LEILA FILALI MERCER University of North Carolina at Charlotte Bachelors of Arts in Architecture
LEILA FILALI MERCER My name is Leila Filali Mercer and I am from the east coast of North Carolina. My attraction to architecture was initially unfounded, a gamble on a major that I was discouraged by its notorious difficulty, and its bad rep from engineers. Being taught the ways in which the built environment reflects or resists the conditions of its time and place made the concept of architecture break out of the box I thought it existed in. It eventually became an integral part of my identity and became the lens through which I now see the world. I have found that the world of design has always been there in plain sight, and more and more is revealed to me the more I learn and pay attention. In cities, film, writing, music, furniture, objects, etc. the potential of all there is to learn and all there is to see has made for an eager learner and a restless soul.
education
skills
Bachelors of Arts in Architecture 2021-2024
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte
related experience
Rhino Grasshopper AutoCAD Adobe Suite Model making Crafting Woodworking
Said Berrada Architects, Rabat, Morocco Internship
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2023
- Assisted architectural designer with design iterations of car showroom - Used AutoCAD to make residential construction drawings - Designed display case in Rhino
languages English
native
French
working proficiency
Arabic(Darija) working proficiency Spanish
conversational
Communication Consultant, UNCC Mentor
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2024
- Responsible for leading a class of first year
hobbies
architecture students
Cooking
- Help improve methods of communication
Yoga
of students i.e. writing and speaking
Traveling Reading
work experience Al-Basha Grill & Lounge, Charlotte, NC Server
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2021 - 2023
Indaco, Charlotte, NC Server
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2019- 2021
contact +1 (910) 232 8927 personal email: leila.mercer.2@gmail.com school email: lmercer6@uncc.edu
01
02
Loitering
Modularity
Community center- WOCF Fall 2023
Pavilion Fall 2023
03
Funamb
Fire wa towe Spring
3
bulism
atcher 2024
04
05
Appalachia
Dérive
Earthen formation Spring 2022
Adaptive reuse Spring 2023
01
LOITERING
Community Center WOCF | Fall 2023
The Oakland port is analogous to how the current hyper-capitalist and Eurocentric system targets communities of color through subjecting them to the material consequences of hyperconsumerism while reserving the benefits for the white and wealthy. In this case, West Oakland is sacrificed for the prosperity of San Francisco. This is done in many ways including imposing highway infrastructure, port infrastructure, waste dumping, etc. which has resulted in worse air quality, toxins in the water, and increased health deficits. In the case of the port, miles of space in Oakland is home to port waste and trashed shipping containers, the shores of West Oakland are almost entirely blocked by the port and there are plans to expand while residents of West Oakland suffer from asthma at a rate 88% higher than the national average largely due to the pollution. For the West Oakland Community Future Center, I don’t presume to know what the community needs and what it may need tomorrow or in a decade so what I’ve decided to give them is autonomy. Existing and taking up space has become an act of resistance in an increasingly hostile climate that demands productivity and infinite growth. This community is not to blame for their suffering, it was manufactured by the interests of the powerful and distributed to communities of color nationwide. A step to achieving liberation is autonomy of space and autonomy of self. Here, the space created is open to their interpretation and use, whatever it may be, and if that is daring to exist outside of the cycle of production and consumption, that too is their prerogative.
Power is achieved through numbers, to give a historically oppressed and historically revolutionary people space to join together, this will develop a collective political conscious. Oakland has a long history of resistance, this legacy will continue on despite the weaponization of modern technology
loitering laws have been used to reduce the amount of marginalized and unwanted people welcome in the public sphere as ‘crime reduction’ How can black bodies reclaim their right to exist in public space?
Through the suppression of black bodies congregating, the system prevents collective action against it thus maintatining the structure of power
addressing the condition placed on architecture to generate profit and protect private property, this building serves no disctinct purpose besides the autonomy it grants to the community
loitering is being in a way that fails to actively participate in capitalism human existence is now only valued when it serves capital architecture is only valued when it it serves as a profit generating, ultra productive machine
we may no longer exist in public or private space without having a purpose or spending money how we choose to exist only becomes loitering when it is policed by someone else
project statement collage | massing diagram
loitering as a revolutionary weapon to give room to exist unconditionally makes room for resistance against a system that withholds that right
commodification of space leaves no room those not participating
ground plan | floor plan
elevation A | section A
elevation B | section B
section perspective
floor and wall assembly
titanium panel cladding
steel framing structure
spanning W beams
pick ups
exploded axonometric
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exploded axonometric typical bay structure
steel plate welded to leg, bolted to beam
11 in
6 ft
6 ft
41 ft
4 ft
2 ft
catwalk attachment to leg
superstructure assembly detail
107 ft
rod attachment to beam 2 ft
3 ft
25 ft
6 in
6.5 ft
1 ft feet detail
1.5 ft
1 ft
W section attachment to rod
physical model
experiential vignette
02
MODULARITY Pavilion | Fall 2023
The module I began with was a truncated pyramid structure opened up to form an aperture at the top to allow light to funnel in. These began in a grid which I condensed causing these forms to overlap and plow into each other. Where these walls met on the interior, they stop, creating a open space on the inside where a shallow pond forms on the exterior and extends through. The skylights shoot out in different directions and act as ways to capture light during different times of day and times of year. This module is also inverted and lodged into the site creating craters as a landscape feature for occupation.
structural module axonometric
vignette | full structural exploded axonometric
sections
axonometric | section | floor plan
physical model
experiential vignettes
03
FUNAMBULISM
Fire Watch Tower | Spring 2024
Situated just off a cliff on Crowder’s Mountain, a fire outlook tower houses a modest, nature loving volunteer during the fire season. In the off season, a tightrope walker uses the space to bury himself completely in his craft. Two big semi-spherical windows on either side of the symmetrical structure provide light, the anchor for rope tying, and visualization for the fire ranger’s watch. The front working area and the windows are covered yet not closed off from the elements. This area becomes completely exposed when the walls fold down. This allows the tightrope walker to extend his rope and attempt more difficult stunts. As the tightrope walker mastered the greatest length of rope permittable by the structure, he goes on to attach fold out panels in a desperate attempt to push himself farther and farther.
site plan
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section A
floor plan
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section B
elevation A
elevation B
The slanted roof funnels rainwater into a gutter that leads into a pipe run through the wall down into a rain barrel stored under the main body of the tower. From there, water is pumped back up with a solar-powered pump to be used for plumbing.
water collection diagram
perspective
04
APPALACHIA
Earthen Formation | Spring 2022
With the task of creating an earthen structure located off of a remote path somewhere along the appalachian trail, this formation acts as a partial dam and facilitates human circulation and occupation. It is distinctly a man-made structure that bleeds into a natural form. It is left openended as to what it is for and why it is there. This project was designed and executed only in the 2 dimensional plane by way of a three view method that creates a perspective drawing of the design from the lines and the points that make up the line.
sections |
tonal studies
3 point perspective drawing method
experiential vignette
05
DÉRIVE
Adaptive Reuse | Spring 2023
Selected by panel for McColl Artist Exhibition Featured in McColl Arts @721 ‘zine #3 publication This project serves as an addition to pre-existing ruins of a parsonage on a site where there is another adaptive reuse project that transformed a church into spaces for art. Our design focuses on the idea of composing views and cheorographing moments through a continuous parasitic entity imposed on the site. Each node is connected by a dim lit staircase that snakes around the cobblestone walls of the parish. These tubes compress before it releases into the open space of an art gallery. Each gallery sits at a different height and has a large aperture, framing views and also frames a view of the art goer for spectators below. A process of watching and being watched. Underground and only accessed by one entrance, the bar provides another life to this structure. Although the entrance protrudes outwards, 3 skylights give a visual connection from below to above and above to below.
project statement/ collage
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site analysis
Gallery architecture traditionally seeks to imbue its art with an air of objectivity, either through linking it to the history of western antiquity, or through its placement within blank white boxes, which try to display art outside of history, society, and the power which patroned it. The traditional gallery seeks legitimacy through a connection to western traditions, or through the displaying of art as something “primordial”, “essential”, and “transcendent”.
axonometric
[ lobby & gallery 1 ]
[ bar ]
floor plans
[ galleries 2 & 3 ]
sections
physical model
experiential vignettes
thank you