Portfolio

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about the architect:

“I embrace an ambitious responsibility with enthusiasm, not just because

I love engineering environments, but because I’m conident in my ability

to do so with a rigorous theoretical approach. I try not to assert a personal

agenda in a design because I wouldn’t want to contrive things and lose sight

of what a project should really be about. Rather, I try to let projects grow

organically. I am simply a medium to translate the metaphysical cues of

the universe into physical realizations that optimize the user experience,

practically and emotionally. Essentially, the solution already exists, you just

have to know where to look for it. his is where I become very conceptually

invested, because I believe the best place to start looking is at the root,

from where the concept can be derived. his may reveal that a project

demands conventionally unorthodox solutions, but I’m not intimidated.

Instead, I ind this inspiring, because with a more holistic approach, I am

not limited to the solutions implied by my title as an “architect”. I seek the

best solution whether it demands a wall, a tree, or something abstract. It’s

all just spatial manipulation, and so I approach design very open-minded.

Visitor Center

Glass Artist Studio

Bicycle Museum

New Harrleson

Lake House

Entropic Ecology

1 - 2

3 - 8

9 - 14

15 - 22

23 - 24

25 - 31

VISITOR CENTERBuilding with TopographyProfessor: Patricia Morgado

Spring 2013

After converting a cubist

painting by Juan Gris into a

topography, a visitor center was

to be inserted. This was devised

with the same cubist theories

that the painting was, so it i ts naturally into the composition.

Three triangular volumes shear

past each other with the same

directionality as Gris’ brush strokes, contained within the

i gure of the wine bottle. These volumes act as

individual peaks in section,

rising above the landscape to

call attention to them. Past the

reception volume, visitors are

lead down to the bottom of the

topography through an outdoor

court, and then back up in the

largest volume where they are

released back outside through a

dramatically compressed tunnel.

From here, visitors navigate to

the top of this natural peak to

reach the bottom of the roof slope

and continue the ascension to

the lookout point of the site.

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for

a

STUDIOG L A S SA R T I S TProfessor: Matt GrifithFall 2013

Material Implications for Mental Associations

3

Assigned with a glass artist as the client, the most important practical and

conceptual consideration was to be a large kiln, required to heat glass up to

a temperature where it becomes malleable. he kiln is the center of the glass

worker’s crat, and so it was important to spatially designate it in such a way. In

addition, the same massive material is assigned to both the structure/cladding

of the kiln and the surface of the gallery spaces to relect the connection between

where things are created, and the gallery spaces where the creations are displayed.

4

N The building is split between an

exhibition space and a studio

space, with living quarters above.

Each side has its own special

entrance to separate visitors from the

artist that lives there. Visitors are led

along a sequence through a rhythmic

series of thresholds that constrains

the view to focus on the art within the

adjacent gallery. This art is obscured,

however, by a series of rusted

louvers, as to withhold the best views

of the art for later after visitors have

seen how the art is produced. The

aesthetic of the louvers was drawn

from the rustic and industrial feel of

the railroad tracks adjacent to the

site, and each individual segment of

louvers can be twisted open or closed

for maximum control of light quality in

studio, gallery, and living spaces.

The gallery features two peculiar

features extruded up from the roof.

These are diffusion chambers, tall

enough to deny direct sunlight from

refl ecting off the glass sculptures and harming viewers’ eyes. Past the gallery, visitors walk through a

transition space that is free of louvers

to reinforce the emptiness of the

space and allow views through the

building to the tracks.

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Visitors are then brought to the

open-air studio room where they are

greeted by the tall kiln, anchoring

the building down. This room is a

double story space to allow visitors

to observe the massiveness of the

kiln as it rises through the roof,

which is offset from the material of

the kiln to reinforce its hierarchy.

The verticality of this space is further

emphasized by the double story

louvers behind the kiln.

The segment past the studio

serves as a storage space for

materials, but also a transition

space for the artist to reach the living

quarters. In addition to upstairs

access, the last segment also has a

private entrance for the artist with a

parking space, over which the living

space cantilevers.

This living space ends at the

glass wall on the east side, allowing

the artist to always have the kiln in

sight while also denying visitors a

view into the private living quarters

due to the elevation of the space.

Over the mezzanine of the studio

room, the the artist can reach a

private balcony to get a view of the

train tracks and landscape.

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studio/living space

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gallery space

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BICYCLE MUSEUMProfessor: Arda Inceoglu

Spring 2014

Multilayered Movement

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Situated on a corner in downtown Raleigh, this museum draws inspiration,

not just from it’s surrounding context, but from bicycles, themselves. It’s

supported by a structural steel diagrid, inspired very literally by the frame

of a bicycle. h is method of support allows the building to accomplish some

interesting acrobatics: shit ing up, turning, and shit ing up again, resulting

in a very apparent visual movement that’s drawn from the very essence of

a bicycle’s function. h is movement also serves to help bridge the distance

between the very short building on one side of the site and the tall one on the

other. h e aesthetic is not simply the product of superi cial considerations,

though. h e resulting shape is an expression of the programmatic elements

of movement from within the building. Practically, the structure makes the

cantilever over the corner possible with minimal column interference to

receive visitors from either side as easily as possible, where they are welcomed

by the central atrium upon arrival.

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In plan, the building can

be divided into three clear

parts. At the north end, half

of the entire fl oor plan is dedicated to the exhibition

spaces on the upper fl oors, while the ground fl oor contains the lobby/gift shop/

restrooms.

The middle portion

contains an open atrium,

enclosed by vertical

circulation on either side.

This piece serves as a void

to physically separate, yet

visually connect spaces as

users look up, down, and

across the atrium to where

they may want to venture

next.

On the south side of the

building is space for smaller

miscellaneous parts of the

program. These spaces are

(from bottom to top): storage,

bicycle parking, auditorium,

library, workshop, cafe, and a

lookout with outdoor seating.

In section, the north side

of the building has double-

story heights to make for

a comfortable transition

indoors from the atrium,

but, more importantly, to

accommodate room for

many different types of

exhibits such as suspending

bicycles and mezzanines.

The ceilings of this building

would be exposed to make

suspending things easier, but

it also refl ects the industrial quality of bicycles.

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it’s occupants with interesting experiencial qualities, but more

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HARRELSONSubmission for a Masonry Competition

Professor: Arda Inceoglu

Spring 2014

new

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This cylindrical void

pierces through every

volume, revealing their

skeleton: the massive

trusses that span between

service towers. This

makes the trusses the

subject of the void, as a

way of celebrating the

structure and its ambition.

Each truss is painted the

same color as the volume

that they support so that

viewers can more easily

understand their complex

intersection in the middle

of the void.

At the bottom of the

cavity, the void pushes

even further down into the

brick to create a public

gathering area at the lowest

level of the building. This

space is surrounded by

glass block to give privacy

to staff while allowing them

to still receive natural light.

The vertical articulation

of the volumes was inspired

by the articulation of the

facades of old Harrelson,

which is actually shared by

many buildings on campus.

Expanding on this, the

Relinquished from the imposing footprint of old Harrelson hall, the new building’s form is derived

from the concept of permitting maximum freedom of brickyard circulation. Four massive brick

service towers emerge from the brickyard itself, whose grounded and rigid behavior act as pegs

to suspend much lighter terracotta and glass volumes. In conjunction with existing buildings and

trees, these volumes act in plan and section to dei ne separate brickyard zones while maintaining

a seamless l ow between them. h e building takes on an iconic character to replace that of old

Harrelson with a more modern and captivating aesthetic, but it also pays direct tribute to its

ancestor with a void that holds the place of the service core of old Harrelson.

terracotta is expressed in

a way that almost makes it

appear to be dripping from

the tops of the volumes,

reinforcing the lightness of

the material.

At the ends of the

volumes, the facades are

pushed in, making the

terracotta cladding visually

function as a sheath,

framing different views

out to the brick yard and

surrounding landscape,

viewable from the resulting

exterior double-story height

balconies.

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fl oor 1

fl oor 2

fl oor 3

fl oor 4

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The service towers contain

the vertical circulation,

which abide to the shape

of the towers in the form of

circular staircases around

the perimeter, an important

reference to the central spiral

ramp in old Harrelson. In the

middle of the service cores

are elevators and restrooms.

The tops of the two tallest

service towers hide the

HVAC units from being seen

from DH Hill, Cox, or Dabney.

They’re clad in standard brick, but arranged in a custom

bond pattern that mimics

the pattern of the brickyard,

creating an impression that

the towers are rising from the

brickyard itself.

Every inhabitable space is

naturally lit. The classrooms

and ofi ces abut the perimeter of the rectangular volumes,

facing outside, while the

corridors are adjacent to the

void, facing inside towards

the intersection of the

exposed trusses.

The building was designed

to not only captivate it’s occupants with interesting

experiential qualities,

but more importantly, its

thousands of daily passers-

by, giving them another

reason to come to the (new)

brickyard, or at least pass

through it.

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LAKE HOUSEPeeling Away PrivacyInternship at Ross/Deckard Architects

Summer 2014

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This project sits on a peninsula,

overlooking a lake to the north.

The program in enclosed by a

concrete envelope with a fl exible folding language for admitting/

denying light and views. This abides

very literally to the program as it

progressively unfolds from private to

public.

In the pool yard, the envelope

is completely separated, standing

straight up to frame a view of the

wood shelves that weave between

the concrete strips. Past there, the

concrete continues peeling and falls

over to the other side, creating a

guest parking canopy.

Between the private and public

wings of the building is a grounded,

foyer transition space, also serving

as a median to receive these two

separately oriented wings, adjusted

to the topography of the peninsula.

The fl exibility of the language made for a lot of interesting

opportunities to interact more with

the interior of the building in ways

such as folding in to create shelves,

create a spatial compression over

the master bedroom bed, or even

just admit more light where needed.

ENTROPIC ECOLOGYProfessor: Adam Gebrian

Fall 2014 (in Prague)

Harmonizing with Nature

25

Green space is a precious thing in a city because it gives people a place

to re-sensitize themselves ater being inundated by the chaos of urban

environments. his project is an efort to encourage people to make the

efort to immerse themselves in nature and reorient themselves with

where they came from. Building in nature required a very particular

sensibility as to not impose too much on the landscape, chemically,

but also, visually, because it would seem counter intuitive to bring

people to nature and then proceed to obscure it. his is why a minimal

intervention strategy was employed, manifested as a series of spread

out surrealist landmarks to consecutively entice users along a path.

he paths people take between landmarks would be determined by the

existing, natural path of least resistance, which would then reinforce

the clarity of the path as people continue to trample vegetation

over time. his is a way of establishing a path organically without

actually building one. To establish a sense of continuity between these

landmarks, a single, lexible “hempcrete” material was employed

with a language that subliminally implied that the material was just

snaking around underground and re-emerging at certain points,

inspired directly by the stream. his hempcrete material has many

other advantageous ecological aspects of it that make it perfect for the

context of this project. It is completely organic, incredibly adaptable,

allowing the construction of the most abstract forms to conform with

the landscape in many diferent situations, and it has a texture that

actually supports vine growth, allowing nature to consume the forms

to reconcile lost footprint. his would happen over the course of time,

which is a heavily considered factor in every major installation. It

was crucial to anticipate how the environment would change itself,

and then build something that harmonizes with it by playing a role in

that change, integrating itself into nature’s feedback loops so that the

endeavor is truly sustainable and sublime.

This bend offered a

peculiar opportunity

to build with nature in an

extraordinarily sublime

fashion.

By placing a vertical

hempcrete tree in a

precarious position along

this bend, it is left to the

natural forces of the stream,

carving at its base to its

(literal) breaking point where

the tree collapses into the

stream.

This function provides

a new feature for the site,

where water is stirred up by

the ruins of the hempcrete

form, creating an auditory

appeal to passing users,

reinforcing the presence of

the stream.

before

after

later

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Nestled within the pinch of

the meandering stream,

this spot is the most apparent

stopping point along this site.

It’s shape in plan emulates that of the river, while in

section, two forms emerge

form the earth: one a small

bench, and the other a more

prominent lounging feature.

In the middle of these

two facing features are

a few newly planted

trees, sprouting from the

hempcrete fertilized ground,

which will, in time, grow to

crack the hempcrete and

further enclose and shadow

the space, making it a

more intimate and enticing

stopping point with a legible

age.

The larger form features

a window that frames the

landscape on the other side,

implemented as a way of

reducing the visual weight of

the form while also allowing

for other ergonomic ways

to engage it. In addition, it

also helps reveal the age of

the installation by letting ivy

come through the window

to the main side of the form

from the back where it would

begin growing.

before

after

later

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Island Hopping

The most important

conceptual aspect of this

speciic site was to preserve the island as an island, isolated

by water on all sides, while still

allowing access to it. This was

accomplished by implementing

a boat rental service on the

south side of the lake with only

four boats available, limiting the

accessibility of the island to a

small number of people at a time.

Visitors can depart from the

dock and follow the corkscrew

arch that rises and plunges back

into the water to the west side of

the island to a smaller hempcrete

dock, rising again from the water,

leading onto the island.

In the middle of the island,

where visitors are most immersed

in nature, the hempcrete reveals

itself again, creating a stopping

point to sit on one arc, while

the other arc loops around and

launches and out of the ground

to create a threshold into the

spot.

Following the implied path

from there, one is lead to the

east side of the island, where a

huge hempcrete tree sprouts out

of the side, cantilevering over

the water, and left to eventually

erode and collapse, creating

a bridge to the bald, adjacent

island.

This site exhibits an important

dynamic that is inherent in our

understanding of perspective,

and that is the mutual

inclusiveness of opposites.

These two would not exist without

the other as a counterpoint

for reference, and so it was

essential to include this dynamic

between shrouded/intimate and

exposed/extroverted.

before

after

later

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“The greatest of all the faculties is the ability

of the imagination to formulate conceptuality.

Conceptuality is subjective; realization is

objective. Conceptuality is metaphysical and

weightless; reality is physical.”

Buckminster Fuller

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Portfolio

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Transcript of Portfolio