Santiago Romero - Architecture Design Portfolio

University of Texas at Arlington

Santiago Romero

B.S. ARCHITECTURE

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

Med-a-Morphosis

Fall 2023 / Prof. Oswald Jenewein

In collaboration with: Anthony Henein & Camila Plate

Texas’ population growth, coupled with the looming global climate crisis, has resulted in emerging communities in the New Texas Triangle facing underserved medical and public infrastructure.

In response to these challenges, Med-a-Morphisis aims to advance medical care and education by the creation of dynamic, mobile dormitory units that facilitate the use and deployment of emergency field hospitals, while simultaneously promoting educational research, lectures, and collaboration among students.

The incorporation of advanced technologies, such as moveable multifunctional units, further aims to challenge traditional notions of static living spaces.

This approach promotes interaction with rural communities and provides students with hands-on experience in maintaining and optimizing innovative systems.

Site Context

Ganado, Texas, was selected for our project due to its unique combination of proximity to freshwater sources, a central location in the New Texas Triangle, and a strategic position for rural medical support.

Additionally, over the next few decades, municipal water demand in Texas is projected to reach 40% of the state’s annual water demand, making it the fastest-growing category of water usage. The major concentration of public water supply and medical facilities in the three major cities forming the Texas Triangle leaves the interior rural regions with sparse water supply stations and major hospitals far apart.

Our project proposes the addition of a University Hospital and a man-made wetland. This integrated approach aims to address the lack of medical infrastructure and water sustainability, establishing a thriving center for education, medical research, and healthcare in the heart of Texas, significantly impacting the entire region.

Proposed Sites

Ganado, TX

Hallestville, TX

Port Lavaca, TX

Location of major hospitals within the New Texas Triangle

Artificial Wetlands

The expansive artificial wetlands, a mile wide and long, act as powerful carbon sinks, absorbing 35% of atmospheric carbon dioxide, crucial for reducing greenhouse gas levels.

These wetlands support valuable microbiology research due to diverse microorganisms and play a pivotal role in flood mitigation, protecting nearby communities from exces rainwater and storm surges.

Additionally, the wetlands are purposefully designed for sustainable herb and plant farming, contributing to the production of medicines within the ecosystem.

This ecological approach aligns seamlessly with our project’s aim to address medical infrastructure and water sustainability witin rural Texas.

Santiago Romero

Vasconcelos Library

Stilt House Typology

LONG SECTION PERSPECTIVE

The facade cut perspective unveils the pod dorm’s versatility within its compact 8x5 ft footprint. The dorm serves not only as a sleeping space, but also a private study room that can also be a lounge space when students need to relax. This multifunctional design optimizes space, offering students a dynamic environment that adapts to their diverse needs, -

responsive architectural design.

The facade cut perspective unveils the pod dorm’s versatility within its compact 8x5 ft footprint. The dorm serves not only as a sleeping space, but also a private study room that can also be a lounge space when students need to relax. This multifunctional design optimizes space, offering students a dynamic environment that adapts to their diverse needs, -

responsive architectural design.

LONG SECTION PERSPECTIVE FLOOR PLAN

The Pod catalogo consist of three distinct pod functions cater to diverse needs: student dormitories, individual research labs, and hospital pods for patients undergoing medical care. Each pod serves a unique purpose, contributing to the overall functionality andturing education to facilitating groundbreaking research and suppor ting healthcare, these pods create a dynamic ecosystem, ensuring a well-rounded and adaptable environment for occupants.

The Pod catalogo consist of three distinct pod functions cater to diverse needs: student dormitories, individual research labs, and hospital pods for patients undergoing medical care. Each pod serves a unique purpose, contributing to the overall functionality andturing education to facilitating groundbreaking research and suppor ting healthcare, these pods create a dynamic ecosystem, ensuring a well-rounded and adaptable environment for occupants.

Physical Urban Model Made of painted MDF, and Plywood

Urban Model

To create an urban housing solution, this project employs the stilt house typology, leveraging its unique spatial conditions defined by tectonics for urban aggregation.

The project reimagines the elevated space, traditionally designated for covered parking, as an area for constructing man-made wetlands.

The model involves connecting the ends of this newly created infrastructure to form a line, which then turns to define spaces for wetland cells, allowing a flow from one cell to another.

The urban model seeks to provide a solution that coexists with the natural landscape, specifically exploring the idea of the constructed wetland typology as a means of water filtration

City Site Diagram (Above)

AAH [Amsterdam Art Hub]

Spring 2022 / Prof. Alexandra Moisi & Vlad Cuc

Solo Project

Functionality Fun

When the purpose is to entertain, delight and inspire we get to bend some of the rules of design and usability.

Inspired by playfulness, exploration, and natural topography, AAH has become a spatial tool enabling intimacy, interaction, and inspiration.

The purpose of AAH is to provide the local community with creative studio spaces for both adults and children in hopes of inspiring collaborative art creation.

Its concept is explained through architecture by combining defined and undefined spaces and forms, which allows the building to create a sense of exploration and curiosity.

Flowing through the space, a particle system will become an interactive and communicative tool between campuses in different cities and countries.

This particle system will signal where people are within AAH to other campuses worldwide, allowing the space itself to become a communication tool between communities, cities, and countries.

Fragment of trans-section

Surrounding Site

Inspiration

The Box

Program: Art School

Sub-Programs:

- extention of nearby school

- art classes and studios

The Blob

Interactive particle system

- Physics based animation.

- Interactive.

- Helps connect visitors in different parts around the world.

- Users can interact with the animation.

Omicron Campus

McDonald’s Playground

teamLab Borderless Tokyo

The Site:

Amsterdam

850.000 Citizens

46 miles Channels

18 million Tourists

1.500 Bridges

880.000 Bycicles

Site School Shops

Parks

Santiago Romero

Santiago Romero

Underground

Ground

Section C-C

Renders made using Blender

Section A-A

Santiago Romero

Physical Model: Basswood, and 3D

Santiago Romero

Tarazona House

Spring 2021 / Prof. Juan Carlos Gomez

In collaboration with: Justin Wolf

A single family house designed for an artist and his family located in Piedecuesta, Colombia.

The project was to include a three-bedroom house with studio space, a pool, and outdoor areas, as well as keeping as many existing trees as possible.

A courtyard house was designed with an attached studio, direct access to the pool, separated private and public spaces, and the inclusion of nature and natural light.

The main objective of the project was to explore a new relationship between the outside and inside by having the entry sequence lead into a dead-end void.

The hope is to create an experience of an unexpected space sequence by having the viewer enter the house into an outside space where nature and beyond are seen through a void instead of the foreseen interior space like the living room, fireplace, etc. of a usual home.

A physical model was constructed as well as a 3D model with rendering.

Santiago Romero

Renders made using Lumion

Santiago Romero

Santiago Romero

Physical Model: Basswood, and Chipboard

Renders made using Lumion

Santiago Romero

Santiago Romero

E d u c a t i o n

Sept 2019 - Present

R e s u m e

February 2022 - July 2022

E x p e r i e n c e

August 2022 - May 2023

August 2023 - Present

University Of Texas at Arlington Bachelors of Science in Architecture

Exchange Semester at The University Of Innsbruck, Austria Bachelors of Science in Architecture

Univeristy Of Texas at Arlington Undergraduate Teaching Assistant College of Architecture, Planning + Public affairs

Assisted second-year architectural students and first-year interior design students in two design studios. Collaborated with professors to organize and develop projects, providing support through weekly critiques and redlining sessions for student studio projects.

HKS Inc Dallas, TX.

Summer Intership.

Created architectural graphics for various projects within the U.S, primarily residential and senior living. I also volunteered to mentor underrepresented high school students pursuing architecture careers, fostering diversity and inclusion.

HKS Inc. Dallas, TX.

Part-Time Student Worker

Assist in documenting and producing SD through DD drawings, as well as creating graphics and renders for an independent living senior community located in Atlanta, Georgia

Sept 2022 - June 2023

AIAS CAMP - CoDirector Architecture Mentorship Program for our AIAS Chapter S

Rhino SketchUp Lumion Illustrator InDesign

Revit Photoshop Blender AutoCad

Vray Grasshopper

S

Hand Drafting

Hand Drawing

Sketching Research

3D Printing Model Making

Laser Cutting

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Santiago Romero santiago.romero.mendez@gmail.com

B.S. Architecture 4th Year University of Texas At Arlington