architecture \ a vessel for live visceral experience that at its best evokes a sense of something greater than ourselves
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Responding to immense water influx \ NYC In collaboration with Christine Phillips
URBAN SCALE
Aqueous Architecture
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Disaster Displacement Shelter \ A symbol, a playful element, a healing mechanism, a commodity; It is dangerous in abundance and dangerous in scarcity. The balance of water has been a themed historical and cultural phenomenon since the beginning of recorded history. \ In the past, human civilizations have always grafted to stream, river or coastline. We can live in it, but we can’t live without it. It is only on its edge do we find shelter and necessity. In the future indeterminate water levels, rising, flooding, changing our city, threaten the established water’s edge and brave new beaches. In current times, with current threats, architecture must be radically aqueous, and its inhabitants must be willing to adapt. The possibility of living
in a water ridden landscape has never been closer. The result will be architecture that must react. \ Beyond the basic need of shelter, the determined space offers a parameter to the human imagination. In conjunction, to create space is essentially an act of human comfort control. Water can be shaped the same way Architecture can interact with water in many ways, it can move water, hold water, let water fall, let water evaporate, let it freeze; it can confine it, expose it, celebrate it and conceal it. Can combining the act of space making with the reality of rising tides bring the humans closer to the edge? Is there an architectural language that can mitigate water and the inhabitants?
Studio VII \ Urban Scale
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Site Plan
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EW Section
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Aquatic Institute Adiminstration Post Sandy Initiative Headquarters Lecture Halls Hotel Lobby Studios Classrooms Public Pool Retail Live/Work Residence Grocery Store Waterscape/Playscape Galleries/Showrooms Residential Tower Bookstore/ Diaster Relief Center
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NS Section
Studio VII \ Urban Scale
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University of Florida Boathouse \ Newnan’s Lake
INFINITE TO INTIMATE SCALE
Site Section
Site Plan
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\ Early morning. Dark moist ground, sparingly streaked by long blades of light escaping through the folds of a curtain of trees. Seventy foot cypress, severing the site. Land—water. The water becomes a sacred site. The itineraries of the land are preparation for the momentous event that occurs on the lake. The sport of rowing. The lake is encircled by the tall curtain of trees and bathed in light. It is the luminous amphitheater, reaching out through the trees; a declaration of the event to come.
Studio V \ Intimate Scale
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VIEW 2 | Preparation for the event
VIEW 1 | Entering the site
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VIEW 3 | Returning to the site
VIEW 1 | Entering the site
VIEW 2 | Preparation for the event
VIEW 3 | Returning to the site
\ A series of monumental thresholds defines the ritual procession towards the lake. Their monumentality is an expression of the event. The slender apertures that they created by the thresholds are the fixed and focused gaze, calling forth an acute awareness of the task at hand. The experience of the thresholds are shaped by materiality, scale, light, and visual cues.
Studio V \ Intimate Scale
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Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery \ Gainesville, FL
MECHANISM FOR RITUAL
PAVILLION FOR FUNERARY CEREMONY \ Providing an unmediated process for returning to nature
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EW Transverse Section
NS Longitudinal Section
Studio V \ Mechanism for Ritual
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Section Perspective
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Studio V \ Mechanism for Ritual
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Wire \ An operable installation
MATERIALS STUDY
\ Deconstructed Copper Mesh Scourer. In the image to the left, six pieces of plastic coated steel wire are woven together to create a mesh similar to the the mesh of the scourers, but at a larger scale. The malleable nature of the wire creates a mesh that folds in an irregular and unpredictable manner.
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Textiles with Wire
Exploratory Seminar \ Material Study
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Nodus Structure | Trial 1
Structural Knots with Wire
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plastic coated wire soft-temper tie joints continuos knot non-alternating pattern
Nodus Structure | Trial 2
Nodus Structure | Trial 3
plastic coated wire tape joints separate loops non-alternating pattern
spring-temper wire interlocking joints separate loops alternating pattern
Exploratory Seminar \ Material Study
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Flexible Knots with Wire
Exploratory Seminar \ Material Study
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Wire with Wings
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\ The wire loops in and around flexible acetate wings. As the central wire is pulled down the loops of the knot compress and set the wings in motion. The larger wings bend inward, the smaller wings dance, and the peripheral wings flutter in random motion.
Exploratory Seminar \ Material Study
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Exploratory Seminar \ Material Study
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A Reading Room \ North Central FL Collection Pavillion
CONSTRUCTION DOCUMENTS
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Materials and Methods II \ Construction Docments
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First Level Plan
Materials and Methods II \ Construction Docments
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Wall Section
NS Section
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Materials and Methods II \ Construction Docments
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Materials and Methods II \ Construction Docments
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sasha.nicole999@gmail.com \ sashaleon.com
SASHA LEON
Education 2011-14
Bachelor of Design | Major in Architecture University of Florida
2008-10
Associate of Arts University of Central Florida
Publications 2014
“Pretty Pictures of Ugly Buildings: Reconstructing place through analogue photography.” Mark McGlothlin, University of Florida Journal for Undergraduate Research Studies
2013
“Translations from Drawing to Seeing.” Stephen Belton, Proceedings of the Inaugural Conference of the Association of Architectural Educators UK. “A Pedagogy of Analytical Mapping as Mediated Process.” Stephen Belton, Proceeding of the 2013 National Conference of the Beginning Design Student.
2012
Architrave 21 | University of Florida Student Publication
2011
Architrave 20 | University of Florida Student Publication
Recognitions 2008-14
Florida Academic Scholars | Bright Futures Scholarship
2014
International Studies Award | UF School of Architecture Magna Cum Laude | University of Florida
2013
University Scholars Grant | UF Center for Undergraduate Research Arthur Bleen Anderson Scholarship | UF East Asia Summer Study Abroad Program UF Luminaire Design Competition | Honorable Mention Design Excellence Award | UF School of Architecture
Distinctions 2014
Solar Decathalon Competition | Schematic Proposal in collaboration with UF School of Architecture UF Undergraduate Research Symposium
2013
Project Leader | East Asia Summer Studio. In collaboration with Universitas Gadjah Mada + Institut Teknologi Bandung. Yogakarta, Indonesia Curator, East Asia Summer Exhibition | Gainesville, FL
2012
Instant House Design Competition | Milan, Italy
Proficiencies Office
Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, Excel
Editing
Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign
Drafting
AutoCAD, Hand Drafting
3D Modeling
Rhinoceros, Sketch-Up, Grasshopper
Physical Modeling
Wood, Paper, Plaster, Plexiglas, Wire (soldering)
Digital Fabrication
Laser Cutting, 3D Printing
Additional
BW Film Processing + Printing (darkroom)
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