architectureportfolio

Aaron J Chau

The Froebel KindergartenFredrich Froebel’s model of the kindergarten is based on the notion of play “as a leisurely pursuit that can foster an individual’s relationship to the physical world”.

In the typical learning environment child develop-ment is understood as an actual process tradition-ally structured and facilitated by parents, teachers and administrators. This studio project serves to communicate how this process of child devel-opment may also be facilitated and expressed through the designed environment. The architec-ture of schools in a consciously designed educa-tional environment can connect with children in a way that encourages their own independent pro-cess of self development and critical inquiry. Play becomes a productive exercise that allows the indi-vidual to not only “make” the world at a micro scale but to place himself/herself within a larger concep-tion of the world and see the interdependence all things within it. Critical to this way of thinking is the relationship between part to whole as both a mate-rial and cultural practice. The Froebel Kindergarten works with two scales simultaneously as an analogue to the Froebel system of the nesting of whole to part. Where the assemblage project revolved around the specific – the form emerging from the program as shaped by the body, the site analysis develops an attitude about the larger scale infrastructure of the site – the organization of the school growing from a strat-egy of how the site can be “constructed”.

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>>phase IWhole to Part : Playspace & Classsroom derived from a 10” x 10” cube.

Classroom Reading

Horizontal playspace

Vertical playspace

Classroom Reading

Horizontal playspace

Vertical playspace

Classroom Reading

VerticalPlay

Horizontal Play

The Froebel Kindergarten>>phase IISite Strategy

The Froebel Kindergarten is designed on a site currently owned by St. Peter’s Church on Staten Island. From the highest to the lowest point, the site slopes thirty feet. The site has a unique rela-tionship to the surrounding community, as it runs adjacent to two accessible streets at both entries of the site. The site is also located less than a block away from two additional Staten Island public schools. Because of this, in addition to the fact that the neighborhood is predominately residential, the Kindergarten is designed with an additional critera of providing community space.

SKETCHMassing Model and Concept

Two wings are organized as contrasting spaces: on one side, a porous play space, where circula-tion is disrupted by geometries and perforations, and on the other, a uniform area designated for reception, storage and school administration. Both wings create the boundaries of the outdoor school yard and outdoor community space.

section 1 PLAY section 2 UNIFORMITY

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Second Floor Plan1// outdoor community space2// outdoor playspace3// roof garden4// school yard5// classrooms

First Floor Plan5// multi-purpose room6// kindergarden storage7// administration8// community reception

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Perspective Narrated Represenation I Professor: Robert Bracket IIIMedium: Ink on Mylar

Dwelling at Wave Hill

A dwelling for bug artist Christopher Marley is inspired by the disection of the beetle. Forms and programmatic functions of the dwelling are stretched and fragmented across the site, imitating the process of composing the spatial relationships of bug parts. The site itself is part of the botanical park, Wave Hill, and serves as a bog gar-den where water is converged into a pool of water. Each swale separates a particular programmatic function of the dwelling, serv-ing as a threshold between public, private, indoor, and outdoor spaces.

Dwelling Abdomen

Though structural elements and spaces are fragmented across the site, the dweller is able to access each space: living, resting, work spaces and the bog garden itself from any main part of the dwelling.

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DWELLING CROSS SECTION

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DWELLING CROSS SECTION

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DWELLING CROSS SECTION

LIVING SPACE SECTION3

UNIT - TO - STRUCTURE DIAGRAM

STRUCTURAL ARM

EXTRUDED SURFACE

ORIGINAL GEOMETRYoriginal geometry

structural arm

extruded surface

UNIT TO STRUCTURE DIAGRAM

Tectonic Unit StudyFolded surfaces create spatial forms within the model below. This model is used as a study to apply structural characteristics to the dwelling’s structural skin. Ultimately, it is the folding and extrusion of these structural characteristics that form spaces within the dwelling.

Elevations of my head were photographed in three views. These elevational photographs were used as references to project points into space, enabling the construction of a 3D digital model.3D physical prototypes are made by solidifying layers of deposited powder using a liquid binder.

Rapid PrototypingElevations of my head were photographed in three views. These elevational photographs were used as references to project points into space, enabling the construction of a 3D digital model.3D physical prototypes are made by solidifying layers of deposited powder using a liquid binder.

Rapid Prototyping

Representation III

Prof. R

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Render sceneA particular scene from the film“Inception” is modeled us-ing Rhinoceros and recreated using the rendering program, Maxwell Studio. Various mod-eling techniques, materials and lighting strategies were tested during the process.

Representation III Prof. Richard SarrachFall 2012

1. Copper sheeting2. Copper mesh3. Double glazing with aluminum casement4. Concrete Slab5. Insulation6. Flashing7. Drainage8. Drainage mat9. Steel Stud

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1. Copper sheeting 6. Flashing 2. Copper mesh 7. Drainage3. Double glazing with aluminum casement 8. Drainage mat4. Concrete slab 9. Steel stud5. Insulation

Construction Documents>> Render + Detail

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1. Granite block2. Insulation3. Double glazing4. Steel beam5. Plasterboard6. Flashing7. Form decking8. Drainage mat9. Concrete Slab1. Granite block 6. Flashing

2. Insulation 7. Form decking3. Double Glazing 8. Drainage mat4. Steel beam 9. Concrete slab5. Plasterboard

Existing Dock

Trophy

Community

Existing Hill 30’

Tennis Building Existing Boathouse

Columbia Boathouse

The Columbia boathouse project is an op-portunity to address the uninviting character of the site. The design strategy is to ap-proach the site cinematically. The entrance to the site creates a landscape framed by an existing building (a traditional Columbia trophy house), and the new building, which is used for community functions and athletic training. This project is constantly reevaluat-ed through an analysis within the sequenc-ing of spaces.

(work in progress)

Existing Dock

Trophy

Community

Existing Hill 30’

Tennis Building Existing Boathouse

Personal workAs an artist, I find pleasure and value in expression through not only architecture but also through sculpture and photography. For me, these two mediums are es-sential in realizing the quality and progression of color and material over time.

Easter Islands reclaimedMedium: Bronze

Cantilever BenchMedium: Concrete