2017 Portfolio_Zlatan Sehovic

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“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.”

-Albert Einstein

academic

1

Interfacial Algaculture: Investigating Algae Growth in the Design of a Marine Research Facility

2 3 personal

4 5

6 professional 7 8

Res Extensa II: Exploring the Hermetic Threshold

Taguig Paglaki: Investigating Growth in a Disaster Resistant Filipino Community

Res Extensa: Examining the Duality of Spectacle and Observation

table twist: Prototyping a Small Coffee Table for Grandma

Visual Mementos: Hand Sketches using Various Media

Christ Cathedral: Transforming an Iconic Church into a Modern Cathedral

Jakarta Verde II: Designing Two Luxury Condo Towers in Jakarta, Indonesia

academic

1

Interfacial Algaculture: Investigating Algae Growth in the Design of a Marine Research Facility What if the US could produce its own renewable energy and not rely on fossil fuels?

FACULTY ADVISOR: Doris Sung SITE: St. Croix, US Virgin Islands DURATION: 16 weeks OBJECTIVE: to develop an energy-efficient and environmentally-sustainable marine research facility within the Salt River Bay National Historic Park and Ecological Preserve on the island of St. Croix.

PROCESS: by investigating the hydrostatics of water and the growth patterns of micro algae, I first developed a wall system that not only captures and purifies its own rainwater, but also grows and processes algae for the production of biofuels. From here, I laid out the campus master plan in response to specific environmental forces. The plan includes building programs such as laboratories, classrooms, lecture and teaching halls, offices, and housing.

SOLUTION: for the building design, I proposed integrating the programs between two algae walls— a southern “growth” wall and a northern “storage” wall. The two algae walls would be able to grow, harvest, and store micro algae in order to make the research facility self-sustaining. While the southern wall would take in sunlight, micro-nutrients, and carbon dioxide, a series of siphoning pipes would extend through the building, and to the northern wall, where they would extract the micro algae so that it can be harvested and produced into biodiesel.

Conventional Micro Algae Growth Mediums:

Micro Algae = Mini Biofactory

Closed Photobioreactors (PBRs)

Seawater/Freshwater Storage Tanks Site Section Perspective

spring 2012

Open Ponds

Biodiesel Storage Tanks

Greywater Filtration System

Blackwater Filtration System

Contact Angle

Condensation

Surface A Wetting

Non-Wetting

Capillary Action + Evaporation

Liquid Solid Interface (area)

Liquid Solid Vapor Interface (line) Liquid Solid Interface (area)

Surface B Capillary Action Relative to Tube Radius

Hydrostatics and Fluid Dynamics

Proposed Algae Wall Unit_Development

1 Unit Panel (3’ x 3’) Volume: 1.45 cubic feet

Closed PBR System

Capacity 10.85 gallons (41.10 liters)

Wall Unit_Components

Open Pond System

Wall Unit_Module

Wall Unit Aggregation_Wall Section

Administration Community Dock/Dive Oper.

Surrounding Context

Building Orientation and Views

Site Programming

N

Site Strategy Summer (72 degrees) Winter (48 degrees)

Site

W

E

The layout of the Marine Research Campus serves as a direct response to the surrounding context and environmental conditions of the site. Natural elements such as wind direction, water flow, and solar orientation helped inform the layout of the buildings in order to maximize exposure to the sun for optimal algae growth. Furthermore, contextual elements such as streets, landscape features, and neighboring structures helped relate the buildings to their local environment. The diagram and site section below demonstrate how the surrounding landscape inspired the overall form of the buildings while also helping with natural flow of water.

Rainwater Capture

S

Algae Growth

Solar, Wind, and Water Flow

Site Strategies

Growth

Building Strategy

Storage

Harvest

After investigating the process of algae growth, I discovered that the use of siphoning could efficiently move water to the algae “growth” wall, while also transporting harvested algae to the underground storage tanks using gravity.

Algae Growth Process Atmospheric Pressure

Siphoning Biodiesel Outlet

Seawater Inlet

Siphoning System Concept

The diagram here explains how this process works. The exploded algae “growth” wall (above) serves as the elevated container, which has positive air pressure, while the underground storage tanks act as the lower container, having low air pressure. After water is either collected from rainwater or pumped in from the ocean, algae is grown in this southern facing “growth” wall, where gravity then pushes it through a series of tubes within the building and to the northern “storage” wall, which is connected to a series of underground storage tanks that further transport the processed oil (now biodiesel) to the boat dock on the northern part of the site where it can be shipped for distribution.

Courtyard View

Aerial Perspective

academic

2

Res Extensa II: Exploring the Hermetic Threshold FACULTY ADVISOR: Rob Ley SITE: Downtown, Los Angeles DURATION: 12 weeks OBJECTIVE: to design a 20-30 story vertical farm that utilizes an active building skin.

PROCESS: by researching active building skin systems found in nature, as well as those in and outside of architecture, this design proposal envisions a vertical farm that blurs the boundaries between indoor and outdoor, open and closed, and ultimately, man and nature. The use of Grasshopper allowed for the exploration of architectural structures, surfaces, and animation.

SOLUTION: with the development of a tensegrity space frame that became the structure for the building, inflating/deflating ETFE pillows acted as the outer skin and allowed for the creation of a building that essentially “breathes” with its external environment. The ETFE pillows would serve as laboratory spaces for agricultural students working in the vertical farm. This skin would also help regulate indoor air quality, ventilation, lighting, acoustics, temperature, and lastly the building’s formal appearance.

ARCHITECTURE AS SKIN: architecture has traditionally engaged the skin and enclosure system of buildings in static and unresponsive ways. The recent evolution of building construction techniques, material technology, and advances in digital computation have allowed architects to not only design interactive structures that respond to human movement, but also buildings that can be highly adaptive, intelligent, and sensitive to changes in external environmental forces such as sunlight, wind, and temperature.

West Elevation

fall 2011

Longitudinal Section

THE HERMETIC THRESHOLD:

By physically opening up the building’s exterior walls to the natural environment through ETFE pillows that could deflate or inflate according to user preferences, specific formal expressions, or climactic conditions, the building would have the ability to simultaneously regulate its indoor air quality, ventilation, lighting, acoustics, temperature, and formal appearance.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

ETFE Pillow

Grasshopper Definition

Amplitude Slider

10%

60%

20%

70%

30%

80%

40%

90%

50%

100%

20%

60%

100%

Wall System

Enclosure Concept

Compression Tension

0=0 Tensegrity System

System Aggregation

Site Plan

Tensegrity Tower Schemes

Structural Systems

Precedents

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1

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3 Active Skin + Structure - Process

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5

Perspective View of Ground Floor Entry

Perspective View Looking Down Hill Street

academic

3

Taguig Paglaki: Investigating Growth in a Disaster Resistant Filipino Community FACULTY ADVISOR: Erik Mar SITE: Taguig City, Philippines DURATION: 16 weeks OBJECTIVE: to develop an affordable housing unit and community facilities, along with a master plan for a disaster-resistant urban housing community for teachers in Taguig City, Philippines, after the devastation left behind by Typhoon Ondoy in 2009.

PROCESS: by investigating research conducted in 2006 by students from MIT’s Architecture and Urban Studies programs, I discovered that the typical growth and expansion patterns of Filipino families followed similar formal qualities and proposed using inexpensive shipping containers for the structure and enclosure of the new housing units.

SOLUTION: in order to promote growth for the community in multiple aspects: physical, in the form of spatial expansion, psychological, through educational advancement, skills training, and confidence building, and economical through potential vocational workshops (on the ground-floor and within the concrete classroom spaces), the shipping containers would sit atop the community facilities, made of concrete, below. This would ensure families would be protected from future storms and floods. By not only allowing the families to grow along with the units where they live, but by also promoting economical and ecological development, chances of equitable growth become much more possible as the separation between the affluent and poor within and around the Taguig city becomes much more marginal.

Typhoon Ondoy - Aftermath

fall 2010

growth

1 noun 2 -progressive development: evolution -the process of developing physically, mentally, or spiritually -the process of increasing in amount, value, or importance

Typical Process of Expansion for Filipino Family

1. Link Containers

2. Open Sides for Ventilation

3. Add Prefabricated Steel Structure

4. Install Flooring

5. Add Room Partitions

6. Attach Bamboo Shade Screen Panels

1. www.merriam-webster.com 2. www.oxforddictionaries.com

Proposed Assembly Process

Year 0

Year 5

Growth Process

N

Site Development

Year 10

City Circulation + Site

Site Circulation

SITE PLANNING

Master Site Plan

The layout of the site serves as a direct response to the surrounding urban fabric. By extending existing streets through the site and by allowing direct connections between community residents and surrounding neighborhoods, an idea of “growing together” becomes much more achievable. Furthermore, streets connect into the Community Center, School/Daycare, Community Market, and ground-floor classroom spaces that run along the northern and southern streets (Paraiso being a major commercial street). These classroom spaces seek to achieve economic growth for the community— and possibly the city— through vocational and educational opportunities that could potentially be supported by the nearby University in the future.

Space Layout

Typical Filipino Dwelling

Unit Ventilation

HOUSING FACILITIES

Starting at the level of the individual unit and with the use of the expansion spaces, all residents would have the ability to physically expand significant areas of their living units as their economic status improves or as a way of investing their earnings.

Affordability

+ cost of roof structure & material + cost of RC primary structure + cost of CMU infill for enclosure =no money left over to expand *shipping containers are readily available, inexpensive, and reduce the need for large expanses of structure and enclosure. plumbed to accommodate grey water recycling

Entry

Housing Building Floor Plan

South Elevation

North Elevation

West Elevation

EXPANSION:

A prefabricated steel structure with flooring would be added to each container where it could initially be used as outdoor space.

Over time, this outdoor space could be rented out for additional income or could be used by the inhabitants for expansion. Quite simply, the units would grow as the families grow, whether in size or in wealth.

East Elevation

Floor Plans of Typical Unit

A B C A

B

C

D

E

D

E

F

F Exterior Storage Interior Storage

G

H

I

COMMUNITY SPACES: A_English Class B, D, E_Technical Workshops C_Money Management F_Carpentry Workshop G_Community Civic Center H_Market I_Daycare/School

Solar Shading

Building Ventilation

Water Collection

Rooftop Photovoltaics

expansion space 2 expansion space 1

All residents would have the opportunity to expand significant areas of their living units.

Neighboring Open Spaces

Unit Open Spaces

N

Community Open Spaces

Future Connections to University Growth Strategies

Community Workshop Spaces

Community Orchards

Three kinds of landscaping are proposed to be used on site. All would be native or adaptive to this area in the Philippines and would serve a specific purpose for residents.

Bioswale DESIGN CONCEPTS

The fundamental intent of this project is to fully promote growth in multiple aspects: physical, in the form of spatial expansion, psychological, through educational advancement, skills training and leadership building, and economic through vocational workshops on the ground floor and within the concrete structures that form a strong base for the housing units above.

academic

4

Res Extensa: Examining the Duality of Spectacle and Observation FACULTY ADVISOR: Ric Abramson SITE: Echo Park, California DURATION: 14 weeks OBJECTIVE: to design a community civic center that integrates a hybrid program.

PROCESS: after researching the historical context of Echo Park and examining the Remapping of Rome under Alexander VII and Pope Sixtus V, I proposed integrating an “urban stage” as the hybrid program for the community civic center. This integration aimed to connect the strong film history of Echo Park with the ancient Roman plazas and public spaces that King Alexander VII once referred to as “urban stages” because of their ability to encourage high levels of social interaction among Roman residents and pilgrims making a journey to Vatican City.

SOLUTION: through a series of hand sketches, physical models, and computer modeling, I designed a community civic center that incorporated both a lookout tower and a large public space (i.e. the urban stage that also doubled as a performance space with seating) while also connecting the building to Echo Park across the street. This was created in order to have the urban stage promote social interaction and allow residents to become “actors” in the wonderful “play of life” while having the park—and rest of the city— become the backdrop to the building.

Process Sketches

spring 2010

Observation Tower

Urban Stage

Parti Models

X

Parti Development Process

Sectional Model Process

X

ANTECHAMBER

The Antechamber provides the main interior gathering space before entering the Council Chamber.

MICRO CLIMATE/ENTRY

This space would serve as the entry to both the Council Chamber and Social Hall, while also helping to regulate the building’s interior air temperature.

SOCIAL HALL

INTERIOR GARDEN/GALLERY

The Social Hall comprises the largest program for the building and sits protected below the Council Chamber and classrooms.

This Space would accommodate overflow from the Social Hall and provide a gallery exhibit for film artifacts from Echo Park.

OBSERVATION TOWER

The observation tower would provide visitors with a new experience of Echo Park and serve as a prominent city marker.

ENTRY/AMPHITHEATER SEATING

As the main circulation path into the building, the entry stairs also double as amphitheater seating during film screenings and large performances.

CLASSROOMS

Classrooms would provide visitors with spaces to learn and interact while being at the community civic center. All of these spaces would be on the second floor overlooking the urban stage below.

Final Section Model 1/2”=1’0”

*URBAN STAGE

As a multifunctional public open space and performance stage, the urban stage’s main focus is to encourage social interaction among visitors at Echo Park.

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6 12

24 15

25

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23 23 11 22

25

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4

12

16 16

16

25

Gound Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

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6

6

15 18

20 21

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1. Social Hall 2. Antechamber 3. Library 4. Urban Stage (Hybrid Program) 5. Additional Seating 6. Bathrooms 7. Gift Shop 8. Kitchen 9. Storage 10. Outdoor Garden 11. Circulation 12. Secondary Entrance 13. Main Entrance 14. Entrance Gallery 15. Council Chamber 16. Cafe 17. Changing Room 18. Anteroom 19. Micro Climate 20. Reception 21. Office 22. Conference Room 23. Classroom 24. Study 25. Gallery

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10

9

9 8

9

11

1

11

2

8

6 7

10

6

3

12

6 6 4

22 5

First Floor Plan

Floor Plans

Underground Floor Plan

5

personal

5

table twist Prototyping a Small Coffee Table for Grandma PREMISE: my family likes to drink a lot of coffee. After a while I started to notice my grandmother having to lean- and sometimes bend over- in awkward ways to pick up her cup because the legs of her square table couldn’t reach any closer to her on the couch.

OBJECTIVE: to design and prototype a highly functional coffee table for my grandmother PROCESS: through a process of sketching, digital modeling, 3D printing and physical modeling, I was able to explore a wide range of possibilities in terms of form, material, and assembly SOLUTION: in an effort to create a bold and beautiful, yet simple and elegent coffee table design, I began by examining a variety of organic and curvalinear forms through hand sketching. From there, I translated the sketch into a digital model and tested different shapes using Rhino and Grasshopper. After narrowing the schemes down to three, I 3D printed the models and evaluated them on aesthetics and performance. Then I started testing different materials and developing possible methods for assembly, ultimately producing a prototype and two additional tables using different materials.

Conceptual Sketches

Digital Form Studies

Layering Process - Table 1

fall 2014 - summer 2015

Old Table

Table Twist

1 3D Print Studies

2

3

90 o

180 o

Form Generation

Layering Process - Table 2

TableTwist is a custom furniture piece with a twist. Originally conceived of as a small coffee table for my grandmother, the form of TableTwist comes from a 2D circle extruded vertically into a cylinder that is then pinched at its sides and finally twisted 180 degrees about its vertical axis. TableTwist primarily functions as a horizontal support surface, however with its unique shape, the table can be flipped upside down or rotated any number of ways to create an infinite number of completely different tables, while still maintaining its original function.

Made from a combination of 1/8” and 1/4” thick sheets of plywood and acrylic, each table is comprised of 120 different layers that are laser cut to varying shapes and sizes. The layers are then threaded around a square dowel- which runs through the entire height of the table and acts as a spine holding all of the pieces together structurally. Because each table is made up of individual sheets, varying the materiality, texture, and color of the plywood and acrylic layers allows for an unlimited number of aesthetic options that can be produced from a single design.

While TableTwist was designed to look enigmatic, unbalanced, and asymmetrical, the final product is unusually familiar, functional, and structurally stable. This relationship between function, form, structure, and materiality are what give this table its twist.

Concept

Finished Tables

Plywood A

Sanded edges for smooth organic finish

Square dowel for extra stiffness and support

Water based clear satin finish for protection and durability

Plywood B Reclaimed and recycled acrylic 1/4” layers 1/8” layers Plywood C

Section

personal

6

Visual Mementos Hand Sketches using Various Media

Pen

Watercolor Field Sketches

spring 2008 - fall 2011

Pen

Pen

Graphite/Color Pencil

professional

7

Christ Cathedral Transforming an Iconic Church into a Modern Cathedral This was an office project that I worked on while a Project Designer at Johnson Fain. I was involved from the initial competition, where I mostly made physical wood models for the entry presentation, to conceptual design and all the way through to construction documents.

I led a group of junior designers in the production and documentation of different areas of the project and reported directly to the Project Manager and Project Architect. Aslo working closely with Scott Johnson, I helped develop and draw different elements of the project in the computer, such as the baptistry, chapel, altar, baldachin, and ambo, all key parts of the Cathedral.

I also worked with various consultants to develop aspects of the project and also to design a shading system that reduces solar heat gain and provides for better visual and audio comfort. Drawing the initial geometry of the shade panels in Rhino, I then worked with the Project Architect to map the panels across the building’s skin using solar analysis provided by our mechanical engineers.

In an effort to tranform the iconic and historical non-denominational church into a Catholic cathedral, we were also asked to meet certain requirments of the Catholic liturgy. I was involved in meetings with the Sacred Arts Committee on liturgical elements, artwork, and specific design elements of the Cathedral.

Delegating tasks to younger staff, I would oversee design, production, and documentation of the project under the guidance of the Project Manager and Project Architect.

Site Plan

Elevations

Sections

Before

spring 2014 - fall 2016

After

Exterior Skin

Structural System

Balcony Level Plan

Shading System (New)

Worship Level Plan

Balcony + Worship Level

Worship Level

Undercroft Level Plan

Undercroft Level

Plans

Exploded Axon

Axon - Quatrefoil Shade System

Enlarged Elevations - Quatrefoils

Enlarged Plans - Quatrefoils

Exterior Night Perspective

Mock Ups

Roof Panel Elevations

Roof Panel - 0 Degree Angle Roof Panel - 15 Degree Angle Roof Panel - 30 Degree Angle Roof Panel - 45 Degree Angle

North Panel Elevations

South Panel Elevations

North East Axon

Quatrefoil Mapping

South East Axon

South West Axon

North West Axon

Baptistry Plan

Exploded Axon

1

1A

2

2A

1B

3A

2B

1C Panel Types Baptistry Metal Panel System

3

3B

2C

3C Panel Elevations

Exploded Axon

Chapel Plan

A

B

C

Panel Types

Chapel Rendering

Baptistry Rendering

D

E

professional

8

Jakarta Verde II Designing Two Luxury Condo Towers in Jakarta, Indonesia Jakarta Verde II was the first project I worked on at Johnson Fain as a Junior Designer. I was involved from the beginning stages of the conceptual design phase to the end of design development.

I worked directly under the supervision of and with a group of senior designers on the development of key areas of the project. I helped develop unit plans, underground parking layouts, automobile circulation, porte cochere, and the building skin design. For presentations I would occasionally make physical models by hand out of wood/laser cut plastic and/or with the 3D printer.

For the design of the building skin, I worked directly with the senior designer’s on the project to digitally model and document an envelope system made of metal panels that are embossed with a custom dot pattern that reflects certain patterns found in traditional Indonesian fashion and design.

Roof

I also worked closely with the Design Principal on different patterns and designs for a screen wall between the porte cochere and the open green space that contains communal amenity spaces such as the garden, patio, pool deck, lap pool, BBQ area, and celebration pavilion.

Amenities

Typ Level

Ground

P1 Exterior Night Rendering

spring 2013 -fall 2014

Plans

North West Axon

North Elevations

South

East

Wast

Skin Pattern

Typ. Panel

Panel Types

Axon - West Tower ( Top)

Axon - East Tower ( Top)

Axon - West Tower ( Typ Floors)

Axon - East Tower ( Typ Floors)

Typical Floor Plan - West Tower

Typical Floor Plan - East Tower

Metal Penal Elevations - East Tower

Metal Penal Elevations - East Tower

Metal Penal Elevations - West Tower

thank you

Zlatan Sehovic MDes EE 2017