i n te r io r des ign

pra t t ins t i tu te

A L E X D I A Z

5

c a r v e d

r e v i t a l i z a t i o n

s a t o r i

g l a s s h o u s e

h o u s e 3 0 0 0

d e v i a n t a c t s o f d e s i g n

i n t r o d u c t i o n t o t h e s i s

pg 6

pg 12

pg 22

pg 30

pg 38

pg 44

pg 52

7

The ob jec t ive fo r my very f i rs t Des ign I

s tud io p ro jec t cons is ted o f c rea t ing a

con ta iner. More spec i f i ca l l y, i t had to

house a randomly chosen f ru i t .

I rece ived the rambutan .

Faced w i th a f ru i t I had never seen be fore ,

le t a lone never ea ten , I d issec ted i t . I

s tud ied i t . I mapped i t . I carved i t ’s shape

f rom 150 sheets o f museum board .

C A R V E D

The rambutan has an aggressive ex te r io r.

However, I found the ed ib le f lesh o f th is

funky f ru i t to be very de l i ca te , a lmost

feminine .

9

p lan | e leva t ion | sec t ion

This juxtaposi t ion o f tex tu res

insp i red the conta iner ’s

appearance. The r ig id and

s ta rk ex ter io r revea ls a de l i ca te

move to c rea te a space.

1 11 1

1 3

The Bedford Branch Pub l ic L ib rary i s loca ted no t very fa r

f rom Pra t t Ins t i tu te , in a par t o f Brook lyn ca l led Bedford

Stuyvesant - - be t te r known as Bed Stuy .

I t was sor t o f a sad, l i t t le l ib ra ry. I t i s f requent ly c rowded

by a f te r schoo l ch i ld ren f rom PS 3 Bedford Vi l lage , a

g rade schoo l across the s t ree t . However, more ga ther

a round the computers than ac tua l books .

I wanted in my des ign to b r ing the book back- - c rea t ing

a dynamic and un iversa l space tha t insp i red the

rev i ta l i za t ion o f read ing .

R E V I T A L I Z A T I O N

Insp i red by the drawings o f I ta l ian arch i tec t Francesco

Borromini , and h is g rand ges tures in h is churches , I

sys temat ica l l y la id ou t a f loor p lan based on the pre-

ex is t ing arch i tec tu re .

1 5

1 7

p lan

1 9

cross sec t ion | long i tud ina l sec t ion

2 1

2 3

The f ina l p ro jec t o f Des ign IV cons is ted o f a g roup e f fo r t

to des ign a hos te l . As an added e lement , the hos te ls were

p laced a l l a round the wor ld . Our s tud io was ass igned the

cu l tu ra l c i t y o f Kyoto, Japan .

Our s tud io was broken in to the th ree smal le r g roups

based on program: recept ion , dormi to ry and garden. I was

par t o f the garden .

My ind iv idua l ro le inc luded des ign ing and ar rang ing the

garden ’s ho t tubs , as we l l as c rea t ing the mode ls and

AutoCAD drawings .

Al l members: Benjamin Borgel la , Viv ian Ho, Sarang Lee, Ashley Ngaiwing, Rob Rober ts , Jenni fer Tsai & Becca Wong

S A T O R I

progress ion o f mode ls

The bas is o f our des igns came most ly f rom the ta tami mat .

I t s p ropor t ions lay d i rec t l y w i th the human body.

Th is he lped in fo rm our p lacements o f cu tou ts . We wanted

each cu tou t to f rame a v iew or in fo rm the v iewer.

2 5

2 7deta i l o f p lan drawing

“Lorem ipsum do lor s i t amet , consec te tu r

ad ip isc ing e l i t , sed do e iusmod tempor inc id idunt

u t labore e t do lo re magna a l iqua. Ut en im ad min im

ven iam, qu is nos t rud exerc i ta t ion u l lamco labor is

n is i u t a l iqu ip ex ea commo. ”

2 9

3 1

This p ro jec t began as a re ta i l s to re and deve loped

in to a cu l tu ra l space. The c l ien t was Housing

Works , a company whose miss ion is to he lp the

homeless o f New York C i ty.

From th is idea deve loped the Glass House: an

open space fo r everyone.

The main s t ruc tu re o f the space is a ramp tha t

leads gues ts up to the 3rd f loor.

The s to re i s a lso comple te w i th i t s own hea l th

fac i l i t y, fo r those in need.

G L A S S H O U S E

Our des ign char re t te cons is ted o f the

breakdown and ana lys is o f a bag.

What insp i red my space ’s f ina l fo rm was the

cons is ten t over lapping o f mater ia ls .

i n i t ia l ske tch mode l

Level 10' - 0"

Level 210' - 0"

Level 324' - 0"

Level 436' - 0"

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Level 540' - 0"

3/16" = 1'-0"1 South Elevation

3 5

capt ion tex tccccccccccacacaacccccacccccccccccccccccccccccccccc ptp tp tp tp t ioioooioonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn ttttttettteeett x tx tx t

f ina l mode l

3 7

3 9

Curren t des ign encourages the des t ruc t ive

hab i t o f over co l lec t ing . We have c lose ts

and drawers and boxes used to horde

unnecessary th ings and h ide them away.

The over consumpt ion o f use less th ings

d is to r ts who we are . Ins tead, we shou ld be

se lec t ive in what we own, because what we

own re f lec ts us . The apar tment o f the fu tu re ,

House 3000, pu ts every th ing on display .

In a naked f ie ld o f v is ion , the on ly th ing you

w i l l see is us .

H O U S E 3 0 0 0

Insp i red by modern ar t i s t Tom

Wesse lmann, and h is v iews on Amer ica

and over consumer ism, I deve loped th is

idea o f voyeur ism .

4 1

2

3

1

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

1. Entrance2. Guest Bathroom3. Entertaining Area4. Reading Space5. Kitchen6. Dining Table7.Work Table8. Guest Bed9. Lounging Area10. Master Bed & Bath

deta i led mot ion drawing

1’ 5 ’ 10 ’

4 3

4 5

The s ta r t o f Des ign V cons is ted o f hav ing to choose a

dev ian t ac t . M ine was graff i t i .

F i rs t we mapped and d iagrammed the ac t ion .

Then, th rough the lens o f the ac t , we c rea ted drawings

and based a mode l a f te r them.

Las t ly, we c rea ted a s t ruc tu re tha t cou ld house the

dev ian t ac t ion .

The goa l o f th is p ro jec t was to exp lo re des ign ing th rough

drawing and mode l mak ing techn iques in a un ique and

abstract con tex t .

D E V I A N T A C T S O F D E S I G N

Through the care fu l s tudy o f the ar t o f mak ing gra f f i t i , I was ab le to map out

the movements found in the arm.

We were asked to p ick a few verbs to assoc ia te w i th our ac t ion .

My pro jec t revo lved around the verb : over lap .

4 7

00:02

00:05

00:08

My drawing was insp i red by the same l ines and ang les I

found in my in i t ia l d iagramming.

When i t came to deve lop ing a mode l , I used a s imi la r

s t ra tegy, cons ider ing the te rm over lap th roughout .

4 9

capt ion tex t

“Lorem ipsum do lor s i t amet , consec te tu r

ad ip isc ing e l i t , sed do e iusmod tempor inc id idunt

u t labore e t do lo re magna a l iqua. Ut en im ad min im

ven iam, qu is nos t rud exerc i ta t ion u l lamco labor is

n is i u t a l iqu ip ex ea commo. ”

A

P L A N C U T AT 3 ’ P L A N C U T AT 6 ’

S E C T I O N C U T A S E C T I O N C U T B

B

The las t s tep was then to

c rea te a space to fac i l i ta te

the ac t ion .

I a l lowed the geomet ry to be

der ived f rom the ac t o f spray

pa in t ing .

The p lanes o f the mode l he lp

the ar t i s t to per fo rm the ac t

by becoming a s tenc i l .

5 1

5 3

Res i l ience is a word tha t has been

used more and more f requent ly over the

pas t decade. But what does i t mean? For

thes is we were g iven th is te rm in wh ich to

ex t rapo la te our ideas f rom.

F i rs t I exp la in my own def in i t ion o f res i l iency.

Th is a l lowed me to deve lop my concept .

Then I exp la in a t an abs t rac t g lance where I

hope to take my pro jec t .

I N T R O D U C T I O N T O T H E S I S

R E G A I N I N G R E S I L I E N C E

Help ing the Homeless o f

New York

Andres Serrano, Res idents o f New York (Meow

Wol fman) , 2014. Copyr ight o f the Ar t is t . Cour tesy of More Ar t

Andres Ser rano, Res idents o f New York (Chr is Cah i l l ) , 2014.

Copyr igh t o f the Ar t i s t . Cour tesy o f More Ar t

5 5

C O N C E P T

The most res i l ien t sys tems on Ear th a re found in

na ture . These s t ruc tu res are compr ised o f par ts tha t can be

eas i l y rep laced, sh i f ted and man ipu la ted . The bes t example

o f these res i l ien t o rgan isms are peop le .

Mank ind is made up o f par ts in tha t we have our bod ies ,

our homes, our jobs , and our fami l ies tha t make up who we

are . When we lose one o f our “p ieces” we have some sor t o f

sys tem to rep lace or f i x what we have los t .

However, a g rowing prob lem in our soc ie ty i s those

who have los t the i r res i l ience- - the homeless .

Homeless peop le i s an example o f res i l ience be ing

misp laced fo r the t ime be ing . They s imp ly need he lp in

res to r ing the i r m iss ing par ts . Th is ranges f rom need ing

med ica l consu l t ing to p rov id ing a s tab le env i ronment

inc lud ing a home and a job .

Th is concept o f sys tems made o f par ts w i l l fo l low

th roughout my en t i re des ign process . I am imag in ing a space

tha t has mul t ip le p rograms to he lp fac i l i ta te the needs o f

the prev ious ly homeless tha t w i l l l i ve here . Th is w i l l inc lude

therapy rooms, communal spaces , ca fe te r ias , and most

impor tan t ly, ind iv idua l apar tments , among o ther p rograms.

How the concept w i l l d r i ve space p lann ing and

deve lopment i s in the cons t ruc t ion o f d i f fe ren t , changeab le

wa l ls types . These wa l l t ypes w i l l be comple te ly movab le and

a l low fo r room shape changes.

The space w i l l be made o f par ts tha t a re eas i l y

man ipu la ted and t rans formed to f i t whatever p rogram

is needed. These wa l l t ypes w i l l vary in mater ia l i t y and

mechan isms depend ing on the program most needed.

Andres Ser rano, Res idents o f New York (Dona ld Green) , 2014.

Cour tesy o f More Ar t

5 7

Res i l ience is found in sys tems tha t a re compr ised o f par ts

tha t a f fec t i ve ly c rea te the who le . The bes t example o f th is

a re peop le . We are compr ised o f par ts in tha t our bod ies ,

homes, jobs , and fami l ies make up who we are .

My purpose is the idea o f Re ins ta t ing the Res i l ience o f

those who have los t i t , spec i f i ca l l y the homeless o f New York

C i ty. I in tend on do ing th is by mak ing i t eas ie r fo r them to

adapt back in to soc ie ty by prov id ing them wi th the s t ruc tu re

o f a s tab le l i fe .

A p recedent I exp lo red was the Nakag in Capsu le Tower.

I t was s imi la r to my concept in tha t i t s a rch i tec ts wanted to

c rea te an ‘o rgan ic ’ sys tem o f cons t ruc t ion . They compr ised

the i r apar tment bu i ld ing ou t o f modu les tha t cou ld be rep laced

or change as the user d id . I t was made o f par ts tha t c rea ted

the who le . A l though u l t imate ly a fa i lu re , I learned f rom i t the

bas is o f what sys tems work and those who don ’ t .

My s i te i s 240 Kent Ave, Brook lyn , NY. I chose th is spec i f i c

loca t ion because I fe l t th is was an area tha t cou ld a l low

someone to rehab i l i ta te themse lves . I t i s a beaut i fu l loca t ion

near the water tha t i s home to many fami l ies and on the l ine

o f gent r i f i ca t ion . I t i s a lso loca ted in an area tha t does no t

have fac i l i ta tes fo r the homeless nearby.

I am imag in ing a res ident ia l bu i ld ing fo r ind iv idua ls and

fami l ies fo r those who were prev ious ly homeless and are now

be ing g iven the oppor tun i ty to s ta r t aga in . Th is fac i l i t y w i l l

a lso prov ide serv ices da i l y fo r o ther homeless peop le , such

as food, hea l thcare , and beds .

I s tud ied the Bowery Miss ion as a case s tudy. They a lso

have the same idea ls o f p rov id ing suppor t fo r homeless . They

had severa l methods o f p rov id ing s t ruc tu re fo r the i r gues ts ,

rang ing f rom long te rm s tay, to overn igh t gues ts .

I hope to c rea te a space tha t p ieces back together the

par ts miss ing f rom the l i ves o f the homeless .

A T A G L A N C E