Design Portfolio Felipe A. Piris
Kaohsiung Terminal
Notch-Lounge
Imaginative Space
Structured Movement
Discovery Pavilion
Notch-Lounge
The notch lounge consists of two vertical pieces. The shape of the vertical planes are contoured to the body. The horizontal is one form that is repeated. The variation comes from the angle of the notch connections. The angled notch allows the horizontal pieces to rest perpendicular to the body.
This project was inspired by the writings of Francis Crick, one of the discoverers of the double helix structure of DNA. He stressed the effectiveness of skewed perspectives in thought and research as a method of inducing insight. This pavilion seeks to produce a perspective shift in subjects through a disorienting spatial experience with the goal of facilitating insight and inspiration. The passage through the space is meant to resonate with the progress of a thought. The ground level is purely circulation and structure: a man-made forest floor with heavily filtered light hinting at the world above. The central spaces are a labyrinth. The path is broken, skewed and obscured. The final destination is a meditation space of pure sky.
Discovery Pavilion continued Where you are prevents you from seeing where you need to be. Its only when you get there, do you see how you got there. This is an escape from reality. More than that, it is a reset button. It is a way to get out of your element and allow your mind to take on a new perspective. This is about taking a breather and walking around, stopping to think.
Kaohsiung Cru
Kaohsiung, Taiwan
This project was a competition f ung Port District, a burgeoning This was a chitects of
team San
project Diego
The port terminal was conceiv and the self-contained systems
Therefore the terminal build ing formal languages: the dense
uise Terminal
for a passenger ship terminal and cultural hub in the Kaohsig, energetic redeveloped area of Taiwan’s second-largest city.
t o
with 8 students and and an engineer
support from
from Buro
RNT ArHappold.
ved of as a threshold between the chaotic, vibrant city s of the passenger ships that it would be servicing.
ding’s form had to mediate between these oppose urban fabric and the discrete “machine for living” at sea.
Structured Movement Theater
Santa Monica, CA
To create an iconic theater that fosters the growth of pedestrian culture, and optimizes the fluidity and structure of movement present in performance art. Performance art is structured movement. The movements of the actors on stage are not haphazard and random, but are structured and thought out beforehand. Similarly this theater mimics the idea of structured movement. This sculptural form, although static, creates movement during both night and day.
By day one can happen upon this landmark nestled between these sweeping dynamic forms and discover a pedestrian gathering space that is secluded, yet proudly announced. The common area emcompassed by the sweeping forms transforms an ordinary parking lot into a relaxing stop on one’s journey through Santa Monica. A sense of movement is created by the dynamic undulating exterior panels. As night decends on the city, the theater becomes a beacon. The interior illumination signals a transformation from pedestrian refuge to one cartering to patrons of the arts. A renewed sense of movement comes from within. As the performers prepare and patrons converse in the lobby, passers-by witness the elogated movement on the exterior. The activity within projects shadows on the exterior walls. As the shadows fall on the asymmetrical walls, they are forshortened and elongated, making the human form indistinguishible. All that is seen is the abstract form of movement.
Kaohsiung Cru continued
uise Terminal
San Luis Obispo, CA
circulation
An object to us is a collection of represe tations of different instances of that obje We only have an idea of what a tree This may vary drastically.
enect. is.
My interest lies in exploring perception. Why is perception important? We are bound, constrained to our sense data. We are constantly filtering the world through our individual sensory experience. Consider a tree. We never come into contact with what a tree actually is. We never truly perceive outside ourselves.
The challenge is to create a structure that facilitates viewer interaction with visual media to create imaginative space for the mind to inhabit. To create a space that houses a constructed experience consisting of the reflective world, the projected world, the world the viewer physically inhabits, and to explore the experiential overlap as his perception warps reality.