Portfolio'13 Nelson Ferreira _EN

NELSON FERREIRA PORTFOLIO

INTRO

non-uni work DAYSPA

3rd yr tech proj POMBALINO

4th yr project THE MONITOR

5th yr project MODUS

master thesis HYNCHUSTRUCTIVISM

competition 26 FOUNTAINS

‘cover’ letter . reference . cv NELSON FERREIRA

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[…] We are in the eighteenth century. An illusionist well versed in clockwork has devised an automaton. An automaton so perfect, with movements so fluid and natural, that when the illusionist and his creation appear on the stage together, the audience cannot tell which is which. The illusionist then finds himself obliged to make his own gestures mechanical, and – in what is really the pinnacle of his art – to alter his own appearance slightly so as to give his show its full meaning; the spectators would eventually chafe if they were left in doubt as to which of the two figures was ‘real’, and the neatest solution is that they should take the man for the machine, and vice versa. […].

Jean Baudrillard, “The System Of Objects”, 2005, Verso

It is all about us.

It has always been about us.

The true definition of “us” is the issue.

INTRO

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daySPA Monica is not only the first project I participated in that was actually to become real, but it is also my family business, to which I have been dedicating my life to, together with architecture.

MĂłnica Ferreira (the manager and my mother), started the business a long time ago, it got stronger, and daySPA was the step forward to a new dimension. We bought an open space in Almada, Portugal, that used to be a civil engineering company, and turned it into an urban SPA. That was the role of the architect I worked with. Space mutation and reorganization, function and technical issues were the challenge.

Thinking about it, drawing it, building it, and actually living it ever since, it was the best start into architecture, clear notion of its’ direct link to us, space beings.

www.dayspamonica.com

daySPA

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daySPA

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Pombaline building rehabilitation, in the heart of Lisbon.

Among several technical projects, this was by far the most charismatic one because it mixed actuality with old architectural methods. “Pombaline” is a Portuguese style created by the Marquis of Pombal after a huge earthquake in 1755, which almost totally destroyed Lisbon.

The plan was all about reconstructing the city as fast as possible, as cheap as possible and as anti-earthquakes as possible. This academic project started by analyzing one specific Pombaline building in Lisbon, its’ structure and aging flaws. Afterwards, the exercise was to create the original drawings and possible solutions to rehabilitate it.

Pombalino

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Pombalino

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The objective was to create a small dam in an equally small waterway, which would monitor the water’s conditions that flows straight into Tagus river. The site is a green valley although confined between two mischaracterized urban fragments. The only possible connection between them was by rough trails through bushes and every kind of surprises, or by a 5km road. I decided that the Monitoring Center should become that direct connection, offering two paths: the most direct one through a bridge and the wandering one that would go down across the dam. One of the slopes would have one conference room, one cafeteria and one main hall not only to propose that wandering but also to expose exhibitions, video projections or small shows.

The Monitor

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The Monitor

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The Monitor

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The Monitor

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The Monitor

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The Monitor

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Just at the Tagus river mouth, the south margin [Almada] is one of the most potential spots in existence. Great coast with both unforgettable waves and sunsets due to its West facing beach layout towards the Atlantic ocean and up North faces one of the most beautiful frames of the country: Lisbon.

Completely surrounded by water, Cova do Vapor and Trafaria define the Northwest edge of the South margin. Two fishing villages separated by 3km of bushes, clandestine ghettos and a huge industrial facility, which stands right next to Trafaria, smashing it with such scale and charisma contrasts. And this is the beginning of my personal approach to Russian Constructivism.

The program was to solve that urban/territorial problem. Without destroying any of the villages nor the industrial silos, the aim was to create an urban system that would not only connect both villages but also become its life stream source. Housing being the main subject, public services such as one police station, one health center, one fire department, galleries, one museum, one library, an urban park, a sport zone, one marina, one campus, and so on, were an important part of the objective.

MODUS

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MODUS

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MODUS

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MODUS

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The housing complex would be the most industrial part of the whole project, as a contradiction, and would maintain the dialog with the imposing Silopor facility. A huge concrete platform, starting at the silos facilities, supports an equally huge structural steel mesh, which would be occupied almost anarchically, depending on how the owners would develop their houses.

Vertical and horizontal modules would be available and cataloged in order to be used whatever the need, to be added or removed whenever needed.

This (not so) random process would also define how the southern margin of the Tagus river would communicate both visually and physically with the northern one, Lisbon.

MODUS

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From this random process, the most impracticable situations could happen, such as 5 or 6 modules in vertical, or empty slots between incongruous module organizations.

The interesting part would be the exercise of filling the structural steel mesh both as much and as organized as possible, studying the light and the access throughout the platform.

MODUS

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MODUS

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[hyNchustructivism] Man -Space - Utopia: Russian Constructivism Revisited.

Presentation: 2012.10.17 DOWNLOAD

(r)hyNchus + constructivism = hyNchustructivism [hɪnkəˈstrʌktəˌvɪzəm] In Greek, “rhynchus” means “extreme”, or “edge”, or “beak”. “Ch” is read like [k]. Greek as provocation, this work is all about what sprung from the absolution of absolutism in Russia. Absolutism in Russia came from the Byzantine Empire almost 1000 years before the Russian Revolution. Byzantine Empire’s language by that time was officially the Greek. Poetically, Greek language represents everything that the Russian Revolution denies.

Utopia, by itself, implies an ambiguity of definition which, in reality (no irony), coexists in a very particular way. Ever since Plato’s social reflections, Utopia has been adapting itself to the several contexts of evolution. In this essay, Constructivism takes the main stage, imposing itself as the vortex of a massive evolution with a highly intellectual state until then not witnessed before. In the second half of the 19th century, the Renaissance figuration and logical perspective were not enough to keep up with technology, science and philosophy, which, at a large scale, were evolving and writing History with new ideas and ideals. Russian Constructivism is a representation world aggressively fed by the oppression’s end. Dreams were reality. The people was the target.

Architecture took the main role, due to Russia’s belligerent backwardness in social terms, consequently in urban planning and architecture subjects.

“Nothing accidental, nothing unaccounted for, nothing as the result of blind taste and aesthetic arbitrariness.”

GAN, Aleksei (1977) – Konstruktivizm. Milano: Edizioni dello Scorpione.

HYNCHUSTRUCTIVISMMASTER THESIS

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Lisbon Architecture Triennale 2013 Crisis Buster Competition TEAM MEMBERS: Eduardo Pinto [Landscape Architecture] Pedro Campos Costa [Architecture] Nelson Ferreira [Architecture].

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The main problem, arising from the “social fallout of recession” and “cultural and civic deficit raging in crisis-ridden Europe”, is in our opinion the current crisis of values, that is reflected in a financial and economic crisis. We believe that the amazing amount of cheap energy that in the last decades gave way to a disconnection with the biophysics structures of the city, is also reflected directly in the planning strategy of Lisbon through the absence of a consequent dialogue between the various stakeholders who live and govern the city.

This phrase inscribed in the Amoreiras Arch is the motto of the project “Water as an element of social cohesion”, which aims to reactivate a set of 26 fountains, which are part of the ancient system of water distribution and the collective memory of city. The Aguas Livres Aqueduct, the most visible structure of this complex system, started in 1731 with the aim of solving water absence, which always afflicted the City of Lisbon, today lost its original purpose. The same happened to most fountains that were connected to it, that ensured the water transport to lower areas of the city, and which are now framed in an urban Lisbon in constant mutation and crossed through by a big net of roads.

We see the water as a possibility to connect communities and to make this link with what are the landscape-nature structures of the city. We are also part of nature, man finds his social activities through the interconnection of activities. We want this project to rise awareness of the importance of water in the city and use that as a possibility to build up social cohesion.

The project, to be conducted in three phases, intends to reactivate the whole system through a process that encourages dialogue between residents and local authorities (neighborhood associations, parish councils, etc.), mobilizing communities around each of the fountains in order to bring back the water and the citizens to those noble spaces of the city.

26 FOUNTAINS

HONOURABLE MENTION WON

PUBLIC COMPETITION

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Dear Sir/Madam, I am seeking the opportunity to apply myself to the position of Architect Part II [Architect Part III as soon as I apply to ARB] in your company to enable me to go further in my professional experience whilst allowing me to progress through Architecture. I’m living in London for the time being which, in terms of availability, makes it total.

I just finished my graduation in Architecture, my master thesis on Russian Constructivism, as well as my internship time in a company called Qualitas, in Lisbon. I have my last exam to be admitted to the Portuguese Architects Order, equivalent to the Architects Registration Board in the UK, on December 16th, and then I will be applying to the ARB. Meanwhile, I am looking forward to become part of your team and put all my skills into practice.

As you are able to see from my resume, my experience is not wide, I gained it while graduating and managing my family business. But as highly committed, resilient and tenacious as I am, I tried never to waste a chance of learning more from those experiences, realizing that I actually gained valuable insight and hands-on experience handling everything that had been to me assigned.

As part of a team, I am watchful and active, I take in consideration every kind of critique. I want to be meaningful as much as a learner.

Personally, I am very fond of the whole construction process as well as of the power of creating it both manually and digitally. Meaning that I highly relate myself with architectural software and freehand drawing, building every kind of models, be part of the whole concept of “project”. But I would also relate myself to the construction site. I’m very keen to explore that more engineering side of Architecture, improving my knowledge on materials, their conjunction, their direct effect on us, and also communicating with other teams that are part of the whole building process.

Nevertheless, I believe I can be suitable in your team. I might not have substantial knowledge, but I have substantial will. I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience. Thank you.

Yours sincerely, Nelson Bastos Ferreira

‘COVER’ LETTER

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Academic Background Master Architect _Lusiada University of Lisbon

Professional Experience 05 11 2012 - Present | QUALITAS | Intern Architect Qualitas is a company mainly connected to Architecture and Real Estate Valuations, but the Architect Mario Chaves is also constantly working on exhibitions, magazines, university events, and that makes his office a place of interesting multitasking teamwork.

19 11 2003 - Present | DAYSPA MONICA | 2nd Manager Family business. Office tasks, logistics, computers, stocks, suppliers, advertising and reception, are the main subjects that I have been taking care of these last 10 years.

16 04 2008 - 06 02 2009 | ALMALOGOS | Assistant Architect Almalogos had three main fields of commitment: dwelling houses, supermarkets and nightclubs. It was where I had the most interesting communication with the teams that worked in the construction sites.

Fast learner Natural teammate Great inner activism Believer in the coexistence between charcoal and technology Pencil addicted Tireless explorer and autodidact Objective and determined Cultural awareness Full awareness of architectural software and digital techniques Good interpersonal/communication skills Steadfast will to improve

20 09 2006 - 24 02 2007 | LUGAR - Laboratório de Urbanismo e Gabinete de Arquitectura, Lda | Assistant Architect Collective housing and health facilities were the main subjects. Autocad detailed drawing was essentially my function within the team.

05 05 2003 - 16 09 2003 | MJM - Maria João Miranda, Arquitectura e Construção | Student Architect Still in my first years of graduation, it was the first place where I had my biggest step forward on Autocad and detailed drawing. It was not much time but it might have been where I felt the most considerable progress in a short period of time.

06 03 2000 - 04 10 2000 | ATELIER DA VILA | Student Architect Atelier da Vila was a very small architecture studio located in a tiny village close to Lisbon, in Azeitão. The subject was only dwelling housing but, maybe because it was my first experience, it was indeed interesting. Mainly modeling and driving around through the construction sites with the Architect Filipe Gonzalez.

Contacts DOWNLOAD Curriculum Vitae DOWNLOAD Curriculum Vitae EUROPASS

00 44 7511 373 259 Olaf Court, 50a Kensington Church St, Ap. 12 London W8 4DG

nelsonf@me.com

www.hyNchus.com

CURRICULUM VITAE

AutoCAD 3D Studio Max Sketchup Pro ArchiCAD Revit Rhino Photoshop Lightroom InDesign Illustrator After Effects MS Office Cinema 4D

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Lisbon, 16th September, 2013

To whom it may concern: I strongly recommend Nelson Ferreira as a candidate for employment, not only because I am his employer but also because I was his professor and thesis mentor. Genuine, creative and active, Nelson gives his time and talent to many projects.

Nelson has been employed by Qualitas as an intern Architect Assistant from November 2012 until today. We have several roles in the company, from Real Estate Valuation to Architecture and more. Nelson has been responsible for some of those roles, framing not only that he is a strong and effective teammate but also that he easily develops excellent communication skills.

From office support tasks to Autocad management, dealing with clients and solving problems on site, linking directly our valuation reports into the clients’ realty management software, Nelson is constantly watchful and responsive. Organized, reliable and literate, he is always willing to work on any project that is assigned to him. At all times I have found him to be hard-working, conscientious and honest. Nelson is perfectly able to follow through to ensure that the job gets done, he quickly learns how the system works and easily finds his right place in the process. He dedicates all his attention to learn as much as possible every single time, receiving everything we say as a way to improve.

Nelson would be a tremendous asset for your company and has my recommendation for any new task. There is no doubt that he will continue to improve his skills and that he will totally engage himself to the success of your company, to which he might have much to add.

If you have any further questions, you may contact me.

Sincerely and my best regards,

MĂĄrio Chaves Architect Qualitas, Lda Avenida Elias Garcia, No 147, 4 Dto. 2050-099 Lisbon, Portugal 00351 213 825 650 geral@qualitas.pt DOWNLOAD Original Reference Letter

REFERENCE LETTER

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THANK YOU