SAUMON OBOUDIYAT
DESIGN PORTFOLIO
SELECTED WORKS 2012-2016
I. Architectural Design
II. Visualizing Data
ARCH 3231_Architectural Design III - Fall 2013 Infill_A Home for the Seder Ritual Critic: Jim Faircloth
ARCH 552_Institutions Studio - Fall 2015 For The Voices In Between_Spatializing Data of South Side Chicago Critic: Claudia Wigger
ARCH 562_Propositions Studio - Winter 2016 One Room_Studies of Philippe Rahm’s Domestic Astronomy Critics: Craig Borum + Amy Kulper
ARCH 2121_Foundations of Arch. Design II - Spring 2013 Body and Space_Choreography Drawing Critic: Lorena Alvarez
ARCH 562_Propositions Studio - Winter 2016 One Room_A Well Tempered Room Critics: Craig Borum + Amy Kulper
ARCH 2121_Foundations of Arch. Design II - Spring 2013 Body and Space_Wormhole Model Critic: Lorena Alvarez
ARCH 552_Institutions Studio - Fall 2015 For The Voices In Between_Barack Obama Presidential Center Critic: Claudia Wigger
ARCH 2121_Foundations Arch. Design I - Fall 2012 Topological Model_Canopy and Surface Translation of The Wissahickon Critic: Dennis Playdon ARCH 2121_Foundations Arch. Design I - Fall 2012 Topological Model_Geological Translation of The Wissahickon Critic: Dennis Playdon
III. Fabrication
i. References
ARCH 537_Fabrication - Fall 2015 (~) Draw (-) Cut (+) Assemble_Fingerprint Table Instructor: Dustin Bruggman | Team: Patrick Linder + Saumon Oboudiyat
Reference 1: Craig Borum Relation: Studio Critic at Taubman College A+UP Phone: 734.827.2238 | E-Mail: cborum@umich.edu
ARCH 537_Fabrication - Fall 2015 Steam Bending_Art NURBeau Instructor: Asa Peller | Team: Patrick Linder, Qingying Sun + Saumon Oboudiyat
Reference 2: Jeff Goldstein Relation: Principal at DIGSAU and IDP Supervisor Phone: 215.627.0808 | E-Mail: jgoldstein@digsau.com
DIGSAU_Architectural Intern - Summer 2014 Wilmington Friends Donor Wall_Design, Fabrication, Instillation Team: Jamie Unkefer, Nick Musser, Sarah Cancienne + Saumon Oboudiyat
Reference 3: Jim Faircloth Relation: Studio Critic at Temple University Architecture Department Phone: 215.301.7373 | E-Mail: jhfair@temple.edu
Education
Experience
Expected May 2017 Ann Arbor, MI
Taubman College of Architecture & Urban Planning University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI Master of Architecture
February - March 2016 New York, NY
PellOverton Architecture | Research | Design Taubman College Spring Externship Intern
August 2011 - May 2015 Philadelphia, PA
Tyler School of Art, Department of Architecture Temple University. Philadelphia, PA Bachelor of Science in Architecture Certificate in Sustainability
May - August 2015 June - August 2014 Philadelphia, PA
DIGSAU Architecture | Urbanism | Environmental Design Intern Architect Swarthmore College Sharples Dining Hall | Pre-Design Wilmington Friends School | Donor Wall Germantown Friends School | Masterplan SEPTA + Titan | Bus Kiosk Design Proposals Lehigh University Service Building | Rennovation Lehigh University Alumni Building | Programming
June - August 2013 Philadelphia, PA
Temple University Health Science Campus Facilities Management Intern Mechanical System Checks Rennovations and Service Upgrades Updating Operation and Maintenance Reports Existing Site and Building Analysis for Investment
May 2012 - May 2013 York, PA
Artc Graphics Graphic Designer Logo Design for Local Businesses Graphic T-Shirt Design for Website
Latin Honors Cum Laude, 3.76 Final GPA Temple University Architecture Department 2013 B.S. Architecture Portfolio Prize: First Place Tyler School of Art, Dean’s List: Fall 2011, Fall 2013, Spring 2014, Fall 2014, Spring 2015. January - April 2014 Prati, Rome, Italy
Temple University Study Abroad Program in Rome Punti Di Vista - Public Exhibition from April 8 to April 12, 2014. Select Artwork from Rome Sketchbook Course. Travels to cities of Rome, Venice, Florence, Naples, Pompeii, Berlin, Copenhagen & Amsterdam.
Skills + Programs
Involvement
Skills
Diagramming Architectural Drafting Hand Drawing Digital Rendering Model Building
Musical Composition Block (Relief) Printing Audio Prod. + Rec. Woodworking Ceramics
Programs
Adobe Creative Suite Photoshop Illustrator In-Design Rhinoceros 3D Modeling Software V-Ray Rendering Engine
Autodesk AutoCAD Revit - BPAC CNC Milling MasterCam X9 Logic Studio V2.0 Final Cut Pro X
English (Native) Farsi (Proficient)
Spanish (Elementary) Italian (Elementary)
Languages
April - May 2015
Paula Scher (Pentagram, NYC) + Keith Hartwig (Veyko Metal Fabricaiton, PHL) In Association with the Temple Contemporary Distinguished Alumni Program: “Philadelphia Explained” Instillation Participant to Scher Fiberglass Fabrication Assistant to Hartwig
September 2013 - May 2015
Tyler Architecture Social Media Coordinator & Undergraduate Blog Writer Publications: Lecture Summary & Interview - Amy Kulper’s “Turning the Tables on Experimental Practice” & Alumni Interview - Keith Hartwig
August 2014 - May 2015
Tyler Architecture Lecture Series Committee Designer of Tyler Architecture Department Fall 2014 Lecture Series Poster + Media Coordinator
September - October 2014
PhilaNOMA Conference Design-Build Lead Designer and Fabricator for Lighthouse Field K-12 Community Garden Revival Project
I.AD
Infill_A Home for the Seder Ritual
Jewish Passover Seder Fragment Diagrams Ink on Mylar_66 x 17 in.
A Home For The Seder Ritual is an investigation of the impact of rituals on the designing domestic space. The project began with the dissection and “fragmentation� of a specific ritual (The Jewish Passover Seder) through a rigorous process of research of actions, spaces, and artifacts required for its performance. Next, the twelve selected fragments were defined by a single image (first row), which informed a representational abstraction in plan, section, or elevation (second row), and lastly a digrammatic notation of the movement and transition latent in the fragment. These fragmented diagrams we produced after study of techniques established by Bernard Tschumi in The Manhattan Transcripts. After the preliminary study and diagram excercise, a site was assigned on 522 Kauffman Street in Philadelphia, PA. A photo-composition was constructed using over seventy photographs to communicate the conditions and qualities of the site.
Joiner Photo Collage_522 Kauffman Street, Philadelphia PA Print_18 x 24 in.
I.AD Seder Ritual House Plan and Section 1” = 4’-0” Mixed Digital Medium_14 x 65 in.
Ground Level
Second Level
Third Level
03
02
G
Longitudinal Section
I.AD
Infill_A Home for the Seder Ritual Process Diagram_Aperture Response to Interior Program Mixed Digital_8.5 x 11 in.
Process Diagram_Façade Manipulation Mixed Digital_8.5 x 11 in.
W1: ENTRY & READING W2: HANDWASHING W3: CIRCULATION W4: BEDROOM W5: PRAYER & HANDWASHING D1: FRONT ENTRY D2: ACCESS TO SEDER GARDEN G1: SEDER GARDEN
Seder House_Infill Model 1” = 4’-0” Basswood, Illustration Board, Acrylic_9 x 3-1/8 x 9 in.
The façade manupilation was a product of three major design criterium: creating a transitionary entrance offset from the adjacent pre-existing homes, an extended balcony space that could function as a space to grow the herbs necessary for the Seder and offer social interaction with pedestrians below, and a series of apertures to pull daylight over specific areas which programmatically and symbolically require light. Façade materials were chosen as a method of coding, with the flat monolithic wall being a finished white concrete. Furthermore, the manipulated surface was to be made of a fiber cement paneling system, with vertical components acting as visual devices to elongate and exaggerate the nature of the building’s skin.
Seder House_Street Elevation
Seder House_Bottom Façade Perspective
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Seder House_Infill Model 1” = 4’-0”
V_05
View 02_Entry + Reading Space
View 03_Living + Leading to Seder Space
View 04_Seder + Ritual Handwashing Space
View 05_Leading to Bedroom + Prayer Space
View 06_Bedroom + Prayer Space
V_06
V_04
V_01
View 01_Exterior Skin + Seder Herb Space
V_02
V_03
By predominately designing in section, an emphasis was put in the gradual progression through the house through a sequence of pre-seder spaces to remind them of the values of reading, family, and music in Judaism. The living space’s raised elevation (reference View_03) informs a mutual relationship between the family unit and the Jewish Passover Seder Table directly above (reference View_04) both symbollically and literally. The challenge in designing the Seder House was capturing the spirit of the intimate moments of interaction between the participants and the relics of the Jewish Seder through an architectural design. During the research process, it was equally import research the daily lives of those involved with the ritual. It was from this extended research that programmatic spaces supplemental to the Seder ritual were instilled in the house. These supplemental spaces include a reading space, a living space for family and friends to gather, a space for storing musical instruments, and a prayer space incorporated into the bedroom.
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One Room_Studies of Philippe Rahm’s Domestic Astronomy Unpacking A Room_Temperature And The Domestic V-Ray Rendering Engine and Illustrator_ 19 x 19 in.
*Photographs and direct quotes from Philippe Rahm Architect’s website.
One Room explores the myriad possibilities of architectural theory and design through the disciplinary conceit of (One Room). Using Philippe Rahm’s project entitled Domestic Astronomy, located in Luoisiana Museum of Humlebaek, Denmark. Rahm’s proposal challenges horizontal occupation of domestic spaces, and proposes a literal occupying of atmospheres to “change the way of life”. The room is organized by optimal thermal comfort zones created by proximity to the heat (incadescent) light source and conversely, the cool (flourescent) light source. This is a project of “artifical interior climates of modernity”.
I.AD A Room and Its Infrastructure_Artificial Atmosphere and Energy V-Ray Rendering Engine and Illustrator_ 19 x 19 in. A Room and Its Infrastructure_Atmosphere Core Samples
Phase One: Unpacking a Room required an unpacking, enumerating, and analyzing of the room and its elements. The axonometric explores a range of specific details on temperature, spatial distribution of domestic elements, target thermal values, actual thermal values, and an overal understanding of the interrelationships within the thermal atmosphere Rahme is proposing.
Phase Two: A Room and its Infrastructure was constructed to represent the room solely through the lens of its various systems utilizing a representational strategy of intensification. The infrastructure of Rahm’s project is based in energy exchange, namely convection, conduction, radiation and human metabolism. The draw explores how two light sources in the room radiate exchange energy with humans and water in the room.
Atmosphere core samples serve as an abstract to begin thinking about how different zones in room produce a vertical gradient of thermal conditions. This diversity of wet, dry, warm, and cold temperature is the basis of human thermal delight.
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One Room_A Well Tempered Room A Well Tempered Room_Tetraptych: Thermal Delight and Object Extensity V-Ray Rendering Engine and Adobe Photoshop_Each Drawing, 19 x 19 in. My room is positioned between the challenge of what constitutes a room (an enclosure, a threshold, and horizons/fields of vision through apertures and reveals) and the intimacy of thermal delight (flickering between warm and cool sensations). The room’s intensity, the elements of fire and water, are to be experienced at varying levels of immersion and proximity. The architecture curates this explicitly. The room’s extensity is in its environment: a field of wheat which is as elemental as fire and water. We trace the interplay of the room’s intensity and extensity through the taxonomy of its objects.
The objects in the room index types of occupancy. With twenty vignettes, I will highlight just a few. Four filled pails are in the room: water, wheat, sticks, and ashes. Which index livelihood, agriculture, and thermal engagement. Two frames: photographs of a flood and a fire in the field. The sickle and sun-hat, presence of an agriculturalist. A sheet and a book, indicating leisure and inquiry of knowledge. A fire poker, indicating use of the hearth and ondol heating system.
Varying levels of immersion were critical in the spatial framework of the room: shin, knee, and neck deep waters, a wall of falling water, a thin ceiling of water supported by a glass. Overwhelmingly, I have been curious about how a room can produce a range of thermal experiences with a medium such as water or air, and how the architecture stages the human body to engage (or disengage) from it.
In the beginning of the semester, I studied Phillipe Rahm’s Domestic Astronomy project. Rahm’s is a project that deals with occupying atmosphere through the dispersion of fixtures and domestic iconographies and their proximity to a heat source which is also a light source. The distribution of these domestic spaces is predicated on target thermal comfort levels of certain activities. This triggered my interest in ideas of thermal atmospheres in a room, yet I felt constricted in how Rahm resolves occupying atmosphere through iconography and thermal mapping and less with unique spatial constructions. For me, it was provoked yet hadn’t become resolved
One Room_A Well Tempered Room A Well Tempered Room_Wormseye Section Perspective V-Ray Rendering Engine and Adobe Photoshop_Each Drawing, 19 x 40 in. My choices in representation are complimentary but stand to tell their own narratives. The drawings, the perspectives and their vignettes illustrate the spatial condition of the room that I have designed from four vantage points which reveal the latitudinal and longitudinal relationships between floor, wall, ceilings, and apertures. The section (next page) reveals the underpinning interplay between the water and thermal infrastructure of the room.
For my room, it is important to highlight that I stand on the theoretical/literary shoulders of two Gaston Bachelard two texts: Water and Dreams and The Poetics of Space, representational shoulders of Raimund Abraham’s ‘9 Houses Triptych’ in the UNBuilt text and Joseph Cornell’s Box Assemblages. The triptych cabinet assemblage (right) teases provocations of the room’s extensity: events, floods, fires, objects, taxonomies and cycles of the room’s resources. The cabinet is a working model to produce scenarios which could expand the narrative of the room, while alluding to some of its objects and elemental intensities found the drawings.
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A Well Tempered Room_Triptych Cabinet Assemblage Cabinet, Gesso, Candle Extinguisher, 2B Pencil, Burnt Organic Matter, Binocular, etc.
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For The Voices In Between_Barack Obama Presidential Center
The Barack Obama Presidential Center cannot be a static institution. It should aspires to remain relevant and acquire rebirth through rotating exhibitions exhibiting concerns and triumphs of the South Side of Chicago. The public plaza situated between the Museum and Archive will serve as a new gathering space for protests, performances, and speeches of both formal and informal nature. The initial research of monument, icon, and landmark informed the nature of the Presidential Center design at the urban scale. While the center and archive are pronounced through the depression of the plaza and their monumental scale, the gestural focus of the site is on the urban plaza, a space dedicated to the ongoing necessity for cities to have focused gathering spaces for citizen empowerment and demonstration. The proposal was an excercise of object and surface manipulation, developing a fluid interaction between the tectonics of the twin structures and the fabric surface of the plaza.
In addition to the required program by the NARA and the Obama Foundation, two functions are being included in the design process. BOCCA (Barack Obama Center for Community Arts) seeks to redefine the role of the institution by maintaining an honorable space to celebrate the President’s legacy, while dedicating spaces for the South Side Chicago community to actively rejuvrnate in content and message. This is a center for evolving heritage. CSOC (Chicago Student Outreach Center) will serve the community as a think tank and host to re-thinking educational models, providing student services (tutoring and student financial advising).These two additional programs are active models of alleviating issues of based around education, financial planning, artistic expression, and giving a piece of the Obama Center into the hands of the community in which it resides. The Center for Community Arts seeks to empower young teens and adults who require a space to demonstrate challenges and aspirations of their community through positive expression of the art. By providing a gallery space for young artists, performance space for young musicians and poets, and fellowships for artists in residence to curate and produce work, BOCCA becomes a working nucleus for creative output.
I.AD Barack Obama Presidential Center_ Plaza for the Voices In Between Mixed Media Watercolor on Strathmore_18” x 18”
Barack Obama Presidential Center_ View of Gallery, BOCCA, and Special Events Mixed Media Watercolor on Strathmore_18” x 18”
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For The Voices In Between_Barack Obama Presidential Center Mapping Studies: Analysis of South Side Chicago Transportation, 1893 Chicago’s World Fair, Landmarks, Icons and Monuments Illustrator_24”x18”
I.AD Barack Obama Presidential Center_Basement NARA Archive and Restricted Documents_24 x 24 in.
Barack Obama Presidential Center_Ground Level Orientation Theatre, Gift Shop, Lobby | Archive and CSOC_24 x 24 in.
Barack Obama Presidential Center_First Level Exhibition and BOCCA Gallery | Archive Administration_24 x 24 in.
Barack Obama Presidential Center_Third Level Special Events | Research, Production, and Stacks_24 x 24 in.
II.VD
For The Voices In Between_Spatializing Data of South Side Chicago The Isometric diagram below shows where people have been shot in South Side Chicago, broken down by community area. In the scale at the bottom corner, color intensity correlates with number of individuals afflicted by shooting. The data spans from January 1, 2015 - October 15, 2015. There have been 2,410 shooting victims this year in Chicago. This averages 1.28 people per day in the South Side Chicago area, and 8.6 people per day in the city of Chicago. In the South Side Chicago region alone, 370 people have been listed as shooting victims. The intention of this project was to begin visualizing two-dimensional map data into a form of spatial analytics, where quantity of stark difference of range could be easily visualized. Typical delivery of data found in graphs and tables lack the contextual, spatial, and visual qualities to which is problematic for viewers who cannot process the range of variables needed to understand the points of the author. As a designer, visualizing data with the intention of providing a visual synthesis of information is a critical project which I pursue, and has been undertaken by numerous graphic artists and cartographers, notably William Bunge. The Data was collected from the website of the Chicago Tribune.
Spatializing Data I_South Side Chicago Shootings Illustrator and Rhinoceros 3D_18 x 18in
II.VD
The sequence of diagrams below take the data from the former project one step further. Looking to the eight neighborhoods involved in the data tracking by the Chicago Tribune, the map was scanned with units of 1 mi x 1 mi to track the highest density area of shooting in each neighborhood. The red polygons (and their vertices) represent the exact location where a shooting had taken place. By abstract the 1 sq mi unit, we understand these occurances not as a scatter plot but a finite region of instances. The polygon’s vertices are then lowered on a scale based on the time which has passed since the shooting, on a one year scale. The lowest points occured closest to the day the data was extracted, the highest points closest to the surface of the map are nearing their one year passing. If we think about data as an agent of describing spatial conditions, we are better able to produce images which speak on dimensions of space, time, scale, and frequency. The shootings are not instances which occur at an instant then pass, as they are reported, but have lingering affects on the people, buildings, and street corners which they occur on. These diagrams remind us of this residual reality.
Spatializing Data II_South Side Chicago Shootings Illustrator and Rhinoceros 3D_18 x 18in
II.VD
Body and Space_Choreography Drawing The Body and Space study in Foundations of Architectural Design II—which includes the Choreography Drawing and the Cardboard Wormhole—were both a product of an originally crafted choreography which maintained a unique, repeatable sequence of movements. Over four hundred points were hand-measured on an (X,Y,Z) axis to track the choreography. The vellum drawings propose a tangible “carving out of space” found in these movements, with volumes and overlaps displaying the tracking the movement of specific body parts by lofting points of the same body part in the order of the sequence’s beginning and end. The views describe the following: Plan_View tracks the movement of the right arm, Front Elevation_View tracks the right leg and arm simultaneously, and Side Elevation_View tracks the interweaving of the right and left legs. The particular body parts were focused on in each view due to their significant range of motion as perceived from that perspective. The drawing’s swift movement and fluid volumes were transposed into the form of a physical model to materialize the rhythm and ruptures in the choreography. Plan Graphite on Vellum_24 x 48 in
Front Elevation Graphite on Vellum_24 x 48 in
Side Elevation Graphite on Vellum_24 x 48 in
Body and Space_Wormhole Model
The Front Elevation_View became the driving force behind the model’s spatial configuration. After the model’s completion, portions of the model were removed to introduce light to set up spaces in light (and therefore in dark) and thereby photographed. This model began the conversation of how carved spaces derived from a set of analytical data could inform the creation of light and dark spaces through the process of reducing mass, and ultimately, an inhabitable space.
II.VD
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Topological Model_Canopy and Surface Translation of The Wissahickon
Base_Perspective
Side_Perspective
The Canopy and Surface Translation Model was designed to elucidate the geomorphological processes that formed the site. During the building process, it was decided that the structure of the model would be based around the cave-like geological formation found at the base of the site, which directly influenced the design decision to leave the core of the model void to provide a clearer perception of said formation. The canopy was designed by a process which involved the interlocking of “broken triangles�, symbolizing the transition from the structured, triangulated geology to the organic and naturally formed canopy.
Front_Perspective
Canopy_Perspective
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Topological Model_Geological Translation of The Wissahickon
Front Angled_Perspective
Underside_Perspective
The Wissahickon Topographical Model was a study of the topographic formation of the land, focusing on the surface and volumetric qualities of the site. The construct’s focus was on the monolithic attributes of the site’s geology, visually augmented by the process of pulling and exaggerating specific areas of the site. The areas pulled and exaggerated in the model were particularly confrontational when experiencing the site in person. The underside of the model implies that the geological formation of the site should be understood as a complex yet organic tectonic system, formed as a product of a natural process that occured over an extended period of time.
Front Cave_Perspective
Focused Topographical_Perspective
III.F
(~) Draw (-) Cut (+) Assemble_Fingerprint Table FingerPrint Table_Elevation
Detail_Peg and Slat Joints
The FingerPrint Table employs four unique methods of joinery to create a fluid, symmetrical, and expressive table form. Radial slats are intercepted and held in a flush slat joint by the legs of the table. The legs, designed as a stair cut procession, meet at the critical center intersection and are held by a counter-sunk puzzle joint.
Detail_Half-Depth Contour
A counter-sunk puzzle joint was created using a carefully calibrated pocket toolpath to allow for a snug-reinforcing joint to combat compression loads. On each of the two sides of the table, parabolic legs meet and are secured by a shimmed slat joint which spans and braces the mirroring edge of the table through the table center. Our table top is a continuation of the expressive form of the legs, with a surface contour toolpath, creating the namesake “FingerPrint� deboss. In an effort to subtly yet effectively secure the table top to the legs of the table, our design team employed a flush peg joint at the table corners.
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FingerPrint Table_Exploded Axonometric Rhinoceros 3D and Illustrator_12 x 18 in.
FingerPrint Table_Corner Perspective
Detail_Key Joint
III.F
Steam Bending_Art NURBeau Detail_Arriving To An Edge
Preceding the iterative design process of form finding with steam bending, the team understood and distinguished the variations of b-spline and NURB curves, their application in digital design software and their relation to the art of steam bending. We learned geometric b-spline curves are the basis of all further iterations of b-spline curves, which fluctuate based on a series of control points. The ArtNURBeau project was carried out using a simple jig (steel rod welded to a steel plate, mounted to a large sheet of pressure treated wood. With this framework, the group began experimenting with free-form steam bending of wood which allowed for a number of trial and error takes on the limits, nature, tensions, and compliances of the material. The ultimate design stemmed from using a series of choregraphed bends and additional jigs which required quick bends, clean clamping, and a full day of curing. After producing one module, we arrayed it in four to produce an ornamental form, inspired by the Art Nouveau period of decorative art and architecture of the 1890s.
Art NURBeau_Process Photographs
Detail_Center Bloom
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Art NURBeau_Front Elevation
Detail_Key Joint
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Wilmington Friends Donor Wall_Design, Fabrication, Instillation
The Wilmington Friends Donor Wall project involved Principal Architect Jamie Unkefer, Architectural Interns Nick Musser and Sarah Cancienne, and myself as an Intern at DIGSAU. Musser and Cancienne were responsible predominately for the schematic and designdevelopment process of the project, while Unkefer overlooked the project’s financial and logistical parameters. My involvement revolved around the fabrication and final instillation of the project. The process began with hand-selecting recycled wood from various local lumber sources, planing, and cutting down to size based on donation amount. Front Elevation_Wilmington Friends Donor Wall Rhinoceros 3D and Illustrator
Next, a process of laser-cutting individual blocks occured followed by a reptitive procedure: hand sanding, staining, drying, and polyurethane coating each piece. This was not only a rigorous excercise of craft and detail-oriented labor, but one of project management. The instillation process was viewed to be mosaic-like in its nature. Each piece was mounted by hand on a CNC-milled template board. The order and sequence was arranged intuitively to diversify the tones of each unique block. The mounting board purposefully contains hundreds of blank spaces, to allow for addition of donor blocks from future donors.
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