PORTFOLIO GUILLERMO GUTIERREZ DE VELASCO SCHMIDT
CONTENTS
ABOUT ME THOUGHTS RESORT MIXED USE RESIDENCE MODULE FURNITURE
ABOUT ME Guillermo Adolfo Gutierrez de Velasco Schmidt Nationality /
Mexican German
Contact / gtz_d_vlsco@yahoo.com
Education 1st-8th Grade All Hallows Academy / La Jolla, CA, USA 9th Grade Colegio La Paz / La Paz, BCS, Mex 10th-12th Grade Preparatoria UAG Jose Vasconcelos / La Paz, BCS, Mex Bachelor of Architecture Instituto Tecnologico de Monterrey / Monterrey, NL, Mex
July 2005 / Gonzalez del Castillo Padilla Arquitectos
May 2008- September 2009 / 3D Arquitectura
Development of façade proposals for residential project
Render development
August 2005 / Asesorías y Servicios Inmobiliarios Empresariales (ASIE)
January 2010- March 2010 / Heidi Schmidt
Development of land registry maps for Deeds held by Vitrocrisa
Business plan development and conceptual design for an event hall venture with boutique winery
May 2006- December 2006 / Stettner y Asociados, S.A. de C.V. Conceptual Design of club house and proposal for golf course layout for a country club development venture at La Paz, B.C.S. Site Analysis for development venture of the “Los Halcones” tourism land division, La Paz, B.C.S.
February 2007- April 2007 / Stettner y Asociados, S.A. de C.V.
March 2010- May 2010 / Sigrid Schmidt Supervision and administration of apartment and building facade renovation in Guadalajara, JAL.
July 2010- October 2010 / 3D Arquitectura
Conceptual Design of master plan for the development venture of the “Los Halcones” tourism land division, La Paz, B.C.S.
Render development Colaboration with Rasaland (RLD) project team at Puerto Vallarta, JAL in development of presentation for a resort at Chalacatepec
July 2007- September 2007 / NO.MAD Arquitectura y Diseño
April 2011- July 2011 / Sigrid Schmidt
Conceptual Design development of information module for the Universal Forum of Culture Monterrey 2007 Render development
Redesign of abandoned vacation home construction near Chapala, JAL
January 2008- March 2008 / Entre Dos Mares S. de R.L. de C. V. Render and video development for land use analysis of the Quivira Los Cabos development Proposal for development of master plan for the “Rancho Santa Elena” land division to the north of San José del Cabo, B.C.S. Proposal for the reevaluation of Grupo Gran Vision’s master plan for the development of Cabo del Este
January 2012- July 2012 / 3D Arquitectura Render development Project Director for renders for the Home Depot Mexico website
Extracurricular Activities French Courses / Three Semesters at Le Alliance Francaise of La Paz, BCS Japanese Courses/ Two semesters at ITESM
March 2008- April 2008 / Phi Business plan development and initial designs for a furniture line venture
April 2008 / Lucio Godinez Conceptual Design for a single family home in La Paz, B.C.S.
May 2008- December 2008 / PROPESA Teleperformance Bilingual customer service representative for ATT prepaid clients
Volunteer Guide/ APEC forum of young entrepreneurs Expiremental Urbanisim Workshop/ Urbanólicos, colaboration between ITESM, UDEM, and UANL Collaborator/ Divergente ITESM architecture congress Guest Commentator/ Global-es, talk show, Radio UDEM
THOUGHTS
The built environment represents a much overlooked part of today’s zeitgeist. To the layman the word “architecture” conjures thoughts of landmarks and ornamental styles from more than a century ago. It is seen as a tourist attraction more than a part of everyday life, therefore it is to be expected that when the layman seeks to integrate architecture into his everyday life, he asks for Victorian styled turrets and spindle work or for “Mediterranean” style terracotta roof tiles and limestone columns. Thus architecture is reduced to privileged home owners and emblematic buildings to embellish a city or corporate image. Meanwhile the built environment and urban footprints continue to grow without enough involvement and consciousness on behalf of many architects. In truth the built environment encompasses a wide range of professions where the contribution of the architect is sometimes almost intangible; which combined with an architect’s lack of humility can lead design to be seen as a superfluous expense in the construction process.
The unorganized urban sprawl should nevertheless be an important target of thoughtful and thorough design. However, the success of such a design will ultimately depend on the people who inhabit it. Therefore the support and growth of architectural culture amongst the layman is of great importance for it is necessary to have clients who demand quality architecture and give quality to the spaces they inhabit in order to be able to truly improve our built environment. Design should be an important factor in this new century, not just in construction but in everything our naïve human consumerist lifestyles involve. The designer’s duty today goes beyond manufacturing processes and aesthetics; it is our job now to harmonize our existence, with each other, with our resources, with the environment, with technology, and with our sense of selves.
RESORT Location / North of San Jose del Cabo, B.C.S., Mexico Lot Size / 78 hectares, development proposed for 330 hectares Client / Entre Dos Mares Outsourced design proposal for new development Entre Dos Mares is an environmental consultancy in La Paz, B.C.S. that focuses on environmental impact studies for developments in the La Paz and Cabo area. The consultancy being interested in venturing into master planning, asked me to propose a solution to a client in possession of two land divisions along the same coast (the land divisions being 78 and 38 hectares in size). The location had potential strategic advantage for creating a new development. Its distance from San Jose del Cabo was far enough to be isolated from the commercial tourist corridor, allowing the development to grow and hopefully acquire adjacent land; yet it was close enough to be incorporated in the future into the corridor which had already begun to grow north of San Jose del Cabo with the development of Puerto los Cabos.
A successful community development requires recreational spaces in which to interact. Los Cabos is known for its golf courses, yet given the limited fractioned land available for the first stage of development, a golf course wasn't an option. However the elongated portion of the terrain has steep areas which are not recommendable for construction; these hills could be attractive for horseback riding. To incorporate equestrian activities into the concept of offering innovation and luxury it was necessary not only to propose equestrian routes, but the possibility to incorporate these into a polo club through the acquisition of adjacent land. A polo club would be a new development for the Los Cabos area that would help attract the market they seek.
Phase 2, 4/ Equestrian Center 16 hectares of dry creek for a landscaped equestrian route will help define the development’s identity from an early stage with minimum investment. This route can later be integrated into the distinctive Polo Club.
Phase 1/ Entrance The road from the airport at San Jose del Cabo, will be guided through a tunnel to indicate the entrance to the development.
Phase 2, 3, 4/ Residential 125 lots of 2,000 m2 in the initial elongated polygon will create a solid ensemble with the hotel and equestrian route, in initial stages of development. Reinvesting the sales will allow further development with more residential sectors around golf course and amenities.
Phase 5/ Golf Desert golf links will help tie together additional residential development, providing wastewater treatment and wildlife preservation.
Phase 1/ Hotel 21 hectares for a sustainable boutique hotel development with beach club. This initial sale will provide funding for further development.
Phase 3/ Town Center Restaurants, shops and markets with mostly pedestrian circulation. A pier for receiving cruise ships and providing freshwater through an air condensation based desalinization method. Lofts above shops provide low budget housing for locals and authentic street life for tourists.
Residences Sidewalk
Golf Cart/ Bike Lane Noise Buffer
The street proposed is elevated with two sunken side lanes for golf cart and bicycle traffic made of permeable pavement to allow water filtration. Protecting these side lanes are rows of olive trees which obscure the vision to the street from the houses and provide shade. The garage entrance for the houses would be marked by arches with bougainvilleas, this will maintain the continuity between houses and accentuate the lines of olive trees. These arches will also provide a consistent location for the street name and number, and will shelter the recycling bins area and utility meters.
Two Way Street
Golf Cart/ Bike Lane Noise Buffer
Residences Sidewalk
Recycling Bins Street Name
Garage Entrance
Street Number
A development's architecture is a decisive factor in creating an identity for a project. My answer was an eclectic architecture combining the arches, stone and brick barrel vaults of the Mexican haciendas; and the window-walls, poured concrete and slick clean lines of the international style. This combination would offer passive cooling systems through the thermal mass and barrel vaults of the hacienda architecture and the deep awnings of the modern architecture. Its incorporation of the window wall would take advantage of the views. The use of natural materials would incorporate the buildings into the landscape. This pairing could create a "Mexican" yet original identity for the development referencing the Case Study Houses of California (where a large part of the tourism in the Los Cabos area comes from) and the fusion of that culture with the Mexican fantasy they come looking for. In short, it will be a strong, elegant, and sober frame for the luxurious and customized lifestyle of the development. To represent this concept I developed the design for a model home. The swimming pool interrupts the interior with a lap lane, while the barrel vaulted ceiling is continuous throughout. I made the main living area deep to keep it away from direct sunlight and placed windows at the base of the vaulted ceiling to provide indirect illumination.
Brick Barrel Vaults Reduce the incidence of direct sunlight on roof
Indirect Sunlight
Awnings Protect window walls from direct sunlight
Window Walls Provide open views and air flow Cross Ventilation
Stone or Adobe Walls Provide thermal mass
A
K
B
D J
J C
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H
G
F
E
A B C D E F G H I J K
Garage Foyer Living Room Kitchen Wading Pool Lap Pool Bedroom Closet TV Room Bathroom Service Quarters
MIXED USE Location / Centrito Valle, San Pedro Garza Garcia N.L., Mexico Lot Size / 8,740 m2 Course / Cátedra Bioconstrucción Semester Team Project My university offers a series of courses sponsored by external companies. During my last semester I enrolled in a course backed by Bioconstruction and Alternative Energy, a consulting agency in green building and LEED certification. In collaboration with three other classmates, we were to elaborate a mixed use development in a small commercial district of the municipality of San Pedro Garza Garcia in the Monterrey metropolitan area. This municipality has one of the highest Human Development Indexes (HDI) in the country at 0.89(2000), with a per capita income of 26,540 USD (2000). Nevertheless, these numbers contrast with other municipalities in the metropolitan area like Garcia with a per capita income of 5,492USD (2000) and 0.77 HDI (2000). San Pedro’s growth was originally mostly horizontal, imitating American suburbs. However the first decade of this century has ushered in a new tendency towards vertical multistory developments. Given its urban scale is based on the automobile, buildings are designed as separate objects to respond to corporate or commercial identities rather than creating a cohesive context.
Rio Mississippi
Cycling Route
The plot of land we were to intervene is found in a low density area currently zoned for mixed use and medium density. The lot is found between two streets, and has two existing structures. The structures currently house a low end supermarket, and a small strip mall. The larger front of the lot (120m) faces Rio Mississippi, an active commercial street, with a saturation of signage and advertisement for drivers. The shorter front (69.60m), currently used as a service entrance for the supermarket, is on Rio de la Plata, a calmer street which has mostly single family homes, many of them transformed into offices now, an elementary and jr. high school, and two small strip malls with less intensive advertisement. In order to help reduce the predominance of the automobile we decided to propose replacing the parking lanes of Rio Mississippi with a cycling route connecting the linear park of Calzada with another park on the edge of the commercial area. This strategy would include a parking garage at the start of the route.
Rio de la Plata
Unemployment rates among young adults between ages 15 and 29, many of them recent graduates, make up more than half of the unemployment rate in Mexico. This has given way to a rise in informal employment up from 23.16 million in 2006 to 26.44 million in 2011. It also plays an important role in the rise of illegal activity. We found it important to create a community among this sector of society and connect it with the strong purchasing power found in the municipality of San Pedro. This younger demographic would also be more likely to show interest in sustainable alternatives. We decided to design the real estate development for lease instead of sale. This would allow to cater to the target demographic which normally doesn’t have a lot of start up capital. Our interest was in attracting independent and alternative business and commerce through services, location, pedestrian activity, community integration and sustainability.
Rental Apartments 3200m2 / Each composed of one to four flexible modules that allow the adaptation of the available apartment sizes to meet the real-estate market demand.
Co-working Business Center Restaurants 680m2 / With large terrace for outdoor seating
Shops 300m2 / With prominent display windows to attract foot traffic
Farmer’s Market 1250m2 / For local producers to replace the services lost from the removal of the supermarket
Parking Garage 10,400m2 / With atrium to provide natural lighting an ventilation for up to 320 cars
1650m2 / For freelance professionals and networking
Community Art Center 1050m2 / In collaboration with the business center this flexible open space will offer activities and workshops, as well as a venue for showcasing projects.
Public Space With divisions for street vendors and performers
Existing Supermarket Structure Hyperbolic parabolic shell structure
Existing Strip Mall Structure Concrete pillar and beam structure
Living Roofs
Prefabricated Modules
Of landscaped native, drought-tolerant vegetation on 1566m2 of roof, insulate, limit rainwater runoff, and reduce heat island effect.
From laminated bamboo panels with hemp insulation mounted on a steel structure leave negative spaces to create a venturi effect, increasing the velocity of the predominating winds from the south-east before reaching the wind turbines
Recycled Tetra-Paks Provide corrugated roof shingles to create an organic roof shape for rainwater harvesting and to allow predominating winds from the southeast to enter the open air farmer’s market and plaza
Vertical Axis Wind Turbines Perform better with turbulent wind from urban areas than horizontal axis turbines.
Living Walls Provide high insulation, reduce heat island effect, and reuse grey-water
Nana Wall Operable folding façade with double glazed glass allows complete exposure of concrete shell structure in office space for night-purge ventilation
P
Tandem Photovoltaic Panels Provide a 435w power rating, through a combination of mono-crystalline solar cells with amorphous silicon, allowing the 580 m2 of the shadow free rooftop to annually produce more than 55,000Kwh
Micro-morph Photovoltaic Panels With a 130w power rating cover 220 m2 of the south faรงade, annually producing more than 30,000Kwh
Water Feature Provides thermal mass while storing and biologically treating grey-water for non potable uses
Recycled Concrete Block From the demolition of walls in the existing strip mall will provide material for creating a permeable pavement
Sunlight Plays an important part in the building orientation. New structures were oriented along an eat-west axis, and placed to protect pedestrian pathways with their shadow during the afternoon
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Moveable Prefab Modules 25m2 laminated bamboo modules with hemp insulation can be attached to the default room through the three available slots in the steel structure. Modules feature raised floor and false ceiling with installation ready to connect to the fixed structure. This flexibility allows the building to adapt the rental apartment sizes to market demand
Kitchen Open to the default room, it contains water and energy efficient fixtures
Basic Bathroom Water efficient appliances are proposed throughout the project
Default Room 25m2 with polished concrete floor can operate as a studio apartment without bamboo modules
Terrace Contains laundry machines
Fire Escape Behind faรงade photovoltaic elements
Master Bath With walk-in closet containing laundry machines
Parking Garage Atrium Provides natural lighting and stack ventilation, Roof level fans along the sides of the underground parking garage push the hot air towards the 4 meter wide center atrium where it proceeds to rise to street level while air renewal is driven by the air pressure difference.
Geothermal Heat Pumps Are located in a mechanical room accessed through the parking garage. It is a split system, sending the cooled anti-freeze out to local distribution systems within the different buildings. Additional energy savings will be accomplished combining the system with the hot water system, to preheat the water. The site’s advantageous high groundwater table promises additional efficiency.
Ventilated Facade External operable bamboo louvers provide protection from the sun on the southern façade of the office building. This second skin also creates a ventilated wall when closed.
Natural Ventilation Can be managed through smaller windows during the building’s use without the need to open the full length of the window as in the night purge.
Suspended Bamboo Floor Is held from the exterior by suspension cables hung from the central support columns. This allows for under-floor air distribution and electrical installations, leaving the concrete shell ceiling exposed and creating a flexible open floor plan.
RESIDENCE Location / Colina del Sol, La Paz B.C.S., Mexico Lot Size / 300 m2 Client / Lucio Godinez Freelance Design Commission After my collaboration with the environmental consultancy Entre Dos Mares, I was asked by Lucio Godinez, the director, to develop a design for a lot he owns in La Paz. I was asked to make the most of the ocean view at the northwest corner of the lot and for something with a generic program for they will probably rent the house later on. The site is in a new neighborhood and few houses are around at the moment, but the lots in the area aren't big and the houses that have been constructed tend to have little or no garden space and move main areas upstairs to prevent loosing their ocean views when the neighborhood develops further.
My solution was to close the house off from the south giving it privacy from the street and protecting it from the coastal desert sun of Baja California Sur. I pulled the house away from the north and the west creating an L shape to increase the viewing angle so all the living areas can open towards the northwest without encountering the neighbor's fence. The L shape however created a corner without access to the view; I left this corner without wall openings other than to the hallways and directed the view towards the sky placing skylights between beams at a double height to create wind currents through the circulation areas when the skylights are open. I made each living area a crystal box and left the circulation areas as outdoor space to allow ventilation between and around the living areas. To keep the circulation areas from the rain and the crystal boxes from the sun; I proposed poured concrete awnings and chose concrete and local stone for bearing walls and thermal mass. Finally a pool at the northwest corner where all the spaces open unto will not only provide a pleasant view for the lower level should it ever lose its ocean view, but will also cool the air that enters all the living areas.
W.C. Bedroom
W.C. Bedroom
W.C.
Bedroom
Laundry
Family Room
Swimming Pool
W.C.
Dinning / Foyer
Kitchen
Sunlight Air Flow
Skylights Draw air creating ventilation
Glass Skin Encloses living areas maintaining views
Stone Walls Serve as bearing walls and provide thermal mass
Concrete Skin
Sunlight
Protects glass enclosed living spaces and outdoor circulation areas Air Flow
Outdoor Hallways Serve as cooling ventilation space around enclosed areas
Swimming Pool Cools air that enters circulation area
MODULE Location / Parque Fundidora, Monterrey N.L., Mexico Client / Foro Universal de las Culturas Design in collaboration with No.Mad Arq
In September 2007 Monterrey hosted a universal culture forum. That summer I worked at a local firm, No.Mad Arquitectura, where I developed a design to compete for the commission of the information modules for the park where most of the events would be hosted. The modules would be placed on open areas and should include gift shop, first aid and ticket sales. My boss, Felipe Nu単es, thought it might be something circular with a membrane awning. Starting from the circular plan I decided to section it like a pie and separate the pieces, creating a nucleus which could be unique to each module to tell them apart, each representing a different concept of the forum. The form then branched out from the center divided in three sections that contained the different functions.
Knowledge
Peace
Sustainability
First Aid
Information
Souvenirs
Ticket Sales
FURNITURE PHI Client / Independent Venture
Phi is the Greek letter which denotes the golden ratio. It’s a symbol of harmony and proportion and so I chose it as a name for a new line of furniture which I would look to distribute as part of an architect’s or interior designer’s composition and not as a stand alone furnishing. The initial designs for the line take inspiration from ancient Egyptian objects, this culture having always been of special interest to me. The frames are assembled of stainless steel profiles cut by laser with a silver brand encrusted so its blackening will reflect the furniture’s age. Stainless steel was chosen for its recycled content and microfiber suede upholstery for its durability and easy cleaning, yet other materials are still being considered. The line at the moment consists of a flexible loveseat with different upholstery options and a matching coffee table, and a curving modular sofa and matching rocking chair.
ESET / Modular Sofa and Rocking Chair
WERES / Modular Sofa and Rocking Chair
Upholstery Options
Seat Table Top
Legs