Katherine Lo Architectural Portfolio of Selected Works
Katherine Lo
Profile
A dedicated architectual designer with a background in teaching, physics, and art. Adept at organization and research for various academic projects. Looking towards obtaining achitectural licensure, with a focus in sustainability.
Table of Contents
(949)-232-3375 katherine184@sbcglobal.net
Education
Master of Architecture University of California, Berkeley College of Environmental Design
Fall 2017-Spring 2020
Bachelor of Arts, Physics University of California, Berkeley College of Letters and Science Minor in Art
Fall 2013-Spring 2017 GPA 3.56
3D Modeling/Render: Rhino Enscape Revit Software: Adobe Photoshop Adobe Illustrator Adobe Indesign Computer Languages: Python
Additional Skills
Worth Ryder Art Gallery Berkeley, CA Gallery Intern Spring 2017-Spring 2020 Performed gallery setup duties, such as hanging paintings, setting up projectors, and helping install other kinds of work in the gallery. Hosted openings for art exhibitions in the gallery space, as well as other maintenence duties. UC Berkeley, Physics Department Berkeley, CA Graduate Student Instructor Summer 2018-Fall 2019 Taught thermodynamics, electromagnetism, and related topics in the course Physics 7B to undergraduate students during discussion and lab sections. Performed other proctoring, grading, and administrative duties. ChinaCache Diamond Bar, CA Market Intern Summer 2017 Assisted in advertising and developing the company image in the marketing department. Managed the design and acquisition of company T-shirts.
Languages: Familiarity with Mandarin General: Drawing/Painting Power Tool Use
Competitions
Honorable Mention, SKYHIVE Skyscraper Challenge, 2021
AIR X CHANGE EVOLO COMPETITION SUBMISSION | 2021
GPA 3.56
Experience Technical Skills
1-12
13-24
THE WAVE INSTITUTE GRADUATE OPTION STUDIO | SPRING 2019
25-36
GLASS BOX CITY THESIS STUDIO | SPRING 2020
35-44
45-56
KILN CYCLE
INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURE II | SPRING 2018
ANCHORED COMPLEX INTEGRATED DESIGN STUDIO | FALL 2019
AIR X CHANGE
PA R T C U L AT E F I LT R AT I O N T O W E R COMPETITION: EVOLO COMPETITION SUBMISSION | 2021 TYPE: MIXED USE/RESIDENTIAL SITE: JUDGE HARRY PREGERSON INTERCHANGE LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA TEAMMATES: NATHAN NGUYEN, JERALYN TSENG, & ALEX CHAU
AIR X CHANGE
PERSPECTIVE SECTION
CONTAMINATED AIR EXHAUST
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL OPEN SPACE
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL SEMI-OPEN SPACE
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL OPEN SPACE GREEN OPEN SPACE
SCHOOL
GREEN OPEN SPACE
BACKGROUND: The AirXchange is a multipurpose tower centered around community support with a flexible education program. It is designed to adapt to issues of air quality in Los Angeles, where insufficient infrastructure has led to the city’s failure to adequately weather various crises. During the year 2020 in particular, Los Angeles oversaw the increasing spread of cases during the COVID-19 pandemic, giving rise to mandates that discouraged situations of indoor congregation. On the other hand, the increase of wildfires in 2020, from the Lake Fire to the Bobcat Fire, has severely affected the external air quality both within and outside the state. As such, the possibility of safe and breathable public air has been limited for both indoor and outdoor spaces. In preparation for a post-pandemic world of possible future crises, including the universal necessity of clean air as well as the convergence of home, work, and school, the AirXchange seeks to provide a space for public use, education, and residence. These three functions tie into the fabric of Los Angeles, whose sprawl gives way to specific deficiencies in public accomodations for underrepresented communities. SCENARIOS: The AirXchange also focuses on the understanding that both the exterior and the interior airflow must be filtered and regulated in order to protect its occupants. However, the methods of providing safe air varies from one situation to another, which leads to the adaptive nature of the tower. The design seeks to provide the highest quality air possible throughout the building by configuring the airflow system to four scenarios: clean air days, wildfire or pollution (high levels of AQI for PM2.5), epidemic or disease (i.e. flu season), and the concurrence of both wildfire and disease. While the last scenario is the most severe, the overlapping pandemic and wildfires in California has shown that it is still a scenario that must be accounted for. The building system consists of a central atrium surrounded by three main cores enveloped by a layer of glass curtain walls, which vary in the enclosure system depending on the program.
PUBLIC OPEN PARK BIKE ORIENTED RETAIL
UNDERGROUND PARKINGRETAIL
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AIR X CHANGE COVID-19 VUNERALBILITY
LOS ANGELES INFOGRAPHICS L.A. INTERCHANGES
HIGH SCHOOL DISTRIBUTION
AIR CIRCULATION: A typology uniquely focused on maintaining high air quality for its users is the hospital’s air filtration system. The AirXchange ventilation system integrates the displacement and filtration methods of the hospital’s isolation and operating rooms, adapting them into public and residential scales. Of the three main programs in the building, the lowest levels are public space, being always open to outside air. Above is the school, where classrooms can be closed during scenarios of contagious disease, but select facilities can still be accessed by the general public. On the upper levels, each private residential unit contains an independent airflow system that provides pressurized air filtration.
TRANSLATION OF HORIZONTAL HOSPITAL AIR SYSTEM INTO SKYSCRAPER TYPOLOGY
PATIENT ROOM
RESIDENTIAL NEIGHBORHOOD vs INTERCHANGE SCALE
STADIUMS vs INTERCHANGE LOOP SCALE
MIXED USED BUILDING vs LOOP SCALE
CORRIDOR
CONTAINMATED AIR EXHAUST MACHINE
CLEAN AIR SUPPLY PIPE
THRESHOLD
CLEAN AIR SUPPLY MACHINE
EXHAUST PIPE
RESIDENTIAL
SCHOOL
CONTAINMATED AIR EXHAUST MACHINE
CLEAN AIR SUPPLY PIPE
ATRIUM/ NATURAL VENTILATION
CLEAN AIR SUPPLY MACHINE/ AIR FILTER
CONTAMINATED AIR/ EXHAUSE PIPE
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
INDOOR vs OUTDOOR DISEASE TRANSMISSION
5
SMOG LEVELS OVER TIME
PUBLIC FLOORPLANS L1-L8
OPEN PUBLIC SPACE
SCHOOL FLOORPLANS L10-L16
RESIDENTIAL FLOORPLANS L16-L48
6
AIR X CHANGE
AIRFLOW SYSTEM BY SCENARIOS CLEAR
WILDFIRE
DISEASE
WILDFIRE+DISEASE
CONTAMINATED AIR EXHAUST
CONTAMINATED AIR EXHAUST
CONTAMINATED AIR EXHAUST
CONTAMINATED AIR EXHAUST
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL
RESIDENTIAL
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
SCHOOL
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
OPEN SPACE
PUBLIC SPACE
PUBLIC SPACE
PUBLIC SPACE
PUBLIC SPACE
BUILDING SYSTEMS
BUILDING
7
CORE
COLUMNS
INTERIOR WALLS
SHADING FACADE
EXTERIOR FACADE
8
AIR X CHANGE
GREEN OPEN SPACE BETWEEN PROGRAMS
SEMI-OUTDOOR SPACE DURING WILDFIRE
OPEN PUBLIC SPACE ON CLEAR DAY
MULTIPURPOSE SCHOOL SPACE
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AIR X CHANGE
EXTERIOR FACADE AND SITE RENDER
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THE WAVE INSTITUTE T I B U R O N
R E S E A R C H
C E N T E R
ACADEMIC TERM: GRADUATE OPTION STUDIO | SPRING 2019 COMPETITION: COTE TOP TEN FOR STUDENTS PROFESSOR: WILLIAM LEDDY & MARSHA MAYTUM TYPE: RESEARCH CENTER SITE: ROMBERG TIBURON CAMPUS TIBURON, CALIFORNIA TEAMMATES: MARSHALL GIFFORD & QI FENG
THE WAVE INSTITUTE
CAMPUS MASTERPLAN
BACKGROUND: The Wave Building and the redesign of the Tiburon Center is for a campus for inspired community learning that is focused around ecology, wellbeing and community. The campus renewal takes cues from the existing historical architecture existing on the site while introducing a major new lab building that interfaces with Building 20, the prominent trestle and a newly added shoreline berm. The building creates a dialogue between the new and the old to enhance the surrounding natural beauty upon which the research center and campus is focused. The redesign takes account for the importance of water to the site and research, while also preparing for the dramatic and unpredictable effects of climate change. The new design prepares for the future, encouraging the growth of a community at the Tiburon Center amongst scientists and the visitors of the greater Bay Area.
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THE WAVE INSTITUTE
SITE PHOTOS
ENERGY CONSIDERATIONS: Part of the research for constructing this project would making it a resilient and energy efficient building. Making the Wave Institute innovative is its use of passive design and sustainable energy to the buildings themselves. The new research building is designed to be net zero with high insulation, as well as solar orientation for north facing daylighting and south facing photovoltaic (PV) array. The window to wall ratio is an ideal 35% such that windows are only used where necessary to decrease thermal bridging. To make up for the difference of energy needs, especially for the lab spaces, the design capitalizes on its solar exposure for buildings to be more energy self-sufficient.
FLOORPLANS AND PROGRAM
DAYLIGHT AUTONOMY SIMULATION USING DIVA
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THE WAVE INSTITUTE
STRUCTURAL SYSTEM DIAGRAM
BUILDING MODEL 1/8”=1’ SCALE
BUILDING MODEL 1/32”=1’ SCALE
L�����
19
1
Roof Trusses
2
HVAC Water System
3
Column/Beam Supports
20
THE WAVE INSTITUTE
EXTERIOR VIEW
ROOF & BALCONY VIEW
COURTYARD VIEW
INTERIOR CLASSROOM VIEW
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THE WAVE INSTITUTE
AERIAL SITE RENDER 23
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GLASS BOX CITY
DISSOLUTION OF PERCEPTION ACADEMIC TERM: THESIS STUDIO | SPRING 2020 ADVISORS: LISA IWAMOTO &DAN SPIEGAL TYPE: PAVILION SITE: DOWNTOWN SAN FRANCISCO SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUAL WORK
GLASS BOX CITY
STREET ELEVATION VIEW
THESIS STATEMENT: The proliferation of glazed surfaces in the modern city can create new images, new spaces, and new skylines beyond them. Transparency and reflectivity thus add new dimensions to the urban experience. From this as the starting point, the aim of the Glass Box City as a thesis was to focus on framing mirror shapes, and to design a pavilion along Beale Street with these ideas in mind. Architecture is the design of space, but moreover, the design of occupied space. However, there is an additional element in many people’s experience, and that is perceived space. As architectural theorist August Schmarsow says, paraphrased, “the architect can be seen as the constructor of worldviews“, and so an additional world is thus created as the body and the individual moves through it. In the collision and intersection of views, the collision and formation of shape takes place. Occupants can move through and between these levels through spaces carved out of these forms. The composition of this strategy is meant to break down and reveal new spaces, and this thesis is ultimately a push to transform and carve out space from perspectives. For each of the three main skyscrapers surrounding the plaza, a single view was chosen where all the reflective surfaces of a building be framed, and from that, form was generated. The result is a multilevel pavilion along the sidewalk that one can ascend and occupy, which reacts to its surrounding context in particular ways.
CONCEPT SKETCHES
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GLASS BOX CITY
GROUND LEVEL VIEW
BACKGROUND: The site is located in between Market Street and the new Salesforce Park and Terminal, Beale Street Plaza is at the heart of the stereotypical downtown and office area, surrounded by the street and three sides of heavily glazed buildings. Starting from the sidewalk level, one can look up and see the framing of the Gensler building and its glazed surfaces at a specific point, but elsewhere the view would be blocked. From there, the next viewpoint is on an upper level and aligns toward the next framing building. Finally, the third viewpoint is on a platform facing the opposite skyscraper, well above street level, where one can not only see the building behind, but the levels below as well. The result leads to the collision and intersection of views, which results in the collision and formation of shape.
CONCEPT MIRROR DIAGRAM
SECOND LEVEL VIEW
THIRD LEVEL VIEW
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GLASS BOX CITY
EXPLODED AXONOMETRIC INTERIOR HALLWAY VIEW
EXTERIOR STREET VIEW
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32
GLASS BOX CITY
PLAN PERSPECTIVE 33
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KILN CYCLE
MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART LIASON ACADEMIC TERM: INTRODUCTION TO ARCHITECTURE II | SPRING 2018 PROFESSOR: DAN SPIEGAL TYPE: CERAMICS STUDIO/GALLERY SITE: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUAL WORK
KILN CYCLE
SITE AXONOMETRIC
BACKGROUND: The Kiln Cycle is a museum liason with the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles, focused on the creation and exhibition of sculpture. It is located in a former industrial center by the city canal that is targeted for renovation and transformation into a new cultural site. The central conceit of this building is that it houses a fifty foot long anagama kiln, a traditional kiln which can fire large amounts of ceramic pieces two to three month creation cycle. The combination of large scale traditional crafting methods is set to juxapose with its modernist formalist encasing and its postindustrial surroundings. PROGRAM: Over time, pieces made by artists occupying the studios and other visitors will move through the building as they are created, fired, and viewed in the gallery. While the kiln pierces through all three floors of the building, each floor has its own program, with the gallery on the ground floor, art classes on the second floor, and artist studios as well as storage on the top floor. CONCEPT MODELS
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KILN CYCLE
GROUND FLOOR
TRANSVERSE SECTION
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SECOND FLOOR
THIRD FLOOR
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
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KILN CYCLE
SITE MODEL FRONT VIEW 1/16”=1’ SCALE
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SITE MODEL SIDE VIEW 1/16”=1’ SCALE
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KILN CYCLE
SECTION MODEL EXTERIOR 1/8”=1’ SCALE
SECTION MODEL INTERIOR 1/8”=1’ SCALE
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ANCHORED COMPLEX F L O A T I N G
L I N K E D
H U L L S
ACADEMIC TERM: INTEGRATED DESIGN STUDIO | FALL 2019 INSTRUCTORS: MARK JENSEN & STEVEN HUEGLI TYPE: COMMUNITY/ RESEARCH CENTER SITE: SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA INDIVIDUAL WORK
ANCHORED COMPLEX
SITE MODEL 1/32”=1’ SCALE
BACKGROUND: The Anchored Complex is centered around the idea of addressing both seismic and flooding threats through various strategies. By having the project actually be a series of buildings that can float and thus rise and fall with the water, the project itself can deal with both issues by avoiding direct contact with the ground. The main program of this project would be a research center focused on the study and purification of water, as well as providing other community programs. However, each unit would have its own distinct program, going from public outreach spaces to more technical and support-based places. In times of crisis could also serve as a community support center. It is also directly connected to the canal, so visitors can board boats and participate in activity on the water.
STRUCTURAL DIAGRAM
STRUCTURE: With the concrete hull serving as a foundation for a singular unit, metal supports are embedded within the hull to form the rest of each building. Concrete pillars that connect to the ground are also equipped with with base levelers to both provide an even plane for when the tide is low and to provide support for the bridges connecting the buildings. Using the fundamentals of buoyancy, the concrete hull serves to offset water providing the force for the rest of the building to float. The concrete piles in the base of the canal would serve as moorings fixing the building in place so that it would not float away.
BUOYANCY DIAGRAM
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ANCHORED COMPLEX
TRANSVERSE SECTIONS
LONGITUDINAL SECTION
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ANCHORED COMPLEX
FLOORPLANS
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DETAIL WALL SECTION
52
ANCHORED COMPLEX
STREET VIEW
BRIDGE DOCK VIEW
CANAL/BOAT VIEW
INTERIOR ENTRANCE VIEW
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ANCHORED COMPLEX
WALL SECTION MODEL EXTERIOR AT 1/4”=1’ SCALE
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WALL SECTION MODEL INTERIOR AT 1/4”=1’ SCALE
56
Thank you.