CULLEN SAYEGH
2015 –19 1
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About Me Growing up in East Tennessee, I was surrounded by a dramatically mountainous landscape and a built environment that simultaneously worked with and against it. While the area has been inhabited for thousands of years, perhaps the most striking human impact on the immediate landscape is the Tennessee Valley Authority, which administers the vast watershed of the Tennessee River. Memories of the TVA’s mighty dams and reservoirs hold an indelible place in my childhood and my subsequent path towards studying architecture. Many hours were spent on Douglas Lake, an impoundment of the French Broad River, plying the calm waters with kayaks or lazily floating in the summer’s humidity with my brother. While I did not recognize it at the time, my experiences at Douglas Lake would soon inform my path towards architecture while at university. I entered the profession of architecture on a slightly different route than most. As a first-year undergraduate who was deeply interested in the region’s past, History was a logical pursuit as I began my studies at the University of Tennessee; however, I switched into the five-year Architecture program following my freshman year, beginning with the accelerated summer program. I was drawn to architecture because it allowed me to synthesize my various and disparate interests in history, geography, economics, anthropology, and sociology into an object in the landscape. Through my subsequent years of design school, I have enjoyed exploring the built environment as the physical manifestation of these interests.
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Table of Contents
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01 Studio Projects
Archaeologies 6–21 Stratigraphic Urbanism 22–31 Rhizome Termini 32–41
Surface Gymnasium 42-49
02 Study Abroad
Fluvial Archive 52–57 Architecture of the City 58–61
03 Research
Aydelott Travel Award 64–73 Post-Brexit Urbanism 74–77 ESD Index 78–79
04 Mixed Media Built Works 82–83
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Studio Projects
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Archaeologies Tiburon, California Professor Kevin Stevens Margaret House & Cullen Sayegh Fall 2017
Bay Area Geologic Timescale Archaeologies seeks out existing site artifacts and draws from them the richness of history and the importance of its layered manifestation in building the character of the site. Located on the site of a former U.S. Navy colliery turned shuttered steel cable plant, San Francisco University’s Romberg Tiburon Marine Research Center has witnessed over a century of various inhabitation. The site is located directly on the San Fransisco Bay with expansive views east towards Oakland and Berkeley. The project was tasked with designing a site masterplan complete with new net-positive research spaces for the university. The Romberg Tiburon Center maintains a rich history and context which are preserved to remind future users of the site’s chronology. The three new buildings are placed two feet above the site’s existing concrete pad via steel supports, highlighting the area’s palimpsest. Expressed timelines are inherent to the mission of Archaeologies, which assumes sustainable design is not only energy efficient but conscious of its lifetime and relevance.
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The flow of program in and out of relevance, as mirrored in the research program currently inhabiting the site, is facilitated by the use of construction timelines and processes that make transience a welcomed characteristic. In its first phase, Archaeologies proposes an Exhibit Building for meetings and lectures, a Freshwater Laboratory with a garden, and a Saltwater Laboratory complete with a kayak facility for accessing the San Francisco Bay. A modular construction system based on an easily deployable kit of parts allows for the new buildings to expand and contract with the changing programmatic needs of the research center. These construction systems are prefabricated and are intended to have a finite lifespan, where buildings vanish overtime after the relevance of their programs has run its course. Each piece after vanishing then creates its own archaeology by leaving traces of its existence in the steel supports’ former foundations, which become planters for the rare and endangered Tiburon Mariposa Lily.
Site Plan After 100 Years 7
Aerial Perspective 8
Site Investigation Visiting the site and finding the remnants of past programs in the form of small markings in the concrete tarmac, inspired an attitude for the ensuing design of expressed timelines and highly temporal programming. Prior to its life as a Navy colliery,
the Center had been inhabited by the Miwok people, who left intricate rock carvings on nearby Ring Mountain. The former colliery contained a large amount of historic infrastructure. This served as the basis for preserving the palimpsest of the site.
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Exhibit Plan
Exhibit Section 10
ETFE R-7
Double Skin Polycarbonate Corrugation with Air Gap R-15
SIP R-34
ETFE Detail 15’ x 15’ ETFE roofing panels were chosen for both practical and experiential purposes. ETFE panels have significantly higher R-values than traditional glazing products and allow diffuse lighting throughout the exhibit space. Archaeologies utilizes ETFE membranes in the most public zones
of the project, specifically when spaces are open, welcoming, and in communion with the natural environment. The lateral clear corrugation panels can be opened and closed to passively cool the building with the breezes from the San Francisco Bay, while also making users aware of the local climate.
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Freshwater Building Plan
Freshwater Building Section 12
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Tapered Rigid Insulation R-15 SIP Roof R-60
Rigid Insulation R-25 Plywood Finish R-6
SIP Floor R-60
CMU R-2 Beaded Insulation Fill R-10
CMU Enclosure Detail CMU blocks are used for the most permanent, fixed programs such as restrooms and climate-controlled storage spaces. The materiality and construction method serve to reinforce the program of these spaces, which are restricted and
require heating, air conditioning, and ventilation. As the heaviest construction material on site, the CMU structures create a new ruin on the landscape after the building is deconstructed, adding to the palimpsest of the research center.
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Saltwater Building Plan
Saltwater Building Section 14
Tapered Rigid Insulation R-15 SIP Roof R-60 SIP Wall R-34 Operable Skylight
Glazing R-5
SIP Floor R-60
Prefabricated SIP Detail Structurally Insulated Panels provide a cost-effective and highly insulated building envelope that can be prefabricated and easily installed on site. The project’s 5’ modular dimension also aligns with SIPs traditional factory-made size. SIPs are used for primary programs needing a
more insulated enclosure such as the lunchroom and multipurpose space. Operable skylights provide ample daylighting and another method for passive cooling. SIP Walls’ modularity allow for flexible deployment across the site if future needs change.
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Freshwater Laboratory After 100 Years
Freshwater Laboratory in 5 Years 16
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Kit of Parts Assembly Axon Central to the design strategies of this project are its ideas about layers: programatic, physical, and historical. A system of easily constructible parts is used to navigate these delicate conditions. This method of construction provides quick assembly
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and deconstruction, allowing for maximum flexibility. The result is a system that lightly touches the landscape of the Romberg Tiburon Center and that is sensitive to change.
15’x15’ ETFE Panel L8x6x.5
4” Polycarbonate Panel
HSS Collar 3” Tab
6” ODx.313 A500B HSS 2” Galvanized Steel Grate C8.5x6 1.5” G Clip
HSS Collar 6” Tab
10” SIP
Angle Clip
Z-Clip
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PV panels attached to roof grates generate sufficient power to operate the center
Wind turbines offer additional energy production Concrete footers, spaced 15 ft apart, protect against frequent earthquakes
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l Expandable HVAC duct socks visibly illustrate energy consumption
A clevis and steel rod cable system provides lateral stability
Section Perspective of Large Exhibit Building 21
Stratigraphic Urbanism Ocala National Forest, Florida Professor Andrew Madl Olivia Poston & Cullen Sayegh Fall 2018 MIAMI BEACH
11 , 471 , 417 4 : 34 // 291
DELRAY BEACH
JUPITER ISLAND
8 , 012 , 600 3 : 55
12 , 227 , 444 3 : 30 // 206
DUVAL COUNTY
PANAMA CITY BEACH
9 , 309 , 172 2 : 06 // 112
14 , 715 , 978 5 : 19 // 301
BEACH RESTORATION PROGRAM FACILITIES OF CONCERN
STORM SURGES LATITUDE 24°N
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Florida Beach Restoration Projects Section Stratigraphic Urbanism represents a projective 100-year masterplan for the Ocala National Forest in central Florida. Pinecastle Impact Range, an active 5,760-acre United States Navy bombing site, is located within the National Forest. The area is known for its abundant pine flats, wetlands, and scrubland as well as an exceptionally high water table. Ocala is situated at one of the highest points in Florida with an underlying sandy geology. These qualities have ensured that Ocala National Forest is one of the most bio-diverse ecosystems in the country. Stratigraphic Urbanism designs a new modular system to encourage the National Park’s ecological diversity and allow visitors new ways of interacting with this unique landscape. Assuming continued sea level rise due to climate change, governmental authorities must prepare for a possible scenario in which central Florida experiences massive immigration from low-lying coastal regions across the state. The regions surrounding Ocala National Forest will
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soon be under immense strain to accommodate the influx of climate change migrants, especially as the potable water table becomes contaminated with saltwater. Stratigraphic Urbanism aims to solve these new issues posed by climate change. The project utilizes the Navy’s F-18 fighter jets that frequently bomb the impact range within the National Forest to create a new landscape urbanism. Scheduled bombing regimes create 50-footdeep craters in the sandy earth, which pierce the area’s surficial aquifer and allow vernal ponds to form across the park. In the short term, these pools increase biodiversity and provide new recreational activities for visitor. Later, after immigration has begun from coastal communities to upland central Florida, desalinization pods are deployed above these saline pools, utilizing the heat from the sun to evaporate and separate water from salt. This potable water is sent to nearby communities for consumption, recycling resource flows in a sustainable manner.
Florida Resource Map 23
Ocala National Forest Site Plan 24
Transept Serial Section 25
Transept Plan
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Desalinization Pod Desalinization Pods are deployed across the National Park in the 30–75 year period as migrants from southern Florida move north towards Ocala. The pods utilize the existing netting as the basis for their construction system, which consists of a ca-
ble-tied structure with posts of recycled pine. This arrangement allows for the expansion and contraction of the pod. Inside, steam from the intense Florida sun heats leached saltwater, separating potable water from the brine solution via evaporation.
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Phase 1: Controlled Burn
Phase 2: Tilling Imprint
Phase 3: Net Construction
Phase 4: Bombing Regimen
Phase 5: Sand Extraction
Phase 6: Desalinization Pod Illustration Stratigraphic Urbanism utilizes existing resource flows to its advantage. First, selected sites in the National Forest are cleared of timber and brush. They are then tilled to ensure the growth of new pine forest and scrubland. A net system is constructed after the land has been tilled. Routine bombing creates
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craters in the soil up to 50’ deep. Upturned sand and bomb debris are treated. These craters form pools for endangered species in the National Forest. Finally, the desalinization pods are installed, providing a low-cost, sustainable practice for harvesting potable water. These pods become wayfinders in the landscape.
Successive Planting Axon 29
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Desalinization Pod Detail Section 31
Rhizome Termini Braddock, Pennsylvania Professor Kevin Stevens Cullen Sayegh + Samantha Sowell Spring 2017
Pittsburgh Filmic Transit Diagram The rhizome, as described by Deleuze and Gauttari in A Thousand Plateaus, “connects any point to any other point, and its traits are not necessarily linked to traits of the same nature; it brings into play very different regimes of signs, and even nonsign states.” Braddock Terminus, located in a Rust-Belt steel town not far from Pittsburgh is envisaged as both a train station and civic museum, embracing the nature of the rhizome as an architectural and urban design strategy. The terminal reconnects Braddock with its neighboring communities in the greater Pittsburgh area, forging a brighter future for the city and allowing residents and visitors alike a new opportunity to interact with their shared history. The project aims to highlight the Pittsburgh’s history by establishing a new metropolitan transit plan. The result of this transit system is rhizomatic, developing a noticeable organizational pattern across Pittsburgh, weaving together certain lines at stations that often share point in Pittsburgh’s storied past, each relating to a specific historical event.
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Braddock Terminal is designed as one of three primary stations in a metro train system developed for greater Pittsburgh: Point Park Terminal in downtown Pittsburgh anchors the Pre-Industrial line, while Braddock Terminal is the hub for the Industrial Line, and finally the University of Pittsburgh/Carnegie Mellon Terminal is the main station for the Post-Industrial Line. These three principle “termini” form the central spine of an extensive public transit system throughout the region, making users aware the various economies, resources, histories, and cultures that have intersected for centuries in the area. Braddock Terminus is situated near the historic U.S. Steel Edgar Thompson factory on a site adjacent to the Monongahela River. Structural “trees” comprised of a steel cable, HSS tube, and truss system are set at various heights across the site, providing a dramatic train hall in the heart of downtown Braddock. In keeping with the idea of the rhizome, the structural trees are also used across the 8-acre site as shaded gathering places, a river-viewing platforms, and PV panel supports.
Proposed Pittsburgh Transit Plan 33
First Floor Plan 34
Terminus Park Perspective Beyond a train terminal and museum, the station acts as a community space for the city of Braddock that engages with the city’s long forgotten riverfront. As the visitor moves to through the building, the structural trees begin to vary in height and give
way to a park landscape, reaffirming the rhizomatic system across the site. The structural trees provide shade and house spaces for outdoor exhibit areas as well as a new riverfront activities center for kayakers and nature enthusiasts.
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Central Lobby
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Spider Fitting
Clevis System
Curtain Wall
Foundation System
Detail Section The dramatic, steel structure provides shelter and enclosure for the terminal, while establishing a common language across the greater Pittsburgh. These modular units are to be inserted strategically across the city to create nodal points
for bus stops and metro stations, thereby creating an easily recognizable built language across Pittsburgh. For the enclosure, spider fittings with trusses allow for large glass curtain walls that create a visual connection between the river and town.
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Kalwall Panel
Rain Leader
Scissor Truss
Steel Tension Rod
Clevis Plate
6� HSS Tubes
Structural Tree The structural trees are comprised of a light diffusing kalwall paneling grid connected to a steel clevis system. Beneath, a series of trusses help cradle the kalwall roof, providing a continuous open span throughout the terminal. Nine, six inch HSS
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members are welded together to create the structural column. The column is capped with a plate for the clevis attachment. The central tube houses the rain leaders, while the four surrounding tubes are used for the HVAC system.
Central Lobby
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Drain System
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Section Perspective
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Surface Gymnasium New York City, New York Professor Mark Stanley Cullen Sayegh Fall 2017
Surface Conditions of New York The qualities of surface have fascinated the human race for millennia. Surface can loosely be described as the most exterior layer of an object, distinguished in part by the absence of depth. Surface’s existence is wholly relational–its existence is dependent on the presence of an interior. The relationship between these two entities, whatever they maybe be, remains fiercely interconnected. Often the interior is given precedence over the exterior, but by its very existence the exterior is reflective of the inner subject, and holds as much insight as its partner. Surficiality maintains an oft demeaned reputation in our culture, but that has not stopped its relevance in modern life. Surface plays an important role in the digital age where images, veneers, and cloaking are requisite for social interaction. Twenty-four-hour news cycles, contemporary fashion, intense workout regimes, and social media applications are but a few reflections of our interior obsession with outward appearances. We must learn to grow from our collective embrace of the cosmetic and superficial.
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The Surface Gymnasium spatializes a theoretical approach to understanding all things exterior. Situated on the site of historic Pier 55 along the Hudson River, the gymnasium covertly collects and analyzes surface conditions associated with human health via sensors, storing them in the folds of the building. The Surface Gymnasium presents itself as a single surface, repeatedly separating and rejoining to create interior program chambers for spaces such as stationary bicycles spaces, yoga studios, lap pools, and workout rooms. A supporting structure of undulating steel ribs remind health enthusiasts of the duality between surfaciality and interiority in both humans and architecture.. Data measuring cholesterol, heart rate, and body-mass index is collected from Surface Gymnasium members and analyzed by a team of scientists hidden within the surface’s folds. In this way members unknowingly become participants in the health studies of the Surface Gymnasium.
Manhattan Transit Layers
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Site Documentation At Pier 55 in New York City’s Chelsea district, surface conditions are as important a factor as any. The original piers from the Cunard Line terminal remain. These were incorporated into the Surface Gymnasium as the basis for its structural system.
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Site Plan and Section
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Drone Perspective
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Gymnasium Section Perspective
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Study Abroad 51
Fluvial Archive
Rome, Italy Professor Andrew Kranis Cullen Sayegh, Maggie House, & Sydney Flannery Spring 2018
Pyscho-social Mapping of Rome’s Via Papalis Throughout its history, the Tiber River has been Rome’s genus loci of commercial, agricultural, and social vibrancy despite the challenges its seasonal flooding has presented to planners and citizens for two thousand years. Fluvial Archive is an interactive data archive that catalogs and organizes information about rivers across Italy, informing visitors, citizens, and researchers alike of their environmental conditions. The project contains classroom and gallery space, as well as spaces for researchers. An outdoor riverside plaza brings the public into direct contact with both the Tiber River and the resources of the archive, which includes both live data and historic texts. Retractable data lures, placed at the end of the archive’s dramatic cantilever, collate the Tiber River’s conditions relating to mineral content, pollutants, and plant and animal life, and its character of movement, documenting speed, elevation, and current patterns. This information is then displayed to the public in the central gallery alongside the real-time conditions of other Italian rivers.
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Circulation plays an important role in Fluvial Archive, where a pathway leads visitors from the Roman-built Ponte Fabrizio to the eastern tip of the island, penetrating the structure and providing continuous downriver views while passing archives and gallery spaces, finally leading down to the river’s edge itself. This community space continues to host seasonal programs such as the summer movie series while also re-establishing a riparian zone as a place for relaxation and play. Water brought in from the data lures is used for research within the lower level laboratory which also holds a rare-manuscript archive relating to Italian rivers. Acknowledging the Tiber’s seasonal variations which often flood Rome, the facade is clad in curved weathered steel louvers that deflect debris during high-water periods. When the river recedes, these louvers are opened to allow daylight into the space. In this way, Fluvial Archives actively responds to its site conditions and contributes to Rome’s palimpsest.
Fluvial Archive During Tiber River Flood 53
Ground Floor Plan
Archive Section 54
Second Floor Plan Visitors enter the archive via a staircase or elevator with direct access to the Tiber Island. The public display room charts the status of rivers across Italy on LCD screens. Visitors can access the island’s river level via a concrete stair in the center of the
cantilevered structure. Another exit leads to the rooftop garden, which sits atop the archive space. The garden grows riparian plants native to the Tiber River such as red helleborine and ribbon fern.
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Section Perspective
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Architecture of the City Rome, Italy Professor Davide Vitale Cullen Sayegh Spring 2018
Santa Maria degli Angeli Axon Section During the spring semester of 2018 I had the opportunity to study abroad in Rome, Italy. The semester focused on exploring the palimpsest of the Eternal City through drawn and written observation. The semester was spent at sites across Rome and its hinterlands, from ancient Etruscan tumuli to the Roman Forum and Baroque churches to Mussolini’s E.U.R. The act of sketching these monuments, buildings, and urban forms was profound in many ways. For me, the tactile process of hand drawing rendered a new understanding of design and analysis. Sketching offered a glimpse into the minds of the designers and artists who built Rome into the city it is today. In each sketch, there is an attempt to understand the multiple
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layers of history present within the work of architecture or urban planning. Through the weekly act of quick, free-hand sketching I have come to appreciate drawing as a generative process. The sketching process was informal and given over to active analysis through observation. We were encouraged to actively engage with each site and make mistakes as we developed a greater sensibility for drawing conventions, proportion, and metaphor. The subsequent drawings revealed the complexity of Rome and its many historical layers. Through my drawings I sought to understand this relationship between the ancient and contemporary.
Orvieto Figure Ground and Cave Perspective 59
Santo Quattro Coronari
Temple of Hera at Paestum
Palazzo Barberini 60
Santa Maria degli Agneli
Palazzo Farnese 61
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Research
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Aydelott Travel Award Norway, France, China, & Cambodia Advisor: Dr. Gregor Kalas Cullen Sayegh Summer 2018
Aydelott Travel Itinerary During the summer of 2018 I traveled to four countries and two continents as a recipient of the Aydelott Travel Award, a $20,000 selective grant that supports architectural analysis across the globe. My proposal focused on the intersections between infrastructural networks and singular works of architecture. I structured my Aydelott proposal to visit four constructed building networks located in Norway, France, China, and Cambodia. These sites included the Trollstigen Visitor Center in Norway, the Ouvrage Hackenberg in France, the Humble Administrator’s Garden in China, and the Angkor Wat temple complex in Cambodia. The four sites represent a pattern, each presenting a network in which architecture is inscribed across a specified landscape. Each site operates within natural forces and infrastructural networks, allowing users to understand connections they otherwise could not comprehend at the human scale. Some of the networks were established on purpose, while others were generated unintentionally over time.
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These four architectures were selected for— rather than in spite of—their apparent differences in chronology, geography, program, and network typology. The selection serves to highlight the many ways in which diverse architectures codify and express relationships between humans and their landscape, thus providing meaning in a place-specific manner. These associations are highlighted and made explicit by the selected sites. Through sketching, photographic documentation, and digital cartography I explored how each of these sites are intrinsically connected to a wider network, possessing the ability to condense multiple relationships into a larger understanding of place. What I found was profound and unexpected; the infrastructural systems associated with each of the four sites represented physical actualizations of each society’s belief systems. Implicit in their nature, these architectures and their attached infrastructural systems yield powerful contemporary spatial consequences on the landscape.
Dymaxion Map of Aydelott Travel 65
Trollstigen Visitor Center Network architecture often utilizes the landscape as a tool in generating human experiences. This is especially true of the Geiranger-Trollstigen highway, carved out of sheer mountain slopes and fjords stands as a testament to Scandinavian ingenuity, represents one of Norway’s famous National Tourist Routes. Geiranger-Trollstigen features displays of Norwegian art and architecture along 104 kilometers traversing an equally breathtaking landscape. Highlighting the drama characteristic of Norway’s natural surroundings is Reiulf Ramstad’s spartan, yet expansive rest stop, the first site for initial exploration of the network established by the tourist route. The rest stop sits at the route’s apex, subtlety negotiating 1200 square meters of natural
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topography in sheer cliffs, waterfalls, and rocky cairns as it accentuates viewpoints across the site’s fjord. The design team focused on the tension inherent between the ever-shifting water traversing the site, first as snow pack and then its liquid form as a cascade, and the inert rock formations found on the mountain. The annual cycle of snowy winters and temperate summers characteristic of the Center’s remote alpine climate underlies its central design tenets. The rest stop is closed in the winter, usually buried underneath 7 meters of snow, requiring extensive engineering to mitigate these extreme conditions. In its thoughtful site strategy, hiking paths extending from the Center encourage visitors to explore the Norwegian landscape first-hand.
Geiranger-Trollstigen National Tourist Route 67
Ouvrage Hackenberg In its subversion and utilization of the surrounding landscape, network infrastructure serves just as much to delineate space and people as it does to connect the two. This is especially true of the Maginot Line, whose provenance was a political and militaristic statement in built form. The Maginot Line was created after World War I to prevent another German invasion into eastern France. The militarized zone comprised of the 300-mile-long, 16-mile-deep defensive system of command centers, artillery batteries, minefields, steel casemates, underground train tunnels, anti-tank installations, and barracks. The Maginot Line is perhaps most beautifully articulated at the Ouvrage Hackenberg, one of the largest and best preserved
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fortified positions within the defensive system. Commissioned in 1930, and built purely out of reinforced steel concrete, the fort took six years to build. Most of the Hackenberg fortification sits underground, but a marked pathway allows visitors to admire the network from both above the earth. Where the fortification does poke out from the Hackenberg ridge, its characteristic curved, concrete facade was designed to deflect artillery fire. Perhaps the most important architectural and experiential aspects of the ouvrage is its multitude of constructed views onto the valley below the ridge, at one time a military necessity but now a celebration of the surrounding landscape. The Maginot Line is a lasting reminder of the rapid speed of 20th century warfare.
The Maginot Line 69
Humble Administrator’s Garden Network Infrastructure can be highly coordinated and built on purpose or its many nodes cohere into a system over time. This is the case with Suzhou’s famous classical gardens. The creation of Suzhou’s urban park system was never centrally planned, rather it was an incidental result of geographic, cultural, and programmatic proximity. The Garden of the Humble Administrator displays the largest and perhaps most well-preserved garden within the city and it is chosen as the central node in exploring the rest of the park network. Designed by a retiring Ming dynasty official, Wang Xianchen, and his contemporary Wen Zhengming, the Garden of the Humble Administrator is split into three distinctive sections: the Western,
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Central, and Eastern Gardens. Pathways weave a series of pavilions, houses, and follies together across a landscape made up of large pools. In fact, much of the Humble Administrator’s Garden is not architectural or landscape at all; it is comprised mostly of infrastructural space; in this case water and the outdoor areas it creates between structures. Bridges arched over ponds, capture the essence of the river-fed Chinese landscape in miniature. One might not even suspect that the garden is an entirely contrived circumstance with its careful imitation of the region’s landscape, such was the original intent of scholars that enjoyed the park. The Garden draws upon Suzhou’s canals for its water, tying the private park directly into the greater region.
Classical Gardens of Suzhou 71
Angkor Wat Temple Experience and the built form are closely intertwined in the Angkor complex, a vast city of temple-palaces built for the Khmer rulers of Southeast Asia over several centuries and supported by an expressive infrastructural network. Built at the height of the Khmer Empire’s power, the Angkor Wat temple presents itself today as it was then; an unmistakable symbol of political and religious power. Hindu figures known as devatas, set in bas-relief, adorn the facades of the temple, becoming active participants in the architecture’s experience as they tell the story of Hindu epic poems. In addition to the intricate layering of space and its relation to the complex’s immediate landscape, Angkor Wat is situated along the axis of cosmological
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and infrastructural structures that accompany its original politico-religious intent. The complex is oriented along the east-west axis, facing on one end towards the rising sun and the other to the sunset, a position common in Hindu architecture. Surrounded by a shallow moat encompassing approximately 3 miles of territory, Angkor Wat was the embodied center of the known world, both in the horizontal and vertical direction, since it was thought to be set on axis with the center of the earth. A select few enjoyed access to the central tower, personified as Mount Meru, a fictional mountain closely associated with the Hindu gods as the epicenter of the physical and spiritual universe.
Angkor Archaeological Park 73
Post-Brexit Urbanism Kent, United Kingdom Advisor: Professor Jennifer Akerman Cullen Sayegh Fall 2018 & Spring 2019
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Infrastructural Network Tactility Diagram Ever since the antagonist of Victor Hugo’s 1836 novel Notre Dame de Paris, Claude Frollo exclaimed “This [the book] will kill that [the building]”, the profession of architecture has attempted to answer this challenge to its effectiveness as a medium of communicating meaning, thus begging a larger question of its relevance at the advent of modernity. 182 years later, architects and theorists are still grappling with Hugo’s critique of architecture, and now more than ever the built environment faces a crisis as networks of trade, information, and people invariably bypass the spaces initially designed to house these functions. Architecture, infrastructure, and constructed landscapes are now seen as static agents in an increasingly digitized, mobile world.
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This rapid interruption of traditional notions of time and space has been noted by many, including theorist and sociologist Manuel Castells who describes this new collective world as a “space of flows”, an ephemeral reality where the immediate movement of things takes precedence over the traditional concept of the “space of place”.2 While this global space of flows has grown in determinacy and pervasiveness, the existing realm of physical places as the genus loci for architectural and cultural expression has been marginalized. A byproduct of the increasing space of flows— neoliberal globalization in all of its cultural, political, and economic taxonomies—has directly contributed to the rise of regionalism, populism, and economic protectionism.
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Chain Home Radar System Map 75
RAF Swingate Observatory 76
One of the surest signs of cultural values in the past, the built environment has now found itself positioned as a historic relic between the forces of flows and place. In many ways the current firestorm over the United Kingdom’s exit from the European Union (commonly referred to as Brexit) exposes this new reality. I intend to situate my thesis amid this rich and contested context as I explore the potential for reconnecting the UK with the continent by utilizing historic architectural and infrastructural networks (space of places) in conjunction with contemporary patterns of movement (space of flows). Embracing the space
of flows, this architecture will serve as inter-modal transit systems and institutional mediators relating to UK-EU disputes post-Brexit. The program of this architecture will be grafted onto the historic defensive architecture of the island nation, utilizing these spaces as method of preservation and highlighting the importance of place in sustaining culture. It is my hope that this friction between static, localized cultural artifacts and global flows of goods and people will develop a rich architectural narrative that questions, as Victor Hugo did, the role of the built environment in our current age.
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ESD Index Knoxville, Tennessee Advisor: R. Mark DeKay Cullen Sayegh Summer 2017
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Experiential and Environmental Matrices Modern conceptions of architecture are often based in formalism, that is space and form, and subsequently their relationship between each other. 18th century theorist Marc-Antoine Laugier developed the concept of the Primitive Hut, the simplest wooden structure imaginable, to define architecture as a series of columns, entablatures, pediments, windows, and doors (1756). Laugier’s mission was to reconnect humanity with nature at a time when Baroque architecture had become so resolutely unnatural. The Primitive Hut provides a basic theoretical understanding of architecture and its attempt to reflect nature. In many ways architecture can be critically examined using this methodology, however it fundamentally ignores many aspects of the built environment that activate space, namely experiential qualities. In the architectural sense, experience can be defined as an individual’s varying states of consciousness generated from the combination of sensation, thoughts, and emotions. This involves engaging the senses, with light, sound, touch, smell, shadow, color, etc to create intentionally rich user experiences in and around
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buildings. Nature inherently fluctuates and produces experiences for all of the senses to enjoy significant connections to be made between people and nature, designers must construct phenomenological events. Experience, ritual, and phenomenon feature prominently in contemporary architectural discourse for both sustainable and aesthetic purposes (Holl, Pallasmaa, Perez-Gomez 2006; Erwine, 2017). However, a consistent methodology that can be applied as a framework for architects and designers to create experiential connections with nature is limited and has not been empirically supported. The objective of this research internship was to address with evidence-based strategies this design problem that many architects face. These design strategies allow for creative expression and are situated in culture and climate. By employing experiential design knowledge, architects can provide the opportunity for human experience in spaces with greater efficacy and certainty. A series of case studies were input into a matrix that coupled experiential and environmental characteristics engendered by architectural projects.
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Experiential Sustainable Design
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Experiential Sustainable Design
ROOFS, WALLS & FLOORS: Material & Location | Associations & Symbolism
ROOFS, WALLS, & FLOORS: Materials & Finishes | Indirect Experience
Locally Expressive Materials relates people and buildings to their
Aging Materials records the effects of elemental weather forces on buildings in cyclic time through visible cues such as rusting, cracking, coloration, roughness. [Pollution, Daylighting, Water, Air Quality | Awareness]
regional environment. [Resources & Construction | Biophilia & Connection]
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Figure I.1 St. Benedicts Chapel, Sumvitg, Switzerland, 1988, by Peter Zumthor. St. Benedicts is clad in naturally finished larch wood, which develop a richly textured exterior.
Figure I.1 Tipton Barn, Cades Cove, Tennessee, 1968 (rebuilt off of original design). This Appalachian cantilevered barn made use of local hardwoods like oak to fit within the context of its heavily wooded site.
Aging materials reminds users that architecture is a conversation across time. Architecture, like
Locally Expressive Materials connect users with the surrounding ecosystem by building a literal
people, inevitably age and the built environment can respond to this mortal condition accord-
connection between local ecology and its use in construction. This approach is amplified when
ingly, utilizing materials that illustrate weathering interactions. Redwood, cedar, and teak all
local materials are used in a relatively unfinished state so that inhabitants can easily observe the
develop a complex, subdued color as they age. Metals, especially copper can form patinas over
surrounding ecosystem's importance in constructing architecture. Locally Expressive Materials
time. Weathered steel, zinc, bronze, aluminium and wrought iron all can produce pleasing visual
encourage a sustainable approach to design and construction as well, since renewable materials
qualities over the years. Travertine, brick, marble, leather, among others, age beautifully. What is
within a specific geographic area are used, lessening energy and emissions from transport and
important experientially is to manifest the long-term relationship of building skin and climatic
processing. Local rocks, boulders, timber, adobe brick, packed earth, and fibrous plants such
forces in the collapsed time record of its surface.
as straw grain all make excellent materials that vary from region to region. These materials and
•
their methods of construction are time-tested, having been used in vernacular architecture for
•
Local construction methods, which have often been used for centuries in conjunction with
Consider the local climate when choosing particular materials so that they age graceful but maintain their structural durability.
regional materials, can be used to accentuate and differentiate Locally Expressive Materials. •
The position of materials, with respect to sunlight, wind patterns, and rain affects the degree and type of aging that occurs.
thousands of years. •
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Some protection of materials such as treatments, coatings, etc, might be needed to
Paints, coatings, stains, and other protective measures can alter the degree of aging to achieve the desired effect.
maintain it in its natural state. Users can opt to forgo artificial processing altogether, with the knowledge that the material must be replaced often.
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Experiential Sustainable Design
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Experiential Sustainable Design
THRESHOLD & FLOWERS: Linkages | Associations
CEILINGS, FLOORS & WALLS: Orientation & Cycles | Associations
Aromatic Gate uses scented plants to create a threshold condition, announcing
Radiant Surfaces creates pleasant thermal asymmetries, feels good to touch
the entry into a new space. [Habitat | Sensory Pleasure]
Figure I.1 Walkway on the Greek island of Santorini. The threshold is emphasized by the bright red Bougainvillea flowering on either side of the archway.
Aromatic gates can create unique sensory threshold conditions, announcing the departure of one space and the arrival into another. Throughout history, flowering pergolas and arbors have provided users a visual and aromatic stimulus. When in bloom, users can often smell the Aromatic Gate before they see it. Scented thresholds provide a focal point to garden or building's, emphasizing the transition from a public to private space for example. In addition to providing a pleasant scent, Aromatic gates often provide shade during hot, sunny days. Their function is versatile; often it serves to merely distinguish two spaces such as the transfer from the landscape to a formal garden, but it can be used to create a perimeter condition and as a place of rest or observation onto a larger scene as well. •
Consideration should be made for the type of flowering plant(s) chosen with respect to climate, solar exposure, and scent.
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Specific flowering plants work better than others depending on the space and form of the
and marks thermal time. [Heating & Cooling | Awareness & Place}
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Figure I.1 Can Lis, Majorca, 1971, by Jorn Utzon. Utzon designed his home to take in the maximum amount of south-facing sunlight & views by utilizing local sandstone that absorbs a great amount of heat.
Radiant Surfaces absorb heat and sunlight, acting as thermal storage during the day. At night, the mass releases the stored heat, warming the spaces adjacent to it. During the sunny winter day heavy surfaces (particularly those in direct sun) are warmer than other surfaces in the room. the opposite is true of a night-cooled mass on a summer morning. Both create a delightful temperature gradient within the room. Radiant surfaces can also be used in active systems, such as a radiant floor for warmth or chilled beams for a colder gradient. • • •
Use dense materials that store heat. In summer, shade the mass and cool it with night air. Consider places both indoors and outdoors to retreat to the interior during the summer and move outward during the winter.
threshold. For example, the flowers of the wisteria plant hang daintily from above, while roses will typically stay upright, creating two very different spatial experiences. •
Often flowering plants will need assistance in creating an arch or other threshold architype. This includes orienting and "training" the plant to grow in a specific direction or on a specific wall/arch/trellis.
ESD Publication Sample Pages
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Mixed Media
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Built Works Knoxville, Tennessee Cullen Sayegh Summer 2015, Fall 2017
Tatami Mat-Inspired Light Fixture The modular dimension of the Japanese tatami mat served as inspiration for this LED light fixture. 1/4� birch plywood with 1/8� plexiglass.
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Table 3’ X 1.5’ X 1” Aspen wood, supported by 1/4” steel rods dipped in rubberized solution.
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Thank You
CULLEN SAYEGH 1517 Laurel Ave, apt. 104. Knoxville, TN 37916 865-719-6189 jsayegh@vols.utk.edu