Undergraduate Portfolio - Tony Gonzalez

T O N Y G O N Z A L E Z PORTFOLIO OF SELECTED WORK undergraduate

the foreword

The following pages represent my work in three modes of the education of an architect.

Each mode requires a unique mindset, presents itself with a unique set of difficulties, and offers a unique set of rewards when accomplished successfully. In the first mode, Hallucination, I focus on the process of developing an idea through the production of artifacts rather than the assembly of words. In the second mode, Fabrication, I focus on the ways that construction methods and building render spatial ideas material. Finally, in Dissemination, I practice methods through which architecture is published and circulated. In these ways, I understand the discipline of Architecture to be more than designing buildings, but to include a wider discourse about how ideas are generated, executed, and spread around the world. I thank you for your time and interest in my endeavors.

the goods resumĂŠ

hallucination - chicago, il

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fabrication - columbus, in

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dissemination - datum journal

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hallucination - rome, it

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If therefore we consider quantity insofar as we represent it in the imagination, we find it to be finite, divisible , and made up of parts.

But if we consider it intellectually, and conceive it insofar as it is substance, then it will be found to be infinite, one, and indivisible.

- The Ethics, Baruch Spinoza

resumĂŠ

education

IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY bachelor of architecture, graduating may 2015 minor: philosophy Cumulative GPA: 3.67/4.00 Dean’s List: 2011-2014 George Washington Carver Scholar

experience

NEWSTUDIO ARCHITECTURE White Bear Lake, MN, June 2013-August 2014 Summer Intern: ∙∙ oversaw communications with the major corporate client, Urban O utfitters ∙∙ generated rendered drawings for client promotional use ∙∙ performed daily updates to drawings for projects in various design phases, including a 1,000,000 sqft. internet fulfillment center ∙∙ managed daily office operations, including software, hardware and plotter maintenance Building Types: high density, warehouse, new and renovated retail, k-12 education, historic preservation RRTL ARCHITECTS St. Paul, MN, June 2012-August 2013 Summer Intern: ∙∙ completed a full schematic design package for the Inver Hills Community College Library Renovation ∙∙ collaborated directly with senior architects on early spatial conceptualizations ∙∙ carried out communications with various product vendors, including steelcase and allsteel ∙∙ troubleshot operational failures, including software, hardware installations Building Types: University Laboratory, University Library, Ecclesiastical

technical abilities photoshop inDesign micorsoft office kerkythea grasshopper

autoCAD revit rhinoceros sketchup illustrator

watercolor rendering conceptual model making

sketching drafting

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leadership

DATUM: EDITOR IN CHIEF, 2011-2014 ∙∙ implemented a total re-branding of the journal which expanded readership and doubled yearly fundraising ∙∙ spearheaded the creative direction and development of the DATUM web-presence across multiple platforms ∙∙ collaborate with other students leaders to realize new distribution strategies that doubled student membership ∙∙ manage design of print and digital documents DSN 102 T.A. 2012-2014 ∙∙ assist a course professor in the instruction, demonstration, and critique of studio projects ∙∙ collaborate directly with the Core Studio Program Director to redesign and assess the success of studio projects ∙∙ monitor progress of 200+ Core students during weekly meetings with professors and fellow mentors DESIGN EXCHANGE T.A. 2012-2013 ∙∙ facilitate the delivery of weekly lectures ∙∙ arrange multiple off-campus field trips ∙∙ mentor first-year design students

recognition

ELIA ZENGHELIS MASTERCLASS PARTICIPANT (begins Jan. 2015) invitational masterclass lead by Elia Zenghelis CSI COMPETITION FINALIST (2014, with Jonathan Melendez-Davidson and Bobbi Jo Reiff ) architectural design competition LEONARD WOLF LEADERSHIP AWARD (2014) faculty-nominated leadership prize LIGHTFOOT SCHOLARSHIP AWARD (2014) summer-internship prize HANSEN PRIZE FINALIST (2013, with Rachel Johnson) architectural design competition MASONRY INSTITUTE OF IOWA MASONRY DESIGN CONTEST WINNER (2011, with Matthew Darmour-Paul and Doug Elsarelli) architectural design competition

references

SEAN WAGNER

Principal, Newstudio Architecture

phone: (651) 207-5527

email: swagner@newstudioarchitecture.com DEBORAH HAUPTMANN

Chair of Architecture Department, Iowa State University

phone: (515) 203-5757

email: deborah@iastate.edu

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A fantastical installation for the Chicago Opera House was contrived from a study of the movement of air.

hallucination CHICAGO, IL

professor Jung-woo Ji spring, 2012

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the first delusion: wind is a hand-tool

Space was contrived from a rigorous design process, beginning with a study of the way that wind can be manipulated through the design of an instrument. Four instruments were constructed, each with varying apertures. The instruments were installed in an indoor, hightraffic public site. Passersby were able to inhabit the installation quickly, and enjoyed toying with wind. A series of targets were installed as well, providing a field which the passerby could inhabit.

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mounted targets

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mounted cannons

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graphite drawing produced by cannon - plan

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graphite drawing produced by cannon - section

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the second delusion: the tool is a map

The instrument was used to map a condition of the site of the Civic Opera House in Chicago, and ultimately that mapping evolved into techtonics. A large scale model of the site was constructed, and graphite was used to interpretatively study the movement of air and people through the site. A series of sections were produced, at sequential distances. I found that the civic opera house begins to take on the character of a stage.

The following step would be to produce some kind of space which continues to develop the phenomenological instrument, as well as to generate space and somehow serve the civic opera house site. At this point in the process, I found it helpful to reflect on my own impressions of Chicago. During the studio visit, I had found that there was a strong industrial spirit enlivened by the numerous machines manufacturing facilities that surround the city and populate it’s suburban halo. This quality seemed to suggest that the space should be some kind of mechanical or kinetic intervention which may take different forms at different times.

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mapping container - collapsed

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mapping container - expanded

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the third delusion: the map is a space

The tool and map hallucination of the project were collapsed into a single entity, over which programmatic desires for a public performance space was draped. Poesis in this mode seeks to imbue the space with the spirit of the earlier design phases, while building the ambiguity and intrigue. The final proposal is at times a bridge, at times a public performance space. When serving either function, the system accepts wind as an input, and passively transmits that air movement to the visitor.

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information space - plan

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information space - section

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finished roofing system

clerestory glazing band

structrual light-well

stair sub-structure two directional steel beam system

tension wires - stair supports

exterior steel collumns - superstructure interior steel collumns - substructure

concrete eleator shaft

polycarbonate sandwich wall polycarbonate partition wall

concrete slab on grade

A museum of industrial innovation was contrived for Columbus, Indiana.

fabrication COLUMBUS, IN

professor Andrea Wheeler fall, 2013

columbian divide

The city of Columbus, like Disney Land, evokes a strong mask, under which unexpected and unusual premise can occur. A separation between facade, surface, image, and the authentic essence of the thing was explored in plan, section, and axonometry. From these explorations, a museum for innovative objects was contrived.

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lateral section

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ipe cladding - exterior Custom glazing Ipe cladding - exterior

W 24x84 steel beam

2” x 2“ light-gage steel stud

3/8” angle iron

Kalwall polycarbonate panel

Kalwall polycarbonate panel

W 22x84 steel beam

2” x 2” light-gage steel stud

W 22x84 steel beam Damping unit Ipe cladding - interior

Custom steel gusset/angle

2” x 2“ light-gage steel stud

Steel tension cable

Wood flooring panel 18” concrete slab

sectional qualities

The section of the building reveals the drastic spatial contrast which responds directly to the divided nature of columbus. The vertical circulation, enacted primarily through a central monumental stair, offers a tenuous connection between the upper an lower levels.

This connection, constructed from light metal framing and from tense steel cable, offer and unobtrusive, open connection between the two systems.

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lobby and workshop level

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on the ground

The program called for a museum of innovation fit for Columbus, Indiana. Upon visiting the site, I found that there was a vicious divide between the image of the place propagated by the high-profile architectural design found throughout. The image of the place - one of innovation and growth - had little to do with the graying population and the urgency with which the youth leave.

A thorough design inquiry found that the best way to combat this crisis of graying population was to introduce a new paradigm of innovative museum, namely one that includes workshop and production spaces.

The first floor is dedicated to classroom and workshop space, providing a strong public and civic entity. The lower floor houses the ‘relics’, various antiquated and outdated elements of industrial production.

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exhibition levels

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beneath the foot

Below ground, the museum galleries were conceived as a tomblike space in which the visitor engages in their own archaeological inquiries. In addition to providing these elements with an honorable resting place, the galleries hide from view, thus producing an intense explosion of space underneath the workshop spaces.

In plan, it can be seen that the grid of the first floor echoes that of the second floor, and thus rejects the urban grid of the site. The polycarbonate box of the first floor is cropped such that it recalls the urban grid, but entry into the space reveals that like so many other buildings of Columbus, the appropriateness of this proposal is an illusion.

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open to below

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open to below

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OPEN TO BELOW

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exhibition levels B. exhibition floors 1. lesser vaults 2. greater vault 3. elevator 4. mechanical rooms 5. underground tunnel to nearby library 6. loading/storage/mechanical

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lobby and workshop level

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1. reception desk 2. coat check 3. museum cafe 4. museum store 5. restrooms 6. workshop spaces 7. museum and community offices 8. monumental stair

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Axonometrically, the building is conceived as a great kebabthe central circulation core skewers the lower chambers to the upper polycarbonateclad light box. The image of the building and the interior spaces are thusly drastic in their contrast. The underground chamber also functions as a kind of sarcophagus for dead technologies. The museum visitor takes on a special role not only as cultural archaeologist.

The bones of forgotten technologies lie preserved, waiting to be uncovered from below. exploded axonometric

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finished roofing system

clerestory glazing band

two directional steel beam system

exterior steel collumns - superstructure

interior steel collumns - substructure

8’ x 16’ polycarbonate panel

8’ x 16’ polycarbonate partition

shear wall

concrete slab on grade

upper level structure

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A museum and cultural center was awakened from an abandoned portion of the natural gas processing plant located on the tiber river.

rome, it CASA DELLE ACQUE

professor Gregory Palermo spring, 2014

A. orientation center 1. preliminary exhibition 2. ticket desk 3. cafe seating 4. cafe counter 5. restrooms 6. loading/storage/mechanical 7. [levitating mass] presentation space 8. operations office B. [small gasometer] arc pavilion C. bridge D. [vasche] retention pavilion E. vasche-pond F. ring pavilion

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la casa delle acque

The proposal for the Casa delle Acque involves developing unused industrial-archaeological components of the Ostiense Gasworks into a museum that provides for a new interpretation of the site. This is accomplished by establishing a promenade that choreographs ‘introverted’ views, or those looking into the site itself, along with ‘extroverted’ views, which look to the larger context of the site, revealing it’s connection to the river.

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nesting of circulation routes

sequence of views

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planimetric poesis

The entire narrative of the design process is evident on the plan drawing, as the initial sketches, intermediate drafting, and final rendering were all produced on the same document. This strategy offered a number of advantages, including an efficiency and palimpsest like organization not unlike the urban condition found in every area of Rome.

In this way, the process of developing the intervention - a series of interrelated pavilion insertions - was an echo of the development of the city itself.

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view of the gasometro pavilion

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discrete pavilions

I found that the process of contriving spaces within the existing gas production plant required an intense study of the industrial archaeology of the site. The site was divided into a series of organs, each with their own necessary function and relation to the other organs. First, the circulation path for visitors was draped over the site. Next, points of rest and contemplation were dilated at the various points of the archaeological site. This process yielded a lineage of spaces which retraced the original path of gas production. The final design action was to carefully curate views to the river and the rest of the institution. The site’s proximity of the river is not revealed until the final pavilion is reached.

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view into the vasche pavilion

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_DATUM [Architecture talk]

meeting Thursdays in the King Pav. @ 8pm

dissemination DATUM: STUDENT JOURNAL of ARCHITECTURE position: editor in chief fall, 2014 associate editor since 2011

selected spreads from the 2012 issue of DATUM editorial design and photography: Luke Klenske, Alex Register

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the background

DATUM is the student journal of architecture at Iowa State University. We publish only student work, showcasing both design proposals and written critical work.

The journal is completely student run, and therefore accurately represents the desires and interests of the students in the architecture department at Iowa State University. This being the case, the focus of the organization evolves as it is inherited by new student leaders. As my generation inherited the administrative and creative roles on the journal, we sought to reposition ourselves in a new spirit of interinstitutional collaboration. Each year, we collaborate with a graphic design students in order to produce our publication. On the left, layouts designed by Luke Klenske and Alex Register for DATUM No. 3 show the spirit of the publication.

datum student journal of [A/a]rchitecture

DATUM logo design

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a pair of articles contrasting theory’s place in architectural production

a pair of articles contrasting the virtues of strenuous labor

a pair of articles contrasting the role of the question

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hype campaign

Every article in the 2014 issue of datum was anticipated by a unique poster design that was propagated through various social media.

In this way, not only was the publication itself advertised, but the individual work of each contributor was celebrated and displayed.

The campaign opened a series of dialogues through social media which allowed the Journal to participate in the global conversation surrounding architectural publication.

The theme of the 2014 issue of Datum is Binocular Vision. A set of four topics were each discussed by two journalists, thus producing contrasting viewpoints which widen the discussions of the subject at hand, rather than narrowing to a single point of view.

a pair of articles contrasting the role music

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DATUM postcard design

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diaspora effect

A key component of the overhaul of the Datum Journal of Architecture is the formation of new dialogues with practitioners of architecture from all over the world. In order to accomplish this, we first set out on an ambitious fundraising campaign, through which we were able to generate enough funds to more than double our outreach.

Copies of Datum were sent to alumni, local architecture offices, and firms headquartered all throughout the world. I designed a small postcard, per-stamped and marked with Datum’s home address. We received a number of responses, and these new connections represent a new prospect for datum and the dissemination of architectural ideas.

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We are all here together.

Yonder sun is like the eye of God and we will cook impartially upon this great siliceous griddle I do assure you.

-Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy

the afterword

For me, Architecture exists as a phenomenon not limited to the design of buildings.

Architecture exists in the translation of ideas from one mode to another. In the previous pages, I have sought to demonstrate the discrete ways that I have contrived an idea, manifested an idea in building, and spread an idea around the world. As I move forward with my career, I am interested in the ways that these modes of thinking can exist in a single project, such that a single moment of architecture might be at the same time hallucinated, fabricated, and disseminated.

TONY GONZALEZ

afgonz@iastate.edu c. (651) 315-1944 125 Campus Ave, #6 Ames, IA, 50014