karimi
architectureportfolio
Architecture as Storytelling Architecture for me is a process of constantly examining, analyzing, and reinterpreting reality.It has provided the opportunity to investigate man's essence and to attempt to fathom his nature. I have come to understand architecture as the communication of story - an ancient practice of transmitting experience. At the core of these experiences are the things we have in common: familiar yet unique vocabularies, values and beliefs, all of which synthesized in language and craft. Architecture is fairytale presented in the language of the tectonic. It is the didactic and the fantastic, made real by the physical and phenomenological. It is the theatrical and the mundane, the sublime and the simple. Architecture has to address some of the most difficult questions that we face today, yet we can rely on man’s imagination, his past, and of course his penchant for storytelling for guidance and inspiration. This portfolio is an investigation of storytelling in architectural through process and product performed in mixed media.
Contents Mongolian Community House
01
Camp in the City
02
10UP Competition
03
Georgia Tech. Learning Center
04
La Hacienda
05
01 Mongolian Community Room Digressions on Vernacular
3rd year
Instructor - Charles Rudolph
model- exterior
mongolian community room
Digressions on Vernacular
Permanence for the Ephemeral
A mongolian community room is a frame for the sky, a home to the elements, a temple that is abandoned and rediscovered. The notion of place manifests itself in a myriad of ways in vernacular culture. The same can be said also of a community, for the idea of belonging to a place is often what defines some communities. The question then begs itself, how would a place for community manifest itself among a transient people ? The Mongolian community house is a study in dealing with place in a nomadic culture. The proposal is for a form which is a gesture to the yurt, the traditional dwelling of the mongolian nomads, but of a larger scale and monolithic. This would be a sharp contrast to the material culture and tectonics of the mongolian people, as the concrete is closer to the stone corrals of mongolia rather than the tents. Its permanence allows for this community room to act as a site of pilgrimage, yearly return, or meditation. A place of permanent stability in a turbulent ephemerality.
mongolian community room
initial sketches and models
rendering - interior
mongolian community room
B
plan b
plan a
plan b
section a
section b
plan a
plan b
mongolian community room
model - entrance
axonometric
model - top
02 Camp in the City
Defamiliarizing the Familiar 3rd year
Instructor - Charles Rudolph
model of dwelling
site model
camp in the city
Defamiliarizing the Familiar
Exploring Narrative through Scale
How can we communicate the memory of being in the cabin at the edge of the horizon? Or in the tent at the end of the world? How can we begin to relate the flickers of smoke and flames that fly away from a summer night’s fire ? How can we relate he strange sights and sounds of the forest? Or the songs around the campfire ? Perhaps through the ghost stories of our childhood. A camp in the city falls in a strange place between two imaginaries: that of the city and that of the forest. The goal for this camp was to attempt to augment this site by trying to capture the magic of camping in the outdoors. To find a way to summon the magic of being in the forest. The magic of the unknown, the imperceptible, and the unreal. The metaphor would then be that of a ghost. The combination of the real and the surreal, the marriage of light and dark, the frightening and the enchanting. A ghost is a memory; it is the familiar - a human presence- in an unfamiliar form. The ghost could be an angel, a campfire,a will-o-the-wisp,or a dream,. The camp would thus be a memory of this wilderness and a story of its own. This is a memory of the camping experience, a ghost of it, a chance to touch upon it but not quite embrace it. Strange yet strangely recognizable.
camp in the city
Camp layout
XL
1. Camping , the buildings surround a central campfire much like tents but allow the remainder of the site to remain untouched. By connecting the buildings with pathways, they allow for the wandering through buildings and encourage the act of exploration. 2. Datum lines pulled in from surroundings, with the desire to reveal the city through diagonal views and between the trees. These views are also framed partially by the pathways between the buildings
aa
3. The activated edges of the site, and the streets which look in. 4. The sun. The buildings were placed to benefit from tree cover with their long end oriented south so that the opaque windows can turn to louvers at midday and block the sun. 5. Wind, the buildings allow for airflow through the site and into the buildings. The buildings are also pitched to allow for increased pressure in the predominant wind direction and to allow the wind to move up the roof and cool it down. 6. Rain, the buildings are pitched to remove water from the roof. bb
aa
+12
+10
+12
aa +10
+8 +10
+0 +8
bb
bb
0
camp in the city
initial sketches
camp in the city
L
second floor plan
BB
1
AA 2
2
3 2 6
BB 2
4
5
AA
model - interior
1. Meeting Hall 2. Camper’s quarters w/living room/toilets 3. Dining Hall 4. Swimming Pool 5. Medical Clinic w/craft center 6. Campfire
BB
1
AA
2
2
2 3 6
BB
2 4
5
first floor plan
AA
1’=1/64”
model - interior
Formal language
M
camp in the city
the dissolution of the wall, the dissolution of the roof and floor, and the dissolution of boundaries between buildings. The translation of a ghost continues is translated into the dissolution of the cabin/shed, both vertically and horizontally. This occurs through the use of operable glass windows , so that the buidling can open up in the morning, and fold back up at night (pitching a tent ?). This also allows for the opening of the exterior and interior and the creation of interstitial spaces as a result. Furtniture can be moved out of meeting hall during the day, freeing up the The windows act as louvers as well as allow for cross ventilation of the building. Translucency and transparency vary based on program. There is also a porous roof and floors allowing for light to come in section and begin to express this dissolution even further.Finally, the walkways between the building dissolve the boundaries between buildings and connect various programmatic elements of the camp.
axonometric through living quarters
camp in the city
section a
section b
camp in the city
Narrative at the scale of the detail
S
Transforming stairs and transition between levels to a “ghost� The translation of a ghost continues is translated into the dissolution of the cabin/shed, both vertically and horizontally. This occurs through the use of operable glass windows , so that the buidling can open up in the morning, and fold back up at night (pitching a tent ?). This also allows for the opening of the exterior and interior and the creation of interstitial spaces as a result. Furtniture can be moved out of meeting hall during the day, freeing up the The windows act as louvers as well as allow for cross ventilation of the building. Translucency and transparency vary based on program.
A Joint at Landing
There is also a porous roof and floors allowing for light to come in section and begin to express this dissolution even further.Finally, the walkways between the building dissolve the boundaries between buildings and connect various programmatic elements of the camp.
A
B Wooden handrail meets glass B C
B
D
C Tread
D Connector between tread and glass
camp in the city
section perspective through dwelling quarters
03 10UP Competition
Armatures for Didactic Architecture 3rd year
Collaborators - Vincent Yee + Ali Lari + Kelly Darby
building blocks
Armatures for Didactic Architecture The design was prompted by the question of “How can an installation begin to teach people about architecture ?” Our goal was to highlight architectural synthesis, or more explicitly the relationships between: use, light, space, movement, nested geometries, materials. This is achieved through our proposal for an enclosure which acts as a variable wall. This wall, which encourages interaction, is made up of “bricks” and “mortar”; which highlights architectural elements and conveys an architectural lesson. In an exploration of relationships between parts to whole, the mortar (made of steel) will provide the framework in which the bricks sit to compose the wall. This allows for both variability in construction based on different site limitations as well as for the users playing with the bricks. Solid and void then become interior and exterior as bricks are removed, added and rearranged - turning wall to window and back. The bricks in the framework are made of reprocessed foam and are stamped with a number, encouraging play with the brick as well as further exploring the relationship between an individual and a whole. The foam allows for safer alternative , the indexed bricks can also be taken by visitors as a memento of the installation, thus the installation also takes on a life over the period of its existence.
building blocks
plan
elevation
site
section
building blocks
components cost per unit total cost
30,936
$0.05
$1,546.80
store-bought 1” rivet
120
$0.05
$6.00
store-bought metal hinge
7,464
$0.20
$1,492.80
steel “mortar” fabricated from cut sheets of metal
1,596
$0.90
$1,436.40
1,596
$0.20
$319.20
1'-821"
$4,801.20
621"
3 4"
2
3
metal sheet w/ perforations
fold along score marks
continuation of form fold
brick form completed
assembly of bolts and brick
621"
3 4"
258"
1
5
3 4"
dimensions of steel mortar
construction
4
241"
8"
1 2"
3 4"
358"
reprocessed polystyrene foam brick
241"
8"
1 2"
units store-bought 1/2” rivet
6 construction pattern
building blocks
construction 7
8
9
week 1
stamp brick with index
example of brick
palette of foam bricks palette of steel bricks week 2
10
10
week 3
construction on-site
brick as memento
11
variations week 4
Construction : Project can be eformulated to fit different site variations and curatorial demands
Use : Brick formations are subjective with respect to human interaction week 5
04 Georgia Tech. Learning Center Reflections on Learning 3rd year project Instructor - Judy Gordon Collaborator - Vincent Yee
learning center
Reflections on Learning We propose an interpretation of learning built around a literal and figurative exploration of ‘reflecting’. The scheme draws on monasteries as a typology,and the relationship between cloisters and a courtyard. At the same time plazas and town squares are also used as a precedent for a public space. The result is a combination of the two : a building made up of a monastery clad in copper and a plaza clad in glass. These two parts are connected by an atrium which uses reflections to create a lightwell which is a phenomenological metaphor for the relationship between individual and collective thought.
learning center
reflection studies
learning center
clerestory
copper skin
1 CMU “screen�
cloisters
floor plates
2 steel structure
basement
parti 3
components
handicap accessible
learning center Detail
4
4
B
fourth floor
third floor
A
2
8
1
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
1
detail section
2 AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
7
5
6
second floor
first floor 1. Large Studio 2. Medium Room 3. Computer Lab 4. Cloister 5. Conference Room 6. Shop 7. Office 8. Gallery 9. Mechanical
9 3
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
plan
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbWall (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
AecDbDoor (AecArchBase60)
6
basement
axonometric
learning center
SUNLIGHT ON WALL
SUNLIGHT ON WINDOW
SUNLIGHT ON MIRROR
section of cloister
12 pt
section a
section b
learning center
05 La Hacienda Urban Refuge 4th year
Instructors - Libero Andreotti + Xavier Wrona Collaborators - Manel Ben Amer + Madeliene Tigeot Campus - Ecole Nationale SupĂŠrieure d'Architecture de Paris La Villette
la hacienda
1 my name is mahmood, my city is under siege
Urban Refuge
Situations for politicizing discarded space and discarded people The project explores the notion of refuge in the contemporary city. Selecting the unemployed youth of Paris as “clients�, our proposal was for a situation which inhabits the spaces between and on two abandoned buildings. A hybrid between stair, balcony, squat,and coffee shop we were interested in a system for inhabiting,converting,and politicizing discarded spaces and discarded people. or perhaps, its no longer my city
no longer my future
la hacienda
You’ll n ever see the [caf e]. The [caf e] must be built ."
The city of lights is a myth. All that is left is propaganda and capitalist masks. Tourists marching slowly to Paris's death parade, the squeaking of a tired accordion. The true face of Paris is in its blighted neighborhoods. The revenge of a colonial past. I am a Moroccan youth.
Ivan Chtcheglov
site
I cannot go I cannot stay.
no longer content
no longer alone
There is a struggle. Against alienation, a struggle with identity. The struggle has left the buildings and spilled out into the streets, overflowing like sewage after months of rain. The television lies, calls for complacency. The coffee is expensive, conversation is abrupt, contact is limited to the rubbing of shoulders between strangers. The shining lights slowly fade away, the cafes board up their doors, the intellectuals go to bed. There are many like me. We are not known to the city, and it cares not for us.
2
concept
evolution
I will put on my own mask, and recreate Paris.
result
la hacienda 3 44 Rue Myrha
42 Rue Myrha
44
elevation
it will be built
sections
la hacienda 4
the cafe grew
membership was through contributions
plans
exploded axon
la hacienda construction 1.5m
the momentum was overwhelming
20 cm
10 cm
5
10 cm
structural module
who did it belong to ?
then the day came, and so did the bulldozers.
gestation birth
floor boards plan
plywood sheets
death
growth
la hacienda
it will be destroyed
it will be rebuilt
And I said, ‘You know, Gabor, if I could think what I would do, other than architecture, it would be to write the new fairy tale, because from the fairy tale came the airplane, and the locomotive and the wonderful instruments of our minds… it all came from wonder’ - Louis Kahn