Valerie Lechene PORTFOLIO Contents 1. @OMA: NAi TREASURY — Let Me in on a Secret
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2. @OMA: BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE — Creating Metropolitan Dynamism
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3. @BIG: ROCK PLOT 31 — High End Housing in Tianjin, China
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How can the architectural setup of an exhibition enhance its attractiveness?
How does urbanism influence the lifestyle and efficiency of a city?
How to make a massive housing volume look light and airy?
4. PIN HOUSE — Sustaining Natural Disasters
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5. BLACKSMITHING STUDIO — Leveraging Tradition to Inspire the Future
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6. MONTREAL ICON — Public Life in the City
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7. ALPHABET — Cultural Diversity in Public Space
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How to integrate the essence of New Orleans architecture into a hurricane resistant structure?
How can architecture put tradition in a contemporary perspective?
How can advances in technology be used to address cultural and environmental concerns?
Can public space encourage multicultural exchange?
JANUARY 2013
@OMA: NAi TREASURY — Let Me in on a Secret Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, Summer 2011, 16 weeks Carried the project from Concept Development to Construction Administration under project leader Saskia Simon.
It is the curse of museums that so many of their treasures appear insignificant at first sight. How can the architectural setup of an exhibition enhance its attractiveness? Director Ole Bouman decided to exhibit the jewels of NAi’s archive in a way appealing to a public of non-architects. The principle retained to trigger curiosity was to set up a process of voyeurism. Such process works on a close and secret relationship between viewer and artifact that is made visible to other people to generate the desire to see. The Treasury is organized across two display systems: a circular area in which an assertive curatorial approach fosters an overall understanding of the collection; and small private booths at the perimeter, where single pieces are shown to the individual visitor. By staging the artifacts in small penetrable cabinets bounded by a variety of meshed and translucent materials, model observation becomes a highly intimate act, ambiguously observable by other visitors. In design of details, I strove to hide the connections holding the translucent materials to let them appear as if hovering in space; it reinforced the sense of mystery.
NAi SCHATKAMER
Interior Shot
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Overall View — The central area comprises four quadrants each dediated to a general theme. Two lines of perimeter booths provide the opportunity to show individual artifacts.
NAi SCHATKAMER
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The artifacts are exhibited behind translucent curtains made of PVC, leaving the intermediate space empty, but fostering the feeling of the presence of treasures. Within the booths, semi-transparent resin walls create intimacy but allow visitors to glimpse into the adjacent room. These shileding materials create a distance between visitors while allowing them to discreetely observe each other. A visitor’s intimate engagement in the discovery of a model becomes a secret spectacle for another visitor. The duality of enclosure and exclusion sparks a voyeuristic intrigue and thus illustrated architecture’s capacity to affect psychologies and behavior.
Inspirational Concept Images
NAi SCHATKAMER
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Connection Details — The assembly features were designed to preserve the transparencies purveyed by PVC and resin. This was achieved by a system of screws and connectors hidden in a double wall with a steel profile stabilizer.
DETAIL FLOOR CONNECTION
DETAIL PARTITION
STEELPROFILE SUPPORTS CURTAIN AND LIGHTING SYSTEM STABILIZES PARTITIONS
PARTITION WALL
DETAIL CURTAIN CONNECTION
DETAIL PARTITION
SUPPORTING WALL
AIR DUCT
DETAIL PARTITION
NAi SCHATKAMER
CABINET SECTION
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@OMA: BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE — Creating Metropolitan Dynamism Office for Metropolitan Architecture, Rotterdam, Fall 2010, 8 weeks Competition project developed under Clement Blanchet. Author of all drawings presented, wth the exception of perspective renderings (p.8-9).
How does urbanism influence the lifestyle and efficiency of a city? “Euratlantique” is an urban masterplan project commissioned by the French Government to establish Bordeaux as a leading European city. It was triggered by the arrival of a new high speed train linking Paris, Toulouse and Bilbao. The challenge consisted in reorganizing an ill-defined 800 000 m2 area adjacent to the historic city center. The objective was to compose a patchwork of distinctive neighborhoods each with a specific program: business, nightlife, culture, shopping and housing. The strategy consisted in leveraging the site’s current diversity by outlaying the borders of each fragment and focusing their identity on a specific function. A framework for the development of a final mass was then defined for each district. Their distinct geometries marked their respective identities, while they each presented public features to attract populations from other neighborhoods. Eventually the central business district was compared to London’s Canary Wark and Berlin’s Potsdamer Platz. Conceptual Collage
BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE
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Performance Diagrams — A set of diagrams developed by various techniques enabled to represent and understand how the dierent neighborhoods work and interact together.
Culture Housing Nightlife Shopping
Speed History
Business Tradition n Housing
A Public Counterpoint for the Train Station
Diversity of Waterfront Elevation
Opening of Enclaved Areas
An Autonomous Heart
Metropolitan Trio
Spatial and Programmatic Complemetarity
BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE
Defining Areas
Injection of Program
Railway Valley
Programmatic Nod
Economic Complementarity
Pedestrian Network
Final Massing
Mutual Betterment
Metropolitan Congestion
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Central Business District
Central Business District Plan — With its rectangular geometry, the business district is urbanistically autonomous, leading the zone’s devleopment while respecting the different pace of surrounding neighborhoods.
The Central Business District (CBD) drives the Euratlantique’s economic development. Located some 500 meters away from the new train station, people come from accross Europe to settle business deals and attend conferences. The CBD is structured around a central public park in which pavilions hosting amenity programs such as a cinema, a daycare, a sportshall and restaurants attract a varied population. It is a landmark of dynamism for the Euratlantique area where people meet and mix.
Massing Taxonomy — Standard volumes are based on a typical layout and natural light considerations.
1 plateau 15200 m2 SHON 1020 m2 SU
8 plateaux 12 160 m2 SHON
8 plateaux 10 165 m2 SHON
8 plateaux 9 260 m2 SHON
8 plateaux 9 260 m2 SHON
Rendered View — The urban park foster a balance between dynamism and calm.
BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE
8 plateaux 10 165 m2 SHON
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Birdseye View — The cultural center (left on the riverfront), new train station (middle) and business district (top right) yield a balanced metropolitan dynamism.
BORDEAUX EURATLANTIQUE
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@BIG: ROCK PLOT 31 — High End Housing in Tianjin, China Bjarke Ingels Group, New York City, Spring 2012, 12 weeks Worked on Concept Development and Schematic Design phases under project leader Daniel Sundlin. I am the author of all drawings and studies presented in the following pages.
How to make a massive housing volume look light and airy? At the intersection of several major urban elements, namely the Rockefeller Financial Center, the Tianjin riverfront, a park and Convention Center, Plot 31 seeks to create a landmark in which people want to live. The challenge is to generate an urban form that strikes the right balance between seemingly incompatible design criteria: dense Floor Area Ratio, high-level sustainability target, careful insertion within context and optimal condition for each housing unit. Each apartment has minimum 2 hours of direct sunlight on winter solstice, views to the waterfront or financial center, cross ventilation, and exterior space access. A multi step process enabled to find a form responding best to the program requirements. It consisted in: 1) Generating several dozens of forms fitting the urban village concept; 2) Filling the forms with modular apartment types; 3) Testing and optimizing them versus sunlight criteria; 4) Optimizing views and vis-a-vis by folding facades. Rendered View — The geometry echoes that of the Rockefeller Tower in the background.
ROCKEFELLER PLOT31
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Process Work — Evolutionary mapping: existing typologies were cross-breeded to create a new hybrid that combines the liveliness and intimacy of an urban village with the airness and expansive view of a skyscraper.
DUPLEX
4+ BR
4 BR
+
=
3 BR
2 BR
1 BR
Conservative Tianjin Residential Typology — The footprint is folded to maximize sunlight provision and efficient unit layouts. The building typology is multiplied within the designated parcel with minimal urban consideration.
ROCKEFELLER PLOT31
Plot 31 Building Guideline — Rectangular slabs are staggered on a courtyard like podium. The podium holds a variety of commercial program components to ensure urban activity and street life.
The End Result — Combining the idea of a folded slab with the courtyard/tower typology, a unitized conditional massing is proposed. It congests urban, commercial and residential requirements into a rich urban hybrid: the twin peaks.
All apartment types are unitized so they can be stacked like a game of lego.
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Unit Organization — Lego like units are stacked under the building envelope like a game of blocks.
BRANDED SOUTH TOWER 374 units
Banded Duplex 4 units
Branded 4 Bedrooms 52units
Branded 3 Bedrooms 26 units
Branded 2 Bedrooms 134 units
Branded 1 Bedroom 158 units
NON-BRANDED NORTH TOWER 578 units
Non-Branded 4 Bedrooms 99 units
Non-Branded 3 Bedrooms 93 units
Non-Branded 2 Bedrooms 151 units
Non-Branded 1 Bedroom 162 units
Non-Branded Studio 74 units
ROCKEFELLER PLOT31
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Facade Study — System ensuring the total privacy of each unit.
Fully Glazed Facade Generates vis-a-vis
The folded facade creates vis-a-vis. How to preserve the privacy of each unit without reducing glazed area?
ROCKEFELLER PLOT31
50% Wall Ratio
By making half of the folds solid, there is no more vis-a-vis but the views and light radically decrease.
Optimized Facade Configuration Similar amount of glazing and no vis-a-vis
By segmenting and rotating parts of the solid walls, view and light are restored, while vis-a-vis remains solved.
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Sunlight Exposure — I computed hours of sunlight were via Ecotect and adapted the massing to ensure each apartment has 2 hours of direct sunlight on Winter solstice.
ROCKEFELLER PLOT31
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PIN HOUSE — Sustaining Natural Disasters McGill University, Winter 2009, Independent Project, Instructor Michael Jemtrud, 4 weeks Competition Finalist
How to integrate the essence of New Orleans architecture into a hurricane resistant structure? The competition called for new housing typologies to rebuild the Katrina devastated neighborhoods of New Orleans in a sustainable, economic and efficient way. The strategy was to design a non site specific house that would fit on any standard New Orleans plot. The house is concieved to sustain violent wind and streams during hurricanes and surges. Made of pins, bolts, I-beams and steel cables, its structure flexes like a dynamic truss. During a strong blow, it adapts instead of resisting. This concept is illustrated by Jean de la Fontaine’s “Oak and the Reed” where an oak and a reed fights against a windy storm. The oak stands still and gets uprooted while the reed bends efforlessly and survives. The house is raised by 2 meters to create an inhabitable shaded outdoor space where residents could park their cars, hang a hammack and barbecue. The new type of meeting space provides continuity for New Orleans’ tradition of conviviality while responding to new requirements for sustainability.
Rendered View — The raised house enables a covered gathering space under the house.
Porches and interior spaces intermingle on the first and second floors to accomodate living components. A central shaft is left empty for air circulation to keep the house cool. All windows are shuttable to hermetically protect the interior spaces during hurricanes. The Oak and the Reed
PIN HOUSE
Interior View — The house opens to the exterior.
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AIR FLOW
GROUND FLOOR
PIN HOUSE
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
CROSS SECTION
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BLACKSMITHING STUDIO — Leveraging Tradition to Inspire the Future McGill University, Winter 2009, Instructor Tom Balaban, 6 weeks
How can architecture put tradition in a contemporary perspective? The goal of the project is to leverage the ancestral tradition of blacksmithing to inspire young students preparing their future. It seeks to mix two main references: the industrial revolution and the mystery of the forge. The building is encroached on the slope. Students walk down from the main campus and access it from the roof. They descend into the metal working space as if they were entering into Vulcan’s kingdom. The penumbra is lit by the glow of burning coal. This impression of entering into a different world is reinforced by the circular geometry. It generates a sense of enclosure and distance from the exterior; a distinct sense of place emerges. With its play of levels and plunging openings, similarly to Piranesi’s Carceri or an Escher drawing, the ensemble opens unexpected perspectives. The studio space faces a hollow center that breaks open to the surrounding mountains. It is an invitation to contemplate nature. The extensive use of brick and ochre concrete evocates the industrial revolution. It tints the atmosphere with a soothing honey-like light.
Interior View — Skylights, porous surfaces and windows with overhangs filtrate light. Brick and ochre concrete evocate the industrial revolution.
The studio space is a homage to Rogelio Salmona while it introduces discrete elements of our contemporary hypermodernity.
BLACKSMITHING STUDIO
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Furnice Studio Coal Storage
Exterior Loggia
A Water Tool Storage
Tool Storage
A’
N
Crit Space
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
SECTION AA’
BLACKSMITHING STUDIO
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TOWER ROOF PLAN
SOUTH ELEVATION
BLACKSMITHING STUDIO
ROOF PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN
WEST ELEVATION
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MONTREAL ICON — Public Life in the City McGill University, Design Studio, Fall 2008, ARCH 405, Instructor Howard Davies, 8 weeks
How can advances in technology be used to address cultural and environmental concerns? The project consisted in establishing an iconic building hosting both public and private functions at the crossroad of Montreal’s most important pedestrian streets. It had to differentiate from the surrounding stone cladded buildings and make a statement on contemporary issues like energy efficiency and the growing importance of biology. The building combines an external glass cladded cube expressing a strong urban presence with an internal atrium of soft rounded forms evocative of biology. The double paned facade with articulated openings contributes to save energy.
Perspectival Section — Trees prosper in the atrium like jewels in a precious box.
MONTREAL ICON
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Exterior View — The exterior expression is about presence, robustedness and rationality. It is achieved by the structure of the double glazed facade which provides a sense of depth, and by a regular orthogonal pattern (red steel columns and horizontal articulated strips). The overall transparency offsets what otherwise might have appeared somehow bulky.
Longitudinal Section — At the core of the building and of all programmatic functions, the atrium provides an impressive volume making extensive use of rounded forms evocative of biology and life. The semi-circular glass panels reflect the abundant light penetrating through the roof. Trees prosper underneath offering the public with a welcoming indoor garden in the harsh Montreal climate.
MONTREAL ICON
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Translucent Balconies Glass Basket Arc I-Beam Steel Column
Double Glass Facade Bracing Steel Stairs Double Glass Passageway Curtain Wall Columns
Slab Panel
I-Beam Grid
Steel Columns
Interior Event — Standing under the atrium, one feels the organic resonnance. Mitoyen Wall and Service Shafts
Steel Skeleton — A sophisticated steel structure composed of I beams and arcs handles the complex load system generated by the atrium and the double glazed facade.
MONTREAL ICON
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PARALLEL BRACING transfer loads from curtain glass to columns
LATERAL BRACING
steel cables brace the facade
RAISED FLOOR SYSTEM mechanical systems run above the slab, enabling exposed concrete ceiling on the floor below
AUTOMATED OPENING H
O T
monitor the inside temperature and mediates inside/outside air flow for optimal heating and cooling efficiency
DOUBLE GLASS SKIN
PASSIVE HEATING: NATURAL VENTILATION
creates insulation for passive heating and cooling
COLUMNS
transfer and support curtain wall load
LD
O
C
Exterior view — Articulated openings reinforce the sense of orthogonality and suggest a sense of technological efficiency.
MONTREAL ICON
UPWARD HOT AIR FLOW
LATERAL BRACING T-BEAM supporting perforated steel seating between columns
PERFORATED STEEL
enables vertical air circulation
Energy Efficiency — The automated double glazed facade enables energy efficient heating and cooling year round. During the winter, it acts as an insulating membrane; during the summer it ventilates the interior spaces. As well, the space in between the two panes of glass allow for vertical circulation for people.
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ABCD — Cultural Diversity in Public Space Canadian Center for Architecture, Student Charrette, Fall 2007, 1 week, First Prize
Can public space encourage multicultural exchange? Languages draw apart as much as they bring together. This project was set up in the context of a competition aimed at reinforcing the cultural identity of a Montreal neighborhood inhabited by many diverse minorities. The proposed answer is a playful and symbolic approach to the Roman alphabet, common to Montreal’s two official languages, French and English. Large three dimensional letters freely stand on the street. They are too heavy for one person to carry along by light enough to be lifted by two, thus providing an opportunity for exchange. The letters enable infinite possibilities for public expression.
ALPHABET
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