CV+PORTFOLIO ALEJANDRA SÁNCHEZ PÉREZ
Surname/First Name_SĂĄnchez PĂŠrez/ Alejandra Madrid, 18 of April 1989. E-mail: alesanchezale@hotmail.com Telephone number_(+1) 9292384230 Skype: alejandrasanchezperez
EDUCATION
2007-2015 2011-2012 1996-2007
- Further studies
Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid (ETSAM). Polythecnic University of Madrid. SPAIN Graduated with honors. Architecture Final Thesis Project “Conversion and Recovery of Riverside Drive Viaduct in Harlem, N.Y.” Spitzer School of Architecture (CCNY), New York. USA Awarded with a bilateral agreement scholarship at CCNY, where I was ranked in the School’s “2012 Dean´s List honor Mention” Nuestra Señora del Pilar School, Madrid. SPAIN Graduated with Special Honors. Enduring Excellent Academic Performance.
JUN 2013
Bellastock, Self-Building Workshop, Madrid. The main goal was the experimentation in building at 1:1 scale
2013
Polytechnic University of Madrid, Institute of Education Sciences (ICE) To Learn and to teach how to think: development of creative thinking, June Working with Emotional Intelligence, April Eduardo Torroja Institute Seminar “The art in the structure in Engineering and Architecture” Saint Martin´s College of Art and Design, London One Hundred Design Projects ,Inspiration Painting, Watercolor Painting, Expressive Painting
NOV 2010 JUL/AUG 2009 -Software
Proficient use of Autocad, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Illustrator Intermediate use of Revit, Rhinoceros, Adobe Premiere
-Languages
Spanish: Mother language English command: Proficiency French command: Intermediate
SCHOLARSHIPS -Academic
APR 2014 JUL/AUG 2013 NOV 2012 OCT 2010 NOV 2008 2007- 2008 2006-2007
Selected by ICO Foundation, Madrid, to participate in the workshop by TYIN Tegnestue Architects, as part of the exhibition "The architect is Present". Curator: Luis Fernandez Galiano Scholarship Tongji University, Shanghai, CHINA. Together with other 40 European top-class architect’s students, I was selected to participate in “Shanghai Summer School Program” organized by Tongji University to develop an urban planning project at Shanghai, China. Awarded with a scholarship by the Spain-Japan Foundation to participate in the International Workshop “Contemporary Architecture in Japan: New Territories” in November at The School of Architecture of Valladolid (Spain). Scholarship from “Cátedra Ceramic” to take part in the Workshop “Materiality and weightlessness” at the Museum of Fine Arts in Castellón (Spain). Granted by the UPM to participate in the international program ATHENS "One minute woman, woman landscape" at the School of Architecture of Madrid. Granted by the Spanish Government with free tuition fees at the ETSAM for an Excellent Academic Performance. Scholarship by the “Board of Doctors in Medicine” for an Excellent Academic Efficiency.
- Research/ teaching
2012-2013
Collaboration scholarship MEC (Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports of Spain) with the project “Drawing and planning as strategic action in the comprehension of reality”. Tutor: Atxu Amann. Department: Architectonic Graphic Ideation. Teaching duties under this collaborative project are divided into: Teaching, Preparation of classes, Research
AWARDS
2016
Special Mention. Unbuilt visions international competition promotes critical debate about architecture and design by acknowledging excellence in unbuilt projects. New York, US. Finalist in the national competition PFC Arquitecturayempresa. Final degree project Finalist in the competition IE ARQUITECTURA+. Final degree project First Prize. Sika Architecture contest. "The foreigner". Honorable Mention. ArchMedium competition. “StcRío, electrolinera” in Río de Janeiro Finalist in the contest "Dream house with ceramic lattice", Cátedra Cerámica Madrid. Finalist in the contest Transversal de Biacs, action in the Court of Fine Arts of Seville (Spain).
2015 2014 2012 2011 2008
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
JUL 2015 JUN 2016
JAN- APR 2014 JUN 2013 JUN/JUL 2012 SEP 2010 JUL 2010 2015 2013 2011 2009 2008 TEACHING EXPERIENCE
2015 2012-2013 2011 2011 2010 2009 2009-2010
PUBLICATIONS / EXHIBITIONS
2015 2015 2015 2015 2014 2011-2012 2010-2011 2010 2009
COLLABORATIONS 1100 Architects Collaboration in the design of a residential building in West Village, NY (USA). Participation in the schematic design, design development, construction documents, and construction administration. Collaboration in the schematic design and design development of three Parks Projects: Brownsville Recreation Center (Brooklyn) , Hansborough Recreation Center (Harlem) and Shore Rhode House (Brooklyn). Graphical Collaboration for Venice Biennale. Production of the graphic documents of the projects exhibit in the Spanish Pavilion at the XIV Biennial of Architecture in Venice. Curator: Iñaqui Ábalos Collaboration with architect Gonzalo Pardo in EUROPAN 12, housing Project in Sant Andreu, Barcelona (SPAIN). Collaboration with Garrison Architects Studio in the design of a modular “pod” hotel in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY (USA) and a small residential building in Long Island City, Queens, NY. Participation in the early conceptualization of both projects and further development of schematic floor plans and typical details for the residential building. Collaboration with TINSA, for the realization of the Madrid photographic Catastro. Collaboration with MH architecture studio, Technical Design of “Hospedería in Villafranca de los Barros” (Spain). FREELANCE Renovation of the Infantry Centre, new MAHOU headquarters Social Setting in Coimbra, Portugal. PLADUR construction solutions. Gelosia, Veure sense ser vistos. XXV Habitacola Awards. Link NY (New York, USA). SCHINDLER competition. The hermit crab (SIKA. Madrid, Spain). No more crisis, let´s solve the future. Meeting point (Madrid, Spain). A new bathroom for the School. Make Madrid an advertising panel (Madrid, Spain). Visiting professor at the City College of New York for the midterm reviews. Teacher in the course Draw, Analysis and Ideation II, which belongs to the Primary Architecture Degree taught in ETSAM. Teacher at the creative workshops in San Jose del Parque urban camp, Madrid. Tutor at the learning scheme "THE POSSIBLE CITY", developed around the student competition SIKA 2013 in the subject Draw, Analysis and Ideation II. Tutor at the learning scheme "NO MORE CRISIS, LET´S SOLVE THE FUTURE", developed around the competition SIKA 2010 in the subject DAI II. Tutor at the learning scheme "AUSTERITY IN TIMES OF CRISIS", developed around the student competition SIKA 2009 in the subject DAI II. Volunteer teacher of school support for disadvantaged children, San Blas, Madrid. Final thesis exhibited at the Official College of Architects of Madrid. Video Riverside Drive selected for exhibition at PFC Fest. ARQUITECTURA Y EMPRESA. Final degree project. http://www.arquitecturayempresa.es/noticia/recuperacion-y-reactivacion-del-viaducto-deriverside-drive-proyecto-finalista-en-el-i IE ARQUITECTURA+. Final degree project. http://www.arquideas.net/es/app1223 Exhibition the Architect is Present. ICO Museum. https://vimeo.com/92507247 Projects Culinary School in Harlem and Supportive Housing in Sherman Creek selected by the CCNY for its publication in "cityworks", best students works (New York, USA). Projects Pier in the Spree River and Forum in Berlin (Germany) published in “Contemporary Archaeology” Teaching Unit: Jesús Aparicio (Madrid, Spain). Project Thermodynamic Madrid, selected by Cathedra Iñaqui Ábalos for the oral presentation "juries" in representation of the class. Project Lake, paths and pools at The Casa de Campo, Madrid selected by Cathedra Maroto for the oral presentation “juries”.
REFURBISHMENT AND REACTIVATION OF RIVERSIDE DRIVE VIADUCT
final thesis january 2015
A hypnotic repetition of arches, a module multiplied dozens of times, an impressive forgotten space. Such is now Riverside Drive Viaduct: an abandoned and empty “civil cathedral” that splits the urban space and disconnects Harlem longitudinal and crosswise with the rest of the city, forcing the district to turn its back to the riverfront where its origin is to be found. Every day, while on my way to college, I watched the RSDV asking myself again and again the same question: “how is it possible that such a spectacular space, such a real, beautiful and resounded urban space has not yet been claimed by its neighbours? Ever since, going so far as to turn this matter into the very object of my graduation’s thesis, I still find incomprehensible that a construction of such beauty and dimensions is denied to the community in which it is situated and its space basically used as just surface for parking. Riverside Drive Viaduct has experience how its environment and its employment have changed dramatically over the last 100 years. A poor adaptation to these changes make this place a dangerous area within the urban map of New York, isolating even more the already depressed Harlem neighborhood. The aim of this project is to reintegrate this amazing structure in the city while giving back to the community the huge space generated inside, above and under it.
`Then below the bridge another scene all together a real space, a real urban space an extraordinary structure through an absolutely hypnotic repetition. The relentless scale, the repeated rhythm. It is the closest thing to an infrastructural cathedral` [...]
CONTEXT Built at the western part of Harlem around 1900, rising 25-meter high over the ground, the Riverside Drive Viaduct is high huge steel structure, which flies over a significant topographic depression. This viaduct founds its context in the development, during the first half of the 20th century, of an over 1000 km- high-rising-infrastructure’s mass transit system in NYC that split the city in multiple layers. These structures eased road-traffic while isolating whole neighborhoods and in many cases, turning the space trapped beneath them in residual and neglected places. Recent studies, and the demand for more public squares and open spaces in the city, demonstrate the need to recover those neglected spaces under high-rising infrastructures, giving them back to the citizens and programming its use for civic uses. The RSDV is part of that massive network of structures and claims for an intervention to reactivate its use and reconnect it with the district it belongs to.
PROPOSAL The future of Riverside Drive is more than just a line: it is a space, a catalyst for community activities at the service of a constantly changing of the city. The same structure that now disconnects will eventually unify Harlem in a longitudinal and transverse way: Longitudinally I propose a static reconnection: Through a roof-top garden I will reactivate its surface above by joining two large green masses that are nowadays split. Meanwhile, a socio-cultural and health program will be developed at the intermediate level and a program of recreational and civic activities will be placed at the bottom. In the transverse direction I develop a dynamic and adaptive action: The cross transformation is articulated through the NODES located at streets’ intersections. There, the viaduct connects with the urban fabric and gets attached to its adjacent spaces in its three levels (roofs, adjacent vacant lots, parking ...). Furthermore, this takes the form of high-rising screens that offer a platform to changeable contents through audiovisual media for advertising, informational and cultural use.
model
ACTION OVER THE VIADUCT: GARDEN TERRACE TO HUDSON RIVER Landscaping is an exercise of historical coherence. I want to give the citizens back what was once the main walk along the Hudson River and - today - just a residual and desolated space breaking the linearity of the longest stretching park of NYC that runs along 10km and – literally – just stops for those 560 meters of the viaduct. My proposal reconnects two large green masses (Riverside Park with Washington Park) landscaping, lighting, humanizing and furnishing what today is just a large surface of parking. In doing so, I aim to give back to the community this privileged balcony to its river.
ACTION INSIDE THE VIADUCT Riverside Drive Viaduct is characterized by the incessant and hypnotic repetition of its elements. Following this rationale, I removed my constructive module from the one used by the bridge itself (its central cross), articulating with it the development of the proposed intermediate world. This repetition of the original basic cross provides a consistent, respectful and adaptable system all along the viaduct. This interior space is the true “spine” of the project: It helps to connect the viaduct with the city while joining the triple action proposed by the elevation and giving coherence to both: the transverse reconnection and the longitudinal one. Moreover, this is to be reached only by very specific and essential elements, thus allowing a very permeable and transparent ground floor, permitting a free exchange between the city and the river. This intermediate world serves, illuminates and activates the space below.
ACTION UNDER THE VIADUCT This “civil cathedral” will become a new architectural landmark in Manhattan once its use is returned to the community to whom it belongs. Today, Riverside Drive Viaduct features an island of crime and marginality without sufficient lighting and no sympathy with the pedestrian. Therefore, the selected action is founded on three basic principles: Respect: with its noble inner space, which adds value by activating its environment. Avoiding a direct action that would remove prominence or amplitude to the viaduct. This “world” within the structure is defined by the space comprised between the ground plane and the arches. Pragmatism: To claim the role of big public spaces promoted by great cathedrals I purpose to clear up the space below deck and dedicate only the essential to road-traffic. Besides that, I use a pavement coherent with the order of the viaduct thus incorporating the adjacent spaces. Its influence will be such enough to embody the new backbone of West Harlem. Citizenship: I want to return the community this fantastic space where the sunlight enters while remaining dry on rainy days. From the stands you can contemplate this changing scenario where all kinds of civil activities might take place, ie. from mass gospel to ice-skating, streetdance to mass yoga sessions.
CONCLUSION The opportunity the Riverside Drive viaduct offers is simply unique to rescue a monumental work that already belongs to Harlem, proudly reconnecting it to its surroundings while, in doing so, enriching the city of New York’s anatomy.
GRAPHICAL COLLABORATION for Venice Biennale march -june 2014
Sections development
Selected by the Architectural Design Department of the Superior Technique School of Architecture of Madrid for the production of the graphic documents of the projects exhibit in the Spanish Pavilion at the XIV Biennial of Architecture in Venice.
Building for 24 university lecture rooms. Universidad Pablo de Olavide Architects: MGM. Morales de Giles Arquitectos + Miguel Hernandez Valencia
Red Bull Academy Architects: Langarita + Navarro
PALACIO DE LA CEBADA
competition MAHOU HEADQUARTERS 2015
team: Alejandra Sánchez + Álvaro Soto + Carlos Chacón + María Nuñez + Marta Heras The fantastic structure of a palace is its availability to any situation, change and function. It supports any life circumstance and holds a structure that allows almost everything. We have the commitment of recovering all the forgotten spaces that the Infantry Palace in Madrid has lost during the numerous refurbishments that has suffered during the last years. We want the new “Mahou Space” to be the place where memory has been rescued in a palatial structure. In this program we include floors extending the idea of figurative mosaic to all the building . This floors propose an abstract image of Goya famous paints that evoke the names and activities of a timeless Madrid and simultaneously allows us to recover the trades that have been abandoned in the city. We strongly believe that we have to learn to live with the old structures, not just preserving the facades, we need to adapt to them without destroying them.
SCRATCH
competition SIKA 2014 1st prize
team: Alejandra SĂĄnchez + Diana Mera “The foreigner is not a specific place, it is a state of mind: an unexplored territory, an unfulfilled desire, an accumulation of first times, everything is still unknown and awaits to be discovered. SCRACTCH and let IT discover you.
bosquEDO
workshop Japanese Arquitecture
team: Alejandra Sรกnchez + Diana Mera There are many challenges facing the Japanese cities; the population is decreasing, the society is getting older and the environmental problems expand. We take as the starting point of the workshop the proposal submitted at the World Congress of Architecture 2011 by architect Koh Kitayama. The community and the local culture are considered the support of urban planning, building strong community ties. Our project is located at a site of 120x120 meters within the urban ring of Tokyo, next to Moriyama house. We take as the project generator one of the basic points proposed by Kytayama: NATURAL DISASTERS PROTECTION THROUGH STREET AFFORESTATION, projecting a forest in the middle of the city of Tokyo. We strongly believe that the contact with nature is the focus of social interaction. By transformig the six different existing housing groups into six focus we generate citizen activity. The houses have been elevated as the treetops, and have been modulated with the Japanese tatami dimension.
CULINARY SCHOOL IN NEW YORK
studio class 2012
team: Alejandra Sรกnchez + Diana Mera The project is a Culinary School in New York City, a Student Competition done during my exchange year program in Manhattan. The site presented a lot of different height levels due to the bridges that qualified the place. Riverside Drive, Henry Hudson Parkway, Marginal Street and Hudson River Greenway created a hostile environment. It has been proposed the STEPPING DOWN of the building, which becomes the connection between the high Riverside Drive (a highway half a mile long with FREE PARKING place in New York and access points too separated one from another) and the low Marginal Street. The stepping of the spaces creates variations of floor heights and different faรงade elevations of the building for both the front and the back. The building volume is literally cut away where the spaces are thought most challenging and perhaps negative. This strategy also allows light into the entry area, converted in a public plaza that dissects the building and becomes a space of interaction. It is also the place where an open food market is placed. Taking advantage of the sunlight that hits all the roofs and terraces that are created from this stepping down, a series of CULTIVATING PLATFORMS are proposed for students to grow their vegetables and fruits used for their meals.
DREAM HOUSE WITH CERAMIC LATTICE
competition 2012 finalist
The finalist project is a competition organized by Cátedra Cerámica Madrid with the title “Dream House with ceramic lattice” It is a conceptual project. The brief was to design a dreamed house, the sky has been chosen for it. Therefore, our dreamed house has been raised to one of the highest roofs of the city. The competition gives the material to do it: ceramic. To approach the project it has been taken into account two of the fundamental characteristics of ceramic lattice: the control of light, and the possibility of seeing without being seen. It has been designed a ceramic piece of limited dimensions. To do so, it has been taken the contour of three hexagons. When juxtaposing them, they generate a hexagon of light that generates the uniform interior atmosphere as well as the exterior appearance. A not structural ceramic lattice wall that folds around itself gives continuity to all the spaces in such a way that a subtle tour is generated from the public ambience on the outside, to the most intimate space, in the heart of the house. The folding of this ceramic lattice wall gives to every stay a different quality of lighting. By overlapping layers it has been created a light gradation between the different spaces. In the project, the intensity of light varies from the nonexistence of layers with the only presence of glass to the presence of up to three layers of lattice in the most reserved part of the house. This way it has been created different atmospheres of possible action. There is a slight change of height of the ceiling throughout the house. Not only it has been suggested a tour from the more lightful spaces to the less illuminated ones, but also from the highest and more opened to the closest and lower in height.
SOCIAL CENTER IN COIMBRA
competition 2013
team: Alejandra Sรกnchez + Ara Gonzรกlez + Noa Gonzรกlez The project becomes a meeting point in the city of Coimbra. A social stage that activates the place and regenerates the city. We give importance to the existing staircase, tranforming it into a place to stay and into a connector for the two adjacent squares. A mobile system that allows flexible interior configuracรณn reflects abroad as part of the Portuguese handicraft history.
ELECTROLINERA
competition 2012 honorific mention
team: Alejandra Sánchez + Diana Mera + Josep Alcover + Albert Figueras The Project is a place to charge electric cars in Rio the Janeiro. The building is an active element. Rio de Janeiro´s sun becomes the renewable energy source needed by the new generation of electric cars. Rio de Janeiro in this area has a very clear urban lineal pattern. The project follows this characteristic and a stripes proposal has been developed. The project takes advantage of the elongated, linear and fragmented parceling as a starting point to formalize the proposal. The building sews the dividing wall, it respects the street alineation and completes the block. The height of the building is different depending on the limit – sea, park, dividing wall and streetadopting a more human scale in the commercial area. The multi-layered modulated roof is covered at South by solar panels and it has been opened at North to allow the entry of indirect light which doesn´t produce overheating. The skin of the building is in charge of capturing as much solar energy as possible by a modular structure. This intelligent skin undulates longitudinally and steps down in both directions in order to optimize the process of capturing solar energy. The crossing stepping down allows the entry of natural light to all the living spaces. The program has been divided in four stripes which are interconnected. Inside each of the four stripes are clearly defined services and storage areas.
ZATSTCRIO ZAT
PARKING
ELECTROLINERA + CONCESIONARIO
OFICINAS
COMERCIOS
THERMODINAMIC MADRID
studio 5
The work done in this studio class consists of an urban analysis of Madrid from the thermodynamic point of view. By superimposing different thermodynamic maps ( wind, geothermal, solar incidence...) I detect areas of opportunity in Madrid. Most of them are located at the historic district. After an analysis of this central area I perform a recovery system through thermodynamic factors. I create a system of plazas and rooftops that are closely related, setting a recovery network.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
1100 Architects (6months)
Polytechnic University of Madrid (16months)
Garrison Architects (2months)
MH10 Mera (2months)