P O R T F O L I O FRANCISCO MONSALVE C C U E N C A
-
E C U A D O R
The development of the following projects have made evident there are urban issues that architectural design alone can not solve, such as social inequality or the existence of limited public areas. At my bachelor years, architectural design was fairly important at my faculty, but it was vital to take a look into the existing urban phenomena. Therefore the following projects have been conceived as approaches which aim to help improve the local conditions in Cuenca, Ecuador.
Cuenca, Ecuador. Andean city -450.000 inhabitants approximately -2500 meters above sea level 3 Major concerns: - low population density. - low rate of public space per inhabitant - dysfunctional transportation system.
PORTFOLIO o
f
w
o
r
k
01 University, city and culture campus as public space
academic
group project
Project awarded the first prize at a the “1st Latin American Biennal of Academic Architecture - ARQA”
01
University, city and culture
campus as public space
This project was designed for the contest held at the Firts Latin American Biennal of Academic Architecture in Cuenca, Ecuador. The contest asked for a design proposal of a former Asylum building. This building is located on one of the best areas in the city; Near the most importan green axis of the city and also close to the historical core. Therefore It was a great opportunity to not just redesign the old building, but also to stablish a city strategy on how to reach proper amount of public space per inhabitant. The strategy could be replicated on more than one location along this green axis.
type: academic kind: group project role: group director contribution: conception, design, representation. date: 2013 semester: 9th supervisor: Arq. Pedro Espinosa pespinosa.surreal@gmail.com
former asylum Building
possible future campus
proposed campus
posible future campus
1 1 The blocks shown are single house dwellings, which do not take advantage of the well equiped and well located surrounding. The location can become an important public campus. 2 The area left without the dwellings is quite irregular, and the new campus buildings should order it. 3 Since there is no landmark on height, a tower/platform is suggested, this generates better structured areas, providing a point of reference at eye level.
2
4 A mix of uses is proposed, to make the block more convenient for a variety of people.
circulation
3
dwelling
offices
cultural Asylum building
4
landmark
01
The biggest goal of the project is to take advantage of the context, and make the surroundings of the Asylum a great place to walk, a city space that an urban settlement this size should have. The idea of mixing uses is suggested because this would activate the campus, with things happening all the time. The drawing below shows the cultural area of the campus, the former asylum is meant to be a center for university students, in which they can access to meeting rooms and media.
Finally inside the building the desing looks to recuperate the original looks of some walls, letting the bricks be visible again. The internal walls were removed so a new structure is designed; A grid of columns is placed on the border walls, they are meant support the truss from wich the student´s meeting rooms will be hanging. This leaves an open area on the oor plant making it a good place for students to gather.
Asylum´s section
02 Transit oriented development in Cuenca
academic
personal final project
This project was awarded the third prize at a national contest held by a private company related to the construction industry
02
Transit oriented development in Cuenca
The city of Cuenca, is building its first tram-line, the construction began on late 2013. The construction process has been a major problem going on in the city. The tram did not have a plan of what will happen on the city surface around it.
type: academic kind: personal final project role: author contribution: conception, design, representation.
Trying to answer the current situation from the academia, this project aimed to exemplify a system of transit oriented developments; Located on industrial lots, which actually are out of the industrial park. Hence the project consists on the architectural and urban design of one of these blocks.
date: 2015 semester: 11th supervisor: Ph.D Arq. Carla Hermida chermida@uazuay.edu.ec
lightram stop
green space
dwellings public space
retail
shops TOD
TOD
lobby
walkable street
housing
offices
offices cultural space
public space
auditorium
1
2
02 The idea behind the dwelling is to have one main corridor and acces to almost all of the apartment from there, the corridor is located on the 2nd oor, this distribution is based on a building made by Ralph Erskine.
Having different size departments, is more convenient for social cohesion to take place, so there are 3 types, as shown:
On the other hand, Jan Gehl suggests street facades should tend to be more vertical, avoiding long horizontal lines because it helps reaching a greater level of variation on the facades.
2) 100m2 : 2 rooms and a social area
D-01 D -01
1) 57m2 : 1 room and a social area
3) 150m2 : 2 rooms, a social area, and a visitors resting place.
D-02
D -02
GSPublisherEngine 0.0.100.100
F
D-02 G SPub lishe rEng ine 0.0.100.100
D-01
Axonometry detail
1
2
3
03
Cuenca - Tram master plan
Strategies for transit in the Urban settlement
profesional group project
03
Cuenca´s tram Master Plan
Strategies for transit in the urban settlement
The “Universidad del Azuay” is developing a master plan for the tram line currently under construction in Cuenca. The plan takes care of the 2 areas outside the historical core; it looks stablish a couple of approaches that help the tram have a better impact in the city. The area of influence has been established based on walkable distances from the tram stops within 5 minutes. The two areas have different urban problems in some cases, but some others spread all over the city.
type: profesional kind: Municipality consultancy role: Jr Architect contribution: conception, design, representation. date: 2016 semester: after graduation supervisor: Ph.D Arq. Carla Hermida chermida@uazuay.edu.ec
The city of Cuenca suffers from a couple of main issues on most of its areas; these issuess have to do with low population density and an alarmig growing pace of motorization. This combination has helped the city to become really spread and more inefficient than it used to be. Under this framework of events is where the Tram is concieved. One problem in most of the urban area of Cuenca is the low population density. The low population density is notorious on pictures
as this one. In this image is evident how the urban footprint spreads endlessly within the valley formed by surrounding mountains. Another Problem that the city goes thrue is tha while the total population grows 2% annually, cars increase by 11% in the same period of time. On the other hand the two areas implicated on this plan have different urban phenomena. Therefore a further analysis has been taken into account.
03 higgest lowest
inhabitants density
underprivileged privileged
Socio-Economic status
higgest lowest
Land cost
higgest lowest
Development potential
public space city equipment industry commerce service dwelling
Land use on street level
Black map
P
O
R
T
F
O
L
I
O
P
O
R
T
F
O
L
I
O