corey arena portfolio

spring 2016

CALCULATED DECAY REPRESENTATION III // PROFESSOR ADAM DAYEM // FALL 2015

HOUSE SUBDIVIDED DESIGN II // PROFESSOR MICHELE GORMAN // SPRING 2015

DEGREES OF ENCLOSE DESIGN I // PROFESSOR SEBASTIAN MISIUREK // FALL 2014

ATTENTIVE PERFORMANCE: CHINATOWN LIBRARY INTERMEDIATE DESIGN I // PROFESSOR EVA PEREZ DE VEGA // FALL 2015

UNSTABLE BODIES: ARCHITECTURE MADE WEARABLE TECHNICS // PROFESSOR MICHAEL CHEN // FALL 2014

APPROPRIATED MATERIALITY INDEPENDENT EXPLORATIONS // SPRING 2014 TO PRESENT

emergent behaivior x topography: swarms at wave hill INTERMEDIATE DESIGN II // PROFESSOR ENRIQUE LIMON // SPRING 2016

top view

top view

isometric view

isometric view

constructing pentagon

constructing icosahedron

constructing stellation

removing solids exploding solids out

top view

isometric view

CALCULATED DECAYDeveloped from a stellated icosahedron, this

proposal is defined by its self destructive geometry,

where scaled and copied portions of the figured

intersected the initial form, creating punctures.

These punctures allow occupants partial views

past the mass, and the projects massive scale

provides opportunity to walk underneath,

directing circulation, and slowing the procession

to and from the auditorium.

The monolithic form intersects the floor, wall, and

ceiling, and these collisions result in deformation

of the existing building, creating sloping surfaces

that recall the projects geometry. This reaction

develops the project to an entirely immersive

scale, and the decayed geometry becomes integral

to the site.

Parametric Variations for Icosahedron

Pentagon and Icosahderon Analog Construction

Atmospheric Renders at Gods Eye and Worms Eye Perspectives

HOUSE SUBDIVIDEDThis project accommodates the needs of two

fictional occupants with opposing characteristics

and required programs. The first character is a

woman who is constantly jumping from place

to place, called Parkour. She acts as a nomad,

moving from townhouse to townhouse, seeing

architecture not as programmed and restrictive,

but instead as an open field that she passes

through. The second character is a man who

does not use his legs and instead drags himself;

for the purposes of the project, he is referred to

as Paraplegic. He is unavoidably restricted from

entering and accessing certain parts of the project

because of his limited capabilities

An imagined massive block mirrors the

dimensions of the former townhouse. Light rays

and walls that continue laterally across the block

perform a slicing operation that divides the block,

and every other block is deleted, leaving a series

of voided spaces that are bound by monolithic

extrusions. Using the individual sliced parts, a

recursive subdivision operation populates in the

voided space.

Pratt Townhouses - Site

Space as Solid, Daylight as Carving Tool

Floor and Walls as Frame Contruction

Above: Construction and design through parallel projection. Below:Character Motion Studies

HOUSE SUBDIVIDED

Against the frame, the extruded volumes intersect

and become absorbed. Using the frame of the walls

and floors, combined with the studied light rays,

the subdivided spaces form extruded masses that

lift upwards and are held by the frame. Populating

the entirety of the void, the subdivision masses

shift to align with the studied light rays, as they

expand past the bounds of the initial townhouse

into the front towards the street.

The blocks continue to shift as they begin to

accommodate their two occupants. Their physical

movements and demands dictate the subdivided

masses positions, which allow for a semi porous

architecture of stepped masses. Additionally, the

initial massive volumes begin to be cut and voided

using subdivision systems when the bodies move

and look around the space.

Perspective-Visibility Study

Serial Horizontal Sections

East (Front) and West (Rear) Elevations

Final Model; 9 X 24 X 18

degrees of enclosure: Pre-hybridization

Left Page: Triangular prisms with four different

dimensions assemble together with varying

spacing.

The generated rule set allows for a consequentially

rotating masses that alternate in permeability

and is notable for being entirely orthogonal in

elevation, with curving triangles in plan.

Right Page: A layered drawing set begins with a

series of orthogonal lines that are shifted at an

angle. The resulting components from the overlay

are emphasized alternatingly. Opposite vertices

are connected and the resulting form is three

dimensionalized, where the components are

extruded to form prisms, and their vertices are

connected diagonally.

A Approach Hand Draft Drawing and Model

B Approach Hand Draft Drawing and Model

degrees of enclosure: hybridized

An array of assembled nooks and planes produce

a spectrum of different available enclosures,

allowing individuals the choice of varying degrees

of isolation.

Using the proportions and spacings of approach

a, each prisms alternates between being solid

masses and hollowed spaces with an open face.

This generative rule set allows for an entirely

different view and enclosure for each space.

Degrees of Enclosure exhibits the following:

FRACTURED MONOLITH:

A distant impenetrable assemblage rises from

individual prisms. In elevation, the project

maintains its A approachs orthogonal appearance.

IMPLIED BOUNDS:

A lowered ground, looming planes, and protruding

members define a confining yet permeable space.

The crossing and connecting elements of B

approach are added to the prisms connecting

surfaces, which acts as the parameters for the

ground condition.

Section Hand Drafted Drawing

Implied Bounds: Architecture Meets Terrain

Fractured Monolith: Final model, 24 X 24 X 18

attentive performance: Chinatown Library

context-time:

The contemporary library faces the problem of

attention and of focus. How can an architecture

that traditionally requires quietness, calmness,

and strict focus call enough attention to itself to

be of use and of interest to the masses? Should

it attempt to fight for attention in the first place?

Can a contemporary library actually produce

an environment that promotes focus given

the ubiquitous presence of distractions via

technology. Should the library evolve to accept

distraction as fact, and if so, what defines the

library? How can a library be a library and not

Starbucks at one extreme or a book graveyard

at the other?

context-place:

Chinatown fights for your attention. The

markets cant be contained within the confines

of their buildings walls, and those markets fight

against the loud signs nearby which, again,

fight with street vendors. The street is defined

by unfocused chaos. Our site, between the

constant movement of traffic and of people,

combined with subway movement, encourages

a culture of congestion. In total opposition of

traditional Chinatown density, the neighboring

park acts a meeting place for residents while

alleviating this urban density. The trees fight

the buildings for height, and in an environment

where bright signs become a ubiquitous fabric

of noise, the sparsity of the park wins the battle

for attention.

Chinatown Site

Chinatowns Street Market Typology

Research Assemblage: Programmatic Investigation

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attentive performance: Chinatown Library

context-subject:

The performing arts are defined by the total

focus of its spectators onto choreographed

and carefully executed movement and sound.

Additionally the, performer must work with total

focus. A performing arts library in Chinatown must

provide opportunity for a variety of focuses that

differs between exterior and interior and between

programs. It must be generously accommodating

in its auditorium/performance space, and it must

also provide an environment for the occupants

to connect with texts on performances as deeply

and clearly as the performances themselves.

Process Model from Midterm

AuditoriumEntrance, Circulation Desk, and Cafe

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Reading Room Interior Render

The Stacks Reading Room Staff Offices

attentive performance: Chinatown Library

PROPOSAL:

This library proposes spaces for closeness and

farness, where occupants may engage with

a variety of focal points. Each point of focus is

accessible, but not ubiquitous. There are places

to view the park, however sometimes that view

is intentionally obstructed. Study spaces are

fairly isolated from other program, but it opens

up to the auditorium below as well. The ground

floor not only engages multiple programs, but

embraces the street market typology that the

neighborhood provides as precedent, so that there

is simultaneously both an encouragement and

ease of congestion within the site. The buildings

centerpiece and form-definer, the auditorium, is

partially open to the floors above, allowing viewing

and listening to be extended past the given floor.

Occupants are provided an opportunity to focus

on the performance, theirs studies, or casually

check out a book, all on the same floor, with only

minimal movement to engage in these programs.

More importantly, these programs may be engaged

with total focus, and they do not distract from one

another.

UNSTABLE BODIEs:Architecture made wearable

Beginning with plaster casts of both bodies,

precisely positioned, a series of key points were

mapped across the casts, focusing on a secure fit

that concisely wrapped each bodies curves.

Through many iterations, a system of braces were

put in place and refined to seamlessly align with

the existing fitted basswood. This system relied

on primary connection that were braced with

secondary and tertiary components.

A single band was added to make the project

entirely wearable for her.

(All photographs by Prof. Michael Chen and in

collaboration with Aleyna Turker)

Towards an Architectural Prosthetic, Studying Iris Van Herpen

Plaster Cast of Two Bodies in Space

Architecture Made Wearable

Body as Site: Studying Formal and Spatial Requirements

appropriated materialITY

Contemporary culture lies at a crossroads of new

building and technological advancements pitted

against historical preservation and a desire for that

which is handmade and aged. Can a new aesthetic

of destruction emerge from a field concerned

with construction? Can the worn be produced

immediately?

These independent material explorations

appropriate common building materials, like

plaster, paint, and plywood, and redefine their

purpose as a tool for aesthetic and cultural

production. Construction via destruction is of

primary concern while a newness emerges from

that which is broken. These experiments may be

scaled larger and developed in three dimensions to

begin to address contemporary programmatic and

pragmatic concerns as questions of gentrification,

artificiality, technology, contexualism and newness

dominate contemporary architectural discourse.

AB

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B

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emergent behaivior x topography:swarms at wave hill

Wave Hills sloping landscape provides

numerous vantage points to view buildings and

gardens, both up close and from afar. The sites

sloping hills allow for a truly three dimensional

viewing of space and form, where the viewer

can be above, level with, and below objects. As

a three dimensional space with many objects,

the site constantly presents layered parallax.

Layering of forms and spaces at different

vantage points means that every point creates

a different visible form and space, so that the

viewer, in collaboration with the architecture

and landscape, becomes a constructor of form

and space. This reality liberates the individual

to be an active participant in their built

environment because their movement and

sight activates the space.

Form and space are affected by time, more

specifically, of changing seasons, and this

constructed landscape constantly changes.

Constructing nature is an inherently

unstable practice because of the unwavering

inconsistency that the seasons and topography

afford the site.

Using rule sets based on food-gathering

behaviors of ant colonies, an artificial landscape

is generated, relying on programmatic concerns

of accessibility and visibility to interpret initial

formal products. A similar logic is applied to

tectonic/component/joinery studies, which

produce emergent forms as they aggregate.

Component Aggregation One

Component Aggregation Two

Site Study: Slope and Accessibility via Section

Site Study: Accessibility X Visibility via Plan

Representation Experiments