Portfolio_Andrei Rizea

Andrei

Rizea Portfolio Selected works

2017 - 2020

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“It was simply a room; it was composed of a floor, ceiling, and four walls, all of which seemed to fuse together as I walked through this horizontal plane. I just wished it was vertical, not horizontal. I remember a time when a door wasn’t just a door, but a threshold from one memory to another, and a ceiling the first thing I saw every day, not just a flat surface.”

— excerpt from Humanscape, Andrei Rizea

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CONTENTS 4 Reformed Rural Paradigms An Archetype of British Columbia’s Rural Agenda (Thesis Project)

32 Multimedia Park Urban Renewal + Museum

(Architectural Design Studio II)

40 The Compass Observatory Cabin

(Architectural Design Workshop)

46 Fari Sardegna Lighthouse Restoration and Hotel Re-appropriation (AOUMM Professional Project)

52 Sitting On Multi-functional Urban Furniture (Self-Construction Workshop)

54 Photography

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Reformed Rural Paradigms An Archetype of British Columbia’s Rural Agenda Master’s Thesis, Individual — 2018/19, 3 Terms Lillooet, BC, Canada — Supervisor: Matteo Poli Despite the growing climate change repercussions and livability concerns related to the densification of our cities, the UN’s 2007 projection indicated that 70% of our global population will inhabit these overcrowded spaces, a limited surface area that represents solely 2% of our earth’s land mass. What is happening on the remaining 98% of our usable spaces? (statistics from “Countryside? A Report,” by AMO) British Columbia’s vast, diverse, and ‘virgin’ territories provide an unexplored potential to investigate this increasingly complex relationship between the societal and physical implications of the transformative countryside as opposed to the ‘domesticated’ and ‘cultivated’ connotations associated with the undergoing study on Europe’s rural situation. Thus, an increasingly influential natural phenomena in terms of scale and intensity acting on both a regional and global scale, shaping both the lives and physical characteristics of rural areas in a cyclical process, is examined: wildfires.

Consequently, as a means to present a situational example that allows for a flexible study model acting as a framework within different contexts, yet in turn provide a tangibly perceptible vision adhering to a clear ‘corporeal experience,’ the District of Lillooet is the site of this rural manifesto. Its rich history, diverse geographical features, evolving rural-urban interface, and ideal location for wildfires allows for a holistic materialization of these potential changes to be speculated upon. Methodologically, the vision is separated in three distinct yet interwoven scenarios: urban strategies, architectural visions, and landscape identities.

Furthermore, three topics are employed to organize the multiple layers adherent to each scenario: scale, time, and place.

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Rural-Urban Interface — District of Lillooet zoning, sites & connections

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Scenario I — Urban Strategies Urban Strategies are employed throughout Lillooet as a means to provide a short and long term vision for the expected expansion of the district’s population and connectivity to the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District and beyond. The district’s untapped agricultural sector, potential commercial opportunities, and unconnected recreational/touristic sites allow for a malleable rural-urban growth model to promote yet re-contextualize the unique community identity and geographical features of an evolving rural B.C. town.

The analysis begins with a general identification of key circulation, commercial, infrastructural, and residential interventions to accommodate a refined rural identity of the town, along with a reconsideration of the necessary precautions associated with wildfire management. In turn, a more focused proposal is defined within the residential and agricultural sectors as suggested by the district itself, followed by a more holistic yet complex outlook towards the ‘future of the countryside.’

Satellite Collage Composition — District of Lillooet

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Urban Strategies — Short & long term initiatives

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DOL Initiatives — Agricultural Strategies

*note DOL stands for District of Lillooet

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DOL Initiatives — Residential Strategies

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Proposed Initiatives — Agricultural Strategies

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Proposed Initiatives — Residential Strategies

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Scenario II — Architectural Visions The architectural vision for the District of Lillooet is situated in the “Special Area 4 - Airport Lands” of the city’s “Official Community Plan.” The area’s high fire risk, diverse set of programmatic suggestions, ideal view corridors, flat topography, and undeveloped status provides a unique and favourable opportunity to realize an innovative vision for a multilayered residential and agricultural scheme. A 1 km2 area at the northern end of the airstrip is the site of the intervention.

The resulting proposal is separated in two scales: a master plan for a successional system of residential relationships and a hypothetically ‘semi-private’ custom country home for an agricultural researcher. The low-density cluster model master plan is separated into two residential typologies: a ‘fixed’ modular incremental urban residential growth model following an intensification vertical growth pattern every 25 years of one, two, and three bedroom units, juxtaposed by an ‘unfixed’ low density rural residential growth model of custom country homes with diverse roles that act as both private homes and socio-cultural nodes within the community.

Exposure Assessment ‘Special Area 4’ — Land-cover hazards

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Residential Master Plan — Modular housing meets stand-alone ‘community homes’

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The Pit House

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The Agricultural Researchers

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Ground Floor — Semi-private flex space

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First Floor — Private work-live enclave

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Layers of Construction — “Imprecise” methods of construction meet “precise” prefabricated components

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Connections — “Passive-based” assemblies fuse together “organic” and “inorganic” materials creating a new rural identity

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Scenario III — Landscape Identities Mt. McLean, the prominent Northeastern peak overlooking Lilloet, has been the site of vast changes over the past quarter century. The high intensity wildfires of 2004 and 2009 heavily altered the perceptible identity of the forested landscape, carving an altered vision of reality in B.C.’s rural regions for locals and visitors. A pre-existing logging road sculpted by the need to manage Lillooet’s growing wildfires risk and a local trail to the panoramic Red Rock view point serves as the site of a thematic path from the city to the peak of Mt. McLean.

The 15 km Mt. McLean Summit Path connects 10 distinct yet interwoven nodes promoting Lillooet’s rural and outdoors identity whilst acting as a socio-culturally and environmentally informative pilgrimage on the wildfire risk mitigation initiatives, local native belief systems, geographical features, and wildfire effects of the immediate and surrounding territories.

The overnight journey to the peak provides the visitor with a paradoxically personal yet shared experience of a malleable imaginative landscape acting as a sensorial exploration of the place—linking the past, present, and future.

Wildfire Effects — Burn severity on soils and trees

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Summit Path Master Plan — A sensorial journey through 10 nodes

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Nodes Zooms — A Scaled Experience

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Node 1 — Portal

Node 6 — Borders

Node 2 — Ascending

Node 7 — Reflect

Node 3 — Red Rock

Node 8 — Analyze

Node 4 — Descending

Node 9 — Observe

Node 5 — Crossroads

Node 10 — Immerse

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Node 10 — Immerse

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The 360o Pavilion

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Pavilion Studies — The immersive experience

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Pavilion Details — Vertical phases and technicalities

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Architectural Visions — The pit house

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Landscape Identities — The compass

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Three Scenarios of Lillooet — MDF, wax, copper

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Site Model Zooms — Lakes, valleys, rivers & a vision

The Pit House Experience — A material study

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Multimedia Park Urban Renewal + Museum

Architectural Design Studio II, Group — Spring 2019 Milan, Italy — Supervisor: Andreu Arriola The architectural design II studio aims to restore and revitalize the underused and decaying peripheral district of GiambellinoLorenteggio as part of a greater urban renewal competition initiated by the City of Milan called ‘Riformare Milano.’ The greater district is split into individual sites, each with their separate programmatic and formal requirements in response to the contextual urban scenarios.

Multimedia Park is situated on the westernmost border of the San Cristoforo ‘sub-district.’ The site’s unique urban setting at the border of the agricultural lands surrounding Milan to the West, housing districts North/South, and its terminus location as part of a prolonged under-utilized green belt north of the Naviglio Grande results in an increasingly fragmented densification in both programs and space as the visitors approaches the repurposed multimedia museum, a heritage site of an unfinished structure envisioned as an extension to the San Cristoforo railway station designed by Aldo Rossi.

My main contribution revolved around the ideation of the park’s programmatic and formal logic, along with the realization of the structures and landscape details within the park that carried through the enveloping scaffolding structure of the multimedia museum.

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A Greater Area of Impact — Contextual relationships between neighboring projects & existing conditions

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Master Plan — An Incremental Fragmented Density

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Scaffolding module spreads out from a central core organizing the space in an x, y & z axis

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A Layered Urban Organization — Surface, spatial, architectural and thematic interventions top-off the greater ‘green belt’

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The Multimedia Museum — Aldo Rossi’s structure is preserved and encased within a shell; the building becomes the exhibit

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The Plaza — Various paving and landscaping materials converge around the project’s core creating an animated space Exhibition Pavilion

Kiosk

Greenhouse

Urban Sculpture

Node Typologies — Architectural interventions supplement the park’s programmatic and spatial logic

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Multimedia Park — An interconnected yet deconstructed grid reacting to external urban, social and environmental forces

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The Compass Observatory Cabin

Architectural Design Workshop, Group — Summer 2019 Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia — Supervisor: Ramon Valimana As part of an elective academic workshop set forth by the Politecnico di Milano, the ‘Special Topic in Architecture Design’ workshop design brief was to choose a site within an extreme environment anywhere on Earth and propose a 125 m3 ‘cabin’ with an open agenda and purpose. My group chose the Salar de Uyuni for its stark isolation from any major human settlement, unique geographical features and physical properties.

The Compass acts as a monolithic cantenary structure sculpted with the forms, materials and hues of the surrounding volcanic mountains, salt flats and local vernacular architectural typologies.

A recessed semi-open living space carved out of the slat flat embeds the visitor within the territory and vast horizon beyond; an open bowl above the dome following the body’s natural curve aims towards the sacred ‘Dark Constellations’ of the Inca’s celestial belief system. The central huaca branches out to neighbouring sites creating a Ceque System unified by the landscape and constellations.

My main collaboration consisted of the cabin’s formal evolution and main celestial approach, along with the large scale drawings depicting the cabin’s relationship with its surroundings.

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Form & Function Evolution — Local vernacular houses and salt piles form the base for the conical landmark

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Ceque System — Land art ground markings branch out from the core cocooned by a ‘bowl’ of volcanic mountains

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Recede & Perceive — A dialectic relationship that governs our everyday lives manifests itself in a continuous gesture

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Land Meets Sky — The world’s largest mirror blurs the distinction between the sky and ground

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Dark vs. Light — A natural based embedded phosphorescent powder mirrors the sky; a central skylight shows time

Changing Perspectives — The open dome observatory above is inversed below, a series of ‘windows’ marking the entrances

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Fari Sardegna

Lighthouse Restoration + Hotel Re-appropriation AOUMM Professional Project, Student Intern — Winter 2019 Sardinia, Italy — Supervisor: Luca Astorri The multidisciplinary design experience at AOUMM gave me a new insight into the professional process, building codes, legal implications, and broad spectrum of design principles. In terms of the specific tasks and activities that I had to complete during my 2.5 month Internship for AOUMM, I was assigned various 2D drawings, digital + physical 3D models, presentation document compositions, sketches and research tasks for a wide spectrum of competitions and client based proposals.

Fari Sardegna, one of the key projects I participated in during my internship, was a national ‘competition’ for the restoration and re-use of 3 light houses spread throughout the coastal areas of Sardegna into future luxury 5 star hotels held by the ‘Coastal Conservation Society of Sardinia.’ Prior to offering design proposals, we began analyzing the main lighthouses around Sardegna along with the cultural/physical context of the island’s history.

In terms of my main collaboration, I was tasked with measuring the square meters of each lighthouse and comparing it with the accompanying technical documents. Following this, I had to model the two main lighthouses in Rhino to an adequate level of detail.

Finally, I was tasked with proposing two detailed plans of the internal distribution and types of suites required for the hotels.

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Socio-cultural Research — A collection of key museums and archaeological sites dispersed throughout Sardinia

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Capo Sperone Main Structure - Economical Layout

Main Structure - Spacious Layout

Supplementary Structures - Mixed Layout

Schematic Plans — A diverse stratification of history becomes re-envisioned into a terraced system of luxury accommodation

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Punta Falcone Main Structure - Economical Layout

Main Structure - Spacious Layout

Supplementary Structures - Mixed Layout

Legend - Hotel Room Types 1. Standard Suite

(15 - 25 sqm.)

2. Classic Suite

(25 - 35 sqm.)

3. Large Suite

(35 - 45 sqm.)

4. ‘Semaforisti’ Suite (55 - 60 sqm) 5. Common Area

(Lounge)

6. Technical Room

Schematic Plans — Two unified independent volumes provide for an opportunity to explore private & common spaces

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Island Lookouts — An interconnected hierarchy of historic decaying sites define Sardinia’s coastal boundary and identity

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Capo Sperone

Punta Falcone

The Existing Condition — Countless opportunities to experience Sardinia’s character become apparent through study models

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Sitting On

Multi-functional Urban Furniture IAH Summer 2018 Festival, Self-Construction Workshop San Cataldo, Italy — Supervisors: Archistart, SUHD Studio Following a self-construction competition for the IAH Summer 2018 Festival, a set of urban and coastal regenerative structures were proposed by Archistart and competitors alike with the aim of redefining the existing infrastructure and coastal identity of San Cataldo’s waterfront for locals and visitors of all ages.

Sitting On, a winner of the competition prior to the workshop, acts as a multi-functional urban furniture gesture connecting the seaside pedestrian and vehicular traffic with the waterfront through an interconnected set of programs serving multiple age groups: “various seating typologies, public services (recycling, waste disposal, bike storage) and a play area (sculpt and climb).” Source: Archistart.

My main collaboration consisted of participating in the revised design of the structure and a focus on the seating typologies, in addition to the ‘signage’ of the installation. Photos source: Archistart + participants.

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Process, Use & Completion — An installation accessed from all sides serves passerby’s as they ‘play’ along the waterfront

Detailed Construction — A common architectural language unifies the multiple materials and assembly strategies

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Photography

The Valley — 2020 Architizer One Photo Challenge Finalist

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A collection of space, form & composition

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