P O R T FOLIO
K I A N H O S S E I N N I A
Table of Contents connect / disconnect
fragments of history part 1: mathematics of the ideal villa part 2: designing a cut part 3: a house
ready-to-hand architecture corruption / malfunction
built projects float the coffee lab aperture
01
02 03 04 05 06
07 08 09
01
Connect / Disconnect A Study Space
Individual academic project University of Toronto - Winter 2017 This building aims to create an isolated and focused study space while stimulating senses of wonder and exploration. By connecting the exterior green space to the interior courtyard with perspectival cuts that reveal a glimpse of the inside world, this building opens the way for exploration. The building also provides study spaces that are oriented towards the central courtyard and are completely disconnected from the outside world, creating a more focused environment.
02
Mathematics of the Ideal Villa A Case for Post-Modernity
Fragments of History: Part 1
Individual academic project University of Toronto - Canada - Fall 2016 Drawing from the analysis provided by Colin Rowe in his essay Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, this project attempts to compare the rationality of the Renaissance with that of 20th Century Modernism. The bottom image merges the Renaissance world of Palladio with the white, machine world of Le Corbusier. Both architects looked into the perfect Platonic world of ideas and tried to construct the “ideal� in the material world. The top drawing poses a critique of this attitude and searches for subjectivity, starting from individual Lego bricks and creating a villa from individual pieces, devoid of any ideal models in mind.
03
Designing a Cut
A Typological Analysis of Villa Poiana
Fragments of History: Part 2
Individual academic project University of Toronto - Canada - Fall 2017 Extending the fragmentary logic from the previous project, we now turn to Palladio’s Villa Poiana to discover how post-modern methodology can be utilized to understand Palladio’s use of typological elements. In order to create the new typology of the villa, Palladio takes elements such as barrel vaults, Gothic arches, temple fronts, and domes, and completely alters their functional typologies. For instance, a barrel vault which has originated from Roman baths, is now used as a decorative room ceiling. By designing a cut that goes through at least a quarter of each of these typological elements in villa Poiana, this project uses the logic of fragments and aims to extract each of these elements and think of them as individual pieces that can later be used in different combinations and contexts.
04
A House
As a Synthesis
Fragments of History: Part 3 Individual academic project University of Toronto - Canada - Fall 2017 As a synthesis to the research on post-modern subjectivity and the use of architectural elements as individual objects in themselves rather than mere elements of a larger platonic building, a house was proposed for an empty parking lot in the Republic of Rathnelly, Toronto. In this house, individual typological elements from the past are carved out of a white box through questioning their formal logical use. In doing so, not only new functions have been created for the ancient forms, but also different surfaces and orientations of these forms have been utilized in order to create these functions. This house pushes the notion of how much a function of a formal type can change, and how different elements can be combined regardless of previous logical norms. For the purpose of multiplying these elements in this house, three symmetrical axes have been used and each element has been rotated on these axes three times.
05
Ready-to-Hand Architecture
A Student Residence
Individual academic project University of Toronto - Canada - Fall 2017 This project begins with the general thesis that media are objects in themselves. This thesis was developed through the study of early modern philosophy, Phenomenology, and Object Oriented Ontology. If media are objects, then mediatory spaces in architecture can be objects of architecture themselves. Hence, the aim of this project is to design architecture as the mediatory space between things. The project begins by producing two non-identical surfaces. Wherever these surfaces overlap, a mediatory space is produced that is then filled with program. Now, like objects which are initially ready-to-hand and can only come to the foreground of reality through breaking, media become noticeable only though an irruption such as a glitch. Hence, after the architecture is produced, a glitch causes it to become noticeable as a thing that humans are involved with rather than a space merely occupied. To do this, the project becomes a continuous loop of a ramp that does not allow for a conventional distinction of floor levels. The question of which level an individual lives in becomes a matter of experiential debate rather than a mundane fact. Furthermore, each unit itself is affected by this glitch and is split into two levels, separating the spaces within each unit without the use of walls.
06
Corruption / Malfunction Artifacts of Parkdale
Academic group project Role: Concept development, virtual reality sculpting University of Toronto - Canada - Winter 2019 Group members: Kian Hosseinnia, Mark Soh, Pearl Cao, Tina Siassi, Aws Abu Ras This project addresses dual themes of ‘malfunction’ and ‘corruption’ interpreted in Parkdale, expressed through a series of narratives embedded in our artifacts. Objects go unnoticed until they malfunction. In other words, it’s only through failure to perform that we come to be aware of objects. Objects bring themselves to the foreground of reality in and through malfunctioning. Malfunctioning involves an accidental break. A breaking that was not planned and is unexpected like a hammer that falls apart during a process of hammering. Here, we want to raise the following question; what if this breaking was in fact brought about through an act of design? Can we extend this analysis to include planned malfunctions? The answer is yes, but we need to redefine this planned malfunction as a new concept. Borrowing from computer science, we call this corruption. A designed error caused by an external interception. Hence, it is the case that we become aware of objects through both malfunctions, which are breakings due to neglect or accidents, and corruptions, which are breakings through design. An analysis of the objects of Parkdale with this framework can tell us that an urban context, much like the objects it is composed of, can be broken through both neglect and active design; and it is through observing these broken objects that we can become aware of Parkdale. Each artifact is a small narrative extracted and abstracted from Parkdale within our theme of corruption and malfunction.
07
Float
Block Party
Professional group project Role: Design and build Toronto - Canada - Summer 2015 Group members: Marcin Kedzior, Craig Crane, Saksham Sharma, Vivian Han, Valerie Marshall, Ceylin Oz, Francis Norman May, Kian Hosseinnia, Patricia Roque, Tina Matei, Hilary Joyce, Marco Jacome. This project is located in a laneway behind 401 Richmond, adjacent to Cinecycle. Repurposing materials, the project proposes hammocks and seating area to create distinct and playful social situations while allowing moments to linger under the tree canopy. Conceived as a prototypical public space, the project is only 4’ narrow and is designed to fit alongside a fence in a laneway parking lot.
08
The Coffee Lab A Cafe in Toronto
Professional group project (MaW Studio) Role: Design, fabrication, and construction Toronto - Canada - Winter 2018 MaW Studio members include: Kian Hosseinnia, Daniel Lewycky, Sebastian Lopez Cardozo, and Adriana Sadaun Situated inside a two-square-meter former window display forming part of 141 Spadina Avenue in Toronto, the tiny café serves customers through a window that opens up to the sidewalk. Vestiges of a former Mama’s Pizza sign provide a lit arrow pointing to the Lab. The Coffee Lab project is MaW Studio’s first commission. The project exploits and augments the dissociation between container (window display), sign (Mamma’s Pizza sign), and program (coffee shop), by producing a design that breaks the café itself down into smaller and more complex dislocations. On the north wall, a classicized ornamentation begins at counter height and folds onto the ceiling. At times it resembles a standardized molding, while at others it morphs into a forced perspective. On the exterior wall, the logo of the coffee shop — a golden baroque frame — transcends its print format to become a three-dimensional object. The coffee shop could be the smallest in the world — its owner, Joshua Campos, is currently seeking certification from Guinness. According to Christopher Hume in the Toronto Star, the new café is “an excellent example of how even the tiniest spaces can be used creatively in a city like Toronto.” The project has also been profiled in NOW.
09
Aperture
URBPRK Design Build Competition
Competition group project Role: Conceptual design, structural logic, managing fundings for the building of the project, building and on-site assembly of the project, main voice for radio and newspaper interviews. Edmonton - Canada - Summer 2017 Group Members: Kian Hosseinnia, Pearl Cao, Tina Siassi, Dimah Ghazal, Aws Abu Ras This project aims at creating a public space and a patio on two parking spots in front of Cafe Mosaics to be used as a summer outdoor area for people and also as a stage for a summer concert series. Design elements Include: Seating and shade areas, bicycle parking, a stage for buskers and local performances, pet friendly spaces, and an articulated relationship with the busy street. Using principles learned in an extensive shadow study, this parklet is designed in a manner to limit views from the closer lane of the street to increase a sense of safety for the people and to give them the freedom to view the street by changing their location. The parklet is also designed to filter sunlight to create a well lit space while protecting the inhabitants from direct sunlight. This creates a warm atmospheric effect that is suitable for relaxing summer days. The project was well received by the Edmonton community and the University of Toronto faculty who contributed financially and provided resources for the building of this project to become possible once it was announced to be the winner. The project was also covered in CBC Radio and Metro Edmonton news paper.