The Architecture of M.A.Aguirre

THE ARCHITECTURE OF M. A. AGUIRRE | 2017

2

g keeps in h t o n , e t a r o live to collab I of life m a e t a t I n y a a w d p more. I nt, every u e e im r m ip to be e h p s x d e n n ie t a r e f g y m t a m n I guy. I do nds and a ie r e f id g n n a lo m a change. I r tal. is or will o g p in a t s y r a e n v e e e s s a le p o bored easily e p e it r . My favo n’t ree s t e s o a t d y it , m t f o o n be e ar t, or . k s a r e m h t o o ls a in omeI s d e s t a s e g r n e t lo in s e a r a way; my er to me t a t e a m m s y ll w a lo t to be b n a w I . r e e v n a le Everything ks it is c the mund in r h t o f e n le o p m e dox. I t a r a p a d . n mind is a a w g to gro perience in x n e r a n been e a y e v e a m h li t b u u b s t d n an rese uild for the p b r into the a f o o t e h g t in d e in b izied for p and beh it r o t c d. I’ve e e h t h r is e n v fi o n d u n s u y o I am a playgr and alwa is e r ld u r eant o u m f , w y w e M n . r g e in t h n cou ted anyt hild’s c a e e r h c t r , e d v il e h n c ning, or n u c , s f s ie le h t e and I am the a m o ither I am ner, the h e e g d r in a g e h t , r mothe e bird h t d mposer. n o a c , t g a o e d r g y a r t man, the s mess. a d in h e b s e that leav rson I e p f o e p y t e u haven’t o y if r e k Radical is th a t am a risk I . e b o t e k ed. li would already notic s that m r o f t la p in d e ully this f e p o e H v . a e h I am interest m y it, that’s ether the ’s h t a w h , T g in h t he job. e t e m s t e say som e g h e t n d it onto sage alo e s t e c d fluff je m n o r a p y it w n o a h v e y t d m s o o s and nob llows is ju r o f e t p a is h h w W ony m e e h d o t n io it s moon or t neat compo a in has ale m l a e r e h cares.

T l. strate my skil bove. a d e u t t a s t s d n n a e e ready b teachers g in k e e s e b m o a t I ne I meet o y r e v e Truly, t n a l il dents; I w w y e Yours h t y a d e n o d

n irre u s g k o A . o my mentor a A /b s o e c r r u a t in my lec M d e n io t n e in m d be entione m e b l il w I n r and in retu theirs.

3

4

1. F r e s n e l C l o u d L e n s

p.06

2. C o n - C o n e s

p.10

3. P r o v i d e n c e C o m e t

p.16

4. B o t a n i c a l Q u a r r y

p.24

5. T h e P e o p l e A q u a r i u m

p.32

6. B o r d e a u x H o u s e

p.38

7. M a g e n t a D o t

p.42

8. D r a w i n g s & C o l l a g e s

p.46

Material Reseach Co-Works Labs | 2014 Material Research RISD | 2016

Achitcetural Design RISD | 2015 Urban Design RISD | 2015

Architectural Design RISD | 2016

Architectural Analysis RISD | 2013 - Present

Publication Ultra-Moderne Studio | 2016 Artist Work RISD | 2013 - Present

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S ARCHITECTURAL PORTFOLIO

5

01

Fresnel Cloud Lens Course: Digital Textiles

Task: Create with digital fabrication methods

Spring 2015

6

Object generation is at the core of my practice. These following pieces are part of a series of studies for what led to a large scale lens called the Fresnel Cloud. Generated from numerous Cad and Rhino drawings made from observations of the lines in clouds and water, I explore mediums and methods of digital fabrication in order to produce objects of unique distortion. With my lens I hope to make regular interactions with a viewer and the view change. A change which I hoped would spark a new curiosity inside the individuals.

In fact the object was a threshold artifact, and a window which the focus of the viewer distorts and the reality surrounding them becomes a new landscape. The visible becomes invisible and the invisible exaggerated.

Introduction

7

This object is derived from a textiles class where I was ask to make drawing through digital platforms and from those use digital fabrication to produce an object in response to the original studies.

I began with a glass box which when looked through could somehow fix the image beyond it. Through it i saw the sky and the surface of water and found things i’ve never seen before. I then began creating my own lenses and objects to see if it could replicated the glass box effect and capture a moment in parallax.

Every glance provided new information and invented landscapes that somehow coexisted in the same enclosure.

8

I produced a series seen throughout the spread, first small studies and then a large lens that one had to completely immerse themselves within because of the objects weight and planar/�depth-tual� perception. While viewing it, the object shifted space, reality became illusion, and a new fascination of what we see everyday was brought out.

9

10

02

Con-Cones Course: Material Exploration Task: Make an adaptable concrete module

Spring 2015

Con Cone was a three week-long group project, done in an advanced studio course called “Precast Concrete.� This specific assignment was to create a modular pre-cast concrete object that would be adaptable, and easily mass produced. Group members included me, Jae Young Jo, Tae Gon Lee, and Linfeng Ke. Our idea was to create a half-cone fiber-glass reinforced concrete object with four end-connections at the four edge faces. The module could be stack, connected, rotated, and separated in every direction, all of which once fully assembled could create an undulating wall or installation. The concrete conic wave was then again re-evaluated for consideration of quicker production, structural stability, lightweight design, porous to natural air, cost effective, and materially efficient. Con-cones i.e. the module of the future.

Introduction

11

Evolution of a Cone 12

Axon of Concone Assembly 13

14

We began with different proposals for a type of architectural space. Tae, a collaborator, discovered a way to mass produce units by pouring plaster into cups. Jack (Linfeng) soon developed a wave which would be our basic concept model. I proposed the ideas of ties and multidirectional connections and Jae developed an ingenious formwork method where it could take only six hours to produce each concrete unit inside two traffic cones. From this our project was born.

We furthered developed our units with tab tie connections to make it a 1:1 architectural cell. Then to the left Jae, developed drawings to render the potential iterations of our module for real installation and production purposes.

Also we discussed further improvements to which the idea was developed to save on material and conserve cost and time efficiency. The wall with masses cut out would still be structurally sound but could also allow for control of air quality and have a surprisingly stunning effect of light pouring into the space.

15

03

Providence Comet Course: Advanced Studio

Task: Create the shared living space of the future

Fall 2016

16

The future is ours to share, and so is the responsibility to shape our society. For my part as an architect it is my responsibility to shape society by shaping architecture. The Providence Comet is how I plan to shape my city. A shared living skyscraper, where citizens co-exsists with the inhabitants.

The comet, named after its star shaped footprint is a thirty four story residential tower with many public spaces. The hierarchy of these programs, both seen in the residential units and in public venues, are organized into layer of values I intend to superimpose on the city of Providence. The tower is a new monument, if built the tallest building in New England, a shining star to lead Providence back from a bad economy to a transparent and progressive future. I made the Comet as an experiment to fit and reorganize a vertical diagram of the future city. The scope is ambitious and the project remains unfinished.

Introduction

17

6 3

9

3 6 3

18

5

4

3 18

4

5

3

5

4

3 6 9

4

3

3

I began with precedent studies of two radical residences. My first is O.M.Ungers home in Cologne, “A house without qualities,� a relentlessly pure and symmetrical three story experiment that exaggerates the monstrosity in concept. The second is Peter Eiseniman House #6, a drawing which translated line on a page to a wall in space.

As humans our lives are organized by a hierarchy of interpersonal values. From our social lives to the value we place on work and study, our goal is to optimize the richness of our own lives and those around us.

For the Comet, program was key to demonstrate a literal and metaphorical layering of values I wanted to superimpose on the city of providence. to the types of living, and the individual units themselves. I imposed an order at which i placed public spaces in the tower. No part of the programming was left out, everything was part of a chaotic and coherent micro city.

SELF CARE

STUDY

The precedents shared a philosophy, one of which allowed me to play a dangerous role as architect. The role in which I experiment with the lives of my intended inhabitants. Where my lines may prescribe lifestyles that they have yet to know. Yet once in the space will have a revolutionary life reevaluation.

BELONGINGS NUTRITION

SOCIAL

19

LOBBY & CIRCULATION F.1 PARKING & STORAGE F.2-5 HOSTEL & CAFETERIA F.6-7 GYM & CLASSROOMS F.9

UP DO

W

N UP

TURKS HEAD BUILDING MULTI-STORY RESIDENTIAL

20

THE ARCADE HISTORICAL SITE

DUPLEX SHARED LIVING F.10-12 LOFT (2-STORY) UNITS F.14-17, 19-22 SINGLE PERSON LOFTS F.24-27 CLUBHOUSE & RESTURANT F.29-32 PUBLIC VIEWING PLATFORM F.34

FACTORY F.33 BALL ROOM F. 28 POOL F.23 LIBRARY F.18 GARDEN F. 13 EVENT SPACE F.8

RESIDENTIAL PUBLIC/PRIVATE PUBLIC NEIGHBORING BUILDINGS 21

Each layer is both ideological and indifferent. A seven hundred foot tower with a slice left out inorder to let the city pour in.

22

The comet situated in providence, as a neighbor and a leader.

A new direction, a symbol of hope to Providence.

23

Botanical quarry is a void. It is seven stories of earth gone. A true metaphor to the status of nature in the metropolis. Nature exists as the lowest of the low, an afterthought, a layer in photoshop.

Where others buried nature, I planted architecture.

The botanical quarry is not an apt name, it’s there for drama, a better title would be “the submerged and the restless.” Submerged for obvious reason, restless because the space is intended to revamp the dead. Good architecture is no longer something that can go unnoticed. Good architecture must be in the face of the viewer and shout “look at me, I am a force of nature, the product of man.” Only then may society learn lessons from architecture, once our field and our mediums act as paintings then we can stand to be philosophers and masters of light, volume, gravity. Botanical Quarry is a lesson in the practice of in you face architecture.

Introduction

24

04

Botanical Quarry Course: Urban Design Task: Design a peice of the city

Fall 2015

25

Hospital District Museum District

Garden Expansion High Income Housing Education CCRI

Avg. Income Housing

Low Income Housing 26

School Expansion

The site was of part of an urban design course to reinvent south-central Providence into a new area called the knowledge district, a 2015 proposal to unite the hospital district with low and middle class housing, bring in retailers and restaurants, add an addition to the local community college, and propose a space for a new museum that would capture the historical significance of the site once known as the Jewelry District. My urban design group together formulated a device to tie the site together while keeping each area as independent islands. We then each chose a section and began a design. My location was the green belt, originally the central park of the site then transformed to the central park of providence. Unlike everywhere else I saw it to plant void and photoshop in the architecture as an afterthought.

Below is a drawing from earlier in the semester where I began with an introduction of replanting grass at an freeway intersection and installing park and recreational architectural elements. I wanted land that was never tended to and was extremely dangerous to inhabit, and destigmatize the repulsion in order to created a coexistence of machine man and nature in repose.

Concepet Drawing

site organization

designed finalization

scaled model

27

The garden wasn’t the only intervention for the three block site. Also included was a two story row of shared living residential/ retail units descending into the walls and emerging from out the void, a zigzag array of restaurants and retail spaces lined the northern face of the second block, and at the end east facing edge a large scale daycare center to house the children of all the local parents on our site and opposite them a nursing home. Beneath was the garden seven stories below with the only entrance being at the eastern front and above a skybridge that shaded and directed light to the foliage below. Each building was an a experiment of extreme and nonchalant programmatic coexistences; retail space with shared living units, restaurants and parking, and day care and nursing home.

The garden too, a majestic landscape was full of some plants that can survive even the most hostile environments.

28

retail/ residential

daycare parking/ resturants

nursing home skybridge

Plans for Nursing Home.

Renderings for the Daycare 29

30

31

05

The People Aquarium Course: Architectual Design Task: Design an aquarium

Spring 2015

32

The People Aquarium is an aquarium of people. A place to see people move and wander. A site strategy where we are both the observer and the observed. Purposefully I inverted the prompt when first asked to “design an aquarium.” Fishes are trapped, doomed to forever explore the same spaces over and over again, I wanted humans have trhe same experience.

My favorite word and concept is “sonder.”

The realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own—populated with their own ambitions, friends, routines, worries and inherited craziness. In this project i wanted to create a wild frenzy of sonder, a project in disguise as a cross of guggenheim and your average everyday aquarium.

Introduction

33

34

Beginning with two separate starting points which would eventually come together to bring me a structure for social experiments, I began with a drawing and photographic study of water(left). I found the phenomenon of light passing through the rock and their tracking movement fascinating.

For the material exploration (right) we were ask to span fabric similar to that of the studies of your drawings. The span could only be done with three materials, cardboard, wire, and fabric. I came out from these studies with a device of tension to fixed rigidity by a physical inward tension force. My lotus block was born. The lotus would develop into a rectilinear inward tension experiment of light and movement as you will see next.

35

Embarrising sophmoric concept collage 36

Numerous iterations of the lotus led me to interlocking “L’s” that revolved without gravity in the air. Like Four elbows they were supported and suspended by two superwalls that line the interior of the 5 story building. The tops of the L’s were circulation for the visitors and the prompt also asked to supply a space for researchers which became the interior of the L’s.

The reach labs were spaces for scientific studies of water contaminants, microbiology, geology, and weather patterns of the Rhode Island coast; each of which took there own elbow. The “L’s” were all sloped and each end either pointed towards the water like a building ready to dive, or to the sky like a rocket ready to launch off into towards the universe.

37

06

Bordeaux House Course: Architectural Analysis Task: Find the Bordeaux House’s Device

Spring 2014

38

For a course called Architectural Analysis the task was to take your assigned building and develop drawings and models from the limited sources that had been published on your project. My building was the Bordeaux House, an OMA project which I had to take, dismantl, rebuild, and expose. The building given to me was a strange early Koolhaas experiment. The first time I saw the structure I was repulsed and by the end I only felt love for the maid and the architect. By mid semester your period of discovery was over and your invention mode had to began. It was expected that you had masterful command on the building and that in months time you would decipher the architects device and derive your own interpretation of the project.

Introduction

39

Hand Drawn Hand drawn plans on the left and axonometric above. The bordeaux house had very little published documentation and the only source was four drawings and an hour long documentary of a maid cleaning the home.

40

In this course not only do we find ways to unearth the building, our goal is also to reconstruct the building in a way which eliminates its unessentials and leaves behind the built concept. For me that meant just elimentary everything but the planes and paths of views(above).

41

The Magenta Dot’s name came about through a meeting which was held between a local Providence community and a group of RISD students hoping to get a site for a design build project. A meeting with the community was held numerous times and everytime was met with a defensive and unwilling crowd. Our many meetings began with outlandish artsy fartsy proposals and each time were rejected. We then felt an urge to throw in the towel, but a final stand had to be made. We held a meeting like any other, and like every other, the most defiant and vocal communities members came out to criticize whatever we had to throw. What we threw was a site plan with a magenta dot. The dot meant nothing other then “here.” Somehow the dot also meant Eureka. Somehow the dot also represented the future. Somehow the dot was also a past that wouldn’t be forgotten. Somehow the dot the same thing and a different thing to everyone.

Introduction

42

07

The Magenta Dot Southlight Publicaation Task: Create a Design/Build guide

Fall 2016

43

44

The project came together; a building (left) of unlimited potential and programmatic iteration was born. The project was a big success, everyone loved it, and a publication was called for to memorialize the struggles and good times that made Southlight (the projects name) possible. I was one of the many main contributors and was selected to write the chapter “Neighborhood: a guide to the ideology of the magenta dot.�

Upon my research I discovered the fabric and fragility of communities. I believe I found the crucial aspect that may help others get similar projects off the ground.

Part of the text, “In the end, the decision is meant to be shared and there is no place for one but many leaders. The real task is to find a dream everyone can identify with and an identity that everyone can be included in.

45

I prefer drawing to talking, Drawing is faster and leaves less room for lies -Le Corbusier

46

08

Drawings & Collages Artist Works

Task: Demonstrate hobbys and skills

2014-Present

47

(Above) Miscellaneous drawings. (Center) Drawings for an independent study on the Parc de la Villette. (Right) Paper cut-out collages.

48

49

education

CURRICULUM VITAE SPRING 2017 maguirre@risd.edu marcoaguirre.com 817.987.8706

Providence RI Sept.2013 - Present

Rhode Island School of Design Bachelor of Architecture, 2018 Bachelor of Fine Arts, 2017

Fort Worth TX Sept.2009-May.2013

Gr een B. Trimble Tech H. S. Architectural Drafting + Design Concentrator

Fort Worth TX Sept.2012-May.2013

Advance Acedemic Immersion Academy Mathmatics + Physics Concentrator

Providence RI Sept 2016-present

Brown University Courses in Economics, Philosphy, and the German Language

work experience

objective To create a team of life long friends and mentors, and for them to help me develope my skills, knowledge, and overall practice of architecture.

Also I want my life and the work I produce to impact every client and visitors of my projects. Every project has a vision and one day I want those visions to be fufilled. I am ambitious and hardworking person and I hope to achieve my dreams in the time I have. I will change the world.

passions Drawing, reading, mindless websearches, making apparel, collages, and wandering thoughout the city untill I have visited every building in my vicinity. Also I love historical celebrity gossip.

50

Providence RI July 2016 - Aug 2016

UltraModerne Architectural Firm Design Intern

Providence RI Sept 2016 - Dec 2016

Southside Cultural Center of Rhode Island Design/Build Material Consultant + Builder

Thomaston CT July 2016 - Aug 2016

Coreslab Structure Summer Design Fellow

related experience Providence RI July 2016 - Aug 2016

Department of Architecture, Rhode Island School of Design Gallery Assistant

Providence RI July 2016 - Present

Office of Technology + Information, Rhode Island School of Design Web Administrator Assistant

Providence RI July 2016 Aug 2016

Gelman Gallery, Rhode Island School of Design Museum Student Exhibition Coordinator (Intermittent)

Providence RI Sept 2016 - Present

ACE Mentor Program of America Teaching Assistant + Mentor

MadeStudentBoutique.com Sept 2015 - Present

MADE Student Boutique, Center for Studen Involvement, RISD Web + Press Coordinator

Skills Experience. 5/5 Experience Experience Experience Experience

4/5 5/5 5/5 4/5

Design | Architectural drafting and design, methods of concrete casting,

web design, graphic design. Effective collaborator, presenter, and critiquer.

Technology | Rhino, Revit, AutoCad, Adobe & Microsoft Suite, Fine Arts | Hand and Digital Drawing, Watercolor,ink, Charcoal, and Sculpting.

Leadership | Teaching Assistant + Mentor in the ACE Mentor Program of America Language | Fluent in English and Spanish, Novice Germen

independent competitions May 2015 March 2013

Parade of Playhouses Competition | Dallas CASA Organazation, Dallas TX Pavillion for Sundance Square Competition | City of Fort Worth , Fort Worth TX

publications May 2013 Dec 2015 Nov 2014 Dec 2016

Feature, Sinage Works | ArtandSeek.net Feature, Minimalist Music’s Liquid Architecture |WallStreet Journal Feature, Fort Worth AIA Annual Publication | Fort Worth AIA Contributor, The Story of Southlight | Ultramoderne Architects

awards + distinctions Apr 2013 May2016 May2013

James Earle Johnson’s Architects of the Future Scholarship Material Developement + Research Grant, American Concrete Institute ACE Exploring Architecture Scholarship, Fort Worth AIA

exhibitions winter 2016 fall 2014 spring 2015 summer 2016 winter 2015 spring 2013 summer 2013 spring 2014 spring 2013

Drawing Poems | Benson Gallery, Providence RI Take-Over Exhibition | RISD Museum, Providence RI Design the Night: Performace | RISD Museum, Providence RI Pop-Up Pin-Up | BEB Gallery, Providence RI RISD MADE Annual Exhibition | Expose Gallery, Providence RI Young Architects Exibition | Fort Worth AIA, Fort Worth TX Singnage Works Exhibition | Eastfield College Gallery, Dallas TX Group Exhbition | Gallery 414, Fort Worth TX Teen Artist Program Exhibition | Modern Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth TX

51

THE ARCHITECTURE OF M. A. AGUIRRE | 2017

THANK YOU +1 817.987.8706 MAGUIRRE@RISD.EDU 2 C O L L E G E S T. # 0 0 1 4 PROVIDENCE RI, 02903

52