NICHOLAS GUARNA Portfolio 2021
GREENFLUENT GATE HOUSE LOCATION: Caltech, Pasadena, California PROGRAM: Classroom and Research Facilities
YOKED: ANALOGY OF THE FRAMED VIEW LOCATION: Culver City, California PROGRAM: Museum of Art, Dedicated to Julius Shulman
View Axes
YOKED: Analogy Of The Framed View The objective of this project was to create a museum with framed views of the city, including a gallery dedicated to Julius Shulman. The concept for the museum of the framed view came from Cedric Price’s theory of the urban city, where he compares the city to an egg with a defined egg white and a yolk. The design pushes this one step further by combining the fried and scrambled egg concepts.
DTLA Culver City
The buildings capture views of famous Los Angeles landmarks. The framed views in between the auditorium and galleries create sight lines to the important lookouts around Los Angeles such as downtown LA, the ocean, LAX airport, the Getty museum, and the oil fields. The plinth of the museum is an open concept space taking precedent from Cedric Price’s Fun Palace. Three central voids enlighten both the plinth and the underside of the floating museum to ensure sunlight can penetrate from top to bottom.
Oil Fields
Program Orientation
Ancient
Boiled
17-19 Cent.
+ 115
Massing Transformation
Fried Combining Fried and Scrambled Concepts
+ 95
+ 85
+ 75
Modern
+ 55
Scrambled
+ 35
+ 35
Creates Public and Private Space
THE CITY AS AN EGG
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0’
10’
20’
40’
80’
SECTION A
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MASSING AND FORM
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YOKED: Analogy Of The Framed View PROGRAM 1.Reception/ Gift shop 2. Art Gallery 3. Julius Shulman Gallery 4. Offices 5. Conference Rooms
The most significant part of this building is the plinth level where visitors enter from the ground floor into an open space that houses the whole program of the museum, except the galleries and auditorium. The plinth acts as a common spatial and programmatic glue that connects all the functions of the museum. The parts to whole become an amorphic unit. The four egg yolks, or galleries that are attached to the plinth disrupts the defined form because they are biting or interlocking into it to create an idiomatic space.
6. Auditorium 7. Administration 8. Cafe 9. Restrooms 10. Kitchen
8. 10.
3. 2.
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0
10
20
40
80
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
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N
STRUCTURAL ASSEMBLY
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YOKED: Analogy Of The Framed View Entering from ground floor offers a view of the belly with tapered beam to column structure. The structural systems are also guided by the shifting galleries which creates the views of downtown Los Angeles. The four main galleries are interlocking into the plaza level, which cantilevers to express a lightened mass atop the hill. The museum sits on a raised structural system consisting of a forest of columns. The glass curtain walls are designed with a secondary truss system and then clipped together by spiders joints.
FLOOR TO BEAM CONNECTION
COLUMN TO BEAM CONNECTION
PRIMARY STRUCTURAL FRAME
SPIDER JOINT
The museum is situated on the Baldwin Hills scenic overlook. The site is accessible to the public and guests of the museum. This project creates a formal expression of a floating mass on the hillside soaring in the skyline. People that utilize the hillside for hiking and exercise also have the chance to walk underneath the structure and enter the building using the main escalator on the ground floor.
PANEL CONNECTION
STRUCTURAL FRAMING INSIDE THE EGG WHITE
UNDERNEATH THE EGG WHITE
6AM
6AM
12PM
12PM
3PM
3PM
6:30 PM
6:30 PM
+ 115
+ 95
+ 85
+ 75
+ 55 + 35
+ 35
0’
10’
20’
40’
80’
SOUTH ELEVATION
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N
SHADOW STUDY
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CIRCUMVENTION STATION 23 LOCATION: Pacific Palisades, California PROGRAM: Fire Station and Medical Clinic
RESIDUAL FIGURES LOCATION: Los Angeles, California PROGRAM: Multi-Family Residence and Music Rehearsal Space
RESIDUAL FIGURES The project is no longer about a centralized dome, but instead the residual in-between spaces that are made up of spatial relationships. Building from the inside out, the smaller interior spaces begin to determine the exterior shape of the building creating a different but balanced architecture.
The program consists of music rehearsal spaces on the first floor and housing units that occupy the remaining floors. The residences are made up of three square footage types with single and two-story units. The relationships between the different sized units initiate how the courtyard spaces would be formed and organized. The figures from the interlocking and void spaces of the dwelling units and the platforms are dependent on the courtyard placement.
By manipulating the interlocking and void figures of the in-between spaces, their projections in plan and section generated the shapes for the form finding process.
1200 sq.
900 sq. ft
650 sq. ft
SPATIAL RELATIONSHIPS
UNIT RELATIONSHIPS
SECTION PROJECTION
PLAN
SECTION
INTERLOCKING AND VOID FIGURES
FORM FINDING PROCESS
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COURTYARD CONNECTIONS
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RESIDUAL FIGURES As the housing units started to materialize, a contrast between the housing and platforms began to develop. Through interlocking, stacking, and void manipulation, the interior took on distinctive shapes, different from the exterior platforms. Merging the two parts together determined the form of the building’s exterior.
The words inside and outside reflect a dichotomy in direct experience. Inside and outside cannot be seen at the same time. To that end, the residual figures lead us to the space that is the in-between.
SITE PLAN
PLATFORM VS HOUSING PROCESS
SHEAR SECTION
B
A
A
B
SECOND FLOOR PLAN
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PLATFORM AGGREGATION
WEST ELEVATION
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FLEXIBLE INNERSOLE LOCATION: Puente Hills, California PROGRAM: Interpretive Learning Center
FLEXIBLE INNERSOLE The program consists of classrooms, laboratories, gallery, cafe, and auditorium. This is a center for the learning and exploration of construction materials in hopes to reuse before heading to a landfill. There is a constant metabolizing of materials going on, which leads to an architecture of the in-between space.
Critical Dimensions Dimensions for materials transported by flatbed truck and movable by crane. Flatbed Truck Dimensions : 48’ X 12’ X 10’ Crane Parameters: Crane is fixed and permanent on site. Cement Pad: 40’ X 40’ X 6’ Lift: 18 Metric Tons Reach: 230 FT Height: 250 FT
SECOND FLOOR
N
Techniques used to create the removable sleeves include: Thick uneven walls about 1/4” with mixed poured slip clay. Mixed poured slip clay casted into a bisque fired 3d print with contoured texture layers. Medium thick walls about 1/8” with mixed poured slip clay casted into a bisque fired clay 3d print.
SECTION A
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Estimated Amount of Design Reclaimed
FLEXIBLE INNERSOLE DECREASE The more we can decrease (consumption, development). The less we will need to reuse and recycle. RECLAIM In many ways reuse and recycle are interchangeable, but here we are going to consider that reuse does not require re-manufacturing or processing. Future builds are designed for reassembly. REPROCESS It can reduce raw material consumption, energy use and landfill space among other benefits. It’s also one of the easiest and most visible green things that you can do.
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The outer shells will be made from reclaimed concrete when possible. The main shells are the permanent part of the design. The materials are heavier for structural support and not meant to move.
REDUCE 20% REUSE 30% RECYCLE 50%
Estimated Amount of Materials Reprocessed
CONCRETE 16%
DRYWALL 24%
GLASS 10%
WOOD 38%
STUCCO 1%
N
RESIDENTIAL RETAIL
Recycled and reused materials coming from neighboring residential and retail buildings accounting for about 50% of the design
MATERIALS PROPOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION
The inner sleeves will be made from reclaimed wood and drywall when possible. The sleeves are meant to shift throughout the years depending on program. The materials are lighter and less permanent. If there is not enough recycled material available some of the sleeves can be reclaimed for different program and materials.
PERMANENT (Reclaimed Concrete)
REUSABLE (Reclaimed wood and plastic)
WALL SECTION DETAIL
MATERIALS PROPOSED FOR CONSTRUCTION
The sleeves are adjustable and held up by sliding guide rails. They are made from aluminum or steel depending on the size of the sleeve. There are structural columns where the secondary structure of the sleeves can attach to as well.
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nguarna@gmail.com t: 626-840-9719