TANIA LOPES PORTFOLIO 2014-2018 RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE
TANIA LOPES 1061 Fanny St. | Elizabeth, NJ | (908)-209-5325 | tlopes123x@gmail.com
SOFTWARE Rhino 6 Grasshopper Autodesk Revit Autodesk AutoCAD Adobe Illustrator Adobe Photoshop Adobe InDesign Microsoft Office Autodesk Inventor VRay for Rhino Autodesk Maya Processing Visual Basic FABRICATION Laser Cutting 3D Printing CNC Milling 5-Axis Robot LANGUAGES Fluent in Portuguese Proficient in Spanish HONORS Bedford Travelling Scholar RPI Dean’s Honor List Rensselaer Leadership Award UCMHS Excellence in French Award Portuguese American Scholarship Award
INTENT Pursuing an entry level position in the field of architecture to improve upon design and technical skills, and apply a tireless work ethic, exceptional attention to detail, enthusiasm for problem-solving, and an insatiable desire to learn. EDUCATION Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute August 2014 - May 2019 Bachelor of Architecture | Civil Engineering Minor GPA: 3.73 / 4.00 Union County Magnet High School September 2010 - May 2014 EXPERIENCE HNTB Corporation: New York, NY May 2018 - August 2018 Architectural Intern – Performed basic architectural calculations, prepared working drawings, and compiled data for architectural plans, specifications, costs estimates, and reports. Created scripts to automate repetitive aspects of more mundane jobs. Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology: New York, NY January 2017 - May 2018 Undergraduate Research Assistant – Aided Masters and PhD students in architectural science by researching, diagramming, and building in a variety of different ongoing sustainable projects and experiments. Famous Footwear Outlet: Elizabeth, NJ May 2016 - August 2016 Sales Associate – Assisted and sold shoes to customers by welcoming them into the store, aiding them in locating their products, and checking them out. Elizabeth Education Association: Elizabeth, NJ January 2010 - June 2014 Soccer Coach – Acted as both instructor and referee in small sided soccer games and practices to aid in the development of young athletes aged 4 to 12. ACTIVITES RPI CANstruction RPI Women’s Club Soccer RPI Women’s Rugby RPI Women’s Mentorship Program
CONTENTS THE INTIMATE EXHIBITION page 4
URBAN AIRSCAPES page 10
AN ILLUSION OF CONTINUITY page 16
DOMESTIC FOOD TOTEM page 22
FLEX SHELL page 26
MAPPING ARCHITECTURAL QUERY page 28
LIVING LAB: CO2 SPATIALIZATION page 30
PARAMETRIC DRAWING WITH PROCESSING page 32
THE INTIMATE EXHIBITION spring 2016 critic(s): Yael Erel collaborator(s): Emily Freeman
The project began with the creation of a “tectonic nugget,� which was to phyiscally and conceptually inform the future design. The forms would eventually be translated into a building and the idea of creating site lines would influence the main program. The shapes generated in the tectonic nugget were stacked and transformed to create the mass of the building: an apartment complex in downtown Troy which would house both students of the local colleges and families in the surrounding neighborhoods. The intent was a forced relationship between the two sets where they could see each other but remain seperate. Views from one area of the building into another are the basis for resident-to-resident and visitor-to-resident interactions. Allowing these views are window sequences through spaces, as well as double heighted areas for observation from above. The project is a residential apartment complex for college students and families that doubles as a theater where observation of its residents is the main event.
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Tectonic Nugget
Isometric View
Front View
Side View Closed Joint
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Base Massing
Open Joint
Connect to River
Populate
Site Plan
North Elevation
Plan Level 10
Plan Level 9
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Axonometric Viewing Diagram
URBAN AIR SCAPES 2017 critic(s): Lydia Kallipolliti collaborator(s): Luis Guardado
A proposal to analyze and manipulate the air as it relates to the distribution of people in the city, and use it to build vertically on the existing city. The level of the city that is most inhabited is the ground, and not coincidentally, it is this level that produces the most pollution. To remedy this, we will collect pollutants from subway grates, building exhaust pipes, and window air conditioners, in inflatable structures that will be deployed throughout the city. The inflatables are supported by a system of occupiable scaffolds which serve as structure but also as a means of capturing and transferring the dirty air to a central location until it is ready to power a pneumatic elevator.
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Section
Air Collection Infrastructure and Real Estate
Pollution and Public Interaction
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Streetview
Bubble and Scaffolding View
ILLUSION OF CONTINUITY 2018 critic(s): Lonn Combs, Gabrielle Brainard collaborator(s): Lila Sferlazza
Situated in the middle of the arts distric in Montreal, Canada, is a lab that seeeks to further its scientific forays while simultaneously integrating itself within the fabric of its surroundings. The building attempts to situate itself as a landmark like the arts buildings that sit across the Quartier des Spectacle, but also make itself accessible to the residents of the city. Its two different faces, the north and south facade, are proof of this. So too is the building’s spatial organization, with a highly functional lab program servicing scientists, researchers, and students on one of its sides, and a more provocative stage for human interaction on the other. This side, an atrium space with ramps stairs, allows visitors to see into the city through a glass curtain wall, but also into the private spaces where research is going on. A connection is formed between the visitors and the researchers, but only a superficial one, since there is never a point where a guest can actually enter a lab, a mere illusion of continuity.
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Level 2
Level 6
Level 0
Level 4
Daytime Atrium Render
Nighttime Atrium Render
Convex Curtain Wall Detail
Axonometric Curtain Wall Section
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Convave Curtain Wall Detail
Full Building Section
DOMESTIC FOOD TOTEM 2017 critic(s): Demetrios Comodromos, Josh Draper collaborator(s): Vivian Lin, Annah Stucky
A food desert is defined as a part of the country lacking fresh fruit, vegetables, and other healthful whole food, usually in impoverished areas due to lack of grocery stores. Half of farmers markets are already targeting food deserts. Despite this, there are still 3 million people from 34 neighborhoods living in high food desert areas in the city. Produce sold at these markets is too expensive for a food desert resident to buy. They are more likley to purchase a cheaper, less nutritious fast food meal than a more expensive fruit or vegetable. The totem aims to leverage the 3 million people living in food deserts and turn them into their own farmers. They’ll be able to plant their food and aggregate it into a full 66-plant holding totem in their own home.
Pot 22
Ring
Totem
Planting Dictionary
Scalable Implementation
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Full Scale Prototpye
FLEX Shell
2018 critic(s): Holger Schulze-Ehring collaborator(s): Kelsey Baker, Melissa Martinyak, Nelson Perello
Part of the Bedford Seminar for architects and engineers, this project was an exercise in interdisciplinary collaboration an exploration of digital form-finding and fabrication. It was made of HDPE, and consisted of 56 interlocking strips of material to form the diagrid structure and 90 folded panels for increased rigidity. The form was optimized using Grasshopper, Millipede, and Galapagos, and we were able to manipulate points, circles, and radii to find an optimal structural solution. Later, we added depth to the shape in areas of increased stress, using thickness as a strategy to strengthen the form. A diagrid was applied to the shape and the whole structure was milled on a 4-axis CNC machine. The fact that the entire project was parametric not only facilitated, but encouraged the discussion between the architectural and engineering students.
Parameterization of Initial Concept
Formal Optimization 26
Structural Analysis - Deflected Shape
Interlocking Pieces and Panels Laid Out
Structural Analysis - Stress Diagram
Structural Analysis - Moment Diagram
Final Model
CNC Cut Files
MAPPING ARCHITECTURAL QUERY 2018 critic(s): Lydia Kallipoliti
This project was an attempt to map trends and values in architecture by analyzing and cross refereing Google Query Data from the past decade. Google makes it possible to gather information about the most popular ideas and reference at different points since 2004. This series of diagrams places the architects fitting this criteria alongside each other and assigns them values in 3 dimensions. Relationships between the architects themsleves are mapped in the first diagram, and then different modern architectural movements are examined separately in the second series. The diagrams reveal which movements they are most associated with, year of peak popularity of the architect and the movement, location of peak popularity of the architect, along with whether their ideas could be considered more object or context oriented.
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LIVING LAB: C02 SPATIALIZATION 2018 collaborator(s): Phoebe Manckiewitz
The design and construction of the living lab was done in conjunction with master students studying at Rensselaer’s Center for Architecture, Science, and Ecology. The space would be used to host a series of different types of plants and an extensive experiment was conducted to measure the ongoing change in CO2 levels as the plants grew. My task was to take the readings collected by the HOBO monitor that was placed in different locations throughout the space, and synthesize the data into a series of easily ledgible diagrams that would allow the reader to see CO2 distribution in the entire room for a typical week. These diagrams were made for different stages in the experiment, allowing us to quickly visualize the impact of the plants in the space.
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PARAMETRIC DRAWING WITH PROCESSING 2016 critic(s): Fleet Hower
The idea of generatvie design and drawing is promoted by the use of coding and computer progams. These images were parametrically generated by taking advantage of algorithmic design, using point clouds, control points, movement, and color coding based on their movement. Each result is a dynamic, ever changing field condition with depth, color, contrast and movement.
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