Vera Tusensköna Swahn - Architecture Portfolio (2020)

PORTFOLIO Works produced by Vera TusenskĂśna Swahn

Extracts from selected works done during my Bachelor & Master degree in Architecture at Lund University, as well as from my internship at C.F. Møller

works selected from:

2016 - 2020

cont

COURSE PROJE

Bachelor Degree

COURSE: WHEN: BRIEFF

Internship

THE SWAN NEST

COLLECTIVELY WORKING

C.F. Møller Competition Lab

Architecture in the Contemporary year 3 (spring)

Sustainable Architectural Design year 3 (fall)

C.F Møller’s competition lab 2018-2019 (1.5 year)

Crematorium in Malmö Quarry (THESIS PROJECT)

Office in old town of Lund which meets sustainability demands

Projects included: office complexes, schools, and residential buildings.

tent:

CTS INCLUDED

Master Degree

Workshop (BA)

SYMBIOSIS

MUSTAFA’S MARKET

FLAMINGOS VISITING

Cultural Heritage -Vacant Churches year 5 (fall)

Spatial Experiments year 4 (fall)

Creative tools (2 day vRay workshop) year 3 (spring)

Church transformation to a market hall, hostel and workshops

Exploration of physical prototypes, and designing an outdoor market in Marocco

vRay workshop, render the Barcelona Pavilion

ARCHITECTURE IN T In the bachelor studio Architecture in the Contemporary we were encouraged to work with a process based on digital modelling, with tools such as Rhinoceros and its plugin Grasshopper, which provides the opportunity to experiment and explode new spatial methods. The project work interrogated architectural conventions and encourage experimental approaches to architectural solutions.

The final task was to design a crematorium in Limhamn quarry, in Malmรถ, Sweden.

HE CONTEMPORARY Works produced by: Vera Swahn When: spring, year 3 Time frame: 8 weeks

T H E SWA N N EST

(This is an extract from my Bachelor report on this project).

1. Grid of points connected by lines.

4. New lines are created between each point and its 3 closest points, to create the structure.

2. Points are added, from which all points of the grid within a certain distance to the new points are removed.

3. Points at random distances within a range are removed as well, which gives the grid a feathered edge.

The structure in 3D - made out of pine wood.

D I G I TA L P R O C E S S

making a hand drawn sketch a 3D model

This idea for the final structure was developed when exploring tools in Grasshopper, a plugin to Rhinoceros.

After having been experimenting with methods of culling points - that is, removing points based on an algorithm, I found a structure in 2D I wanted to continue developing. The sketch below is the idea I had in mind when continuing the development of the structure in 3D, a structure which invades another medium. As this was then developed into a 3D structure, I discovered spatial ideas I wanted to keep working with, which eventually led to the final structure for the wooden part of the crematorium.

DEATH

LIFE

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11.

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B. 10.

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Forecourt Reception Passage to ash delivery & elevator for visitors.

Ash delivery Elevator for visitors and staff Elevator for coffin and staff Small open air chapel Large open air chapel Coffin reception Staff parking lot Canteen Open office space Meeting room Exit and alternative entrance WC

Section BB - through the large and small chapel.

10 m

Ground level floor plan.

C R E AT I N G YO U R O W N PAT H

Hidden pathways, both concealing bathroom entrances from the experience of walking through, and affording one to make your own path through the creamatorium.

VISITORS' ENTRY To the left is the public entrance to the crematorium, which leads to the forecourt. There is no clear defined path towards the entrance, one finds their own way.

LARGE CHA

To the right is the view chapel, which is through inside the structure con for the coffin to be brou

ASH DELIVERY A place separated by the limestone walls from the rest of the crematorium. The box can here be picked up to be put into the structure.

PEL

w from inside the large h an elevator hidden nnected to the basement ught up for ceremonies.

GRAPHIC OUTLINE OF THE STRUCTURE

The wooden structure has been fade the building part below and behin pink dashed outline only shows the the structure from this angl

THE JOURNEY

the way down towards the quarry and up towards the sky

The limestone parts of the building are removed piece by piece throughout the building, to open up towards the sky.

E

ed to show d it. The outline of le.

The vertical shift downwards is intensified with the different senses of scale of oneself throughout the building - the visitor enters feeling tall while overlooking parts of the roof, and exists feeling small, facing the vastness of the large quarry.

AT N I G H T To the left is a night view of the visitors' entrance.

Notice how the border between the limestone building parts and the structure is blurred as the structure takes over. At night the structure allows light to be diffused just like the border.

S U S TA I N A B L E A R C H The brief for this course was to design a office building for 60-80 workers on a site in Lund.

The aims were to design a building which theoretically and practically weighs together design, technology and sustainability - social, economical and environmental.

HITECTURAL DESIGN Works produced by: Vera Swahn & Gabriel Cankalp When: fall, year 3 Time frame: 5 weeks

THE SITE: OLD TOWN in LUND The site is placed in central Lund, a five minute walk from the station on a street that is the joining street between a busy shopping street and the law students of Lund University’s building. The site is today a parking lot, a major break from the neighborhood on the site.

SUN ORIENTATION

VIEW OF CATHEDRAL BUSY ADJACENT STREETS

S I T E A N A LY S I S The office building will be located on Gråbrödersgatan, a back street which is easily connected to the city’s public transport and business. The crowds occur in these neighborhoods for much of the day, regardless of weather - but mainly on

the streets crossing it, a bit away from the site. Surrounding, there are buildings from a variety of styles, all in brick and with tiled roof. From the site, the towers of Lund’s most known landmark can be seen - Lund’s Cathedral.

A humble facade, which keeps the rhythm and heaviness of the pther buildings.

Volume to make room for the 80 office spaces.

Expose as much of the facade towards north for better natural lightning

Face the other part towards the Cathedral towers for an impressive framed view from meeting rooms.

Atrium for natural daylight.

VOLUME STUDIES The ambition is to keep Gråbrödersgatan as a quiet back street, and to create a socially and economically sustainable office that can facilitate the opportunities for small business owners to establish and grow. We did not want the building to provoke the neighboring buildings in style.

The building’s volume took shape while considering good working environments, with natural daylight towards north, or other indirect light.

MOVABLE Exterior shading binds - can be moved individually from the inside to prevent blinding from the east side when the sun is low

THE FACADE Through common facade and ceiling height as already in the existing buildings scale, the office building interacts between the new and the old. They raise each other’s aesthetics by contrasting each other. The repetition of windows that the office has is also characteristic of office buildings, from the street you can read the building as what it is.

The street’s rhythm is maintained through material selection, indentation, and height.

M AT E R I A L S

CORTEN STEEL

W O O D PA N E L S

PA L E B R I C K

IVY

SEEN FROM DOWN THE STREET For a building placed like this, the angle from where it’s mostly viewed by people is not infront of it, but down the street, looking forward while walking. We therefore studied the site from this perspective to decide on

the height and shape of the building towards the street - for us to make use of the site as much as possible for as many office spaces as needed, but at the same time not impose on the street nor disturb too much.

THE HUMBLE FACADE Early in the process, we felt that it was important to relate to the existing on site, buildings that tell all about Lund’s history.

A brick facade becomes a conservation of integrity and the existing. Corten steel is used in the window frames to break from the traditions and the existing buildings’ choice of materials.

INTERIOR VIEWS

the off ice spaces and the atrium.

INTERN

C . F. M ø l l e r

Part of the competition team at C.F. Møller (Co competition, where I as an intern was lucky enou to finish. »» »» »» »»

Contribute a lot in concept and volume desi Learnt to design according to strict competi Participate and be involved in meeting with Realizing the projects up to required final m

When: 2018-2019

Supervisor: Thue Borgen Hasløv (associate partn

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openhagen). We worked in teams of 3-5 on each ugh to be heavily involded in projects from start

igns itions briefs the partners of C.F. Møller material.

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nted very briefly here. If de or click on the link for oject.

FINAL RESULT: 2rd PLACE

TÄ BY PA R K S C H O O L This is a project we did in a few weeks for a new school in Täby. A lot of the focus was on the logistics and movement of the kids - from indoor to outdoor, to being picked up, and having a secure playground.

The proposal for the new Täby Park School creates urban life, and unites the city and its green spaces through its form and functionality. The school’s educational principles are reinforced by the rooms’ flexibility and variety, allowing for various kinds of meetings and collaborations.

In the proposal the school is located on a prominent central plot in Täby Park. The location is urban, but at the same time interfaces with the landscape in the south.

The goal is to design a building that creates an informal, inviting, playful and educational school that can act as an urban centre and thereby contribute to an active urban environment.

Core design team: 2 architects + 2 interns Area: 15 504 m²

SEE MORE HERE: https://www.cfmoller.com/p/Taby-Park-School-i3520.html

FINAL RESULT: 3rd PLACE

(out of 30 selected teams)

EU COMMISION’S NEW HEADQUARTERS A competition brief as long as a novel - regulations and rules more important than ever to follow in design.

With this project I was with three others on it from start to finsih, through phase 1 and 2. With 190 000 m² indoor area to plan, this will most likely be the largest project I’ll ever have wroked on. I learnt more during these 6 months on this project than during any other.

A mixture of plazas, parks and planted roofs integrate a rich green landscape into the urban surface of the city, along with several rooftop gardens for workers in the building. Decentralised atriums with sculptural staircases are placed in the towers, connecting the office communities and creating transparency to the activities inside the building.

The EU Commission’s new building include offices for more than 5,250 people, 2 childcare centres, a visitor centre that can welcome 345,000 people a year and 3,000 sqm. of restaurants, shops and public spaces. The whole complex ensures the highest possible level of security.

Core design team (CF Møller): 2 architects + 2 interns Colaborators: B2AI, Delva Landscape, Area: 190 000 m²

SEE MORE HERE: https://www.cfmoller.com/p/Rue-de-la-Loi-130-i3569.html

FINAL RESULT: 1st PLACE (JURY) 2nd PLACE (OVERALL)

RESIDENTIAL TOWER NEULĂ„NDER QUARREE When this project started there were no free architects in the lab to work on it. I had been in the competition lab a while by then and got the chance to be in charge of this project until an architect employee was free. I learnt I lot from working more closely with the partners of the firm, look over interns and their tasks while also being the person in contact with our consults abroad.

The rhythmic wrapping with continuous balconies behind a level of white supports in a colossal order gives the facade a filigree, vertical appearance, and breaks down the volume of the residential tower to a human scale. contact.

Core design team: 1 architects + 3 interns Area: 16 400 m²

The residential tower is a bright, high-quality and exclusive residency. It has an outstanding architecture that reflects the maritime atmosphere and with its silhouette appears cubic and precise but lively at the same time.

SEE MORE HERE: https://www.cfmoller.com/p/Residential-Tower-Neulander-Quarree-i3546.html

C U LT U R A L H E R I TA The old meets the new. In the master studio for Cultural Heritage, we investigated through sketching and discussion by working with two related projects. The assignment was to find the concepts so as to attain a sustainable transformation and adaptation design for ruins and churches. How can we bring listed buildings of the past into the future?

The final task was to develop a transformation design concept for a set program for an under used or redundant church building.

AGE - CHURCHES Works produced by: Vera Swahn When: fall, year 5 Time frame: 6 weeks

VALUE ASSESSMENT The church is placed in central Malmö, at the corner of a busy street towards north, and a less busy street towards west - considered a “back street”. The first part of the process included analysis of the site, and a value assessment of the church in realtion to the site and its history.

During this stage, I discovered potential areas to work with in design, both with potential to change and to be kept.

LEFT: part of the f inal transformation was to emphasize the main entrance towards the less busy street, through an “attention grabbing” wooden archade seen from the main street.

To accomondate all of the required parts of the program (below), I started trying to tie it together using a wooden arch mimicking the brick arches on the facade. The floor

for the hostel could be held up by them, food could be served under it, gardens ontop, and a variety of separations could be used to display products and give privacy.

FOOD & DRINK

HOSTEL

GARDEN

WORKSHOPS

A food hall, with seating in the centre of the church.

Youth hostel, bunk beds or bed capsules.

Create a green place in the city.

Creative workshops holding courses and selling products.

CONCEPT: SYMBIOSIS To benefit both financially and space-wise, my main focus with the concept for the program and placement of the functions was to find create symbiosis between the different functions, to create a holisitc viewpoint of the project. I adjusted and interpreted the program functions to fit each other as well as the building. Finding potential space to share

at different times or simultaneously, where they can benefit from each other.

At the same time the buisnesses need to be able to work on their own, not least the hostel with a completely different circadian rhythm with people arriving at any hour of the day.

SYMBIOSIS: “living together”, “a mutually benef icial relationship between different people or groups”

4 ENTRANC

NORTH: towa a path between can be exhibite but can be clos

EAST: logistic kitchen.

N

SOUTH: outdo more of an exit

Groundfloor

WEST: the old market hall and to the archade. from the marke the hostel at al

CES

ards the main street (north), with n the workshops where products ed. It leads to the market hall, sed off if needed.

cs and entrance for staff of the

oor seating for the market hall, t as it doesn’t face a street.

VERTICAL CONNEC TIONS

ACCESS

Flow, divisions and WC placement.

Marketing and privacy.

d main entrance, entrance to the d the hostel as well as the access . This first bit can be closed off et hall, to create access to only l hours of the day.

Placing the vertical access points in proximity to each other, while allowing them to be used by each function separately without sharing for security during closing hours. The functions needs to work independently, as well as together.

The hostel and shops have different demands when it comes to exposure. Shops needed shopping windows towards the shopping street for marketing, while the hostel markets themselves mostly online, and rather requires privacy for their guests.

N

1st floor (2nd floor not shown, which includes sleeping dorms for hostel)

Peek-a-boo! Seen from the main street in north.

GARDEN OF EDEN An archade of wooden arches creates a tranquil osasis by the street. The top of the archade is accessible from the inside, and opening are made on the church facade - of the same size and vertical placement as the original windows. The new openings stands out in wood, to not imitate the original ones.

With one of the major values identified of the orginial church being the large central space, I worked to not have to close of this space, despite the high demand on the many different functions. Putting the sleeping doorms in an enclosed box, and workshops under in closed rooms, allowed the rest to be kept open, with further expansion possible ontop of the sleeping dorms, with windows facing the main shopping street.

WINE & BREAD The interior wooden arches, act as a barrier between the kitchen and the guests, as well as the serving area.

The lower roof in this archade, creates a more intimate feeling, and makes for a greated contrast to the large space in the rest of the market hall.

In the rest of the market hall the arches work as shopping windows and other divisions.

S PAT I A L E X In the master studio Spatial Experiments, the main focus laid on the exploration and experimentation with physical models, which then were to be replicated in 3D to study the spatial qualities. We were encouraged to be inspired by nature’s own way of adapting to extreme environments.

The site of the project was Tamnougalt, a kasbah and date palm oasis in the Atlas Mountains, located in the Draa River valley in Morocco.

PERIMENTS Works produced by: Vera Swahn, Malk Logo, Clara Sandell When: fall, year 4 Time frame: 8 weeks

LEFT: Mustafa in his beautiful and flourishing garden, infront of our eventual design for an outdoor market hall to sell his products in.

OUR VISIT TO THE SITE Our first encounter with the people of Tamnougalt was with the farmer Mustafa; he greeted us with a big smile and proudly showed us around his garden, where we got a rigorous tour of all his crops and ended our visit with a cup of tea beneath a tree canopy, offering us pomgranates and bread. This visit at Mustafa’s was one of the high points of our trip to Morocco, so we wanted to introduce this meeting point, in the shape of a market, for everyone who visits Tamnougalt. The site we chose lays between the border of the barren built in the back, and the green oasis at the front.

In this extreme environment, the sun becomes an enemy at day, and most people seek shade indoors which are poorly lit. Toursits and habitants become separated. We wanted to create a place for these two groups of people to meet.

The final structure is aimed towards the oasis in the south, and frames the views of the greenery from the high platforms inside. Behind lays the town Tamnougalt.

THE PANGOLIN

THE DRAGONFLY

Protective modular shell, which covers the entire animal.

Wings that doesnt absorb unwanted heat.

PROTOTYP

F R O M N AT U R E TO A R C H I T E C T U R E Our approach to solving the problem is to take inspiration from the pangolin’s skin system; a protective modular system that protects the entire animal, and the dragonfly, which has the ability to expose different materials in order to reflect unwanted heat away from its body.

PAPE

Our first skeetchin models, made in sca size and shape o

An entity that forms a spatial entirety.

Exposing different materials depending on need.

E STUDIES

ER

ng included paper ale 1:1, to test out of the modules.

CLAY

We later went on to produce as many as we had time for, made in clay.

GLAZING

To gain the reflective proporties, we glazed the larger surface with a shiny glaze.

ASSEMBLING

We made a wooden frame, and a hectagon net to assemble the modules in to study spatial properties and qualities.

PROTECT FROM SUN, LET IN LIGHT We want to create a dynamic space which mitigates the dangers and transforms them into architectural qualities. We have been working with a module that has both reflective, and non-reflective material qualities. The modules are placed into a hexagon steel net, at different rotations - where the sheets of modules can protect from the sun towards south, while be left more open towards north and where palm trees shade the structure.

THE MORNING VIEW The structure along with platforms underneath creates a market space for the habitants of Tamnougalt to present and sell the products they borth grow and create in the city.

V- R AY W O For this workshop we were given a 3D model of the Barcelona Pavilion and had 2 days to create visualisations from scratch (including making our own materials).

ORKSHOP Works produced by: Vera Swahn & Daniel Nolkrantz When: fall, year 3 Time frame: 2 days

T H E FA I R Y TA L E O N E Work produced by: Vera Swahn For the first visualisation, I decided to focus on the atmosphere. I had a clear vision of the final render with flamingos standing in the water, as if the Barcelona Pavilion had been moved to a forest of South America.

I especially experimented with creating ripples together with smaller waves and the caustics, as well as rendering dirt and uneven tiles for walls and floors (shown more clearly on next page), and with the atmosphere in post-production.

THE ABSURD

Work produced by: Vera Swa lkrantz

For the second visualisation cided to colaborate. We we fortable with V-ray before decided to go more into de abilities of V-ray further. W the result, and therefore de with close to no post-produ as shown to the right.

We experimented with crea material for the flamingo le tiles and water puddles thr maps.

ONE

ahn & Daniel No-

n, me and Daniel deere both fairly comthe workshop and etail, and explore the We were happy with ecided to present it uction in Photoshop,

ating our own wet egs, uneven floor ough displacement

THANK YOU Thank you for taking the time to go through some of my work. I hope to hear from you!

vera.swahn@gmail.com +46 (0)709 32 07 34

– Vera Swahn