how to begin?
I chose an architecture career because of the unknown along the road. Every drawing, every project, every decision, every experience [‌] they all lead me to a unique and unexpected path. The stumbles and difficulties along the way are all part of the process of creating. But when most of the uncertainties are finally solved just like a puzzle, pieces get together as all start to make sense; as all become what I’ve learned to call: design.
CONTENTS NYC 2050 Machine Pavilion NYC Tech Campus Chicago Tower Biblioteca Vasconcelos Weekend House RĂo Mapocho Urban Infiltration Musichester
NYC 2050
New York, New York
Cornell University | Thesis
Global Warming is one of the major issues affecting the contemporary world. Our present day society is continuing the trend of pushing the problem to the next generation; the expiration date rapidly approaches. The effect of such an environmental problem is that globally, cities make up 1% of the Earth's surface area, but account for more than 50% of human population. Taking into consideration human behavioral resistance towards change, it becomes clear that it will be soon too late to enact any real design transformation to help avoid major consequences. With the adage of 'if you can't beat them join them', why not start to accept the doomed future as a starting point? The fact is that global warming doesn’t only deal with rising temperatures. It initiates a comprehensive chain of problems such as: sea level rise; increase/decrease of rainfall; more frequent tropical storms; stronger hurricanes; and many others. The effects of this threat can already be felt around the world. It is now the time to act on it or be ready for major future surprises. As one looks throughout the history of Manhattan's edge, one may realize how it has changed throughout the years in order to better adapt the city to the needs of the time. This masterplan addresses the necessary changes to make NYC a resilient city as it embraces the current climate crisis and it readapts itself once again for the future. By taking Venice as inspiration and letting the flood be part of the city life, a new New York is brought to life.
1650
1800
1965 1965
2015 2015
2050
2080
Throughout the years New York City has reinvented itself several times and its edge has followed such changes. As we look forward to the future, this is the time for NYC, to once again reshape itself to embrace the vital changes needed to allow the city to survive the present environmental issues.
2100
LANDFILL BARRIERS WETLANDS TRANSPORTATION GRID PUBLIC SPACES HOUSING PERMEABLE STREETS REUSABLE BUILDINGS
MASTERPLAN 2050
MACHINE PAVILION Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Cornell University | Design Studio
The notion of a “temporary” architecture or urbanism is relative, in that any city is a site of constant change. While the architecture of the city is often designed towards some future permanent condition, there is a growing realization that idea of a completely permanent or static environment might not be entirely realistic, especially in light of an ever changing societal context that involves political, environmental, and technological considerations – among others. “Temporary architecture” has also been a flexible and broad-ranging term with these structures sometime ironically outlasting their “permanent” counterparts. As a genre, the architecture of the interim was often highly experimental in nature driven by usual constraints and was dependent upon an inventive attitude and resourcefulness that was required for the realization of these unique visions. Despite seemingly prohibitive restrictions in practice, ephemeral and urbanism has succeeded in challenging many preconceived notions including ideas in programming, type, resource use, planning, and other issues in contemporary design. This project aims to investigate an interim urbanism in the city of Hong Kong, using the vacant Kai Tak airport as a grounds for exploring the potential of a redefinition of the temporary, that might also suggest longer lasting implications for the city.
M Major ajor Transit Con Connections nnections
Festival Venuess
City Analysis | Hong Kong
Public P bli S Spaces
Project Interventions
HK Book Fair
1w
2w
Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance
HK Flower Show
3w
4w
1w
2w
3w
4w
1w
2w
3w
Spring Lantern Festival
4w
1w
2w
3w
Dragon Boat Festival
4w
1w
2w
PULSE Light Show
3w
4w
1w
2w
3w
4w
Dragon and Lion Dance Festival
1w
2w
3w
HK International Film Festival
4w
1w
2w
3w
Kai Tak Wine and Dine Festival
4w
1w
2w
3w
Art Basel HK
4w
1w
2w
3w
4w
exhibit other program exhibit
LOOPING CIRCULATION
MEANDERING CIRCULATION
BUILDING AS OBJECTS
SPECTACLE-PROMOTING BUILDINGS
DESTINATION
EXHIBIT HALL
SITE AND OCCUPATION DIAGRAM
WATER CLEANING AND MOVEMENT PROCESS
PULSE Light Show Festival Plan
Art Basel Plan
Dragon Boat Festival Plan
The Machine Pavilion is designed to function as both a temporary festival venue as well as a water cleaning mechanism. Compartmentalized into four major spaces, the pavilion can be organized to accommodate different plans and layouts in order to create dynamic opportunities for different festivals throughout the year as well as providing unique interactions between the site, the occupants and the architecture itself.
TEMPORARY FESTIVAL INFRASTRUCTURE
COLUMNS
CIRCULATION CORES
FESTIVAL LEVEL FLOOR PLATE
CONNECTION TO SITE TANK GLASS GLASS STRUCTURE ING
ILD
BU
ROAD G
DIN
BOAT LEVEL
ING
ILD
BU
TANK WALLS
GLASS FACADE MULLIONS
ING
ILD
BU
IL BU
A
D
C
B
Circulation Core Water Treatment Tank Auditorium Exhibition Space Restaurant Machine Museum
NYC TECH CAMPUS New York City, United States
Cornell University | Design Studio
In the past three decades, many research universities and colleges partnered with government and private sector companies to build high technology campuses. The primary goal of these hi-tech campuses is to create enabling environments to drive technological innovation and to commercialize them in the shortest possible time. Starting with Silicon Valley by Stanford University in the 1980s there has been a steady and increasing proliferation of these hi-tech campuses worldwide. These hi-tech campuses that are typically populated by experts and entrepreneurs are giving rise to new communities and lifestyles that seamlessly integrate learning, work and production, and play. These innovation communities based on expert knowledge, high technology cyber-infrastructure, high innovation turnover, and entrepreneurship are rapidly dissolving the boundaries between the classroom and the work place, between research and development and commercialization, between living and working, between academia and private industry. They also pose new challenges for how we plan and design built environments to accommodate them. The proposed Cornell NYC Tech campus on Roosevelt Island offers unique opportunities to explore the planning, urban design, and architectural possibilities of these new hi-tech innovation communities. Accordingly, this project plans to research this emerging community typology with a view to identifying its salient characteristics for architecture and urban design.
Minimum square footage required Use of ground floor on proposed plan
The proposal for the Cornell NYC Tech campus is based on the idea of playing with the creation of a multi-level landscape and the introduction of a dynamic plan where visitors are presented with different programmatic paths to be taken. Each programmatic path presents a distinct experience surrounded by unique perspectives of both neighbors, Queens and Manhattan. The gardens and open spaces, major elements of the project, function as the center axis, uniting both sides of the scheme as well as they integrate the campus with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park at the south end of the island. On the Manhattan side, a shopping boulevard is introduced with stores incorporated to a three-dimensional garden meant to revitalize the living experience on the yet isolated Roosevelt Island. On the Queens side, a more formal faรงade is presented and it houses both corporate and educational locations. The university housing is placed on the top of the smaller structures in order to be directly linked to all programs, allowing residents not only to have exclusive views of both sides but also have all of the campus easily accessible. The south end of the island is then connected to the Louis Kahn memorial by a subtle extension of the main garden and the introduction of the hotel and sports facilities.
Diagrams
Longitudinal Section
sqft at least 40% of site area as open space
establish an inherent connection to Manhattan and Queens
develop a walking friendly but yet car accessible campus
promote Roosevelt Island’s as a city attraction and improve island’s living quality
Integrate campus to Four Freedoms Park
CHICAGO TOWER Chicago, United States
Cornell University | Summer Studio
In the face of the recent economy crisis, the real estate market collapsed and many architecture projects were put on hold or even cancelled in major cities across the globe. As society starts to put the crisis in the past, what do we as architects do to those several projects that were once initiated but never completed? Do we forget about what has been done, and treat those faded construction as mere scars that can be removed and begin a new project? Or do we take advantage of what has been already introduced and incorporate into the design process of the tomorrow? As designers, we tend to always try to start from scratch with a blank and new piece of paper so our ideas can grow freely. But as our generation faces different challenges, we cannot live in the ‘dream world’ that everything can be as we would first expect. We have to embrace the challenges; impositions; and the past, and use it all as tools that will enlarge the potential of the project. At the end of the day, embracing what has already been done not only influences the search for innovative methods to create the unique factor but also means starting from an specific point of departure, not from the very bottom. Thus, this project aims to introduce a development to an once abandoned site in the city of Chicago.
Section
Digital Model
Lake Point Tower
Site
Chicago Spire foundations and parking space Dusable Park
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Living Room Dining Room Kitchen Laundry WC Balcony Home Office Bedroom Bathroom Closet
Duplex units
Masterplan
Floor plan
The Chicago Tower is intended to be placed in the same area where once was the site of the Chicago Spire designed by Santiago Calatrava. The site, which was abandoned in 2008 because of the economy crisis, had already finished the foundations and the parking spaces for the building, leaving an empty circular hole after the project was officially cancelled. The Chicago Tower was then designed taking into account what has been left in the site and the ideas of the previous project as well as the architecture of the iconic nearby buildings of the city. The tower was then placed on top of the parking space already created, defining a major core for the project. The floor plan was then envisioned shadowing the same triangular pattern as the iconic Lake Point Tower but stacked following a twisted motion as proposed by Calatrava for the Chicago Spire. The new design aggregating concepts of praised projects of the past and new ideas that didn't have the chance to be officially introduced creates a unique tower, different from anything ever built or proposed in the ‘windy city.’ The implied motion created by the architecture, gives fluidity to the overall environment, creates unique perspectival views to the pedestrians as well as it allows the residents of the tower to have a 360° view of the city.
Model Basswood, acrylic and foam board
BIBLIOTECA VASCONCELOS Mexico City, Mexico
Cornell University | Structure Model
WEEKEND HOUSE Gunna, Japan
Illinois Institute of Technology | Structure Models
RÍO MAPOCHO
Santiago, Chile | Jury’s Choice
Facultad de Arquitectura Universidad Mayor International Workshop
The Mapocho River travels through a large part of Santiago and has been a fundamental part of the city ever since its founding, serving as an axis and inescapable reference point. Throughout time it has changed not only in form and related infrastructure, but also in how the people of Santiago relate to it. The objective of WWFAUM2011 will be to analyze the Mapocho River, propose and develop strategies of intervention, and determine how these strategies will relate to the city as a whole. Getting to know the river’s borders and trajectory will be an opportunity to create new relationships, new public spaces and new associated uses and programs. The main objective of the workshop will be to create an experience of international team work based around a particular architectonic theme. Fundamental issues to be developed during the workshop will include: the formulation of intervention strategies, integration of river borders and the river itself, interaction with pre‐existing elements, environmental concerns and their related programs, formal and constructive proposals, as well as images which depict the spatial aspect of the projects.
BACKGROUND
CONCEPT
City divided by an almost dead river. River has become a segregation element between two sides of the city. Despite both sides being vastly occupied by social housing, there is a noticeable social and economic disparate between both of them.
By the creation of a dynamic river line alongside the canal, the river flow will be carefully managed in order to bring back this significant river’s vitality. The dynamism of the line will also allow the introduction of different programs along the borders, thus enabling a better relationship between both sides of the city.
Sketches+Photoshop
Digital Collages
social housing river park river
GEOMETRY
opening select river flow
concave retain river flow
convex redirects river flow
Based on the idea of the unification of both sides, points of interests are highlighted along the river and a direct connection between them is established in order to generate the river line.
Sec ec ction tio ion 1 Section
Se S Sec ectio io on 2 Section
Bathing Resort Bat B Bathin thin in ng R Reso esort eso rt Skatepark S Sk Ska atep tep ep epark park arrk
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Ma Mas ter erpla erpla lan n Masterplan
S Se Sec ec ection tio tio on 3 Section
Sectio Sec t n4 tio Section Rel Relaxi Re ela axi xing g Garden Ga Gar G arden a en Relaxing Pub Pu Pub blic ic Orchard Orcha Or chard chard d Public
Ro Roc ock Garden G Gard ard arden rd den e Rock
Amphitheatre Amp A mphi hit h iithea hea eatre tre re
Se Sec e tion tio on 5 Section
Se Sec S e ecttio on 6 on Section
URBAN INFILTRATION Rome, Italy
Cornell University | Design Studio
Architecture and the urban context in which it is situated is often read through important, but primarily formal means. Although this is vital and useful to the understanding of architecture as a coherent building proposal in relationship to urban form, this view emphasizes a reductive and primarily visual apprehension of the city. In this view architecture acts as a protagonist within an essentially neutral socio‐cultural structure, thereby limiting our understanding of both. The city is however a much more complex entity. Inhabited and built over time by diverse actors, it is certainly not a neutral nor monolithic framework but an intricate multiplicity of competing desires and visions. Studied closely, the city reveals itself as multilayered, multidimensional and contradictory field of operation(s) rich in temporaland spatial complexity – an assemblage of varying logics and proto‐‘systems.’ In this field, architecture negotiates within sets of realities and mustadapt toanarray ofagents,agenciesand scales. Rome ‐ precisely such a vital, living and animated space – will be the site for testing this agile and responsive approach to urban architecture. The city will be understood and engaged as a vibrant, historical and layered reality. It will be laboratory in which we will unpack this broader, richer view of the city, and in which an architecture yet to be imagined might evolve. This is an architecture that may challenge strict formal coherence‐‐that must be limber and animated, hybridized and even duplicitous.
After a careful analysis of the site, it became clear that the site area was working as a major connection in the city grid but was still lacking a resistance; an identity. The project was then conceptualized on the idea of extending the city grid into the site as if the urban plan could infiltrate itself as a highly occupiable mass that allows the introduction of an architecture capable of bringing the so needed vitality. The final design achieved introduces a dynamic circulation flow as it successfully attaches itself to the Roman city plan.
22
28
13
29
18
New Urban Courtyard
Residential Area
Boundary Condition
Density
Intensity
Resistance
17 7
17 15
15
15
scale of adjacent buildings
required programs Artist
Studios Fablab
Atelier
Cafeteria
Commercial
Visitors
Offices Auditorium
Stores
Lobby
Museum
6th+7th floor 5th floor
4th floor
3rd floor
ground floor
2nd floor
basement
1st floor
MUSICHESTER
Manchester, United Kingdom
Cornell University | Design Studio
Manchester is a cosmopolitan city full of culture and eclectic styles; a perfect combination to raise a vibrant and unique music scene recognized worldwide. The music scene in Manchester has been through a roller coaster of successes and failures. Back in the 50s, Manchester was already beginning to become somewhat well known for its musical scenario but it wasn’t until the late 60s that the city finally grew a more international influence. From that point in history Manchester began to climb its way to the top of the music industry with more and more local bands achieving recognition worldwide and having a major influence on the new generation of musicians. By the end of the 80s, Manchester had already conquer a status on the music spotlight with big names such as Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses, but it was only at the beginning of the 90s that the peak of this music scene was finally reached. The decade remembered as the ‘Madchester’ era was a groundbreaking time in the music industry. Manchester artists were continuously ranked on the top 10 not only in the United Kingdom but also in the United States. The Haçienda, an iconic nightclub, was founded and a diversity of many other clubs started to flourish in every corner of the city. The population drastically increased and the downtown area, once abandoned as a place to live, was now selling flats at exorbitant prices. A young crowd took place in the city as more and more students chose the University of Manchester as their college destination. The Manchester music scene was at its glorious moments until the use of drugs became more and more associated with the nightclubs and the crime rates went up, fading the Madchester era into a complete British music crisis.
7.7 million 965 thousands
tourists are attracted annually by festivals and concerts in the UK 31 million
tourists choose the North West region as their music destination
total number of tourists in the UK per year
25%
of the visitors are music tourists
1.4 billion
pounds were spent by music tourists over a year period ÂŁ99
132 million
pounds were spent on music in the North West region
Section A
food accommodation tickets souvenirs
average daily budget for a music tourist
ÂŁ72
average daily budget for a regular tourist
19,700 full time jobs were created by the music concerts and festivals in the UK
The jobs created by the music tourism vary from the festival organizers, to fast-food vendors, to were created just in the North music technicians, to financial West Region specialists and many others.
1,400 full time jobs
LEGACY FROM THE MADCHESTER ERA
20% increase of the city’s population
development of ‘hippie’ new neighborhoods as the Gay Village and the Northern Quarter
revitalization of downtown as a residential area
the University of Manchester ranked 1st in applications because of the city’s music scene
boost to the city’s media with national tv shows based in Manchester
Madchester
Average of renowned bands created per year throughout different decades in the Manchester music industry.
2.8
3.5
4.5
4
1.4 1960
0.3 1970
1980
1990
2000
2010-
The project is intended to create a new vibrant and yet unique music neighborhood in the city of Manchester. Based on a meticulous analysis of the site and the past music scene, the project takes into consideration not only the present moment but also the future and its engagement on bringing back music spotlight to the city. In order to keep the costs down, the architecture is created by the use of shipping containers that can be easily transported to the site using the railway system that divides the masterplan. Following an extensive site study, the masterplan is divided in 5 major elements (corporate, commercial, residential, educational and cultural), all linked by a major axis (pedestrian boulevard). All 5 branches of the project work together in a closed circle in order to provide and maintain an active and original music scene in the city for decades to come.
formal X informal ess
usin
wb
sho
$
duality central spine
major circulation axis city grid
masterplan density educational
corporate
residential
commercial
programmatic height
skyline Diagrams
Section B
N
10
13
4 12
9
11
14 6
4
3 2
1
8
4
4
5
4
7 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Angel Meadow (existing park) Museum Administration Open Air Music Venue Corporate Pedestrian Boulevard Commercial Tram Station Bar/Club/Restaurant Residential Private Studios Movable Stages Stages’ loading dock Educational
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