Education Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo, CA Bachelor of Architecture
June 2013
Thesis: Parallel practices between Fashion and Architecture
CSU Firenze, Florence, Italy
Skills Adobe Creative Suite, Microsoft Office Rhino, V-Ray, Sketch-up, Maya, Revit Sketching, Modeling, Watercolors, Woodworking, Welding, Photography, Sewing, 3D Modeling Spanish, English, Italian
2011 - 2012
Experience OMA New York, NY (Two Weeks)
March 2013
Assisted with the execution, documentation, and development of final models including: photoshopping, laser cutting, making rubber molds and casting resin.
Chavez Brothers Mexican Candy Vancouver, WA
2008 - Present
Executive Assistant to administrative work and quality controls of products.
AeD Press San Luis Obispo CA
2012- 2013
Editing and designing publications of student and faculty work from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo College of Architecture and Environmental Design.
Coast To Coast Workshop Ascoli Piceno, Italy (One Week)
Spring 2012
School of Architecture in Ascoli and CSU Firenze collaborated on a project to redevelop an old historical ruin site. This was held in Ascoli under the direction of Cristiano Toraldo di Francia.
CSU Firenze and Domus Academy of Milan Workshop Florence, Italy (One Week)
Fall 2011
Architecture students from both schools collaborated in a group to figure out a solution to the lack of infrastructural design existing in the outskirts of Florence Italy.
AIAS Member, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
2009 - 2011
Awards / Recognitions
2
Gates Millennium Scholars Honorable Mention Vellum Furniture Competition Dean’s List Presidents List Best of Third Year Nominee
2008 - Present Fall 2012 8 Quarters 2011 - 2012 Spring 2011
Table of Contents Vogue Events
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The Circuit
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Creased
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Linear Opportunism
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ZIP
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Flex
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Vogue Events
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Fashion’s main purpose is to connect the biological and social bodies to provoke individuality and the self-erotic experience of “seeing and being seen.” Through fashion people are able to explore different personas and portray those into the social realm. Because fashion is dramatic and theatrical, there is a separation from reality when the wearer engages in this activity. Architecture is thus able to create environments in which people are able to showcase their possible personas in a social setting. The architecture that was developed in this thesis, places people in display from different vantage points. Through the use of converging ramps, open floor plan, transparency, and a series of atriums it allows people to connect visually and encourage social interaction. Due to people’s inclination to act differently when they are the main focus of others, by placing people in display, the building encourages an alternative persona, the performer to be showcased. This persona, does not speak to a real interiority, but focuses on the ‘possible self ’ someone can become through the means of fashion. Since this architecture encourages ostentation, performers, viewers, visual connectivity and interaction, people that come here will be encouraged to bring forth their best personas when inhabiting the building. Architecturally the diverse program of the building will bring together a variety of people with different interests and personas together thus creating unexpected event spaces out of the architecture. The outer shell was designed to further explore the idea of fashion not reflecting a real interiority, but instead exploring it as different entity that covers a core underneath. The transformation from a plane to a volume through manipulations of pleating was a large priority as the bridge that interconnected the fashion and the architecture. The building acts as a continuation of the street into the building, through the incorporation of the parking. This plays off the car culture of the city of Los Angeles, and creates a vertical street scape. The building is also inviting to pedestrians due to its immediate proximity to other entertainment venues.
Walt Disney Concert Hall
World Trade Center
Harbor Freeway 110 LA Central Library
Site
Macy’s Plaza
Regal Cinemas Ritz Carlton Hotel Nokia Theater F.I.D.M.: Fashion School of Desing and Merchandise
LA Live Staple Center
Metro Lines Los Angeles Convention Center
Culture and Entertainment
Santa Monica Freeway (10)
Hotels
Office Buildings
Educational Buildings
Retail
Motion Picture Studios
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Top: Digital representation of the shell covering the interior. The exterior does not hold to a true interiority, but instead covers and de-emphasizes the inside. The building is direct translation of how high fashion designs interact with the body, and their ability to transform the body into different selves. Bottom Left: Physical representations of the shell Bottom Right: Developed interior model.
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Pictorial depictions of development of shell skin articulation
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Articulated shell structure
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Left: Axonometric Interior. Exterior Shell
Right: Exploded Axonometric of major components of the building.
Programmatic Spaces
Vertical Circulation and Egress Mega Column Structure Main Programmatic Ramp
Diagrid Core Structure
Viewing Escalators Mixing Viewing Floors Mega Column Structure Cantilevered Cable Bridge Structure Runway Seating Dressing Room Structure Dressing Room Cantilevered Runway Dressing Room Entry Continuous Looped Parking
Section Cut Through Atrium with Shell
Parking Lot Circulation
Runway Procession Circulation
Section Cut Through Atrium without Shell
Program Ramp and Mixing Floor Circulation
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Transparent Cores/ Vertical Circulation
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Runway Atrium
Viewing Escalators Atrium
Main Programmatic Atrium
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The changes in elevation where important, through the converging ramps to recreate the elevation changes that are apparent in retail stores and in fashion runways. This further increased the amount of visual connectivity and body display.
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Level 6.5
Level Seven Level Six
Level 5.5 Mixing Floor 3
Level Five
Level 4.5 Mixing Floor 2
Level Four
Level 3.5 Mixing Floor1
Level Three
Level 2.5 Diagram portraying the optimization of the spiral form. Through the use of the spiral, half oors were created in order to facilitate diagonal viewing
Level 2 Runway Level Level 1.5
Level Two
Level One Ground Level
Level 6.5
Level Seven Level Six
Level 5.5 Mixing Floor 3
Level Five
Level 4.5 Mixing Floor 2
Level Four
Level 3.5 Mixing Floor1
Level Three
Level 2.5 Level 2 Runway Level Level 1.5
Level Two
Level One
Vantage points at the left side of the building
Ground Level
Level 6.5
Level Seven Level Six
Level 5.5 Mixing Floor 3
Level Five
Level 4.5 Mixing Floor 2
Level Four
Level 3.5 Mixing Floor1
Level Three
Level 2.5 Level 2 Runway Level Level 1.5
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Vantage points at the right side of the building
Level Two
Level One Ground Level
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The Circuit
02
The concept of recycle, reuse and reduce is personified in a self sustaining community in which the architecture maximizes the use and efficiency of food growth and culture at a site in the perimeter of the city of Florence, Italy, a territory that “flows into the surrounding countryside and melts away, blending with farmland and creating interluded hybrid territories.” Christiano Toraldo Di Francia Team: Juan Chavez, Francisco Choto, Gabriel Santos.
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Concept Diagram
Closed Loop System Diagram
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Program: Graphical Representation
Program Diagram
Interior Courtyard Rendering
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Site Plan
Process Work
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First Floor
Second Floor
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Third Floor
Fourth Floor
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Creased
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The new exit to the Uffizi is meant for people to have a place of distraction and disconnection from the city’s historical context by shifting the attention of the exiting public from the history, to one another, By creating different gathering spaces where people can assemble and congregate their attention will be shifted more towards people as opposed to the city. The areas of circulation and gathering intersect in elevation, creating points of convergence for people to stumble upon one another,. The plan on the exiting floor is free of any structural obstruction, in order for people to create and handle the space as they choose to. This area is covered by a proportional, repeating, harmonious; self supported origami folded plate structure elevated by cables that are attached to the Uffizi. This form was inspired by the eclectic undulating roof scape of Florence.
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Front Elevation
Adjacency Diagram
First Floor
Exit Lobby
Ramp Connecting to Street Level
Courtyard
Second Floor
Vertical Circulation Mezzanine Cafe Cafe Terrace
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Applied Structure
Skewed Folded Plate
Folded Plate
Flat Plane Pattern
Section Perspective of Courtyard and Roof
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Courtyard Perspective Applied Structure
Skewed Folded Plate
Folded Plate
Flat Plane Pattern
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Linear Opportunism 04 This collaboration with Domus Academy in Milan and CSU Florence, dealt with the lack of design of the infrastructural opportunism in the area of Navoli in Florence. The project wanted to give functionality to the voids created by an overpass that went through the site with the influence of “The Metabolist” movement, thus becoming a modular structure under the over pass in which programmatic spaces were inserted. Being the north gate to the city, we saw this as “a play on the pit stop” considering the limited time people would spend here before leaving and entering the city. Team: Juan Chavez, Francisco Choto, Gabriel Santos
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Concept Diagram
Exploded Axonometric
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ZIP
05
The installation was intended to showcase the thesis work done during Fall 2012. The students each produced a book of design research, which related specifically to his or her developing project. The installation was constructed primarily of 250,000 cable ties, looped and tied together, to create a fabric. Studio 400 brought forth the concept of a storefront installation exhibit as a spatial experiment while using limited materials as the construction medium. The zip tie fabric unraveled to lure and signal visitors towards the entrance of the gallery where they are squeezed through the aciculate portal before entering the reading room. The installation’s central vortex expanse defined reading space with varying levels of seating. ZIP ultimately promoted visitor interaction with the fabric’s prickly surface, through books, light, music, color, and conversation, which allowed visitors to become involved in the students’ theses. Professor Karen Lange Team: Studio 400: Thesis studio class, 19 members. Photographer: Brandon Sampson Photography
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Flex
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Flex: A planar deformation as a response to gravitational pulls in relation to mass. The sitting surface of Flex conforms to the body as opposed to the body conforming to the sitting surface. As a person begins the motion of sitting, it is slowed down prior to coming into contact with the surface. Flex thus embraces the body and temporarily suspends it in space. The sitting surface is meant to lengthen the duration of sitting, thus becoming a facilitator of prolonged relaxation or socialization. Flex was constructed out of rebar and metal that were repurposed and welded to create the frame of the chair. The weaving technique of the chair is a simple design that was accomplished with one continuous strand of bungee cord that loops over itself to create a radial pattern. The bungee cord has the ability to regain its original shape as a at plane. The tension in the bungee cord assists the user propel forward and helps the user stand up. Vellum Furniture Competition: Honorable Mention
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