siobhan duran

lookout mountain houseHollywood Hills, Los AngelesGigante AG

Gigante AG is a in many ways a design/build firm. Primarily our work is located in the Hollywood Hills where we complete renovations for high profile clients.

Many of the elements of these homes are entirely custom, and I am actively involved in the detailing of these custom pieces. Some of these custom items include: a marble sink made with a 5 axis CNC, an 8 foot wide sliding glass exterior barn door, and a 5 foot high polished nickel medicine cabinet with antique glass inserts. My daily activities at Gigante not only lead me to detail these items but also necessitate that I hire the right people to execute these custom pieces. I was directly responsible for pricing fabrication, hiring, and overseeing the work of the fabricators.

wuhan shimao carnivalWuhan, ChinaAltoon & Porter Architects.

Conceived as a part of a larger Master Plan that would include housing, hotels, and the formation of a large lake for leisure activities, the Wuhan Shimao Carnival is 500,000 m² mall - a stand out attraction and a draw for people from all over China.

The mall itself will incorporate a large central dome housing an Amusement Park. Additionally there is a lagoon with waterfront shops and activities and a Ferris wheel. The mall shops are broken into 4 large zones including 30,000 sq. m. of outdoor village. Also integrated into the main mall are 2 hotel towers for visitors to the development.

As project liaison for Wuhan Shimao Carnival, it was my responsibility to be in constant contact with our Shanghai office - exchanging drawings and reviewing information that came from our office in Shanghai and from the client. I would issue instructions to our office as to design changes and talking points that needed to be discussed with the client.

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20101910

city rollerInteractive Art InstallationPlasis Design / Crimson Collective

How do cities change over time? This was the impetus for the interactive art installation entitled “City Roller” which I worked on in March of 2011. This was a commission to create an interactive installation for kids to explore and understand the changing Urban landscape of LA in the last 100 years in the downtown area.

For each year a 3D digital model of the city was constructed and transposed onto a cylinder. The cylinder was then segmented into 1/4 inch slices which were laser cut and assembled to create a physical model of the cylinder containing the urban fabric and the buildings as inverse impressions on its surface. Each cylinder is then rolled across a bed of sand to create an impression of the city building fabric for the given time period.

building area

green space

plot

line

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east wall sports centerDublin, IrelandArchitectural Thesis, Cal Poly Pomona

There is an area of Dublin, Ireland, known as East Wall. Historically, the East Wall has been a working class area. The homes in the area were built for the dockworkers for the nearby Port of Dublin. As one of the last areas of Dublin to fall prey to the phenomenon of gentrifi cation, East Wall is only just now beginning to feel the eff ects of a new class of people infi ltrating the area.

In the center of this mesh of cultures and changes in East Wall is a sad and dilapidated building known as the East Wall Community Center. One of the principle eff ects of gentrifi cation is to create a great divide between the diff erent classes in an area. I intended to use the site of this community center to design a new community focus that would attempt to strengthen the community in respect to all these changes. I hoped to encourage a greater mixing of the separate groups in East Wall to create a stronger neighborhood for all who inhabit it.

livable fl exible furnitureParametric Space StudioCal Poly Pomona

This project was one I completed for a topic studio at Cal Poly Pomona in which the idea was to design for the fourth dimension. That is to say, the course was intended as a look at fl exible living environments, ones that could change and adapt. In order to capture this de-sign strategy best, we used 3ds Max to create adaptable parametric living spaces.

My project was developed as a solution to liv-ing in a small space - the space, a 350 sq. ft. apartment, was given to us from our instructor at the beginning. We were required to design the space for 2.5 people. My design was for a series of fl exible furniture pieces which would inhabit the space but allow for multiple uses in one place, i.e. you can’t work while you sleep, so why not share those functions in one space?

58 st. mary’s rd.Dublin, IrelandSiobhan Duran / Dennis Muldoon

I spent over 5 years living in Dublin, Ireland. During that time, my business partner Dennis Muldoon and I decided to buy a house specifically for the purposes of renovation and investment.

In 2004 Dennis and I bought a house in the center of Dublin, in East Wall. We spent approximately 5 years renovating the house ourselves and with the help of various subcontractors.

The home was an 1850s Victorian terraced house, known as a “2 up/2 down” because it consisted of only 4 rooms plus an extension that was added on later. We redesigned the house to incorporate an upstairs bathroom between the two bedrooms and a 1/2 bath under the stairs. Our improvements also included pouring insulated concrete floors, new walls and windows, and repairing or replacing some of the original Victorian features.

beirne houseCounty Kilkenny, IrelandCCH Architects, Dublin

I started at CCH in 2003 and began working on several high end homes already under construction. This particular home, belonging to Cliff & Wendy Beirne, was only at tender stage and I had the opportunity to oversee the progress of the house from tender to practical completion. While working on the house I did have the opportunity to design certain aspects of the project.

The front entrance, for example, was originally a curved copper roof with steel trellis supports, as the client didn’t feel it was in keeping with the rest of the house, I designed a faceted slate roof with timber posts which proved the solution the client was looking for. The trend in this development of houses was for a more traditional style. We took the time to design the molding of the doors, cabinetry, stair rails, etc, down to the finest level.

duty free boutiquesSan Francisco International AirportMadeline Speer Associates

At the firm of Madeline Speer Associates in San Francisco, the majority of the projects that I handled were high end boutiques for companies such as Gucci, Hermes, and Bulgari. During my employment at MSA, I coordinated design and construction of over 15 duty free boutiques. Design guidelines were laid out by the client companies, but design specifics for each boutique were usually carried out by myself and my firm.

In these shops for the new International terminal at San Francisco International Airport, I was tasked with organizing the layout of the shops. It was my job to make review the fixture layouts and designs to confirm that they conformed to the current California codes. In addition, the elevations, lighting layouts, fixture details, and various other design aspects were left to my design discretion.

museum audio/visual cafe

visitor’s centerGran Quivira, New MexicoUC Berkeley Design Studio

This project was one I completed in my third year at UC Berkeley. The project was to be a visitor’s center located along a path to the ruins of the Gran Quivira Indian settlement in New Mexico. The center needed to incorporate a museum, an audio/visual room, offi ces, dining area and bathrooms.

The starting point of my design was my consideration of the extreme and opposite weather conditions of the Gran Quivira New Mexico area where this visitor’s center is to be located. Historically, the strong heat and contrasting cold has infl uenced the architecture of many of the cultures inhabiting the area. My intention was to explore the nature of these two opposite conditions, by having a building that had a strong protective face toward the sun and the wind, and an open, light side toward the mountain and the cooler, northern light.

It was my intention that this building be involved with the landscape - an oasis that protects you along your journey toward the Gran Quivira ruins. The fl ow of the building was guided by the fl ow of the path itself.

jewelry design

I tend to have quite varied interests and hobbies. I enjoy music, travel, reading, and photography. One interest I have devoted some time to is designing and fashioning silver jewelry. I don’t have much formal silver smithing instruction, so my pieces generally have a rough organic feel.

set design

At times I have had the opportunity to do contract work as a set designer for commercials. This commercial was for Chevy trucks and it required a “manly and rustic” lodge design.

Set Design work is an exciting opportunity as it allows me to explore another side of architecture and design. It’s fun to have the freedom to make space and design without the traditional limits of building codes and structural considerations.

sketches

photography