JE R E MY TRAVIS BA BEL
JE R E MY TRAVIS BA BEL
MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE University of Texas at Austin
CAS A A MU RAL L AD A
6째 REGION, CHILE Advanced Studio [Spring 2011] Critics: Mauricio Pezo + Sofia Von Ellrichshausen Published in ISSUE: 008
Posed as a speculative artist’s community in the Chilean central valley, each member of the studio was assigned one of sixteen adjacent square kilometer plots. For each plot, a proposal was developed for a live/work retreat that interpreted Hans van der Laan’s conception of three distinct zones of space: cell, court and domain. An exercise in radical simplicity, Casa Amurallada explores the possibility that a thickened wall could provide both ample shelter and a framework for understanding one’s place in the landscape. A 2.5 meter narrow rectangular residence encloses a large courtyard. Private and service functions are fixed within the outer one meter of the wall and connected by a stepped ambulatory. Eight voids in the wall allow flexible positioning of public functions and extend the living space into the courtyard.
Through strategic spatial organization and careful material selection, the project aims to organize mythological landscape characteristics in order to heighten the artist’s relationship to their rural setting. The cavelike private spaces of the interior provide for moments individual retreat. As the constrained interior opens and extends public life into the courtyard, outdoor living is organized around fundamental elements: shade, fire and water. From within the idealized, representative landscape of the court, the wall frames the Chilean countryside as a backdrop to daily communal life.
exterior walls: dark stained board-form concrete
interior walls and celiling: dark stained and polished concrete
entry threshold: white tumbled limestone gravel
exterior paving: cordova shell limestone pavers
window frames and sills: natural finish mahogany
cabinetry: natural finish birch boards
interior floors: polished cordova cream limestone tile
NYU CE NT ER FO R AC AD E M I C AND S PI R I TUAL L I F E
NEW YORK, NY Advanced Studio [Spring 2012] Critic: Gary Wang
With a prominent site on Washington Square Park, at the end of 5th Avenue, New York University desired a Center for Academic and Spiritual Life that could provide both an iconic emblem for the campus and a welcoming and comfortable community center for its student body. While security and privacy were of high concern, the interior yearned for publicness that could engender campus fellowship and complement the civic space of the park. Additionally, the integration of secular and religious functions further emphasized the need for attention to public interaction. In order to organize the diverse interests of its constituents, the project takes the city as its model.
LOOR
C LA SSROO M
C LA SSROO M
MEET ING HALL
M E E T IN G HAL L
CL AS S R O O M
C L A SSR
CL AS S R O O M
C L A SSR
CL AS S R O O M
C L A SSR
CL AS S R O O M
C L A SSR
ME E T IN G HAL L
C LA SSROO M
MEET ING ROOM
ME E T IN G ROOM
M E E T IN G ROOM
CLASS MU SIC ROOM ROOM
CL AS S MU S IC ROOM ROOM
CL AS S M U S IC ROOM ROOM
C LA SSROO M
C LA SSROO M
S E C O N DT HF ILRODOFRL O O R
T HI RD FL OOR
T HI RD FL FOURT OOR H FLOOR
FOU R TH
Envisioned as a microcosm of its urban context, the program is organized around a long circulation spine that serves as an interior extension of Fifth Avenue and the major boulevard for the building’s users. Rooms of various sizes, designed to flexibly accommodate multiple functions, are loosely stacked against this circulation boulevard. The spaces reveled between the stacked rooms provide intimate secondary public spaces akin to the city’s pocket parks and side streets. These spaces, scattered through the building, provide venue for informal small group meetings or simply a quiet place to read. Additionally, they provide access to the numerous outdoor terraces generated by the protruding volumes of the facade.
ZILK E R PA RK H E R B AR I UM
AUSTIN, T X Vertical Studio [Fall 2008] Critics: April Clark + Ed Richardson
hike & bike trail
The Zilker Park Herbarium is an advanced research and storage facility for plant specimens. It is located in a metropolitan park along the active Hike & Bike trail and adjacent to the Zilker Botanical Gardens and Nature Center. The facility accommodates community functions and serves the educational mission of increasing the public presence and status of environmental and biological study. The development of the design began with a directed research phase that studied native plant and animal species and the biological processes they use to regulate their environment. This research culminated in a hypothesis of biomimetic design strategies to be explored and tested on an architectural scale for the regional climate.
to nature center
to zilker botanical gardens
wild shrimp plant [yeatesia platystegia]
mexican free-tailed bat [tadarida brasiliesis]
sunlight optimization strategy
seed protection layers
roosting strategies for thermal control
regulation of heat flow with wings
diagrid shell provides large surface area for building integrated photovoltaics deep overhang shades open public space creating passive buffer zone between mechanically controlled bars and exterior so. mopac expressway stratford drive
conditioned space minimized in insulated bars
naturally ventilated public space exhausts through operable skylights
lady bird lake hike and bike trail
Essentially a library of dried plant samples, the herbarium is a critical resource for advanced botanical and biological research. As such, the collected specimens require a protected and regulated environment for their long-term storage. The proposed design employs a layered strategy of physical and thermal protection to address the restraints of the program and site. Specimen collection and research facilities are lifted off the ground floor and out of the floodplain of the adjacent Lady Bird Lake, freeing the ground floor for public and educational functions, easily accessible from the park. Programs with specific thermal and comfort requirements are compartmentalized and well insulated for efficient regulation with localized controls. Circulation and other informal and flexible spaces occupy the free flowing volume contained by the diagrid shell and curtain walls. This space is passively ventilated and shaded by the deep overhang so that it only requires supplemental mechanical systems in the extreme heating and cooling months.
thin steel columns resist vertical loads and minimize visual weight of structure
8” hollow structural steel columns spaced 32’ on center with intumescent coating to minimize thickness of exposed columns
lateral loads resisted by building shell and shear walls
W18 steel girders spaced 16’ on center
W8 steel beams spaced 8’ on center
separation of vertical and lateral structure
The building structure is designed to maximize its efficiency and minimize its visual weight in order to create the transparent volume in which the solid bars of the herbarium are suspended. To do so, vertical and horizontal structure are divided into distinct systems. Thin steel columns pick up the vertical loads of the suspended program bars. Lateral loads are transferred through the diagrid shell, brought down through the end walls of the shell and shear walls, which hide the primary stair and elevator cores.
3” steel decking with 6” total slab depth
steel stud in-fill with cladding to conceal horizontal structural members, fire proofing and mechanical ducts, and to provide rigidity to bars structural diagram of internal program bars
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
6 8 PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
9
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
3 1 2
4 3
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
5
7
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
7
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
third floor [not shown]: library reading room media room
second floor: 6 research laboratory 7 administrative offices 8 specimen collections 9 protected specimens
first floor: 1 lobby 2 cafe 3 meeting rooms 4 exhibition hall 5 mechanical room
A PERT U RE BL O C K P R O T O T YP E
AUSTIN, T X Prototype Seminar [Spring 2012] in collaboration with Charles Amos Horn Critic: Igor Siddiqui Houston Center for Architecture Student Biennial Exhibition [Honorable Mention]
parafin wax cast with point-supported plastic membrane
plaster of paris bricks cast with dowel-supported lyrca formwork
Beginning with a series of explorations in form, material and technique, this project-based seminar asked participants to develop a market ready product out of a larger research agenda. Through experiments with flexible formwork casting, we developed an interest in interfacing with a standard concrete masonry unit and finding ways to make playful but functional interventions within a modest and inexpensive construction system.
hexagonal concrete tiles cast with dowel-supported lyrca formwork
4
3 2 2 1 3
1 - Assemble formwork using collar to lock boards in place
4 - Pour concrete into formwork, vibrate to eliminate air bubbles and trowel top surface level with form
2 - Secure inserts in formwork and apply silicone bead to seams
5 - Once hardened, remove formwork and inserts and allow blocks to fully cure
3 - Mix cement, sand, aggregate and water according to specified ratios
6 - Lay blocks in combination with standard CMUs to create unique wall or brise soleil
Plywood collar locks formwork in place
CNC-cut foam insert creates aperture
Melamine lined plywood formwork
Prototyping both a process and a product, Aperture Block was envisioned with two possible channels of delivery. As an off the shelf CMU block product, Aperture Block can be mass produced in a variety of pattern types. Additionally, Aperture Block can be produced through proprietary specifications and kit-of-parts formwork that allow for rapid customization.
large
medium
small
large
medium
small
surface pattern blocks
aperture arch blocks
aperture completion blocks
1 - float
2 - twist
large
medium
small
3 - morph
COM ME MO RAT I VE AI R F O R C E MUS E UM
AUSTIN, T X Advanced Studio: Technical Communications [Fall 2010] in collaboration with Emma Leonard Critic: Vincent Snyder
town center town center
The Commemorative Air Force [CAF] is a national organization, based in Texas, dedicated to the preservation and flight of World War II era military aircraft. Currently their collection of aircraft is maintained by individual owners and volunteers at local chapters dispersed throughout the country. The brief called for a major museum to house and display the collection of the Central Texas Chapter, as well as receive rotating exhibitions of aircraft from local chapters around the country. Additionally, the facility would be home to a consolidated CAF administrative headquarters, and host quarterly airshows of the local and visiting fleet. The site chosen for the new museum is the old Robert Mueller Municipal Airport, Austin’s original commercial airfield, which is currently under redevelopment. The museum proposal provides the opportunity to shuffle the pieces of the currently stagnant redevelopment plan and insert a cultural catalyst that builds on the historical heritage of the site. The new Commemorative Air Force Museum at Mueller intends to be an anchoring cultural amenity and public space at the center of the redevelopment district.
+ market district market district
runway/ urban runway/ plaza
urban district
densify housing make room for new museum
The form of the museum is defined by a large hangar-like structure that encloses a vast volume of space. Within this space, the program of the museum and the aircraft on display are dispersed to create a threedimensional landscape of objects within the volume. This interior landscape is navigated by a series of connective ramps that move visitors between and past the displayed aircraft. This allows the visitors a unique experience of inhabiting the same airspace as the planes and viewing them from all sides.
PRODUCED BY AN A
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
The rigid frame steel hangar structure is enclosed at its ends to accommodate administrative and service functions as well as some traditional gallery space. These enclosed blocks are clad with a taut skin on both sides of the deep steel structure, creating an extra thick wall that mimics both the construction and experiential qualities of a pressurized airplane cabin.
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
wall section_end wall
2
partial elevation_end wall
IONAL PRODUCT
1
2 detail_cove lighting PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED PRODUCED ANBY AUTODESK ANEDUCATIONAL AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT PRODUCT PRODUCED BY AN BY AUTODESK PRODUCT
3” = 1-’0”
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
PRODUCED BY AN AUTODESK EDUCATIONAL PRODUCT
lighting cove detail at bench
In the center of the building, the major portion of the enclosure is dissolved, revealing the structure and allowing the public space on the ground floor to flow freely through the museum. In this way, the building acts as a visual and physical gateway to the public runway space as one enters the Mueller site.
east_ V IL L A GE
SAN DIEGO, CA ULI/Gerald D. Hines Urban Design Competition [2010] in collaboration with Johanna Reed, Ryan Buckely, Newsha Mirzaie, Michael Russo Advisor: Dean J. Almy III Cogburn Family Foundation Architecture and Urbanism Prize [3rd Place]
east_VILLAGE is a strongly inhabitantfocused community plan. Early in the design process, a series of character studies were developed to define the needs of current and projected users. From this, imagined biorhythms of the city were constructed to test ideas about the neighborhood’s future. This exercise was crucial to inform the vision of active street life and pedestrian oriented development. The resulting design proposes a network of linear parks, promenades and boulevards that position the East Village as a walkable, invitingly-scaled hub central to urban San Diego. The neighborhood builds around the meandering “Faultline Park”, which follows the natural course of geologic faults that slice though the site. The existing transit corridor is revitalized and enhanced, replacing car traffic with cycling lanes and a pedestrian retail promenade. With the injection of social and commercial catalysts, east_VILLAGE is an ideal neighborhood for San Diego’s diverse and hip residents to live, work and play. The entry was completed by a multidisciplinary team from the University of Texas at Austin, including students of architecture, landscape architecture, urban design and real estate. The highlighted drawings are those that I created or in which I was directly involved.
Ivan, 45, Graphic Designer Kendra, 23, PR Assistant 8:25 8:40 8:55 5:30 6:15 9:00
7:30 7:50 8:00 1:00 7:00
leaves apartment gets on trolley, latte in hand arrives downtown runs errands near Market Street walks home through the park meets up with friends
leaves Park West on bicycle picks up coffee at East Village Java walks into office on 15th & E Street eats lunch in the plaza has a drink with coworkers before bicycling home
Juan, 38, Cafe Owner 6:00 5:30 7:00 9:00
Justin, 29, Artist/Bike Messenger/Bartender 6:30 6:33 7:00 4:30 8:00
leaves his live/work studio grabs breakfast at Juan’s Cafe arrives at his first pick up downtown back at his studio, he works until dinner meets friends at the Jewel Box Pub
Helen [and Nicholas], 34, Civil Servant 8:15 8:45 5:00 6:30
drops off Nicholas at SDCC Pre-School bicycles to work along Broadway picks up dinner and relieves the sitter walks through park with Nicholas for ice cream
walks to his cafe closes shop and walks to the bank meets Louisa for an evening film walk home through the park
+
+
neighborhood center trolley platform bus stop
+
bike lane trolley rails activity along new pedestrian corridors
bus route
residential
live + work
commercial
mixed use: c + r
office
mixed used: c + o
civic
mixed use: c + r + o
WET L A NDS B R I D G E | B I R D I N G BL I ND
AUSTIN, T X Vertical Studio [Summer 2009] Critic: David Heymann Houston Center for Architecture Student Biennial Exhibition [Honorable Mention]
structural diagrams
The Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory is an informal network of roads and paths surrounding the treatment ponds at the Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant. The ponds also provide one of the premier locations for birding in Travis Country because of the diversity of habitats found within this small area. The 1200 acre facility incorporates deep ponds, wetlands, mudflats, open fields, woods, and a three-mile stretch of the Colorado River. On a given day, a knowledgeable birder can spot more than 50 local and migratory bird species on the property.
The project called for the design of a wetlands bridge and birding blind to provide access to Pond 3, a large area that includes woods, wetlands and a large deep pond. Design parameters specified standard “2x” wood frame construction as such projects are usually funded by birding communities and built with inexpensive unskilled labor. The project was pursued almost entirely in model, focusing on the proliferation of a “genetic” detail based on a structural logic.
This intervention exploits the necessity of diagonal bracing to create a light and rhythmic substructure for the bridge surface. Above this, the walkway is defined by a system of horizontal and vertical splintering that navigates situational conditions of the landscape and provides integral moments of rest and viewing. The shifting louvered skin of the birding blind accommodates birders of varying eye heights and allows for viewing in both sitting and standing positions.
FA CIL IT Y F O R T H E S T UD Y O F I N TE R TI DAL E R O S I ON
SAUSALITO, CA Vertical Studio [Fall 2009] Critic: Russell Krepart Published in ISSUE: 006
Beginning with a study of NASA maps of lunar surfaces, a series of vectorized interpretations were made that explored qualities of landscape, surface manipulation, object densities and movement patterns. These interpretive maps inspired the production of a series of “non-map maps�, which investigated layers of significance and envisioned habitation of the site. This analysis culminated in development of a facility for the tracking of objects. The design takes cues from historical precedents in the surrounding landscape. Once the home of vernacular structures of the Miwok Tribe, the site is now dotted with defunct WWII artillery batteries.
JE R E MY TRAVIS BA BEL
Please contact me to request additional qualifications or to schedule an interview: m: 925.548.7592 e: jtbabel@gmail.com w: www.jeremybabel.com