Work Samples 2015-2016

John Hilla 27 Charlton Pl.

PennDesign Monroe

New York

10950

USA

jhilla@design.upenn.edu

845.781.0276

Project 1: Tessellations Team Academic: PennDesign Instructor: Ezio Blasetti Date: Fall 2015 I. Project Description For this project, student groups took independently developed objects and created a full-scale pavilions of designed components. At this scale, these pavilions demonstrate the architectural consequences of their part-to-whole relationships by accomplishing structural span, component variation, durable construction and reaffirmation of prescribed normative boundaries as well as formation of differentiated and habitable space.

II. Philosophical Approach There is a strong commonality among the containers that were designed to hold Russel Wright objects, and that is they were all developed from a collision of two entities: the object and the given project boundary. This boundary can be considered a universe that allows the objects to exist. In a different scale, however, this universe itself can become an object. Ultimately, the essence of a container lives at the intersection between our two primary entities, and the remaining spaces can be interchangeably interpreted as solid or void. It is this brand of speculative realism that allows us to represent these spaces in either manner, and influence the existence of our pavilion in the universe.

Overall, when our two entities collide, the focus is consistently on the point of intersection. Whether two objects are combined into a single whole, or one object is removed from a more universal element, the point of intersection contains all of the necessary information about the collision.

III. Student Team John Hilla, Jun Cui, Jennifer Rokoff, Yijun Wu

1

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Composition

Project 4 Assembly

Project 5

Construction

Geometry Development Mixed Objects

Combination and abstraction

Single Object

Fit to boundary

Massing

With boundary faces extracted

Object

Re-orientation within boundary

Massing

With boundary faces extracted

Object

Mirroring and scaling within boundary

Massing

With boundary faces extracted

Surface Articulation

Materialization

Surface representation at point of interaction

2

Pavilion Section Drawing

Manitoga, NY

Pavilion Elevation Drawing

Manitoga, NY

3

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Composition

Project 4 Assembly

Project 5

Construction

Composition and Assembly C37, 22.08’’ C36, 22.93’’ C35, 23.80’’ C34, 24.71’’

B37, 74.46’’ B36, 75.15’’ B35, 75.94’’ B34, 76.46’’ B33, 77.69’’ B32, 79.02’’ B31, 80.44’’ B30, 81.62’’ B29, 82.85’’ B28, 84.18’’ B27, 85.60’’ B26, 87.24’’ B25, 88.94’’ B24, 90.52’’ B23, 91.90’’ B22, 93.32’’ B21, 93.98’’ B20, 94.70’’ B19, 94.78’’ B18, 94.71’’ B17, 94.43’’ B16, 94.61’’ B15, 96.70’’ B14, 100.1’’ B13, 102.9’’ B12, 104.0’’ B11, 103.0’’ B10, 102.4’’ B09, 99.25’’ B08, 96.64’’ B07, 93.89’’ B06, 90.80’’ B05, 86.48’’ B04, 82.39’’ B03, 77.76’’ B02, 73.76’’ B01, 72.60’’

C33, 26.10’’ C32, 27.46’’ C31, 28.84’’ C30, 30.19’’ C29, 31.53’’ C28, 32.85’’ A37, 74.46’’ A36, 75.15’’ A35, 75.94’’ A34, 76.46’’

C27, 34.21’’ C26, 35.56’’ C25, 36.90’’ C24, 38.24’’ C23, 39.43’’

A33, 77.69’’

C22, 40.65’’

A32, 79.02’’

C21, 41.65’’

A31, 80.44’’

C20, 42.61’’

A30, 81.62’’

C19, 43.32’’

A29, 82.85’’ A28, 84.18’’ A27, 85.60’’ A26, 87.24’’ A25, 88.94’’ A24, 90.52’’ A23, 91.90’’

C18, 44.03’’ C17, 44.37’’ C16, 45.15’’ C15, 46.62’’ C14, 48.61’’ C13, 51.67’’ C11, 57.88’’ C10, 58.01’’

A21, 93.98’’

C09, 63.17’’

A20, 94.70’’

C08, 66.29’’

A19, 94.78’’

C07, 69.76’’

A18, 94.71’’ A17, 94.43’’ A16, 94.61’’ A15, 90.70’’ A14, 100.1’’ A13, 102.9’’

Phase I

C12, 54.74’’

A22, 93.32’’

Structure

C06, 72.68’’ C05, 75.33’’ C04, 77.55’’ C03, 77.85’’ C02, 75.55’’ C01, 73.54’’

A12, 104.0’’ A11, 103.0’’ A10, 102.4’’ A10, 72.60’’ A09, 99.75’’ A08, 96.64’’ A07, 93.89’’ A06, 90.50’’ A05, 86.48’’ A04, 82.39’’ A03, 77.76’’ A02, 73.76’’ A01, 72.60’’

Strips Phase II Weaving

Skin Part C Part B Detail Base Joint

Skeleton

Part A

Phase III Completion

4

Construction and Exhibition

Structural Analysis

Structure Construction

Material Transportation

Structure Assembly

Module Assembly

Lighting Installation

Component Aggregation

Cluster Assembly

Fastening and Finishing

5

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Composition

Project 4 Assembly

Project 5

Construction

Process Documentation

6

Project 2: Verschrankung Independent Academic: PennDesign Instructor: Ezio Blasetti Date: Fall 2015 I. Site Manitoga, NY is home to the studio of Russel Wright, a mid-century industrial designer who helped bring modern product design into American pop culture. The Russel Wright Design Center has worked closely with PennDesign students in the design and development of a gallery space for the display of Russel Wright artifacts to correspond with the existing house at Manitoga.

II. Project Description This project is located in an architecturally and culturally significant context. Students worked independently to design a building within a selected site. This project utilized the skills and analytics from previous projects in order to engage fully with architectural criteria including: enclosure, program, circulation, lighting, materiality, space, and form.

III. Philosophical Approach From quantum mechanics we get the thought experiment Schrodinger’s Cat, where a cat inside of a box exists in two states simultaneously: both alive and dead. A singular existence can only be created through opening the box, which is an act that will effectively kill the cat if it is found to be dead.

This same theory is played out in the computer game minesweeper, which begins with a set of boxes that are opened to potentially reveal a game-ending bomb. As boxes are opened, their contents come into existence and start to have an impact in the universe. As in both of these culture references, this project attempts to pose an ontological question about how a container can affect the existence of objects.

Ultimately, a container can be considered a universe that allows an object to exist. Whether it manifests itself as a solid object or a void space, its existence as something that can be experienced within the universe created by a container.

Through containers all things are made.

7

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Logic

Execution

Project 3 Parts

Modeling

Project 4 Representation

Project 5

Object and Container Ruleset Abstract object combinations

Boolean removal of object from container

#1.0

#1.1

#1.2

#1.3

#1.4

#1.5

#1.6

#1.7

#1.8

#1.9

#1.10

#1.11

#1.12

#1.13

#1.14

#1.15

#1.16

#1.17

#1.18

#1.19

#1.20

#1.21

#1.22

#1.23

#1.25

#1.26

#1.27

#1.28

#1.29

#1.30

#1.31

#1.33

#1.34

#1.35

#1.32

#1.24

Object/container resultant and surface figuration

#2.0

#2.1

#2.2

#2.3

#2.4

#2.5

#2.6

#2.7

#2.8

#2.9

#2.10

#2.11

#2.12

#2.13

#2.14

#2.15

#2.16

#2.17

#2.18

#2.19

#2.20

#2.21

#2.22

#2.23

#2.24

#2.25

#2.26

#2.27

#2.28

#2.29

#2.30

#2.31

#2.33

#2.34

#2.35

#2.36

#2.37

#2.38

#2.39

#2.40

#2.41

#2.43

#2.44

#2.45

#2.46

#2.47

#2.48

#2.49

#2.50

#2.51

#2.52

#2.53

#2.54

#2.55

#2.56

#2.57

#2.58

#2.59

#2.60

#2.61

#2.62

#2.63

#2.64

#2.65

#2.66

#2.67

#2.69

#2.70

#2.71

#2.32

#2.68

#2.42

Ontological Container Logic Minesweeper container ontology and logic

#3.0

#3.1

8

Level 1 Game-piece Catalog

9

#.0

#.1

#.2

#.3

#.4

#.5

#.6

#.7

#.8

#.9

#.10

#.11

#.12

#.13

#.14

#.15

#.16

#.17

#.18

#.19

#.20

#.21

#.22

#.23

#.24

#.25

#.26

#.27

#.28

#.29

#.30

#.31

#.32

#.33

#.34

#.35

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Logic

Execution

Project 3 Parts

Modeling

Project 4 Representation

Project 5

Level 2 Game-piece Catalog

#.0

#.1

#.2

#.3

#.4

#.5

#.6

#.7

#.8

#.9

#.10

#.11

10

Physical Model Photograph

11

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Logic

Execution

Project 3 Parts

Modeling

Project 4 Representation

Project 5

Conceptual Context Rendering

12

Project 3: Veiled Angel Independent Academic: PennDesign Instructor: Abigail Coover/Hume Date: Fall 2016 I. Project Description The Veiled Angel is born from the ruins of the Broken Angel House that was torn down due to its visibility as an example of ad hoc construction deemed unsafe by the city. This new proposal is the heir to the ad hoc spirit of the Broken Angel House which has now learned to protect its construction methodology through a layered series of veils that obscure, estrange, and conceal the qualities of interior layers from the exterior in order to create an overall that reads as both an ongoing construction project and a completed ad hoc artifact.

II. Critical Social Analogy In April of 2016, Pope Francis visited the heart of the European migrant crisis to “call the attention of the world to this grave humanitarian crisis and to plead for its resolution.� The urgency to which certain regions have had to respond to this unprecedented influx of refugees has resulted in a culture of creating improvised housing and religious spaces built using ad hoc construction methods. The products of this are immediate and direct responses to the daily living and spiritual needs of the newly formed communities that build them, which can provide a deep understanding of what the most basic housing needs are for the displaced residents.

III. Conceptual Approach This particular housing project began with a material study that looked at the morphology layering qualities. The results of this were then observed in order to record the physical characteristics of the interaction between each layer, which brought about ideas of flooding, swarming, and boiling. In a proverbial sense, these three words in particular have associations with acts of god and can be found as a theme in the ten plagues on Egypt n the Book of Exodus. Further in the same text we come to the migration of the Israelites from Egypt, which would have necessitated ad hoc housing and religious space.

13

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Representation

Project 4 Fabrication

Project 5 Modeling

Conceptual Development

N

N

N

N

N

N

Building Elevation and Section

14

Plan Drawing at 25 Feet

Up

N

Up

N

Plan Drawing at 35 Feet

15

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Representation

Project 4 Fabrication

Project 5 Modeling

Composite Representation

16

Physical Model Photograph 1

17

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Process

Drawing

Project 3 Representation

Project 4 Fabrication

Project 5 Modeling

Physical Model Photograph 2

18

Project 4: Rapatronic Independent Academic: PennDesign Instructor: Danielle Willems Date: Spring 2016 I. Project Description As architects, we find a uniquely fertile field of creative possibilities in the carnival: an ideal conceptual framework for rethinking the urban environment, challenging the future cities and expanding architecture’s cultural project. The carnival offers a testing ground for the radical abandonment of the Status Quo, it is an instrument of interconnection, a rehearsal of Utopia.

II. Philosophical Approach The Big Bang Theory can be considered an answer to the ultimate question of origins, wherein an unstable energy condition expanded instantaneously to create all objects in space. About 13.7 billion years later, mankind developed the power to mimic this event in the form of an atomic bomb.

Unstable energy, it turns out, is capable of both incredible creation and devastating destruction.

In his book, The Meaning of It All, physicist Richard Feynman writes about the value of energy that has the potential for both positive and negative effects: “I think a power to do something is of value. Whether the result is a good thing or a bad thing depends on how it is used, but the power is a value.” A carnival is a human expression of such energy.

With no intentionality, it is equally capable of creation and destruction. Whether the results are good or bad depends on how this energy is used.

III. Site Energy Mapping Each ring on the map to the right represents an explosion of energy usage that is measured across four years of energy consumption data. These concentrated energy moments create both internal pressures on their individual site locations, and external pressures on the surrounding buildings.

The accumulation of these external forces can be seen specifically through the graphical section at the bottom of the map, which shows a cut through our site and the buildings directly to the west.

19

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Massing

Rendering

Project 3 Depiction

energy use intensity

building density

Project 4 Drawing

Project 5

Representation

Massing and Explosion Study 1

2,000 Seat Theater

+.153 +.153 +.153 +.001 +.001

1,200 Seat Concert Hall

+.153 +.153 +.153 +.001 +.001

500 Seat Black Box Theater

+.001 +.001 +.001 +.153 +.153

Retail

-.018 -.018 -.018 -.018 -.019 -.019

Visual Arts

-.018 -.018 -.018 -.018 +.210 +.210

Flex Space

+.210 +.210 +.210 +.210 +.210 +.210

Massing and Explosion Study 2

2,000 Seat Theater

+.153 +.153 +.153 +.001 +.001

1,200 Seat Concert Hall

+.153 +.153 +.153 +.001 +.001

500 Seat Black Box Theater

+.001 +.001 +.001 +.153 +.153

Retail

-.018 -.018 -.018 -.018 -.019 -.019

Visual Arts

-.018 -.018 -.018 -.018 +.210 +.210

Flex Space

+.210 +.210 +.210 +.210 +.210 +.210

20

Context Rendering 1

21

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Massing

Rendering

Project 3 Depiction

Project 4 Drawing

Project 5

Representation

Context Rendering 2

22

Plan and Section Drawing

23

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Massing

Rendering

Project 3 Depiction

Project 4 Drawing

Project 5

Representation

24

Project 5: YES Pavilion Team Academic: PennDesign Instructor: Mohamad Al Khayer Date: Spring 2016

Sphere

Packing Geometry

I. Project Description The Year End Show (YES) Pavilion at the University of Pennsylvania grew out of a design studio competition, “Tessellations,” which examined higher order assemblies and productions, exploring how the ability to rapidly produce and control variability ushered in new modes of design characterized by topological and parametric associations. For advancement towards a full scale pavilion, the studio explored flexible, topological constructs based on material properties and assembly logics.

II. Process Design, and ultimately production, began with the exploration of techniques, morphology and detailing of the pavilion to be constructed on the University of Pennsylvania campus. This process developed through several hands-on workshops that focused on acquiring knowledge through making, understanding the morphological transformation of a given geometric packing and building using industry standard and readily available materials.

Students were split into three primary teams that divided the task of building and testing physical models that simulated the actual pavilion before combining and turning to lightweight materials to fabricate the pavilion’s components, including structural members, surfaces and joints required for the pavilion’s superstructure and envelope.

Tetrahedron

Packing Substructure

Octahedron

Space Filling Model

Module

First Tier Subdivision

Cluster

Second Tier Subdivision

III. Student Team John Hilla (Group Leader), Lillian Candela, Constance Chang, Margaret Gregg, Huichao Han, Jonathan Hein, Siyi Li, Audrey Lin, Ziyang Luo, Tian Ouyang, Andre Stiles, Yuchen Wen, Xeaniel Wu, Xinnan Xu, Yuntao Xu, Ji Yoon

Aggregation

Component Connection

25

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Development

Project 3

Fabrication

Transportation

Project 4 Construction

Project 5 Exhibition

Development and Construction

Structural Analysis

Substructure Construction

Substructure Assembly

Module Assembly

Lighting Installation

Fastener Detail

Component Aggregation

Cluster Assembly

Fastening and Finishing

26

Vacuum Forming Mold

27

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Development

Project 3

Fabrication

Transportation

Project 4 Construction

Project 5 Exhibition

Transportation of Prefabricated Sections

28

Completed Construction and Exhibition

29

Project 1 Overview

Project 2 Development

Project 3

Fabrication

Transportation

Project 4 Construction

Project 5 Exhibition

30