Architectural Portfolio

SUNY BUFFALO

My decision to pursue architecture after high school came from the synthesis of my strengths in math and art. In addition, my father's background in construction was another factor that led me to believe that architecture would be a good suit. After considering my acceptance to NYIT and Maritime, I decided to enroll in SUNY Buffalo's undergraduate program in 2005. The lessons learned there would lead me to roughly surmise that the theory of contemporary architecture is, to the order of but not restricted to, the multifaceted development of a spatial chemistry enacted through a design criteria that is based upon an example of a factual reality in order to invoke a connection to the architecture. so to speak. Outside of architecture studio this type of mindset would have me exploring and examining the Buffalo NY area in ways I had not anticipated. The city of Buffalo and the greater Niagara area had grown on me amidst my time spent there, and the experience molded friendships that remain to this day.

ARC 302 - Omar Khan

Laboratory Facility

Case Study

Stacking trays of structure in a tower typology allowed for flexibility of movement and view. By keeping the corners of each lab open ended, he allowed a transition between outside and the inside to occur. This gave a weightless feeling while still being grounded by the oversized ventilation shafts, though they serve no structural purpose. So this type of misperception of the building occurs prior to closer inspection. These methods of design are unique in that it constructs and destructs the special impressions on the viewer.

The force of genetic bonding was taken as an example to create a performative model. The floor plates designed to house services and give view were subject to the forces of magnetism. These magnets act as a way of constructing and destructing space, as each arrangement produces a different outcome every time.

Site Analysis and Method Execution -

UB’s medical campus outside Allen street subway station is composed of research facilities as well as hospitals. The site is on the corner of High street and N. Oak Street and is currently being used as a parking lot. The analysis of the site is focused on the medical campus buildings. Starting from buildings adjacent to the site, a strategic movement around the outside corners of each building was taken, ultimately leading back to the site. This resulted in a description of the path and its relationship to the site. The facades shift according to perspective, while moving from one side of a building to the other. This transition from observing one side to observing both sides, and then to the other side is riddled with sequence and progression.

The composition of the photos is based on the actual distances between photos. This collage of corner conditions is used to depict the transitions between time and space. These collages hold information specific to the shape and position of its focus. The result of this process forces a single corner into many and creates a rhythm of space and perception.

Upon further study of the perspective drawings a hierarchy of corner conditions was developed.

- the protruding outside corners are the focus of my analysis and the main force behind the function of the site.

- as a consequence of this, secondary inside corners are created. These conditions are malleable due to there dependent nature.

- vanishing points tie the drawing to perspective and bring the analysis to a degree of reality.

Technical Development -

The building is divided into spaces based on the rhythms provided. A public space on the ground floor that allows people to move through it with little to no line of sight to other programs. The lab spaces allow the penetration of light, while obstructing the direct sunlight that could possibly contaminate lab substances. The offices have a combination of direct and diffuse light by means of the facade which filters in, and directs the suns rays towards these spaces.

Niagara Falls

The initial project was a collaborative effort where the studio was split into groups to analyze the ruins of the acropolis. Our group arrived to the conclusion that when moving through the temple in a processional fashion, experiencing the environment came in fractional instances, and that the mind has to fill the voids in-between the fractions to acquire a complete experience.

Conceptual documentation of the site was accomplished by utilizing photography as a medium to replicate a fractional experience. The collage of Niagara falls is a time lapse panorama that depicts the blind spots in our perceptual recollection. A single photograph is only a fraction of reality, and when assembled within its sequential context the "space in-between" becomes apparent.

Applying this development to the site acted as a conceptual slicing device, exposing the perceptual gaps in "reality" to create channels through which an inhabitant can view their surroundings. The impetus of the ceremonial establishment is to depict the rift between contextual realities by dramatizing a person's role in the occasion, whether they be participant or observer.

ARC 403 - Annette Lecuyer

Urban Housing

Self and Other / Singular and Plural

By staggering the plains on two scales (pre residence and per layer) the aggregation evolved to provide (in addition to the residencies) a flexible space for either recreation or programmatic functions. In this case the building will be part educational science center and part urban housing

City Life

Design Concept-

The two programs (residential housing and public science center) fold to create a dynamic relationship among spaces. This programmatic folding occurs at multiple scales: the human scale, building scale and urban scale. The labs and residential units have separate vertical and horizontal circulation. A single loaded corridor on the north face of the building leaves the south facing residential units open to sunlight. The unit's spatial qualities are derived from the split levels.

Sustainability-

Acquiring thermal mass is the main objective of the south façade. It is a one room barrier between outside and inside, and can become part of either. Adjustable louvers and glass panels allow variations of lighting and a source of fresh air. The sunlight that enters the space, heats the concrete floor and walls, then that heat is carried to the habitable unit. The circulation of warm and cold air between buffer and unit occur at openings at the top and bottom of walls.

Technical Development-

The primary building structure is site cast concrete bearing walls and floor slabs, with concrete columns replacing walls on double height lab floors. The residential accommodation is conceived as a secondary structure of steel columns and beams supporting the split level site cast concrete slabs. This unit structure is developed in the 30ft high spaces created by the primary structure. On the north façade the single loaded corridor acts as a thermal buffer to residential units. Translucent channel glass spans from floor to floor with minimalist connections.