JOEL N. RIOS Design Portfolio
RPI
GSAPP
J. NICO RIOS Design Portfolio Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute RPI Columbia University GSAPP
Content Encoding Light Interlocking The Inter-Rockaways Ceramic Facade University Of S達o Paulo: Contemporary Art Museum State University Of New York In Albany Dormitory Shift Shelf Smart Skin: Facade For Torino Apartment Urban Intervention: The Rockaways Place Making For Innovation Architecture And Photography
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Encoding Light GSAPP Josh Draper + Eric Hagan Within a team of two, this elective investigated the use of single axis machines in conjuncture with fabric formworks. We were given an Arduino set and a linear actuator to develop a dynamic formwork that could be controlled by a grasshopper and flamingo definition. We began with a concept of puncturing through a fabric to allow light to seep into the interior. In order to achieve this we rethought the given single axis linear actuator and developed a three axis machine to mimic sun angles. This allowed us to create holes within the facade, generating ephemeral light qualities that would constantly change the interior by various holes receiving direct light, partial light and no light.
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plaster preparation
pouring plaster
module drying
adjusting the fabric
adjusting for sun angle
piercing the fabric
testing moisture
final model
module removed from stand
final two hole module
piercing the fabric
final three hole module
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storing position
adjusting to latitude
adjusting to month
real time movement according to programed adjustments in grasshopper
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adjusting to time of day
piercing potential
shadow study
embedded tubes to direct light
creases from the fabric formwork
sun study
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locating sun angles on the facade
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sun angles
8 am
9 am
10 am
11 am
12 pm
1 pm
2 pm
3 pm
4 pm
facade example
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INTERLOCKING THE INTER-ROCKAWAYS GSAPP Kaja Kuhl + Walter Meyer As a group of four, we studied and analyzed the effects of Hurricane Sandy and the potential for other devastating storms. We started by analyzing one of the most devastated areas in the NYC area, Rockaway, Queens. We reprogram and shift the existing impervious Jacob Riis Parking Lot, one of the largest parking lots in the world. The proposal brings a new intervention into New York City and the local community. The project interlocks hydrological and circulation networks through the equilibrium of cut and fill. By cutting a marina into the peninsula, a multifunctional destination is created to absorb and promote local recreational and commercial activities. Through sculpting the terrain, the landscape prepares the site for future flooding hazards by means of channeling, absorbing and storing excess water. New building typologies that adapt to the landscape and flooding levels are implemented throughout the site, creating a model for future development in Rockaways.
SITE
2013 100 YR FLOOD PLAIN 16 FOOT FLOOD LINE 42,600 residential units 18,790 residential buildings 649 commercial and other buildings
10 FOOT FLOOD LINE
42,600 residential units 18,790 residential buildings 649 commercial and other buildings
2050 100 YR FLOOD PLAIN SUBWAY TRAFFIC VOLUME
BUS TRAFFIC VOLUME
2 FOOT SEA LEVEL RISE BY 2050
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rockaway, queens
rockaway flooding and transportation analysis
aerial view
natural condition
light flooding
heavy flooding
extreme flooding
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current form
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proposed form
flexible facade
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C B
A
A: commercial district
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B: new housing
C: vacation bungalows
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CERAMIC FACADE RPI Gustavo Crembil This ceramic wall was completed my fourth year in a team of three students. We first experimented with plaster and plastic bags to engage a texture to the piece. We eventually added water balloons to the investigation that led to the final product. We created a cast by placing water balloons and pining them down with a plastic covering. As we poured the plaster, stress marks were created connecting the balloon forms. The cast allowed us to have two extreme sides of the module, bulging egg figures on one side and a smooth inverse of the same shape on the other side. We created several different casts of two different modules. Each module connected to the inverse module creating a free flowing pattern
material test
pre-fired panel
panel formation
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plaster molds
final model
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UNIVERSITY OF Sﾃグ PAULO: CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM RPI Demetrios Comodromos + Mark Mistur This studio asked for a redesigning of a conceptual project through questioning its primary ideas as well as addressing fire code restrictions and structural components. My partner and I chose the 1978 Contemporary Art Museum at the University of Sﾃ｣o Palo in Brazil designed by Paulo Mendes Da Rocha. We were selected to work with two engineering students to help address the structural issues. Our alteration of the museum became a large raised concrete structure that created vast open spaces below grade, between the floors, and within the structure. The museum is a solid mass floating at tree height over different levels of campus and park. The interior of the project is cavernous and contains multiple planes. The building extends as a canopy towards the viewer blurring the boundary between city and art. One slips into the building hardly noticing the transition of space. The ramp ways between the shifted levels enable various views, not just of the art work, but also of the people and space. The extenuated views suggest new relationships in which people and space emerge as a part of the artwork.
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section A
south facade
west facade
interior ramp view
columns and elevators
facade shell
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section A
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structural study 1
structural study 2
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final model
plaza view
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first floor ramp view
Basement
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floor 1
floor 2
floor 3
roof
[Academic use only]
section B
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STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK IN ALBANY DORMITORY RPI Eric Carver + Andrew Saunders The brief for this project was to take a pattern found in nature and develop it into a dormitory. The pattern that my partner and I chose to explore was a school of fish. The school of fish has a bottom-up organization, in which a single form is made by many different fish weaving in and out of the school. The initial idea was to create the dormitory with individual dorm rooms popping in and out of the school. In the next iteration, the popping gesture turned into weaving bands. Each floor was created by various bands. Every band was raised or lowered following the next one, making the circulation rise and fall while traveling through the floors. basement
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1
2
3
4
5 floors
6 floor 1
site plan
structure
circulation
first iteration model
final iteration model
second iteration structure
second iteration model
third iteration model
final iteration model
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SHIFT SHELF GSAPP Mark Bearak + Brigitte Borders This five week project was completed in a team of four. The class required us to build and fabricate a storage unit through the use of parametrics. We developed a bookcase that deformed from a regular grid through the shifting of levels to create a constant shifting of books. The project was developed through grasshopper and milled into components of plywood. We created reveals to accent the connections and milled the central nodes of each connection piece in order to emphasize the shifted grid.
cnc milled pieces
regular grid
direction of shift
shifted grid
extrusion of grid
construction of components
shelf formation
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connection detail
final model
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SMART SKIN: FACADE FOR TORINO APARTMENT RPI Ted Ngai The concept for this design relates to the study of frog respiration. Frogs’ blood circulation is next to the skin, allowing for osmosis to exchange water, oxygen, wastes, and heat. Some frogs even survive without lungs, using their skin to obtain oxygen. This new facade utilizes tubes which penetrate the new and old facade to increase air circulation, allowing for a breathing building. The tubes also adapt to the sun to allow for shading, lighting, and windows. The current modules have a difference in densities of tubes and a difference of transparency to allow for various shading and lighting effects. The air circulation can also vary when opening and closing the circulation of the tubes. When open, the ventilation is maximized, and when closed, the facade acts as an insulator for the building.
high transparency panel
fully opened air circulation
summer and winter sun angles
open air circulation panel
low transparency low transparency panel
high transparency
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closed air circulation panel
winter sun angle
semi-opened air circulation
interior view
high density of low transparency panel
high density of high transparency panel
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kitchen
low solar radiation
living areas
high solar radiation bedrooms
store
Transparent
winter condition
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summer condition
Translucent
exterior view
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URBAN INTERVENTION: THE ROCKAWAYS GSAPP Chris Kroner In many areas around NYC, theme decorations occur around subway lines, with some subways even arranging Christmas lights around the station during the winter. The Rockaways, located on the Peninsula attached to Queens, has a very unique culture compared to the rest of New York City. The quick pace city life changes to a more surfer mood as you enter this part of the city. One of the most accessible beaches around the city is located in the rockaways, brings huge crowds to the area during the summer months. This small urban intervention over subway stops near and in the Rockaways can help reinforce this change of mind-set and create theme connection to the Rockaways. The final submission for the project was two renders, while a movie was presented at midterm.
aerial view
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interior view
size distribution
frames from the video
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PLACE MAKING FOR INNOVATION GSAPP Richard Plunz + Katherine Orff
Live Our studio traveled to Colombia to investigate a peri-urban town of San Cristobal, located just outside of Medellin. San Cristobal was once a community that thrived on farm production, however since a wave of immigrants have come to the greater Medellin, large towers have invaded the area starting near a metro cable line. This has caused a lack of infrastructure and creating a bedroom community. In a group of four, we rethink the development patterns to create an opportunity for innovation and economic improvement. The project aims to tap into the existing wave of innovation in the city of Medellin and create spaces within San Cristobal that foster such activity, to create economic generators for a sustainable pattern of densification. On the site exists the Botero Library Park that is a symbol of spacial and technological innovation that the city has invested heavily in. However the effects of the Library is limited do to the sprawl of San Cristobal. We integrate mix-use spaces for incubators, training facilities, schools, commercial, and housing. Through layering these spaces, we set up areas of convergence and engagement to promote innovation.
urban fabric
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Ownership
Work + Play
70% - 66% SELF BUILD + 34% SOCIAL HOUSING SAN CRISTOBAL
Employment
Migration
Transportation
30% - NEARLY ALL WORK IN MEDELLIN
7,000 NEW RESIDENTS IN 2030
SAN CRISTOBAL TOBAL 1.5
hrs ME MEDELLIN
socio-economic and physical connection to medellin
MEDELLIN
Consolidating Existing Zone Generating New Hybrid Revitalizing Incoming Density Indes Block Grid Local - Bus Route Express - Bus Route Commercial Corridor
proposed plan
existing drivers
existing plan
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M - Revitalizing
L - Proposing
Primary Catalysts Secondary Catalysts
S - Consolidating
Local - Bus Route Express - Bus Route
Physical Connection Programs Programmatic Connections Commercial Corridor Connection Vacant Land / Open Space Waterways / Creeks
towers near metro cable line
Indes Block Grid Consolidating Existing Zone Generating New Hybrid Revitalizing Incoming Density
Metro Cable Social Housing Vacant Land Prison
Downtown Catalysts for Densification Current Densification Direction Social Infrastructure Transportation Routes
farmland site strategy
+
+
downtown san cristobal
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river strategy
connectivity strategy
B
C
A
C. revitalizing the monolithic
B. new development prototype
innovation infrastructure community areas community areas
implementation nodes
A. consolidating the downtown
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model
A A. consolidating the downtown
retrofitting old hospital
Co-operative Operated Green
Mixed Use Units
Innovation Center Re-purposed Building Training Center Incubators Workshops
Terrace Pooling
Incentivize Commercial
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Live + Work Spaces Ateliers Retail Training Areas
Intra-Block Mixed Use Units Higher Units (4-5 flrs) Low Rise Units(1-3 flrs) Constant Green
10m 10m
6m 6m
Semi-Public
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Community Green
100m Cooperative Space
Public Realm
Middle Income Units
Self Built Housing
model C
C. revitalizing the monolithic
creating mix use active zones
Innovation Center
Retrofitted Training Center
Institutional Plug-in Workshops Production Areas
Middle Income Units
Mixed Use Cluster Retail Incubator Residential
Building Level
Intra-Block Mixed Use Units Middle Income Housing Existing Social Housing Community Green Innovation Infrastructure
Training Innovation Retail
Cooperative Space
Semi-Public Lower Floors
Social Housing
Community Green
Private Areas
100m
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B
B. new development prototype
co-operative center
mixture of self-built and government sponsored housing
Training Center
model
Mixed Income Cluster
Incubator Production
Co-operative Center
Self Built Housing
Workshop Production
Inter-Block
100 m 100 m
Intra-Block Low Income Middle Income Community Cooperative Public
Cluster Level
Building Level
50% - 4 Middle Income
30% - 3 Isvimed 20% - 2 Self Built
10m
Public Realm
Semi-Public
Cooperative Space
Private Areas
Community Green
100m
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Block Courtyard
innovation areas overlapping with public space and residential units
mixing age groups
institutions with connections to exterior
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ARCHITECTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY RPI + GSAPP Photography is my favorite way to personally engage and study different aspects of architecture. Capturing moments that inspire and tell stories through a single image is very powerful. Projects can be made by just one incredible image, be that a render or a photograph. Detailing the spacing, texture, and light help me further understand ways to create similar moments in my architectural designs. These photos were taken with my D5100 Nikon DSLR camera and edited in Photoshop and Lightroom
hudson yards, new york
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lago atitlan, guatemala
medellĂn, colombia
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joel.n.rios@gmail.com 713-822-2707