2013 portfolio of architecture sarah vaz
contents
academic projects center for literary studies mixed-use loft housing gray road vineyard cincinnati school for urban theater campground: a vertical migration temple of the illustory universe cranbrook spa and wellness center pilgrimage, a dystopia sketchbook
academic projects
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5 6 4
open 7
second floor 1
5 2
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open 3
ground floor
scale model. 1/8”=1’
CENTER FOR LITERARY STUDIES
5
F.08 immersion studio eckler 3
4 1. entrance 2. gallery 3. meeting room 4. restroom 5. elevator 6. library 7. studio 8 balcony
basement
This is a community center and library that contains a separate living space for a visiting academic. The intent of the program is to integrate the visiting academic and the community. The structure is about comunication and exchange. The spaces are arranged according to their respective level of public access and visibility: there is gallery on grade, a meeting space on the lower level, visible from the street; and a library above, adjacent to the academic’s studio space. The design was explored through a series of techtonic models.
scale model. 1/4”=1’
east-west wall section
north-south wall section
FormZ + Photoshop
views of atrium. watercolor
LIVE + WORK LOFT HOUSING W.09 housing studio greinacher This complex integrates residential units with retail space through the use of atriums, shared stairways, and terraces. The primary study in this project was of the reciprocity between public and private life, and how close or separate they should be. This projects denies compartmentalization, and opts for a very close relationship between the two. Upon examination of the city’s municipal code, it was determined that only certain
non-industrial types of land usage could be developed in conjunction with residental space, retail being one of them. The first floor is occupied therefore by an indoor marketplace. The apartments are on the top three floors. Three atriums pierce the floor plates, creating views from the residential into the market. Various stairways cross through the atriums, adding a physical component to the connection.
collage. Photoshop
GRAY ROAD VINEYARD SU.09 landscape studio swick Given less than one acre of program and eighty acres of site, I created a narrative of the wine process in three buildings connected on a walkable axis that takes visitors through the wine process. The first building is the most immediate association of wine: tasting and entertainment. The second is the production building where visitors can understand the origin of their beverage; and finally, after being on axis through the vineyard itself, the visitor comes to the third structure, the maintenance and irrigation center for the eighty acres of vineyard, turned glass tower, from which the entire site can be surveyed. The visitor’s experience is contained within an occupiable axis, defined by the pathway and by a series of frames. Gradually the stages of production are revealed in narrative form, concluding with a panorama of the entire site and of the experience.
section across axis. Illustrator
CINCINNATI URBAN THEATER W.10 festival studio steadman
This collaborative project was designed to capture the spirit of the community in a festival and a supporting structure. Sited in the trendy neighborhood of Mt. Adams, just two blocks from Playhouse in the Park, surrounded by small craft studios and an active arts scene, the Cincinnati Urban Theater School is a new type of school for improv-based acts, street
floor plans. mixed media performance, and carnival-style festivities. The program is an immersive, one-year experience culminating with a several-day Mt. Adams street festival hosted by the school, and which promotes not only the program, but also the neighborhood and its arts scene. The building boasts a large plaza which can serve as an outdoor stage, an indoor
darkroom kabuki-style theater, and a few traditional classrooms. Most of the acting, however will take place during day to day activities, in the many small stage areas incorporated into the layout of the corridors and common areas. Open atriums with multiple view points and balconettes simulate urban corridors, fire escapes and balcony views, all of which can be used as impromptu stages.
section model and details.1/4�=1’ scale
CAMPGROUND: A VERTICAL MIGRATION
simulated occupation sequence. Sketchup
F.10 ecole speciale d’architecture peter cook This project responds to a crisis of nationalism, designed as a challenge the current political stance that the Roma people do not belong in France, by placing a campsite directly above a typical Parisian roofline. The campground will start as a seedling structure, a pod space described by dense framework and multi-layered skin, which can be re-assembled and added to with found materials, permitting territorial expansion. The seedling structure can be placed in any courtyard or open space from which subsequent vertical appropriation can take place. The seedling must incorporate: potential for silent disassembly and assembly for the sake of neighborly tolerance, joints would be tied, notched or screwed; density of materials for re-use and use of specifically permeable materials, these being screens of various gauges for delineating different internal uses; and a temporary shelter space for use during re-assembly of materials. The project addresses the continual restructuring of spaces based on patterns of migration, incorporating cycles of use and disuse and assuming creation as a social act.
early rooftop site study. ink
north-south
TEMPLE OF THE ILLUSORY UNIVERSE SP.11 sacred space studio tillman This shrine is an interpretation of the concept of temple as model of the universe. Beginning with the Vedic idea that the universe is a product of the imagination, this design is an an invitation to projections of the imagination. The faceted exterior is originally derived from the unfolding lotus, symbolic of the opening of one’s consciousness to the divine. The balance of the faced exterior with the orthogonal structure reference a language of complexity and the theory that the universe continuously pushes itself to the cusp between order and chaos. It also speaks to the process by which humans understand their place in the cosmos, as a wavering between clarity and confusion. At the center of the temple is an elevated shrine to the concept of Brahman, or the
unchanging reality outside of the world we inhabit. It is surrounded by smaller shrines to various other deities, all of which face inwards towards the Supreme Truth, with the understanding that the deities are only the phenomenal manifestation of the incomprehensible, through which individuals can conceive of some facet of the Eternal Law. The path to the center shrine is purposefully long and inscribed in a circumambulatory Mandala in order to give the worshipper time and distance to shed the concerns of the material world and focus instead on the many faces of Brahman. The complex also includes a large social space for festivals, weddings and dances, and a library, an auditorium and classrooms for educational functions.
west-east
8th street. ink + pencil
first
second
roof
aerial from west. ink + pencil
second floor shrines and circumambulation. ink
rooftop from grand staircase. ink
CRANBROOK SPA AND WELLNESS CENTER W+SP.12 SEC studio williams + bible I began this two part studio with a study of the formal combinations of two architectural elements, the arch, and the stair. From spatial precedents, I drew whimsical sections which I then extruded and combined to form blocks of space. From these I extracted spatial conditions to form the basis of my design, which became a celebration of gravity in the natural path of water through a building. The second half of the studio I spent attempting to discover a method for building an arch in contemporary construction and
refining the design to accomodate two construction methods, a light stick frame construction above, and a heavier masonry construction below. Over the course of the quarter it became evident that practicality dictates masonry construction to be outdated, and I settled on the form of a faux arch of prefabricated steel attached to concrete columns below, which rise up above the main spa level at which point the steel section emerges from the concrete, creating a transition from heavy to light within the structure itself.
combined sections. Rhino
early sections. ink
construction study. Rhino
floor plans. AutoCad
PILGRIMAGE, A DYSTOPIA SP.13 film studio greinacher Due to cultural homogenization in the twenty first century, humans have evolved to respond to only one common signifier. Around mid-century, the arrow was found to be the single universally understood and accepted symbol, and was thus adopted as the principal communication tool of the first world. Other less universal tools, such as language or complex imagery were too culturally loaded, and consequently, were abandoned. A modern world needed signs that were not burdened with history, that were not exclusive to particular groups. Over time and across the globe all other symbols were lost, purged or buried. At last the world was left with one single means of expression: an indicator of the direction of movement. With nothing left but this, people began building monuments of the indicator. One cannot build an indicator with nothing to indicate, and since the people were capable only of building the indicator, they built indicators indicating indicators. And so, the building of one monument led to the building of a complex network of signifying signifieds. The resulting labyrinth became so complex that it was impossible to determine for certain if it had any beginning or end: all that could be confirmed was perpetual movement. A competition submitted to Collage Lab: Move.
sketchbook
thank you