Pepe Gรณmez-Acebo pepegomezacebo@outlook.com www.pepegomezacebo.com
contents architecture photography experimentation
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architecture
Las Cabañas Vega de Pas (Cantabria, Spain) October 2018 - July 2020 (expected) Architectural Designer and General Contractor. Self Employment. · Defined scope and program of the project alongside the client · Conceived of the formal solution of the project through its design development · Drawing all construction documents in conversation with local trades and support technitians · Acting as general contractor, coordinating technical analysis and budgeting of physical works · Ensuring correct execution of the intervention through the construction administration
Located in a rural region facing depopulation and growing neglect, the project introduces a re-balancing model. Firstly, it recoups the fading sheep cattle tradition by reintroducing the nearly extinct local sheep, aspiring not towards massive production as it did in the past but rather towards quality produce with modest capacity. Secondly, it brings in outdoor tourism attracted by the barn itself as well as by its stunning natural surroundings. Combining the two programs permits to foster local communities, ensure continuity to its cultural heritage, and engage with nature responsibly all while being economically sustainable. The architectural intervention occurs in a compound comprised of three listed 19th century cottages. Two of them are refurbished to shelter the sheep and chickens while the third is turned into a vacation home available for shortterm rental. A new, seamlessly integrated, underground space is carved out in between the three that provides the utilities including central heating and water treatment. While the works are throughout respectfully discreet, bringing a new recreational program to the interior of the vacation cottage provides an unusual opportunity. Like in the traditional layout, the floor plates are clear on their short ends. However, the central core takes the original make-shift room where the shepherds used to live and expands it to fit in the new amenities: kitchen and hearth, running water, bathrooms, built-in cabinetry, and vertical circulation. The interior roof, or pallá, is kept as reminder of its former configuration. The renovation is locally engaged both in terms of materials and labor. All the demolished materials are reused and as much as possible only all new materials are locally sourced. The renovation is carried out by the local shepherd community and makes extensive use of their knowledge on traditional building methods. 6
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site drawing paper collage with digital editing
The site, comprised of four buildings, is both a farm and a weekend retreat. ARCHITECTURE
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L. site photographs R. bunker under construction (Nov 2019) ARCHITECTURE
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sheep cottage T. front facade under construction C. top floor under construction B. first floor finished condition L. botton floor finished condition
The work carried out in the animal cottages was kept to a minimum; new floors and roof to remove leaks, enlarged openings for natural light, and basic utilities for sanitary equipment. 10
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living cottage L. section perspective digital drawing T. floor plan (top and bottom floors) digital drawing B. concept sketch digital drawing
The central core takes the original make-shift room where the shepherds used to live and expands it to fit in the new amenities: kitchen and hearth, running water, bathrooms, built-in cabinetry, and vertical circulation. ARCHITECTURE
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L. 1:20 scale model 0.60 x 0.36 x 0.32 m balsa wood and foam-core R. living room render digital drawing
The space is arranged by a intersecting platforms. All the surfaces offer multiplicity of uses. For example, a step is also a bench and drawer. ARCHITECTURE
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House in Long Island Long Island (New York State, USA) September 2018 - June 2019 Architectural Designer at Steven Harris Architects. · Assisted lead designer in design stages leading up to the start of construction · Executed all presentation drawings to get the project approved by the zoning commission · Inserted structural elements to project following engineers' specifications · Updated all consutrction drawings as design iterations were approved · Digitally modeled the project in 3D and made a highly detailed physical model
The vacation house sits on the top of a hill facing the ocean. Its formal resolution consists of a progression of shapes of increasing visual weight: the guest area is a cube partially inserted into the hill, the common areas rest on the surface of the hill, and the master wing sharply and lightly raise over the pool.
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L. longitudinal sections digital drawings R. model 20 x 10 x 5 cm 3D print ARCHITECTURE
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Sunray Cemetery Biscayne Bay (Miami, FL) Spring 2017 Yale University. Undergraduate Senior Studio, Steven Harris. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating a cemetery in Biscayne Bay · Developed conceptual framework of cemetery as funerary machine · Conducted the required research to verify the viability of the intended light effect · Produced all presentation materials
The sun’s path across the sky is different each day of the year. Thus, a series of precise ceiling perforations on a ceiling make it possible to continuously light up a different spot in the floor each day of the year. Sunray Cemetery uses this as its guiding principle. Working like a sun-operated funerary machine, each day the sun rays illuminate one of the 366 common graves. The urn is inserted in the lit grave that corresponds to the day of the deceased’s death. Once the grave is closed, there is no visible trace other than the light that illuminates the grave once a year. 18
interior atmospheric drawing
The filtered light indicates the location of the grave. Only a single one is lit up continuously each day. 19
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L. sectional perspective digital drawing R. plan digital drawing
The visitor gets off the boat and slowly descends down the ramp into the darkness. The arrival to the central space occurs at a tangent to the oval. ARCHITECTURE
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exploded axonometric drawing (elevation, plan, ceiling, roof)
The monolithic ceiling is perforated creating light tunnels that align with the sun in its different positions during the day and year. ARCHITECTURE
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1. THE PART
understainding the working principle
two paths for two consecutive days The sun follows a path across the sky as it moves from East to West. This path will be slightly different each day of the year.
decoupling of the paths The paths can be decoupled, or rather, evaluated at different points in the ground for different days of the year.
filtering the light with tubes A series of tubes aligned to a given day’s sun path allow for its corresponding spot in the ground to be continuously lit
slicing the ceiling pattern The ceiling plane is 10ft above the ground plane. The space created is for the visitors and for the ceremony.
slicing the roof pattern The roof is 20ft above the ceiling. The space in between is ‘poched’, containing the tubes that filter the light.
providing access A spiraling ramp provides access to the interior space. The entry occurs at a tangent to the oval.
wrapping the facade The roof oval is extruded down to enclose the ramp.
2. THE ARRANGEMENT organizing the parts
selecting the base geometry By relying on tangents instead of on axis, the oval is able to deemphasize the edges and the center, thus equalizing all graves.
3. THE PACKAGING finding a formal resolution
enclosing the filtering device Connecting the three planes results in a conic shape.
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axonometric detail of roof slice (left), negative space (right)
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1/16 in. model 24 × 24 x 3 in. wood and acrylic
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Folly Parc de la Villette (Paris, France) Spring 2016 Yale University. Undergraduate Junior Studio, Joyce Hsiang. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating a folly in Parc de la Villette · Conceived of the argumentative framework that give the project its conceptual basis · Designed through iterative stages to find a formal resolution of project · Produced all presentation materials and built a plethora of models in a wide variety of materials
Qualities associated with the grid lie at the core of Tschumi’s deconstructivist practice. The circular path at the center of Parc de la Villette (Tschumi, 1987), however, is suggestive of a different set of propositions. My intervention is a series of shifts of the ground that attempt to reconcile the opposing character of the grid – expansive and equitable – and the circle – polar and hierarchical. The result is a seemingly divisive but actually unifying intervention that speaks to the legacy of history, memory, and trauma in the landscape of possibility. In Park de la Villette Bernard Tschumi argues that by superimposing three systems (points, lines, and surfaces) he creates a neutral space to welcome an expressive, interchangeable program. By doing so, Tschumi lays out a landscape of possibility. My intervention takes issue with this idealist character. It challenges Tschumi’s neutral space by recalling the inevitable legacy of the past. The intervention brings to light the existing inequalities and hierarchies of life that frustrate the landscape of possibility. In an attempt to have the hierarchical act upon the neutral, the new proposal aligns the circle and the grid in progressively finer moves. The two systems, however, never converge. A series of iterative ground shifts culminates with the appearance of a human-scaled interior space. At this point the iteration stops, rendering the convergence point infinitely elusive to the visitor´s reach. The neutral and the hierarchical are forced into a forever inconclusive resolution. The result is a modified landscape that seems disruptive but is in fact unifying the site. The long promenade by the canal crosses the core of the folly. The path narrows down and leads to the water. At its center, the space is semienclosed and its intimacy is inspired by the mirror effect of the water surface. From there, the destinations are multiple since the space acts as a pivot point for the whole park: the orthogonal paths part of Tschumi’s grid, originally interrupted by the canal, are reconnected at the core of the intervention. 28
/ in. site model 36 Ă— 36 x 3 in. wood and cardboard 1 32
The circle dislocates the expansiveness of the grid in a series of ground shifts. 29
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L. site plan digital drawing R. iterative ground shifts sketch
The new proposal aligns the circle and the grid in progressively finer moves.
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concept model 16 × 16 × 12 in. ABS plastic and wood 32
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plan and elevation drawing 24 × 19 in. graphite on bristol paper ARCHITECTURE
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½ in. model 36 × 72 × 12 in. wood and polyurethane foam
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The core, which is partially enclosed, lies by the edge of the water. From it, there are multiple destinations: the space acts as a pivot point for the whole park.
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L. concept model (detail) 8 × 8 x 3 in. plaster and vinyl lacing R. sketch models 3 × 3 x 3 in. (vary) foam and wood
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T. concept drawing 48 × 48 in. ink on bristol R. concept drawing 36 × 36 in. ink on bristol and vellum
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The intervention challenges Tschumi’s neutral space by reminding of the inevitable legacy of the past. It makes explicit the existing inequalities and hierarchies of life that frustrate the landscape of possibility.
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Stacks a monument for Yale University (New Haven, CT) Fall 2015 Yale University. Undergraduate Junior Studio, Bimal Mendis. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating a monument at Yale University's campus in New Haven · Identified the purpose of the intervention and its site within the campus · Designed through iterative stages to find a formal resolution of project · Produced all presentation materials and built models at different scales
Coinciding with Yale´s 315th anniversary, this monument celebrates Yale’s role as an educational institution for the pursuit and sharing of knowledge. The monument is an intervention in Cross Campus that subdivides and shifts its ground along strips evocative of library stacks. By doing so, the form, purpose, and mission of Cross Campus, Bass Library, and Sterling Memorial Library are united along a single continuum. Shifting the ground of Cross Campus along narrow strips creates a linear language similar to that of the stacks in the interior of the two adjacent libraries. Incidentally, the intervention visually unifies their exterior: the new strips resonate with the vertical narrow windows of the facade of Sterling Memorial Library, and give Bass Library, currently muted underground, a face to the street, showcasing its importance and central role on Yale’s campus. At ground level, the strips undulate like pieces of paper, creating grass corridors with side walls of varying heights. The point of highest amplitude serves as the entry point to slide down to Bass Library. Smaller offsets act as light wells. The majority of the walls, however, are vertical gardens. The porosity of the rooted surfaces changes with the seasons allowing for a varying degree of visibility through them. Resonating with the mission of the library and of the university, the monument turns Cross Campus into a space for both communal congregation and personal contemplation. Areas where the strips’ undulation is the subtlest create an open grass field ideal for sports or small concerts. Simultaneously, more severe undulations create vegetal corridors for individual exploration and though. 40
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L. ½" section model 96 × 8 × 4 in medium-density fiberboard R. undulation sketch model 12 × 3 × 1 in
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The strips undulate like pieces of paper creating grass corridors with side walls of varying heights.
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T. shadow analysis render B. 1/32 in. site plan 22 × 30 in.
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Analytic Diagrams
The intervention subdivides and shifts the ground along strips evocative of library stacks.
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Analytic Study (Slow House, Diller + Scofidio) Spring 2015 Yale University. Undergraduate Sophomore Studio, Elijah Huge. Individual project. · Responded to a series of exercises intended at analyzing the assigned case study house · Found the argumentative theme through making models and drawings · Produced a series of models in a wide variety of materials and scales
Diller and Scofidio's Slow House (Long Island, USA, 1991, unbuilt) problematizes the concept of the vacation house. The project, conceived as the second residence of the Manhattan-based client, does not intend to be a sharp escape from work to leisure, from public to private, from artifice to nature, but rather a machine that dramatically frustrates the aspirations of the vacation house. The project shatters the cliché “home away from home” by rendering all domestic appliances foreign to the building’s main structure. The cameratower and the chimney, as well as the furniture from the rooms and bathrooms, are inserted as unitary blocks that pierce out of the two curved walls. The domestic becomes foreign. The house becomes a frame. The building’s commonalities with a car’s windshield emphasize its framing qualities; both link image and movement enabling a game of escapism. For the client, the escape starts in his car in Manhattan but does not end upon his arrival to the Slow House. Instead, the windshield is replaced by the window frame, forcing the journey to continue through the building’s curved walls. The culmination of the journey, however, is anti-climactic. The corridor ends with a picture-window that displays an image of the view that lies beyond. In keeping with such mechanical imagery, the house acts as a camera obscura. The corridor is the black box and the picture window the lens. Thus, the journey culminates with an image of nature that is mediated and plastic. The voyeur is trapped between artifice and nature. By acting as a machine that pairs image and movement, the Slow House acts as an uncompromising mediator. 48
concept model 16 × 13 × 3 in. acrylic and plywood
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The mechanistic intersection of the linear and the sequential are used to emphasize the movement through the building. 50
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plan and elevation 38 × 24 in. graphite on bristol ARCHITECTURE
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L. ¼ in. program model 36 × 17 × 12 in. wood and acetate R. axonometric drawing 24 × 19 in. graphite on bristol
The interior, defined by two offset curves, renders all functional elements foreign. The building is an empty shell that acts as a framing device.
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concept drawing 24 Ă— 36 in.
The escape starts in the car in Manhattan but does not end upon the arrival to the Slow House. The windshield is replaced by the window frame, forcing the journey to continue through the building’s curved walls. 55
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L. diagrams of the views through the building R. atmospheric model 24 Ă— 24 Ă— 42 in. plywood and LCD monitor live view of a beach in Long Island
The corridor ends with a picture-window that displays a mediated image of the view that lies beyond.
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Apartment I analytic study Fall 2015 Yale University. Undergraduate Junior Studio, Bimal Mendis. Individual project. · Responded to a series of exercises intended at analyzing the assigned case study house · Found the argumentative theme through making models and drawings · Produced a puzzle-like model that worked like an algorithm
Kumiko Inui describes Apartment I (Tokyo, Japan, 2007) as “a half-controlled plan”. Tight restrictions presented by the urban site result in an unusual structural logic. The whole project was built with “elements [that] were reshuffled like puzzle pieces” (Kumiko Inui: episodes, 2008). Following Inui´s puzzle analogy, this project set out to identify the elements of the puzzle and their embedded logics. Much like Inui's “half-control”, the creativity of the user of this interactive model exists within the constrains of the chosen site arrangement. 58
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½ in. operable model 18 × 18 x 28 in. wood and acrylic ARCHITECTURE
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L. ¼ in. model 12 × 12 × 12 in. wood and acrylic R. instruction set
The building’s overall arrangement depends on the layout of its neighbors.
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Housing in New Haven, CT Fall 2016 Yale University. Undergraduate Senior Studio, Turner Brooks. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating affordable homes in a site in New Haven · Engaged with the local homeless comunity and shelters to identify the pressing housing issue · Developped a model of domesticity based on circles of varying degree of privacy · Modeled the formal resolution of the project ensureing minimum living requirements · Presented the argument with presentation materials and models at different scales and media
This community housing project strives to explore the relationship between the public and private space. With capacity for 32 tenants, the series of spaces proposed create varying degrees of privacy. The proposal introduces a new public pathway along the Mill River, connecting Walnut St. and Humphrey St. The pathway is intersected by a series of wedges that provide various amenities to its residents. The south facing wedges service the whole community. The one closest to Walnut St. is a 350 square feet communal building equipped with a kitchen, a dining area, and a laundry facility. The other three wedges have an amphitheater, a playground, and a fire pit. All of these are welcoming shared spaces that face the Mill River. Conversely, the north facing wedges are patios that serve as interfaces between the public areas and the private apartments. The patio’s access is carefully choreographed to achieve a layer of intimacy: a narrow ramp, that stems from the public pathway, is squeezed between two tall walls. As it goes up it widens and culminates in an open and intimate terrace that is shared between the four surrounding apartments. The size of the apartments is modest but comfortable. There are sixteen single occupancy units. The north facing ones have 210 square feet and the ones facing south have 255 square feet. Combining the north and south modules allows for the creation of double occupancy units. There are eight of these, each having 350 square feet. 62
/ in. site model 18 Ă— 12 Ă— 3 in. wood and sand 1 16
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L. conceptual models and sketches R. 3/32 in. site plan 36 Ă— 24 in. digital drawing
The project strives to explore the relationship between the public and private space. With capacity for 32 inhabitants, the series of spaces proposed create varying degrees of privacy.
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¼ in. model 18 × 36 x 12 in. bass wood and sand 66
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Quarry (Brandford, CT) Fall 2015 Yale University. Undergraduate Senior Studio, Turner Brooks. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating a site of habitation at the Stony Creek Quarry in Brandford, CT · Identified the purpose of the intervention and its minimal impact on the existing site · Designed through the creation of different models and drawings
The two million cubic feet void of the Stony Creek Quarry in Branford CT is awe inspiring. The continuous red maple forest is interrupted by a vast hole. In it, the exposed pink-toned marble with its aged patina, the saplings growing off the edges, the twinkling stars, and the stars’ reflection on the surface of the water encapsulate a sphere of elemental contemplation. The viewer admires this awe-inspiring sight from a level of detachment, without being able to belong to the space. The contraption, a man-made, clumsy, and grotesque invention that is foreign to the sublime character of the quarry, renders the detachment explicit. The apparatus is contained within the fishbowl formed by the quarry. Its movement is like that of a puppet. The machine is an operable piece of furniture that adapts, similarly to clothing, to the shape of the user. One can adjust the mesh to fit the desired posture. By shifting his weight he can move around the void. The contraption acts like an extension of the body. The preciousness of the quarry appears unattainable. The intervention creates a stepped mediation - the body shapes the mesh, is held up by a line, and softly touches the quarry at a point. 68
/ in. site plan 19 Ă— 24 in. graphite on bristol 1 32
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L. sketches of the quarry R. concept drawing 19 Ă— 24 in. graphite on bristol
The exposed pink-toned marble with its aged patina, the saplings growing off the edges, the twinkling stars, and the stars’ reflection on the surface of the water encapsulate a sphere of elemental contemplation.
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/ in. site model 8 × 48 × 18 in. 4 polyurethane foam, steel 18
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Concept Sketches
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Structure Below
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Structure Above
Mesh Studies
Hanging Models
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Alternative Layout
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L. perspective sketches T. hanging model 12 × 6 × 4 in. canvas, string and wood B. fabric study 8 × 6 × 4 in. canvas and plaster ARCHITECTURE
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Dominant Void September 2016 Yale University. Undergraduate Senior Studio, Turner Brooks. Individual project. · Responded to the brief of creating a full scale installation with the provided material · Defined the scope of the exploration by the relation of identical pairs · Built the final objects with a seamless and non intruding integration with the site
The project is a full-scale installation that sets out to define a space that is more palpable than the structure that contains it. The first piece choreographs a series of moments resulting from the tension of two intersecting frames. The second one activates a central space through the minimal expression of two braces. 80
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Furniture Various Independent projects
T. work bench, 2019 1.20 x 0.25 x 0.35 (approx) balsa and plywood, steel 82
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L. work bench, 2019 2.55 x 0.70 x 0.95 m pine wood, zinc sheet B. credenza, 2019 2.46 x 0.77 x 0.75 m beech wood, brass fittings
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Sculpture Fall 2016 Material, Form, and Fabrication. Brent Howard
While both sculptures defy certain pre-conceived expectations, Contortion does so through its tectonics and Withered through its materials. They both awkwardly hold up against gravity and convey a sense of the grotesque. In Contortion, there is a latent frustration derived from the stiffness of its articulated joints. On the one hand, the sculpture suggests movement and seriality. On the other, the structure is precariously standing off the ground. The awkwardness with which the leg of the viewer bends over the sculpture imitates the dislocated expression of the sculpture itself. In Withered, the typically flaccid fabric stands up in a gravity-defying manner. The stiffened fabric resembles a withering flower. The platonic-shaped base stands in contrast with the fragile and elusive shape of the folding member. 84
L. withered, 2016 5 × 2 × 2 in. plaster on canvas and chip-wood R. contortion, 2016 8 × 4 × 3 in. wood and metal
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photography
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L. 35 mm photography. New Haven, 2013 R. 6 x 9 cm photography. New York, 2013 PHOTOGRAPHY
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digital photography L. & R. La Havana, Cuba, 2013 PHOTOGRAPHY
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architecture photography L. Studio House, Madrid. Fernando Caruncho y Asociados, 2002 R. Brooklyn Townhouse, NY. Steven Harris Architects, 2018 PHOTOGRAPHY
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aerial photography L. Droga, Upstate NY. Steven Harris Architects, 2017 R. Porto Heli, Greece. Fernando Caruncho, 2013 94
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Architectural Digest, AD100, January 2018, AD100 “Sacred Grove”, pp. 176-179 ARCHITECTURE
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experimentation
Liquid Photogrammetry A study conducted for FACTUM Arte May 2015
In the 1908 Arthur Worthington published A Study of Splashes famously capturing milk drops and popping soap bubbles. More than a hundred years later modern technology enables us to replicate his results with an added dimension. Factum Arte has recently began using photogrammetry to record moving liquids in three dimensions. To do so, Factum Arte has overcome two main obstacles: photographing the liquid from different angles at the exact same time, and revealing a textured pattern along the liquid’s surface. The cameras are synchronized and the liquid is frozen using a multi-camera rig and a high-speed flash. Finding the appropriate liquid for the task is more challenging. It must be opaque, have low viscosity and no bubbles, and display a high-density array of dots evenly spread along its surface. A series of liquids were tested for those characteristics. An oily composite made out of tinted oil and alcohol gives the best results. The difference in their densities makes the alcohol lay at the surface of the oil creating an even dotted pattern.
Turbulence tests with different liquids 100
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The scan was etched onto a plate and used for a mezzo-tint print EXPERIMENTATION
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f/500 Independent Research 2012-2013
We rely on memory to experience movement. Given that our visual perception is instantaneous, we need to recall an object’s previous position to know if it moved. Evidently, for fast moving objects the act of recalling is effortless. Tracking slower movements, however, is much harder. We tend to think of these as vignettes instead of as fluid movements. This super-long exposure project sets out to deepen our understanding of slow movements that our minds fail to effectively perceive. But its ambitions lie beyond those of the time lapse: instead of speeding up a video, this project compresses all the instances into a single frame. By doing so, the final image is able to transcend the issue of memory altogether to provide an instantaneous image of movement. A custom-built camera with optimized specifications enabled me to take single photographs with exposure lengths of over one month. The result is a photograph in which the presence of each object varies according to its stillness during the exposure period. The project uses the parking lot of my high-school as case study. The resulting image shows the parking habits of its users: some park on the same spot every day, while others vary. The photograph serves as a tool to study patterns of behavior that would otherwise lie outside of our immediate perception. 102
T. 5 day B&W exposure Madrid, Spain, 2013 B. 29 day color exposure Madrid, Spain, 2013 EXPERIMENTATION
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Light Landscapes Independent Research February 2011 and November 2015
When we think of a landscape – let it be a mountain, a city, or a room – we typically think of its physical qualities. Rarely do we consider, however, its ephemeral conditions. Spring pollen, migratory patterns and radio waves are just some of the often forgotten actors that shape and define the landscape. This project explores the boundary between the ephemeral and the permanent to evidence the role of the former as enabler of the latter. 104
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L. routine engravings Madrid, Spain, 2011 R. landscape of habitation New Haven, CT, 2015
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Explorations in Projection Independent Research February 2011 and November 2015
These two projects explore perspective and projection. The first consists of a conical projection where the vertex of the cone aligns with the nodal point of the camera. Thus, the anamorphic projection reads as a circle. With the camera obscura the alignment is perpendicular: the camera is normal to the axis of projection thereby fitting on the same photograph both the aperture and the projected image. 106
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L. camera obscura Palais des Papes Avignon, France, 2014 R. perspective circle Madrid, Spain, 2011 EXPERIMENTATION
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L. milk cartons, 2012 R. hair products, 2012 B. horizontal and vertical slit diagram
Single-Slit Photography Independent Project June 2012
Single-slit photography replaces the conventional circular aperture with a long horizontal slit. The resulting image creates a blur effect along the direction of the slit aperture. By doing so, the subject-matter becomes magically unrecognizable. 108
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November 2019