Architecture
DIGBA CEDRIC KATCHIA katchiacedric@hotmail.fr
EDUCATION Louisiana Tech University |Ruston, LA Bachelor of Science in Architecture Studies - May 2021 Master of Architecture - expected graduation May 2022
Conference Travel |NOMAS NOMA’ 19 Conference - New York, 2019
WORK EXPERIENCE Community Design Activism Center (CDAC)| Re-imagining Campus Core, Fall 2020
Renovation of the Biedenharn Museum & Garden, Winter 2021
I have had the opportunity to work with teams of designers on community-based and public interest design projects. I have also gained experience through client consulting, collaboration with other designers, site visits and small architectural design.
Who is Cedric ? Hi, my name is Digba Cedric Katchia, and I am currently a graduate student in Architecture at Louisiana Tech University. I was born in the Ivory Coast, where I have spent majority of my life. Until I graduated high school, I had no idea of what I wanted to study. Fortunately, my artistic abilities were well regarded in my community, and I was recommended Architecture as a field of study. Five years later, I consider studying Architecture the best choice I have ever made. As a soon-to-be graduate, I am looking for employment in an entry-level position to advance and to learn new skills, and to pursue my goal of obtaining an architectural license and certificate.
Phone: 318-497-9054 Email: katchiacedric@hotmail.fr LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ cedric-katchia-1b277a1a8/ Location: Ruston, LA
Design/Build Studio |Med Camps of Louisiana Art Cabin, Winter 2020 - Spring 2020
I have had the opportunity to work with teams of designers on a design project for a client. During the course, I have gained experience through project presentation, client consulting, construction documents, collaboration, communication, site visit and analysis. Due to the pandemic, we modeled the art cabin digitally in lieu of building it.
Lambright Sport and Wellness Center, Fitness Staff |Summer 2020 - Summer 2021
I assisted with equipment set up, use and enforced the center’s rules. I had the opportunity to collaborate with coworkers to track of the gym’s capacity during the COVID pandemic. The work relied heavily on communication and teamwork.
ACTIVITIES NOMAS, Vice President & Active Member |Chapter Vice President, 2020, Louisiana Tech University
Organized general body meetings, portfolio workshops, collaborated events with other school organizations.
Small Business Owner |2020 - Now
Founder and Owner of CDK Art. Offer prints, stickers, keychains of my artworks. Link: https://www.cedrickatc.com/
SKILLS PROFICIENCY AutoCAD 2D
Adobe Photoshp
Rhinoceros 3D
Adobe Illustrator
Revit
Adobe InDesign
Lumion
French Sketch
Louisiana Tech Center For Liberal Arts
Florida Recreation & Student Center
Mississippi River Museum
“Architects can’t force people to connect, it can only plan the crossing points, remove barriers, and make the meeting places useful and attractive.” – Denise Scott Brown
Human Flight Research Center
Anti-Gentrification Manifesto
Bronzeville Regeneration
Personal Works
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LATech Center For Liberal Art Grad School | 2021-2022 | Professor Damon Cadwell
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CONTRASTING WITH FORM Digba Cedric Katchia FORM is the building’s announcement; the first evaluative criterion by which society judges buildings. Our first interaction with a building is through its form. Therefore, it should be simple yet memorable. To be unforgettable, the simple form must be contrasted with a COMPLEX design gesture. A form is considered simple when it is easy to read. People are familiar with geometric shapes. Consequently, the form should be geometric, preferably orthogonal. It is easily recognizable and makes sense to our mind. The building starts as a BOX. That box can be extruded, altered, transformed through addition and subtraction; however… a simple box must be the starting point. The form should be simple so that the contrasting complexity is more STRIKING. To achieve such complexity, three architectural elements must be considered: •
The spatial organization of programs: By rotating and shifting floor plates, different and varied experiences are created throughout the building. Those gestures provide different views of the surrounding environment, create atriums and double height spaces, and allow natural light to penetrate deeper into the interior. Ultimately, a dynamic form that celebrates framed views emerges.
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The circulation through the building: A disruptive force that carves through the building emphasizes the entrance and draws people from the outside to the inside. That gesture generates folds of space that disrupt the form internally, creating connective atriums and soft programs while enhancing the circulation through the building.
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The circulation around the building: Celebrated circulation along the edges of the building creates a journey that intimately reveals inner activities to the outside. This circulation is designed with a complexity that disrupts the simple form externally.
Carved Form The design seeks to create a celebratory circulation that connects floors visually and spacially by stretching the atrium along the building’s sides, and providing community spaces for students and faculty to interact. Since the building is a box, the stretched atrium is pushed in to carve the building’s form, creating a more dynamic look. The building also features a secondary vertical circulation that carves through the buidling internally and allows for interesting spatial experiences and sectional qualities.
By applying transformations to a BOX, it generates a SIMPLE FORM that has recognizable geometric roots. And by developing the spatial organization, and circulation through and around the building, a contrasting COMPLEXITY develops.
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-9’ - 1/2” -6’ - 1” -3’ - 6 1/4” - 6 3/4”
-3’ - 10 1/2”
-4’ - 4”
-5’ - 6 1/2”
- 1”
-2’ - 8 1/4”
-3’ - 7 1/2”
+0
-6’ - 3 1/2”
-7’ - 1 1/2” +2 1/2”
+8 1/2” -7’ - 10 1/2” +1’-4” +1’-10”
-3’
-8’ - 6” -8’
-3 1/2”
BOOKSTORE
CENTER FOR LIBERAL ARTS SITE PLAN: LANDSCAPE SCALE: 1/20” = 1’
north
Innovative Student Spaces Rethinking student spaces is a big step towards creating an environment that promotes collaboration and social interaction. Students and faculty need spaces outside the formal setting of classrooms that will facilitates their access to each other. Such innovative spaces will change the views on study areas and create hubs for students and faculty within the building. Renderings by Digba Cedric Katchia
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SOLID BOX The facade reads as a terracotta box that seems to be floating when viewed from the south and east, but is grounded on the west side. This gesture emphasizes the sense of carving that is happening all aroung the building.
CIRCULATION The carvings celebrates the circulation through the building, creates multi-height spaces and spaces of gathering. It also reveals and guides the occupants towards the social activities that are happening inside the building.
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Florida Recreation & Student Center Arch 425 | Winter 2021 | Professors Kevin Singh, Thomas Provost
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Sustainable Design
THIRD FLOOR PLAN
The goal of this project was to design a recreation center that will respond to the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, and make it as sustainable as possible. To that end, the building prioritizes outdoor shaded workout spaces for people as well as study booths for students who would feel uncomfortable in crowds. The sustainable design decisions included a SELF SHADING FACADE, SOLAR ENERGY STORAGE, NATURAL INSULATION and NATURAL AIR FILTRATION. Renderings by Digba Cedric Katchia
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
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OUTDOOR WORKOUT SPACE
NATURAL LIGHT
VISUAL TRANSPARENCY
The outdoor shaded space is a great area for working out away from crowding. It is not only shaded from the southern sunlights, but it is also ventilated by the eastern wind.
The sawtooth skylights face north, therefore shading the space against direct sunlights, and provide maximum natural light for the space.
Double height spaces provide visual connection between programs. Also, the skylights allow the hot air to escape and provide natural light for the spaces below.
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FACADE South and West facades are extruded to filter direct sun light and sun heat.
BIOPHILIC DESIGN Nature is incorporated outside and inside the building and is part of the experience as the green wall wraps around programs and guide the occupants throughtout the building.
GREEN ROOF The building features a green roof that serves as a natural insulator and creates a natural habitat. Building wall Wood structure Water pipe Flashing membrane
Biofilter infrastructure PVC waterproof membrane Plants
PV PANELS The building features sawtooth skylights with 28 degrees to capture sunlight through out the year and generate sustainable energy.
Reservoir
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Mississippi River Museum Arch 325 | Winter 2020 | Professors Pasquale De Paola, William Doss
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Flowing Facade The Mississippi River Museum is the product of research and interpretation of the history of the Mississippi river, especially all its different courses ove time. Fomally, the museum mimics the flowing nature of water torrents with overlapping forms that look like they are being flown away. The project also explores the relationship of water and earth. With the building extending on 2 sites, the Mississippi River Museum is eroded by the highway and train track running underneath. This was a group project and I was in charge of designing the facade, the wall section and structure. I also offered ideas for the floor plans. Renderings by Chris Yanko.
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4 3 2
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1 - Stainless Steel 2 - Plaster 3 - Steel 4 - Steel Beam 5 - Concrete 3 4
1 2 5
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Human Flight Research Center Arch 425 | Winter 2021 | Professors Pasquale De Paola, Kevin Singh
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A Nest of a Mountainside Human Flight Research Center is a remote facility designed to study the capabilities of human flight. Engineers and Scientists will be stationed at the center for several days to research and test wingsuits. This project aims to capture the idea of flight in a stationary structure and be a nest for flight development. Studying bird flight is the primary force for designing the facility. As the true masters of the skies, birds are living examples of what we are striving to create. To fly, the building must be light. Studying the anatomy of birds allowed us to design a structural system that becomes lighter and lighter as the building projects off to hold the illusion of flight. This was a group project and an entry for the ACSA Steel Competition. I was in charge of the structure design. Renderings by Chris Yanko
INITIAL FORM
HORIZONTAL NOT VERTICAL
WRAPPING CIRCULATION
EXPOSED STRUCTURE
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Anti-Gentrification Manifesto Arch 415 | Winter 2021 | Professors Thomas Provost, Brad Deal
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Gentrification By Fire The Eidetic image and map show the issues that the minority population of Hoboken was facing between 1979 and 1985. Due to the gentrification of the neighborhood that attracted affluent new residents, Hoboken faced population displacement. Arson for profit was a popular phenomenon as landlords set their tenements on fire to drive out the low-income population. Diagrams by Digba Cedric Katchia
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From Chocolate City To Vanilla City The city of Washington DC was once called chocolate city because of its large population of african americans. But since the 1970s, that percentage has been lowering mostly due to gentrification and population displacement. As new affluent residents move in, rent increases and the low-income population have no choice but to find new affordable places to live in. Diagrams by Digba Cedric Katchia
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Safety Net Hospitals Safety net hospitals are healhcare facilities that focus on the low-income population of an area, and provide medical care to these communities. These hospitals are vastly affected by the gentrification of poor areas and many of them have been facing closure, making healthcare inaccessible to the communities living below the poverty line. The eidetic images illustrate the closure of two safety net hospitals, Hahnemann University Hospital and Providence Hospital. Renderings by Digba Cedric Katchia
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Anti-Gentrification Manifesto Arch 415 | Winter 2021 | Professors Thomas Provost, Brad Deal
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Bronzeville Regenetation The proposal aims to redesign an area of a neighborhood to fight its gentrification. The location chosen is Bronzeville, Chicago, US. The new community area will celebrates and preserves the culture of the african american population of Bronzeville. The project proposed a homeless shelter that will provide a warm and comfortable place for the homeless of Bronzeville. The public park will add more greenery and will be a place for physical activities. The community can buy fresh meat and vegetable from the new food market. The outdoor restaurant will be a place for people to find local and cultural food, and for local artists to be featured. Finally, the art gallery will celebrate Bronzeville culture and art. Diagrams and Renderings by Digba Cedric Katchia
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Outdoor Restaurant
Art Gallery
Food Market
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Personal Works Since my early childhood I have always been drawn to Art. In fact, I have been drawing ever since I can remember. Although it had always been a hobby I have decided, in 2020 during the pandemic, to turn it into a small business. This initiative led me to explore other media and to approach every new piece with the intention of turning into a piece of art that people would want in their house. Here are some of my recent artworks.
“Jokes On you, Batman” 11”x14” Acrylic Paint, 2022. Featured in 2022 School of Design Annual Student Exhibition
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“DC Trinity”
“Marvel Trinity”
11”x14” Acrylic Paint, 2021.
11”x14” Acrylic Paint, 2021
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“King of Pop”
“Kakarot”
8”x8” Graphite Pencil, White Color Pencil, 2018.
8”x10” Acrylic Paint, 2020.
“Smooth Criminal”
“Prince of Saiyans”
8”x10” Graphite Pencil, White Color Pencil, 2021
8”x10” Acrylic Paint, 2020
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