WESLEY HARKONEN M. ARCH M.S. SEMM WORK SAMPLE
THE BERKELEY ART MUSEUM BOB SHEPHERD ARCHITECTURE 100A
The announcement of the competition to design the new Berkeley Art Museum coincided with the beginning of my first architecture studio. The site of the replacement museum was given to be the old Berkeley Printing Plant. I chose to keep a large portion of the old structure for the main gallery space on account of its great lighting condition. To control the lighting for the rest of the museum I isolated a single structural bay of the original saw tooth roof and aggregated them in a variety of different combinations. The result was a Museum that combined the existing architecture of the site with a complimentary modern reworking.
Bay Strategy I: Rotating the structural unit to the south allowed the geometry to catch and bounce light down to the lower levels.
Bay Strategy II: By turning the sawtoothe geometry 180 degrees no light is permitted into the interior. This tile strategy is used in sensitive works gallery where natural sunlight could damage the artwork.
Bay Strategy III: The layout of the existing printing plant. The saw tooth arrangement of the structural unit provides uniform diffuse light.
POTRERO HILL S.T.E.M. CENTER RUDABEH PAKRAVAN ARCHITECTURE 200B
The design for Potrero Hill Science Technology Engineering and Math Center (S.T.E.M.) evolved from an initial investigation into the spatial experience of being beneath a massive object. The sense of standing below an object of great heft is a powerful one that is underutilized in architectural practice. I chose to direct this study in the creation of a series of models and diagrams that try to capture this sensory field around dense masses. The goal was to translate this relationship into an architectural tectonic that could be applied to a specific site and program that had not yet been revealed during the course of the studio.
These studies suggest multiple possible configurations of heavy solids and light frames arranged three dimensionally to inform potential architectures. The driving strategy was to assign various programmed spaces with their own dense and light components and then to arrange these elements into one congruous structure. These abstract models investigate the qualities of light and heavy, thin and thick, and massive and minor architectural elements. These studies direct the material, structural and contrasting qualities that were influence the design of the Potrero Hill S.T.E.M Center presented on the following pages.
POTRERO HILL S.T.E.M. CENTER
The architecture of the Potrero Hill S.T.E.M. Center in San Francisco is designed to foster a curiosity for how structures respond to the forces and laws of the physical world. It is only through the study of science, technology, engineering, and math that humans are able to support massive forms of concrete and steel into the sky. This educational complex is designed to inspire inhabitants with the great possibilities that physical knowledge allows us to create. The design for the S.T.E.M. Center matured
from the tectonic studies on the previous page through the addition of a planar component to create walls, ceilings, and floors. The massive elements of the building were arranged across the site to maximize the number of times a visitor experiences the spatial sensation of being beneath an object of incredible weight. The space around these dense masses is then structured by a network of thin columns and beams that frame and support the floors, ceilings, and walls that allow for all the required programs.
POTRERO HILL S.T.E.M. CENTER
HUNTER’S POINT REMEDIATION NICHOLAS DEMONCHAEUX MARK ANDERSON MARK SMOUT ARCHITECTURE 201 PARTNER: TINA LEE
This Project began with the operation of exploring the complexities and organizations in a large Oxford shirt. In examining the structure of the shirt, my partner and I noticed that its logic is derived from the logic of the human body. We used this observation to then create a map of the Hunter’s Point Neighborhood in San Francisco that used both the material of the Oxford Shirt and its rationale to suggest a re-imagining of the existing site. Our Map continued the relationship between the shirt and the human body to represent the areas of the site that are bay fill and those that are part of the original coastline. This juxtaposition is rendered in cuts of the shirt’s fabric dyed and folded in such a way to mirror bone, muscle, and other biological tissue. The unadjusted and recognizable shirt elements like the cuff, collar, and pocket are then used to represent the land fill that is most at risk to sea level rise and soil liquefaction. This exercise was primarily focused on using something as common as an Oxford shirt to inspire new representation techniques in Architecture. Our decision to view Hunter’s Point as a living organism influenced our design for the rest of the semester. The collages are representative of our primary design objective to use both biological and technological equipment to simultaneously heal the site but also fortify it against the threats of liquefaction and sea level rise. The representation strategy we used served as a visceral reminder of the very real threat that the contaminants pose to human health.
HUNTER’S POINT REMEDIATION MARK ANDERSON ARCHITECTURE 201 PARTNER: TINA LEE
Hunter’s Point is a place that has been abused and poisoned throughout it’s past. Parcels of the old base are still so toxic that people are not allowed to enter for extended periods of time. The remnants of the Navy’s Radiological Defense Laboratory have contaminated the soil and pose a significant unseen risk to future and present inhabitants. The current remediation effort by the navy involves removing several tons of soil and pouring thick layers of asphalt over the contaminated soil. Even then sections of Hunter’s Point are zoned as a parks where habitation is infrequent and transitory to limit human exposure. This strategy also involves the movement of toxic soils with the threat of toxic dust and distribution of these harmful elements and fails to address the threat effect of sea level rise. The design strategy my partner and I came up with involved both completely healing the infected landscape while creating a new landscape that is resilient to the threat of sea level rise. Our representation for the project embodies the physical threat to the human body while portraying a techno-organic solution to the toxic landscape. This plan drawing/model portrays both where the concentrations of harmful toxins lie and the distribution of our new design solution. Our strategy is to create an architectural system of remediation that locates, removes, separates, and stores the harmful substances located on Parcel E. This architecture system is organized around the locations of 7 different toxic substances on hunters point and there respective locations, depths and concentrations as determined by soil bores dug in a 10 foot square grid across hunters point.
HUNTER’S POINT REMEDIATION ARCHITECTURE 201 NICHOLAS DEMONCHAEUX FALL 2014 PARTNER: TINA LEE
The architecture uses technological machinery to extract the infected soils, then treats them, then distributes them to fields of selected plants that have the natural ability of absorbing specific contaminants. The clean soil is then mixed with cement aggregates and deposited across the site. The site infrastructure follows a plan that groups toxins beneath them and optimizes a network that distributes both clean and contaminated material throughout the landscape. The distribution pipes are insulated in the clean soil cement mixture and thus create an elevated landscape that is safe for people to walk upon. The holes that are dug to collect the toxic dirt are left open and serve as reservoirs where sea level is allowed to flood. These reservoirs will continue to filter out harmful toxins from the bay water even after the immediate ground soil is clean. Under this strategy the Navy is unable to relinquish control of Parcel E. The navy chooses to revive the NRDL - the faction that is responsible for a great deal of the contamination across Hunter’s Point and houses them inside the remediation architecture. Here the NRDL continue to study the effect of radioactive substances and other harmful chemicals on the human body.
HUNTER’S POINT REMEDIATION MARK ANDERSON ARCHITECTURE 201 PARTNER: TINA LEE
The organic architecture of the tower serves to remind the scientists inside of the detrimental health effects these substances have on the human body. In the process of distribution to the cleansing flower fields, the contaminated soil is pumped to certain laboratories where the precise effect of the toxins is studied. The various health conditions associated with these chemicals are focused and cures are sought after. The remediation of the landscape serves as the infrastructure for the search for the remedies for the humans exposed to these deleterious materials over the years. This model captures the remediation strategy in process showing one of the seven technology and research towers being encased in the clean soil/cement shell. The new structure also deposits clean material across the site around the fields of remediating plant life. As this process continues, the towers will eventually become entirely covered and will safely house the removed radiological particles for the duration of their half-lives. They will become monuments to the errors of the past. This project won the 2015 Berkeley Circus for our studio and was displayed in the lobby of the Chair of Architecture’s office.
BALBOA PARK PUBLIC POOL RODDY CREEDON ARCHITECTURE 203
The Balboa Public Pool is a place that is both cherished for its rich history as a civic utility and visibly neglected of funds by the city government. It was originally built in the 1950’s and many of the architectural amenities, like acoustic ceiling panels, operable windows, and even trapeze swings have fallen into disrepair. Recently, the city of San Francisco has decided to retrofit the pool and bring it up so current seismic codes. The project to redesign the Balboa Park Public Pool in San Francisco, came at a time of dire water shortages throughout all of California. It is within the friction between a shortage of water and the designation of water for recreational purposes that my design places itself. Both the program and the site are very water intensive and the pool presented an opportunity to address our responsibility of architects to address social attitudes towards water. I designed the pool to collect water from
the coastal fog that frequently visits the site throughout the year. Large nets allow the water molecules to condensate on and the water drips down into storage ponds that then deliver the much needed water to the plants and grass in the park. These nets are able to slide up and down to gain excess height to collect more moisture but also allow more light in during the foggy days. On sunny days they can be lowered to provide shade for the interior spaces and collect water that evaporates from the pool itself. While the fog nets are the most apparent means of water collection, other methods are also employed. The roof is similarly able to condense and collect water and the waste water from the frequent showers is also recycled. The design makes an argument that if our society values the use of water for public enjoyment, it should take a serious approach to managing water expenditure and treat it like the crucial resource that it is.
BALBOA PARK PUBLIC POOL
ENKAMAT 7010 THIN DOUBLE LAYER
STEEL HSS COLUMN 4x6
WHITE ALUMINUM FLASHING RIGID INSULATION
METAL CAP FLASHING VAPOR RETARDER AUTOMATIC SUN SHADE
HAFELE SLIDING CLAMP STEEL CHANEL 5x8 VERTICAL PIVOT WINDOW
STEEL PLATE BRIE SOLIE WATER PROOFING PVC WATER DISTRIBUTION
THE TECTONIC GALLERY RENEE CHOW ARCHITECTURE 100B The Tectonic Gallery is an exercise in the ability to use structural elements as a basis for design generation. The project began with the analysis of the Goetz Gallery by Herzog and De Meuron as a case study for Tectonic Architecture. Upon investigation I discovered the gallery is composed of three tectonic systems. The primary structure is composed of the concrete foundation and two concrete channels that span across it. The secondary system consists of a wooden Vierendeel truss that rests atop the two concrete channels. The tertiary system is the exterior faรงade of glass and wood panels.
In designing the Tectonic Gallery, I used the structural systems of the Goetz Gallery to respond to different programmatic functions. The concrete channels were extruded and exposed between buildings and acted as the circulation corridors. The Viendereel trusses were partially exposed and cantilevered askew from the concrete foundations underneath. The tertiary system was used to enclose the gallery spaces but reveal the tectonic systems in place. While the Goetz Gallery hid the structural system the Tectonic Gallery intentionally revealed its structure as a logic for design.
LIGHT SCREEN
UNTREATED ALUMINUM
BIRCH PLYWOOD
BATT INSULATION
MATT GLASS
FOUNDATION WALL
DAMP PROOFING
FOOTING
SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE STANLEY SAITOWITZ JIM JENNINGS ARCHITECTURE 202
My design for the new U.C. Berkeley School of Architecture San Francisco Extension is designed to exist as a collaboration between myself as architect with the students. This partnership materializes through the use of two architectural systems. The primary system is a series of concrete frames that provide the overall structure for the building while simultaneously housing some of the fundamental program. The design for the primary system responds to the site by responding to the rhythm of pilasters and columns on the facade of city hall and public health buildings. The choice of concrete makes
a statement to the importance and durability of architecture as an institution. The permanence of the frames confidently assert architecture of having equal cultural significance as music housed in the symphony and the democratic process housed in city hall. The secondary system consists of modules that plug into the concrete shelves of the primary system. These modules can be removed, relocated, or replaced at any time allowing the building to capture the inherent ephemerality of Architecture pedagogy.
SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
This secondary system allows incremental changes to be made each year and fosters gradual evolution to the built architecture of the school. The replacing of these modules simultaneously enlivens the central atrium where students can see the collection of their peers interests, but also the facade along the street advertising the plethora of architectural practices to the general public.
These modules can also aggregate together to occupy larger slots in the concrete frame and create larger spaces if desired. Vacant slots in the frame allow for some exterior spaces where smaller conversations and personal meet-ups can take place. The tension between the permanence of the frame and the flexibility of the modules provides an architectural experience that offers both consistency and playful transiency.
SAN FRANCISCO SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
During their first semesters, students are required to design and build their own studio capsules in small groups. Other than the prescriptive dimensions on the studio slots in the concrete frame, the architecture students are free to select their own materials, colors, and equipment. The modules are constructed on the ground level workshop and then hoisted into place using a large gantry crane in the main atrium. After the students graduate their modules are either reconstructed and recycled or sold and transported to a new location.
When the new class arrives this process repeats. As new technologies and provocative movements in architecture emerge, the school is able to respond, re-brand, and rebuild accordingly. The flexibility designed into the new School of Architecture will encourage exposure and curiosity into the tastes and ideas to both fellow students as well as the public passing by outside. This system responds to the flexibility of design pedagogy and captures the ever changing avantgarde in both form and function.
SHAPE OF PRINTING PATH AND COMPRESSIVE CAPACITY OF 3D PRINTED MEMBERS MASTER OF SCIENCE IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING AND MATERIAL MECHANICS FINAL RESEARCH
ABSTRACT: 3D printers have become an invaluable tool in architecture schools around the world. They allow for the relatively quick production of prototypes with significantly reduced demands on labor and material. The application of 3D printing is very provocative to the overall Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry but its translation into other disciplines outside of architecture has been noticeably delayed. This divide is especially clear in the study of structural engineering where codes and standards are reluctant to adapt novel techniques before they have been rigorously studied and tested. 3D printing revolutionizes the material conventions that govern much of structural engineering and demands a new focus on the mechanical behavior of anisotropic, layered, materials that can be extruded through a print nozzle. The variables of tensile strength, compressive strength, shear strength, density, porosity, and rheological properties need to be addressed before 3D printing can transition into construction practice. This report is a beginning into the study and quantification of 3D printed elements in the field of structural engineering.
The material used to drive this investigation is ceramic clay. This selection was made for several reasons including its ease of printing, low cost, and similar brittle behavior to concrete. Clay has been an architectural material for thousands of years and is currently seeing a resurgence of interest as a result of its ability to be readily 3D printed. This research considers the performance of the clay specimens as both a study of its potential role as an architectural and structural material and as an analog for concrete 3D printed specimens. As an introduction to the study of 3D printed structural elements this research presents the effect that the printing pattern has on the compression strength of clay cylinders. In theory, any shape is possible with 3D printers but in the application of architecture and structural engineering, gravity still dictates what is and what is not feasible. This research studies a set of readily printable extrusion paths and compares their behavior under compressive load as well as their subsequent failure mechanisms.
Square Constant Specimen
Square Constant: Top View
Square Constant: Print Path
Square Offset Specimen
Square Offset: Top View
Saw Tooth Constant Specimen
Saw Constant: Top View
Saw Constant Print Path
Sinusoidal Constant Specimen
Sin Constant: Top View
Sin Constant: Print Path
Square Offset: Print Path
STEAM DISTRICT
RON RAEL THESIS STUDIO
Steam is the stale blood of the 19th Century coursing through our cities. A once revolutionary invention, steam power and steam heating are now viewed as an archaic remnant of a past age. In urban cores all around the world a hidden infrastructure pumps this valuable resource only releasing it to the public through trodden manholes and hidden chimneys. It is time to reheat our collective interest in the presence and utilization of steam in our cities. Taken beyond the traditional roles of distributing heat and generating power, steam can be used to shape and furnish a set of distributed steamy programs that tap into the aging network beneath our feet.
I propose a new Steam district in San Francisco that capitalizes on both the existing material framework of the existing Steam network as well as the unique phenomenal and architectural capabilities of steam. This steam district exposes the utility stream buried beneath the asphalt through the shared material language of steam bent wood. This unique tectonic expression, in the context of San Francisco, calls attention to the presence and relevance of steam. The line between served and service spaces is bent to integrate the urban form with its hidden infrastructural amenities.
STEAM DISTRICT
The steam District is comprised of a series of architectural insertions that fill urban gaps along the 11 miles of underground piping. These bent wood constructions become both a marker of this forgotten system and offer steamy programs to enhance the life of the urban denizen. Public Saunas - public greenhouses - dim sum restaurants, distilleries, steam rooms and public laundromats all offer public access to the steam below ground. The steam district site spans 2 square miles and ranges from the civic center plaza to the Transamerica Pyramid with the greatest density of its pipes branching off from Market Street. This area of mid-market in San Francisco is currently undergoing the initial stages for redevelopment and revitalization.
STEAM DISTRICT
DIM SUM RESTAURANT
In the San Francisco Steam District, bent wood designs become new habitable chimneys and manholes that can invigorate the city’s public life and help the residents of San Francisco blow off a little steam. The forms capitalize on the effects of steam on wood but also aim to capture the fluidity and expansiveness of steam vapor itself. This restaurant taps into the excess steam below ground and uses it to cook food for paying customers. The architecture incorporates the form of a traditional steamer, typically constructed from steam bent bamboo.