Design Portfolio Karina Vรกzquez AIT, CDT
Startup Busisness Academic
Professional
Competitions
Marea 1 Interdenominational Church 3 ACSA/Steel Student Competition/Polygon Hotel 5 Parque de la Maestranza Renovation 7 House for a writer 9 Contemporary Dance Center 11 Eco-quĂ 13 XXI Century Schools 15 Guest House 17 Sonobe Table 19 Lanco Design Center 20 Crowdspring 21
Startup business
Our fabrics features unique prints containing hand drawn sketches and digital art. It starts with a simple freehand artwork, and then it is digitalize and a color, proportions and repetition exploration begins until the perfect balance is reached. In this stage a Wacom tablet and some graphic design programs are used to refine the design until the final result that I’m happy with occurs. The last stage is to make printing samples prior to digitally print the designs in fabric. My identity as a designer is to use simple traces and colorful patterns to create intense prints that provoke joy and fun to everyday life. All of this is possible thanks to my background in design and architecture.
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Interdenominational Church
Academic Project Type: Institutional
Santurce, PR
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floor plan
Meditation practices are now more common as a response to a stressful lifestyle. Regardless of religious beliefs people need a space to relax. This project called interdenominational church consists of designing a space that fulfill the necessity of meditation. People can decide where to make their meditations, whether in the meditation hall or in the patio. The meditation hall was designed with a light chimney and custom design concrete prefabricated panels to create an atmosphere of natural light which helps people enjoy a spiritual experience.
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entrance to meditation hall and interior patio
stair to administration oďŹƒce
lobby
meditation hall
front view
section AA
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ACSA/Steel Student Competition/Polygon Hotel
Academic Project Type: Hospitality
Santurce, PR
truss
joist
metal deck
modular steel pieces that serves as the main structural component and also as a visual element of the facade.
beam
Ornamental masonry is representative of Santurce’s local architecture. This project aims to expand the possibilities of ornamental masonry by redefining its role in architecture from being ornamental to structural. using this element as a structural skin siystem.,
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Design Team: Chabeli Hernรกndez Karina Vรกzquez
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Parque de la Maestranza Renovation
Academic Project Type: Recreational
Old Havana, Cuba
commertial spaces and pedestrian highway
artisan spaces
There are a lot of parks and public spaces all around Old Havana. Parque de la Maestranza is one of them and also the biggest one. It has a privilege location because Ave. del Puerto, one of the main roads, its parallel to it. Because Parque de la Maestranza is a children park, at night it becomes a residual part of the city, being this the main reason to the rehabilitation plan for this park. The new design combines commercial program, a pedestrian highway to enjoy the bay views and spaces for the artisans to display and sell their crafts.
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House for a writer Ciales, PR
Academic Project Type: Residential
existing structure
section AA
The client, a writer, wants to make his residence and studio at a piece of land that he inherited from his grandfather. The site already has a structure that was part of his grandfather house. A decision was to be made whether to keep the structure or demolish it. At the end the structure was kept and was transformed into the writer’s studio. The house itself is at the top of the hill where the most beautiful views are.
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floor plan 1
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floor plan 2
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Contemporary Dance Center, Merce Cunningham Santurce, PR
Academic Project Type: Educational
Salvador Pratts
Ave. Ponce de LeĂłn
The urban development of Santurce creates the perfect condition for the location of the Contemporary Dance Center. The center intends to promote the scenic arts and enrich the spatial sequence of Ave. Ponce de Leon which pretends to be the cultural corridor of the performing arts. The site is a through lot and its proportions make it challenging to insert all the program and allow natural light to enter the building. The building consists of dance studios, the academy, administration , dorms, cafĂŠ, experimental dance hall and the main theater.
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To solve the problem of the natural illumination an atrium was design. The atrium serves not only as a method of natural lighting but also as the entrance to the main theater which is underground. The main floor has the particularity that serves as a pedestrian connector between the Ave. Ponce de Leรณn and the Salvador Pratt street. People can watch the students in the dance studios and also can enjoy of different exhibitions while walking through this corridor.
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Eco-quĂ
Academic Project Type: Compact Housing
Eco-quĂ, the micro ecological portable house was a response of the Sustainable Design Studio of the University of PR to develop a housing alternative in Puerto Rico. The intent was to maintain lower construction costs. At the same time the project pretends to introduce the concept of sustainable housing to people not so familiar with this new vision of attending housing necessities without affecting the surroundings. The 125 sq-ft house features a bathroom, kitchen, living-dining and a bedroom. The house has photovoltaic system, composting toilet and the design of the roof for recollecting rain water gives the house full independence from the infrastructure services.
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Design Team: Sustainable Design Studio of the University of PR
ladder to floor joint detail
cistern system detail
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XXI Century Schools Barranquitas, PR
Professional Project Type: Educational CC+ARCH Project members: Chabeli Hernรกndez Salvador Noguera Julio Noriega Karina Vรกzquez
The New School of Barranquitas will consist of the construction of a building complex to serve the students from 7th to 9th grades. The school will accommodate a total of three hundred and fifty students and will include, among others, learning studios, specialized academics areas, special services areas, administrative and general facilities, gym, lunch room, library, computer rooms and a community center.
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XXI Century Schools Barranquitas, PR
Professional Project Type: Educational CC+ARCH Project members: Chabeli Hernรกndez Salvador Noguera Julio Noriega Karina Vรกzquez
The New Urban School of Ciales will accommodate a total of 950 students and will include separate buildings complex for Elementary and Middle schools each with their own recreational facilities. Although the Elementary and Middle School are designed as separate building complexes, both schools share some key spaces and operations such as: administrative facilities, library, lunch room, performance room, medical clinic, library, gym, computer rooms, among others. LEED certification was part of the requirements for both schools. Sustainable strategies played a strong roll on the design integrating them with the learning experience of the students and the community.
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Guest House Juana Diaz PR
Professional Project Type: Residential
Two small guest houses located in the tropical dry forest in the South of Puerto Rico. It was important to the client for the structure to impact the site in the less possible way. This lead to a structural solution and a selection of materials, that not only contrasted in a harmonic way with the landscape but has a minimum impact on the environment. The guest houses will be equipped with solar panels and a water harvesting system, to provide the users will all the commodities..
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Sonobe Table
Professional
Clients wanted a conference table that accommodates between six to eight people, they wanted the table to be the center of attraction, so they were asking us to design something away from a traditional table. This table was inspired by the process of folding paper to create the sonobe origami module. The repetition of this module creates the pattern that is translated into the texture of the table base. This table combines different materials to give it a more contemporary look. Another particularity of this table is that the base is off center so we had to think of a structural way to support the glass top.
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Lanco Design Center Guaynabo PR
Professional Project Type: Commercial
The project consists of the intensive remodeling and expansion of an existing structure. The structure was separated in one commercial space (1850 ft²) to be used by the owners and one office space (1280 ft²) for rent. The commercial space will house a new concept of paint store where clients will receive a more personalized service and the opportunity to visualize the results of their color selection. This project is an effort of the owners to place themselves as the leader brand of paints in Puerto Rico. This project was worked from programming to use permit.
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Competitions
Professional
crowdSPRING is a small company based in Chicago that helps people from around the world access creative talent, and also helps creatives from across the globe find new customers. It works like a competition in which clients looking for a specific creative service like graphic design, web design, logo design, etc. choose one of the several proposals submitted by the designers/ competitors.
Proposal for a book cover.
Proposal for an Argentinian wine lable. They were looking for something contemporary and abstract also they wanted the lables to reflect the hierarchy between them.
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