W O R K
B Y
K A T E
A O K I
kate
P O R T F O L I O
aoki
contents House for a Designer
6-9
Neighborhood Library
10 - 15
Contact School
16 - 21
Linea de Agua
22 - 29
Woven Wall System
30 - 35
Shawls
36 - 39
Travels
40 - 41
work
House for a Designer
This is a house designed for a graphic artist and her partner who is a musician. It is located on a sloped site along a river’s edge and is framed on two sides by thick groves of trees. Responding to these conditions, the design is composed of a cantilevered volume balanced atop a glass box, which is dedicated to the public, social zones. It includes the living space and kitchen/dining area. The dramatic terrace serves as a second dining and living area, and its protrusion into the site creates a relationship with the nature surrounding the house. The upper level houses the private functions, including the master bedroom as well as the artist’s studio and the music room. Designed as a series of meditative and introspective spaces, these rooms allow the users to conduct their work quietly. Nestled into the edge of the tree line to the west is a lap pool, as called for by the client who enjoys a daily swim. It is flanked by a small orchard on the east side which establishes a sense of privacy.
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Upper Level
Ground Level 08
Elevation
Section 09
Neighborhood Library
Situated in a quickly gentrifying neighborhood, this library unifies a decayed urban condition by re-establishing the corner. With its glowing box floating above the sidewalk, the library acts as a beacon for the neighborhood, calling all residents to participate together in the communal knowledge center of their neighborhood. Glazing at the ground level opens the building up to pedestrians while the channel glass enclosing the second level filters the afternoon sun and provides a light-filled interior atmosphere. The cylindrical reading room is reminiscent of Asplund’s Stockholm Public Library, and it acts as the joint connecting the strip mall to the north to Oram Street at south.
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Ground Level
Section
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Second Level
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Opposite page, from top: View from southeast; Illustration of interior at lobby; Illustration of interior on second level This page, clockwise from top: Diagram of site; Diagram of traffic intensity; Diagram of plan strategy; Diagram of pedestrian and vehicular traffic
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Contact School
This Montessori school is located in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. Adjacent to the Kessler Park United Methodist Church, the proposal is situated in a park in the heart of the neighborhood. The school is primarily single-story, with the classrooms (pre-k through fifth grade) occupying this level. Due to the low building heights of the neighborhood, the proposal is sunk into the topography of the site in an effort to maintain a low profile. Not wanting to compete with the importance of the church, only one part of the school is visible from the street above. The predominant u-shape of the scheme creates a situation in which the existing topography is allowed to interact with the building and becomes an integral part of the school, as well as the daily student experience. Great consideration was dedicated to the ecological concerns of the school. A living and interactive roof is employed in order to extend the usable park space otherwise inhabited by the new proposal. Additionally, each classroom utilizes a garage door system in order to take advantage of natural breezes and ventilation.
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Top illustration: Outdoor spaces Bottom illustration: Interior spaces 18
Extensive green roof maintains cooler interior temperatures as well as providing green space for students and neighborhood. Solar tracking skylights provide natural light by reflecting light that would otherwise be lost, early and late in the day and throughout the day during winter months. Displacement ventilation presents an opportunity to improve both the thermal comfort and indoor air quality of the occupied space. Displacement ventilation takes advantage of the difference in air temperature and density between and upper contaminated zone and a lower clean zone. Operable rolling garage doors provide interaction with exterior spaces while providing greater amounts of natural lighting and ventilation.
Classroom columns: 6" steel tube Beams: Steel wide-flange sections Load-bearing concrete retaining wall Open-web joists 1'-0" steel section columns
Administrative Offices Library/Computer Classroom Classrooms Course-Specific Classrooms Multi-Purpose Space: Lunchroom/ Multi-Purpose Space: PE/Assemblies Services Diagrams showing Environmental Systems, Structure, Program
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Clockwise from top: Second level plan; Ground level plan; Section
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Linea de Agua
Borders serve myriad purposes, primarily the necessity to establish boundaries. The border along the southern edge of the United States, between the U.S. and Mexico, is a topic which has become more and more controversial with every passing day. No longer seen as merely a line establishing the two countries as separate entities, the border now creates a cacophony of juxtapositions - unification vs. violence; residence vs. immigration; opportunity vs. oppression. With relations between the two countries so poor, how can the border be reinvented in a way that signals cooperation rather than division? This particular urban design proposal approached this challenge by using water to unify the sides. Water, more than oil or any other natural resource, is vital for our survival. It influences all aspects of our lives, from agriculture to transportation, to our very beings. As a team*, we conducted a series of investigations which led us to the generation of a set of rules. These rules were the armitures which supported all proposed solutions. The following pages outline these rules and their solutions which, we hope, might lead to more innovative and designbased approaches to our border issues. *Team members included Kate Aoki, Brent Lobstein, Juan Sosa, Ian Stowe, and Dian Sutejo
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Agricultural land off Rio Grande
Municipal water source off Rio Grande
Power resources off Rio Grande
Analyzing the border between Ciudad Acu単a to the north and Brownsville to the south, four aspects of water and its function were identified: as municipal supply; as power supply; as agricultural supply; as irrigation. Various methods are employed to facilitate the water's usage in these functions, including basins and reservoirs, canals, and the Rio Grande River itself.
Addionally, certain issues were presented that had to be addressed including sprawl. How could water be used to control population growth and contain sprawl?
The question then became, how could these various methods enhance the livesA of the people living along the Rio Grande? The answer led to the generationin of a series of ideas that would eventually be narrowed down to the two basic"t rules governing the project. e Municipal supply - Lower Basin
The first rule: The reservoir to control growth. Population could grow only as much as the limits of the reservoir.
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The second rule: A ring of water. This ring would serve primarily to control population growth but would also provide municipal water, recreation space, and irrigation.
s Although these rules could be instituted anywhere, Laredo n Texas, and Nuevo Laredo in Mexico were chosen as the ctest" cities. The topography naturally lent itself to such experimentation as tributaries formed natural boundaries.
This page, top left: View of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo from the South. This page, top right: View of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo from above.
Diagram showing green space, canals, reservoirs
With the identification of Laredo and Nuevo Laredo as the site to test the theories, a more thorough investigation of the sites was conducted. Substantial floodplains were recognized and mapped; these floodplains actively prevent development within their boundaries. However, could they be used to the advantage of the system that had been established? Rather than being seen as a hindrance, the floodplains were regarded as an integral part of the system.
Diagram showing possible growth, including siting of research center
Using the canal system in Laredo and the reservoir system in Nuevo Laredo, the design of the urban environment fell into place. Due to the rigidity and linear nature of the canals, the development also grew linearly. In Nuevo Laredo, however, the natural form of the reservoir encouraged a growth pattern of a more radial, free-form nature. With the development pattern in mind, the floodplain began to be thought of as an element that would constantly change the landscape. It would also promote a vision of the cities that would change with the ebb and flow of the water, and to which the built environment would be forced to respond.
Diagram showing growth along canals, with research center
Sketch diagramming floodplains and growth within.
We began to consider various programmatic elements that would be appropriate for such conditions; already existing on the site was a community college which lead to the focus of the program. It was determined that a research facility that crossed the border would both promote collaboration between sides while providing vital research into the water systems of the area.
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The final step of the investigation plunged further into what the possibilities for the research center might involve. We took the idea of the ebb and flow of the floodplain a step further and imagined that the buildings themselves could respond to the conditions kinetically. The buildings would serve a double function; in addition to acting as a social bridge for collaborative interaction, they would also act as floodgates. During low flood conditions, the buildings would lock together and close off the river. During high flood conditions, the buildings would open and allow water to flow through.
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Woven Wall System
The wall as a divider of space is a concept constantly being challenged and reinvented. The purpose of this assignment was to investigate the wall and how it could be redefined in terms of material and function. In this case, the idea was to establish a signal indicating separation of space but that did not harshly confront the participant. Weaving with light was the guiding inspiration behind the concept, and materials such as resin, wax, plastics, and monofilament were utilized to fabricate the system. Several iterations were executed before landing on the third and final version. The first version consisted of monofilament woven onto a frame, and then covered with translucent resin. The second version took the notion of the single cell multiplied, and was made of wax and resin poured into soap molds. The third version carried the idea of the cell and weaving further, and a form based on an enlarged sample of woven fabric was generated. Made from translucent plastic and wax, the form was multiplied and strung onto a warp of plastic rods. When completed, the “fabric� could hang between spaces, indicating a division of space without placing a wall.
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This page: First iteration of wall system. Materials consist of resin, wooden frame, and monofilament.
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This page: Second iteration of wall system. Materials consist of resin, wax, and soap molds.
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This page, top: Diagram illustrating form generation. Left: Illustration showing how wall could function in practice.
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Shawls
Conceptualized and woven as a Senior Project required for graduation at the Rhode Island School of Design, these shawls are the results of an investigation into the interaction between light and the body. As physical manifestations of shadows and light, the shawls wrap the body in weavings of silk and merino wool and play upon the organic shapes of our physicality. The patterns are abstract represenations of various shadow studies in which I observed light falling onto the body. Once investigated, the patterns were shifted into drafting patterns to suit the loom, and woven on a 24-harness AVL automated loom.
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Travel Sketches and Photographs
Top: Eramus Bridge, NL Bottom: Caixa Forum, Barcelona, SP
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This page, clockwise from top left: Sketch of Villa Savoye, FR Sketch of Biblioteca Sagrada Familia, SP Staircase across from Moderna Museet, Stockholm, SE Railing from building in Paris, FR
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Kate Aoki skmitch25@gmail.com http://www.linkedin.com/pub/kate-aoki/6/639/645 2012