UNI BookMark Competition
Prompt: A compact library run by the community
This library is intentionally left blank.
Carved directly into the site, the collection is built over time by the community via on-site, print-on-demand services. Books can range from self-published, amateur photography monographs to run-of-the-mill, bestseller pulp fiction.
2015 AIA Nevada Citation Award (Unbuilt Category)
The UNESCO Bamiyan Cultural Centre Design Competition sought proposals for a cultural museum in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan. The region received international attention in 2001 when the Taliban destroyed two monumental statues of Buddha that were carved into the cliffside.
The site itself was imagined as an expansive wheat field that would protect against erosion and change with the seasons. The main gallery is carved into the side of the hill, creating an atmosphere similar to that of the caves found within the niches left by the destroyed Buddha statues. Display space is a combination of traditional white walls and rough, gabion walls. The workshop is located adjacent to the performance hall in such a way that local artists could host demonstrations.
The envelope of the cultural center is composed of a curtain wall system surrounded by a gabion wall “skin.” On two sides of the main cultural center, granite gabion walls function in a more traditional fashion as retaining walls. On the exposed faces of the building, sandstone gabion walls serve to blend in with the surrounding valley and allow for a long-term evolution. The walls are intended to be sacrificial - the softer sandstone will weather away, allowing the more contemporary curtain wall system to emerge from the landscape. As the region continues to evolve, the cultural center will evolve with it.
Gaza Strip Bomb Shelters
Matterbetter Typhoon Submarine Competition (2014)
Shortlisted
The MatterBetter Typhoon Submarine Competition asked participants to re-purpose the decommissioned Soviet Navy Typhoon-class submarine as an architectural structure.
Operation Typhoon proposes to reverse the submarine’s role as a weapon of destruction by dividing it into several sections that will serve as medium-capacity bomb shelters along the Gaza Strip. The submarine will sail through the Strait of Gibraltar and be partially decomissioned into sections on a dry dock; sections will be transported to various refugee camps around the city.
Eerily reminscent of bomb shelters from the Cold War-era and the concrete pipes currently used as makeshift shelters in Gaza, the inner hulls of the Typhoon are well-suited for protection against missiles. An outer and inner vestibule allow for crowds of people to enter the shelter in an orderly fashion. MEP and lighting systems are routed through the floor rather than the ceiling to avoid potential overhead debris. The main waiting area contains a variety of seating configurations for comfort while citizens wait out the bombings.
The light hull of the submarine serves as an expendable outer skin; as missiles destroy the hull, an inner skin of ballistic gel is revealed. The gel protects the pressure hulls and absorbs shrapnel and debris. The damaged gel will serve as as a reminder of both the dangers of the bombings and the protection granted by the former war machine.
Mobile Fabrication Unit
CityVision Beijing Competition (2014)
In 2010, China National Highway 110 hosted a ten-day traffic jam. The severity of the jam spawned a temporary economy in order to serve stranded drivers.
In 2102, various-gobal-warming-extinction-level-comet-and-what-not disasters cause sea levels to rise and flood the majority of Beijing. Citizens are forced to take refuge on the multi-level freeways that hover above ground level. As landmarks poke through the water like out of a B-rated disaster movie, the once temporary economy of Highway 110 evolves into the only economy of the entire city.
As an ironic silver-lining, the once dying profession of “architect” is rejuvenated. The architect returns to his alleged roots as a master builder, albeit in a homeless, nomadic, 22nd century kind of way. Armed with a mobile, digital fabrication shop and an exo-suit, he sketches in spools of ABS and "renders" in real-time and real-space via his heads-up display. He improvises on site, detailing and constructing for specific conditions on the fly.
The once-fragmented disciplines and tasks of building construction are collapsed into one; design, 3D modeling, visualization, engineering, and construction occur at a convoluted and frenetic pace. A caffeine and alcohol-fueled mad scientist now free from international and municipal building codes, four-hour long consultant meetings, and endless RFIs, the new architect builds on ungoverned micro-sites along the roadways. Architecture itself becomes currency as the he barters for goods by constructing temporary housing, storefronts, and pavilions for the freeway inhabitants.
When the entire life of a building spans the time it used to take to design one, architects are free to experiment. Freeway shoulders transform into physical timelines of an architect’s work, a lineage of prototypes stretching through both space and history.
Homemade Dessert Brutalist Facelift Competition (2013)
The tumultuous relationship between urban housing projects and the masses that inhabit them is well-documented. Charles Jencks infamously attributed the cause of Modernism’s death to the explosive demolition of Pruitt–Igoe in St. Louis, Missouri. Though a less operative reading of history might point to other causes, Pruitt–Igoe’s demise reveals the problems of forcing an ill-suited, overly-utopian architecture on the unwilling masses.
03 40 00 is a facelift to a block of derelict apartment buildings found in Karosta, a neighborhood of Liepāja, Latvia. The existing concrete facade is left intact and transformed into a canvas for graffiti artists and residents alike. It embraces the delinquency inherent to mass housing projects by allowing inhabitants to personalize the concrete enclosure that surrounds them.
An additional shade screen made of lightweight concrete panels is mounted on to existing balconies. The panels mimic the grid of the original facade but create patterns through varied formwork. From a distance, the buildings retain their brutal, monolithic appearances. Closer inspection reveals the everchanging, low-tech skin beneath—vibrant and transgressive like the tense relationship between architecture and the masses.
You most likely do not need to commit a murder to really appreciate architecture, but you may need to commit a mild act of vandalism.
5th year thesis project - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (2012-2013)
STRIP began as a mildly subversive take on the 5th year thesis process at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo by framing a 9-month project as a tenant improvement. The project evolved into a digital fabrication spectacle, not unlike the fountains of Bellagio or the fire-spitting volcano of The Mirage just down the street.
STRIP is a self-propagating museum of architecture. The project is composed of two parts: a self-fabricating skin system on the exterior of The Venetian hotel and a “museum” on the interior that displays previous skin components.
The skin system is composed of digital fabrication tools (CNC milling machines, laser/water-jet cutters, and 3-D printers), raw material panels, and an aluminum framework to interface with the existing facade. The skin could be altered at any time, allowing for the showcase of starchitects, local architecture students, or paying clients. The actual act of fabrication would be as important as the final product.
The museum’s collection will grow over time. A similar framework will be installed on the faux facades of The Venetian’s retail area (The Grand Canal Shoppes). Retail spaces may be converted into gift shops or additional display areas. Alternatively, the exterior facade may be designed and fabricated with a particular store in mind.
4th year project - Switzerland study abroad program, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (2011)
Il Rivellino is a nightclub and bar situated in Locarno, Switzerland at a fortress structure allegedly designed by Leonardo da Vinci. As a nightclub, the project emphasizes how aural effects can be integrated into architecture in a non-formal, un-contrived way. This is highlighted in the main entry and vertical circulation. The entry consists of two counter-weighted sliding doors; as one door slides up, the other slides down. Each door track consists of a musical “track” – the harmony and melody for ‘Tuscany,’ a short piece of music allegedly written by da Vinci. Metal nubs of varying densities sound out the piece in stereo. Users can create their own "remix" by varying the rhythm, tempo, and note order of the piece.
The circulation core is composed of a square, double-helix staircase (as a nod to the round, double-helix found at Château de Chambord in France, also allegedly designed by da Vinci). The core is base-isolated (and bass-isolated) by a system of rolling and spring isolators to negate motion in all three axes. Stepping on to the stairwell creates a jolting experience as the music of the dance floor ceases to move you.
The perspectives for the project were composed of hand drawings, watercolors, and CG renderings to communicate the layered complexities of creating a contemporary intervention in a historic site.
Composite drawing of sliding musical door
Detail of sliding musical door
Composite drawing of double helix staircase and base isolator
3rd year competition - Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo (2011)
Advisor: Marc Neveu
The 2011 CityVision Magazine competition called for proposals that addressed the ecological issues of Venice, Italy - namely, the deterioration of the city’s canals due to overpopulation, cruise ships, and non-existent sewage systems. The guidelines emphasized sustainability and parametrics.
The waterways of Venice act as both circulation and sewer - the canals are literally full of sh*t. Our proposal consisted of architectural “creatures” that would convert the fecal matter into energy through a thermal process of gasification. The creatures would 1) provide a soft, ambient light throughout the city’s canals, replacing old, energy-inefficient street lamps and 2) clean the canals so that people could swim through Venice as they once did in the past.
Grasshopper was used not for the sake of form but for the sake of performance. The physical characteristics of each creature were parametrically dictated by the physical characteristics of each canal. Deeper canals would generate creatures with longer tentacles, while narrow channels might generate creatures with smaller bodies. Each creature would be uniquely adapted to the specific conditions of its locale.
