Jose Lomas III Washington University in St. Louis Architecture Portfolio
Jose Lomas III E: lomasj3@gmail.com C: 916.832.7204 Current Address: 5340 Delmar Blvd. Apt 402 St. Louis, MO 63112 Permanent Address: 5422 Tomas Circle San Antonio, TX 78240
Master of Architecture Washington University in St. Louis expected Fall 2014 Bachelor of Science, Business Excelsior College 2010
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Contextual Embodiment
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Center for Theological Studies
Intermittent Continuity
03 Helsinki Intercut
Contents
05 Downtown Theater
An Addition to Louis Kahn’s Unbuilt Mikveh Israel
CENTER FOR THEOLOGICAL STUDIES Option Studio II | Critic: Robert McCarter | Fall 2013
Louis Kahn’s 1964 design for the Mikveh Israel Synagogue in Philadelphia, PA was never realized, and he considered this loss to be his greatest professional disappointment. This studio assumes the 1964 design was built and that this building, A Center for Theological Studies, would be built as an addition. The focus of the studio was the making of spaces, not the making of form, being concerned with the interior elevation, rather than the exterior elevation. Much of the conceptual basis of the project was drawn from the initial sketch projects, which took up the first third of the studio. The project aimed at creating a sense of connection and disconnection through circulation, materiality, views, and transparency.
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The initial sketch project established the conceptual basis for the project, looking at the possible relationship between a chapel for one and a meeting room for two. Contained within a cubic volume, the two spaces were related with the meeting room representing the idea of ‘grounded’ and the chapel representing the idea of ‘elevated’ with the chapel volume being held off the edge of the meeting room volume. This idea of the chapel being related to the vertical and elevation and the meeting room being related to the horizontal and grounded was the idea carried forward throughout the main project. The third major program of the project, a rare books library, represented both of the ideas simultaneously, being connected to the ground and the sky, both visually and materially.
Final sketch project model
Initial models
Ground Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Rare Books Library
Meeting Space
Dining/Cafe
N-S Section
W-E Section
Through Meeting Space and Residences
Through Chapel and Meeting Space
Chapel
S-N Section Through Library and Chapel
E-W Section Through Residences and Library
Urban Housing in St. Louis
CONTEXTUAL EMBODIMENT Core Semester III | Critic: Robert Booth | Fall 2012
By looking to its surroundings, both immediate and far, this housing project was articulated by integrating and responding to its surrounding context. Located in St. Louis, Missouri, various aspects of the site influenced different parts of the building, from the location of program, to the detailing of the facade. Emphasis was given to contextual response with this project, so as to not propose a building that was disconnected from the existing fabric of the city, and rather, incorporated itself as an entity that belongs.
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The housing project turns an empty lot in a low income St. Louis neighborhood into a destination for the street, where residents and neighbors can enjoy the public aspects of the project, such as the coffee shop on the corner, or the roof gardens that are openly accessed. Beginning with a systematic approach, the surrounding context was measured using Grasshopper to determine the types of forces influencing the site. With this information, massing was determined in a way that responds to its surroundings. The internal layout of the housing units was then arranged with public program being oriented towards the communal spaces, and the private program on the opposite side. The facade came about from having two sides, one side facing the busy street and the other facing the public areas. The side facing the street, and consequently the ‘private’ side, is dense and opaque, while the side facing the communal spaces, the ‘public’ side is open and transparent.
Concept Models
Site Plan
Site Section
Mapping Diagrams
The mapping process began with creating an image that mapped different aspects of the city at different scales of movement, such as nearby parks at the biking scale. These mapped images were then measured in Grasshopper, using rectangular and radial grid overlays to measure and manipulate grid cell center points. This process was continued for each mapping image, ultimately resulting in vectors of varying lengths, showing the direction and strength of external forces acting upon the site.
Massing Diagrams
public park space
Green space - Walking scale
private lawns unusable green space
mapping image
measured image
radial measurement - near
Public amenities - Walking scale
radial measurement - intermediate
radial measurement - far
sum of radial measurements
translated back to the site
zoning setback requirements
parks markets restaurants churches
Parks - Biking scale large parks small parks
50% lot coverage requirement
open green lots
Density of amenities - Public transportation scale high density lower density
push-back from building across street
Density of amenities - Car scale high density lower density
push-up for circulation
height adjustment to context
communal spaces starting from tree
Ground Floor Plan
fragmenting for terraces
Third Floor Plan
Fifth Floor Plan
Longitudinal Section
South Elevation
North Elevation
Section Perspective
Final Model
Southern Exterior Perspective
ORION Finnish Film Archive
HELSINKI INTERCUT Option Studio I, Study Abroad | Critic: Pentti Kareoja, Matti Rautiola | Spring 2013
This project, part of the Helsinki semester abroad program at Washington University, was to design a film archive and media center for the Orion theater in Helsinki, Finland. The main concept of the project centered around the term ‘intercutting’ which in film terminology refers to the alternation between contrasting scenes taking place at two locations to make one composite scene. With this in mind, the project for a film archive and media center came about from an intent to combine these two in a similar fashion into one ‘scene’ or rather one building.
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Located at the site of the Baana, Helsinki’s ‘Low Line,’ a reciprocal of New York’s High Line, the project looks at the intersection between the pedestrian/bike path of the Baana and the main street running adjacent to it. By allowing entrances from the lower Baana level and the higher street level, the building is seen as an intersection, a connector between these two different paths. With the program of the project consisting of a film archive, media library, theaters, and media workshops and classrooms, the project was also seen as a contrast between old and new, along with being about an intersection of paths; thus, the concept of the ‘intercut’ came into play, a film terminology which regards contrasting scenes that make up a singular composite scene.
media stacks
secure studio
media stacks
media workstations
pc + peripherals newspaper/ periodicals
conservation
Site Plan
media storage
screening rooms
site - street and baana level
Relating old and new program by contrasting their location
materials
Shifting old and new program towards Baana and street levels
context
media stacks
secure studio
media stacks
media workstations
pc + peripherals newspaper/ periodicals
conservation media storage
screening rooms
entry + circulation at intersection
N-S Longitudinal Section
Basement Floor Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan
Fourth Floor Plan
East Elevation
South Elevation
W-E Transverse Section
Cafe and central staircase
Library looking north
Library looking south
I-CARES Research Center
INTERMITTENT CONTINUITY Core Semester II | Critic: Catalina Freixas | Spring 2012
Located in Phoenix, AZ, this research and interdisciplinary center for Washington University started with an examination of complex systems found in nature that were present on the site. This was used as the basis of inspiration for the building’s overall form, environmental systems, and sustainability aspects. For this project, the natural systems of a succulent plant, commonly found in Arizona, were studied, and combined with research of environmental strategies for arid environments, specifically Middle Eastern countries, environmental and sustainable solutions were discovered for this building.
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The project began with a study of the internal structure of the yucca baccata plant, a type of succulent plant common in the Arizona landscape. The study of the structure was used to create wire models in an attempt to find spatial solutions and strategies for the program. An idea of pods that were interconnected, similar to the way the pods and vessels of water in the plant are connected, was established for the research center. Integration of the landscape was also an important point in the project, not only formally, but also as a way to use the prevailing southern winds to help with passive cooling. The ideas of using open and covered courtyards, a common solution in arid regions, was used in this project, as well as using cooling pools near the southern areas, which primarily serve as wet labs for the researchers.
Second Floor Plan Pods as space
Circulation
Landscape as form
Ground Floor Plan
Urban Infill Theater in St. Louis
DOWNTOWN THEATER Core Semester I | Critic: Christine Yogiaman | Fall 2011
The third part of a three-project semester consisted of an urban infill theater in downtown St. Louis that built upon the forms discovered from the previous two projects, helping to dictate the overall form for this theater project. Using the Oslo Theater by Snohetta as a precedent, this project features two seperate paths of circulation, one interior and one exterior, each leading to an interior and exterior performing stage. By using a similar formal language found in the first two projects and with the intention of creating a building that would serve as an icon for the street, the building sets it self apart from the surrounding context.
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The first project was a simple study of unit and module, using a basic module to form up a larger field structure. In this case, the small module was a pentagon shaped cup-form module which used a tab to connect to other pieces. They were arranged in a way where they twisted around each other in a spiral form.
Project 1
The second project used the same formal language and applied it to a small pavilion-like structure in a nearby St. Louis park. The main idea behind the project was to study the sounds in the park, finding an area that was most ‘quiet’ and then using the form from the first project to create ‘horn’-like structures that faced trees, channeling the sounds of nature.
Project 2
Ground Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
The final project used the Oslo Theater by Snohetta as a precedent and featured two sets of circulation, an exterior and interior. Along these paths of circulation, points of views were chosen and ‘lines’ were drawn from these points in the direction they were looking, creating the overall form of the theater. These ‘lines’ become visible from the outside, represented as the structure of the building.
Ground Floor Plan
Ground Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Ground Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Second Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Second Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Third Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Third Level
Scale: 1/8” = 1’-0”
Second Floor Plan
Third Floor Plan