luis fernando muĂąoz architecture portfolio
table of contents: 01 02 03 04 05
contingencies two volumes punk objects digital ruinification bubbles
01 contingencies program: art library location: new york city, new york (west chelsea district) critics: koichiro aitani, shelley holliday + liliana beltran design team: paul mccoy + luis fernando muĂąoz semester: fall 2017
contingencies Chelsea is a district of constant change.The theatre world resided in Chelsea in the late 19th century before moving uptown, and the young film industry occupied it in the early 20th century before it moved to Hollywood. This influx of old industries and new social groups over time left the district as a neglected collection of moments without a particular thread to define its urban identity. Similarly, the socially ostracized gay community found refuge and comfort in Chelsea and took it for its own. This event dramatically changed its socio-economic status over the decades. At first it became a bedroom community for those who could not find affordable housing south in Greenwich Village. Eventually, the district blossomed with restaurants, shops, gay bars, baths, discos which are considered pivotal in helping Chelsea become the vibrant neighborhood it is today. Altogether these architectural and infrastructural disruptions provoke the aesthetics of the city of New York. Positive or negative, they illustrate the crossing cultures, socio-economic forces and political paradigms. In the midst of all of this movement, we are interested in picking up the
pieces left behind by the industrial, the artistic, and the queer to harness an enigma of unique spaces open to circuits of interaction between people and consumption of information. A building as a reflection of the past, the present, the future, realities, and fictions. Our intervention is located in this vibrant Chelsea District. It serves as an art library, focused on performance, interlacing its historical roots of film and theater. The project is about the contingencies related to the consumption of information in a library today. With an inherent interest in Chelsea’s past relationship with film and theatre, it became relevant to treat such consumption of information as a performance of itself to give a sense of belonging to a gentrified area of New York. Therein the performance is not done by the project’s formal qualities but by the user who defines the spatial uses as they navigate an open stage. Populated by what appear to be ephemeral objects, users navigate above, below, next to, and sometimes within these props that facilitate intimate spaces for contemplation or exposed spaces for expression.
nolli map
objects
physical model
art + library
structures
split art
split library
nest
pinch
systems
expand
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1. coping 2. air/water barrier 3. continuous insulation 4. steel stud
5. steel girder 1. coping 6. cavity insulation 1. coping 2. air/water barrier 2. air/water barrier 7. shearinsulation anchor 3. continuous 3. continuous4.insulation blackened aluminum steel8.stud 4. steel stud 5. steel9.girder window frame 5. steel girder6. cavity 10.insulation 3” glass 6. cavity insulation sealant 7. shear11.anchor 7. shear anchor 8. blackened aluminum 12. neoprene 8. blackened9.aluminum window frame 13. flashing 9. window frame 10. 3” glass 10. 3” glass 11. sealant 11. sealant 12. neoprene 12. neoprene13. flashing 13. flashing
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1. aluminum panels 2. steel truss aluminum panels 3. hvac1.cavity 2. steel truss 4. intermitent ceiling 1. aluminum panels 3. hvac cavity 5. suspension rods 2. steel truss 4. intermitent ceiling 6. space frames 3. hvac cavity 5. suspension rods 7. steel gratings 4. intermitent ceiling 6. space frames 8. mechanical space 5. suspension rods 7. steel gratings 9. concrete foundations 6. space frames 8. mechanical space 7. steel gratings 10. caissons 9. concrete foundations 8. mechanical space 10. caissons 9. concrete foundations 10. caissons
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1. air/water barrier 2. continuous insulation 1. air/water barrier 3. steel stud 2. continuous insulation 1. air/water barrier4. steel beam 3. steel5.stud hvac cavity 2. continuous insulation 4. steel6.beam raised flooring 3. steel stud 5. hvac7.cavity floor supports 4. steel beam 6. raised flooring 8. 3” corrugated steel 5. hvac cavity 7. floor9.supports 3“ concrete 6. raised flooring 8. 3” corrugated steel 10. blackened aluminum 7. floor supports 9. 3“ concrete 11. window frame 8. 3” corrugated steel 10. blackened aluminum 12. 3” glass 9. 3“ concrete 11. window frame 13. sealant 10. blackened 12.aluminum 3” glass 14. flashing 11. window frame 13. sealant 15. ceiling tie 12. 3” glass 14. flashing 13. sealant 15. ceiling 16. ceiling finish tie 14. flashing 16. ceiling finish 15. ceiling tie 16. ceiling finish
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1. foundation wall 2. slab on grade 3. grade beam 1. foundation wall caisson 1. foundation4.wall 2. barrier slab on grade 5. water 2. slab on grade 3. grade beam 6. drainage gravel 3. grade beam 4.drain caisson 4. caisson 7. water water barrier 8.water5.sheathing 5. water barrier 6. drainage gravel 6. drainage gravel 7. water drain 7. water drain 8.water sheathing 8.water sheathing
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1. threaded rod 2. mero ball joint 3. space frame tube 4. suspension joint 5. welded suspension plate 1. threaded rod continuous insulation 2. mero ball 6. joint 1. threaded rod 7. blackened aluminum. 3. space frame tube 2. mero ballgirder joint 8. w section steel 4. suspension joint 3. space 9. tension rod 5. welded suspension plateframe tube 4. plate suspension joint 10.insulation weld 6. continuous welded suspension plate steel5.stud 7. blackened11.aluminum. 6.thread continuous insulation joint 8. w section12. steel girder 7. blackened aluminum. 9. tension rod 8. w section steel girder 10. weld plate 9. tension rod 11. steel stud 12. joint thread 10. weld plate 11. steel stud 12. joint thread
02 two volumes program: performance + pool halls location: barcelona, spain (barceloneta beach) critic: merce berengue design team: julia peĂąa + luis fernando muĂąoz semester: spring 2017
two volumes There are energies that are tangible and intangible that exist within a city. In barcelona these energies are unavoidable and intrinsic to the city. Our intervention consists of two volumes placed on the beach, each with individual but congruent characteristics. The driver of our design was finding a way to connect the site, the people, the beach, art, and water in the context of Barcelona and these everpresent energies. One volume is related to water, the other is related to air, and both try to showcase the forces, both physical and invisible that exist on our site. Analyzing our site we found that there is a lack of a prominent art presence along the coast of Barcelona. So we conceived our proposal as a new way to experience swimming, and redefining what it means to merge art and leisure. Our proposal consists of five main components. A ground that connects the extents of our site, and blurs the lines of the plot, as well as activates the areas adjacent to the beach. The ground was abstracted from the Barcelona coastline and the movement of the waves. The second component is the heart of our buildings, housed within the hearts are
the main vertical circulation and structural elements. These are driven by conceiving a new way to make circulation a discrete promenade through these volumes. Then we insert the objects that activate the interiors, one a large performance hall, and the other a pool for leisurely swimming. We then cover these with with a skeleton that gives our envelope its form that was derived from manipulations driven from the site conditions and programmatic functions. The skeleton is then enveloped with a skin made from the textile of sails. This deepens the connection to the beach and translucency allows to bring the interior affect to the beach and give whispers of the activities that occur within the volumes. The affective lights in our proposal directly correlate to a relationship with the sand, the water, the sky, and each other. They shift from yellows, to greens, to blues, depending on time of day and the season of the year. These volumes are integrated in the site with deep roots, both physical and energetic.
exploded isometric exposing components
connect site edges
place volumes within path
longitudnal section showing the visual and physical connections
manipulate to engag
ge with site
open for views and ventilation
ground to emphasize connections
unfolded plans
performance hall section
03 punk objects program: flagship retail store location: houston, texas critic: gabriel esquivel designer: luis fernando muĂąoz semester: fall 2015
punk objects Architecture has the power to deal with a multiplicity of fields. This project deals with generating an architecture derived from investigating a canonical building, and with the abstraction of a fashion object. The result is a flagship store for high-fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Westwood is credited with being at the forefront of the “punk� movement, and this project is a step in the direction of punk objects. When arriving to this architectural experiment the desire to generate a more erotic and affective environment arose. It could be considered as a redirection of abstraction to not a lyrical regression to sentimentality, but as a method to engage with the subject with more visceral sensibilities. It was also an investigation as to how to unmask architectures hidden libido, taking cues from the writings of Sylvia Lavin, through interactive coexistent environments. In opposition to Adolf Loos’ architecture that was focused on the gaze of the subject to the object, this is an architecture that gazes back. It is about the mutual attraction of both objects and the growing intimacy between them, strengthened by the using the object as
ground and how these two objects connect. The posture of the objects gives the vehicle to be able to reference The Nude Maja. An object sitting on ground, dealing once again with issues of the gaze. The sensual charge is designed through ontological-technological referencing and diffuses the seen and obscene of the object, but it also abstracts the digital decadent times we are currently in. There is also a commentary being made by the patterns applied. The faux marble is a commentary towards the lust for this material. The anticipation and tension between these two objects reinforce the fact that they may not exist without one another. It creates an affective emotional connection. It is an entirely new way of experiencing architecture, in an era of confusion, going back to representation and abstraction, it becomes almost a precursor or a foreshadow of what is to come. A design for the Anthropocene, it is not architecture for humans, it is an architecture for architecture, existing simply just to exist, in unison, forever.
site plan: object as ground
vivienne westwood dress
diagram
adolf loos tristan tzara house plan
abstract
facet
transgressed indexical diagram of the gaze
three dimensional translations of indexical diagram
physical model: wood, hand painted + 3d print
04 digital ruinification program: digital ruins location: everywhere + nowhere critics: adam fure + gabriel esquivel design team: adam wells, christian stiles, kendall slaughter, + luis fernando muĂąoz semester: spring 2016
digital ruinification This project evolves from a series of manipulations of physical and digital mediums, while centering around the idea of the “ruin” and through what processes can a ruin exist in a digital space. We began with the question of what it meant to be “digitally ruined”. Rather than attempting to replicate physical weathering, whether it be by rain, wind, or other natural force, finding a new way of digitally ruining objects was the driver. The objects assert two main points, the denial of the aesthetic project, and the emphasis on process as a creator rather than a means to an end. The process began from simple simple boxes that then were digitally eroded by booleaning out free digital scraps that exist on the internet, these objects were then 3D printed, degrading it since the 3D printer has less resolution than a computer screen. These low-res 3D prints where then photogrammed, further ruining these objects and finally these objects were brought back into the physical world through a process of cnc milling at a larger scale, further degrading the resolution. It was a constant gain and loss of data, being transferred from the digital to the physical.
Each step represents the creation of new objects through a restructuring of data, material, and formal qualities. These objects can then be viewed as a collective, as opposed to primary trials. Complexity is achieved with the use of simple operations and the translation between mediums rather than digital sculpting or scripting methods. This procedural approach looks for a new direction in the design of complex objects. The results are architecturally latent spaces existing within these digitally ruined objects
cnc milled model
section/plan of digital ruins
decollective images showing render, 3D prints, and photogrammed wireframes
05 bubbles program: student center location: college station, texas critic: sarah deyong design team: julia peĂąa + luis fernando muĂąoz semester: fall 2016
bubbles The dictionary defines diversity as the quality or state of having many different forms, types and ideas, but in reality diversity exists in much more complex forms. There is cultural diversity, diversity of thought, diversity of origin, the list grows, and the way diversity is perceived is equally complex. In the context of Texas A&M University there have been initiatives to put diversity at the forefront of the school’s agenda. An ongoing campaign encourages faculty, staff, and the student body to be fearless on every front. In a world where we must fight against fascism, racism, sexism, xenophobia, and all other types of hatred in our daily lives it is vital that we allow for a place where anyone and everyone can be themselves. We began to think of a spaces that will allow for the main activities that we believe promote diversity to occur. Since our site is located in a place where different disciplines converge it is vital that this building creates an environment where enriching and cultivating ideas can be conceived, created, and shared. This generates architecture that is politically charged a directly related to fighting for justice. Architecture as a statement.
The main volumes contain space for a library, a woodshop and fabrication space, and an auditorium, which are meant to think, create and share respectively. Historically and philosophically spheres have signified life and thought. Peter Sloterdijk states that all relationships are spheres and that they are the creation of an inner space. The thoughtful aggregation of spheres lead to the creation of bubbles. The bubbles are intimate yet open and interactive spaces, and are where most of the active space for the library and woodshop are housed within. There are different levels of interiority within the bubbles. Foam exists within the bubbles that are simultaneously existing as capsules when more private spaces are desired and as islands to interact with, whether it be climbing, sitting, or resting upon. The poetics of of the spaces engage with the people who inhabit them and allow for interactions and activities that promote connectivity with one another and the architecture.
bubbles within context
exploded isometric exposing interior foam
site plan
generate inital volumes
assign programmatic needs
boolean volumes
clip to fit context
ground to connect site
open for light and views
plan 03
plan 04
thank you