serene wongsa 2010
a rc h i te c t u re p o r t fo l i o
serene wongsa wongsas@gmail.com / (281) 8149886 1 404 Indiana #4 Houston, Texas 77006
U n i v e r s i t y o f Te x a s a t A u s t i n
Wiss Janney Elstner Associates Building Systems Junior Architect
June 2006 - Present
Houston, TX
Eldridge Oaks (LEED certificaion pending) • 14-stor y unitized and pressured glazed curtain wall office building • Construction obser vations during entire construction duration as agent of the architect-of-record, Kirksey • Focused on exterior skin including curtain wall, metal panels, and roof • Reviewed exterior skin systems submittals
Bachelor of Architecture, May 2006 Bachelor of Science, Architectural Engineering, May 2006 Overall GPA: 3.8
Methodist Hospital • 4-stor y brick and curtain wall hospital • Created 3d models to aid the architect-of-record and general contractor with window flashing details
skills
MD Anderson Cancer Center • 9-building research and medical campus • Feasibility study of possible reskinning materials suitble for all of the connected buildings built over a 30 year period
• Proficient in AutoCAD & Arhcitecture; formZ; SketchUp; Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, & InDesign; Microsoft Word, Excel, & Access • Experience with ArcMap, ArcGIS
Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen Architects Januar y 2005 - August 2005
other
Architectural Intern
• Nominated for UT Austin School of Architecture Sound Building Studio Distinction, which honors the most complete projects in terms of integration of building systems • Nominated for UT Austin School of Architecture Excellence in Design Award, Sound Building Studio categor y, a distinction for one architecture student per graduating class • LEED Accredited Professional • Currently working toward architectural registration in Texas
Wing Luke Asian Museum (2009 AIA Seattle Honor Award) • 1800s Seattle Chinatown brick building conversion • Created design development phase section-cut model and graphics for client presentation and fundraising Shanghai Villa • 3000 sf private residence • Developed 3d models as schematic design tools
Seattle, WA
Charter School and Community Center UT Austin Sound Building Design Studio [Nominated for Excellence in Design Award] The purpose of this project was to create a building in which all aspects of architecture - structure, environment, interior spacemaking, and ser vice - are thoroughly interrelated in a good, meaningful design. The program includes a small charter school combined with a community center set in a public park. I felt the main challence was how to integrate the two main programs but maintain privacy and security for the school. In addition, the existing use of the public park space must remain. I decided to use the building and the existing railroad berm to create a sunken outdoor space for the children that is separate from the public area.
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Charter School and Community Center UT Austin Sound Building Design Studio The park has a big “bowl”-shaped area with a basketball court and a small blue stage. There is a playground at the west end of the park and an abandoned railroad berm at the southeast corner near the lakefront. A parking lot, situated between the berm and the water, is somewhat hidden from the rest of the park. I decided to turn the parking lot into the protected outdoor area for the schoolchildren. The space is further screened from the public by the building and the berm, which has been built up higher as a hillside. Only the top floor of the building is visible from the street. The entrance where students are dropped off is especially prominent, giving the “school” portion of the program the biggest public presence in the building. It was important to me to establish that this building is a school.
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SITE PLAN
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Mini gathering
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Small groups / classroom
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Offices & lounge
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Entrance to park
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Outdoor play area
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Park
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SECTION B
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Charter School and Community Center UT Austin Sound Building Design Studio
The building diagram is clear in this section cut. The building is split lengthwise down the middle. Enclosed rooms and offices are one side of the building, the common school space, the hallway, where kids hang out are on the other half. The two-stor y assembly room abuts one end of the structure. The existing landscape is manipulated to create a more exaggerated hillside which protects the privacy and security of the children’s play area and the more transparent hallway. The other side of the hill remains a public park.
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Open to below
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Steps
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Hallway / gathering
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Lockers
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Street entrance
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Park entrance
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TOP FLOOR PLAN
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Charter School and Community Center UT Austin Sound Building Design Studio
The diagram of hallway and classrooms continue on the top floor. Students would be dropped off at by bus or car at this level and enter through the street entrance at the north end of the building. Each of the 3 classrooms also have their own door to the “bowl� area of the park. The classrooms are situated above the rest of the park to create a vantage point where teachers can overlook park activities, including when the children are playing in this public area. On the other side of the row of classrooms is the upper hallway, where kids can car ve out their own hang-out spaces. This area is visually protected from the public. But the school areas and the public areas are not completely shut off from each other. Views and limited access is available through a walkway that cuts through the building from the park side to the school side.
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Assembly Kitchen
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Storage & Mechanical 8 Courtyard
3 Lower floor entrance 4 Offices & waiting 9 Tables 10 Mechanical ser vices 11
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Small groups / classroom 12 Outdoor play area
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5 Hallway / gathering Loading / ser vice entrance
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Charter School and Community Center UT Austin Sound Building Design Studio
The bottom floor consists of the assembly room, administrative areas, the hall, and one enclosed classroom. The assembly room, which would often be used as a community space, is easily accessed from the parking lot, which has now moved to abut a natural hillside between the park and neighboring houses. The main entrance opens into the assembly area but is also close to the school hallway. During school hours, teachers using this entrance from the parking lot have easy access to the administrative areas. After hours, the main entrance is used by the public when meeting in the assembly area or in the classrooms.
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Horticulturist’s Library UT Austin 1st Studio Instructor: Elizabeth Danze A siteless 50’x100’ piece of property is to house a horticulturist’s personal reading collection. My horticulturist is an amateur astronomer and an avid reader of fiction. Two hallways house the astronomy and fiction books separately to suit the different spatial and lighting requirements of the two types of books. Between the hallways, a courtyard creates a private reading area. On top of the astronomy hallway, a deck lends space for stargazing.
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1 Gravel
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Grass
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Garden
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Stone steps
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Concrete path
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Horticulturist’s Library UT Austin 1st Studio
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Street level
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Entr y stair way
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Fiction collection
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Porch
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Astronomy collection
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Star viewing deck
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Hybrid Building UT Austin Urban Design Studio Instructor: Dean Almy This hybrid building is situated in a mixed use urban area of Houston. Its programs include offices, a small movie theatre, SRO housing, a restaurant, and a public plaza. From the initial analysis, I found this area almost devoid of pedestrians and places for pedestrians to occupy. Therefore, I designed the spaces for these different programs to interlock in order to bring different kinds of occupants together and to create a pedestrian-based urban scene.
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Private entrance Public restrooms Entrance for offices Fire trucks driveway
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SRO lobby / living rooms 5 Ser vice core 8 Existing fire station 11 Public plaza
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Court for residences 6 Lobby for offices 9 Hose tower 12 Existing buildings
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Movie / teaching theatre
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Garden
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Offices
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SRO housing
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Job training center
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SRO lobby
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Firemen lounge
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Restaurant
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Fire trucks driveway
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Hybrid Building UT Austin Urban Design Studio
N Pedestrian Access to Site The first half of the studio was devoted to mapping the areas around our building sites. This map shows existing and potential pedestrian traffic. This area is rich in variety of activities, but most people are not walking. This idea was used in developing my design.
The new building is well-integrated with the existing buildings on the block (shown shaded in white). The existing 1-stor y fire station is further incorporated into the design by providing a firemen’s lounge within the office tower and a hose storage space in return for building above and directly adjacent to the station.
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Hybrid Building UT Austin Urban Design Studio
3-dimensional models were extensively used to present site analysis graphics and building programs. The model to the left was created during the analysis phase to study the existing uses of the site and the surrounding blocks. The models below are final presentation graphics illustrating the programming and circulation of the building. The goal was to create an interlock of the spaces and circulation to encourage pedestrian acitivity within and around the building.
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Library and Theatre UT Austin Suburban Studio Instructor: Nestor Bottino The challenge of this project was an extra large site in a typical suburban neighborhood with little pedestrian activity and the combination of two complex programs - a theatre and a librar y. I felt that space planning (in this case, the integration and separation of the two main spaces) was the most important task of the project. The two spaces share lobby, circulation, and other public areas. The blandness of the surrounding area is mitigated by the interjection of a prominently asymmetrical form of the theatre popping out of a rectangular building. 20
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Library and Theatre UT Austin Suburban Studio The asymmetrical form of the theature is highly visible from the main street to the west of the site. The theatre’s position adjacent to the main entrance for both pedestrian and vehicular traffic adds to the prominence. The form and position were chosen because I believe one function of a theatre is to be a symbol for the arts. Theatre is not typical; a suburban theatre, especially, should have a statement to make up for the regularity of the site context. A librar y, on the other hand, is a normal occurance in suburbia. The regularity of the librar y portion of the building further accentuates the irregular form of the theatre.
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01 window support angle
04 window
02 double row of sealant under sill pan
05 vertical sheet metal flashing
03 sill pan and window anchor clips
06 membrane patch at corner
07 seal membrane patch
10 seal edges of sam
Methodist Hospital Wiss Janney Elstner We are currently working for the architect-of-record as exterior envelope consultants on a hospital campus. These 3d SketchUp models were created to aid the installation of window flashing and waterproofing. They were presented in a sequence of steps starting with the just the slab to the last sealant bead. In addition to these 08 self-adhesive membrane
09 shingle upper sam
sketches, we per form regular site visits to monitor construction progress and compliance with project documents.
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Methodist Hospital Wiss Janney Elstner
As the installation of this window sill started, our project team reported obser ved problems and created these sketches to
03 double row of sealant under sill pan
demonstrate how the detail could be made watertight.
01 curb and cast stone base
04 sill pan
02 seal between cast stone
05 window anchor clips
06 window
09 through-wall flashing
07 vertical sheet metal flashing
10 self-adhesive membrane
08 double sealant under flashing
11 seal edge of sam
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USSR Pavilion by Konstantin Melikov UT Austin Visual Communications Studio This class was my first introduction to 3d modeling software. Groups of two were assigned a building to model in formZ. Included in the task were section cuts and a model of the building’s structural system. We used photographs and available drawings to create this model. The asymmetr y of the building and the roof slope in two directions added to the challenge of this model.
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Wing Luke Asian Museum Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen [2009 AIA Seattle Honor Award]
I became a part of the project team during the design development phased. This model was used to work out the addition to the original building, particularly its integration with the exisiting structural components. The finished model was displayed at client meetings and its images were used in the owner’s fundraising efforts.
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Garden Shade UT Austin Community Design Studio This studio was a wholestudo collaborative project to design half of an East Austin city block. I designed and constructed these garden shades as one of 2
Shanghai Villa Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen
installations created by the studio. They are meant to be easily replicated by the
For this private residence in Shanghai, I got involved in the
people who would use this
middle of the schematic design phase. The 3-person design
community space.
team used this formZ model as a design tool. 32
Greene House by Office dA UT Austin Construction 5 Instructor: Juan Miro Teams of two were to create full set of construction drawings of an existing house of their choosing from a list approved by the instructor. The drawings are created from studying available photographs and and research of appropriate building systems, materials, and detailing which could be used to construct the building. My partner and I chose office dA’s Greene House because it contains several different types of wall and roof systems.
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