Architecture Intern - Porfolio

DAVID ASOKEJI

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RTFOLIO

From the analysis of some inspirational architects, a driving quote arises: “Just as a designer must be adaptive, so must his/her design be biomorphically inclined into the landscape in which it is notched into, with a cubimistic collaged hive mind of functional flexibility in its program, minimalistic in its appearance with a contrasting density in its form, inversely deconstructive permission of flowing detachable and reversible components, aided highly by structure in form of foundational and aesthetical linear elements, and glazed with an embryo of total design in its internal relations, this is the architectural paradigm of absurd cohesion with conventional architecture”—all what I define as Orthogonal Complexity.

— asokeji, david

I am David Asokeji, a Graduate Architecture Student at the University of Washington, after receiving a Bachelor of Science in Architecture degree at the University of Idaho. I hereby express my desire to pursue an Architecture Intern opportunity in your office.

Prior to pursuing an Undergraduate and Graduate degree, starting in 2019, I have garnered internship experiences in the information technology (IT) department at Total Energies—an oil and gas company—and practical knowledge and skills in the production of women-oriented clutch purses and sash bags at a local bag industry in Nigeria. Throughout my undergraduate student years, engaged in voluntary activities such as: low-income housing construction for the non-profit organization, Habitat for Humanities. I participated in the University of Idaho’s Housing and Residence Life non-profit project, “Paint the Palouse.” In addition, have gained voluntary work experience in classroom management for the WSU Boeing Computer Programming Camp, acquired professional architectural skills as a volunteer intern with BlissArchitecture, and food service experience working for Idaho Eats.

Over my few years of studying architecture as a student, have and continue to learn many things that have corrected, shaped, and encouraged my perspective and the techniques I use to approach aspects of the design world. This knowledge has humbled me and taught me how to address design subjects with care, playful creativity, and a mind-soul-body passion whenever encounter a design assignment. As a result, to the best of my abilities, would be coming into an internship opportunity with an open mind to learning from everyone around me, as well as with a library of perspectives on design pathways and strategies have applied and would apply to any future design project—“Health and Wellness in Design,” “Architectural Representation,” “The Cohesion of Nature and Architecture,” “Material and Structural Complexities in Design,” and “Process and Iteration as a Pathway for Providing a Design Solution to Engage a Problem.”

In my Master’s education, am embodied with a quest for knowledge on the application of architectural, social, economic, and ecological perspectives accumulated over the years to a research area particularly focused on “The progress of generating, elevating and enhancing social communities for members of underdeveloped, underrepresented and refugee societies.” This design aspiration began with an interest in providing help for less privileged families. When I started college at the University of Idaho, that aspiration expanded to provide housing for the less privileged worldwide. I continue to learn each day and plan to gather ample knowledge through my Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Internship experience, transforming this vision into reality for when the aspiration to be certified as an Architect becomes fruition, fulfilling the dream of creating a place called home for these families, social communities, and urban planned areas oriented toward the people. Being inspired by Dorte Mandrup’s interview on “Building for Social Communities”—via the Louisiana Channel on YouTube—has helped shape my perspective on focus points for how I may approach creating social spaces for developing communities through “People Oriented Urban Spaces” and “Constructing, Developing, and Aiding Social Communities.”

DAVID ASOKEJI (he/him)

Co-Chair CBE Student Advisory Council

Member, Student Mentor AIAS Master of Architecture 2025 College of Built Environments (986) 600-8684 dasokeji@uw.edu

UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON

DAHO DESIGN BUILD

The Moscow Chamber of Commerce and Visitor Center, located in the heart of the city’s historic downtown, plays a vital role in bringing commerce and community together. Unfortunately, the organization’s existing building was not effectively facilitating this role. Instead it was a mishmash of past uses, dating back to the 1920s, ranging from a utility company, to private offices, to a bank. [Redacted] partnered with the Chamber to renovate the 3,150sf building. The renovated facility better aligns visitor and staff experience with the organization’s core mission.

As the city’s Visitor Center, the Chamber building has a role that transcends its primary use as office space; it sets the tone for the experience of Moscow through glimpses into the city’s unique identity. Each aspect of the design was viewed as an opportunity to connect building to place. This was accomplished by mapping material histories, phenomenological qualities, and cultural iconography onto specific project needs.

This ambitious approach combined with a very limited budget ($14.60/sf) necessitated concurrent applied research into circular and vernacular construction strategies. Students investigated the incorporation of multiple streams of waste material from sources of local cultural significance. The design focused on surgical interventions during the demolition process; moving and reusing existing building elements. The project also recalls Moscow’s well-regarded history of brick making through the development of a mortar-less compressed earth block partition wall system that challenges conventional office wall assemblies.

Through research, collaborative discussions, experimentation, prototyping, and construction students were able to provide a flexible and adaptable home for the Chamber. Integrating project responsive applied research and regenerative approaches resets the boundary for both students and the community of what architecture can be - both as a process and an outcome.

The Focused on visual perception, arrival sequence, and the effect thermal comfort has on energy demands, this project combines Rainier Beach’s urban farms, ethnic food producers, and light industrial zones to become the city’s hub for ethnic food production and delivery; this is to transform Rainier Beach into a new model of equitable transit-oriented development (TOD), where people in the neighborhood can gain access to employment, education, and entrepreneurship opportunities. Following the AIA Framework for Design Excellence, this project also seeks to achieve [1] a net zero energy building design with the aid of an ETFE facade for thermal comfort alongside on-site energy production through solar PV’s, [2] a biophilic design that enhances the design for well-being by incorporating a Hydroponic Farm. The farm uses harvested rainwater for its irrigation, which also feeds the building’s primary water needs.

HYRDROCATION TOWER

THE RAINIER BEACH FOOD INNOVATION DISTRICT IS A GEOGRAPHIC CONCENTRATION OF FOOD ORIENTED BUSINESSES, SERVICES, AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES THAT LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SUPPORT THROUGH PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES — RAINIER BEACH ACTION COALITION

FLOOR PPT

- 5 15/16"

FLOOR

- 5 15/16"

NORTH FACING SECTION PERSPECTIVE

FLOOR PPT

5 15/16"

FLOOR

5 15/16"

FLOOR PPT

5 15/16"

11 1/16"

REFUGE OF RESISTANCE

Where shall I begin?

At the dawn of disaster, or at the dawn of death

What shall life choose for me?

A homage of detached dreams, circulating through my entity

Where shall my security lie?

In the valley of complete unsurety

Basking in the apocalyptic nature of these lands

Where rapture and genocide are one Where shall I hide?

For the porcelain of the future doth hunt the heart of my people

Desecrating their holiness by bombs of heartbreak What must I remember?

For there are they that seek the heart of us

But we shall rise forth a memorable catalyst, We shall not forget the past

We are not “narrative terrorists”

And this is our resistive place of refuge

EXTERNAL CIRCULATION GARDEN SPACE

MAIN CIRCULATION RUIN

CATALYST” EXTERIOR SPACES

EXPLODED

RENOVATING PORTLAND

For this project, we were tasked with developing a one person and three person unit, using patterns from the “Pattern Language” book to design an apartment complex, East of the Pacific NW College of Art in Portland. Firstly, I endeavored to set circulation as the site definer, in response to the surrounding building heights and entrances. Thereafter, the pattern of window places and ceiling heights became more prevalent in the overall design, through tilted mullions and sky lights. I also purposed for an art mural on the Northeast corner of the site as a way of connecting to the city. All an iterative developing design.

MOMENT PERSPECTIVES

CROSS-SECTION

UNITS ORIENTATION | FIRST FLOOR

INTERIOR WALL

EXTERIOR WALL

CONCEPT

LARGO DEI LIBRARI

The foundations of Piazza Largo Dei Librari begins with the construction of the 10th century church dedicated to Saint Barbara, and built on the foundations of an ancient 6th century chapel in the hemicycle of the Theatre of Pompei. It is believed that the church belonged to Giovanni Crescenzio, the undisputed Lord of Rome graced with the title, “Partician of the Romans”. Unfortunately for Giovanni, he was captured and beheaded in Castel Sant. Angelo by the imperial troops of Otto III, after he killed Pope John XIV, and imposed three antiPopes. As a main candidate for multiple restorations, Santa Barbara was restored for the first time in 1306. In 1601, it was entrusted by Pope Clement VIII to the University of Librari. This is where this Piazza got its name from: ““Largo” meaning “small” in Italian, for the upclined trapezeiodal space”, and ““Dei Librairi” meaning “of Librari”. Santa Barbara had a Greek Cross Temple that predated the church, and was enriched with frescoes. The church remained important through the Middle Ages, but was abondened in 1878, deconscecrated as a Holy Worship Space and used as a simple warehouse for a long time. As a result, its ornaments where “taken” to Sant. Carlo Ai Catinari. Furthermore, its Baroque facade was designed by none other than Giuseppe Passeri, an Italian painter and draughtsman trained in the arts by his uncle, Giovanni Battista Passeri– born in Rome and lived through 1654 to 1714. He also trained in the studio of Carlo Maratta, and Italinan Late Barouque (1625-1713) painter, draughtsman and printmaker, of whom he became the favorite student. Giuseppe painted frescoes and altarpieces for churches and leading Roman families in the like of: Barberini, Corsini, Pallavicini. Among other painting he did, they consist of “St. Peter Baptizing the Centurion”, Santa Catetina’s second chapel on the right, and the altar painting of the “Three Archangels and Madonna of the Rosay”, self portraits of cardinals for Mario Guarnacci’s “Vitae et res gestae pontificum romanorum”, and others. It is believed his most famous work is the decoration of the presbytery of Viterbo Cathedral c.1690. All in all, his work on the church facade dates back to another restoration in 1680, carried out at the expense of the Florentine book seller, Zenobio Masotiti.

REVIEWING

OBSERVING

ODIFYING ADOPTING

This project began with inspirations of: shaping lines of sight with the heights of buildings as portrayed on Vicolo di Mazzamurelli when framing Opera Nazionale Montessori, encouraging absorption into a space by directing circulation flow and areas of attention as excersized in Largo Dei Librari that terminates Ponte Sisto Nothward through Via Dell’Arco Del Monte, implementing the Universal Prospect of togetherness and unism as expressed in the cosmotesque designs of Church flooring with the intent of incorporating the homeless, analyzing the existing proximities of day to day living prospects like apartments and markets, and ruminating on solar orientation for heating and solar gain as prioritized in Ostia Antica’s Baths of Terme Del Foro. Thereafter, drawing inspiration from how Piazza Largo Dei Librari embodies this “Black Hole” energy flow of pulling invitation and emphatic expulsion, shaped by it geometry and connection to its surrounding. With iterations exploring this “flow, absorb and expell” dynamic, it was possible to create this new Piazza within which the new Student Study Abroad Centre would reside. Aided by elements such as: vegetation to provide natural shade and zones, varied building heights to achieve solar gain along this East-West oriented site, insertions from Christian Anderson to encourage the aim of togetherness, and a floor plan manufactured from an analysis done on Leonardo Da Vinci’s Ponte Autoportante, has all created the opportunity to arrive at the destination of all the seasons of “David’s Black Hole Madness”.

STUDY ABROAD CENTRE BUILD. CONTEXT, CONCEPT, AND FLOOR PLAN

FINAL URBAN FABRIC

DRAFT URBAN FABRIC II GEOMETRIC ANALYSIS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON INTERVENTION STATUES

AIDING AFRICAN MIGRANTS IN

The Processes of Constructing and Developing Social Communities to Aid African Migrants in Rome

Abstract

Pursuing a better life in Europe, Italy receives the most African refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, seeking safety from the conflicts, political, and economic instability of their countries. Yet, the Eternal City fails to address the provision of basic needs, continuing to evict these migrant populations. Foundationally, this project will research the history of the mismanagement of the refugee and migrant crises of the Germanic tribes [Barbarian tribes] caused by the invasion of the Huns from Eastern Europe during the Roman Empire, as well as its role in the downfall of the Empire through close accounts such as, Roman soldier and historian, Ammianus Marcellinus. Subsequently, this project will investigate the differences between the assimilation, accommodation, and inclusion of refugees in contrast to the opposition, isolation, and abuse of refugees throughout Roman times; in aims to look closely at the socio-political claims of economical stresses asserted to result from refugee, asylum, and migrant presence. Ultimately, this project will further examine contemporary case studies in order to analyze and establish theoretical frameworks and guiding principles for constructing and developing social communities to aid African Migrants in Rome. This project will drive to regenerate, elevate, and enhance social communities from the unethical establishment of ghettos, squatters, and abandoned entities these migrant individuals are inevitably put in. Hence, probing the creation of interventions that embody the framework of place, community, culture, and home for these less privileged African refugee, asylum seeker, and migrant families in Rome.

Historical Implications of Migrant and Refugee Mismanagement

--https://www.history.com/news/8-reasons-whyrome-fell --https://qz.com/677380/1700-years-ago-the-mismanagement-of-a-migrant-crisis-cost-rome-itsempire --https://observer.com/2016/10/what-we-canlearn-from-the-refugee-crisis-that-doomed-the-roman-empire/

Contemporary Political Approach[es] to Migrant and Refugee Management

Theoretical Frameworks

[governing the standpoints toward Immigrants]

Maslow's Hierarchy of Human Needs

Description: Humans have a “hierarchy of needs” ranging from lower-level needs for survival and safety to higher-level needs for intellectual achievement and self-fulfillment. Lower-level needs [survival, safety, belonging, and self-esteem] must be met before adressing higher-level needs [intellectual achievement, aesthetic appreciation, and self-actualization] to be met. People’s behavior at a particular moment is usually determined by their strongest need [Thompson, 2002; Woolfolk, 2004].

Needs: embodying an intentional look at the whole person and the interrelation of physical, emotional, and spiritual needs.

Place Attachment Theory

Description: Affective experiences, personal feelings, and emotions associated with a place are central to people’s ability to attach meaning to environments and are based on subjective personal preference [Altman, 1992].

Needs: identifying design features that create a personal, cultural, spiritiual, social, and economic meaning—providing a more functional and emotionally fulfilling environment for the user.

DAVID ASOKEJI

--https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/19/ rome-italy-migrant-crisis-squatting-emergency-shelters-asylum-seekers --https://www.euronews.com/2017/08/28/howrome-is-failing-to-face-the-refugee-crisis-in-italy --https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/special-report/2017/11/10/no-home-refugees-rome --https://www.equaltimes.org/rome-s-invisible-im-

to cyclones, in aims to reduce casualties. Additionally, the privacy afforded to both the toilets and bathing facilities, in seperate outhouses was an important part of the design. With deliberate focus on an inconpicuous, low profile, raw and shaggy material based exterior, the centre disguises itself from people and animals. ‘What about the men you may ask?’–the men from the community, the husbands and fathers of the centre’s users were hired as daily construction workers. “We have heard stories, how women of the community went through brutality and sacrifices to save their family,” said Hassan. “It is relieving to see their men working with love to make safer spaces for them,” he added. In the end, “They even know that they probably won’t be here for long either. All they will be left with is themselves

The defeat of Adrianople did not happen because of Valens’s stubborn thirst for power or because he grossly underestimated his adversary's belligerence. What was arguably the most important defeat

Abeer Seikaly’s Structural Fabric Shelters Weave Refugees’ Lives

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