Solo Project

Exploring the culture of collecting and archiving in Japan led to a speculative urban form addressing the lack of space and high density of Tokyo. By creating a new urban figure that exists in the empty or low-lying sites in the city or on top of existing structures, storage, green space, and usable roofs and community-focused spaces develop. This also frees up existing structures, allowing for more living space. The site is Ginza, due to its lack of green space, mixed program, and pedestrian-friendly mindset. Each shape family tackles a different kind of storage–from luxury to otaku-focused. Zooming into the design, the social spaces and interactions that result from a public storage space become apparent.

Team: Randy Armas, Silvia Cernea

A comparison and study of Johannes Duiker’s Cineac and Mathias Goeritz’s Museo Experimental El Eco, both experimental buildings defined by their fundamentalist character.

Team: Kutay Biberoğlu, Silvia Cernea

A detailed assembly at full scale was developed from a facade concept for a library originally designed by Kutay Biberoglu. The design went through many iterations after a number of meetings with fabricators (metalworkers, etc} Twin steel pipes join at a custom cap, secured by bolts and welding. The cap connects to the floorplate of the library. The facade's embedded c-channels support the facade and part of the roof. The members are broken up by translucent glass tubes that allow light into the structure. The assembly joins together at each floor. This custom solution to a complex concept was done in collaboration with Kutay Biberoglu.

Team: Julie Xu, Silvia Cernea

Grounded Spiral seeks to turn traditional single-loaded corridor circulation into a multifunctional, community-driven shifting ground plane. This conceptual circulation method is dotted with program that is accessible by residents and that serves a variety of purposes, from communal kitchen to daycare center. The small units push for communal use and upkeep of these spaces, as the entire community will utilize many or all of these spaces on a daily basis. The continuous spiral circulation also ensures that passersby constantly monitor and maintain these spaces. All drawings were done collaboratively.

Solo work

An adaptive reuse/addition to Saarinen's US Embassy in Oslo, OOTTM seeks to create a new typology, combining a museum, sports committee offices, recreational facilities, auditorium, and library that all revolve around the Olympics and current issues surrounding them. The main addition comes in the form of an exhibition space/observation deck that both looks out at the city and also creates a feeling of immediate transparency. It consists of a wrapping concrete structural framework that curves up and develops from the existing concrete fac;::adea nd terminates in supports that feed into the existing core. The secondary additions develop as inflections of existing modules, as seen in the diagrams.

Team project

As part of GSAPP's summer workshops, XTR Lab's Burning Man Lyceum offers different program (discussion, movie, lecture space) modules and a lightweight, flexible, nesting structure. At the human scale and at the desert scale, the Lyceum creates new patterns of ritual, procession, and inhabitation at Burning Man. The ten modules follow similar connection details, fabrication, and construction methods but vary in size and detail in order to allow for a movable, nestable structure. The modules were first pre-assembled and tested on Long Island in order to ensure ease of installation and then packed, shipped, and re-assembled on site. Our team of ten worked collaboratively throughout.

Solo work

This design takes the claustrophobic , enclosed current pier and creates sheltered, personal water-centric spaces that dissolve into public areas. Circulation is free and flowing and the monumental structures draw the visitor towards them. Filtration and energy capture systems are implemented.

Solo work

Solo Work | Columbia GSAPP