COMMUNITYa collection of selected designs

-Alexander Dever

University of FloridaBachelor of Design

Master of ArchitectureFirst-Professional

1. IMAGE + SUBJECT |

2. SECTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS |

3. COLLECTION |

4. LANDSCAPE |

5. UNION |

6. TECTONIC |

Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA

Hell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA

Projects from lower division design

San Martín de las Cañas, Jalisco, Mexico

Charleston, South Carolina, USA

Making

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COMMUNITYa collection of selected designs

IMAGE + SUBJECTHell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA

one

“It is necessary to establish that the mechanism of repetition and difference that underlies works of this type is exclusively the result of an operation that begins and ends in the subject. This result reproduces for us a metaphorical image of the subject’s own recollection, bathed in the solitude of the anguished situation where all lessons of history have apparently been discarded, and nothing other than individual talent has

replaced history to provide guidance for the architect.”Sola-Morales

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITIC

design sevenarc 4322fall 2009levent kara

IMAGE + SUBJECT is initiated with the investigation of an urban environment unveiling a variety of characteristics. Satiated with conditions and assemblages, what is Architecture’s role in this urban culture? How has image + subject infiltrated urban culture? In analyzing site conditions and experiencing Manhattan as place, the nature of urban culture is uncovered. A repetitious amount of overbearing structures creeping to the edges of unbound space, subjects [I + others] traversing from one structure to the next, underground and across opaque asphalt, social praxis stripped to cordial chats along the traces of tradition and culture. Is this the way to construct urban culture, where working and residing mesh to shape a hybridized way of dwelling? Is this the cultural ideal [essence], or can novelty be discovered in the image + subject of an urban culture? Can there be innovation in a culture where subjects are prone to responding to the market image? Architecture needs to strive to be the mediator in a network of ideology, designing an image that depicts the subject.

* designed in collaboration with Jason Aberman

|| 04from left to right: northern context; southern context;

scale of neighboring building from adjacent

park

left (top to bottom): intrinsic courtyard; interior sunken courtyard; extrinsic courtyardopposite: east façade at night

|| 06right: example of stitching urban fabric, from the High Line in Chelsea, Manhattanleft: conceptual plan

opposite: context

above: conceptual elevationopposite: aerial viewbelow: south elevation

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above (left to right): cross section thru mixed use tower/extrinsic courtyard; cross section thru performance center/commercial tower; cross section thru performance center/intrinsic courtyardbelow: south longitudinal section

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commercial courtyard; perspective

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interior sunken courtyard; perspective

SECTIONAL CONSIDERATIONSHell’s Kitchen, Manhattan, New York, USA

two

“Architecture is the ultimate erotic act. Carry it to excess and it will reveal both the traces of reason and the sensual experience of space. Simultaneously.”

Bernard Tschumi

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITIC

design sevenarc 4322fall 2009levent kara

SECTIONAL CONSIDERATIONS is a one-month inquiry of the vertical conditions in Manhattan. The study begins with the analysis of David Chipperfield’s BBC Scotland, with emphasis placed on the expression toward the vertical situated along the horizontal. The building is then deconstructed and massaged into an innovative structure, infused with primitive concepts and imposed with novel curiosities. The tectonic traces are explored through an assemblage of scenes captured around and within the structure, related to experience and memory.

north east

south east

north west

south west

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BBC Scotland | David Chipperfield

above: memory assemblagebelow: considerationsopposite: final consideration in context

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COLLECTIONprojects from lower division design

three

“For the beginning is assuredly the end - since we know nothing, pure and simple, beyond our own complexities.”

William Carlos Williams

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITICS

design 1 thru 4architecture2007 thru 2008perez, macleod, tanzer, hailey

COLLECTION contains an accumulation of design programmes from initial inquisition of architectural design. A progression through the first four semesters of architectural design study is revealed. The focus is on one portion of each semester: analysis, space making, vertical movement, and intervening.

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ANALYSISdesign two | macleod

three | one

ANALYSIS of pre-existing structures provided the foundation for breaking components down into constituent parts. Outside-in: analysis of form between ground and sky and inside-out: analysis of intervention - the room as a city/the city as a room. Outside-in discusses the organizational, spatial, and tectonic logic and spirit of Villa Bianca by Guiseppe Terragni. Representation of spatial relationships and building language is through articulation of plan and section in a diagrammatic organization. Inside-out is a mapping of Carlo Scarpa’s Fondazione Querini Stampalia in Venice. The plan is the formal convention acting as a navigational and spatial map, creating a rhythm and system of measure. Urban scale in an associated context is discovered through the mapping of spatial itineraries and the role of time and sequence in relation to the public realm.

analysis of Villa Bianca

nesting hierarchy joint light outside v. inside

top view analytical model

|| 20right: situation in context

analysis of Querini Stampalia

CUBEdesign one | perez

three | two

CUBE is a dynamic spatial composition of relationships. Acting as a familiar volume it is the initial step taken toward architecture. An A-B-A [6x6x6] composition of spaces were created, where B is the connective piece for the A’s. Exploring issues of primary, secondary, and tertiary spaces, a linear element is implemented to define the composition, punctuating the space, and controlling the dimensions.

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axonometric projection

VERTICALdesign four | hailey

three | three

VERTICAL is an intervention in Hong Kong, China. The programme consists of a veledrome, climbing wall, archery range, and bath house. This intervention questions issues involved in programming spaces, i.e. the relationship between programmes. As well as the integration of a system of elements into a pre-existing structure.

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tai yip | denton corker marshall

INTERVENTIONdesign three | tanzer

three | four

INTERVENTION is a response to the devastation caused by hurricane Katrina in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans, Louisiana. The diversity found within New Orleans between people traversing the same streets, interacting with the same buildings creates a series of differing spatial stories utilizing the same physical spaces. The varying levels of occupation are explored through concepts of permeability where commerce is placed on the ground level, leading to public space and private occupation above.

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LANDSCAPESan Martín de las Cañas, Jalisco, Mexico

four

“Architecture is an art when one consciously or unconsciously creates aesthetic emotion in the atmosphere and when this environment produces well being”

Luis Barragan

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITIC

design eightarc 4323summer 2009alfonso perez

LANDSCAPE contains a community center in San Martín de las Cañas, Jalisco, Mexico. The issue of place-making is explored through the energy provided by haciendas, creating a public space, within a town. A didactic landscape is the driving force for information in response to ‘placing’. This landscape will create a relationship between the ground, public space, people, and architecture. The community center is a place of public accommodation in rural communities and supplements the development of culture, while becoming part of the landscape and reacting to climate.

|| 28from left to right: context, situation on the

water’s edge; water as a mediator in the town

7 am

12 pm

6 pm

a connection is to be established between man and the distant landscape by dissolving any

obtrusive structures. The public space is inserted between two structures as they frame the distant

view.

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the programme consists of an outdoor public space, indoor public spaces, and private rooms for public utilization.

from left to right: trace of water on material; use of water in museum of anthropology in mexico city; celebration of water on a hacienda in mexico

above: exploded axonometric; structure, programmatic boxes, and roof enclosurebelow: south elevation

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flux and flow: a public space for freedom incorporated in juxtaposition to the flow of water

below: the calligraphy of envelopethe piecing together of U-glass to form a playful composition is due to the various manipulations and sizes of the glass. An obsession of the vertical became a strong expression, which is softened by the protrusive programmatic boxes.

UNIONCharleston, South Carolina, USA

five

“Form only affects our feelings through what it represents.”Juhani Pallasmaa

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITIC

design sixarc 3321spring 2009karl thorne

UNION begins in Charleston, South Carolina with the analysis of the city, studying topics of path, tradition, and climate. The programme is a trades union headquarters with leasable office space, an art gallery and screen room, and dwellings. An emphasis is made on the traditional Charleston house with the integration of a southern porch along the east-west axis, responsive to climate. The mobility of path is expressed through the mysterious enticement of the public. The union of commercial and public is celebrated in the joint of circulation. Union portrays the culmination of trades and people situated in the Charleston fabric.

|| 34from left to right: engraved path; dichotomy of old and new; charleston

house with southern porch along the east-west

axis

south elevation

above: south west axonometric; north east axonometric

right: massing studies of programmeopposite (above): interior perspective

opposite: cross section perspective

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ventilated double skin construction

1. restaurant2. kitchen3. storage4. bookstore5. janitor closet6. gallery7. theater8. meeting hall9. president’s office10. secretary’s office11. building manager’s office12. vice president’s office13. employment/registration14. treasurer/book keeping15. work room16. receptionist17. conference room18. office space19. housing

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10 11 12

13 14 15 16

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open to below

open to below

1 2

3

4

5

6

7

5

5

open

open

ground level

first level

fourth level

circulation core; perspective

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courtyard; perspective

TECTONICMaking

six

“Despite its concern for structure, an emphasis on tectonic form does not necessarily favor either Constructivism or Deconstructivism. In this sense it is astylistic. Moreover it does not seek its legitimacy in

science, literature or art.”Kenneth Frampton

TITLECOURSE

YEARCRITIC

design eightarc 4323summer 2009alfonso perez

TECTONIC is a focus on the act of making. Programme is absent in the construction of a single space. Topics of primary, secondary, and tertiary structure are explored, followed by issues of enclosure and the calligraphy of the envelope. Joints and connections are integral in the assembly of an architectural pavilion and aid in the cohesive container of space. Gottfried Semper discussed four elements of architecture: hearth, enclosure membrane, framework, and earthwork. These elements were later reinterpreted by Kenneth Frampton as: hearth, envelope, frame, and podium. The hearth of a structure serves as the conceptual entity, the life that is held within (identity), the enclosure membrane (envelope) forms the walls and roof, the framwork (frame) is comprised of the columns and beams, and the earthwork (podium) is the plynth or base. These four elements solidify the tectonic assembly of a pavilion.

identity

envelope

framework

podium

|| 42influential methods of making (left to right):

stacked slate; woven basket; shark skin

x 8

x 26

x 230

x 70

x 21

x 6

x 14

x 308

an analysis of materials, revealing feasibility of constructionincluding: precast concrete pieces, metal sheathing, steel structural elements, and glazing

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above: south elevation | top | north elevationright: cross section

below: exploded cross section

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exterior envelope

interior envelope

secondary structure

primary structureglazing enclosurelateral stabilization

tertiary structure

floor panelssecondary floor structureprimary floor structure

footings

above: floorplanopposite: structural elements

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This portfolio is a portrait of the culminating influences of people in my life

My wife | this was not possible without her.My family | their support eased my worries and encouraged me.

My friends | their laughter and insight balanced my chaos.My professors | who challenged me and instilled theories for design.

My God | without Him, nothing is possible.