danielle valdez design work sample | 2018-20
Indigenous Space + Town
Little Dipper Elementary
Visualizing Health Equity
01
02
03
Individual Studio
Solar Decathlon Grand Jury Prize
Individual Studio
Weapons of Inclusion + Exclusion Research and Visualization
Landscape on Structure Construction Documentation
Cultivando Comunidad
Dexter Lake Rowing Center
04
Exercises
Barcelona Study Abroad
Light Study Excerpt
contents
PROJECT TITLE Indigenous Space + Town II PROJECT TYPE Housing, Community LOCATION Eugene, OR DATE Fall 2019 STUDIO CRITIC Javier Bonnin
SKILLS DEVELOPED Revit proficiency, iterative design, time management, community outreach, high concept design, research
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This concept-driven project aims to re-imagine a city block through the lens of Eugene’s urban indigenous community. Inspired by indigenous architect, Chris Cornelius, both the site and the buildings’ form become sentient and in motion. Wetland restoration along Amazon Creek informed each building’s engagement with the ground. Housing for the urban Indigenous community is elevated on pilotis in order to accommodate the rise and fall of the creek, while community programming is buried into the earth. Each autonomous form generates movement inward where they meet collectively, wrapped in fabric skins with painted steel skeletons.
FLOOR PLAN Level 1
FLOOR PLAN Level 2
Residents and community members enter and circulate on the ground floor in order to access the screening room, library, kitchen, theater, and gym. They are connected by a linear path that spans each of the residential buildings. The restaurant and other commercial spaces are primarily entered from Willamette Street. The restored wetland park can be accessed from either of the two paved exterior entry points or from within any of the buildings.
After ascending a wide staircase, amphitheater seating, or the centrally located elevator, residents enter the privacy gradient that clusters neighborhoods of housing. In this semi-private space, a gallery showcases resident and commissioned art on extruded masses of varying sizes. The masses double as seating and gathering spaces for the neighborhood of residences. Housing on this level is fully accessible and has the widest variety of unit size and cost.
ELEVATION Site facing east
FLOOR PLAN Level 3
FLOOR PLAN Level 4
Although unit size on level three remains varied, each of them is a two-story apartment to allow for further separation of space for families, general cohabitation, or live/work environments. An elevated path connects each of the units and with views into the gallery.
Level four serves as the second story of the apartments accessed on level three.
AXON Site
SECTION Community library + gallery * Art by Salish Shkwen
Performance space
Commercial
Community kitchen Cooking Classroom Restaurant
Gym
Hearth Rooftop lounge Bridge
South entry
Housing
Screening room Public restroom
DIAGRAM Program
Interior site entry
Gallery Privacy gradient Library Classroom Lounge
SECTION Site facing south
ELEVATION Site facing north
ELEVATION Site facing east
North entry
DIAGRAM Circulation
PROCESS Community feedback The initial form of the buildings prioritized affordability and modularity over concept. Housing lined the edges of the city block as light-wood frame skeleton that would be filled with either an insulated plywood assembly panel, transparency panel, or railing depending on unit size and financial limitations. This was to allow for ease of periodic reconstruction to reflect the changing need of residents. Ground floor community spaces were centralized round a curved aluminum frame wrapped in a fabric enclosure that interrupts the rigidity of the colonial urban grid with an open air, multi-use space. This design was discarded after the initial meeting with representatives from the urban indigenous community who expressed interest in luxury housing with a strong concept given the saturation of affordable projects dedicated to their community.
DIAGRAM Modular unit
PERSPECTIVE Site view from terrace
FLOOR PLAN Level 1
FLOOR PLAN Level 2
AXON Site + program
SECTION Facing north
SECTION Site
FLOOR PLAN Level 3
FLOOR PLAN Level 4
Solar Decathlon 2020 Elementary School Division and Grand Jury Prize Winner PROJECT TITLE Little Dipper Elementary PROJECT TYPE K-5 Education LOCATION Tecate, CA DATE Winter, 2020 STUDIO CRITIC Ihab Elzeyadi GROUP MEMBERS Garrett Leaver + Katherine Marple MY ROLE Design Lead; the culture formed by the group was highly collaborative. Design decisions were made through charrettes and nearly all drawings, models and visualizations were touched by all of us in some capacity. That being said, I was primarily responsible for renderings and drawings. SKILLS DEVELOPED Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), IES-VE performance analysis, RSMeans cost analysis, WUFI Passive assembly analysis, acoustic analysis, competition submission, public speaking, collaboration, net-zero requirements PROJECT DESCRIPTION This net-positive project was developed for submission into the Solar Decathlon competition and received first prize in the Elementary School division as well as the Grand Jury prize. Little Dipper Elementary acts as an interactive climate exploratorium where complex global challenges are broken down into ‘kid-sized’ exercises. The architecture is simplified, acting as a neutral field for these intentionally designed and integrated learning features. The heart of this project resides within the desire to create fun, engaging moments for children to be inspired to engage with their environment and their community. The school achieves a net EUI of -10 through three main strategies: minimizing conditioned space, utilizing passive systems, and simplifying construction, material use, and operations. But this project asks more than how a building can be cost effective while producing as much or more energy than it uses. It asks “how can design inspire children to be responsible stewards of their environment, ecosystem, and community?”
play objects: places for students to climb and create analog systems: promote kids’ stewardship of their space exterior shading: allows for play and learning moments outside site security: centralized nodes + scatter and run clouds (interior): thermal + light control, facilitate students’ awareness of systems panelized movable display wall: interactive pin up space shared spaces: promotes collaboration between classrooms massing walls: use of thermal lag to monitor temperature swings
photovoltaic: harvest enough energy to support community buildings
kite: wind generation
photovoltaic: harvest enough energy to support classroom cluster sunshade: operable, users to manually adjust as needed flexible elements: provide variety of space configurations connection to environment: continuity between interior and exterior experience skylight: provides primary lighting rainscreen and cooling pond: evaporative cooling, facilitate kids’ awareness of systems chilled beams (interior): temperature control during cooling degree days radiant floor (interior): temperature control during heating degree days ventilation recovery center (interior): control of fresh air in classroom green wall (covered): evaporative cooling and potential for edible harvests
CONTEXT Immediate surround CONTEXT Density + industrial impact
CLASSROOM CLUSTER Four classrooms create micro-communities of students and staff. The classroom itself becomes a home base for intentional learning, with environmental systems integrated into the curriculum. In the classroom cluster, learning moments take the form of interactive and functional objects. Students of similar grades share a panelized pin-up wall and exchange ideas. Students garden together and roll back the courtyard shading device in good weather. A central courtyard is both the main entry into the cluster and a gathering place, and a mound with a unique identifier acts as a landmark, giving each cluster an identity.
LONGITUDINAL SECTION Systems
CROSS SECTION Systems
WALL SECTION
COMMUNITY BUILDINGS The community buildings serve as the prominent face and entry of the site. As students, faculty and community members enter, the central core welcomes them and the lobby provides a place to wait. The craft center is a place for students to paint and play and the climbable pink mound provides a great place to read. In the library, students and staff interact with movable bookshelves and reading rooms under exposed HVAC ducting and fabric clouds diffusing daylight and sound. In the gym, sliding panels are pushed open and students can prepare the elevated music room for a performance.
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
responding to your unique conditions
WHAT YOU SUPPLY
WHAT YOUR KIT COMES WITH
foundation labor tools
stucco finish
1
CMU
2
3
MARKETABILITY + RESILIENCE From this catalog of parts, clients are able to select from standardized classroom components, like walls, windows, and roof elements; while add-ons, such as pavilions with infill panels, provide customization. This system could allow for easy phasing of projects or future expansion The catalog intends to be a framework for quality design and is not meant to stand alone. Final finishes, climate specific requirements, and labor must respond to site context and be sourced locally. This combination of prefabricated and site specific elements make LIttle Dipper Elementary a potential prototype for net-zero primary schools.
gym’s mechanical room: excess solar energy from a select unit of PV panels is stored in solar batteries battery reserve excess energy flow path
common excess energy flow path
INVERTER BATTERY
INVERTER
E-PANEL
METER
GRID
PROJECT TITLE Visualizing Health Equity PROJECT TYPE Permanent Supportive Housing LOCATION Portland, OR DATE Spring, 2020 STUDIO CRITIC Karen Kubey GROUP MEMBERS Vayle Khalaf + David Deussen
MY ROLE Project Lead; I was responsible for researching and developing the program, designing the housing and several community buildings/spaces, renderings, Revit modeling, and drawings. The master plan was designed collaboratively through iterations. SKILLS DEVELOPED Community partnerships, asset-based design, trauma-informed design, evidence-based design, leadership PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project creates points of re-entry into permanent housing for families experiencing houselessness and employs trauma-informed design principles to foster self-empowerment and community connections centered around health equity. Located in the Jade District, people-centric, healthy spaces support five context driven values guided by APANO’s Climate Health Housing Institute (CHHI) framework: physical health, mental health, environmental health, economic health, and social health. These values extend beyond programmatic interventions and are reflected spatially. The project operates in collaboration with Portland Homeless Family Solutions (PHFS), a local community organization which provides resources to individuals, families, and other group types experiencing houselessness with the ultimate goal of successful transitions to permanent housing. Housing units as well as community spaces and programming, are designed to support these goals by taking an assetsbased approach to health equity in the Jade District in order to facilitate social connections between residents as well as to the larger neighborhood.
PROGRAM Cultural exchange Self-documentation of Small event space Artistic expression on canvas Storytelling space Outdoor rest space Market stalls (in partnership with APANO’s small business development program) Community garden
+ $
POOL-TABLE
POOL-TABLE
TE RR
AC E G RO UP
$
$
+
PROGRAM Living room x2 Bathroom x2 Kitchen x1 Bedroom x6 (6-10 occupants) Extra bedroom x2 SRO x4 (4 occupancts) Terraces and patios Total occupancy: 10-18
Wanna come over for dinner?
Plenty of space!
!!!
足够的 空间
A house of my own!
I get to stay close to my family
AGE
38
12
3
MOVING IN
AGE
42
17
8
68
5 YEARS AFTER MOVING IN
AGE
48
22
25
10 YEARS AFTER MOVING IN
1
13
PROJECT TITLE Cultivando Comunidad PROJECT TYPE Urban design LOCATION Barcelona, Spain DATE Summer 2018 STUDIO CRITIC Philip Speranza GROUP MEMBERS Marcela Morales
MY ROLE Graphics and visualization lead; Rhino modeling, Grasshopper scripts for data collection, renderings, graphics, and drawings. Collaborated on research, urban design, community outreach SKILLS DEVELOPED Community outreach, urban design, research, post-occupancy evaluation, proposal development, grasshopper + related rhino plug-ins
PROJECT DESCRIPTION Cultivando Comunidad is a superilla, or superblock, comprised of pedestrian-centric streets and plazas. Located in the Eixample Dreta neighborhood of Barcelona, the project aims to spark a conversation surrounding residential displacement and increased tourism. Our process focused heavily on research and community engagement in order to understand cultural norms and residents’ concerns. A series of interviews and surveys suggested a general aversion toward development and fear of cultural erasure. In response, we identified indicators of gentrification risk and methods for prevention through post-occupancy studies of precedents and data collection. Our design proposal reflects these goals by centralizing community cohesion and cultural preservation in public social spaces.
basic cost of living for 1 person:
basic cost of living for 1 person + 1 child:
eixample dreta Barcelona
average rent per month for 1-bedroom apartment
â‚Ź1.80
average cost for utilities per month
87% 11%
13%
63
average cost of childcare per month for 1 child
117%
â‚Ź1.45
0.75
%
average cost of groceries per month
â‚Ź2.50
domestic beer
imported beer
Type of commercial space
Sidewalk condition
Perceived noise level
Building condition
Street furniture
Presence of graffiti
STREET + PLAZA DESIGN The street and plaza meet our design objectives through low-impact interventions centralizing community cohesion and cultural preservation. Social interaction is facilitated through a variety of seating types that integrate vegetation and local culture (below). Residents are encouraged to plant and grill calcots, a Catalan root vegetable that is traditionally shared at summer events. Each of the seating units is made from recycled plastic that can be easily painted with commissioned art, public messages or graffiti. The lightweight material makes the seats easily movable in order to accommodate a wide range of interaction types. The venue in the center of the plaza is flexible enough to host a diversity of events such outdoor movie nights, family parties or community meetings. It also gives the Eixample Dreta neighborhood an opportunity to participate in Festa Major, a summer festival where neighborhoods compete for the best themed street installation.
SECTION: EIXAMPLE PLAZA
SECTION: EIXAMPLE STREET
Tree well
Seating + Fire pit (calcot grill)
Multi-person moveable seating
AXON: PLAZA DESIGN
AXON: STREET DESIGN
Herb garden planter
Moveable seating unit
Seating + Vegetable (calcot) garden
Overhead cables
Light columns
PROJECT TITLE Weapons of Inclusion + Exclusion PROJECT TYPE Research/Exercise LOCATION Portland, OR DATE Spring, 2020 STUDIO CRITIC Karen Kubey
SKILLS DEVELOPED Visualization techniques, conceptual design, research
PROJECT DESCRIPTION The following is a series of exercises completed in the first several weeks of a design studio. The image to the left is from a social distancing exercise which satirically imagines a post-COVID urban fabric reshaped by a desperate need for human interaction. The next exercise is an empathetic visual narrative from the perspective of a non-English speaker navigating a Jade District traffic intersection. This person is relying on technology to translate the English-only signage despite diverse representation in the area while nodding at potential challenges caused by inequitable access to technology. The final exercise is based off of Interboro’s “Weapons of Inclusion and Exclusion” visualizing the history of redlining in Portland’s Laurelhurst neighborhood through a series of diagrams. It concludes with an infill development and land redistribution proposal for 277 potential properties that fit a specified dimensional and sun exposure criteria.
PROJECT TITLE Landscape on Structure PROJECT TYPE Public space LOCATION Eugene, OR DATE Winter, 2020 STUDIO CRITIC Michael Geffel GROUP MEMBERS Billy Guarino
MY ROLE Revit modeling, visualization. Collaborated on details and drawings for construction documents. SKILLS DEVELOPED Construction document production, structural analysis, landscape design, planting plan, detailing
PROJECT DESCRIPTION This project was developed for a landscape architecture course with the objective to redesign a neglected green space near the Performing Arts Center on the University of Oregon campus into in order to activate it as informal public performance space rooted in the context of the Willamette Valley. The existing site is located on structure requiring careful consideration of loads throughout the design process. The final deliverables for this project was a complete construction document set.
PROJECT TITLE Dexter Lake Rowing Center PROJECT TYPE Community Center LOCATION Lowell, OR DATE Spring 2019 STUDIO CRITIC Landry Smith
SKILLS DEVELOPED Rhino proficiency, schematic drawing exploration, physical model building, light study, passive heating and cooling systems
PROJECT DESCRIPTION The following is an excerpt from an introductory studio project, Dexter Lake Rowing Center, which highlights an exploratory light study. The light study was conducted through a series of renderings and physical models in order to calibrate the heat gain and relative humidity sensors responsible for triggering rotation among the mechanical light filtering louvers. The open plan makes for flexible spaces that accommodate a dynamic program while maintaining controlled access to boat storage. Furthering the agenda of an environmentally responsive building, a trombe wall convection system passively heats the primary spaces while the building engages with the landscape through a series of bioswales and interconnected paths that collectively form a stormwater filtration system.
The dropped ceiling feature is organized by 20x60 foot units comprised of 120 louvers oriented south. Each unit operates independently and rotates from a fixed point informed by an exterior dry bulb temperature sensor and an interior humidity sensor. The louvers rotate between three points: 15, 30 and 45 degrees from an axis perpendicular to the floor. This light study is a series of renderings used to determine the ideal angle (highlighted in yellow) for nine key times of year which would be used to calibrate the sensors. LIGHT STUDY Sensor Calibration
contact daniellelouisevaldez@gmail.com (702)343-9614 3129 SE Morrison St. Portland, OR 97214