Portfolio - Selected Work

Portfolio 2016-2020

Milena K Heuer

Selected Work Master of Architecture Queen’s University Belfast Bachelor of Arts in Architecture Clemson University

Content 1

Along the Horizon

2

School in the Dike

3

The Future of Humanity

4

Floating City

5

Gullah Geechee Visitor Centre

6

Cities within a City

7

Reading in the Woods

8

Artwork & Thoughts

Architectural Intervention in the East Frisian Landscape East Frisia, Germany

Floodcontrol + Functionality Antwerp, Belgium

Human Enhancement Facility Belfast, Northern Ireland [UK]

Unsinkable Society Belfast, Northern Ireland [UK]

Cultural Heritage Centre Charleston, South Carolina [USA]

Urban Development Genoa, Italy

Pavilion + Public Library New Canaan, Connecticut [USA]

Sequence Luftschloss

Along the Horizon

M.Arch II | Thesis Project | Spring 2020

East Frisia, Germany

Along the Horizon

Architectural Intervention in the East Frisian Landscape

In today’s globalised world, the relationship between the human and non-human world is broken. Humankind has to reconnect with nature to create a sustainable future. Reconnecting with nature awakens quintessential forms of being, such as walking and simply being in serene natural environments.

This thesis project positions itself between a romantic and a scientific world view and creates a holistic understanding of the landscape of the East Frisian Peninsula, grounded in scientific analysis and subjective experience. The peculiarity of the East Frisian landscape is its significant flatness, and consequential its horizon, which becomes an incentive for walking.

The design charters the landscape of the East Frisian Shore: 25 toilets are spread along a trail at 6km apart. The verticality of the structure highlights the significant flatness of the landscape; and also becomes a point of reference for the walker. Some of the toilets will be located within the Wadden Sea National Park, bordering on Nature Conservation Areas and Biosphere Reserves. Elemental to the project is sustainability and low environmental impact: To reduce the impact on the environment the design uses, in a ‘rain gutter-sail’ collected, rainwater and also recycles human waste using an environmentally friendly three-chamber septic tank made from geopolymer concrete. The project uses zero energy post-construction, as everything is operated manually. While the buildings are servicing the walkers, they also captivate a moment in the landscape, a moment of being.

Sites

Siel

Along the Horizon

Curvature of the Earth Ignoring the effect of atmospheric refraction, distance to the true horizon from an observer to the Earth’s surface is about:

Calculation of how much of distant object is visible above the horizon:

The height of point just visible to the observer is given by:

d = 3.57 √h

3.57 √1.7 = 4.65 km distance

h ≈ (distance (km) / 3.57 ) 2 h ≈ (6 / 3.57 ) 2 = 2.8 m

d = km | h = height above sea in m | 3.57 = km/m(1/2)

h = height of a person in m | 3.57 = km/m(1/2) | average height of German person ≈ 1.7 m

Steelframe | Timber| Copper Cladding |Folded Steel

Toilet

Elevations 1:30

When the objects/buildings are distanced at 6 km apart, the lowest point of the building visible lies at 2.8 m.

East Frisian Coast and Wadden Sea

Island Baltrum Toilet Neßmersiel Beach Toilet Walking path + Wadden Sea Walk

Walking the flat landscape Along the Horizon

Island Baltrum Toilet Neßmersiel Beach Toilet Walking path

Approaching the landscape from both a scientific and a romantic point of view are appraised in the East Frisian landscape, a unique place which is intrinsic and imminent to me. East Frisia is the place where I was born and the place I grew up. The work is a testimony to the way I have lived and experienced this place.

Consequently, it is a manifestation to how I place myself and my way of thinking in the world, and by extension, how I see humankind situated within and shaping this world.

The East Frisian landscape is a highly pragmatic environment and a very sublime landscape in its extreme conditions of emptiness, loneliness, exposure and its very significant flatness. East Frisia is empty, as there are a very low density and few forests, but rather wide fields and marshlands. The emptiness can create a feeling of loneliness. The landscape is extremely exposed, and the wind is rarely broken by trees, small towns or cities. Not only is the landscape exposed to all the elements, but also the gaze of everyone and everything within.

In a landscape in which the eye may travel to the horizon in such a boundless distance, the sky and the light become consequential.

The significant flatness, and in extension, the horizon, is an incentive for walking. In East Frisia cycling is the most common mean of transportation, as the land is so very even. However, the wind often impedes cycling immense. As the intensity of walking is not as much affected by the elements, walking is quite common as a recreational activity rather than a mean of transport and a tool of quick arrival at a destination. Walking is a form of being and a form to encounter this land.

“Everyone knows how to walk. One foot in front of the other, that’s the proper rhythm, the good distance to go somewhere, anywhere. And all you have to do is resume: one foot in front of the other” (Gros, 2015, p. 35). Walking in East Frisia is very inclusive, as a walk is not difficult to undertake in the even terrain. Even walking from the mainland to the islands, Norderney and Baltrum, is quite popular for locals and tourists.

Along the Horizon

Island Baltrum and Beach Neßmersiel 1:5000

N

Along the Horizon

Raingutter & Water Collection

Copper Cladding

Timber Steelframe Pipe

Pipe Watertank | Collected Rainwater

Geopolymer Concrete Lid + individual Manholes for each Chamber

Geopolymer Concrete Septic Tank Primary Settlement Chamber Second Chamber Final Chamber

Leach Field

Along the Horizon

Along the Horizon

Along the Horizon

Himmlische Perspektive Along the Horizon

Celestial Perspective Framing the Sky

Celestial Perspective Framing the Sky

Along the Horizon

Steelframe | Timber| Copper Cladding |Folded Steel

Toilet with three Chamber Septic Tank Section 1:20

Along the Horizon

M.Arch II | Fall 2019

School in the Dike

Antwerp, Belgium

School in the Dike

Floodcontrol + Functionality The city of Antwerp has to deal with severe flooding. The flood levels in perspective to Antwerps elevation dictate a design to prevent flooding: A 6m high dike will protect the school and city from flooding. The school sits within the dike and will also use the functionality of the purposefully shaped landscape: such as farming the dike. The tower marks the entrance and creates marvellous views from each classroom over the Scheldt river and parts of the city. The serial walls are supporting the retaining wall and dike. The serial condition of these walls is readable once inside the building as they pass the perpendicular walls.

School in the Dike Elevation 1:250

Elevation 1:250

Flood Control

Site

Meadow

Farm

Forest

Park / Garden

Recreational

Nature Reserve

Residential

Industrial

Commercial

Waterlevel 6 TAW

Waterlevel 9.25 TAW

School in the Dike

THIRD FLOOR

GROUND FLOOR

Classroom II

Service

Specialist room

Specialist room

Playground

Flexible Hall & PE

Specialist room

Specialist room

FOURTH FLOOR Classroom III

Aula/ Theatre

FIFTH FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

Classroom IV

Service

Specialist room

Service

Specialist room

Service

Specialist room

Service

Specialist room

SIXTH FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR

Classroom V

SEVENTH FLOOR

Classroom I

Classroom VI

School in the Dike

9.25m TAW 5.5m TAW

0m TAW

9.25m TAW 5.5m TAW

0m TAW

9.25m TAW 5.5m TAW

0m TAW

9.25m TAW 5.5m TAW

0m TAW

9.25m TAW 5.5m TAW

0m TAW

M.Arch I | Spring 2019

The Future of Humanity

Belfast, Northern Ireland [UK]

The Future of Humanity Human Enhancement Facility

Humanity has always been thriving to evolve into a more sophisticated species. The Olympic motto ‘Citius Altius Fortius – Faster Higher Stronger’ and the aspiration to become better from generation to generation is embedded in mankind’s genetic makeup. How will humanity evolve in the future, when the lines between the artificial and natural are merging more and more? Humans have been using enhancements for many decades to become better or more capable of skills. Longevity treatments might be able to halt ageing and give humans a more extended life period, technological advancements are expected to reduce working hours of individuals; at the same time, depression is a rising disease and becoming the highest by 2035. The question is, how will humanity scope when the purpose of life and lifespans are shifting? - Sports have been an event to balance out some of these issues. Not only participating in sports but also enjoying the sport as a spectator is a growing industry in today’s and likely in future societies. Elite athletes are a form of ‘enhanced’ humans of today. Technological development will empower more individuals to reach their natural maximum potential, as well as exceed just that. The line between artificial and natural is diminishing at exponential speed and is likely to lead humans to a new form of humans - super humans – super sapiens.

Architecture will play a significant role, not only in accommodating this new generation of humans but more importantly in accommodating the research that will lead to the new form of human life. In this project, my studio group was to move the future facilities of Queen’s University to Queen’s Island Belfast. This project is a facility of the Queen’s University Belfast, for human enhancement research. The athletic surrounding supports individuals to create a stronger physiological, as well as cognitive version, of themselves. The research laboratories host facilities for human research and testing. The building is situated in an athletic/human-testing complex.

The Future of Humanity

Campus 1 Pool 2 Basketball 3 Baseball 4 Football 5 Volleyball 6 Tennis

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12

7 Multipurpose Trainingsfields 8 Tennis

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9 Track and Field 10 Hockey

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11 Climbing 12 Runningtrack/Accerleration testing

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13 Boatshouse (Rowing, Kayak, Canoe)

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14 Amphitheatre 15 Theatre

8 13

9

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5 6 4

1 2

3

25

26

The Future of Humanity 25

25

SECOND FLOOR

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29

27

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THIRD FLOOR 25

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26

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FIRST FLOOR 12

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19 14

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GROUND FLOOR

2

3

4

2

3

4

5

1

N

2

3

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2

3

4

Human1 Research Facility N

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6

6

10

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8 8 5

1

1

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8

1 Lectureroom/Auditorium

11 Multipurpose Gymnasium

21 3D bioprinting

2 Nootropics, neurostimulation + N supplements to improve mental functions

12 Nutrition (Dining)

22 Cyberware

13 Nutrition Prep. + Endogenous artificial nutrition 14 Meetingroom

23 Embryo selection by preimplantation genetic diagnosis Cytoplasmic transfer In vitro-generated gametes

15 Implants & Organ replacements

24 Office + Meetingroom

16 Exocortex

25 Performance Testing

17 Gene therapy

26 Meetingroom

18 Human genetic engineering

27 Stretching + Exercise Area

19 SENS - strategies for engineered negligible senescence

28 Treatment (Cyrotherapy + Hydrotherapy + Compression + Massage)

3 Neural Simulation

N 4 Technologies enhancing cognitive efficiency 5 Brain-computer interface + Mind uploading 6 Neurotechnology 7 Neural implants 8 Changing 9 Prothetics & Powered exoskeletons 10 Hypoxic Chamber + Alter G. + 3D gait analysis

20 Nanomedicine

29 Doping & Performance-enhancing drug

The Future of Humanity

The building accommodates twenty-three research labs, with a focus on contemporary common human research as well as currently emerging, and future human research topics. Every laboratory hosts three to six researchers and students, as well as up to five ‘patients’. Three meeting rooms offer space to exchange and discuss ideas throughout the faculty of human research. The terracing of the floors creates indoor Piazzi, which are used as café space near the nutrition laboratory, as well as a stretching and exercise area, next to the treatment room. The multipurpose gymnasium offers an opportunity to be used for nearby cognitive and fitness experiments, as well as it can be used for socialising and sport.

The large auditorium can host lectures with large audiences. Within the faculty, all humans and their physiological attributes will be studied: athletes, para-athletes, ‘normal’ people. However, the interest of research will shift to a different focus, as technological advancements will overcome physical and visual disabilities eventually. The research will focus on a modern, transhuman race. The surrounding site also has an amphitheatre and an enclosed theatre to host further events. The site hosts a variety of sports, which improve coordination cognitive thinking but also develop physical strength and endurance, such as rowing, climbing, swimming, and various ball sports. Not only spaces for the training of the human body and mind can be found on-site, but also spectators find events to watch in various arenas, theatres, or lecture rooms. Trees, many walkways and bicycle pathways, populate the site and on the main corridors also shuttle buses and occasional cars can make their way to every destination. The site is designed as a ‘natural environment’ in which humans train body and mind. Running, cycling, or just a comfortable walk within the different sports and trees is typical for the site.As humanity evolves and becomes faster, stronger and better at what they do, the site will evolve alongside.

The athletic campus will grow and adapt to the needs of the new human generation – or even species. It would likely become an athletic training ground for the elite humans of that new elite human race.

The Future of Humanity Structural diagram walls and portal frame

KINETIC FACADE PANELS - at different stages of openness

KINETIC ARM IN MOVEMENT- holding and moving kinetic panels

connection to panel

connection to panel

connection to building + holding motor to operate arms

FLOOR DETAIL INTERIOR - nonstructual wall meeting overhanging floor

DOUBLE SKIN YEAR-ROUND SUMMER

SUNLIGHT

WINTER

HEAT VENTING

DOUBLE SKIN SOLAR HEAT TRAPPED INSIDE

SHADING DEVICE AIR

AIR SECTION A 1 : 200

SUNLIGHT

The Future of Humanity

70 mm PVC membrane + metal roofing 30 mm softwood boarding Ventilation cavity Vapour barrier + compression layer over thermal insulation Thermal insulation 150 mm Timber joists 300 mm x 200 mm Softwood cladding 100 mm Prefinished glulam portal frames 1500 mm x 300 mm

Metal raingutter

Timber beam 200 mm

Timber Mullion 100 mm x 100 mm @ 2500 mm Prefinished glulam portal frames 1500 mm x 300 mm

Kinetic arm, moving + holding kinetic panels Cavity 750 mm Opening for full building length air circulation Interior glazing - Double glazed glass panel Exterior glazing - Double glazed glass panel

Carbon fibre kinetic panels at different stages of openess

Bench Electromagnetic panels 20 mm (Pavegen product) Floor boards 100 mm Timber joists 200 mm x 230 mm Floor boards 100 mm 150 mm Insulation 300 mm Reinforced concrete slab Gravel Damp-proof membrane Reinforced concrete strip footing

Fine gravel

Fine sand

Coarse gravel

Soil

Floating Cities

M.Arch I | Fall 2018

Belfast, Northern Ireland [UK]

Floating Cities Unsinkable Society

The ever-changing climate and its consequences will have an immense impact on architecture. The architecture of tomorrow will be adaptable, flexible, environmentally and ecologically safe. Climate change migrants will need quickly built shelter and accommodation. Quickly installable, perhaps modular, and globally installable designs will likely shape the future of architecture; or the future of emergency architecture at least. As the human habitat is changing, so will our cities and our life within. Urban farming, with its various types, might grow ever more critical. How will humanity adapt when rising sea levels drastically reduce the earth’s surface?

Belfast Underwater World

ADAPTING TO THE RISING SEA LEVEL

boat tourism diving tourism

6m Sea Level Rise at 2°C temperature increase

9m Sea Level Rise at 2.5°C temperature increase

20m Sea Level Rise at 3.5°C temperature increase

30m Sea Level Rise at 4.5°C temperature increase

kayak tourism

Floating Cities

Global Landscape of Human Migration

Every year Millions of People leave their Homes behind in Search of a Better Home Research carried out with Karolina Dimitrova

Palestine 44%

live abroad

Syria

27%

live abroad

Kazakhstan 18%

live abroad

Romania 15%

live abroad

South Sudan 13%

live abroad

Afghanistan 12%

live abroad

Ukraine

Poland

12%

live abroad

Mexico

11%

live abroad

live abroad

Polish accession to the EU and the ensuing free mobility is leading to large-scale migration to developed countries like the UK and Germany.

Economic instability and low standard of life are driving Mexicans to seek employment in the agricultural or construction industries in the US.

Hyperinflation, power cuts, medicine and food shortages are causing civil unrest in Venezuela and a big wave of migration to neighbouring Chile.

Nationals from countries torn by violence are often forced to flee their homes on foot. They would usually be carrying possessions,shepherdin g young children, and stopping to look for food.

The search of safety through the treacherous territories could last for days, weeks or even longer.

In order to escape war, persecution and poverty, people often attempt to make a dangerous boat crossing in search of a better life elsewhere.

According to the UNHCR, one in every 18 attempting the crossing via the Central Mediterranean route to Europe results in death.

Employment is the biggest drivers of migration on the African continent.

Mozambicans move to Kenya looking for work in the mining or agriculture sector.

Transportation has always been a factor influencing migration patterns. The distance involved and the income of the migrants are considered as crucial factors in determining the role of transportation in carrying migrants.

Vehicles mostly service short distance and intracontinental migration.

9%

Venezuela 4%

live abroad

China is becoming the principal source of international students enrolled in US higher education, with the largest number of employer-sponsored temporary visas.

Civil unrest and political conflicts are forcing Palestinians to migrate, creating increasingly high rates of outward movement to Lebanon.

Violent conflict, severe drought and human-made famine are displacing millions of South Sudanese to neighbouring countries.

Factors facilitating migration include the presence, quality of transport and resources.

The two world’s largest single corridors for migration are Mexico - US and Bangladesh - India.

These two passages are mainly served by surface transport like busses due to the close geographical proximity.

Labour export policies in the Philippines and other economic drivers have created the enormous numbers of nurse health workers that are migrating to the US.

Poverty, underemployment, and a large working-age population are making labour migration an expected and necessary part of life for Bangladeshi.

Technological development has a significant impact on migrational flows, just as the advent of steamships and railways did in the 19th century. The latest 21st-century movements have been principally fuelled by reduced transport costs, making it easier for people to move back and forth.

Air transportation has a big impact on long-distance migration.

In Qatar, air transport plays a vital role in connecting the vast foreign labour communities with their home country.

The number of seats offered by all operators flying between Qatar and India grew by 25% from 2009 to 2017.

Floating Cities

World Population Density

53% of the World Population lives near the Coast Cities that will be drowned by 2100.

MIAMI 2.7 million

RIO DE JANEIRO 1.8 million THE HAGUE 2.5 million

ALEXANDRIA 3.0 million

HONG KONG 8.4 million

SHANGHAI 17.5 million OSAKA 5.2 million

The world’s population is growing rapidly every year, according to a 2017 United Nations report the global population counts currently 7.6 billion, but is expected to grow to 8.6 billion in 2030, 9.5 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 (UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2017).

In 2013, Benjamin Strauss of Climate Central estimated that 710 million people lived within 10 meters of sea level, and 1.3 billion within 25 meters, the height with which the oceans may rise depending upon different scenarios of melting polar ice caps (Chillymanjaro, 2017). Add to that estimates of 100 million people lacking housing and approximately 1 billion people having inadequate shelter (“Downsizing Globally” 2017), out of a total of 1.9 billion households (“Global Homelessness Statistics” 2017), and we seem poised for a massive amount of human migration over the next century, with an equally extraordinary impact on architecture as it gets appropriated by diverse people and adapted for uses not originally intended (Thomas Fisher, 2018, Routledge Companion).

ADAPTING + GROWING WITH THE RISING SEA LEVEL 9 M SEA LEVEL RISE at 2.5°C temperature increase 20 M SEA LEVEL RISE at 3.5°C temperature increase 30 M SEA LEVEL RISE at 4.5°C temperature increase

Project Assembly Site Further Installations N

Floating Cities

20 Million Containers total worldwide 6 Million Containers in use

What happens to shipping containers once they have been used? After all the contents have been emptied and they are no longer needed for the job, where do they go? Are they recycled or reused? China manufactures and exports just about every kind of items and ships them in Steel or Aluminum shipping containers. The United States takes in these goods at an outstanding rate, but it exports very little back to China leaving a huge surplus of empty shipping containers. The life of a shipping container typically ends after a few uses. The term intermodal refers to a container’s ability to be loaded onto a ship, rails, or truck with a special stackable chassis. It is inter-modal, meaning the cargo stays in the box as it transverses from land to sea, back to land, and finally to its destination. The box/container goes from one mode of transport to another with ease. Containers are often left to rust, creating an eyesore for neighboring communities, and are a pollution hazard and a cause of decreasing property values. Empty shipping containers are not good for communities or the environment.

raft materials globally accessible design worldwide installable

WASTE CONTAINERS BECOME RAFT BASE

WASTE PLASTIC + 3D GRAPHENE MATERIAL 5% Density and 10 times stronger than steel

Raft City Adaptability and Density

Floating Cities

ARCHITECTURAL ADAPTABILITY adaptable to cultural prefrences

Unit A Unit B Unit C Unit D

COMMUNITY shared spaces on groundfloor

URBAN + ARCHITECTURAL ADAPTABILITY

SECOND FLOOR | Unit A

SECOND FLOOR | Unit B

SECOND FLOOR | Unit C

SECOND FLOOR | Unit D

UNIT FIRST FLOOR The second floor is adaptable for indiviudals needs.

growth of raft city

userdefined architectural adaptability

staircase as social connector

urban farming - aquaponic system

community

units user specific floor plan design

units

groundlevel - community

bridge connector

waste plastic + 3D graphene material

container set 2

container set 1

Floating Cities 6m Sea Level Rise Harland and Wolff Shipyard Assembly Site

N

Architecture as a Cultural Tool

Gullah Geechee Visitor Centre Cultural Heritage Centre

The Charleston Visitor Center for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is an engaging and inviting Place for visitors as well as for locals. The central feature of the building is an atrium courtyard, planted as a garden and seen through a large opening on the front and back facing facades.

Because the courtyard is open, it invites natural ventilation, encourages participation and use with the building, and visually connects to the adjacent garden of the Middleton Pinckney House on George Street. Located at the corner of Meeting Street and George Street in Charleston SC, the building is at a place between two urban scales, the civic and the residential. It mediates between the two scales using an urban analysis that compares urban form with vernacular tools and interprets materiality as a civic texture. The buildings architectural design celebrates both the Gullah culture and the urban setting of Charleston. The cultural lens ‘sees’ the ingenuity and knowledge of the Gullah people through tools used in rice cultivation, and the urban lens uses the vernacular tools to break down the scale of the city into scaled vernacular pieces. The rice tool was used as a method of form-finding, to create a connection between the rural vernacular and the civic, the process interprets that vernacular into contemporary and civic tectonics. The building program was organized in response to the Gullahs’ Knowledge and ingenuity, and there is a clear division between public/ leisure and private/task space. Because they were experts in rice cultivation, their ‘task labour’ was balanced with leisure time to maintain their rich culture and gardens of their own. The building materials, concrete, steel, glass, and wood are defining the program and spatial use. Inside, the building can easily be read and understood, the spaces where wood is used are the learning/task spaces, while the spaces carved by those wooden pieces are the circulation/ leisure spaces, which are public. The building’s rooms are flexible and can be used in multiple ways. The auditorium opens on two sides with sliding doors and can be extended to the outdoors; the outdoor amphitheatre continues the auditorium into the rear garden.

BA in Architecture 4th Year | Spring 2017

Architecture as a Cultural Tool

Charleston, South Carolina [USA]

Architecture as a Cultural Tool

The Primitive Tool coupled with Urban Scale as a Method of Form Finding

Area of Influence | ANSONBOROUGH NEIGHBORHOOD

Architecture as a Cultural Tool

Elevation Meeting Street + Context Circulation Diagrams

2. Floor

3. Floor

A

B Groundfloor + Site Context Section A

Section B

Architecture as a Cultural Tool

Elevation Meeting Street

Elevation George Street

Elevation Garden

Gallery

Staircase

Cities within a City

BA in Architecture 4th Year | Study Abroad Studio | Fall 2016

Genoa, Italy

Renzo Piano Blueprint | Abstract Renzo Piano Blueprint Competition

“The Blueprint, donated to the city by the architect Renzo Piano, offers a unique opportunity to deal effectively with one of the most complex nodes, so far unresolved in the planning and the necessary redevelopment of Genoa, in full compliance with the guidelines in the PUC (Civic Urban Plan) recently approved definitively. “The Blueprint combines the need to develop one of the city’s most important industrial sectors - ship repairs - with a quality project, so forming the basis of the process of modification of one of the most delicate and valuable stretches of the whole urban waterfront. At the same time, it offers a high-value solution to the relocation of the sporting activities of the historic Genoese sailing clubs. “The revival and development of the ship repair sector require new spaces and a radical reorganization of all its activities, which will necessarily entail filling in the Duca Degli Abruzzi Harbour, now isolated between two areas used for production activities. At the same time, the crisis of the International Trade Fair and the need to redevelop the whole area between Piazzale Kennedy and the Roto da di Carignano offer a unique opportunity to restore a seafront to the city and to reposition the sports activities in areas and situations of better quality, with all the appropriate facilities for water sports. “The solution proposed by Renzo Piano is the excavation of a long canal parallel to the coast, which extends from the Palazzo Dello Sport (Sports Complex) to Porta Siberia. It places the principal point of access on the site of the former NIRA building overlooking the Marina of the Trade Fair and occupying the boundary area between the municipal property and the domain of the port. “Therefore, passing from the Blueprint to a concretely feasible project will require technical investigations, and it will be essential to develop architectural projects that combine high quality with budgetary restraint, given that the operation is still, at least in part, focused on major public works and therefore be completed without dedicated public investments.”

A Blueprint for Genoa: from Porta Siberia to Punta Vagno

21

Cities within a City

Cities within a City - Citta all’interno di una citta Urban Development | Team Project with Emily Ashworth

Studying in Genoa, we quickly gained the understanding that the city of Genoa is divided into different parts, with different feels for the town itself. Our site has been very separated through a high wall, as well as through the location and the nature of the site use, which is very temporarily throughout the year. Therefore we decided to create a new part of a city - A new city within a city. Many site use studies later, we decided on a regular design, which was based on one concept applied to six buildings, which were only different based on the site characteristics themselves. All buildings were cut by one “street” aka the gallery space through the building. After connecting all buildings with each other, the design is a mixed-use complex, just like the rest of the city of Genoa. Commercial use and parking are located on the two first floors and residential use located on the four upper floors. The height of the building was influenced by our sun study and our wish to create a visual connection to the Mediterranean Sea.

Floorplans 1-6 + Roofplan

Cities within a City SITE PLAN | 1:1000

LONGITUDINAL SECTION | 1:750

Cross Section A

Cross Section B

Longitudinal Section

Section Cuts

Cities within a City

Upper Level Gallery

Gallery Space through the building

BA in Architecture 3rd Year | Study Abroad Studio | Fall 2016

Reading in the Woods

New Canaan, Connecticut [USA]

Reading in the Woods Pavilion

The pavilion is thought to invite the community to leisure activities and set up for resting, playing or maybe even an author reading in the centre would be possible. The roof is cut out in such a way, that the centre space would be naturally illuminated, just as on a stage. The design is mimicking the surrounding trees. It is a representation of the surrounding nature as well as the site and its shape. The pavilion was a study to help understand my interest in the site that influenced the library’s design significantly.

et

South Avenue

Main Stre

Maple

Street

Siteplan, 151 Main Street North Elevation

East Elevation

South Elevation

West Elevation

BA in Architecture 3rd Year | Spring 2016

Reading in the Woods

New Canaan, Connecticut [USA]

Reading in the Woods Public Library

The project asked for flexible and open spaces, changeable based on the users needs. Natural lightning is featured throughout the building. The façade design is changing in such manner, to prevent or allow most possible light, depending on direction. The program spaces are rather laid out than defined by changing the ceiling heights and not defining the ground plane, to allow interactions between the programs. The outer appearance of the building is quoting the site and site surrounding, at the same time the building’s design is unique to the location and therefore will make a statement. By allowing green space, as well as giving the town a striking new design, a meeting point is created. The design idea is simple: the Library and the Library technicalities are located on the ground floor, which is slightly elevated, as the parking garage is underneath, with ground windows, allowing ventilation.

After parking the car, one will reach the central atrium with a spiral staircase and elevators, the main circulation point. in the evening the library on the first floor can be locked, and the second floor spaces might still be open to the community for after hours activities, such as meeting rooms and the auditorium.

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1 Solarpanel | 2 Roof Insulation | 3 Horizontal Reinforcement | 4 Heating and Cooling Panels | 5 Suspended Aluminum Ceiling | 6 Pipe and Cable Duct | 7 Triple-glazed opening Window Panel | 8 Voids for Light and Ventilation | 9 Enforced Parking Structure | 10 Solid Void + Light Design Enclosed Window | 11 Outer Skin

Reading in the Woods

Meeting Room. 850SF

Meeting Room. 1000SF

Bathrooms Reception. 1050 SF

Multi Purpose. 3650 SF Auditorium. 338 Seats. 3750 SF Storage. 410 SF

Meeting/Rest Area. 910 SF

Meeting Room. 1000SF

Kitchen. 450SF Terrace

Special Collections. 1600 SF Magazines. 1800 SF Silent Room. 1300 SF Books. 3800 SF Media. 625 SF Audio. 400 SF Computer Area. 1350 SF

550 SF Meeting Rooms. 400 SF 450 SF

Bathrooms Reference Office. 250 SF

Buisness Center/Large Prints. 500 SF Reference/Research. 1650 SF

Underground Parking. 50 + 4 H Circulation/ Atrium

Reading in the Woods

FIRST FLOOR

SECOND FLOOR

North Elevation

South Elevation

East Elevation

West Elevation

Artwork & Thoughts

Sequence

Time - Reality & Fantasy

Sequence describes a particular order and deals with the issue of time. As it deals with the issue of time, it has only one direction. Sequence in a larger sense describes the matter of time, which in theoretical physics is a conceptual conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics in that quantum mechanics regards the flow of time as universal and absolute. In contrast, general relativity considers the flow of time as malleable and relative. This problem raises the question of what time really is in a physical sense and whether it is truly a real, distinct phenomenon. It also involves the related question of why time seems to flow in a single direction, although no known physical laws seem to require a single direction. Sequence withholds the past the present and the future and tells their story. A sequence is a moving narrative, and one can only see a glimpse of it.

Artwork & Thoughts

Luftschloss Comfort

Comfort is an essential need for human beings. Humankind constructed a theoretical world of rules and ideas that the majority of the world population ensue. Comfort within this theoretically constructed world is one of the rare words that describe a physical state as well as a metaphysical state within one’s mind. The physical comfort describes the feeling when the body is relaxed, free from pain and the surrounding puts the body at ease (e.g. thermal). The surrounding environment plays a significant role in both physical and metaphysical comfort, as belonging to nature is an ingrained desire for human beings; we need a connection to nature. Humanity is part of the natural world and craves affiliation (Hopkins, 2020). The romantic idea of nature and environment within which humanity sits is a comfort to the mind, especially if nature is untouched or moulded with careful consideration and prudence, due to the realisation that we are a part of the ecosystem.

A ‘Luftschloss’ (German - literally castle in the air) is an idea or a plan of something one longs for, wishes for, or dreams of, but which, judiciously, is not realistic, but only a fantasy. A Luftschloss is a floating architecture for free and untamed wild thinking. It seems as if it comes from dreams, as it is a castle in the air. In architecture, every design begins rather utopian and unreal like a Luftschloss. There are crucial aspects of architecture that are independent of place, even aspects that can only be thought of without a sense of place. These aspects are in a way utopian, such as notions of room atmosphere, sense of shelter and warmth, or the purpose of the function. Architectural concepts of home, arrival and Heimat are also quite utopian and immaterial.

The utopian seems to be the freedom to the reality, that wants statics and order. The utopian - the imagined - often contrasts what we consider ‘real’ world. However, everything that happens in one’s imagination can be regarded as just as real, even though not textile. Reality or fantasy, everything we experience or think we experience is constructed in our mind, more precisely, our brain. Brain researchers find that we do not perceive the world, but a fantasy that coincides with it: sensory inputs are compared with expectations, and if it fits, we believe in it. Our reality is nothing more than the agreement on the lowest common denominator (Kupferschmidt, 2010). The imagined is not just very real to one’s mind, but often has an even more impressive and powerful effect on an individual. The idea of going for a walk or a hike up a mountain often is more pleasing than the actual walk in nature, where it could be cold, wet or simply the hike up the mountain physically exhausting. Once reached the top it might even be too foggy to enjoy the view.