Stories on Architecture Daniela BeraĂşn Portfolio
2020
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From “machines for living� to machines for making community B.Arch thesis
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Can a building be modern and obsolete at the same time? British-Peruvian Cultural Association in Santa Anita
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Can a park be the foundation of a building? Airport convention center in Callao
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Architecture made for engineers Headquarters for the Engineering Professional College of Lima
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The width of tolerance A bookcase for things and cats
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How to get people closer to a natural museum? The Agrarian National University of Peru cultural complex
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Botanical Coding A modular wall clock
Architecture can b e meaningful to people because of its relationship to their culture and their environment. As a human, I allow myself to have my own narratives about spaces. And as an architect, I feel my role is to make architecture so that it becomes a space where people can create their own life stories. A developing country like Peru is a particularly difficult environment for an architect. But the challenges that arise during a project’s development help forge its identity. I believe it is crucial to talk about architecture in Peru as prod uct of the environment and context in which they are designed and built. The narrative about the process becomes an important form of representing the project, as a drawing or an image. Following this idea, I am presenting my projects in this portfolio with a brief story about culture and context to g ive them meaning. It is also an effort to connect the people reading the stories with the projects, through a narrative that acknowledges intentions, difficulties, questions, and the idea that architecture is the challenging process of executing all those things.
From "machines for living" to machines for making community B.Arch thesis
PROJECT Designed Fall 2013 - Fall 2014 Defended dissertation on December 2014 PROGRAM Urban master plan, office building, manufacture workshops, retail hangar, housing buildings PROFESSOR Eduardo Figari Federico Dunkelberg MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT As an
individual thesis project I defined and studied
the site, presented an approach to the problem, an architectural proposal, the design, and developed the graphic content. 6
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Surquillo is an active neighborhood within the heart of Lima. Historically, it houses a variety of manufacturers, from large factories and retailers to small entrepreneurs who transformed their houses into workshops. The rising housing prices in the city were beginning to transform Surquillo from a plural and highly commercial district into an upper-middle class residential area. New apartment buildings designed with blind perimeter walls and car-oriented entry points arrived all over in the district and quickly became targets for delinquency and social tension. “Barrio Motor” —an expression for how a neighborhood is also an engine for communal and economic activity— explores how an architectural project could help solve the social tensions between Surquillo and the rest of Lima. The premise of the project was to expand the district’s lack of public space and improve its precarious work infrastructure while maintaining its traditional use of space. The project aims to create open spaces that can operate without clear borders and allow users to transform it to better satisfy their ever-changing needs. The project is also inspired by concepts such as emergence and non-linear and self-organizing systems.
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Six existing blocks were reconfigured into one "super block" by changing accesses, traffic direction, pavements, and leaving a vacant central space for a plaza.
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1.Office Building 2.Housing 3.Large Retail hangar 4.Manufacturing Workshops 9
In this context, all ground space is commercial space. In yellow, the commercial potential of the super block
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OFFICES
TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN 4TH FLOOR9TH FLOOR
RESTAURANT ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES
3RD FLOOR
BUSINESS CENTER
CONVENTION CENTER
CONVENTION CENTER 2ND FLOOR PUBLIC CAFETERIA
ENTRANCE
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CONFERENCE ROOM
CAFETERIA CONFERENCE ROOM BUSINESS CENTER
MANUFACTURING WORKSHOPS
MANUFACTURING WORKSHOPS
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THIRD FLOOR
The first three levels of the office building are public and connected to the manufacturing workshops by a bridge, with the aim of facilitating encounters. The bridge and a public stairway to the workshops are placed in the forefront of the super-block, so that all the activity could be seen from the avenue
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The manufacturing workshop building is a modular pavilion-type structure, flexible in plan and in section, to fit diverse requirements. An elevated central "street" works as an outdoor extension of the workspaces
Public accesses to the central street on the second floor (above). Central street (below)
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Joining the modules in plan and in section allows businesses to have optimal workspaces. From commercial ground floor to an experience like to working on closed-door workshop on the second level. Or a combination of both.
DEP.
A restaurant (ground) with a kitchen (2nd floor)
A hardware store (ground) with a carpentry workshop (2nd floor)
A car mechanic (ground) with offices (2nd floor)
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Three scales of one housing project: (1) Two blocks of dwelling, one of which faces an existing local market (2) Each block has commercial spaces facing the existing streets (3) The block is composed of two identical units, separated by a public pedestrian street in between
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SHOP
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LOCAL COMERCIAL
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LOCAL COMERCIAL
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LAUNDRY
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LOCAL COMERCIAL
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PATIO
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LAUNDRY LAUNDRY SHOP
LOCAL COMERCIAL SHOP SHOP
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Each of the units have a semi-public passageway to access all apartments and houses, plus common laundries. Also all corridors from higher floors are open to this space, ensuring there is always some visual control and light to make it feel a safe place.
PUBLIC
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SEMI PRIVATE PUBLIC
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1 The dwelling is designed to have different access filters so that the perimetrical wall can be avoided, and to encourage a sense of community and ownership of the common spaces.
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(1) Diagram of a typical division between public and private when there is a perimetrical wall, versus the proposed gradual separation that incorporates semi public and semi private spaces. (2) Gradient of public (green) to private (red) in the project.
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Commercial space Two-story house Three-story house Duplex apartment Flat apartment Corridors
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Can a building be modern and obsolete at the same time? British-Peruvian Cultural Association in Santa Anita
PROJECT Designed and developed 2017 - 2018 Built 2018-2019 PROGRAM 60 classrooms, library, auditorium, art gallery, cafeteria administrative offices. ARCHITECT Reynaldo Ledgard PROJECT ARCHITECT Daniela BeraĂşn TEAM Nadia Rodriguez, Paola Nicolacci, Maricielo Guerra MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT Team leader for the competition were we won this commission. In this role, I was in charge of the design in close work with Reynaldo Ledgard. As project architect during development, my role included meetings with client, coordinating with engineering, drawing and supervising construction plans and details, approving the project with the municipality and overseeing construction. 20
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Public and cultural spaces are often lacking in the cities of most developing countries because of absent urban planning by local authorities, which is why they are often shaped by private institutions. The “Britanico” project in Santa Anita — an up-and-coming neighborhood of Lima — was envisioned as a space where people could connect with each other in its cultural spaces like classrooms, library and auditorium. Sometimes, though, intentions don’t align with reality. The project was inaugurated in March 2020, a week before Peru went into one of the strictest lockdowns in the world because of the Covid-19 pandemic. This means that the project will not be visited by the neighborhood’s residents in the near future. Plus, the building probably will remain the only one of its block, due to the post-pandemic economic crisis that is preventing many constructions at this time. This new reality makes it hard to present a narrative for this project, as it is difficult to talk about a vacant and empty space. This is a building that aimed to host large gatherings and in-person classes; now, it might be almost obsolete by the time it is opened to the general public. Either way, the building will become “context” for all future projects, and hopefully be transformed and reconciled with its original intentions.
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The structure of the building changes between floors to accommodate the different configuration of spaces (efficient underground parking, open spaces on the ground floor and classrooms on top)
TECHOS NPT. + 23.30
PISO 6
SALA DE PROFESORES
NPT. + 19.90
PISO 5 NPT. + 16.50
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PISO 4 NPT. + 13.10
PISO 3 NPT. + 9.70
PISO 2 NPT. + 6.30
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The required 60 classroom were placed on levels 2 to 5 in a dense but efficient typical floor plan
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The facade is made from glass panels, printed with color on the internal faces of each glass to create a sense of depth. Each panel is made of 4 glasses, the outdoor glasses are printed red and the interior ones are printed white.
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The auditorium was a rather small space made to look and feel large. Due to a sizable structure in the middle of the space, the acoustic treatment of ceiling and walls where designed to take advantage of every centimeter
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Can a park be the foundation of a building? Airport convention center in Callao
PROJECT Designed Spring 2011 PROGRAM Convention center with offices, an auditorium, showroom, cafeteria, hotel PROFESSOR Eduardo Figari Alex Krateil MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT Individual academic project Design, drawings and images are of my production 30
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In 2011, the studio brief proposed to design a convention center situated in proximity of the future new terminal of the Lima Airport. The premise of the project was that it would operate entirely on the dynamics of the airport, but would be placed outside of it, in an industrial zone. How could we design something that disrupts the existing uses of the area, but still feels integrated with its surroundings? My proposal was to elevate the building, leaving the ground floor for a public park. A park that would oppose the area while potentially creating connections that may change the collective perception of the it.
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On the ground floor there are two halls, one for the convention center and another for the hotel. A plaza below ground level was a connection with a Metro line, to be constructed with the new airport terminal in the future new airport AIRPORT NEW terminalSITE TERMINAL
LIMA AIRPORT
CALLAO PORT OF CALLAO PORT ( LIMA’S PORT )
project site
PROJECT SITE
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Concrete structure Main parallel steel beams Pendant "C" section beams Horizontal extensions
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The structure was thought from top to bottom. This allowed large spaces without intermediate columns to be on the bottom of the building facilitating pedestrian access.
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Third Floor - Auditorium, Cafeteria, upper level of the showroom
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Fifth floor - Convention center, Offices
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Architecture made for engineers Headquarters for the Engineering Professional College of Lima
PROJECT First phase: designed 2017-2018, built 2019 Second phase: designed 2018-2019, currently under construction. PROGRAM Auditorium, offices, convention center, services, cafeteria, underground parking. ARCHITECT Reynaldo Ledgard PROJECT ARCHITECT Daniela BeraĂşn TEAM Paola Nicolacci, Roberto Villalobos, Maricielo Guerra, Nadia Rodriguez. MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT Defining the program through research on the institution and meetings with heads of departments. Architectural design in close work with Reynaldo Ledgard. Drawing the construction plans and details, and supervising my team in that task as well. Meetings with providers, and compatibility with engineering, approving the project with the municipality and overseeing construction. 38
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The Professional Engineering College of Lima is a large institution with seventeen departments, one for each recognized engineering discipline. Each is led by an elected “president” and an elected dean who provides oversight. How could we, as architects, align all these political factions to maintain our vision of the building? A question that does not have a single answer, but the fact that the building provides representation in and out of the institution may have made all engineers have, for different reasons, a unified sense of identity. On the one hand, the institution now is more present in its neighborhood thanks to a plaza designed as an open foyer for the auditorium. It provides a space where people are invited to participate in the college’s events, even if it’s just through a distant look from the street. And on the other hand, in contrast to open common spaces, a second phase of the building will provide each discipline with an individual space. This aims to give each of them a sense of physical and symbolic presence within the institution.
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The ground floor is primarily a plaza. The second phase will add spaces for public services but maintaining an interior-exterior quality in the circulations, to relate to the plaza.
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Second Phase
The volume of the auditorium was retracted so that the plaza is the link with the street, creating a better relationship between pedestrians and the large scale of the volume.
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SOUND ROOM 5 CAFETERIA 6 TERRACE 7 UNDERGROUND PARKING 8 HALL 9
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The width of tolerance A bookcase for things and cats
PROJECT Designed and fabricated 2017 PROGRAM Bookcase DESIGNER Daniela BeraĂşn MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT This was a personal design commission. The fabrication was done by a local carpenter with experience in metallic furniture. 48
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This wood and metal bookcase was designed as the central piece for the living room of an apartment in Lima. It was made to serve the double purpose of carrying the owner’s varied collection of things and providing higher ground for the household cats to hang out. The width of the bookcase – forty centimeters - allows the cats to travel up and down without running into any object, unless they actively want to throw something to the ground, which not even the best design can prevent. The bookcase was fabricated in four pieces so that it could pass through doors and be carried up to the apartment by two people. On site, only dry construction was required: screws assembled the metallic structure and the wooden shelves were just embedded in it.
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How to get people closer to a natural museum? The Agrarian National University of Peru cultural complex
PROJECT Design 2019-ongoing PROGRAM Remodel of the Peruvian Agriculture Museum, offices, convention center, auditorium, classrooms and services. ARCHITECT Reynaldo Ledgard PROJECT ARCHITECT Daniela BeraĂşn TEAM Paola Nicolacci MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT This project is in an early stage of design. My role at this stage has been research, field study, the design concept in close work with Reynaldo Ledgard, and the drawing of plans and sections. 54
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Starting a story with the definition of a word is a mistake 98% of the time; 99% if it’s a word in Latin. But I will take my chances with this one: “Universitas” means “the whole”, “the universe”. It is also the root of the word “university”, suggesting
the existence of a blurry line
between the idea of community and a vast, diverse entity. A university is, after all, a common ground for a universe of people. This realization transformed the question of how to design a hybrid building for the Agrarian University of Peru into how to create an ecosystem for its community. The landscape of the Agrarian University includes students, professor, administrative personnel and visitors of the University’s Museum of Agriculture, located in an on-site manor from 1910 that has been suffering from a lack of interest from the community. How could we make the museum a part of the University’s universe? Our idea was to place a garden of native plants provided by the Museum of Agriculture between the manor and the project. The garden stretches through terraces from the ground to the third floor, where two new exhibition spaces would be placed. These first three floors are also the ones where all of the University’s spaces are located, and are accessible from the same outdoor pathway, making all people visitors to the museum.
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The entrance is through a plaza due to the public nature of the building and the urban scale of the complex
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FIRST BASEMENT
The first three floors plus the first basement are designed to feel integrated to the ground floor, with indoor spaces and outdoor circulations and communal spaces.
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FIRST FLOOR
The roof of the auditorium is transformed into walkable green platforms, resembling the traditional Inca terraces that shape the agricultural landscape of the Andes.
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MUSEUM OF AGRICULTURE
CENTRAL PLAZA SECOND FLOOR CORRIDOR TO CLASSROOMS
AUDITORIUM FOYER BOTANIC TERRACES THIRD FLOOR TERRACE
BOTANIC GARDEN CLASSROOMS
EXHIBITION SPACE
ENTRANCE PLAZA
HALL EXHIBITION SPACE
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The green terraces are an extension of the botanic garden, and part of the museum tour that finishes on the third floor in two additional exhibition spaces
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Botanical Coding A modular wall clock
PROJECT Designed 2019 PROGRAM Modular wall clock with timers MY ROLE IN THE PROJECT Individual project part of a certification course on digital fabrication and robotics. 64
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Learning code was my motivation to take part in a digital fabrication and robotics course in 2019. When we were asked to design a personal project, I saw an opportunity to cross another thing off my bucket list: learning how to be a better gardener. My main problem with gardening is that I need to track how often to water each plant while remembering the last time I did it. This difficulty gave birth to a modular wall clock I designed that could be customized with reminders for any task. The main module functions as a standard digital clock, while the secondary modules are timers that light up when a set time has passed —days or weeks— and remain on until a person manually turns them off and restarts the count. This way, each module serves as a tracking device of a specific time period. The device could be used for gardening, but also for school assignments, house chores, and any task that repeats itself through a constant period of time.
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The main module is programmed as a digital clock with an Arduino UNO, a DS3231 module and two neopixel rings to display the time. The neopixel rings were programmed in geometrical proportion of the time, to be able to display it in a recognizable way.
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3D printed nestable prototype of main and secondary modules. The surface of the modules was acrylic so they can be written on with a white-board marker.
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