PORTFOLIO DIALE TAKONA 5th Year B.Arch Virginia Tech
DIALE TAKONA
(914) 325-5591 dialet@vt.edu
Education May 2022 (Expected)
August - November 2020
Virginia Tech Blacksburg, VA Candidate for Bachelor of Architecture GPA 3.57/4.0 Virginia Tech curriculum: Chicago Studio Chicago, IL Selected as 1 of 14 students to study Architecture in Chicago for a semester Worked in a team of two to design a proposal for a 270 unit affordable housing complex
January 2019
Virginia Tech curriculum: Japanese Culture in Constructed Artifacts Tokyo, Japan Spent two weeks in Japan studying modern architecture with 10 other graduate and undergraduate Architecture students. Curated drawings and photographs for a school wide-exhibition on our travels using AutoCAD and
Experience June - August 2021
Lightroom
Beyer Blinder Belle|Architectural Intern New York, NY Created renders for the lobby of the National Urban League project in Harlem, NY using Photoshop Assisted in the Construction Administration phase of the remodeling of the W New York hotel in Union Square, NY
November 2020
Skidmore and Owings Mill (SOM)|Architectural Intern Chicago, IL Conducted extensive research on design techniques used to cater to people who are hard-of-hear-ing as part of the redesign of the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities Designed a library space with a team of Interior Designers for the Federal Housing and Finance Agency building renovation in Washington D.C.
June - August 2020
Columbia University Summer High School Program|Intern New York, NY Taught Rhino 3D Modeling Software to 25 high school students in the Introduction to Architecture and Design Theory course at Columbia University
July 2018
Office of the Mayor|Intern New Rochelle, NY Resolved problems for city dwellers calling into the New Rochelle Town Hall Assisted the Mayor in inviting residents to regularly engage in dialogue within their communities Created graphics to present the plans to plant 10,000 more trees as part of the GreeNR initiative
Skills Adobe Illustrator
Rhino
Adobe Lightroom
Revit
Adobe InDesign
AutoCAD
Adobe Photoshop
Accolades
4th year Integrative Architecture Studio First Place Winner 2021 Virginia Tech Dean's List
ABOUT ME
I am Diale Takona, a 5th Year Architecture student currently doing my thesis at Virginia Tech. With my passion for Architecture, I am interested in one day applying my degree to a field centered around solving humanitarian crises. I hope to bring creative solutions to issues concerning local problems such as low-income housing and global problems such as refugee housing. I enjoy traveling and have visited China, Japan, Cuba, Kenya, Tanzania, Guatemala, Peru, Ethiopia, and Cameroon thus far. In my free time, I also enjoy painting, sketching, and photography.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THESIS: RESEARCH PHASE
Kakuma, Kenya Fall 2021
MODBLOCK Chicago, Illinois Fall 2020
PERFUMERY
Alexandria, Virginia Spring 2021
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
Blacksburg, Virginia Spring 2020
FOLIO: ART GALLERY Capetown, South Africa Spring 2019
THESIS STATEMENT FALL 2021
Afrofuturism and its ability to combine fictional technologies with Afrocentric aesthetics can be used to reimagine and critique the ways in which informal refugee settlements transition into formal cities In this thesis, Afrofuturism is utilized as a tool to visualize what an African solution to the ever-growing population in the Kakuma Refugee camp in Kenya could look like. Full research booklet
1998 interview with Senegalese fil mane Sembène.
"Europe Is Not My Center" embod of Kakuma not as a patchwork of
THESIS: RESEARCH PHASE
lmmaker Ous-
dies all that this thesis hopes to accomplish in its goals to envision the future f humanitarian aid, but as a bustling city.
BACKGROUND (In Progress) Kakuma Camp, created in 1992, was a temporary solution to people fleeing war in Somalia, Ethiopia, and Sudan. Located on the outskirts of Kakuma Town in the Turkana West District has been in operation for 30 years and has evolved into its own city.
Refugee life typically exists as a patchwork of aid provided by various organizations –a collage of a life created from anything possible.
“Space is the Place” by Sun Ra
Parliament’s “Mothership Connection”
For a long time, fictional worlds that depicted future universes lacked Black and Brown people. Afrofuturism emerged as a reaction to the lack of Black and brown people seen in science fiction books and movies.
Science Fiction writer Octavia Butler
Visual Artist, Olalekan Jeyifous, imagines Lagos, Nige
eria as a city with Shanty Megastructures
THESIS: RESEARCH PHASE
Over 100 businesses operate in Kakuma today
“The idea of using sci-fi and speculative fiction to spur social change, to reexamine race, and to explore self-expression for people of color, then, is clearly nothing new. The black visionaries of the past who sought to alleviate the debilitating system and end the racial divide used these genres as devices to articulate their issues and visions.” - Ytasha l. Womack
Full research booklet
DESIGN PROPOSAL (In Progress) "Blade Runner" formal and movement analysis
"Cloud Atlas" formal and movement analysis
Formal and movement analysis overlay
Sci-fi cities movement diagram
Due to predicted population increase, Science Fictional cities exist as densely packed areas that facilitate movement in all directions.
THESIS: DESIGN PHASE 5 years in the future
Afrofuturist depiction of Kakuma in design phase 1
10 years in the future
The design proposes a series of elevated platforms to create multiple layers of existence in the city. The design also proposes the creation of a mixed-use center for commerce. This strucAfrofuturist depiction of Kakuma in design phase 2.
ture would house fresh foods markets, supermarkets, internet cafes, and barbershops.
MODBLOCK FALL 2020
Welcome to MODBLOCK. We believe in giving power back to the user. MODBLOCK is an affordable housing complex located in Chicago, Illinois. The project is designed to give the user full control over the design of their apartment unit, and through that encourage them to express their individuality in the community we created. The process of buying our units is AI-guided, interactive, and futuristic. MODBLOCK was designed in collaboration with Jack Wasielewski Full book
Unit facade options catalog that
MODBLOCK
residents select from
View of the housing complex from West Cortland Street
CONCEPT
W:\Users\YOU\Concept
https://www.arc le-boeri-studio
US: Minorities in the United States are treated like monoliths, and the stale nature of famous Cabrini-Green homes only serves to exacerbate that notion.
US: A mass ing bloc w model that of tenants the static bloc.
MODBLOCK
chdaily.com/195866/in-progress-bosco-verticao/5-rolo-di-albero
sive point of failure for this houswas its imposition of a dull housing t did not serve the individual needs s. Our housing model moves away from c monolith in favor of the discrete
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SITE AND MASSING
W:\Users\YOU\SiteandMassing Main Entrance
Main Entrance
Retail
Healthcare Milwaukee District North Line Main Entrance
Main Entrance
Main Entrance
Senior Care
606
Main Entrance
Childcare
US: Outdoor park spaces are composed using these 4 outdoor module types
MODBLOCK
The massing sequence begins by laying out the structural steel hallways
As tenants buy units, the different length modules begin to stack
These are pre-determined areas for residential shared space
After a few years when all the units are bought and the community is at capacity
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MODULES
W:\Users\YOU\Module
US: These are your 8 modules. This is the whole project. Mixing and matching, shifting around, and combining these modules to your liking will produce the unit that will best fit your personal living style.
MODBLOCK
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PLANS
W:\Users\YOU\Plans
US: What a typical floor plan might look like. Our modules are arranged around a system of double-loaded corridors with special predetermined places carved out for public amenities. These public modules contain open floor plans
US: Each module t main ser the chas
h module has a built-in chase so all types stack on top of each other. The rvice for an individual unit stems from 73% se in its longest module.
MODBLOCK
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CONSTRUCTION
W:\Users\YOU\Construction
1
2
completed frame
1
2
completed frame
3
4
US: There are two main structural pieces to this project: the frame that supports the modules and then the modules 4 themselves. The frame3 is constructed first, in its entirety. Our prefabricated structural steel modules are then simply laid and stacked around the frame.
1 2 3 4
= = = =
MODBLOCK
added modules on top of frame
1 2 3 4
= = = =
concrete columns/footings CMU cures concrete plinth steel trusses & concrete hallway floors
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GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER SPRING 2020
As part of a semester-long competition with the Virginia Association for Learning Environments’ 2019-2020, our studio was tasked with designing a Global Warming Research center for high school students. The facility is located on Virginia Tech's campus and researches collaboratively with the university. The design explores creating a learning landscape through integrated moments of pause
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
CONCEPT
Conceptual sketch showing how students interact with these proposed moments of pause
Conceptual sketch showing how these glass cylinders pierce the building
Conceptual sketch showing the approach to the main entrance and surrounding context
THEATRE
101
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
TOP OF THE STA
IRS
SQUIRES
STUDENT
CENTER
TEY COLLEG O E AVE
ST
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
PLANS AND SECTION
1
1. Library 2. Entry stairs 3. Cafe
The glass cylinders not only serve as the main sources of light throughout the building, but they also house important program such as the library, café, collaboration spaces, and the vertical circulation.
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
2
3
ELEVATIONS
The mass on the top is designated for students because it contains the research labs and classrooms. The mass on the bottom is reserved for administrative functions. Both read as the inverse of each other.
The top mass i with glass pie mass is made frame that mo concrete disk t privacy in the reduce the bu the South sun.
is made of concrete ercings. The bottom of glass with a steel olds itself around a to create a sense of e office spaces and uilding’s exposure to
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
GLOBAL WARMING RESEARCH CENTER Skylight detail
Parapet detail
Isokorb detail
PERFUMERY
SPRING 2021 Located in Alexandria, VA, this in-fill Perfumery aims to bring the art of perfume making to the area. The design draws inspiration from how perfume diffuses through the air in the way fabric moves with the wind. The design brings in aspects of biophilic design and uses aromatic plants to carry this concept throughout.
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PERFUMERY
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CONCEPT
Rendered view from Ramsey Alley
PERFUMERY
The perceived movement of fabric in this design was generated using a system of points on a graph. This curve is the driving force of the entire design
RAMSEY ALLEY
PLANS
N. FAIRFAX ST
N
Level 1
Basement level
1. Perfumery retail space
1. Public bathroom
2. Public bathroom
2. Employee kitchen
3. Cashier
3. Residential entrance lobby 4. Employee maker space 5. Perfume making workshop area
RAMSEY ALLEY
RAMSEY ALLEY
PERFUMERY
N. FAIRFAX ST
N. FAIRFAX ST
Level 2 1. Living room 2. ADA bathroom 3. Dining room 4. Kitchen 5. Private perfume making area 6. Laundry 7. Bathroom 8. Bedroom 9. Bedroom 10. Private balcony
Perfumery retail space Residential public space Residential private space Perfumery workshop space
PERFUMERY
FOLIO: CENTER FOR CREATIVITY SPRING 2019
Creating an art gallery and maker space where the transitions between public and private are distinguished through the interactions of skin and cell. This language of skin and cells carries throughout the building as the cells serve as spaces in which making and viewing art takes place. At some points, the skin controls the cells and at other points, the roles are reversed.
The approach to the building from the North
FOLIO: CENTER FOR CREATIVITY
The transparency of the building in elevation as depicted from the East facade
PLANS AND CONTEXT
A
1. Cafe 2. Conference room 3. Private offices 4. Bathroom 5. Library 6. Art Gallery 7. Bathroom 8. Artist's Studio
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6
7
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5
Bloem St
2
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1
A 4
3
15
35
Conceptual sketch showing interaction
Conc
between skin and cell
skin d
FOLIO: CENTER FOR CREATIVITY
Bree
st
Cell
ceptual sketch showing how the
Conceptual sketch showing the
defines public space and the cell
indoor courtyard and amphitheater
Skin
CONSTRUCTION DETAILS
FOLIO: CENTER FOR CREATIVITY
Floor-to-floor connection detail