Portfolio 2015

JOSÉ RAMÓN SIERRA GÓMEZ DE LEÓN

SU JOSÉ RAMÓN SIR EE RR A MGEÓ M E Z D E L E Ó N T +1 (857) 209-6323

E jr@jrsierra.com

W jrsierra.com

Education 2013-2015 Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Cambridge, MA, USA. Master in Architecture II. 2014-2015 Graduate School of Design External Relations Officer.

2014-2015 Harvard Graduate Council Senator.

2013-2015 Spain GSD student group. Cofounder and active member 2007-2013 School of Architecture (ETSAM), Technical University of Madrid. Spain.

Master in Architecture.

2009-2012 Architectural Composition Department representative.

Practice experience 2014

Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects. New York, NY, USA. Intern.

US Mexico City Embassy Compound, Mexico. Produced construction documents on Revit. Under construction.

British Galleries at the MET, NY, USA. Collaborated on design development. Competition entry.

Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA. Produced 3D renderings.

2011-2013 Rafael Moneo Arquitecto. Madrid, Spain. Intern.

Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain. Collaborated on design development. Competition entry.

Mercer Hotel, Barcelona, Spain. Produced construction documents. Built.

Santiago de Compostela High speed train station, Spain. Collaborated on design development. Competition entry.

Housing development, Udine, Italy. Model making and design development.

New LMU Campus, Munich, Germany. Model making and collaborated on design development. Competition entry.

2011

Matthew Baird Architects. New York, NY, USA. Intern.

Private town house, NY, USA. Produced construction documents and model making. Under construction.

PIMOCA Master Plan, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Collaborated on schematic design. Idea project.

2009

Sergison Bates Architects. London, United Kingdom. Intern.

Casa Voltes, Cadaqués, Spain. Model making. Built.

Academia experience 2014-2015 Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Cambridge, MA, USA. Teaching Assistant.

Prof. Jorge Silvetti, Prof. Rafael Moneo, Prof. Renata Sentkiewicz, Prof. Carles Muro, Profs. Sergison and Bates.

2014

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Cambridge, MA, USA. Undergraduate Studio review critic.

Language skills Spanish. Native language.

English. Fluent. CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English), TOEFL iBT score 113/120.

French. Intermediate.

Computer Skills AutoCAD, Revit, Rhinoceros, 3ds Max, VRay, SketchUp, Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office.

Awards and scholarships 2013-2015 Real Colegio Complutanse Fellowship. Cambridge, MA, USA. Harvard University and Universidad Complutense de Madrid.

2013-2015 GSD Grant. Cambridge, MA, USA. Harvard University Graduate School of Design.

2008

Madrid Excellence Scholarship, Spain.

Government of Madrid.

2007

Europe Awards (Becas Europa). Madrid, Spain.

Francisco de Vitoria University and Santander Bank.

Publications GSD Platform 7. Actar, New York, 2014 [ISBN 1940291437]. Project featured.

INDEX ACADEMIC WORK Meydan 6 Convent of Saint Clare 12 City of Artifical Extrusions 20 Thermodynamic Materialism 24

PROFESSIONAL WORK Santiago BernabĂŠu Stadium 30 New LMU Campus 32 British Galleries at the Met 34 C a s a Vo l t e s 36

ACADEMIC WORK

M E Y DA N Istanbul, Turkey. 2013.

Advisors: Hashim Sarkis, Erkin Ă–zay.

T he Meydan project is par t of a six year long study of politically charg ed public spaces in Istanbul sponsored by the Ag a Khan Foundation.

T his Studio in specific joined architectural and urban scales in order to propose a per manent solution to Beyazit Square, a ver y impor tant historical and commercial landmark in the city centre that has been neglected by a series of unfinished inter ventions. Site considerations take a remarkable par t in the project due to its proximity to the Beyazit Mosque complex, Istan bul University and the Grand Bazaar.

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Considering present political factors as the recent Arab Spring explosion and the Gezi Park popular demonstrations, the proposal aims to make the historical and social layering of the place apparent to the citizens. It does so by facilitating the overlapping of the outer public sphere and underg round specific cultural uses. Both worlds relate to each other through two “hollow houses� that mark the main entrances, and a series of cour tyards that encourag e visual connections and reveal historic layouts of the place.

On the upper level, the variety of public spaces and the robust finishing materials deal with a rang e of uses from small casual g atherings on rainy days, to f lee markets, o pen air concer ts or g reat public concentrations.

T he proposal includes details such as pavings, veg etation and urban fur nishing. T he underg round level connects the main campus of Istanbul University with a series of sur rounding museums and cultural institutions. I also hosts some other uses as a public librar y, lecture halls and cafeteria.

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Axonometric view

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Circulation and connectivity diagram

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Public level section

Private level section

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CONVENT of SAINT CLARE Seville, Spain. 2012-2013.

T hesis advisor : Gabriel Ruiz Cabrero T his project consists of an extension for the Fine Ar ts Museum of Seville, Andalusia. It includes the restoration of the presently abandoned Saint Clare’s Convent, in the city center, as well as the constr uction an adjacent g roup of new buildings hosting the most specific uses.

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T he choice of the convent as the Museum’s extension site manag ed to solve three main requirements. T he first of them would be the fulfilment of all of the cur rent Museum’s needs in a big g er and better conditioned building. T he second defining factor was the chance of recovering the Convent’s impor tant historical leg acy, which dates back to the 12th Centur y and was conser ved in dreadful conditions. Last, the project also aims to reactivate Saint Lawrence’s Quar ter by means of establishing a new cultural and social landmark within the ur ban scene.

T he result is a detailed inter vention that takes into account thorough historical investig ation as well as the city’s public necessities. T he combination of the respectful restoration process and the inser tion of new highly equipped buildings g enerates a 17,000 m2 complex that hosts a wide rang e of uses such as g enerous per manent and temporar y exhibition spaces, restoration labs, libr aries, investig ation center, lecture hall, larg e rece ption and dissemination areas, and a variety of commercial establishments.

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Ground floor plan

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Section

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Upper floor plan

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Section

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Constructive section

Galleries lighting system

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CITY OF ARTIFICIAL EXTRUSIONS Los Ang eles, CA, USA. 2014.

Advisors: Mark Lee, Sharon Johnston.

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T his project is a response ag ainst the vast uncontrolled open space of Los Ang eles. Set in Redondo Beach, our site was sur rounded by a sea of malls and parking lots. Star ting from the Tabula Rasa operation that the Studio as a g roup over took, it develops on the hypothesis of the total colonization of the open land. Once the g eneric outer public space is neglected, the project tests the possibility of the creation of a specific public space for the residents of the building within its block, or a “Captive Globe” in Rem Koolhaas’ ter minolog y.

T his process has a result of two ver y differentiated realities for the project. On the outer shell, it alludes to a g eneric urban layout by a g ame of monotony and scalelessness. T he homog eneous block is broken by chang es of level and a multiplicity of cor ners of its cur ved surface, laying somewhere between the whole block and the compound building.

On the other hand, the inner shell towards the central cour tyard acquires a horizontal order that implies domesticity at the same time as unifies the common specific public space. T he private realm appears as a threshold between these two dimensions.

Finally, the g round plan inter vention beyond the building emerg es as an unlimited amount of detached buildings that complete the urban landscape though variety of scales, uses, shapes, types and densities.

T his “collag e city” compresses and releases the public realm in a succession of spaces that lead to our “captive globe”, legitimizing the specific common space and the project as a whole.

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Axonometric view

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Ground floor plan

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Typical floor plan

THERMODYNAMIC MATERIALISM Yiwu, China. 2014.

Advisors: Iñaki Ábalos, Matthias Schuler.

T her modynamic Materialism is a ambitious project that includes a whole area development around a new high speed train station in the city of Yiwu, China. T his city is known for housing the big g est commodity market and production plants in the world. T he project integ rates a vision of the town’s ther modynamics and material culture to come up with the design for the new quar ter based on ver nacular architecture of the region, energ etic optimization and typological studies.

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Contrar y to the initial prompt of a hug e-scale mixed-use building that integ rated the high speed train station, the proposal aims to rethink the traditional Chinese cour tyard house settlement - or hutong - and improve it to integ rate a multiplicity of uses and optimise energ y consumption. T he same strategies deter mine all different constr uction scales, from urban design to building shape and material composition.

By looking at weather data and the physical context, the project utilizes ver nacular materials for basic passive climate contr ol strategies as sun shading, ther mal mass or natural ventilation. From the consumption point of view, it also combines different uses’ patters to establish sustainable water and electricity cycles.

In whole, the proposal re presents an effor t to integ rate traditional architecture with contempor ar y energ y consumption criteria. It addresses the issue of what par t ver nacular architecture should take in global culture, as well as the cultivation of developing meg alopolises as sustainable habitats in which inde pendent building identities are preser ved and exchang ed.

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Tower typology

Block typology

Station typology

Section

Sun radiation (summer)

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Sun radiation (winter)

Wind flow simulation

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PROFESSIONAL WORK

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SANTIAGO BERNABÉU STADIUM Madrid, Spain. 2011-2012.

Design: Rafael Moneo Arquitecto, Herzog & de Meuron Basel Ltd. Personal involvement: Collaborated on design development. Model making and 2D drafting.

Status: Competition entr y.

T he proposal for the renewal of the Ber nabéu Stadium in Madrid, designed tog ether with Basel-based Herzon & de Meuron, ke pt all the cur rent hard str ucture of the building, while added a four th tier ring, as well as multiple new uses on the outer shells such as mall, hotel or fitness center. T his complex prog rammatic scheme was all united by a continuous skin composed by a set of tilting bands that enabled a g radient of aper ture and shading of the different spaces. T he connection to the city takes place through the full open g round f loor, which defines a set of new public spaces towards Castellana Avenue at the front and Padre Damián Street at the back.

Plans

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NEW LMU CAMPUS Munich, Ger many. 2012.

Design: Rafael Moneo Arquitecto.

Personal involvement: Collaborated on design development. Model making and 2D drafting.

Status: Competition entr y.

T his project was designed as an entr y for a restricted competition aimed to renew the OberschleiĂ&#x;heim Campus, which hosts the schools of Medicine and Veterinar y of the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. T he site had to deal with the preser vation of unique urban conditions and historical buildings, at the same time as marking the transition from the city context to a riverside park.

T he proposal included the master plan for the whole complex, as well as the design of a new Central Building that ar ticulates the tur ning direction of the Campus main axis; and sug g estions for the inter nal layout of the other buildings. T he entire process was divided into four phases according to budg et and constr uction periods.

General plan

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BRITISH GALLERIES AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART 34

New York, NY, USA. 2014.

Design: Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects.

Personal involvement: Collaborated on design development. drafting, 3D rendering and imag e post-production.

2D

Status: Competition entr y.

T he idea for the renovation of the British Decorative Ar ts Galleries at the Met follows a new way of understating the nar rative of the discipline for the exhibited period, which expands between the 16th and 19th Centuries. T he central room inspired by the English g arden would show the main objects and taxonomies in a freely laid-out chronological order, enabling the visitor to wander through the gloomy interior landscape. A set of bright thresh-wholes would lead them into the side g alleries, which refer to specific eras or changing exhibitions.

Special attention to details and materials guided this project, for which several mock-ups and testers substituted any physical model on the submission. T he g arden is covered in rich hand-made felt, while the temporar y-exhibition side g alleries maintain a f lexible character in bright canvas. T he set of thresholds that connect both worlds are f lanked by bronze plates that enable faint and war m ref lections.

Plan

Cross section

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C A S A VO LT E S CadaquĂŠs, Gerona, Spain. 2009.

Design: Sergison Bates Architects.

Personal involvement: Model making.

Status: Built.

T his project consisted on a par tial rebuild of a private summerhouse on two plots in the historic centre of the coastal town of CadaquĂŠs, in Catalonia. T he building was designed in collaboration with Liebman Villavecchia Arquitectos (Barcelona, Spain).

Some traditional Catalonian techniques and materials were used in the constr uction, such as hydraulic cement tiles or the pre-existing masonr y walls.

Inside the house, visual connections take special relevance through a number of interior openings, and the illumination is provided by several sk ylights and carefully oriented windows.

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© JOSÉ RAMÓN SIERRA Y GÓMEZ DE LEÓN, 2015.