designed to ride the line between a piece of furniture and a sculpture. Made entirely out of cherry wood, and finished with linseed oil, the chair illustrates its name through its waterfall edge condition and stepping of individual modules in both the horizontal and vertical directions. The vertical stepping creates a backrest, while the horizontal stepping aids in the leg comfort of the user. Each module started as one piece and was cut, mitered, and glued together using a mortise and tenon joint. The same joinery technique was then used to connect the modules in two or three places for the backrest and seat, respectively.
COURSE: ON IMMEDIACY | FALL 2024
PROFESSOR: JESÚS VASSALLO
TYPOLOGY: FURNITURE
photo of chair at exhibition