2023 Architecture Portfolio

berkeley, U.S. 2021 - present

maryland, U.S. 2008 - 2021

bogota, COL

1997 - 2008

florence, IT Spring 2018

table of contents

Cafe Verde Memory

Kinship

InBetween Office Bldgs.

Other Work In Progress...

Cafe Verde

EV charging center, roastery, and community hub

Integrated Studio / Group Project

Natalee Easthom

Semester: Fall 2022

Location: San Francisco, CA

Professor: Simon Schleicher

Software: Rhino, Enscape, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

The former site, home to a gas station, is being transformed into a positive energy hub. The project creates a new kind of community space in the intersection of 24th and Valencia St. that combines communities through a cafe, coffee roastery, plant shop, and a series of gathering and co-working spaces that host workshops, live bands, community gatherings and more.

The team explored 3 main concepts, 1. A 45 degree grid that was defined by the angled parking spaces for the EV charging stations, and set the axis in between 24th and Valencia to give equal priority to both, and face the existing glass Reality SF Church, 2. A central staircase with seating space that creates an open and welcoming space vertically, and lastly 3. Terracing by program, developing a large “non-atrium” with a framed view of the roastery below.

Facade Section drawing created in collaboration with Natalee Easthom

Dual structural system on a 10x10 grid. The major floors are supported by a type 1 concrete foundation type 4 timber post and beam structure and, 7ply clt decking on levels 1- 4. Second is a self-supporting facade and roof. The enclosure is composed of interlocking steel framing, glass panels, 7ply CLT wall panels, and timber cladding. The roof consists of major beams that run continuously SW to NE and sit on top of the enclosure walls and minor beams that sit between them.The roof beams are braced by the roof modules – Each module contains a skylight and PV panel. Underneath the roof grid there is a cone that serves a dual purpose of providing diffused light and diagonally bracing our roof grid.

post and beam

Structure Diagrams drawing created in collaboration with Natalee Easthom

CLT/Steel frame

Memory textile pavilions

Individual Project

Semester: Spring 2022 / travel studio

Location: Dessau, Germany

Professor: Rene Davis & Greg Castillo

Software: Rhino, Enscape, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

The project references previous building boundary lines from a 1910 and a 1945 map of Dessau within the assigned site. The 1910 lines define the site boundary for the proposed textile pavilions, while the 1945 lines appear through the landscape as a grassy strip. Secondary to these, a series of invisible guidelines establish the placement of each module and the circulation of the site itself. They define connections, outdoor public spaces, and interstitial spaces.

The conceptual strategy for the textile pavilions is the idea of the “thick wall” that becomes inhabited with core, private, and enclosed spaces, with a thin curved concrete roof (referencing the feel of textile) overhang held by a structural concrete free standing wall on the other side. This allows for the large open spaces to focus on the larger, public activities and provide a free column plan for programs such as workshop space, exhibit space, living room and creative areas, as well as a space for public interaction. The overall modules are then enclosed with large curtain walls to create transparency and allow light in, and then are covered by some interior and exterior textile curtains to allow more openness and a choice for privacy.

the pavilions

The five pavilions frame a central space for gatherings such as markets and everyday rituals. The site is composed of a, 1. Primary exhibit space, that houses meeting rooms, classrooms, restrooms and a store, 2. A working workshop for an innovative textile – pinatex. 3. An artist working space to develop the textiles, furniture, clothing, etc. Lastly, 4. a cafe that opens up to the courtyard and invites the public to interact with the space and view into the workshop spaces.

Unfolded sections

The overall landscape is made up of crashed plattenbau, a brick courtyard space and a series of trees and plants that liven up the landscape and frame views from different angles.

Kinship interventions

Individual Project Semester: Fall 2021

Location: Oakland, California

Professor: Tatiana Bilbao and Ayesha Gosh

Software: Rhino, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Procreate

The project creates kinship relationships with spaces that celebrate rituals through the act of storytelling, promoting cultural and social cohesion. When we started communicating, we relayed knowledge and history through a story, and created rituals alongside artifacts to reinforce and remind each other of those stories – Now they help us foster dialogue around our core beliefs and principles that come from our different cultures – storytelling becomes a collective activity.

To develop kinship within the community, I propose four different spatial types. These include an 1. Indoor performance space for large rituals that involve dance, theater and singing, 2. An interstitial space for open air chants, parades and gatherings, 3. An outdoor space for altars, chanting and street interaction, and 4. A linear volume for dinners and intimate readings. And in a site specific sense, I played with the placement of each, to understand the dialogue between the spaces themselves and the surrounding context while each one properly caters to the different activities. In terms of materials, I chose to use wood for its sustainable properties, affordability, and efficiency of construction in California. In turn, this unifies the concept not only socially but environmentally.

In Between multi-purpose hall girls school

Group Project

Alicia Moreira, Brianna Ward + Myself

Semester: Spring 2019 at UMD

Location: Remote Site, Kenya

Professor: Tonya Ohnstad

Software: Rhino, Lumion, Adobe

Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop

A space that empowers girls and provides a sense of community among its context. The design formalizes the informal by emphasizing the spaces in-between, derived from the happenstance spaces that occur between formal spaces throughout the site. The multi-purpose hall consists of angled rammed earth and CSEB walls, which vary in thickness to allow for inhabitation and framed views. The interstitial spaces created between the walls allow for occasional meetings between girls, teachers and community members who would not normally interact. These interstitial entryways vary in size and program, facilitating not only separate circulation between the primary and secondary school girls, but also freedom of choice and therefore empowerment.

Natural elements are celebrated through the resourceful use of local materials, while the sound of rain is softened rather than dismissed as noise. Although the building is nestled into the landscape to enable uninterrupted sight from uphill, it is monumental in form, responding to its context and providing a gathering place for an entire community.

Site Plan

Constructed as a studio

Wood and Cardboard Model

Constructed as a team

Solar Panels

Water Collection

Holes in rammed earth for inhabitation

Bamboo columns tied to trusses + inset in floor to prevent roof uplift

Bamboo trusses

Perforated compressed earth block screens in walls

Fabric coated in resin for stiffness + water-proofing

Bamboo weaving interstitial

as drop ceiling in spaces

Rainwater collection gutter to cistern in kitchen

Cross Section drawing created in collaboration with Alicia Moreira

Perforated CSEB Wall Section

Rammed Earth Wall Section

Materials by Proximity to Makeni, Kenya

Office Bldgs.

office repositioning

Summer Fellowship / Gensler SF

Kamil Quinteros, D’Ali Roberts, Maria Doku + Myself

Semester: Summer 2022

Location: Downtown San Francisco, CA

Advisors: Doug Zucker, Amy Campbell + Jason Ambrose

Software: Rhino, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign, google forms surveying

Single-use downtowns are vulnerable to resiliency. The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated a shift towards a new form of living, but the lack of economic diversity has slowed down the recovery for downtown San Francisco.

As a global city, downtown SF has the potential to experiment, influence and inspire cities alike to become more diverse and resilient. To intersect the public and private realms by creating meaningful interactions that form a new type of care within the financial district.

For this reason, the team proposed a series of interventions in downtown SF that would introduce new programs, diverse spaces, community gatherings, and the repositioning of empty office buildings to implement new spaces – specifically housing.

Section: Design Activity drawing created in collaboration with the gensler office studio

proposed city toolkit

identify assets prioritize pedestrian

downtown SF zoning map proposed sites for office/resi

diversity building use activate alleys

identify funding inclusive signage/ wayfinding

be resilient activate the ground level

perspectives drawing created

in addition to the buildings, active the alley ways and public spaces.

created by Kamil and D’ali

Section drawing created in collaboration with the team. Lead by Maria.

life under lockdown design thinking

Personal Project

Published on the quarantine maps of CityLab book in 2022 and it was displayed in the traveling exhibit: Back to the Future of Public Space by Rhizoma Lab

Software: Sketching, Adobe Illustrator

In Progress..

a farmer’s collective

Individual, M.Arch Thesis

Semester: Fall 2022, Spring 2023

Location: Boyaca, Colombia

Advisors: Maria Alvarez Garcia & Walter Hood

Software: Sketching, Adobe Illustrator, Procreate, Rhino, ArcGIS

The thesis aims to embrace the sub-region’s ethniccultural formation, history, customs, traditions, daily uses, beliefs and its folklore, to retain current and new population by developing a cooperative housing that gives agency to the farmer. A structure that can combine the land of multiple families and adapt to the ecological needs of its context to re-activate production, economy, community, and overall quality of life. By creating a productive community that focuses on the collective rather than the individual, there is the potential to transform the landscape of these farmlands in a positive way. One that can connect farmers to nature and vice versa, and one that can adapt to the conditions of individual families, and provide a level of ownership to the farmer that activates the agency over their future.

character study

El pedregal village - focus area

portfolio