Avra Tomara portfolio

AVRA TOMARA Design Portfolio

Southern California Institute of Architecture SCI-Arc M.DesR/ESTm 2014

University of Pennsylvania PennDesign MArch II 2013

Technical University of Crete Diploma in Architecture Engineering 2012

avratomara@gmail.com (267) 230 - 3342

Technical University of Crete, Dept of Architecture

University of Pennsylvania School of Design

Southern California Institute of Architecture

Table of Contents Chapter I

SCI-Arc Anisotropic Formations White Out Coded Spirals Eye Robot Mirage Pigs on the Wing Chapter II

Professional Experience Archi-Tectonics: 512GW moooi NYC New Rochelle 3sk Stylianidis Architects: Mihakou residence Chapter III

PennDesign Overmining Smoke Machine exSeed

Chapter IV

Competition Ksestudio: Seaholm Intake Design Idea Chapter V

TUC Urban Generators Harmonious Composition Life Cycles Chapter VI

Workshops - Conferences - Exhibitions Translating Urban Environment to Music Blindspot Initiative Robots in Architecture EcoRedux Sens[e-res]ponsive

image: Project Pigs on the Wing

SCI-Arc

Southern California Institute of Architecture

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SCI-Arc

Chapter I SCI-Arc Anisotropic Formations White Out Coded Spirals Eye Robot Mirage Pigs on the Wing

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Anisotropic Formations Autonomous Translations

an - i - so - tro - py : the property of being directionally dependent, as opposed to isotropy, which implies identical properties in all directions.

Anisotropic Formations explores material anisotropy in architecture as it relates to geometry, material logics and fabrication methods.

Geometry: We chose to work with a vector-based geometry, generated in non-Euclidean space through motion and agency of material. Lines, splines and bundles come together in gradient and layered configurations, forming a nonwoven 3d construct.

Material Logics: Rheological material medium of various extruded polymers lent itself as a great proxy-material to explore composite material tectonics and anisotropic formations. Fusion, drip, bridging and stringing are some of the generative material agencies.

Fabrication Methods: We re imagined the 3d printing platform, taking it out of the Cartesian workspace of a gantry & bed setup into a spherical workspace of multiaxis robots. Within this platform, the conventional 2d layer extrusion method is rethought as a 3d vector extrusion.

featured on SuckerPUNCH Daily January 2014 2013 SCI-Arc design studio | Team members: Salvador Cortez, Cheng Lu, Avra Tomara, Nikita Troufanov | Supervisors: Peter Testa

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Voltage Dress Iris Van Herpen

Composite Sail Fabrication | 3DL

Anisotropic Formations is a proto-architectural exploration of anisotropic aesthetics and structures through vector based 3d printing. Taking inspiration from 3d printed fashion, composite sail manufacturing and experimental application of 6-axis robotics, the project takes

Densities

Hierarchy

There was an imperative to step out from the Euclidean flatness of the computer screen onto the non-Euclidean platform of the physical. Plastic extrusion provided direct access to vector geometry in physical space, enriching it with material agency. Flexibility of the scaffold allowed for multiple configurations and other possibilities. The project was realized through

Mataerial IAAC Barcelona

the anisotropic approach as both an aesthetic and a fabrication logic. Anisotropic geometry is vector-based and is directionally dependent. Combinations of these vectors result in rich surface and 3d qualities of varied densities, hierarchies and multi-directional layering.

Layering

Fibers structure

a series of iterations that subjected the design agenda to a series of different machining workspaces and digitalto-physical work flows. From Cartesian workspace of a conventional 3d printer to spherical workspace of multi-axis collaborative robotics and from vector based work flows of 3d modelling to motion based work flows of animation.

Attachment plate

Micro controller Arduino board Filament spool

3d printer extruder -8-

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In this project we are rethinking existing design work flows. We focus on physical material (PLA, flexible PLA, polymorph and composites) and it’s deployment instead

of the virtual geometry of the 3d software.

We combine digital specificity and material abstraction v.s. digital abstraction and material specificity.

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White Out Ivanpah Solar Power Facility

2014 SCI-Arc design studio | Team members: Gonzalo Padilla, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Casey Rehm, Marcelo Spina

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This project explores the uncanny unification of technological icons and architectural elements to create extremely artificial [yet sublime] environments that produce eerie and bizarre architectural effects.

The image of the uninhabited solar plant where Smokey towers condensate energy is revamped through the introduction of program. A secluded spa-hotel composed by a set of mechanical elements that

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suspend the user in their individual rooms works by manipulating the by-products of the energy creation cycle, smoke and water, and the dematerializing qualities of mirrors and reflective surfaces in order to detach its inhabitants from their context and immerse them in rather surreal everchanging spaces, where extreme environmental conditions start to disorient its user by distorting their reading of space.

ENERGY CYCLE DIAGRAM

Water is getting heated in the water tank the receivers generate steam to drive specially adapted steam turbines

1

The solar plant installation will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 400,000 tons annually.

HELIOSTAT MIRRORS Sunlight falls on the mirror surfaces and gets directed to the receivers located on the centralized solar power towers

2

WATER TANK

One heliostat mirror is a 75.6 square feet (7.02 m2) reflecting surface 3 PIPING SYSTEM The steam is transfered to the bottom of the building through piping system 4 STEAM The steam is getting released and enters the steam turbine 2 6 GENERATORS The movement of the turbine is used to create electicity which is transfered to the generators 5 STEAM TURBINE The steam turbine accelerates the movement of the steam 7 STEAM CONDENSATOR As the steam moves up a set of condensators throughout the building cool down the steam 8 WATER The condensated steam is getting collected in water pockets

8

7

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9 WATER STORAGE The water is stored in water tanks

6 1 5

9

9

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The electricity generated by all six plants at the solar complex is enough to serve more than 270,000 homes in California.

The building is divided in three main areas, with the ground being inhabited by a hotel, located under the ground of the hill. By doing this, the rooms are protected from the extreme heat of the desert and the rays from the heliostats’ field.

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Close-ups of the smoke experiments showcasing the steam’s movement from laminar flow to turbulence.

The tower contains the spas and energy system and is composed by a double skin, with the space between the exterior and interior shell allowing the concealment of the building’s mechanical system and structure.

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Thermal Pools

Spa Lobby

Steam chamber

Isolation rooms

Crane System

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Underground water tanks

Plaza

Lobby

Hotel Area

520’

A set of small lobbies take the guests to the “loading areas� where they can enter specially designed suspended rooms to access the spa related facilities, including massage and meditation rooms.

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The slow movement and oscillation of the rooms, allowed by a set of cranes hidden in the steam, allows the transition from one side of the building to the other. Once on the other side, the guests are unloaded on the

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“pixelation area�, a zone inhabited by heated pools and saunas where the steam is accumulated and condensates to create a relaxing experience.

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Coded Spirals Coding Form

Technological innovation gives us opportunities to see and think design problems in new perspectives and opens up new possibilities of design. The project aimed at advanced surfacing and the creation of parametrically logical solutions of constructability. The focus of this project was threefold. First, using voronoi geometry, we created the surface that we wished to develop. Second, we explored the idea of panelization, taking a step forward to designing strips with flaps as the assembly logic in order to form our physical model, and third, we devised a definition that gave us a set of spiral lines that emerged from the geometry and were used as graphics in the background.

2013 SCI-Arc design elective | Team members: Daniel Caven, Salvador Cortez, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Satoru Sugihara

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Concepts: -Simulation and Agency of Materials -Multi-Agent Systems in Design -Simulations of New Drawing Techniques Material agencies -Interface of Fabrication -Self-Organizing geometry and patterning -Read time updating tools/tooling paths

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Surface parameterization

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Striations and undulations in UV surfacing

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Assembly process

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Eye Robot Robotics, Human Interactions & Space

Eye robot is a prototype for a full scale dynamic interface, which invites users for an interactive play between the physical world and the virtual world in real-time, using the human body. Sensing technologies, robotic actuation and real time projection mapping served as mediating technologies. The exhibit used scanner mechanisms to track people around the space and have the robots trace them. The interaction between the robots and the visitors created a playful experience and allowed for familiarity with the machines. The process used for the tracking involved Kinect scanning with live stream joint movements in the space. There was a combination of musical pieces that create a harmonical composition, depending on the attitude people walked closer or farther away from each robot.

2013 SCI-Arc design elective | Team members: Seyed Ayatollah, Daniel Caven, Salvador Cortez, Oksana Gritacai, Brennen Huller, Solar Labrie, Nels Long, Johnny Ng, Ziqing Nie, Gonzalo Padilla, Pooyan Rouhiarmaki, Abhished Prakash, Austin Samson, Georgios Smyrlis, Avra Tomara, Nikita Troufanov, Uri Wegman, Amanuel Tesafye | Supervisors: Curime Batliner, Jake Newsum -30-

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Installation captures

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Mirage Phantom Geometries

This project explores transparency and reflections as a way to produce phantom geometry that allows multiple interpretations of the same object. Starting with a primitive cube, the initial form was multiplied and arranged in interlocking volumes. Depending on their orientation, the materiality of the faces was divided in transparent or reflective.

Using the mirror-like surfaces in the interior of the volumes, allowed the creation of infinity chambers that created the illusion of incredible depth.

The transparent volumes that create the exterior and encapsulate the mirror surfaces work by creating a sense of absent mass, becoming almost invisible at certain angles, making the mirror panels seem to be floating in space.

2014 SCI-Arc design studio | Team members: Gonzalo Padilla, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Casey Rehm, Marcelo Spina

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Projections of light patterns, photo captures under strong light and overlaying of motion stills were techniques that helped us create endless variations and interpretation of the same objects.

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These two qualities, a “massless solid” and a set of planes that create “infinite spaces”, are combined with light in order to project a set of shadows that allow optical illusion to take place. The thickness of the transparent edges becomes visible as projection on the ground, creating a

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model-drawing hybrid that confuses the viewer, as it reads both flat and volumetric.

The camouflaging ability of the volumes perfectly suits it’s use as a solar energy research institute. Its location in the Mojave desert in California makes it even more inaccessible to trespassers.

A new set of objects emerges from the interlocking and overlapping of the outcomes of the multiple readings of the initial objects.

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Pigs on the Wing Machine Vision

This project explores the capture of temporal events through the use of high speed cameras. By developing an environment devoid of context and orientation, the project sets itself to produce uncanny imagery seemly unaffected by real physics. Inside the white chamber, orientation, lighting, time and space are manipulated to produce and capture motions not accessible to the human eye because of their temporal high speed nature. The objects were selected because of their fragility, with the moment of breaking and the movement of the subsequent particles creating effects that challenge reality.

2014 SCI-Arc design elective | Team members: Oxana Azure, Daniel Caven, Salvador Cortez, Gonzalo Padilla, Avra Tomara, Uri Wegman | Supervisors: Peter Testa

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By locating the camera inside the chamber and subject the whole space to the same aggressive motion, the resulting videos recorded depict the illusion of a static space, and allow the creation of optical illusion, where the objects inside this chamber seem to be subjected to sudden gravitational forces that allow them to momentarily suspend themselves in space, or collide with the barriers in strange patterns.

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Primitive Electrum The Paige Museum

Primitive: From the Old French primitif, from Latin primitivus (“first or earliest of its kind”), from primus (“first”) Electrum: From the Greek (elektron), connected to a term for the “beaming Sun”, resin.

The Paige Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits in Los Angeles is revisited by addressing the question of mutability through the production of photographs and drawings that simultaneously define an object geometrically and anticipate its potential for transformation. Focusing on the contouring technique we produced both, more defined/exact and blurry/inexact qualities. The process of contouring in multiple directions in order to create different qualities led to the idea of having two very distinct design schemes. One sharp and rusticated for the exterior surfaces of the building (height field) and one more fluid for the interior spaces (lofting).

Through resin casting processes, the material then takes on the job of morphing the digital object and adds more information that corrupts it while at the same time generates a completely new entity, where the only relation from the first step and the last one is a set on the process rather than the objects themselves. This process formed a loop between digital design and physical modelling. The material implications and inexactness of the casts informed the digital model and vise versa, allowing the project to be developed through the blending of the digital and analogue parts of the workflow. The Pyramid as a primitive step in the production and the resin (electrum) as the end, then become the main characters in the process while at the same time remind us of the Paige Museum and its relevance to the Los Angeles La Brea Tar Pits.

2014 SCI-Arc design studio | Team members: Salvador Cortez, Avra Tomara | Supervisor: Marcelyn Gow

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The question of mutability is addressed through the production of photographs and drawings that simultaneously define an object geometrically and anticipate its potential for transformation.

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This phase of the project examines the material and design implications of flexible cast systems where an impression is formed by pouring fluid matter into a flexible mold or matrix and allowing it to solidify. This involves a three-phase transformation between states of solidity and fluidity.

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Model photos

The prototyping of an initial solid form, the casting of a negative mold, and ultimately the casting of positive parts. The material output of these three phases can also be combined as a layered system where net-

works of seams, surfaces, and holes are allied to generate circulatory, structural, and affective performance throughout a differentiated mass.

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Archi-Tectonics | 3sk

Professional Experience

-Archi-Tectonics-

-3sk Stylianidis Architects-

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Archi-Tectonics | 3sk

Chapter II Professional Experience Archi-Tectonics: 512GW moooi NYC New Rochelle 3sk Stylianidis Architects: Mihakou residence

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512GW Archi-Tectonics

IN PROGRESS LOCATION: 512 Greenwich Street, New York, NY 10013 TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 4,357 square feet Archi-Tectonics designed a three-story extension on an existing four-story townhouse. The design begins with re-use. The former industrial building is rebuilt into a single family residence with retail space on the ground floor. The existing brick walls are restored and new steel walls are placed over it. A new openable trellis is wrapping around the building, giving a brand new look to the aesthetics of the townhouse, while at the same time creating private outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces within the urban fabric. The existing South brick wall is cut to accommodate an all-glass elevator and allow natural light to come in the building.

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2015 Archi-Tectonics Position: Project designer | Project manager Responsibilities: Lead designer throughout the design phase.

Developed, organized & reviewed drawing sets & codes for successful Alt I & Alt II submissions. Coordinating consultants, engineers, expeditors & design team. Developed a parametric model for the facade that included building code restrictions, material selection, structural constraints & cost-efficiency analysis

Left: Street view rendering Top Right: Third floor Middle Right: Second floor Bottom Right: Basement

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The surrounding trellis was the main feature of the project. The idea was to complete the shape of the townhouse in a rectangular box with a semi-open screen. This screen gives the residents the opportunity to enjoy their privacy, without blocking the sunlight or the view.

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The trellis is a parametrically designed pattern that is divided into panels for easier fabrication. The panels that are in the balcony areas can open 45o and 90o and can also slide to the side for maximization of the view.

Left: Diagrammatic section of the townhouse showing glass elements Bottom: Trellis concept diagrams

1. Visual volumetric enclosure

5. Screen pattern

2. Building volume without the screen

3. Semi-open screen

6. Opening screen panels -55-

4. Screen structure

7. Exploded view of the screen panels

3

Section B Scale: 1/12”=1’- 0”

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1

1. Penthouse window detail Scale: 1”=1’- 0”

2

2. Penthouse skylight detail Scale: 1”=1’- 0”

3. Penthouse exterior wall detail Scale: 1”=1’- 0”

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Panels with staggered pattern pivot pattern Pivoting panels with staggered

Structure has matte black ďŹ nish

Matte black structure

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Master bedroom’s balcony

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Proposed 2nd floor plan Scale: 1/4”=1’- 0”

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moooi NYC Archi-Tectonics

CLIENT: moooi LOCATION: 36 E 31st Street, New York, NY 10016 TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 4,400 square feet Archi-Tectonics designed the new MOOOI Showroom and Brand Store on 36 east 31st street, NYC. The concrete and steel showroom is 4400 SF on a ground floor and mezzanine, in an open layout space. A 17’ high set of steel and glass entry doors and a new steel winding stair in the core of this spectacular space are designed.

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2015 Archi-Tectonics Position: Senior architectural designer | Project manager Responsibilities: Coordinated consultants, engineers, expeditors, contractor & design team. Reviewed construction bids. Headed scheduling, construction administration & punch list close-out.

Headed design meetings & communication with the clients

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Being a high end furniture showroom, the attention in detail was crucial for this project. Flowing wood striations on the sides of the raised wooden platform and podiums, hidden LED strips under

the shelves, well designed pantry with marble counter top, a beautiful skylight and the use of different wall textures and colors for the two bathrooms are some examples of the design.

Mezzanine

36 E

31s

t St

reet

3pm Sun

Sun 10am

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Left: Showroom diagram Top Right: Skylight Top Left & Right: detail of podiums’ wood slats

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RESIDENTIAL

COMMERCIAL

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New Rochelle Archi-Tectonics STATUS: Invited Competition, Finalist CLIENT: City of New Rochelle SCOPE: Waterfront Design | Hotel, Boardwalk, Boathouse, Armory Restoration, 12,000 SF Hotel, 650 Parking spots underground & 160 on ground Team Members: Winka Dubbeldam (principal), MELK!, Jang Hee Cho, Fernando Herrera, Takanori Mizutani, Mithila Poojari, Avra Tomara, Helena Yun

The simultaneous cleaning up and inhabiting of the site immediately brought to mind the notion of a “smart landscape�. Retaining the pollution, adding healthy soil, introducing storm water retention, and alternative energy through windmills will change this industrial site into a productive landscape.

The idea of the housing units and hotel on the waterfront, while being integrated in the landscape is further expressed in the continuation of the building massing in the immediate landscape patterns.

The landscape is articulated as a set of strips with different textures (grass, plants, gravel, bushy strips, etc). This provides a pattern and color shift in the landscape and contains a split-level private parking, directly accessible from ones own garden. The ground and park also include recreational functions, playgrounds, parking and wind turbines. The landscape concept extends into the buildings in the form of suspended gardens emanating from green roofs, penetrating the public spaces (boardwalk, parks) at the opportune moments.

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BOARDWALK & RETHINKING THE ARMORY The site design was focused on fully engaging the waterfront setting and views. A new boardwalk negotiates the renovated seawall and surrounding restored wetlands, at once protecting and providing recreation. As it constantly negates the wall, it allows occupation safely behind and daringly suspended from the wall. The boardwalk occasionally widens to create platforms with steps along the waterfront, providing a viewing pier, an outdoor theatre, and a kayak landing. The staggering platforms, combined with a volumetric shifting of the boardwalk and seawall, result in a ‘special and spatial’ feel that trans-

forms the coast into a series of unique public environments. The boardwalk thus connects the housing, the armory, and the park, while providing natural shading, and creating visual pleasure, maximum usability and accessibility.

The Armory, directly linked to the Boardwalk, gets a new function, an aeronautical seaplane museum and restaurant now occupy the once dilapidated site. The outdoor terrace is always open and accessible, seated here, through the great hangar doors, one can get glimpses of the exiting exhibit showcasing the heroic past of New Rochelle.

upland plaza

rainwater filtration bands

wave break decking

tidal wetland

tidal zone

submerged zone

Ecological site research diagrams

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boardwalk stone sea wall seating lower platform wetlands

Boardwalk diagram

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Top: Hotel view from boardwalk Left: Close up view of hotel and massing diagrams -70-

MATERIALS & SYSTEMS - PREFAB HOUSING The sustainable approach to the housing design employs an integrated systematic approach. The prefab housing is fabricated from a combination of a high performance terra-cotta rain-screen system and an FSC certified natural wood siding, and features green roofs. The fact that it is built prefab will

minimize material loss and allow for highly precise detailing and great cantilevers. The use of a highly recycled content warrantees a low environmental impact. A geothermal heating and cooling system provides an off-the-grid energy source, along with wind turbines and photo-voltaic walls on the south facades.

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Mihakou residence 3SK Stylianidis Architects

CLIENT: I. Mihakos LOCATION: St. John, Heraklion Crete SCOPE: 2 story residence with basement & swimming pool TOTAL FLOOR AREA: 4,800 square feet DESIGN PRINCIPAL: V. Stylianidis

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2012 3SK Architects Position: Junior Architect Responsibilities: Construction of Reflective Ceiling Plans, precise design of the exposed concrete main North walls, including the wood form work and the detailed design of the five bathrooms of the house, including material selection, colors and specific sanitary articles picked from catalogues according to design and price.

Left: Back terrace Top Right: Main entrance Top Left: Stair to the 2nd floor Right: View from the street

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A1

A2

17.94m

TV

4.7m

7.5m

4m

5.5m

8.2m

TV

A4

A3

1st FLOOR PLAN

N M

L

I

12 20cm

DETAIL

K

J

slab

H

20 F

NOTES

A

mitered

C

60

60

132 72

caulking BEAM caulking

46

30 32 64 30

A UNFOLDED NORTH WALL ELEVATION SCALE 1:75

J 30

K LM 96 36 96 3230 36 60 36 2825 48 48 48 48

H I 120 36 108 30183618 60 60 59 49

90cm

+1.67 +1.60

1st FLOOR

30 58 30 32 28 32

A'

57

F G 60 96 23 30 108 36 48 60

12 7 20

115

+5.27 floor thickness +5.20 caulking structure 2nd FLOOR

visible marks

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458cm

132 72

1st FLOOR PLAN SCALE 1:75

60cm

60

90cm

50 32 33 32

108 60

D E G C 30 30 36 31

68

115

48

B 3030

E

80 32 40

D

A 30

stucco over marks

100 30 50

B

1st FLOOR +0.40

plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

D'

towel hanger C

socket for shaver

light beige marble Securit door

socket plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

mirror

7

faucet Ideal Moments A3905AA marble counter light beige wooden floor

phone socket bathroom furniture FIAM charlotte 112x36x80

33

hanging toilet bowl hanger paper roll Ideal Cantica T311961 toilet brush ventilation B

7

15

spot light

28

light beige marble 2cm joint 78

134.27

floor siphon ceiling ventilator

4 pieces of marble

A

36

50

149cm

light beige marble green mosaic Bisazza VTC20.96 5mm

plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige mirror

7 A'

79

light beige marble floor thermostatic shower column Ideal Moments K6190AA

caulking 2cm

B'

C'

D

ventilator Securit door sandblasted

light beige marble floor

bar INOX

6

light beige marble paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige mirror plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

123

3

4 45

marble

2

2

light beige marble floor

hanging toilet bowl Ideal Cantica T311961

Securit door sandblasted toilet brush floor heating flush Ideal Deco C6611AA

phone socket

floor heating

wooden floor

bathroom furniture FIAM charlotte 112x36x80

SECTION A-A' SCALE 1:35

SECTION C-C' SCALE 1:35

20

20

dropped ceiling

spots dropped ceiling

light beige marble frame

wooden shelf

23

23

23

23

floor heating

23

23

23

23

socket for shaver washbasin Ideal Oval R410261 socket

120cm

12 315

226cm

light beige marble counter 3cm

light beige marble 2

wooden floor Îą

b

plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

15 3 2

55

55

leight beige marble

2 b

light beige marble floor

socket for shaver faucet Ideal Moments A3905AA washbasin Ideal Oval socket R410261

315 2

4 82cm

120

4 16

2

90

mirror 283cm

light beige marble counter 3cm 54.5cm 12315

226cm

3

light beige marble frame

plaster + paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

mirror

caulking 2cm

15 2

caulking 2cm

15 2

30

green mosaic Bisazza VTC20.96 5mm spots

thermostatic shower columnIdeal Moments K6190AA 70

283cm

mirror

wooden shelf

10

40

36cm

light beige marble

3

light beige marble counter 3cm faucet Ideal Moments A3905AA

50

dropped ceiling

45

fixed door 111.5 82cm

180

226cm

283cm

open

283cm

30

70

paint Benjamin Moore HC83 Grant Beige

ventilation spots dropped ceiling

light beige marble 2cm

80cm

ventilation

226cm

20

20

MAIN FIRST FLOOR BATHROOM PLAN SCALE 1:35

23

23

23

23

23 Îą

light beige marble floor

floor heating SECTION D-D' SCALE 1:35

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SECTION B-B' SCALE 1:35

PennDesign

University of Pennsylvania School of Design

-MArch II-

-PennDesign-

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PennDesign

Chapter III PennDesign Overmining Smoke Machine exSeed

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Overmining Super-Components and Loose-Tight Outer Skin Tallinn Concert Hall

The ‘sectional object’ put forward by Jeff Kipnis in his seminal essay “Towards a New Architecture’ in 1993 has been evolved over the past twenty years. How can we though reinvent the ‘sectional object’? Kipnis proposes the so-called ‘box-within-a-box’ as an alternative to the homogeneous Modern free plan and section. The inner ‘box’ or figure, incongruent with its envelope, creates complex interstitial spaces which deny homogeneity. “Blankness”, the resistance of the mass to external referents such as ornamentation or formal recognition is of high importance. Alejandro Zaera Polo would probably place our nested building typology in the “spherical envelopes” category. External surface and internal program are loose and non-linearly correlated, it is definitely a loose-fit envelope. featured on SuckerPUNCH Daily June 2013 2013 PennDesign design studio | Team members: Andreas Kostopoulos, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Tom Wiscombe, Nate Hume

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Auditorium close up

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Part-to-whole theory and object oriented ontology can be a place to start in order to create new relationships of object to object, objects inside of other objects, and grounds as objects. “Rather than undermining objects by dissolving them downward into some component element, we can dissolve them upward or “overmine” them, to coin a new English term.

Sequential physical model

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Section drawing

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Sometimes, the figures are starkly visible through apertures in the skin and others remain mysteriously hidden. Different degrees of looseness or tightness of the outer skin around figures creates void spaces. “The entire issue of spatial heterogeneity rests in the aesthetics of the form and in the opposition between unprogrammed event and function.�

Objects in Objects on Objects // TOm WiscOmbe + NaT

machiNe DraWiNg

spriNg 2013 // a. KOsTOpOuLOs

Main Hall Black Box Theatre Library Restaurant Bookstore

Machine diagrams of the program components -83-

The skin negotiates the correlation of surface features with underlying formal features and explores deviations from this alignment towards freeform figuration and dissonance. Apertures are woven into

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patterns in order to either dissolve skin or allow views of internal cavities. In this way, skin articulation become an active participant in the readability of figure vs. sack. “Their union will not be quite

perfect and not quite in sync. Their kiss will produce a rapturous event, a perceptual swerve in the middle of nowhere.�

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Smoke Machine Immersive Kinematics

The subject matter of new media is to be examined and placed in a disciplinary trajectory of building design and construction technology that adapts to material and digital discoveries. The concept of exposing the negative results of smoking in an interactive and artistic way is the main focus of the project. A prototype with the new media is built, which explores the architecture-machine relationship, moving away from architecture that looks like machines into architecture that behaves like machines: An intelligence (based on the conceptual premise of a project and in the design of a system), as part of a process (related to the generative real of architecture) and as the object itself and its embedded intelligence.

2013 PennDesign design elective | Team members: Cedric Al Kazzi, Ryan Leibnitz, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Simon Kim

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eX-Seed A new development for Rio Fucha towards a more sustainable Bogota

The project is about the vision of the future Bogota that could also be applied to essentially every city in the world. Our goal is a greener, healthier and more efficient city life that benefits everyone and leads to a more sustainable future. In the case of Bogota three main problems were identified: the big unemployment and poverty rates due to internal/domestic migration, the lack of health insurance and the river flooding. For the design process the project was naturally split into two layers: the ecology and the density layer. The first step for the study of the two layers was the identification of a field of “attractive and repulsive forces�, determined by the importance of the characteristic elements in each layer (river, flooding areas, topography, hospitals, universities, markets, residential areas). By running the animation the specific patterns were obtained, which became the basis of the proposed city plan.

2012 PennDesign design studio | Team members: Cedric Al Kazzi, Wen Gao, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Winka Dubbeldam, Ferda Kolatan

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exSeed

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Rio Fucha analysis

Main problems caused by Rio Fucha

A binding solution to the existing condition is proposed based on the re-development of the adjacent areas Rio Fucha. The proposal includes housing for the displaced people, agricultural fields for them and a

research centre that works in collaboration with the hospitals and the universities in the area. All these combined with a wetland network for flooding prevention and field irrigation.

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Programmatic diagram

Wetlands water level change

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In order to build a large-scale urban farm, land utilization rate has to be raised to highdensity towers. Standing on one end of the site, closely connecting to TransMilenio and Rio Fucha, those towers benefit from their proximity to the city center and the public activities alongside the river. Each tower is integrated with a recycling ecosystem,

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transforming both, rain water and collected domestic waste water, into gray water for the curtain walls cleaning and the watering of green open spaces on the faรงade of the tower. In the end, the remaining water from this system is channelled to the branches of the wetland and the river.

Tower views -96-

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Overall site photo

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Wetlands’ area with private residences

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Competition

Competition

-Ksestudio-

-Shortlisted | Top 10-

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Competition

Chapter IV Competition Ksestudio: Seaholm Intake Design Idea Competition

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Seaholm Intake Design Idea Competition Proposal for the adaptive re-use of the Seaholm Intake facility and the surrounding park

SHORTLISTED | TOP 10

The City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department, in partnership with the Austin Parks Foundation, The Trail Foundation, and AIA Austin, launched a Design Ideas Competition for the iconic Art Deco Seaholm Intake building, a former power plant intake facility along Lady Bird Lake.

2013 design idea competition | Team: Kyriakos Kyriakou, Sofia Krimizi (KSESTUDIO), Avra Tomara, Jiarui Su, Jen Endozo, Yubi Park

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The park as a building, the building as a park

The community of Austin is seeking for a collective space that maximizes the possibilities for recreation, education, social interaction and development, while serving practical needs of the everyday “park and trail life�. Inspired by Austin’s identity

as a host city of cultural events and festivals, we propose the transformation of the Seaholm intake building into a community driven hub open to appropriation from all citizens. We propose investing in the creation of a kaleidoscopic, restless and

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temporal character for the Seaholm Activity Intake, without committing to a singular program or type of user but on the contrary attracting events and activity from different directions, encouraging urban spontaneity and interaction.

View from the water

Our proposal challenges the exchange between the park and the building in order to maximize the potential of both. We design the building as a park and the park as a building allowing this way for versatile indoor spaces, while defined outdoor formations.

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Top Right: Exhibition space Bottom Left: Outdoor concert party Bottom Right: Interior projection

Our strategy is to preserve the historical form of the intake building and allow its utilitarian design to drive new functions. These functions will find areas of expansion from

the building on the landscape through radical interventions on its malleable mass of the latter.

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Multiple uses

Our primary operation suggests the removal of the landfill at the backside of the building and the realignment of the bike trail on the water edge, liberating and multiplying this way the northern façade of the building towards Cesar Chavez street, while using the iconic south façade as an active backdrop for the activities of the Trail. With that move the building becomes accessible from both sides, a vibrant node that strategically connects park

and water. A sloped landscape that reinterprets the natural topography will become a receiving pocket for all the interior activities establishing a stage – auditorium relationship between landscape and building. A floating platform that extends the building into the water is placed right in front of the bike trail on the lake side allowing a variety of positions that serve different setups among which the engagement of the south bank.

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Site plan 0

15’

WC

Lift

First floor plan

N

WC

WC

WC

Lift

Second floor plan

Long section

Cross section -107-

TUC

Technical University of Crete Department of Architecture

-Diploma of Architecture Engineering-

-TUC-

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TUC

Chapter V TUC Urban Generators Harmonious Composition Life Cycles

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Urban Generators To Enhance Spatial Experience

In modern society of information, life in the cities moves fast guided most of the time by electronic networks and digital equipment. The information revolution and the domination of pictures and new technology in the public urban space brought dramatic changes in the way space is perceived. The new technologies are called to help redefine and enhance the spatial experience and help the design of urban space and urban space equipment become more anthropocentric and multisensory.

In this direction three objects are designed and placed in the urban space either as individual units or as ensembles to activate every spot of the city. These units are not simple objects of mass production, instead they are mediators that create forms of experience with the cooperation of all senses, serving at the same time public activities.

featured on the 1st Architecture Biennale of Thessaloniki January 2012 2011 TUC design studio | Team members: Panagiota Athanailidi, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Kostis Oungrinis, Socratis Yiannoudes

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People density at open spaces and plazas of Chania, Crete

Design and Functional Specifications

Piezoelectric material covers the tubes and makes the construction energetically autonomous

use of piezoelectric material independent construction - ecological privatization

Electromagnets and stepper motor for support and motion adaptation to user data

possibility of personalization protection from vandalism operational use (touch-screens)

information innovative

changeable elements entertainment change of city scape

1.75m

easily maintainable socialization use regardless age, status or social group

mobility

The construction of the frames (squares, hexagons) is done by connecting pieces, following the logic of the schuko

The total number of units is determined after holding a board game

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human scale participatory

The first object (communication unit) tries to re-establish the terms of “socialization” and “social activity” in the public urban space, vitalizing the public communication and the immediate physical -or not- contact through interactive uses. The second object (privatization unit) offers the possibility of temporal privatization/ isolation from every network. The outer surface of this unit is covered with electronic paper on which everyone can leave his own personal message, working as a big surface of public expression. The third object (planted unit) tries to give an answer to the problem of the lack of green in the public urban space. The plants in every unit are placed by the users, enhancing the sense of participation and strengthening the sense of intimacy and personalization. The unit has an ecological character, since the plantation is done with the hydroponic system.

Communication Rest spot

Info

Privatization Unit

4 users

Users

Communication Unit

1 user Privatization/information/ entertainment

Entertainment

Tempur seating material Tube covering with semi-transparent silicone layer structural element

Materials

Interactive screen OLED

Interactive screen Speakers

Void

Camera Earphones

Sockets/usb LED

Unit weight = V * e esilicone = 0,13g/cm3 eresin = 1,1g/cm3

Weight

Sitting space

Planted Unit

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4+ users Plantation/relaxation

Interactive screen OLED/electronic paper

Interactive screen OLED

MDF

MDF

Diagrammatic Part Analysis

1

2

3

4

5

6

2 1

3

9

8

7

6 4

5

8 7 9

9

Exploded Diagram of Parts 1. Schuko (connection of pieces-current flow) 2. Magnet (connection of frames) 3. Magnet support 4. LED 5. Schuko plug 6. Transparent polyester tube (o60mm, OD=6.0cm ID=5.7cm) 7. Piezoelectric sheet 2mm 8. Axis of support or water tube for planted unit (hydroponic cultivation system) 9. Semi-transparent silicone layer (o84mm, OD=8.4cm ID=7.2cm) 10. Piezoelectric sheet support 11. Resistor

10

7

11 4

6

2 3

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5

Simple arrangement of the different units

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The number of the objects, as well as their exact position within the whole is defined after the performance of a public knowledge table-game, in which the players are divided into groups according their status, needs and other characteristics.

This game is set on every spot where the construction will be arranged. The winner of

each round chooses the type and place of the next module. The spots where each unit is placed are mapped in a digital database, constantly informed, and every user is able to locate them with the proper application on his cell phone. The game ends when the available number of units for the specific location has been used.

Sectional Diagram

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These units are not simple objects of mass production, instead they are mediators that create forms of experience with the cooperation of all senses, serving at the same time public activities. The object becomes the mean of connection and

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communication of the user with his environment and the others. In other words a new type of social dialogue is created, forming a new reborn environment and a new status quo concerning the public urban space.

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Clockwise starting from the Top Left: LED wire model, aggregation of units in scale 1:10, copper model scale 1:4

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Harmonious composition Social Housing

2009 TUC design studio | Team members: Nikos Asimakis, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Elina Karanastasi, Liapi Marianthi, Nikos Skoutelis

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The idea that the analogies that please the eye please also the ear, is very important for this project. Our proposal aims to restore the “harmony� of the area. Based on the existing noise and buildings, a musical synthesis is composed, which defined the exact position and height of each apartment complex. Since music has

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played a major role in the synthesis, a music park is included in the area.

Pedestrians enter the plot and get informed about music and musical instruments by playing games and by visiting the conservatory which takes the place of the old market building.

Site analysis

museum of natural history

plaza

old market

preservable building

Building height with musical notes DO: 1st floor

1-2-3-4

RE: 2nd floor MI: 3rd floor 1-2-3-5 FA: 4th floor SOL: 5th floor

1-2-4

LA: 6th floor 1-2-3 SI: 7th floor

Area sounds and noises - dischords definition

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Design of the pedestrian path through the site and composition of musical piece that determines the height and position of each housing unit for massing.

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A

Touch screen with musical games

Piezoelectric floor with sounds

Touch screen with musical games

+18.00m +15.00 +12.00 +9.00 +6.00 +3.00 +0.00 -3.00 -6.00

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+0.00

-0.20

-3.00 -0.60

-1.00

-1.40

-1.80

-2.20

-3.00

-3.00

+0.00

N

+0.00

A’ First Floor Plan

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Section A-A’

Housing Typologies

Type 1: studio 30m2 Type 2: one bedroom 60m2 Type 3: two bedrooms 90m2 Type 4: three bedrooms 120m2 Type 4

Type 3

A

A’ C

C’

B

B’ D

D’

A

A’

C

C’

B

B’

D

D’

SECTION A-A’

SECTION C-C’

SECTION A-A’

SECTION C-C’

SECTION B-B’ -128-

SECTION D-D’

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Given that a plaza/square is a meeting place of people of all ages, our goal is to design and organize space on the square in a way that accommodates the needs and preferences of humans of all developmental stages. Correspondingly, each sector in the conference center is designed according to the characteristics of each age bracket. In

addition, the conference center is semi-subterrainean, in order to leave the whole area above it free for the other social functions of the square.

The design connects the hospital, the kinder garden, the school, the high-school, the library, the work center and the home for elder, which describe the circle of life and correspond to the developmental stages.

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Life Cycles Conference Center and Square

featured on Imagine the City: Rethymno Exhibition November 2012 2010 TUC design studio | Team members: Despoina Linaraki, Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Elina Karanastasi, Nikos Skoutelis

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Top Left: Building diagram Bottom Left: Aerial perspective view Right: Diagram of the uses layout according to developmental stage

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6-12y school age | transition from “I” to “We”

elementary school

18-35y young adulthood | stabilization library

35-65y middle adulthood | stability business center

high-school 12-18y adolescence | individuality, confusion

65+ late adulthood | alternation between calm and intense environment

home for elder

3-5y play age | observation

kindergarden

0-3y early childhood | complex movements

maternity home

5.40

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bar

ex hib itio ns pa ce 4.84

3.18

lecture hall

5.18

4.50

A’ 4.84 5.52

restauran t 5.86 5.18

5.52

5.86

ion at

adm ini str

6.2

A First Floor Plan

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Section A-A’

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Clockwise starting from the Top Left: Lecture Hall, Exhibition Space looking towards the Lecture Hall, Restaurant, Exhibition Space looking towards the park

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Workshops

Workshops - Exhibitions Conferences

-GR-CA-MI-

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Exhibitions

Chapter VI Workshops - Conferences - Exhibitions Translating Urban Environment to Music Blindspot Initiative Robots in Architecture EcoRedux Sens[e-res]ponsive

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Translating Urban Environment to Music Presentation & Publication at the XV SIGRADI Conference “Augmented Culture�

The application is tested on a street in downtown Chania city, Crete

Abstract This paper presents a methodology to augment acoustically the experience of the urban environment by mapping its fundamental spatial elements and translating them to sound and music. The methodology can be applied at any given path of an urban network to generate its acoustical representation with sounds produced by appropriately chosen musical instruments. The objective is twofold. On the one hand it targets the amelioration of the urban experience of people with impaired vision while on the other it offers a more synesthetic spatial perception to all those who rely mostly on their retinal understanding of the environment.

2010 TUC research project | Avra Tomara | Supervisors: Liapi Marianthi, Panos Parthenios

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(a) The two facades of the selected street are designed in a simpler manner, which includes the elements that will be translated to music.

(b) The height of each floor is acoustically represented by the correspondent note of the C major scale.

(c) From the specific façade of this road, based on the buildings and the gaps, the meter of the musical piece is defined.

Methodology As people move in the city, they become aware of different layers of spatial elements on both sides of their chosen path.

The X axis is the one mapping people’s movement and direction, the Y axis is placed vertically on X showing the depth of the urban elements, while the Z axis extends along their height.

The next step was to correlate this XYZ system to basic musical characteristics.

The proposed dictionary for translating the urban environment to music is as follows: - Building: The basic urban component is represented by the basic musical instrument, the piano. As ground floor is defined the note C, as first floor

because a slight reference to its presence is needed.

- Public transport stops: They are represented by the drum.

The sound of the drum is mainly characterized by the staccato musical mode, in which the notes are short in duration and not linked. The different types of stops will be performed by repeated percussions.

- Stairs: Represented by the sound of a trumpet, which has a marching tone and gives a sense of gradation.

- Park/Green: Flute is used, which produces a pleasant and trembling sound that can describe better the free form of the trees.

- Landmark: It is translated by Maracas, which produce a dis-

the note D, etc.

- Building openings: They are represented by the saxophone, which produces either longer continuous sound for the translation of bigger open surface, or intense instantaneous sound for the translation of elements such as doors.

- Gap (with or without use): Pause, meaning time of silence.

- Sidewalk: It constitutes a continuous and constant element.

It is represented by the violin, which produces continuous and constant sound.

- Street: Represented by an instrument related to the violin, cello. Due to the fact that the sounds of lower frequency are more difficult to be perceived by the human ear, the street is represented by such a sound,

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crete and instant sound.

- Traffic lights: They are represented by cymbals as they produce a discrete and instant sound, something that describes the small spatial extent of the traffic lights. In addition, the sound is intense in order to underline the fact that additional attention is required.

- Square: It is represented by harmonica, as it produces a constant sound to account for the stability in its form and simultaneously a playful sound, which represents the movement and the actions that take place in it.

WRIST 3

WRIST 2

LOWER ARM

WRIST 1

UPPER BASE

ELBOW

LOWER BASE

1

BLINDSPOT INITIATIVE WORKSHOP: Armed Forces

BLINDSPOT INITIATIVE EXHIBITION: A(g)ntense by Satoru Sugihara (fabrication team)

FEBRUARY 22-23, 2014 Somewhere - Something [LA]

FEBRUARY 7, 2014 KEYSTONE GALLERY [LA]

Blindspot Initiative is a group of 10 artists, designers, and architects redefining the blurry landscapes of their disciplines and sharing the value of collaboration and open access to design ideation. Grown tired of the winner takes all mentality of competitions, they have come together to display work at Keystone Gallery in Los Angeles, a neutral ground to encourage conversations and installations which live outside the conventions of typical design outputs and practices.

The workshop develops the workflow of motion tracking to machine actuation. A small prototype of a multi-axis arm is fabricated and assembled, controlled with a variety of sensory inputs.

The goal is to create a seamless workflow from parametric modelling to physical manipulation and vice-versa, with the use of Grasshopper and Firefly, using the Arduino micro controller.

The Group Exhibition installations investigate large scale robotic 3D printing, complex data visualization, buildings and sound, interactive environments—both built and virtual, and design via collective gaming. Through built objects, video projections, and responsive systems, the Blindspot Initiative show explores relationships between sensation, computation & technology, and social engagement.

A(g)ntense is an agent design installation, consisting of a set of strings that connect to rings and work as a support for the whole piece. Layers of clear plexiglass pieces make this complex 3D geometry emerge.

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2

BLINDSPOT INITIATIVE EXHIBITION: DOT/O by Somewhere Something & Plethora Project (fabrication team)

ROBOTS IN ARCHITECTURE 2014 CONFERENCE University of Michigan: Ann Arbor, MI Anisotropic Formations

FEBRUARY 7, 2014 KEYSTONE GALLERY [LA]

http://www.robarch2014.org/conference

DOT/O is an interactive installation as social experiment / game exploring the capacity and interest of a crowd to ‘complete’ a suggested structure. For the purpose of the installation, the team developed a steel structure to act as host for a crowdsourced threading experience. Users are invited to pick one of the wall-mounted spools of thread, and connect the dots discovering the 3D surfaces that exist between the different frames. The project was intended to slowly build density, and use color to map the progress of time and interaction through the structure. the piece presents a model of cooperative crowd sourcing, not competitive; while many crowd-sourced projects seek to optimize a solution by finding a particular individual that can provide the best answer, DOT/O invites all players to be part of the experience and share the same output.

ROB|ARCH has been initiated by the Association for Robots in Architecture as a new conference series on the use of robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design, closely linking industry with cutting-edge research institutions. In December 2012 the conference was hosted by its founders in Vienna, Austria.

In 2014 the conference travels to North America, hosted by the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Continuing with the previous theme of collaboration, the conference seeks to bring together artists, designers, fabricators and industry leaders for the purpose of advancing the discourse surrounding robotic fabrication.

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3

ECOREDUX DESIGN AND FABRICATION WORKSHOP

ECOREDUX EXHIBITION

9 - 22 AUGUST 2010 P. Athanailidi, E. Geromitsou, D. Koudounakis, A. Tomara, G. Velivasakis

9 MARCH - 29 MAY 2011

CANDY SCAPES

BARCELONA DISSENY HUB | SPAIN

Our Candy Scapes proposal is the creation of machine-like structures, which are placed on top of existing infrastructures, such as street lamp-posts and traffic lights, and aim at constraining sound, UV radiation and annoying artificial light. Under certain environmental and atmospheric conditions, these machines absorb CO2 and through the chemical process of photosynthesis they produce our new innovative material, the “new cotton candy”. Due to its crystallized structure, this material floats in the air at different levels above the street, filtering light and sound and at the same time “sweetening” the atmosphere of the city.

When the sound and light related conditions in the city reach an acceptable level, our cotton candy gradually immaterializes.

More recycling: Does recycling refer only to materials and physical matter? EcoRedux suggests that in addition to the recycling of materials, we recycle histories of the immediate past. In the history of ideas, discourses get recycled. Concepts emerge as allegedly new, though ideas undergo long journeys of migration from one epistemological field to another. Therefore, recycling is an ideational and philosophical system of viewing the world of ideas, information and matter as flow rather than as the accumulation of discrete objects. More than a material system, recycling signals the migration of life through the conversion of one thing to another.

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SENSORS PROXIMITY SENSOR MOVEMENT SENSOR ACOUSTIC SENSOR TOUCH /PRESSURE SENSOR

LIGHT SENSOR

4

SENS[E-RES]PONSIVE ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP

FABRICATION PROCESS

22 - 29 AUGUST 2011 A. Tomara, V. Apostolakeas, P. Charvalakis, D. Haratsis, C. Himpe, G. Inglezakis, M. Kantartzis, P. Kowalczyk, S. Psaltis, T. Saylan

http://senseresponsive.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM7Qw3pPdjM

SENSPONSIVE LIFE CYCLES The overall discourse of the workshop revolved around the contextual and material frameworks of mediums, tools and techniques to create sensponsive environments that extend from useful to collaborative, developing a “sense” of their own.

This year’s theme involved the design of an intriguing space for children with responsive partitions.

Our proposal is a spatial configuration designed to augment childrens’ perception of the notions of time and change. Consisting of autonomous units, Life Cycles is a “sentient” system that develops its “personality” according to the stimuli of its environment. From their side, children are introduced to a staged playtime: Anticipation, surprise, pleasure, knowledge, strength

and poise are the phases a child will experience in a course of perceiving “relative times”. Because of its collectivity though, this system attempts to provide children with adequate knowledge, landmarks and memories, invoking a more integrated perspective of “real time”. In the long run, entertainment, urban landscaping and in-depth stimulation are Life Cycles’ aims and desires.

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