MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
MARGARET [ YACOUBIAN ] KILADJIAN Rhode Island School of Design Master of Architecture '18
INFORMATION
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
TABLE of CONTENTS
01 BOATHOUSE • BH 02 UN-WALL THE BORDER • UB 03 ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN • ED
TOC
BOATHOUSE
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BOATHOUSE
We were given a program and a site in Providence that I researched by referencing to historic maps at the Brown library archives. I analyzed the type of buildings and infrastructure that existed over approximately100 years. These maps helped me diagram how the site was used, the function of the existing buildings, the shoreline changes, the water level and tidal range. I created sketches, plans, sections, physical and digital models of my Vessel that connects the city to the water in the East-West direction. My main attempt was to make the least imprint on the ground and a seamless integration with the surrounding nature. Using paper as a medium, I experimented in finding a rigid surface with a minimum required folds which then developed into a truncated cone. The intersecting horizontal planes generated the Rowing Center’s parabolic floor plates where the ground level stores the rowing boats and the second level services as the boathouse club for viewing, exercising, meeting, etc.
Date Spring 2016 Course Type Architectural Design Studio Name A Community Rowing Center in Providence Professor Chris Bardt
BH
An initial site visit and analysis prompted me to draw two lines: One that has the most direct connection from the community/ city to the water (East/West direction) and the other that makes the circulation between the existing pedestrian paths, the rowing center and along the water shoreline (North/South direction). Further analysis lead me to create a grid that extends over the given site using the existing prominent highway and bridge structure as my guide. My ultimate objective was to create a space that had minimal footprint on the site, leaving most of the land as an outdoor gathering space. Initial continuous surface studies lead me to my Vessel shape: A truncated cone that dives towards the water. Its curvature’s opening outward allows the feeling of a spacious and non-claustrophobic interior, even when crowded with rowing boats. It’s a vessel that slopes slightly towards the water. The intersection of horizontal surfaces generate parabolic interior floor grounds with the vessel side walls creating a sense of openness in a rather narrow space.
01 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 02
03 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 04
05 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 06
07 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 08
09 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 10
11 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 12
13 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 14
15 BH
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
BH 16
Un-Wall
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
UN-WALL THE BORDER
Connecting Monuments Through a Cultural Hub I translate the border and the space around it into a locale of escape, a space of cultural and economic exchange. To be around and near the border becomes an act of refuge; not a place of separation and division. Not where you are “fenced in or fenced out.” The historic path of Rio Bravo/Rio Grande suggests a shifting border and not a static condition. For this project, I propose a“Boulevard” of crossing and connection between historic monuments so that one observes and inhabits the border from above, in-between and below. I aim to create a place of experience, where the land is used by everyone and anyone. It starts with the development of El-Chamizal as a suggestive “neutral zone” that would change the attitude and position of two neighboring countries over the years and expands eventually into a seamless condition.
Date Fall 2017 Course Type Advanced Studio Studio Name Un-Wall the Border Professor Hansy Better Barraza
UB
CALIFORNIA
ARIZONA
NEW MEXICO
BAJA CALIFORNIA
ED IT UN
TEXAS
ES AT ST
Monument #258
SONORA
O IC EX M
CHIHUAHUA
COAHUILA
NUEVO LEON
TAMAULIPAS
01 UB
Nodes/Checkpoints at Centuries Old Boundary Monuments Around 700 miles of 15-18 feet high, single or double walls is built along roughly the 2000 miles border between Mexico and the United States that is preventing cultural exchange, stopping the migration of animals, killing thousands of habitat, preventing animals from reaching for food and water and damaging the environment. I propose the removal of all the existing walls and going back to history, to after 1846-1848 US-Mexico war ended, when 52 obelisks doted the horizon and were used as border markers between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego. Now there are 276 such monuments. I propose using these monuments as markers, as meeting/checkpoints where eventually cultural and economical exchange might happen.
UB 02
03 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
20’
10’
1849
1851
1894
1971
2009
~100’
UB 04
05 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
UB 06
USA USA BUFFER ZONE MEXICO
07 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
MEXICO
UB 08
USA
PUBLIC GREEN AREAS
09 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ART & CULTURE MANUFACTURING & TRADE
SPORTS & RECREATION
New Passages Existing Border Nodes
MEXICO AGRICULTURE & MARKET
Existing Buildings New Playgrounds Monuments
UB 10
1827
1852
1899 Relocated River Channel Post 1968
Rio Grande1860’s
Amphitheater Rehearsal Spaces
1896
11 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ravo Rio B
Piazza Exhibition Spaces
Monument #1 Library
Rio G rand e
3,300’
UB 12
13 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
UB 14
15 UB
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
UB 16
ENVIRO
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
I used the interior and exterior spaces generated by simple paper folds as a suggestive solution to cover the roof of the BEB building. My objective is two folds: First, to create an indoor/outdoor space in the periphery of the roof line, used as a students’ lounge while taking advantage of the West and South views. Secondly, an intervention that makes BEB more sustainable and Eco-friendly by: 1. Changing the roof slope in the middle section of the fourth floor (senior thesis students’ space) and installing photo-voltaic solar cells to generate and supply solar electricity. 2. Extending the 4th floor out towards the buffer zone as a four feet covered terrace with plants that are irrigated using part of the collected rainwater. The remaining collected water to be stored in a sub-basement cistern and used inside the building.
Date Fall 2016 Course Type Environmental Design I Studio Name Eco Lab Professor Jeffrey Geisinger
ED
PROCESS Paper folding and manipulations created these geometric forms with convex and concave shapes that I used to: 1. Contain: Concave inwards to contain plants and guide the water for collection. 2. Protect: Convex outwards to create and define interior spaces that are protected from the elements.
01 ED
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ED 02
03 ED
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ED 04
05 ED
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ED 06
07 ED
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu
ED 08
MARGARET KILADJIAN mkiladji@alumni.risd.edu