portfolio katrina abad
syracuse university b. selectedarchitectureworks2018-2022
villa + villa campus + exhibition mirrored images installation proposal
re:SOUND clinic + transitional housing in living memory cemetery analysis block 10 residential redesign
0504030201
re:SOUND
In collaboration with Iris Yee and Stephen Marinelli
At the center of this project, music resounds. Building on the shared act of playing, creating and listening to music, this project creates a community space and clinic to serve Downtown Syracuse. Inspired by the acoustic and aesthetic qualities of wood, this project features three primary mass timber walls which create a relationship between mass, surface, and void within each program of the building.
Downtown Syracuse Clinic and Transitional Housing
re:SOUND music therapy clinic is as a place of healing for all people in downtown Syracuse where the community faces an ongoing battle with mental illness. Located on M. Lemp Park, the project repurposes the existing building as a communal workspace for music therapists and visiting Syracuse Students. Above are the Communal Living floors and where the two volumes meet is a central gathering space for the entire tower. The auxiliary piece of the existing building is a public music rental center and below in the lower level are the public cafe and community stage. The spaces are designed to allow the building’s users to express themselves in the playful and colorful spaces throughout the site.
INSTRUMENTSOUTDOOR
Wood treatment was at the center of this project, with experiments in carving on wooden surfaces and its acoustic effects.
outdoor
instrument installations on site initial concept drawings Scanned with CamScanner Scanned with CamScanner
north elevation
The mass timber walls are defined by their black coloring. The charring is a result of the japanese wood treatment shou-sugi ban, that water proofs the timber, a characteristic integral in the temperate Syracuse weather.
CLINIC AND COMMUNITY STAGE
music communityclinic stage + cafe pod iterations
basement plan
third floor plan
1. Triple Unit 2. Single Unit 3. Double Unit 4. Lounge 5. Kitchen 6. Office 7. Community Space 8. Bathroom 9. Conference Space
east perspectiveelevationstreet view
This research delves into the extant funerary architecture on the site and its repurposing as homes for the community of settlers in response to Manila’s housing crisis. Research collected from interviews, GIS data, and a two-week long site visit to the cemetery, provided a holistic understanding of the daily rituals of the cemetery’s residents and their relationship with other visitors to the site in the context of a post-colonial, rapidly densifying urban metropolis.
In Living Memory
Site Analysis + History Manila, Philippines
Manila North Cemetery, one of the oldest and largest cemeteries in the country’s history, is home to thousands of informally homed residents. With most of the residents working within the cemetery’s bustling funerary industry as grave caretakers, headstone carvers, and stonemasons, this research studies the history of cemeteries, migration, and religion in the Philippine’s capital as they have led to the creation of a vibrant and lively community of people among the graves of the dead.
migration into Manila, 1960-2020 6 1995 108110112114116118 108110112114116118 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 migration to Manila by Region Philippine Sea ChinaSouthSea SuluSea
1904 Cementerio del Norte, the Manila North Cemetery, is separated from La Loma as a Catholic burial ground
1965 Ferdinand Marcos elected 1975 Marcos imposes martial law
2016 Rodrigo Duterte is elect ed president on his platform for drug
1906 Americans pass the Ceme tery Law to regulate the estab lishment and maintenance of burials and the disposal of the dead in the province
reformationmarch2020policeentertheManilaNorthCemeteryandclearISF’s japanese occupation american rule “People’sRevolutionPower”spanish rule 1900 2000 2020
site diagram + resources 1820 Cholera epidemic rushes the completion of the Paco Cemetary
Manila North Cemetery
Burial Vault Typology lawn vault
Cemetery Resident Relationships Living with Death Daily Life in Manila North CemeteryCemetery Resident Occupations cemetery resident mourners laundry services hire residents and informally lease mausoleums maintain and watch over graves pigeon breederstone mason jeepney driver sari store owner stall owner Burial Vault Typology Mausoleum Typology
mausoleum
with leases in 10 to 15 year terms, many families opt for their loved ones to be placed in lawn vaults, which are stacked by family, with multiple generations being able to take up one footprint on the lawn. As the cemetery becomes more full, the spaces between coffins are filled with new burial vaults. Residents use the gaps between vaults as informal gathering spaces, such as cooking areas, water collection, or play areas for the cemetery’s younger residents.
the busiest and most diverse typology in the cemetery, the mausoleums of the cemetery line the site’s streets and avenues with a wide variety of unique and varied structures ranging in size, shape, and style. Used to store the remains of generations of remains from one family, the mausoleums fall under the care of cemetery residents in agreement with the family of the mausoleum owners, with residency and a salary in exchange for maintenance of the grave. Aside froma burial space, the mausoleums often hold proactivities such as convenience stores and businesses, or spaces ofr daily domestic activities like sleepings, eating, and cooking.
the most economical burial option in the cemetery, the columbariums are stacked niches used to store the cremated remains in urns. cemetery residents use the tops of the columbariums as walkways or informal gathering spaces, and sometimes even build small dwellings on top of the concrete structures. The columbariums could typically be found at the edge of the cemetery, however in 2015 new multi story columbariums were built near the entrance of the cemetery.
columbarium
Cemetery Resident Relationships Columbarium Typology Burial Vault Typology Cemetery Resident Occupations
the future of the cemetery
this image shows the projected future of the cemeery in the next fifty years, as it reaches capacity and can no longer hold any more bodies. Leases for funerary structures, including columbarium niches, burial vaults, and mausoleums, will expire. As the urban cemetery switches to body decomposition as its primary burial type, the remaining coffins and vaults will serve as reminders of the cemetery’s history.
Growing3
Phasestructure.II: Caretaking
TheLivingmausoleum is now abandoned by its family, but the caretaker remains. They decide to keep living in the mausoleum, where their family lives for several generations.
the new mycelium caskets are moved into a drying oven to stop the mycelium growth. The mycelium will grow again when exposed to heat and moisture
10-25+ years
the substrate-filled molds are placed into a humid and warm environment so the mycelium can grow to fill its container.
Drying4
mycelium spores, compost, and other organics are mixed togethr and placed into casket-sized molds.
mycelium+plantcompostsporeswasteclippings
Phase I: Lease Signing
Substrate Mix2
Phase III: Abandonment
phases of change
After many years and internments, the lease runs out. It is not renewed, and the family’s remains are disinterred by a resident of the cemetery and returned to the family.
Abandoned Mausoleums
ReprogrammingIV:Phase
Compost Collection1
KitchenRecyclingwaste,chicken poop, around the cemetery are deposited in the mycelium substrates.
A caretaker from the cemetery is hired to watch over the mausoleum, and moved into thave structure where they will now live
compost is collected from compost collection sites around the cemetery, drawing from the kitchen, food and waste scraps and gardening waste.
The mausoleum is constructed and a 10 year lease is signed. Remains are moved from their previous burial site into the new
PartsNursingofthemausoleum
poop, and other organic trash from deposited here and collected for use
are removed and reused for construction throughout the cemetery. The structure is repurposed as a plant nursery, with the mature shrubs, trees, and flowers being planted in the cemetery’s new green spaces.
TheGrowingmauseoleum
is completely removed, with only the empty casket remaining. Over time, the greenery from the lawn vaults creep forward and begin to take root. After many years, compost can be spread over the new green space.
Body Prep5
The body and casket are both placed into enclosed steel vessels so the mycelium and body’s naturally occuring microbes can begin the decomposition process. After 4-6 weeks the body has transformed into nutrient rich soil.
After time, trees, grass, flowers and mycelium will grow, filling the cemetery with green.
Spreading Soil7
The soil made from your loved one is scattered in one of the cemetery’s many green spaces.
The body of the deceased is washed and placed into the mycelium casket, along with more compost and organic material. Biodegradable mementos like flowers, natural fiber clothing, and paper cards can be placed in the casket as well.
Growing8
Decomposing6
this project proposes natural burials as a solution to the overcrowding of urban cemeteries like the Manila North Cemetery. In letting go of traditional grave markers we exchange a continuous and growing outlook on death, as bodies turn to soil and eventually into luscious greenery.
growing with death
During the study of the site, it was found that the middle of the block between the unfenced boundaries of people’s backyards were being used as informal community spaces. From this observation, an intervention at this site was made in the form of an elevated catwalk and a corresponding loggia on the ground. A diversity of programs and new built forms along this new artery emphasize the block’s instinct inwards. With minimal intrusion on the existing homes and new connections to the center of the block, space is repur posed.
Block 10
Mattydale, Syracuse Residential and Commercial
In collaboration with Erin Doherty and Dhvani Doshi
Mattydale, Syracuse is a post-war “exurbia”. As the sub urb has aged, it has transformed into what we might call an “exurbia” with fifty percent of homes unoccupied or on foreclosure. Spatial and programmatic changes were intro duced into the site, a 300 by 400 foot suburban block. The typical arrangement of suburban American homes, and the back and front yard, are now redundant and creates left over spaces. This project looks to these leftover semi-public spaces as the site for an urban intervention.
DOUBLE STORY APARTMENT WITH BALCONY AND ADJACENT YARD
EXISTING SINGLE FAMILY HOUSE WITH PRIVATE BACKYARD
housing typologies on site circulation pathways
elevated pavementcatwalk
LOFT APARTMENT WITH SHARED YARD
ground floor plan
frontal axonometric
Villa + Villa
The Mediterranean pine at the center of the villa’s courtyard became the center of project. Current ly enclosed and blocked off from the adjacent park and printmaking studios, two new axes were made that reinforced the connection between the two exterior green spaces. The resultant vol umes were subtly adjusted to accomodate the space around these axes while maintaining the vertical hierarchal importance of the pine.
The Villa Rossa is a villa at the edge of the city of Florence. Once home to the Rossa family, for the past six decades it has been used by Syra cuse University as a satellite campus. This project seeks to create new studio, exhibition, and library spaces in the Villa Rossa campus. A thorough typological study of villas throughout Italy was conducted. The result was the idea of the garden as an object that can be contained and celebrat ed by complimentary built forms.
In collaboration with Bryan Cordova
Florence, EducationItalyand Exhibition
villa typologies
perspective architecture studio
ground plan
second floor plan
south-west axonometric
Syracuse University Campus Installation Proposal
The fixture of technical images, or symbols, throughout the campus via a pair of mirrors incite pause and inspection of these proffered alternative visions of the buildings, lights and textures of the campusWhile the act of putting on one’s glasses typically demystifies the world around us, these “looking glasses” inspire new questions and deliberations that emphasize the dialectical relationship between fact and symbol, image and window.
This installation reflects on the written works of Henry Flusser and the nature of the technical image in a world mediated by digital apparatuses. Flusser writes:
“they appear to be on the same level of reality as their significance. What one sees on them therefore do not appear to be symbols that one has to decode, but symptoms of the world... [we] see them not as images but as windows” Henry Flusser, The Technical Image, 14
Mirrored Images
Mirrored Images
same if you are having vertigo-- the room does not really spin, the table is not turning on you, although the images tell you other wise...on occasion the flow moves along not just in one sequence but in several. Some times the sequences are concurrent, running in parallel;sometimes they intersect and become superposed.”
Today, we accept the technical image, a
Damasio, Self Comes to Mind 75
these questions by reproducing spatial effects via a pair of reflected surfaces that are physically and digitally manipulated. The primary methods of abstraction introduced into the site via the reflected image are reflection, refraction and warping, to create space between viewer’s memories of the architecture of Smith Hall and the installation’s proposed images.
In Flusser’s text, The Technical Image, he projects a future where people take image as truth. 38 years later we are in a world inundated with images communicated to us via the same technology used to create these images, our cell phone.
Mirrored Images
Flusser states: "they appear to be on the same level of reality as their significance. What one sees on them therefore do not appear to be symbols that one has to decode, but symptoms of the world... [we] see them not as images but as windows" (Flusser, The Technical Image, 14).
stay in touch e. ksabad@syr.edu