Juan Ramon Cantu: Architecture Portfolio 2021 by Juan Ramon Cantu

JUAN RAMON CANTU PORTFOLIO 2021

INDEX ACADEMIC PROJECTS OFF-BEAT SYNCHRONOUS DWELLINGS ARCHITECTURES OF THE INVISIBLE I ARCHITECTURES OF THE INVISIBLE II COMPETITION ENTRIES POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES ECHINATUM PROFESSIONAL PROJECTS REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE MINSU X-SPACE DIGITAL PARK NOMADIC EXHIBITION DEVICE EXHIBITIONS WRIGHTWOOD 659: MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE WRIGHTWOOD 659: DIMENSIONS OF CITIZENSHIP ARCHIVE RECOMMENDATIONS

ARCHIVE INDEX 1.0.- Shell structure. Rhino FIG. 1.1 FIG. 1.2 FIG. 1.3 2.0.- Tensile structure I. Rhino + Grasshopper + Kangaroo FIG. 2.1 FIG. 2.2 FIG. 2.3 3.0.- Tensile structure II. Rhino + Grasshopper + Karamba FIG. 3.1 FIG. 3.2 FIG. 3.3 4.0.- Polyhedron geometrical construction. Rhino FIG. 4.1 FIG. 4.2 FIG. 4.3 5.0.- Sphere deformation. Rhino + Grasshopper FIG. 5.1 FIG. 5.2 FIG. 5.3 6.0.- Sphere collide (Soft body simulation). Rhino + Grasshopper + Kangaroo FIG. 6.1 FIG. 6.2 FIG. 6.3 7.0.- Architectures of the Invisible II, Air Flow Tubular Prototype. 3D Print, Ultimaker 3, Translucent PLA. FIG. 7.1 FIG. 7.2 FIG. 7.3 FIG. 7.4 8.0.- Robotic Sledging Model. Kuka PRC, Clay. FIG. 8.1 FIG. 8.2 FIG. 8.3 9.0.- Sphere Deformation Model. 3D Print, Ultimaker 3, White PLA. FIG. 9.1 FIG. 9.2 FIG. 9.3 10.0.- Sphere Collide Model. 3D Print, Z Printer 450, Polychromatic Plaster. FIG. 10.1 FIG. 10.2 FIG. 10.3 11.0.- Particle system simulation. Blender. FIG. 11.1 FIG. 11.2

OFF-BEAT ROBOTIC CRAFTSMANSHIP INSTRUCTORS: ULRIKA KARLSSON + CECILIA LUNDBÄCK INSTITUTION: KTH - ROYAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, SWEDEN TERM: FALL 2017 TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + SINDRI SIGURDSSON DESCRIPTION: The off-beat studio explored aspects of unconventionality and arrhythmia in architecture through an architectural intervention to an existing building of the Royal Institute of Art in the Skeppsholmen island in Stockholm. Previous to this intervention, the design research followed a rigorous process of model making as a collaborative act between a 6-axis robotic arm and a material technique that required human intervention; the technique was sledging and the materials were clay and plaster. We utilized this technique as an abstraction mechanism of the ornaments indicating hierarchy among the buildings in Skeppsholmen. The indexical charge of these ornaments was enhanced through its ‘de-contextualization’ and ‘over-scalation’. In an art environment, the ornaments were useful for way-finding and circulation, delineating space and augmenting the ‘gravitational’ force of certain architectural elements like the corner (interior and exterior), the wall and the column, all of this by maintaining its structural capacities. The programming of the robotic arm introduced highly calculated functions that contrasted the plasticity of the materials as well as the crudeness of the human hand. On the contrary, the complexity and fluidity that we achieved with the robot would not have been possible with the traditional sledging jig that relied on mechanical movements. The traditional mechanical jig maintained a parallel trajectory to the original surface and it was incapable of variation . With the robotic arm the profile had rotational flexibility, which introduced variation to the thickness, the protuberance and legibility of the profile. TECHNIQUES: Robotic programming: Rhino/Grasshopper/KukaPRC Models: Wood base/Clay foundation/Plaster + Paint finish Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator

RESIDUAL PLASTER ON CUSTOM-BUILT TOOL MOUNTED ONTO 6-AXIS ROBOT ARM. ▶

SUPER-DRAWING I: 1:2 SCALE DRAWING SHOWING THE PROGRAMMED PATH AND COMPOSITION OF THE SLEDGING TOOL.

ROBOT SESSION I: THE DISCREPANCIES BETWEEN THE DIGITAL MODEL AND THE PHYSICAL MODEL AND THE MATERIAL BEHAVIOR ALLOWED US TO INFORM FUTURE SESSIONS, ESTABLISHING A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO.

SUPER-DRAWING II: THE INTELLIGENCE GAINED IN THE FIRST SESSION GAVE RISE TO AN INCREASED COMPLEXITY EXPLORED THROUGH THE INTRODUCTION OF A SECONDARY PATH, THE ADDITION OF MATERIAL LAYERS IN BETWEEN PATHS AND THE COLORING OF THE FINAL PLASTER LAYER.

ROBOT SESSION II: THE ROBOT’S PRECISION AND THE PLASTICITY OF THE MATERIAL ALLOWED OVERLAPPING TWO PATHS ON THE SAME MODEL.

▲ PROGRAMMATIC DIAGRAM ANALYZING THE SPATIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF DIGITAL MEDIA (VIDEO, AUDIO, AR/VR, ANIMATION). CONCEALED SURFACE ARTICULATIONS. ▶

SUPER-DRAWING III: THE JUXTAPOSITION OF MULTIPLE PROJECTIONS UNVEIL LATENT SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS.

SYNCHRONIC DWELLINGS EXPERIMENTAL TYPOLOGY FOR PILSEN. INSTRUCTOR: KINDON MILLS INSTITUTION: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TERM: SPRING 2016 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The Pilsen neighborhood in Chicago has been, historically, home to people from different countries. The German and Irish settled in the 19th century, but were thereafter replaced by Czech and eastern Europeans until the 1950s-1960s, when a spurt in the Mexican American population occurred due to displacement from surrounding neighborhoods. Today ‘hipsters’ have infiltrated the neighborhood, and although with them a sprout in coffee shops, art galleries and Michelin-starred restaurants, the traces from the longevous and preceding demographics remain influential to the ongoing image and structure of the neighborhood. This project acknowledges this transition as part of the evolution of a neighborhood, however instead of prioritizing either state, whether anterior or posterior, it operates like a bifurcation and materializes such transitory stage. The visual manipulation of different preexisting housing types, such as mirroring, hinging and rotation, allowed me to imagine structural changes to their modes of inhabitation. These transmutations give rise to new patterns of movement, rest, enclosure and interaction between their inhabitants, displaying a potential for becoming a demographic bifurcation prototype. This prototype assembles two L-shaped dwelling units in an interlocking manner, leaving a void in between each other. Both units have their own entrance and operate entirely independent from each other, however the internal void embedded at the core, inserts a shared public space which can serve as a place of interaction among the inhabitants of the two units or a place of dissociation from the inhabitant’s own unit. This bifurcation void is further applied at the urban level by placing the building on the opposite end of the prevailing positioning of its neighbors. The intention of this dwelling prototype is to provide an environment for diverse modes of inhabitation, tentatively, neighborhoods would not have to sacrifice keeping its long-lasting inhabitants in exchange for economic progress and innovation. TECHNIQUES: Collage: Photoshop Diagrams: Ink spills over hand drafted frames. Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator Renders: Rhino/Blender

CARVING OUT THE NEIGHBORHOOD’S URBAN FABRIC. ▶

▲ PLAN ▼ SECTION

▲ DICHOTOMIC ANALYSIS OF THE COURTYARD HOUSE TYPE. MANIPULATING TRADITIOONAL HOUSE TYPES TO CREATE NEW BIFURCATED ONES. ▶

SYNCHRONOUS DWELLINGS: MATERIAL DIALYSIS OF THE FAÇADE REFLECTS INTERNAL BIFURCATION.

A: SYNCHRONIZATION OF CIRCULATION AND FENESTRATION SYSTEMS. B: MATERIAL DIALYSIS. C: CONTRASTING THE OPAQUENESS OF THE EXISTING TYPOLOGIES.

PLAN + SECTION: SYNCHRONOUS DWELLINGS DIVIDED/CONNECTED THROUGH SHARED PUBLIC SPACE.

ARCHITECTURES OF THE INVISIBLE I: THE DISSOLUTION OF THE MASSES INSTRUCTOR: LLUÍS ORTEGA INSTITUTION: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TERM: FALL 2018 TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + ASLINUR TASKIN NOMINATED FOR THE SCHIFF FOUNDATION FELLOWSHIP FOR ARCHITECTURE. SELECTED FOR THE ADVANCED STUDIOS SUPERJURY. DESCRIPTION: Architectures of the Invisible, is a multi-year research project that revisited urgent cultural and disciplinary matters previously explored in the 1960s, such as social participation and environmental exigencies. This research heavily relied in digital tools to visualize the invisible forces that ambiguously constituted those projects in the past. This project emerges as a critique of the hyper-mechanization of architecture and its relationship to movement and user participation in The Fun Palace project by Cedric Price. We noticed that while seeking to activate architecture and engage the user with it, Price naively surrendered to technology and mechanization, suppressing the organic dissolution of the masses intended in The Fun Palace text. In the center of Barcelona, Plaça Catalunya served as a testing ground for our new version of The Fun Palace. Instead of being located in the periphery of the city and acting as a place of destination, like the original version, our proposal would have to perform as a place of encounter and interaction, due to its central location and the crucial role that it plays in the touristic, economic, and political activity of the city. We developed a hybrid system that consolidates circulation and enclosure within the same set of components, parameters and behaviors. The ramp became our main component, and through its aggregation we created a heterogeneous network of connectivity that frames movement , interaction and attention of users, rather than programming it through the use of discrete mechanical systems. A key aspect of the studio was the use of ‘prototypes’, which were developed inside two hemispheres to test out the capacities of the preliminary system we developed. The generic characteristics of the hemispheres, such as center and perimeter, served as a pedagogical obstacle to test and develop our role as authors of the project, as we were to assign directionality, density, and intensity based on our own decisions. Later this would serve to translate our system into the site, which contains specific conditions instead of generic. The resulting architecture is a walkable canopy of crosses that emerges gently out of the ground. Each limb of the cross is a ramp that traverses from one end to the other and the crossing point becomes a moment of interaction and encounter. The negative space enclosed within the connection of two or more crosses constitutes inscribed space, where we speculate activity would happen, as it holds the potential of becoming a focal point. TECHNIQUES: Networks + Sphere prototype: Rhino/Grasshopper Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator

TRANSFORMATION OF PLAÇA CATALUNYA INTO A NETWORK OF CIRCULATION AND ENCLOSURE. ▶

△NETWORK: THE BEHAVIOR OF THE INDIVIDUAL COMPONENT + THE TYPE OF NETWORK THEY CREATE THROUGH ITS GROWTH. 1: GROWTH THROUGH REPETITION. 2: CHANGE IN DENSITY THROUGH ROTATION. 3: OFF-CENTERED POINT OF ROTATION INCREASES DENSITY + DIRECTIONALITY. FRAGMENTS: MODEL BUILT THROUGH SEQUENTIAL SECTIONS TO EMPHASIZE ITS RELATIONSHIP TO THE GROUND. ▲

PROTOTYPE I + II: THE INWARD/OUTWARD ORIENTATION OF THE NETWORK DETERMINES ITS DENSITY AND SCOPE .

TYPOLOGICAL CATALOG: GROUND ARTICULATIONS/RAMP CONFIGURATIONS/HYBRID CONDITIONS.

ACTIVATION OF NEW CONNECTIVITY IN PLAÇA CATALUNYA.

◀ CENTRAL SPACE DURING PLANNED EVENT.

◀ OVERALL SECTION FROM MULTIPLE DIRECTIONS.

CENTRAL SPACE DURING SPONTANEOUS USE. ▶

ARCHITECTURES OF THE INVISIBLE II: TURBULENT SURFACES INSTRUCTOR: LLUÍS ORTEGA INSTITUTION: ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY TERM: SPRING 2019 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT WINNER OF THE JERROLD LOEBL TRAVELING SCHOLARSHIP. WINNER OF THE FACULTY AWARD FOR THE ADVANCED STUDIOS. FEATURED IN URBAN NEXT, DYNAMIC NOTION OF DESIGN. DESCRIPTION: Architectures of the Invisible, is a multi-year research project that revisited urgent cultural and disciplinary matters previously explored in the 1960s, such as social participation and environmental exigencies. This research heavily relied in digital tools to visualize the invisible forces that ambiguously constituted those projects in the past. This project looks mainly at two books by Reyner Banham, Megastructures and The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, in an attempt to discern the concerns and ambitions of the time and find their contemporary equivalents. In Megastructures, the main aspects were modularity and unlimited growth through the aggregation of those modules, however these two concepts seem incompatible with today’s environmental consciousness and the degrees of variability and fluidity in architecture made possible by digital technology. The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, although mainly a critique of the hyper-mechanized entrails of contemporary architecture, puts considerable emphasis on the importance of airflow and its capacity to carry comfort throughout time and space. The reading of the latter, helped me formulate an updated definition of a megastructure, with the capacity to embody the fluidity of contemporary design as well as to develop high performance passive ventilation systems with strong architectural correspondences. The project speculates about a robust architecture that can address the environmental needs of the future by gaining spatial, urban and social capacities. In the studio, we established a constant feedback relationship between the site, a former limestone quarry in the outskirts of Barcelona with specific urban, topographic and environmental conditions, and a prototype, a generic spheric space that functioned as a laboratory for testing design ideas and formal agendas without external contamination. The design developed through this prototype was then deployed back to the site in order to gain precision and test its architectural and environmental performance in a real scenario. The outcome was a tubular megastructure that adheres to the geometry of the quarry while responding to the predominant wind direction of the site. At the same time the curvature of the tubes create urban as and topographic conditions that intensify the industrialized state of the site. The project creates an ambiguous landscape that is not industrial and neither is natural, introducing a new type of ‘postindustrial’ landscape. TECHNIQUES: Site Analysis (Data): Gaisma + Parcs de Catalunya Sphere Prototype: Rhino/Grasshopper Sphere Model: 3D Printed transparent PLA/Ultimaker + Cura Simulations: Autodesk CFD Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator THE CREATION OF A NEW TOPOGRAPHY GIVES CONTINUITY TO THE INDUSTRIALIZED GROUND BY MEANS OF TUBULAR STRUCTURES THAT MANIPULATE AIRFLOW ON SITE. ▶

FORMAL STRUCTURE: 1:TERRAIN SECTIONED ALONG TOPOGRAPHIC + PREVALENT WIND DIRECTION, 2: VORONOI SUBDIVISIONS OPERATING AS LOFTING SECTIONS FOR TUBULAR GEOMETRIES. 3: INTERIOR WALLS GIVING AIRFLOW DIRECTION. △ SITE ANALYSIS: YEARLY AVERAGE SUN + WIND DIRECTION OVER TOPOGRAPHY. ▲ TOPOGRAPHIC SECTION RANGE PERPENDICULAR TO SW DIRECTION. ▲

PLAN: CFD SIMULATION OVERLAY ON SITE SPECIFIC DEPLOYMENT.

A. ▲ PROTOTYPE FORMAL STRUCTURE: VORONOI SUBDIVISIONS NEGOTIATE BETWEEN THE TUBES AND THE SPHERE’S PERIMETER. CFD SIMULATION A: TUBE CURVATURE CONTROLS INTERIOR AIRFLOW INTENSITY. B: SURFACE ARTICULATION CONCENTRATES/DISPERSES AIRFLOW ACCORDING TO ITS DIRECTION.

◀ PROTOTYPE I

◀ PROTOTYPE II

◀ TUBULAR STRUCTURES INFILLING THE QUARRY TO INTENSIFY ITS TERRAIN.

POST-INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPES COMPETITION: INNATUR 9 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT DESCRIPTION Having the premise of nature as a protagonist and catalyst for architecture, I decided to re-purpose my last studio project from my undergraduate program. That project dealt with a new type of nature that emerges from a contemporary condition and therefore remained unexplored. This emergent type, Post-Industrial Nature, it is the residual territory of previously industrialized grounds. As the world grows towards a more conscious relationship with nature, the industries that emerged during the economical boom of the 20th century keep abandoning the natural territories they exploited. The departure of these industries leaves enormous scars on the formerly natural landscapes. Thus the ambiguity of these scars give rise to landscapes that are not natural anymore, as they were transformed, and at the same time they are no longer industrial, as the transformations they suffered were purely extractive. This proposal is an attempt at understanding this emerging type of nature. The design fuses formal traits from the natural and urban surroundings with intensified maneuvers to traverse the affected terrain developed through digital operations. The resultant is homologous to the Post-Industrial Landscape in which it sits, its scale is comparable with nature while the effect is a deep urbanization of a seemingly untamed landscape. TECHNIQUES: Site Analysis(Data): Gaisma/Parcs de Catalunya Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator 3D Models: Rhino/Grasshopper Renders: Blender

PLANS: ORGANIC GROWTH. ▲ ◀ SITE ANALYSIS: NATURAL, INDUSTRIAL AND URBAN SYSTEMS COINCIDE.

ECHINATUM COMPETITION: TREE HOUSE MODULE TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + ASLINUR TASKIN DESCRIPTION The premise “Living Among Trees” provoked us to think of fungi as a natural system that does precisely this, in addition to having very complex formal arrangements. We took Echinoids as reference, particularly for their spinous shell that serves them as a defense as well as anchoring mechanisms. We referenced these creatures to develop a formal system that incorporates growth, flexibility, and enclosure variation, as stipulated in the competition brief. We utilized a geodesic frame as the primary structure to achieve a spheric base with an iterative growth potential, similar to fungi. To be able to ground the geodesic clusters in a variety of orientations, we relied on ‘piloti’ that project from the structure’s intersections and anchor to the ground, resembling urchins. This strategy provided our design with tremendous flexibility at different levels; the frame provided the capacity of isotropic aggregation and variability in the external and internal cladding. The pyramidal elements on the exterior served as a modular-variable cladding system for the structure that emanates from the geodesic frame as well as a mechanism for framing views, smells, and sounds existing in a forest environment. TECHNIQUES: 3D Model: Rhino/Grasshopper Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator Interior Renders: Blender Exterior Renders: Autodesk 3dsMax

GEOMETRICAL SYSTEM 1: MODULAR GROWTH BASED ON GEOMETRY. 2: SURFACE ARTICULATION BASED ON FACES. CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM 3: METAL CONNECTORS WITH WOOD FRAME. 4: SAME BASE SIZE PYRAMID WITH VARIABLE LENGTH AND TAPERING ANGLE.

REGENERATIVE AGRICULTURE RESEARCH RESEARCHERS: LLUÍS ORTEGA + JULIA CAPOMAGGI (JL-OFFICE) MARC GRACIA (RESEARCHER AT CREAF UAB) + LUIS VIU (IAAC) + TERESA GALÍ (HARVARD GSD) TEAM: JUAN R. CANTU & ASLINUR TASKIN (JL-OFFICE) INSTITUTIONS: HARVARD GSD & LUMA FOUNDATION DESCRIPTION: Regenerative agriculture is a farming system that increases biodiversity, enriches soils, improves watersheds, and enhances ecosystems. It aims to capture carbon in soil and aboveground biomass, reversing current global trends of atmospheric accumulation. The basis for accomplishing this is to subdivide land into multiple sub-systems, and then alternate between them periodically so the waste of one system becomes utilized by another, increasing its farming capacity. Our research, abstracted 4 different farming systems native to the Mediterranean regions of France and Spain, into geometric systems and studied its growth. Furthermore, we established a set of proportions based on their carbon charge and developed a radial parametric model that maintains cells of specific area and structure to facilitate the alternation between systems and variable overall size to adapt to different geographic regions. By enumerating the cells of the model we were able to generate variable combinatory structures that led to patterns of alternation. The resulting prototypical model was tested in the geographical conditions of the surrounding region of Arles in France TECHNIQUES: Growth + Subdivision + Selection Patterns: Grasshopper Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator

SUPERPOSITION OF MULTIPLE LAND SUBDIVISION SYSTEMS ONTO EXISTING URBAN FABRIC. ▶

BOSQUE / FORREST

DEHESA / PASTURE

PRADO / PRAIRIE

BOSQUE / FORREST

DEHESA / PASTURE

PRADO / PRAIRIE

Grid of points with alternating circle sizes.

Grid of points with stable circle sizes and offset pattern on ground.

Grid of points with alternating circle sizes.

Grid of points with stable circle sizes and offset pattern on ground.

FORREST

PASTURE

PRAIRIE

Offset pattern on ground.

EXTENSIVO - INTENSIVO

/ EXTENSIVE - INTENSIVE EXTENSIVE-INTENSIVE EXTENSIVO - INTENSIVO / EXTENSIVE - INTENSIVE

Offset pattern on ground with circles along the

offset lines. ▲ ABSTRACTING AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS INTO GEOMETRIC SYSTEMS Offset pattern on ground. Offset pattern on ground with circles along the ▼ STUDY offsetOF lines.SYSTEMATIC GROWTH

◀ COMBINATORY PATTERNS OF SIMILAR AREA DISTRIBUTION

PROTOTYPE - RADIAL SYSTEM OF CONSTANT CELL AREA(80ha) ▶ SELECTION PATTERNS BASED ON CELL ENUMERATION ▼

80 ha Parcels 10 ha Parcels Communes Urban Areas

▲ CULL PATTERN ◀ RADIAL PATTERN

MINSU BOUTIQUE HOTEL ARCHITECTS: LLUIS ORTEGA + JULIA CAPOMAGGI (JL-OFFICE) XAVIER OSARTE + ESTHER SEGURA TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + ASLINUR TASKIN + ZHIXUAN WEI + CHEN WU (JL-OFFICE) ELISA MIRANDA LOCATION: PENGZHOU, CHINA ONGOING DESCRIPTION: Minsu is part of a larger revitalization project of the Pengzhou region in China. It aims to provide a space for relaxation in the interior of its mountainous natural bamboo reserve. Our proposal, incorporates a system of hinges that accommodate 15 bedrooms with their own private terrace in the intricate property bounds and drastic terrain. The folds that derive from this system, provide each terrace with their own directionality, for privacy, and a jagged interior patio that forces the user to meander around the compound, referencing the traditional architecture of the region. From the interior, each room opens up towards the landscape to emphasize the experience of the user in close contact with nature. On the exterior, a sequence of platforms, staircases, planters and underpasses create an urban condition that fosters interaction among the guests. The sloped roofs while also referencing vernacular architecture of the region, they are exaggerated to create an artificial topography and increase the privacy of the terraces. TECHNIQUES: 3D Model: Rhino Drawing: Rhino/Illustrator Exterior Render: Rhino./Photoshop Interior Renders: Blender

MODULAR STRUCTURAL SYSTEM. ▶

INSERTION INTO BAMBOO FOREST LANDSCAPE. △ COMMUNAL SPACE OVERLOOKING THE RESTAURANT. ▲

BEDROOM: UPPER LEVEL, OVERLOOKING LANDSCAPE LOWER LEVEL, LANDSCAPE IMMERSION.

XPACE DIGITAL PARK FACADE RENOVATION ARCHITECTS: LLUIS ORTEGA + JULIA CAPOMAGGI (JL-OFFICE) SHANSHAN QI (STUDIO QI) TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + ASLINUR TASKIN + ZHIXUAN WEI + CHEN WU (JL-OFFICE) JIEYING LUO + PANYUN LI + KEVIN FENG + GUOHUA GU (STUDIO QI) CONSULTANTS: STRUCTURAL & MEP ENGINEERING: ZHEJIANG DADONGWU CONSTRUCTION CORP. LOUVERS CONSTRUCTION COMPANY: HERNAN ZHONGXIN CONSTRUCTION ENGINEERING CO., LTD. PHOTOGRAPHY: WEIQI JIN LOCATION: HANGZHOU, ZHEJIANG, CHINA BUILT NOMINATED FOR ARCH DAILY’S BUILDING OF THE YEAR 2021. DESCRIPTION: XSPACE DIGITAL PARK, recycles a compound of unused old factories in Xiaoshan District, Hangzhou, China, into a new Startup Campus for Tech companies. The entire project encompassed interior, landscape and maser plan design for the surrounding areas, however, I was mainly involved in the design of the new facade that would give the park a renovated identity. This new skin adheres to the existing brick facade; it is composed of aluminum vertical louvers and the parameters that constitutes it, such as the distance between each member and their curvilinear geometry, are based on the negotiation between the position of existing openings, the facade orientation and exterior points of view from which the building will be perceived. The resultant is a veil-like effect that protects the interior from sunlight and provides privacy while blurring the definition of the original building towards the exterior. TECHNIQUES: Fin Pattern: Rhino/Grasshopper Drawing: Rhino/Illustrator

FAÇADE ASSEMBLY SYSTEM. ▶

NOMADIC EXHIBITION DEVICE SPANISH ARCHITECTURE + URBANISM BIENNIAL 2020 ARCHITECTS: LLUIS ORTEGA + JULIA CAPOMAGGI (JL-OFFICE) TEAM: JUAN RAMON CANTU + ASLINUR TASKIN (JL-OFFICE) LOCATION: MULTIPLE LOCATIONS, SPAIN UNBUILT - COMPETITION ENTRY DESCRIPTION: Our proposal for the exhibition of the 2020 Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial reclaims the city and its public spaces as space for cultural encounters. We designed a foldable device that can be easily transported as well as deployed into different urban scenarios to transform them in exhibition spaces. Through folding, hinging and rotating we developed a device that is capable of creating space as well of disrupting it, with the introduction of sub-rotations of second order. Each panel is made out of a metal frame and mesh with the intention of giving flexibility to the surface so different materials could be displayed and at the same time provide varying degrees of transparencies. Furthermore, the hinge structure also makes possible to attach boxes, planters and a much broader variation of components that respond to specific media utilized throughout different exhibitions. TECHNIQUES: 3D Model: Rhino Drawings: Rhino/Illustrator

PLAN PERSPECTIVE WITH POSSIBLE ROTATION TRAJECTORIES. ▶

▲ DEPLOYED PROTOTYPICAL EXHIBITION.

▲ FOLDING PROCESS FOR TRANSPORTATION. ◀ DIFFERENT PRELIMINARY CONFIGURATIONS.

MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE TADAO ANDO AND LE CORBUSIER INSTITUTION: WRIGHTWOOD 659 TEAM: RICHARD NELSON (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS) MARIO SERRANO JUAN RAMON CANTU CURATORS: ERIC MUMFORD (LE CORBUSIER) DANIEL WITTHAKER (TADAO ANDO) DESCRIPTION: My role in this exhibition was mainly to work on the reconstruction of the Naoshima Island Topographic model as well as on the refurbishment of the individual building models originally constructed by students from the Ecole Bulle in France. Additionally I documented the building digitally and developed construction drawings for the exhibition.

PHOTOGRAPHY: JEFF GOLDBERG-ESTO

MASTERS OF ARCHITECTURE TADAO ANDO AND LE CORBUSIER

PHOTOGRAPHY: MICHAEL TROPEA

DIMENSIONS OF CITIZENSHIP ARCHITECTURE AND BELONGING FROM THE BODY TO THE COSMOS INSTITUTION: WRIGHTWOOD 659 TEAM: RICHARD NELSON (DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS) JUAN RAMON CANTU PARTICIPANTS: AMANDA WILLIAMS + ANDRES L. HERNANDEZ + SHANI CROWE STUDIO GANG SCAPE ESTUDIO TEDDY CRUZ + FONNA FORMAN DILLER SCOFIDIO+RENFRO + LAURA KURGAN ROBERT GERARD PIETRUSKO KELLER ESTERLING + MANY DESIGN EARTH CURATORS: ANN LUI IKER GILL MIMI ZIGER LIAM ATKINSON DESCRIPTION: Coordinated between the digital 3D model of the building and the documentation provided by the participants to adapt the exhibition originally intended for the US Pavillion of the Venice Architecture Biennale 2018.

PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM HARRIS

DIMENSIONS OF CITIZENSHIP ARCHITECTURE AND BELONGING FROM THE BODY TO THE COSMOS

PHOTOGRAPHY: TOM HARRIS