Banking on Ideas

Columbia M.Arch 1 – Semester II

Critic: William Arbizu

The site is the ideal nucleus for a start up tech company. For employees it is surrounded by new cafes and bars, it is within walking/biking distance from both residential communities (on three sides) and vibrant culture. For employers, the proximity to other tech companies, educational institutions and a young, educated workforce is ideal. 

Behind many major start ups are venture capitalists who take a risk and provide support from the get-go. However — particularly after the great recession — access to this network is often unavailable to those just beginning, and from “unconnected” backgrounds. At a time where the conventional bank, as a financial institution, is undergoing dramatic shifts in typology the opportunity to implement one in this community begs the question, “how can a bank contribute productively to a community in a mutually beneficial relationship?” 

I believe the bank as a community venture capitalist fills this role. Typically only 44% of startups remain in business. In stark contrast, 87% of firms that have been through an incubator remain in business. Therefore, providing access and continuing support, on a variety of levels, to start-ups profits not only the community but also the bank, and by extension the local community. Small start-ups get access on an unprecedented level to a service previously reserved for an inner circle and the bank has the opportunity not only to help young local entrepreneurs but also a chance to profit off an early investment.

Introversion vs. Extroversion

Columbia M.Arch I – Semester I

Critic - Marta Caldeira

The project is centered around notions of Introversion and Extroversion pertaining to the built environment both at an architectural and urban scale. As a means of exploring the sense of public and private from the urban subject to the individual, the binary — introversion to extroversion — is key to conceptually interpreting the two levels of the project: site and program.

A typical New York City block bursts with buildings, plastered toward the perimeter of the block with porous facades that engage users — inviting inward to shop or welcoming home. Conversely, the Frederick Douglas Housing site suggests a deep inhale with structures consolidated inwards and upwards, pulling back from the public interface with inhospitable entries.

Just as it was formed to connect to the broader urban context, the grid was formed also as a way for the project to connect back to the site itself. To facilitate this, the main axes upon which the design is situated are a connection of the existing leisure areas on the site as well as an extension of the existing city grid. There are smaller links implemented including construction lines projected from corners of the landscape on the site or angles extended from neighbors’ buildings, which serve as secondary axes. Structural blades are shaped by the grid and manipulated to create program; dictating circulation while challenging or allowing what can be seen.

In addition to the site, each element of the program conveys notions of introversion and/or extroversion. The project does not aim to mitigate the difference between the two but instead explores contrasting opportunities for both. While the two extremes of introversion and extroversion are operative through the design, the project more so reinforces the gradient that exists between the two, while reaching out to the city at large.

Some spaces allow for collective use, while others allow only for the individual — some are on display to the wider public, while others are tucked away.

The proposal examines how spatial conditions can produce effects of occupation, connecting the physical environment to states of mind.

A Boutique Hotel on the Wellington Waterfront

The preliminary idea came from the notion that a hotel is a “machine” where memories are made. As such, the project explores the components that house them by adaptively reusing an existing building on the Wellington waterfront.

The project stems from Noetic Science’s principle that a thought has mass. The design investigates a physical process in which memories may be collected and sorted. 

The result is a static interpretation of the kinetic.

“The starships of the future exploring the high frontier of the unknown will be syntactical — the engineers of the future will be poets. This is what virtual reality holds out to us — the possibility of walking in to the constructs of the imagination.”  Terence McKenna

A Flagship Suit Store

Kinetic Display

Rembrandt, a local Wellington suit company, was looking to expand its business from simply a supplier to creating its own retail outlets. The following design is a result of several stages of critique with the client creating a potential flagship store which may be maneuvered into any location in the country.

The center display system encourages a kinetic interaction between the customer and clothing.  With this design, the customer can feel the fabric and visualize the choice options which are unique to Rembrant’s customization and brand essence, “a dash of whit”.  Suits and shirts are connected to a grooved sliding system; allowing the customer to make endless combinations until satisfied with their selection.  The interior mechanics are hidden, yet intuitive for customers or store assistants.

Only one suit of each type is displayed allowing for a clean, minimal store presentation. Once the suite choice is made, the assistant pulls the correct size and directs the customer to the changing room. 

re·frac·tion (rĭ-frāk’shen)

1. latin . refractus . broken up 

2. the turning or bending of any wave, such as a light or sound wave, when it passes from one medium into another of different density

The work presented is an iterative exploration of carving with light through the digital and physical realm. Several instances were explored through 3d printing and CNC routing. 

... In a digital realm, physics is negotiable.

To understand an organic structure it must first be broken down linearly into its abstract components. The central stairway of Zaha Hadid’s Maxxi Museum winds its way up the voided lobby, cutting the space with its curved form. The physical model is an abstract interpretation of negative space turned positive by the circulation path.

In the digital realm linear elements can be formed into organic structure. Presented is a study of how circulation can influence carved components into current like figures. The final iteration is intended to be a sculpture placed back into the environment from which it spawned, manipulating the way users interact with the space.

This series of drawings is a set of observations from a trip to Nepal + Tibet.

The Architecture in Nepal + Tibet is more than simply structure as conceived in the western vernacular; it is a marking stone exuding its own notion of presence while informing the energy and activity around it. I was interested in the amount of movement surrounding seemingly static architecture. Pilgrims travel thousands of miles to contribute as well as absorb the qualities of the environment. As such, the images are in halves; one side depicting the technical geometric forms while the other signals the more ephemeral qualities and life of the space. 

Collectively, the renders became a motion study through the horizontal + vertical plane, exploring how the formal geometry controls the fluid movement on a range of scales and architectural subject matter. An exploration developed, demonstrating how waters’ properties + peoples’ behaviors react to the symmetry and forces at play. 

The central drawing explores the ideas above: merging plan, section and elevation from the abstract to the literal taking organizational reference to the ubiquitous tanka drawings of the area. The bottom half is a portion of the “Garden of Dreams” of Kathmandu in plan view. Centered, the mountainous series of steps overlooking the garden radiates outward like ripples, while the surrounding formal geometry begins to effect the forms as if they were fluid. 

Once abstracted, the overall framework below becomes a Mandala, the master plan of the Tibetan Samye Monastery presented in section above. The drawing explores the vertical movement of the pilgrims journey, with particular focus on the dark cavernous voids circulated through prior to entering lit center atrium. As a whole, the collection explores the ever present clockwise circumnavigation through which the pilgrims practice throughout their journeys and prayers.

This video was part of an advertising competition put on by Nokia emphasizing community and connectivity through smartphones. It placed in the top 5.