2016
STEFAN DE LEON KLECHESKI is a designer who was born in New York City and raised globally.
portfolio
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about I am a designer who was born in New York City and raised globally. Having lived in Russia, Poland, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the US growing up, each phase of life was tied to a specific environment. I’ve learned I have a knack for understanding, deploying, and complementing others’ design sensibilities; 3d modeling; thriving when working alone or in teams; and solving both technical and conceptual problems. I have work experience in the US and abroad, having worked for T.E.A.M., EA-DO, Sift Studio (in Ann Arbor, MI), Del Campo Manninger Architects (in Shanghai, China), Ginzburg Architects (in Moscow, Russia), and ACH Architecture (in New York, NY). I have a B.A. in Art History from Bard College, NY, and an M.Arch from the University of Michigan, MI, and have also studied in Geneva, Switzerland, and Bangkok, Thailand. This portfolio features some of my best work completed over the past three years at the University of Michigan. One professional project has been selected for feature. For more samples of professional work, please don’t hesitate to contact me at stefklecheski@gmail.com. More work, as well as well as videos and animations, can be found on my website, ste-fan.com I couldn’t have completed the work in here without various professors and fellow students, whom I cite throughout. To me, architecture must be a collaborative act, and is made stronger through artful teamwork.
CONTENTS SEEMS CUTE/CUTE SEAMS...............4 [M(*GM)]{O*MG}OD...................16 HOUSE FOR THE PSYCHIC APPARATUS......24 SOFT ACCRETIONS.....................34 BIOGOTH............................40 CONCRETE (I)LAND....................46 KINDER EGG KOMPLEX..................50 CV.................................52
CUTE SEAMS/ SEEMS CUTE Below: Interior view, top floor
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Winter 2016 Professor: Matias Del Campo with YJ Ma and Siwei Ren
project received Thesis Honors Award and was selected for display in Taubman College Gallery over summer 2016.
How can cuteness be deployed in architecture? Is there a relationship between the uncanny and the cute? And what about that cutie, Mies? ;) We investigate these questions through the design of an uncannily cute Seagram Building. The Seagram Building, the emblem par excellence of high-modernist architecture, embodies key aspects of the movement: purity of form distilled to a replicable aesthetic, material and construction system; expression of function and structure; embrace of technological advancement in the service of social progress; and construction of the project enabled by corporate interests. All of these factors produce an aesthetic of elegance. The uncannily cute Seagram Building questions and upturns these traits of high-modernism, opening a space for less commonly explored architectural aesthetics.
LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!
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Background The first step in defining a role for cuteness in architecture is to establish that cuteness is one of many aesthetic categories. Despite its popularity and widespread usage in mass culture, it has typically been marginalized in architecture by other categories such as elegance and sublimity. This page:
image 3: Diagram mapping iterations of the Seagram Building onto the curve of the uncanny valley
image 1: Diagram of aesthetic categories. image 2: Diagram of types of cuteness.
image 1
image 2 [aeathetic categoties of Kant and Burke]
winnie-the-pooh
Beauty
little mermaid
scrat-ice age
sadness-inside out
kimo kawaii
Takashi Murakami
Coffee-Junko Mizuno
become forest-Yosuke Ueno
octopus-Santani
Sublime
[expanded aesthetic categories]
real monsters-nickelodeon
Quaint
Futuristic
Kwaii
Glamorous Yoshitomo Nara
In contrast to the traditional binary between the cute and the ugly, cuteness occupies an expanded field of aesthetic categories. image 3
According to the theory of the uncanny valley, the more something resembles something else, the more comforting we find it, except at a certain point where resemblance is too close for comfort. Our various iterations of cute Seagram Buildings attempt to occupy the zone of the uncanny valley.
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Battamon-Yoskay Yamamoto
The cute itself is a multifaceted aesthetic category, encompassing moods and effects ranging from the helpless to the grotesque to the uncanny.
This page: image 4: An analysis of Pikachu’s formal properties illustrates the relationship between roundness, proportion, and the appearance of “cuteness� and maturity.
primary feature
feature of the feature
highlight
appendage
body
image 5: Cute cells are agglomerated, cutely, into a field of cuteness. Can many cute elements be cuter than the sum of their parts?
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Cute seams/Cute tectonics The next step in defining a role for cuteness in architecture is to study its possible tectonic applications, specifically through the problem of the seam. The study models on this page use sheet material (in this case vinyl) joined using a cute version of the finger joint. Whereas the finger joint elegantly solves a tectonic issue, perverting it through cuteness (in this case altering the proportion of joint to body) creates what can be called a cute tectonic. This page:
Facing page:
images 1-6: Models studying cute tectonics and cute seams. script for joinery written in grasshopper.
Elevation of uncannily cute Seagram Building, in context.
image 7: Detail of final model, showing cute seams occupying same space as a milled field. image 1
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image 6
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Building cuteness Finally, a large scale uncannily cute Seagram Building model tests the tectonics and conceptual framework of a cute architecture in building form. The skin of the 5’ tall model is milled from foam with vinyl bulbs, expressing cuteness through 3d and 2d tectonic means. This page:
Facing page:
image 1: Building model with human model (yours truly)
Uncannily Cute Seagram Building final model, frontal view
image 2: Detail of model
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Section A-A detail
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[M(*GM)]{O*MG}OD: A SOFT MEGASTRUCTURE FOR MIDTOWN DETROIT
Below: Aerial view of overall site
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Fall 2014 Professor: Kathy Velikov
project selected for display in end-of-year student show, 2015
[M(*GM)]{O*MG}OD (Michigan Green Midtown Model for the Growth of Detroit) speculates on a possible future for Detroit in which institutions such as Monsanto, MSU, and MGM team up to put Detroit’s urban farming economy on steroids. The proposed soft megastructure creates a strangely familiar culture of bio-enhancement, grass-roots initiatives, and corporate maneuvering. The main feature of the project is the “strands,” linear elements spanning mid-town Detroit, with the possibility to extend further north; two major headquarters on the site--those of Monsanto and of MSU; and a mutation of the Japanese Knotweed, an invasive species of plant known to tear-up roads.
LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!
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Soft Megastructure MGMOMGOD, a collaboration between MGM, GM, Monsanto, and MSU, is a soft megastructure. The megastructure fuses industry, entertainment, new arts district, and all of the other emergent economies going on in Detroit in a bottom-up, institutionally fueled remaking of the landscape.
This page:
Facing page:
Maps of Detroit identifying key existing megastructures in the city of oDetroit and in the Midtown Area.
Exploded axonometric showing layers of proposed soft megastructure.
Large-scale industrial facilities in Detroit region a1: General Motors Powertrain Plant
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a2: Connor Creek Industrial a3: Ford River Rouge Plant
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2 miles
a3 Megastructures and complexes in and around midtown Detroit b1: medical center b2: Eastern Market
b1 b2 b5
b1 b3
b3: Motor City Casino b4: MGM Grand Casino b5: Sports Centers b6: Cobo Center b7: Renaissance Center
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b2
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b6
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b5 b7
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MSU Detroit Satellite Campus Monsanto Headquarters, Detroit
Strands (greenhouses/ plot dividers)
Farmland
Japanese Knotweed strain to tear up roads
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Existing buildings
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b3 b4 b6
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Growth/New Ground In three stages, the institutional involvement in Detroit contributes to the creation of a new ground--chemically altered, productive, largely car-free.
This page:
Facing page:
image 1: Three stages of growth for MGMOMGOD
image 3: View of a portion of the site from a high-rise, looking South towards Downtown Detroit
image 2: Diagram of areas and elements surrounding Monsanto HQ, revealing a sampling of the strategies involved in the project
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image 4: Detail from physical model exploring arrangment of farmland
image 5: Detail from section through Monsanto HQ showing connection between strand, underground grow lab, and Japanese Knotweed
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STAGE 1
Monsanto and MSU headquarters on either side of Woodward Avenue. Monsanto begins genetically modifying Japanese Knotweed, dissolving the roads.
MONSANTO HOUSING
MGM turns abandoned buildings into entertainment/living complexes for the employees of Monsanto.
HYDROPONIC ROOF SYSTEM
BIOMASS POWER PLANT
STAGE 2
STRANDS (GREENHOUSES)
The roof assists in drainage, collecting water and filtering it before pumping it through the hydroponic system.
A small-scale biomass power plant to recycle the waste created from discarded Japanese Knotweed.
Different types of strands run through the site--some for industrial production and others for the public.
(MG[M)oMA]RTIST RESIDENCY
An artist-in-residence program, sponsored by MGM and MoMA, brings artists working at the intersection of art and biology.
As the existing buildings are reappropriated, the system begins to spread. Some strands begin to become more permanent, occupying the roads.
LOCALLY SOURCED GMOS
Taking its cue from “Growing Underground” in London, tunnels beneath Detroit allows for highly controlled test sites that have the advantage of being local.
STAGE 3
The roads dissolve and the strands take over. The strands begin to be made permanent, calcifying into new forms that supply the earth with continued nutrition.
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FALLOPIA DETROITICA TEST SITE Monsanto begins experimenting on the streets of Detroit with an invasive species to erase the street grid and allow a new ground for agriculture.
MONSANTO OFFICES AND LABS
Entering through the lobby, visitors schedule meetings with top Monsanto scientists, may have a tour of the hydroponic roof, and have their questions regarding GMO’s answered and their concerns abated.
UNDERGROUND GROW LABS
Underground, scientists conduct experiments in genetically modified species--invasive, bioremediative, or for consumption--for deployment on the grounds of Detroit.
GRAND MONSANTO LOBBY/MONSANTO PLAZA Monsanto’s gift to the civic space of Detroit is Monsanto Plasa. Demonstrations inevatably take place, hence the placement of the guarded doors blanking the square.
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Monsanto Headquarters, Detroit
MONSANTO MONSANTO HEADQUARTERS HEADQUARTERS
Monsanto Headquarters serves as the nucleus for MGMOMGOD. Monsanto’s lobby is sealed off from the hustle and bustle of Woodward Avenue by a shatterresistant, bullet-proof, and sound-isolating glass form, a continuation of the strand cutting in to the corporate chevron-shaped geometry of the headquarters. It features hi-tech grow labs, a view up to the hydroponic roof system, and the display of species of genetically modified plants. This page:
Facing page:
Drawings of Monsanto HQ
Interior view of Monsanto HQ Lobby.
Monsanto Headquarters Monsanto level Headquarters 1 level 1
Monsanto Headquarters Monsanto level Headquarters 2 level 2
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Monsanto Housing Monsanto Housing
The abandoned hotel The abandoned is repurposed. hotel MGM is repurposed. purchas- MGM purchases the hotel, and turns es theit hotel, into anand entertainment/livturns it into an entertainment/living complex for the ingemployees complex for of the Monsanto. employees of Monsanto.
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Hydroponic/Greenhouse Hydroponic/Greenhouse Roof System Roof System
A green roof for the A green future.roof Thefor roof the assists future. The roof assists in drainage, collecting in drainage, water and collecting filteringwater it and filtering it before pumping itbefore through pumping the hydroponic it through the hydroponic system. system. (MG[M)oMA]rtists (MG[M)oMA]rtists Residence Residence
Biomass Power Plant Biomass Power Plant
A small-scale biomass A small-scale power plant biomass to recycle power the plant to recycle the fallopia detroitica. fallopia detroitica.
Section A-A
Monsanto Headquarters Monsanto roof Headquarters plan roof plan
The (MG[M)oMA]rtists The (MG[M)oMA]rtists Residency program, Residency program, Production Strand sponsored by MGM sponsored in collaboration by MGM in with collaboration with Production Strand With robotic running robotic through armsit, running the producthrough it, the producMoMA, brings new MoMA, talent, brings particularly new talent, those particularly thosearmsWith tionBiology. strand helps keep tion strand Detroithelps fed with keepfresh Detroit fed with fresh working at the intersection working at the of Art intersection and Biology. of Art and produce. produce. Invited artists include InvitedLaura artists Cinti, include Shamees Laura Cinti, Shamees Aden, and Rachel Aden, Armstrong. and Rachel Armstrong.
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Fallopia detroitica Fallopia test site detroitica test site
Monsanto begins Monsanto experimenting begins onexperimenting the streets of on the streets of Monsanto officesMonsanto and display offices labsand display labs Detroit with an invasive Detroitspecies with anthat invasive was brought species that was brought Entering through Entering the lobby,through visitors the schedule lobby,meetvisitors schedule meetfrom volcanic cliffsfrom in Japan volcanic to England, cliffs in Japan initially toas England, a initially as a ings with top Monsanto ings with scientists, top Monsanto may have scientists, a tour may have a tour decorative plant. Today decorative it is a plant. menace Today in England, it is a menace in England, of the hydroponicof roof, theand hydroponic have their roof, questions and have their questions destroying property. destroying Monsanto, property. testingMonsanto, their abili- testing their abiliLocally-sourced Locally-sourced GMOs GMOs regarding GMO’s answered regardingand GMO’s their answered concernsand their concerns ties to modify living tiesspecies, to modify implants living itspecies, in the implants it in the In London, “Growing In London, Underground “Growing allows Underground for locally allows for locally abated. abated. streets of Detroit to streets eraseof the Detroit grid and to erase allowthe a new grid and allow a new sourced produce using sourced a tunnel produce beneath using the a tunnel city. beneath the city.
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Community strand Community strand
Connected to Monsanto/MSU’s Connected to hyper Monsanto/MSU’s efficient hyper efficient Production StrandProduction is the Community Strand isstrand, the Community for strand, for members in the neighborhood members in the to plant, neighborhood and to to plant, and to enjoy the space public enjoynature the space of the public space. nature of the space.
Grand MonsantoGrand LobbyMonsanto Lobby
Monsanto’s lobby Monsanto’s is sealed offlobby from is sealed off from the hustle and bustle the hustle of Woodward and bustle of Woodward
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HOUSE FOR THE PSYCHIC APPARATUS Below: Axonometric view
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Fall 2013 Professor: Claudia Wigger
project selected for display in end-of-year student show, 2014
The “psychic apparatus,� as described by Freud, represents the three aspects of the human mind: id, ego, superego. This project uses this tripartite model as an allegory for a hypothetical relationship between three people in a single residence--a collector, a butler, and an artistin-residence. The narrative is made spatial--the volumes, their openings, and the spaces between them, are designed to accommodate this allegory of exploitation, surveillance, and exhibitionism.
LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!
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Design Strategy The design of the house is based on a close reading of Frank Gehry’s Winton Guest House. This close reading involved reconstructing the precedent in a basswood model and studying the various conditions relating the volumes and apertures. The logics of formal manipulations in the Winton Guest House are reapplied to a 9x9 set of volumes on the new site, each volume containing a specific program and modulated individually. This page:
Facing page:
image 1: reconstruction of Winton Guest House from basswood.
image 4: formal manipulations resulting in House for the Psychic Apparatus
image 2: study of relationships between apertures and volumes in Winton Guest House.
image 5: exploded axonometric program and siting diagram
image 3: study of formal manipulations in Winton Guest House image 1
FRAMED CORNER OF VOLUME
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FRAMED PLANAR EDGE
PRECEDENT ANALYSIS
FRAMED CORNER OF VOLUME
FRAMED PLANAR EDGE
FRAMED PLANAR EDGE
FRAMED SURFACE TEXTURE
FRAMED PLANAR EDGE
FRAMED SURFACE TEXTURE
PASSAGE TO
PASSAGE BETWEEN VOLUMES
PASSAGE BETWEEN VOLUMES
PASSAGEEXTERIOR TO EXTERIOR
CENTRALIZE
DECENTRALIZE
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CENTRALIZE
DECENTRALIZE BEDROOM
WHOLE
HORIZONTAL MODULATIONS (IN PLAN)
SERVICE
OFFSET AROUND CENTER
BEDROOM
HORIZONTAL MODULATIONS (IN PLAN)
SERVICE PARTS
MOVED TOWARDS CENTER TO CREATE
MOVED TOWARDS CENTER TO CREATE LIVING
MODULATED AROUND CENTER
PUSHED OUTWARDS ALONG BEDROOM AXIS
LIVING
PUSHED OUTWARDS ALONG BEDROOM AXIS
VOLUMES PUSHED OUTWARDS
PUSHED OUTWARDS ALONG SERVICE AXIS
PROGRAM SHIFTED
PUSHED OUTWARDS ALONG SERVICE AXIS
VERTICAL MODULATIONS (IN SECTION)
EXTRUDED UPWARDS
OFFSET AROUND CENTER
MODULATED AROUND CENTER
EXTRUDED UPWARDS
VOLUMES MODULATED, SLICED
VOLUMES MODULATED, SLICED
VOLUMES PUSHED OUTWARDS
VOLUMES PUNCTURED
NEW SPATIAL AND VISUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN VOLUMES
PROGRAM SHIFTED
VERTICAL MODULATIONS (IN SECTION)
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VOLUMES PUNCTURED
NEW SPATIAL AND VISUAL RELATIONS BETWEEN VOLUMES
image 4
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OPERATIONS Simple to complex
ARRANGE PROGRAM WITHIN GRID
REFINE PROGRAMS
APPLY UNIFORM TORQUE ACROSS VOLUMES
MANIPULATE VOLUMES INDIVIDUALLY
Collector Butler
PRIVATE
Artist-in-residence PUBLIC SUBDIVIDE SURFACES ACCORDING TO NEW SPACES/APPLY TEXTURE
CREATE OPENINGS
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Allegory of the Psychic Apparatus (Program)
The tripartite model of the Psychic Apparatus (id, ego, super-ego) corresponds with the volumetric division of the building. The formal operations described on the previous page result in a number of rifts and openings between volumes, most prominently seen in the courtyard. In this space, designed for the collector’s private parties, the relationships between collector (super-ego), butler (ego), and artist (id) play out in visual access. The butler can observe the party, in which the collector takes part, and guests can observe the artist-in-residence working in his cell, like an animal in a zoo. This page:
Facing page:
Exploded axonometric showing id+ego+super-ego mapped onto volumes
View into courtyard of house. Butler (top) observes collector during party (bottom left), while guests observe artist-in-residence (right)
Collector (super-ego)
Butler (ego)
Acces + Circulation
Artist (id)
Display Space
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Allegory of the Psychic Apparatus (cont.)
The tripartite model of the Psychic Apparatus also corresponds with views and access throughout the rest of the buidling. The collector (super-ego) has easy access to the butler (ego), although the butler’s view of the collector is blocked. The butler, however, has clear views of every other space, including the private domain of the artist-in-residence (id), whom he can observe and report on to the collector. This page and facing: Drawings of house with corresponding views
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View A Collector has a view onto the East side of the property, and sunlight from the south
View B View from Butler’s bedroom into artist-inresidence’s cell and the artist’s building entry point
View C View across artist’s cell into gallery/party space
LEGEND
1 Living space 2 Kitchen 3 Butler’s bedroom 4 Private stairwell 5 Collector’s living space 6 Collector’s bedroom nook 7 Courtyard 8 Display/party space 9 Artist’s studio 10 Artist’s cell 11 Gallery space
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Massing and concept models
Surface studies
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Final model Top view
Final model Perspective view
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SOFT ACCRETIONS tags: narrative, fabrication, ceramics, library, site, garbage
Below: Field 3 detail
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Winter 2014 Professor: Sandra Manninger
project selected for display in end-of-year student show, 2014
“Soft Accretions” is a series of fields, towers, and objects derived from several simple cells based on variables of deformation. :The geometries, resulting from the aplified variable features of the cells, create spatial and surface conditions dealing with porosity and subdivision, while building upon two aspects of Greg Lynn’s work--animation and symmetry. From basic initial deformation and fission, the work produces fields of volumetric gradients, supple surfaces, embedded bodies--effects that may e described as “soft accretions” with potential architectural application. Ultimately, the project is about form-finding techniques and controlling them at different scales and to different ends.
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Objects The project starts with several simple cells (all based on a basic torus shape) and agglomerates them to create larger bodies that begin to suggest usage. On this page are objects, things that are seen in the round, at completely different scales, but with similar qualities. The quality of porosity derived from agglomerating the torus in this way lends itself to a fruit or to the more architectural logic of a tower.
This page:
Facing page:
Image 1: Fruit detail
Image 3: Origin cells for all objects and fields
Image 2: Fruit
Image 4: Tower Image 5: Tower details
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Fields From the same simple cells seen on the last page, the technique creates fields comprised of smaller objects distributed on a hexagonal grid (as on the left) or with nested objects (as on the right). Again, the porous quality of agglomerated toruses is the base condition that can be deployed in different ways to create an effect of grotesqueness or elegance.
This page:
Facing page:
Image 1: Field 1. Field 1 is organized according to a logic of a hexagonal grid, featuring several unit types with porous qualities.
Image 2: Field 2 linework.
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Image 3: Field 2. Field 2 is organized according to a nesting logic, featuring nestled chunks.
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BIOGOTH:
STEREOTOMIC PROTOTYPES Below: Full-scale prototype in the woods
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Fall 2015 Professor: Glenn Wilcox with Drew Bradford
project selected for display in end-of-year student show, 2016
BioGoth perverts the logics and features of Gothic Architecture, and its associated construction system of stereotomy, through the introduction of digital technologies. By turning the Gothic on its head, the project scrutinizes construction systems and generates a novel approach to advanced fabrication techniques on a variety of scales. The Gothic Style is based on vegetal systems, which reach towards the heavens in increasingly thin ribs. The inverse of this, a large mass supported by gaunt, sinewy elements, suggests something more animalistic, pertaining to the body. This animalistic construct keeps true to traditional Gothic methods of manufacturing, through the use of a simple rule system: a straight line revolved in space to create complex curvature.
LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!
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Process Trhe project developed a process of robotic hotwire cutting that allowed for a number of control variables, such as surface articulation, angle of connection between elements, and types of splits. Additionally, every cut from foam results in a mold that can be primed and coated with a releaseliquid--every piece, in other words, can be easily cast and makes a double.
This page: image 1: Diagram illustrating the process of cutting and casting.
Facing page: Models studying potentials of the technique in foam and concrete
image 2+3: Illustration of robotic cutting process. image 4+5: Illustration of casting process
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four cuts with a hot-wire creates 7 pieces, in this case
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both negative and positive versions of form are left
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positive parts (made of foam) are assembled with glue
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negative parts (also of foam) are finished and cast with cement
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Full-scale prototype How to make a prototype into something? The Biogoth Prototype materializes in a form recalling an animal on steroids. We should be clear, however— this project is not an exercise in biomimicry, but in the aesthetics and qualities of the animal.
This page: image 1: detail of nesting
Facing page: Full scale-prototype, front view
image 2: detail of splitting image 3: full-scale prototype with human, side-view
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CONCRETE (I)LAND Below: View from highway
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Summer 2015 Professor: Francois Roche Team:
John Yoon Te-Shiou Chen Salam Rida Wendy Zhang Beth Carliner Tracey Weisman
Min Zhang Peter Sepassi Po-Jen Huang Jakkrit Jannakhon Linnea Cook
project featured in Log 36: ROBOLOG
Concrete Island is a reading room in a slum in Bangkok. The project involved the construction of an artifact, the physical reading room itself, which served as a “prop” in the production of a short film. The structure uses a combination of robotic and manual construction. My role was head of the overall design team--designing the overall structure, designing and fabricating the metal rods, installing and welding them on site. This was done with Salam Rida. Additionally, I was in charge of design and fabrication of the “landscape.” This was done with Min. It involved manual excavation and unearthing of various detritus on the site, and arranging it in and around the structure.
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Construction The project was built on an abandoned lot in an informal settlement, which posed significant problem. The first of which was the ground, the stability of which was uncertain, and into which we drove four concrete pillars atop which the structure was built.
This page:
Facing page:
image 1: Site and ground conditions
image 5: Nets, garbage, and ceramic--resolving the connection
image 2-3: Construction system image 4: Desired effect
image 6: Garbage gathered from the site used as a cosmetic image 7: Full building with surrounding landscape
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KINDER EGG KOMPLEX LINK TO WEBSITE HERE!
Final Project for Arch 591: Computational Design Fall 2015 Professor: Erik Herrmann with Alan Lucey
Kinder Egg Komplex is a formfinding exercise based on layered growth, using Python+Rhinoscript and Grasshopper. The formal system is deployed as a reimagined Ernst Haeckel print. Every element of every object was scripted, using a series of Python scripts written by the authors.
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KLECZEWSKY ünd LUCEY, Kinderform der Python-Programm mit Grashüpfer
AOVUCADO - p e rs e a
Tafel 01 — Nashorn
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AWARDS+HONORS Thesis honors, project among five selected
STEFAN DE LEON KLECHESKI stefklecheski@gmail.com (917) 929 9791 www.ste-fan.com
from over 100 to be featured in project thesis honors show
Academic merit scholarships,
received additional scholarship funding based on academic achievements 2014-2015: Schaefer Family Scholarship 2015-2016: Winkelman Scholarship
Taubman College Student shows 2013-2016, Studio work selected for feature in end-of-year student show every year of my attendance at Taubman College
ADDITIONAL COURSEWORK Harvard Graduate School of Design I am a designer who was born in New York City and raised globally. Having lived in Russia, Poland, the Philippines, Switzerland, and the US growing up, each phase of life was tied to a specific environment. I’ve learned I have a knack for understanding, deploying, and complementing others’ design sensibilities; thriving when working alone or in teams; 3d modeling; and solving both technical and conceptual problems. I hope to enrich my design skills, technical prowess, and communication+leadership abilities.
Cambridge, MA, Architecture Summer Course Summer 2012
Academically Related Travel
Bangkok, Thailand, Summer 2015 w/ Francois Roche Rome, Italy, Winter 2011 studying Modernist Architecture in Rome Moscow, Russia, Winter 2010 studying Moisei Ginzburg’s Narkomfin Building
SKILLS Software:
Rhinoceros-Advanced Maya-Advanced Grasshopper-Advanced Python for Rhino-Proficient AutoCAD-Proficient Adobe CS6-Proficient FinalCut Pro-Proficient Processing-Basic Revit-Basic MasterCam-Proficient Microsoft Office Suite-Proficient
Fabrication:
3D printing CNC milling Robotics Casting in cement, concrete, and plaster Model-building (prototypes, study, and presentation-quality)
Foreign Languages: Russian: Proficient French: Proficient
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Communication: Proficient at academic and professional writing; teaching experience; extensive experience communicating across cultures and abroad
EDUCATION University of Michigan, Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning Ann Arbor, MI, M.Arch, Class of 2016
Bard College
Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, BA in Art History, Class of 2011
WORK EXPERIENCE
Projects and Responsibilities
Ellie Abrons and Adam Fure
Chi-Design: designed and represented skyscraper project; Secret Life of Objects: conceptualized, designed, and represented project for a competition, which was selected for feature in a group show
T.E.A.M.
Venice Biennale Entry: 3D modeled portions of design; Rummage: designed, coordinated, and fabricated for exhibition at Storefront for Art and Architecture
EADO | Ellie Abrons
WW1 Memorial Competition: designed and represented project for competition; Inside Things: designed, fabricated, and transported exhibition, displayed at SciARC Library Gallery
Taubman College Fab Lab
Assisted students in 3D printing on Dimensions and ZCorp printers, machine maintenance
Del Campo Manninger Architects,
Guggenheim Helsinki Competition: designed facade; 3D Printed Concrete Teahouse: designed iterations, addressed construction issues
Ginzburg Architects
Melnikov House Museum Competition: Designed and represented competition entry; Narkomfin Building Restoration: Researched and designed restoration project
ACH Architecture,
Avari Hilton Lahore: Researched, delegated responsibility, and laid out booklet for competition entry; Greene Street Renovation: communicated with NYC DOB regarding Green Roof Tax Abatement
Ann Arbor, MI Designer, 5/2016 - 8/2016
Ann Arbor, MI Designer, 2/2016-6/2016
Ann Arbor, MI Designer, 5/2015 - 10/2015
Ann Arbor, MI Fab Lab Assistant, 9/2014 - 5/2015
Shanghai, China Design Intern, June - August 2014
Moscow, Russia Design Inern, February-May 2013 New York, NY Research Intern, March - November 2012 Intern Summer 2011
TEACHING EXPERIENCE Graduate Student Instructor
University of Michigan, Winter 2016 Led a discussion section for architectural theory class taught by John McMorrough
Summer Workshop Teaching Assistant
Tongji University, Shanghai, China, Summer 2014 Instructed students in Maya design techniques, assisted students in design for exhibition
Guest Critic
City College of New York, New York, NY, Spring and Fall 2012 Invited midterm critic
plus I’m a nice guy
ste-fan.com
2016
more at ste-fan.com
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portfolio