Elevated Slim Living - Woodlawn Affordable Densification Plan

April 20, 2024 in Architecture

Location: Woodlawn, Chicago, IL

Typology: Residential

Work: Academic, MS Arch

Year: 2023

Facing gentrification in Woodlawn, Elevated Slim Living aims to enhance the affordable housing infrastructure to maintain community inclusivity, prevent resident displacement, and meet the housing demand. This initiative highlights the importance of preserving Woodlawn's socio-cultural organization, acknowledging that affordable housing serves not only as shelter but also as a cornerstone for community stability, growth, and identity.

Strategy Core

Addressing the revitalization plan for Woodlawn requires a strategic approach to overcome the dual challenges of high vacancy rates in underutilized properties and the scalability issues due to the existing urban grid's predominantly narrow lot configurations. This strategy is crucial not only for repurposing vacant spaces but also for reimagining the use of these constrained urban plots to meet community needs and enhance the urban fabric.

Lot by Lot

The Urban Plan for Woodlawn, implemented in phases over ten years, aims to densify the neighborhood with affordable housing. It uses three condition patterns to identify suitable locations, projecting 45 developments that will create approximately 1,000 affordable units to accommodate 3,000 new residents. The first year begins cautiously with one development of each typology to test the market and assess feasibility. This phased approach not only reduces risks but also allows for ongoing refinement, ensuring that the neighborhood's development remains in sync with the evolving dynamics of both the housing market and infrastructure.

Multi-Family on Demand

Envision a factory that manufactures prefabricated unit components through a scalable system incorporating contiguous elements. The core of this operation is its blend of swift production capabilities, adaptability, and cost-effectiveness, allowing for custom adjustments to fulfill evolving community demands.

ENY Convergent Lab - Where Creativity Meets Collaboration

January 01, 2024 in Architecture

Location: East New York, NY

Typology: Cultural

Work: Academic, MS Arch

Year: 2022

The shift towards post-industrial times has placed significant strain on communities like East New York (ENY) and Brownsville, leading to complex socio-economic challenges. A viable solution lies in urban regeneration. By repurposing underutilized IBZ lots, particularly Site G, into spaces centered around community needs, we aim to significantly improve the quality of life for residents.

The proposed ENY Convergent LAB, situated at "The Glenmore Junction"—a location identified for its high accessibility and potential as a community node—will act as a platform for creative innovation, economic opportunity, and collaboration between artists, designers, and makers.

Convergence

By capitalizing on the open space and ‘assembly-line’ flow, we seek the interaction between the digital and traditional makers. A central atrium, designed with visual connections and circulation bridges, will serve as the heart of this convergence. For instance, digital makers, while engrossed in their work, may be drawn by curiosity to participate in a hands-on program, sparking an interest to physically create. Conversely, traditional makers might be inspired to integrate new technologies into their craftsmanship.

This blend of education and collaboration not only nurtures creativity but also introduces a new model business for the community. Envision a place where a single product undergoes design, development, experimentation, construction, packaging, testing, promotion, exhibition, sale, and shipping—all under one roof. This approach offers new entrepreneurs invaluable opportunities and equips them with the essential tools needed for success.

The program spans five floors, with the design strategically distributing different functions for optimal access and flow. The first floor, directly accessible from the street, houses an Indoor Plaza, Cafe, Makers’ Market, Warehouse, and Administration areas, creating a functional hub for all visitors.

The next three floors are dedicated to fostering creativity and innovation, dividing the space into distinct zones for digital and traditional makers. On one side of the building, digital creativity thrives with two computer labs, a digital lab, a video/photo lab, and a music studio, all separated into mezzanines to maximize the use of space. The opposite side preserves high ceilings to accommodate traditional maker spaces, including wood, metal, sewing shops, and a culinary studio, facilitating a variety of crafts and activities.

Three bridges—one on each level—link these distinct sides, leading to communal spaces like the Library, Coworker Station, Recreation Area, Controlled Plaza, and Maker’s Residency, promoting interdisciplinary collaboration. The top fifth floor is dedicated to an event space for exhibitions and community events, completing the facility's blend of creativity and community interaction.

The approach emphasizes materiality, with a focus on metal finishes to reclaim and repurpose a prevalent material in the IBZ. A prefabricated wood structural system introduces natural elements, while indoor/outdoor vegetation mirrors the nearby Glenmore Green Mile, aiding in summer solar gain protection for windows and skylights.

The building's hybrid structure and mega core combines concrete, metal, timber frame, and Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), leveraging each material's strengths for enhanced performance. This strategy supports a circular economy and allows for incremental construction over time, ensuring sustainability and adaptability.

During the Lab’s construction, the scaffolding will be transformed into a ‘Mural Factory.’ The artworks will extend into the urban landscape at strategic corners, creating vibrant, rotating art spaces to promote pedestrian flow and enhance community access.

ENY IBZ Community Session - Time To Listen

December 16, 2023 in Architecture

Location: East New York, NY

Typology: Research - Cultural Community

Work: Academic, MS Arch

Year: 2022

Manufacturing, traditionally perceived as an impersonal, mechanized production line, was in essence a deeply human story during the Industrial Revolution, touching countless lives with its duality of progress and hardship. As we transition to a post-industrial society, the remnants of this period pose challenges and opportunities for urban centers once reliant on manufacturing. The shift has been difficult for communities accustomed to industrial employment, yet it also opens avenues for innovation and growth in technology, services, and the creative sector, reflecting the enduring impact of the Industrial Revolution's complex legacy on our contemporary world.

This study case focused on the East New York Industrial Business Zone, explores the principles for an urban rehabilitation strategy while, in parallel, considers its important long history of social justice activism and advocacy. Shared between the community of District 5 and 16, this area is largely zoned for industrial uses with the majority contained within a low-density M1-4 district, which allows light industrial uses, as well as offices, hotels, retail uses and some community facilities. ENY IBZ is also a diverse, well-connected neighborhood in Brooklyn with unique urbanist characteristics that reflect its history and identity. Its residents have faced many challenges over the years, including poverty, housing discrimination, and racial inequality. However, through collective action and organizing, this community has become a hub for social justice initiatives and progressive change.

Through research, site visits, and listening during community sessions, we analyzed and interpreted the urban and historical context to understand the needs, challenges, and assets the neighborhood presents.

Residents of East New York and Brownsville convened several meetings at Universe City to collectively envision and articulate their goals and perspectives. Their discussions focused on exploring meaningful opportunities for the extensive inventory of city-owned vacant lots that have been long neglected. These deliberations posed critical questions about the future of post-industrial urban spaces: What possibilities exist for these areas? How can we reinterpret the concept of manufacturing to benefit local communities more effectively?

Fake It Until You Make It

The “Makers” board game was designed as part of the fourth envisioning session at Universe City. "Fake it until you make it" offered a hands-on interactive activity in which the concept was trying to expand a massive block party creating objects that promote gathering, circular economy, or education to take over the streets and, finally, the vacant lots for the community. The response was enthusiastic and with very creative objects.

Read more about the study response: ENY Convergent Lab - Where Creativity Meets Collaboration

Institute of Thought - Completed Cultural Center Project

November 02, 2023 in Architecture

Location: Barinas, Venezuela

Typology: Cultural

Work: Professional

Status: Completed Project

Year: 2016

Lead Architect: Dilianny Espinoza

Architectural Firm: Arqui-Dec C.A.

Contractor: Empresa Constructora Yaramana

This cultural hub, located in a small emblematic city in Barinas, was designed as the main headquarters for the dissemination of thought, envisioned to be extended hereafter to the city of Caracas.

The “Three Roots Tree” metaphor celebrates three Venezuelan historical personages. This concept is embodied in the building’s design, where each level represents the foundational principles of these figures.

Makers Market Corridor - Giving Place for Artisan Trade

October 01, 2023 in Architecture

Location: Barinas, Venezuela

Typology: Mixed Use

Work: Professional

Status: SD Approved

Year: 2016

Lead Architect: Dilianny Espinoza

Architectural Firm: Norte Arquitectónico

Contractor: Empresa Constructora Yaramana

The design and implementation of this mixed-use development are strategically aimed at accommodating the informal artisanal commerce prevalent in the adjacent town of Sabaneta, simultaneously offering a recreational zone as a communal asset. Through this approach, the project seeks to blend commercial vitality with leisure facilities, thereby enhancing community engagement and socio-economic development.

Conceptually, the building evokes a double integration. It is located between the Araguaney Sector and the Sabaneta-Puerto de Nutrias Road Pair, the shape of this one story building creates a welcoming space for users who come from the existing neighborhood and plaza on the east façade, while concurrently extending an invitation to the west side travelers from the main thoroughfare and nearby towns.

The architectural program features a diverse Commercial Sector, including 24 units with a culinary highlight of six fully equipped kitchen spaces, anchored in a Food Court setting accompanied by a dining vicinity. An Event Space is incorporated to bridge the two architectural wings, promoting unity and dynamic flow within the structure. Additional amenities include facilities for boat rental, gardening, and outdoor recreational activities, alongside essential public restrooms and a dedicated Maintenance Area.

Enviromental Design Strategies:

A sustainable water management strategy is employed through the collection of the existing rainwater drain for the irrigation of green areas and the maintenance of an artificial pond, reflecting a commitment to water resource conservation and ecosystem support.

Existing trees are conserved, while landscaping leverages locally sourced plant species as a measure to uphold biodiversity.

Leveraging natural ventilation through the chimney effect and cross ventilation helps in maintaining a comfortable indoor temperature without relying heavily on air conditioning.

The angled roof design extends into the hallways to protect the commercial space from the sun, while the ponds also absorb heat from solar gains.

The adoption of gravel roofs, characterized by their durability and cost-effectiveness, contributes to thermal regulation and energy savings in cooling.

Valencia Astronomical Park - Cabriales River Green Strip

August 01, 2023 in Architecture

Location: Carabobo, Venezuela

Typology: Mixed Use

Work: Academic, BA Arch

Year: 2014

The proposal is part of a network of parks and recreational areas that make up the green strip along the Cabriales River in the city of Valencia. Creating an astronomical park in Valencia celebrates its ancient heritage, spotlighted by petroglyphs of solar eclipses, showcasing the city’s deep astronomical roots. This initiative will educate, connect generations, and boost cultural tourism, highlighting Valencia’s significant role in early astronomical observation.

The park’s centerpiece, a large sphere set atop an elevated triangle, embodies the “Real Facades Angles” concept, harmonizing with the site’s traffic flows, while the other component buildings aligned with the river’s setbacks.

Richmond Ford Assembly Building - Industrial Research

November 01, 2022 in Architecture

Location: Richmond, California

Typology: Research - Industrial

Architect: Albert Kahn

Construction: 1930-31

Main Building Size: ~500,000 sqft

Site Size: ~ 50 Acres

Refurbished by: Marcy Wong Donn Logan Architects, 2009

Located next to the Santa Fe Channel off San Francisco Bay, the complex was designed as a Ford assembly line factory, to accept parts and distribute the assembled automobiles either by rail or ship, and used the theories Kahn developed of "daylighted" factories "all under one roof".

Albert Kahn Associates of Detroit designed the shell of the building, but Ford's Power and Construction Department designed the layout of the automobile assembly equipment for the plant.