Narratives of
SPACE
Narratives of Space delves into my personal joy of the field of architecture as one of storytelling. My experience in the field of architecture has always been supported by thoughts on how the creation of space or a “setting” can affect the daily life of a user or “character” . for me these thoughts function as mental narratives which I choose to articulate through drawings, sketches, renders, videos, and often technical drawings. I believe that architects in their purest form are authors on a quest to craft the setting for the novel that is life. The academic and professional design projects that you find on here are some of my favorite stories which for the past 5 years helped me understand the process of construction and architectural design
index “Violent Growth�
context as inspiration
thesis
in the land of plazas In the land of sunlight
organizing space folds
adapting space to context the health of a highway
professional practice greenovate construction proyeccion films red tree study
Violent Growth
violent
site: built
growth In the city of Santiago de Cali, the public market has historically served as a location for rural agricultural communities to interact with urban communities of various economic classes. Dialogue, debate, and sharing of ideas took place alongside the selling of agricultural and handicraft commodities. In recent times, the displacement of large sectors of the rural population by civil war has caused the urban periphery of the city to grow exponentially, but without the creation of public markets.This has produced a situation where agricultural and urban communities have few opportunities to engage with one another in a meaningful way. Focusing on the highly segregated Southern periphery of the city , this project works at three scales to bring about an integration of five neighborhoods. The scales work to intertwine the necessities of each socioeconomic class, including one composed of internally displaced people from the country’s armed conflict, by creating an infrastructure that is diverse in program but utilizes the region’s vernacular material of construction: Guadua Angustifolia ( a species of bamboo). Using a material that allows for auto-construction, the project uses guadua joints to generate a triangular structure that expands, contracts, and bends to allow for the easy manipulation of a horizontal plane into a vertical one. This verticality blurs the boundaries between soil and structure, creating new possibilities of “building land.” At the programmatic scale, a market/agricultural pit allows the internally displaced people to put their knowledge of agriculture and handicraft skills to use by growing produce to sell in the market. A police station and observation tower are linked to these programs at the urban scale through an infrastructure of pedestrian platforms that morph into bridges connecting each neighborhood with its respective program. Moments of outdoor recreation are dotted along the pedestrian path to underscore the unique peripheral location of the neighborhoods at the edge of a sugarcane field. The goal is to allow for each scale to build upon the other and create spaces of integration through verbal and physical exchanges.
context: the cycle
guadua angustifolia
site: natural landscape
site: natural built landscape growth
process
site: built
site: built landscape
the platform
cafe: floors 1-2 1. cafe 2.restroom 3.street vendor area 4. natural pool 5. circular bench
the tower:
floor 1
layout 1. lobby 2. offices 3. bathrooms 4. kitchen 5. to observation deck 6. platform
structure:
detail 2: Joint for structure & weaving for canopy
market
The market
: floor 1
The market
: floor 2
layout 1. craft vendors 2. bathrooms 3. food vendors 4. flower vendors
context as inspiration
in the land of
plazas in collaboration with shakera kyle
Madrid is a city whose urban fabric is riddled with plazas that have historically been crucial to Spanish life . It is upon the plaza Ramales that a proposition to replace the current Reina Sofia School of Music was given. As result, importance was given to the relationship created between the building’s musical education program and the nearby plaza De Oriente and Ramales. A ramp that allows visitors to enter on the first level from plaza Ramales wraps around the floors of the building and leads to an observation deck above . As a result, the ramp creates a possibility to bring in public users from the plaza within the school of music in a journey that provides them with views of the city as they move vertically. The music education floors of the building were organized in free plan but interact at specific moments with the ramp, creating zones were the public and private circulation meet within a single envelope. These synergies of public and private users create a street performing vernacular for tourists and locals while allowing students the chance to practice skills of public performance that are crucial to their education. These moments are spatially marked by extrusions on the facade of the building. Below ground is the auditorium that empties out upon the plaza de Oriente. The level of the auditorium flush with the Plaza de Oriente serves as a waiting area that allows ,through fenestration, views upon the seating and stage below.
short section
level -3
sectional detail
long section
Roof
Level 5
Level 3
plaza ramales
in the land of
sunlight Beginning on a site in downtown Los Angeles in the middle of a parkway island, a new metro entrance is being planned by the city of Los Angeles. It is part of a plan to bring activity from other parts of the city into the urban core by means of constructing restaurants, apartment buildings, and museums. The task was then to create a three stage project that would connect a metro with a restaurant and apartment building. Sunlight was given priority but also the existing tropical flora found around the site. The metro station plays with the idea of sunlight, creating light wells above a staircase that climbs to street level. by these wells, are the existing purple foliage of Jacarandas that create purple hues as light streams through the canopy of the trees, through the wells and onto the staircase below. From street level, a pedestrian bridge connects with a restaurant platform that floats above Hope street and then unwraps onto a nearby park. The park seamlessly extends onto the first level of the apartments creating a seamless public space that acts as a farmer’s market.
subway level
subway level 1. platform 2. Escalators 3. footbridge 4. train tracks 5. road goes below bridge
restaurant-second floor
first floor
first floor 1. indoor eating 2. bathrooms 3. elevator 4. fountain 5. service entry 6. skylight 7. market/ apartment 8. footbridge 9. kitchen 10. storage 11. bar
second floor 1. outdoor eating 2. indoor eating 3. bathrooms 4. elevator 5. fountain 6. skylight 7. market/ apartment 8. footbridge
level 1-1/2
level 2
level 3
level 4
level 5
level 6
organizing space
FOLDS For a long time the city of Syracuse has needed an update to their Regional Transportation Center. By creating a set of rules for making folds, the goal was to create a way to organize the program required by a new Syracuse Regional Transportation Center. The resulting aesthetic would need to develop a structural mechanism to support the envelope that organizes the space. Different methods were utilized to create the “rules� for the folds. From 3d modeling programs to physical models it was an experiment on how different modeling tools affect the way architects begin to perceive space during the process of design. This design studio was intertwined with a building systems class that sought for students to think about how their design could be constructed.
Sectional detail 1. sHORT TERM WAITING AREA 2. GALLERY 3. LONG TERM WAITING AREA 4. TRAIN PLATFORM 5. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER 6. CAFE 7. kITCHEN 8. bATHROOM
6.
5.
level 1
level 2
Sectional detail
1. sHORT TERM WAITING AREA 2. GALLERY 3. LONG TERM WAITING AREA 4. TRAIN PLATFORM 5. REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER
adapting space to context
The health of a highway in collaboration with mengdan liu & Mengru li
The I-81 Highway has an infamous role in the city of Syracuse as it divides the city and is in need of repair. The city has proposed three options with how to deal with this giant of iron and concrete. First, it can tear the down and highway build a boulevard where shops, restaurants and parks can be constructed. Second, it can be placed underground like a tunnel freeing space above. Finally, it can be fixed and kept to continue its function. This project took the idea of keeping the highway but turning it into a mechanism that could evolve the urban zone in which it resides. This zone is one that has a focus on medicine, through education ( the upstate medical school), the various nursing homes, the Gosilano children’s hospital, and the University Hospital. As a result, the highway was transformed into more of an artifact in which a summer and winter sports park could be implemented allowing this urban sector’s focus on health to bloom while creating a much needed public space.
the medical district
the existing infrastructure
the pedestrians
repurposing structure for circulation
material removal new forms of pedestrian circulation
horizontal circulation
material removal
repurposing structure into urban furniture
vertical circulation
the zones
almond strip Happy isles outdoor lounge
professional practice
greenovate construction
Created renders of construction projects using 3d render software. Drafted /fixed construction drawings and took them to the site. Created plan of records for completed sections of home. Made sure drawings met construction codes. Calculated/recorded material quantities and ordered them to site.
proyeccion films
Went location scouting based on screenplays. Designed backdrops for audiovisual advertisement projects. Createdi mages promoting distinct filming locations within Colombia. Created images for location scouters that compared architectural similarities between Colombian and cities in North America.
red tree study
My duties were to produce graphic, written, and video promotional material for the Study abroad company.
Sketches
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