TAYLOR WELLNESS CENTER
MURPHY PARK Taylor, TX
PARTNER: J FLORES
Vision for the Taylor Wellness Center is driven by the intent to create civic identity in an established neighborhood scale within a small town that is experiencing rapid change. This wellness center provides a place for refuge, inspiration, and well-being for the local community and visitors.
Three main strategies were implied in designing process: framing the site, creating a neighborhood of buildings that engages the community and Murphy park, and creating exterior spaces that invite meditation or catching up with a neighbor.
Taylor Wellness Center addresses the need for adaptable spaces by creating a focus on resiliency and the well-being of the users. The use of restrained materials and the creation of pockets of space for future development will allow the City of Taylor to serve a rapidly growing population efficiently and effectively.
RAMAS
RÍO AMAZONAS 70 MEXICO CITY, MEXICO
PARTNER: ZAYRA RICO WITH INDIVIDUAL POST JURY MODIFICATION
Ramas, the culinary institute will serve as a center of the professional culinary education in Mexico. In order to connect with the community, Ramas will address the social, and ecological issues in the design by providing series of pocket gardens throughout the building. This new school will be located in the center of Mexico City’s Business District. It is off of Río Amazonas and Calle Río Lerma Streets. Mexico City’s major avenue, Paseo De La Reforma, is located to the south of the site. The lot is roughly 3,600 sq. ft.
Mexico City has been suffering from air pollution for years due to a lack of vegetation and heavy motor vehicles. This building will provide sky gardens for the city, giving relief from the dense urban fabric. The upper garden will be an outdoor interactive space for students and faculty. They can exercise, grow vegetables, study, or socialize in this garden. The greenery and soil of the garden will also cool down the building during the summer. The angled windows on the southeast façade are ideal for getting more natural daylight into the building and saving energy.
My partner and I worked closely throughout the project development. Once we developed form, program, and placement of the program together, I focused on developing garden restaurant, bar, and the two teaching kitchens.
BASIC BLOCK WITH MAXIMUM DIMENSIONS 40’ x 90’ x 120’ INTRODUCE ANGLES FOR INTRODUCING LIGHT TO SOUTH AND FOR WATER SHEDDING SUBTRACTING SPACES FOR POCKET GARDENSPaseo Verde
Paseo Verde means “Green Walk”. The culinary institute Ramas aims to respond to the sustainability issues of Mexico City. The business district has dense urban fabric where green space is precious. Ramas proposes a reinterpretation of traditional courtyard culture to the modern skyscraper. This building aims to establish a Green Path in the Business District, looping around major parks and vertical gardens, including Ramas.
THE NOOKS
825 N. ST. MARY SAN ANTONIO, TX
The site is located at N. Saint Mary’s Street and Richmond Avenue. It is near by Tobin Center, San Antonio Public Library, and the Southwest School of Art. San Antonio River is located on north of the site; it can be accessed through paths on Navarro Street and Lexington Street.
The Nooks is composed of 5 residential units. Each of the units have 3 bedrooms, 3 1/2 bathrooms, laundry roon, kitchen, dining, and living. Space for 2 cars is also included in each unit.
Functions are divided into different floors. This staggered floor levels allow the front entrance to be off the ground for more privacy, and it helps each function to have its own unique environment. With the use of half floors, they are isolated but also able to interact.
SIDE ELEVATION - N. ST MARY ST. FRONT ELEVATION - RICHMOND AVE.LONGITUDINAL SECTION THROUGH RICHMOND AVE.
LEVEL 5
INSTITUTO TECNICO WING
Classrooms
Common Room
Meeting Room
Professors’ Offices
LEVEL 2
LICEO CLASSICO E LINGUISTICO WING
Classrooms Labs
Lower part of Mensa Kitchen
INSTITUTO TECNICO WING
Classrooms Labs
Small Auditorium
Professors’ Offices
LEVEL 1
GROUND CONNECTION LEVEL
LICEO CLASSICO E LINGUISTICO WING
Classrooms
Common Room
Music Room
Large Lab
INSTITUTO TECNICO WING
Open to Gym below with track around Upper flatform of large auditorium
LEVEL 0
VIA OTTAVIANO UBALDINI LEVEL
LICEO CLASSICO E LINGUISTICO WING
Small Auditorium
Classrooms Labs
Small Auditorium
INSTITUTO TECNICO WING
Gym
Large Auditorium
LEVEL 3
VIA CA’ CARTOLARO LEVEL
BRIDGE CONNECTION LEVEL
LICEO CLASSICO E LINGUISTICO WING
Classrooms
Upper part of Mensa
Common Room
INSTITUTO TECNICO WING
Administration Office
Classrooms
Professors’ Offices
Common Room
Connection with the surrounding neighborhood was one of the major focus for this project. This goal was achieved through integration of topography. The outdoor path flowing below the bridge connects Cia Ca’ Cartolaro and Otta via no Ubaldini as well as provides gathering spaces for the community.
STREET VIEW FROM VIA CA’ CARTOLARO REVIT ENSCAPE PHOTOSHOPMONARCH
BULVERDE OAKS NATURE PRESERVE SAN ANTONIO, TX
CLASS DESIGN BUILD STUDIO
28’-4” X 27’-8” X 14’-6”
The project’s design was inspired by the monarch butterflies that can be found throughout the site. The studio aimed to design a structure that is open to the nature around it but also provides a space that is shaded and protected from the elements. It appears to “lift up” like a butterfly taking off, while the roof was designed to be a butterfly roof to help achieve this effect.
“The Monarch” is made up of three steel and wooden structure frames that are symmetrically identical, aligned, and connected. The frames were designed with modularity in mind to help ease construction and to keep costs down.
Wooden girders are cross-axial and supported by two steel columns on parallel ends of the structure. To provide shading, the top of the girders are covered by corrugated roofing panels while the bottom girder utilizes trellis panels to shade the east and west sides. Corrugated metal roofing provides complete shade and protects the classroom space from inclement weather, while the trellis panels provide fifty percent shading and are transparent enough to give an unobstructed view of the trees. The roofing panels slope downward to direct rainwater into a gutter located on the central axis of the structure, which drains water to the back of the structure and into a water tank so it can be collected. A closet was built on the south side to hold trail tools and classroom supplies with a whiteboard in front.
STEEL COLUMNS WITH CONCRETE FOOTINGS
X GIRDERS
GUTTER
TRELLIS PANELS WITH SUPPORT BEAMSFURNITURE DESIGN: Jo-’gak-bo
ThistableisinspiredbyKoreanJo-’gak-bo.
Jogakbois a style of patchwork made by connecting scrap pieces of fabrics in Korea.
When creating a work of art, it is customary to think about the work and select materials suitable for it. However, Jogakbois made with limited materials. Various insignificant pieces that were destined to be thrown away were integrated into one beautiful piece of work.
Following this traditional approach, this table is composed only of scrap pieces of wood.
There was no exact shop drawing to build this table. It was designed by organizing scraps by different sizes, grain patterns, and colours to create one harmonious piece.
The top of the table responds close to the traditional Jogakbo cloths, which are 2-dimensional, and the bottom responds to the 3-dimensional nature of the table by extruding those patterns to different lengths.
BRISE SOLEIL EXPLORATION: SunVisor
ThisSunVisorisinspiredbyGermantextileartist AnniAlber’sweavingpiece,“Dotted”(1959).
This sun visor is made entirely out of wood, which is not a typical choice of material for a piece of clothing. Rather, the popular choice of material for the buildings.
Thinly shaved wood sheets are carefully weaved like fabric, and compressed wood shavings are embroidered like beads. All the wooden components delicately join together to cast a personal shading on one’s face.
While a sun visor is a personal accessory worn on one’s head, and a brise soleil is a feature that is incorporated into the design of the building, they share a common purpose in providing shade and protection from the sun.