Selected Work Hassna Abourraja
INDEX
VISTA HERMOSA PARK - WELLNESS PARK
REFUGEES PROJECT
245 ROANOKE - GLEN PARK HOUSE
1500 MARKET STREET - OFFICE BUILDING
FREEHAND DRAWINGS
2
3
The site is located on an approximately 10 acre site west of downtown Los Angeles exactly inTemple/ Beaudry. The park includes native plant communities, watershed features, educational opportunities, a soccer field with seating, a parking lot, picnic areas, various play areas and trails, an outdoor amphitheater, and an urban fishing pond. The site is surrounded by many educational facilities, as well as recreational buildings. Belmont, Roybal and Miguel Contreras high school are all within walking distance. Echo park is located nearby as well as Walt Disney Concert hall going into grand park. The site is designed to retain approximately 120,000 gallons of water in the event of a storm. The site is surrounded by both residential areas and commercial areas connected through main streets and then subdivided by smaller residential streets. Population is heavily dense.
When I think of a wellness center I think of a space that brings peace, and integrates its environment. This section is a representation of when I think of wellness this is how I see it. It is inspired from my childhood memory of the smell of dirt when it gets in contact with water. That smell always brought me peace as a kid, therefore I thought of an underground space made of rammed dirt walls, to bring that feeling of connection to the ground. I intended to make ceiling openings that are slightly covered with cascading plants that would diminish the exposure of sun, and have a meditation space just underneath it. close to each ceiling opening water sprinklers with a very low water pressure would activate that smell and bring that experience into life.
Park Roof 46' - 10"
Park Roof 46' - 10"
4 Floor 36' - 0" 3 Floor 24' - 0" 2 Floor 12' - 0" 1 Floor 0' - 0"
6
Under Ground -12' - 0"
3 Floor 24' - 0" 2 Floor 12' - 0" 1 Floor 0' - 0" Under Ground -12' - 0"
7
8
9
10 10
11
13
14
15
This is a transitional housing, mostly intended but not limited to Syrian Refugees with families. The challenges: • Create a space of privacy without stopping the freedom of it’s tenants. • Separate the living area from the office spaces. Solutions: • Screen inspired from Moroccan tiles, that envelops the whole building. That would allow its occupants (veiled woman) to utilize that space without being seen from the street or from other surrounding buildings. • The apartments are designed outwards to make all the units facing a view, and avoid being seen from other units. • Extended walls between each unit’s balcony, for privacy. • Utilizing the roof as a space for families to socialize in a safe environment. Taking in consideration refugees from third world countries, I decided to incorporate a farming partition in the roof, to make it a space where refugee families could develop their own produce. And make it a sustainable roof.
16 16
17
18 18
North Elevation
South Elevation
East Elevation
West Elevation
19
20 20
21
23
24
25
The goal behind this project, was to design an office building. Located in San Francisco, in the Market St. and Van Ness. The advantages of the site, is it's stragical location. In my design I wanted to take advantage of the site's three facades, which benefit from good natural lighting.
This is a commercial office located in San Francisco, in the Market St. and Van Ness. Design idea: • Open/ transparent workspace. • Healthy environment/ Gym space. • Refreshment/ Coffee shop open air. • Nature lighting. • Integration of nature into office space. To increase productivity in the workspace.
This project was a challenge for me. Considering that I usually find my comfort in the usage of curves instead of geometric form. I wanted to experiment with different triangular shapes that I ended up developing into the finalized building shown in the last page of this section.
26 26
27
10 11
9 8
15
7 13
1
6
14
12 5
16 2
4 3
28 28
29
I noticed that in San Francisco many buildings are not taking advantage of their roofs, therefore I wanted to utilize the roof and make it a Coffee/ Restaurant space. This is an open space that allows workers to socialize after work hours or during lunch break.
30 30
31
33
34
35
This is a residence that will be occupied by a young couple. They are two adults that are expecting a new born child. Both adults work from home for large internet firms. Glen Park was the perfect location for them. It offers their desire for an urban environment that is quiet with close proximity to public transportation. Given a preference they both prefer not to drive and they do not own a car. Bicycles are their main mode of transportation. However, they will take BART, Uber or rent cars for longer distances or trips. Under city planning requirements however, they must build a "garage." They have out-of-town guests occasionally and would like to have an extra bedroom for guests and possibly use it as an AirBnB rental.
36 36
In the process of designing my first floor I had to meet the needs of its future occupants. Challenges: • Space that can be closed off for acoustical privacy. • Isolate laundry room noise from impacting the office space Solution: Giving the space constraint that this project has, the underground level is a space that can be controlled acoustically. Therefore I decided to locate the Workroom there, and to make sure that the laundry room is not too noisy. I placed a storage room between the two.
37
Second Floor: For this floor I wanted to keep an open space and take advantage of the shape of the site. Challenges: • Stairs location, to minimise the space it occupies. • Challenging superficy, and shape of terrain. • Two living rooms. Solution: Given the terrain constraint, the spiral stairs to minimise the space it occupies. I decided to use the right side to place the elements of living space as the kitchen, dining area as well as the bathroom and living room. I wanted to take advantage of the west facade by creating two large curtain panels that would allow the natural light in. To gain some space I constructed an outside deck as the main entrance to the house.
38 38
Creating a comfortable space that fits the couples requirements face these couple Challenges: • Bay Windows • Balcony • 3 bedrooms/ 2 Full bathrooms. Solution: The strategy used to design this floor is the study of small places and organizing spaces. The choice of a spiral staircase was efficient for this project, it helped gain space. The left corner next to the stairs appeared to be a good fit for the second bathroom. That allowed me to place the bedrooms facing the facade and get enough light.
39
40 40
41