ArcHieu

The start of the spring 2016 semester and I am just now posting one week before mid-reviews. Our project consist of a community center for the neighborhood of Blair Hills, Ca. The program also must include any type of designated housing and the community center was left for us to interpret what it meant to us. Along the site runs the future section of the “Park to Playa” trail that connects multiple parks and ends at the Pacific Ocean. My vision for this community project is a community environmental nature center (CENC), trailhead, and most importantly, housing for single mothers in the area. I have chosen to make the focus on the single mother housing (SMH) because the rate for the area is more than double the average in the surrounding neighborhoods. I want to provide a safe,sustainable, and communal environment that allow for the residences to be able to thrive. There is also a connection to the surrounding neighborhood so that there is a sense of belonging.

I will keep updating as I develop further.

Early program diagramming:

Site conditions and Possible Strategies:

Conceptual Parti:

Site and Program integrations:

Program diagrams for SMH :

Section Diagrams for CENC:

Primitive Renderings:

More to come.

The institute must be an educator itself by demonstrating alternatives to sustainable strategies, alternative design, and technology. The future of the Center for Advanced Environmental Study needs to have a strong connection between the inhabitants and the surrounding context views. It is to help the two engage each other physically so that both may benefit from one another and to be proformative and inspirational. It must celebrate the island context as well as the dedicated researchers who inhabit this environment. Creating a social hub that withdraws the stress and returns to a simple tranquility, which is the land itself. Throughout the campus, there is a water collection system that will collect the rain runoff of the roof and the exterior spaces into a cistern located in the main lobby of the institute. The buildings facade is also acts as the structure and an example of future facade systems using ETFE. The structure is inspired by the variable density of a bone structure and uses this effect to control the amount of direct sunlight that enters yet allowing indirect light to limit artificial lighting. Natural ventilation is also utilized on the upper levels with operable partitions that allow the westward wind to naturally ventilate the building.

Final Board Layout

The Fall 2015 semester has yet to start and I am currently in a 10 day Computer Transformation course at USC Architecture to prepare me for the upcoming term. This class is everyday (including weekends) and focuses on the use of Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper.

Project 1 is comprised of 2 parts, 1A: Vaulting Systems and 2B: Terra Sections. We were to choose from a list of Gothic Churches and re-engineer its vaulting system using Rhino 3D.

I 3D printed the study model black and used a white material so that light would be shown through the model. The use and location of each quadrant provides a different experience than the other.

Toyo Ito Light Study Model

So this was my first time using Rino and Vray to put together a digital model but I’m pretty happy with the way it turned out. I am still learning Rhino and what it is capable of. In the video I wanted to highlight the use of natural and artificial lighting in each space and the different experience each quadrant creates.

The start of my reverse engineering was focused on the two inversions located in the two exhibit rooms.

I moved to 3D printing a massing model to compare the scale to the rest of the classes museums.(due to being the smallest).

This model was 3D printed in black to emphasize the light that enters the building and emitted from it at night.