2021 Projects

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http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/195996

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Re-Signifying the Old Nueces County Courthouse
(2021) Olivarez, Christopher; Lopez-Dinardi, Marcelo; Fortenberry, Brent; Lee, Chanam; Holliday, Ray
The project seeks to explore ideas that address the engagement that individuals have with historically charged buildings or monuments of their recent past. It focuses on the re-signification of an abandoned courthouse as a byproduct for the treatment of the site and its position as a potential bystander to the opening of newly acquired space replacing a large public infrastructural monument. The dynamic factors surrounding the courthouse present a unique opportunity for architecture to explore. Situated in between a growing urban and industrial center, the neglected condition of the building is also a physical embodiment of the decaying state of some of Corpus Christi's oldest neighborhoods, which currently stand as some of the last remaining monuments that thrived in conjunction with the courthouse. The dissociation of the building on site to the landscape is evident to both residents, local officials, and even tourists. The imminent removal of the hovering expressways will ultimately highlight this effect in the future. Therefore, the site intends to further support the community as a bridge for the residents of Corpus Christi's northside to the downtown area, which in itself is a connection to the rest of the city and even foreign travelers. The strict nature of the courthouse's presence will be juxtaposed within the site to demonstrate the evolution and progression of the landscape over time. When passing through this cultural hub, visitors will hope to experience and absorb aspects of what brings the residents of Corpus Christi together. The initial motivations influencing this approach to preservation stem from the intent to not treat the site as memorial; that it should be untouched, left as is. The project intends to celebrate community. The approach of intervention intends to guide us towards Re-Signification.
The Living Narrative
Martinez, Britteny; Aitani, Koichiro; Potvin, Sarah; O'Brien, Michael; Gibbs, Brian
Architecture is the canvas for the stories of our lives. It adapts and fulfills the needs of those around us, dispersed throughout cities that are constantly growing. Yet, as the world evolves and technology advances, architecture preserves the everlasting significance of the past. Architectural forms create usable space that can change and evolve through time. My research began when I questioned if there was a depletion in the demographics of architecture regarding the function of a building. Libraries have been a timeless foundation to knowledge are known to hold a significance in preserving the past through books, manuscripts, photos, documents, and other archives. My interest in how the space can change through the evolution of technology ultimately made me wonder how architecture can redefine the roles of a library of the future? The concept of a library is still useful for the growth of knowledge, but the space needs to evolve to incorporate the use of technology and all the things that come with it. When looking at the future of libraries, we see that libraries that were once totally physical are now becoming virtual. The individual focus has turned to community focus. Libraries once made for collection are now becoming spaces for creation and collaboration. Instead of presenting everything for everyone, it is becoming a presentation of more niche topics that are currently relevant (Rainie, 2018). With this understanding of the developing ideas of the future of libraries, I wanted to focus on a concept used throughout history and modernize it. The living narrative is a nontraditional library guided by the past with visions towards the future. Its mission is to enhance individuals' and communities' engagement in history and culture through storytelling; these stories will celebrate and bring awareness to the collective history of the world. The living narrative provides the opportunity to advance commerce in society through knowledge of the importance of the written world.
Undulating Lines
Ali, Joseph; Pentecost, Ray; Borges, Alejandro; Mann, George; Hamilton, Kirk; Maddock, Jay; Holliday, Ray
If you take a look at the County Health Rankings you will see that Morris County ranks 242 out of 244 in overall health. Morris County lacks recreational facilities, has a doctor : patient ratio of 1"6300, lacks access to nutritious food, lacks f quality childcare facilities, and has a high poverty rate among other social determinants. Our nearest hospital is Titus Regional Center which is 24 miles away. We believe a medical campus will not only solve some of these problems but also attract other businesses and jobs to our area that will influence other economic multipliers as well.
Luce Sacra
Zapata, Karina; Erminy Castillo, Marcel; O'Brien, Michael; Rising, Hope; Haliburton, James
Light can be controlled through six properties: intensity, color, angle, distribution, quality and movement. These properties can be combined to achieve three, distinct characters of light: focal glow, ambient luminescence, and play of brilliants. Focal glow is the celebrated limelight that draws attention and separates the important from the unimportant. As an intense, focused light, the effect gives a significant composition of attention on the targeted space. Described as an uninterrupted light, ambient luminescence is equal to indirect lighting. The resulting effect is a shadowless illumination that blurs edges and minimizes the importance of all objects - giving everything a neutral light. This can be achieved through translucent ceilings or carefully positioned openings. Crystal chandeliers, sunlight on rippling brook, light breaking through trees, city night life - each a play of brilliants. This character excites optic nerves and awakens an inner curiosity. Whether the act is distracting or entertaining, it certainly has the ability to attract the eye. The word sacred can often be described as "holy and deserving of respect" and has traditionally always been associated with religious places. Today, it can be used to describe a state of mind and as a word to describe the world around us. In the journal review, Sacred Landscapes and the Phenomenon of Light by Barbara Weightman, sacred is described as a notion that "consecrates places and turns them from ordinary to blessed, regardless of if they are man-made or organically exist in nature." Weightman also implies that sacred places cannot exist without the attribute of light. She notes that "the interplay of light and darkness within religious structures is intrinsic to an evocation of the holy. The phenomenon of light clarifies sacred space and is vital to the experience of the holy." In looking to modern-day architectural examples, many of these concepts have been used to instill sacredness.
Neighborhood of Hope
Lorenzo, Heather; O'Brien, Michael; Borges, Alejandro; Lee, Chanam; Edens, John; Lechuga, Sergio; Persky, Erin; Herrera, Adrian; Gonzalez, Francisco; Haliburton, James
The United States is the global leader in lock-ups with 2.3 million people currently in jails and prisons. Since the 1970s, marginalized groups, such as African Americans and Latinos, have been victims of an outdated criminal justice system. Due to policy changes in sentencing law and policy, the results have been overcrowding and fiscal burdens on the states. When the war on drugs initiative was approved in the late 1980s, under the Reagan administration, mass incarceration became a topic of controversy and then a reality as more minorities were put into the criminal justice system. This epidemic was the caveat for a new version of the Jim Crow laws. These disenfranchised minority groups were positioned into a caste system that was invisible to them as they proceeded through the custody and incarceration process. Regardless if you paid your dues and served your time, once you are put into the system, your rights are reduced to that of a second-class citizen for life. In the past 15 years, we have made some considerable and what seemed impossible changes to how we house those that have been incarcerated. Evidence-based research has been a driving force for such changes. The first humane prison was built in Halden, Norway in 2009. The focus was on detention and rehabilitation, designing for the inmates to move between the different spaces and buildings creating a relationship with time and place; necessary rhythms of life. In the U.S. the Las Colinas Women's Detention Center was built in Southern California in 2015. A college campus typology was used for the master plan with variations of outdoor spaces and large window openings to access natural daylight and take advantage of the Southern California landscape and climate. The interior spaces were designed to promote educational, vocational, personal, and spiritual growth. Staff members have witnessed a positive change in behavior of the inmates as well as a reduction in stress and anxiety in the work environment.
Modular Regeneration
Grimes, Aaron; De Lima Vaz Xavier, Davi; Campagnol, Gabriela; Roberts, Andrea; Haliburton, James
Modular Regeneration is a communal hub that integrates the physical, social, and cultural environment rebuilding the identify and sense of place in Northwest Goldberg. Located in the Northwest Detroit area, considered deteriorated. Northwest Goldberg is regenerating due to the resident's ambition to assimilate, modernize, and improve their neighborhood. Ambitions manifest as converting blighted lots into plazas, market spaces, rock and community gardens. This project has five goals to temper these initiatives into formal regeneration: 1. Promote advanced manufacturing for Detroit; 2. Promote Northwest Goldberg's artistic culture; 3. Promote recreation; 4. Promote learning; 5. Promote commerce in Northwest Goldberg.
Memory Distillery: An Island Journey
Bangert, Brendon; Lopez-Dinardi, Marcelo; Fortenberry, Brent; Retchless, David; Holliday, Ray
Can we understand the memory of a place not by what remains but what has changed over time? When beginning the final project, the thesis was derived from general interests in adaptive reuse, visualization, and historic preservation. Although the final presented response embodies these interests, they remain supplementary to the overall goal of the project. The thesis question, serving as an ambitious backdrop, came from asking a bigger question: how can we use design as a tool to address the growing scars of climate change? The issue of climate change was originally approached, under a global lens, and left very little opportunity for a specific area of research. Until providing specific aspects of climate change to address, the project waded on varying locations in an attempt to narrow down research venues. Through combining the interests of visualization, historic preservation, nature, and maritime architecture, Galveston, Texas was selected as a location for where the project was to reside. After declaring the location of the project, the thesis was revisited, under the specificity of Galveston, with a focus on the preceding interests, and the umbrella of climate change.
MARU: Space Connecting People
Kim, Nari; Erminy Castillo, Marcel; Aitani, Koichiro; Juntune, Joyce E.; Gibbs, Brian
An orphanage is an institution where children who are not protected by their families are housed in groups. Many orphanages remain in South Korea although there are problems of collective children living. The project intends to redevelop an orphanage in Seoul to give children a better life through architectural design and to correct the prejudice towards orphanages. In the design process, the geometries and materials from the local context were applied. Also, the continuity of new children center and community was increased by using maru, a traditional Korean architectural element, along with the design of the exterior.
American College Town Mosque: a Study of Mosque Architecture in a Small College Town in the United States
Fairuz, Elham; Tripp, Andrew; Caffey, Stephen; Hankins, Rebecca
The mosque is the Muslim community's religious space. Why is this book interested in mosques, and specifically, why is the interest in the practices of the community? To answer these questions, we will need a little background here that will help with later discussions. Islam, as we know of it today, as the religion, began in the mid-6th century in the geographical location of what is modern Saudi Arabia. To be more specific, Islam was transmitted by its Prophet, Muhammad a resident of current day Makkah, the site of one of the largest annual pilgrimages today. The pilgrimage, along with a few other practices are the religious requirements of Islam. One of these is the prayer. Muslims pray five times daily, and they face Ka'aba during their prayers. The Ka'aba is a brick structure in Makkah, which Muslims believe was built by Abraham. Through ancestry, Islam claims its place with the other Abrahamic religions. When the Prophet began teaching Islam, and as the number of adherents grew, and prayer was made an obligation on every Muslim, Muhammad known to have prayed at the Ka'aba. No new structure was known to have been built at this time. People would have prayed out in the open, and that would have been the norm. Persecution and threats forced the Prophet to leave Makkah and travel north towards another city, Yaathrib or Madina, as it is known today. This is where the "architectural" history of the mosque is traced back to. The mosque is central to this architecture project. As an architectural "typology," the history of mosque architecture is studied as part of the history of Islamic architecture. This is the only building type that is directly associated with Islam as a religious practice. Although it is one of the most widely studied buildings within Islamic art and architecture, the religion or the text, i.e. the Qur'an, does not require the building of mosques. The only commandments are for establishing prayer in clean spaces and in clean clothes. Interestingly though, the Qur'an places emphasis on the maintenance and access to the mosque. With no religious prescription for creating dimensioned architectural spaces, the design development of the mosque is directly linked with the activities of the Muslim community from mid-6th century.
The Forgotten In-Between: Activating a Neighborhood
Radwan, Sahar; Lopez-Dinardi, Marcelo; Burdine, James; Tate, James Michael; Holliday, Ray
Our urban experience is mainly divided by site boundaries and functions, where the in-between spaces are lost. By studying the hierarchy and relationships between the urban fabric parts, we can introduce a vibrant neighborhood where the built environment enhances its living conditions: therefore, supporting its dwellers' well-being and mental health.
Social Media: Catalyst for Pedagogical Architecture
Casique, Jorge; Borges, Alejandro; Aitani, Koichiro; Thomas, Andre; Haliburton, James
Placeness has always been a debated subject in architecture, especially to which extent site influences - or not - the final result of architecture. Despite the concept being long-discussed, from the Genius Loci of the Roman treaties to the modernist movement that erased the concept - placeness is ever-changing, and now with social media, places take on different meanings for everyone. The difference is that now our culture of images as a record of experiences has made placeness a larger, much more diverse concept that is available for architects to consider when making decisions about a project. After many decades of positivism, Aldo Rossi reintroduced the idea of place - or locus - into the discourse of architecture in his manifesto The Architecture of the City. Rossi defines locus as: "a relationship between a certain specific location and the buildings that are in it. It is at once singular and universal." It's not uncommon for practitioners to focus on the physical aspect of a place, while sometimes missing on opportunities for culture and identity to feed a project. This studio proposal seeks to amplify the idea of the locus in architecture and what it means today. It is possible to create meaningful, engaging architecture that is rooted in understanding the identity of communities. The methodology proposed implicates finding this unique sense of placeness by utilizing the Theory of Image and visual studies of relevant imagery from social media in order to generate an architecture that's responsive to how communities see themselves. The study presents an innovative alternative to traditional site analysis that is often focused on only the physical variables subjected to (only) the designer's interpretations. Architecture that is born through the lens of a community's expressive means will be effectively more conceptually engaging.
Neighborhood Sufficiency: an Environmental Model of a Self-Sufficient Urban Community
Anderson, Macy; Lopez-Dinardi, Marcelo; Caffey, Stephen; Meyer, Michelle; Haliburton, James
This project explores ideas of self-sufficiency through the design of a neighborhood-campus. This neighborhood is composed with easily accessible structures that are connected to multiple public urban mobility forms. This allows for the support of the construction of smaller groupings that connect to other network enclaves. The buildings themselves aspire and are proposed to engage with renewable natural resources, energy efficiency practices, and easily maintainable buildings and landscaping. According to Vicente Guallart, self-sufficient communities are composed of connections including six vectors or cycles that connect everything with everything. This includes information networks, the water cycle, materials cycles, energy, human transportation, and green systems. The community provides a connection with solar energy and allows for the ability for buildings to produce energy. Greywater systems are placed on the east and west sides of the site to allow for optimal ,sustainable irrigation of the urban park. Finally, the community needs a connection with human transportation. The roads have designated space for motor vehicles and bicycles. The sidewalks are designed with space for pedestrians on foot or bicycle travel. The neighborhood has immediate access to the metro rail. Guallart states that the "city streets and squares represent the spaces for human mobility; in traditional cities, they are the meeting places where paths cross, and spaces for social interaction."�
San Rafael Blend: Coffee in Architecture
Chacon Portillo, Maria F.; Erminy Castillo, Marcel; Campagnol, Gabriela; O'Brien, Michael; Giusti, Cecilia; Gibbs, Brian
The San Rafael Blend project focuses on rehabilitating the existing mills and buildings of the existing coffee farm "Finca San Rafael" in Purulha, Guatemala, to develop a tourism complex. The purpose is to incorporate a new program that will retain the cultural and historic contributions to the site combined with a modern take on coffee production. The San Rafael farm has been owned by the Thomae family since the 1800s, when the family immigrated to Guatemala from Germany. Since then, the farm has operated mainly as a coffee plantation, contributing to one of the country's biggest industries, and partaking in one of the defining elements of Guatemalan culture. Besides existing as a historic farm, one that has been around for more than 200 years, the farm has also made an economic and cultural impact on the surrounding communities, contributing as well with new renewable resources in the form of a local hydroelectric plant. The new project will propose an even larger, positive economic impact, taking into consideration the cultural effects and disruptions that innovation could bring into the site. With the addition of the tourism into the farm, the project aims to rehabilitate, revitalize, and modernize the coffee production process to offer an educational experience to coffee enthusiasts, and coffee experts alike. The rehabilitation of the existing processing mill will aid in the exploration of technological and cultural contributions the farm has offered to coffee production. Particularly as the farm participates in the nation's unique way of growing coffee, which is under the shade of taller trees. The analysis of the existing edifications of the site will provide insight into other architectural historic and cultural heritage that continually influences the farm's owners, workers, and surrounding communities. The main purpose is to rehabilitate the mills for efficient coffee production, introduction of innovative technology, sustainable practices, and safe touristic experiences. The mill's renovation begins by determining what parts of the building envelopes and industrial structure are important to retain, as well as what will change and showcase what existed in a new way. For instance, the patios used for drying coffee are a physical element of the process that will remain the same, relating to physical contact with the coffee, and as a concept in this project, are also connected to the cultural use of "patios" in colonial residences, and are used throughout the project to connect the new program with the old. The new program provides spaces for coffee roasting, tasting, and selling, and appropriate areas for tourism hospitality, such as a hotel and souvenir/artisanal shop. These areas will reflect the authentic character of the region, country, and its ecological environment, so that in one place they have an educational experience that aids in the understanding of coffee production, as well as Guatemalan culture.
Haven in the Meadows
Shah, Kinjal; Hamilton, Kirk; Lu, Zhipeng; McCord, Carly; Holliday, Ray
This project began with an investigation about creating an environment that facilitates the healing the process for mental health patients. The state of mental hospitals in current scenario lacks the continuum of care. To fill this gap of care, this project caters to the need of behavioral health facilities from acute care to residential treatment. In today's scenario, the need for mental health services have increased. The attention to overall health can only be achieved if both physical and mental health are taken care. There are many counties in the United States which lack basic mental health services. This project is located in Larimer County, Colorado, the county lacked any behavioral health services for its residents. Hence the need for facility was evident. With this intention, the "Larimer County Community Master Plan for Behavioral Health: Changing the Paradigm" was created to comprehensively evaluate the behavioral health service needs; identify gaps in the continuum of treatment and support services and outline a Five Year Strategic Plan to address them. The project consists of 16- bed unit cluster each for acute mental health patients, substance use, outpatient facility, and residential treatment. The design is based on principles of biophilic design and salutogenic approach. The research carried out for this project aims to identify the design guidelines to explore how architecture can be of aid in relieving psychological disorders by promoting a eunoia state of mind. The planning process was more focused on creating secured and unsecured environments without a physical barrier and facilitating spatial orientation in a more natural way. The investigation ahead will act as toolbox for designing behavioral health facilities with new outlook. The environment around the facility gives the patient a sense of coherence and choice control leading to feel more like home. At the end, the architecture needs to make a person believe that this mental and behavioral disorder can be controlled and this place will heal them. Hence the facility is a "Haven" for all the patients to give them new life purpose and the Zen to feel "Eunoia."
The Power of Nature
Li, Yangzao; Lu, Zhipeng; Mann, George; Rybkowski, Zofia K.; Eide, William; Gibbs, Brian
The project name is THE POWER OF NATURE. The topic of the project is an Outpatient Care Center located in a sanatorium resort, which focuses on providing concierge medicine for VIP clients all over the world through Salutogenesis and biophilic design. Biophilic design is not a new concept and has been applied in many healthcare projects, but this project explored how to apply biophilic design strategies to reach medical concept Salutogenesis. The form and space of the whole project are designed to better meet the physiological and psychological comfort of patients and medical staff. Two areas of concentrated focus were outdoor courtyards (healing gardens) design and the sight communication in indoor space.
The Hybrid: East Austin Community Center
Zavala, Sugey; Erminy Castillo, Marcel; O'Brien, Michael; Van Zandt, Shannon; Haliburton, James
"The architect's role is to fight for a better world, where he/she can produce an architecture that serves everyone and not just a group of privileged people." - Oscar Niemeyer. Architecture should be inclusive, for all ages and backgrounds. Socially inclusive spaces that support all age groups and backgrounds are important in every architectural building, but specifically in civic buildings. Community centers are a prime example of the need for inclusive architecture as they serve a variety of people, from children to adults, from unable to abled, from the poor to the rich. A community space has the ability to bring together a wide range of ages and backgrounds to interact and communicate as one. Through the study of hybridization in architecture and a proposition of architecture and a proposition of architectural tectonics, the hybrid community center serves as a space of interaction, connection, identity, and belonging for everyone in East Downtown Austin.
Uncanny Ecology
Bjerke, Brenden; Esquivel, Gabriel; Caffey, Stephen; Tripp, Andrew; Bieber, Susanneh; Haliburton, James
Uncanny Ecology denies the artificial divide between humanity and nature, and acknowledges the agency of non-human things in the design process. By scrutinizing aesthetic and philosophical precedents, the created object exists in a way that challenges anthropocentric hierarchies that privilege humans and the human made world above all other things. The resulting project can be understood as an ontological network of objects in which architecture is reinserted into an ecology that includes both the "human" and the "natural" world.
Regenhub
Pennacchi, Alyssa; Tate, James Michael; Clayton, Mark; Winslow, Jane; Haliburton, James
The separation we have crafted over the years between the natural and built environment has come with many costs to our environmental and public health. Today, the average human spends about 87% of their time indoors. This separation from the natural environment is connected to obesity, cardiovascular diseases, depression, ADHD and even a lack of creativity. This modern day issue our society faces is clearly exemplified in Houston where the development focused around industry created a car-centric, concrete jungle. It is easy to see why Houston, a city plagued with hot, humid weather, sprawling infrastructure, and little access to green space, creates an environment where health issues skyrocket. Until recent years it has been a place where residents avoided spending time outdoors. Furthermore, the city's sprawling infrastructure did not provide the resources for Houstonians to live an active lifestyle. Experiencing these issues growing up in Houston sparked my interest in exploring the way in which the built environment affects our health. Through this exploration, I aimed to create spaces that encourage a connection to the natural environment while providing comfort and safety from the harsh elements of Houston. With architecture as the vehicle, Regenhub eradicates the firm boundary between the natural and built environment improving the public and environmental health in this underserved neighborhood.
Shock Trauma Facility
Gajera, Surilkumar; Hamilton, Kirk; Zhu, Xuemei; Sasangohar, Farzan; Holliday, Ray
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in 2019 that every year the U.S. receives 130 million patients in emergency department visits. Out of which 16.2 million patients visits result in hospital admissions and 2.3 million resulting in critical care admission. In Texas alone and in the year 2018, there were total of 11,193,621 hospital emergency department visits based on data received from the Texas Department of State Health Services. The trend showed an increase in emergency department visits of 2.6% from the previous years. Now if we look into the statistics of Houston alone, as of 2013 there were 40 documented emergency departments according to the American Hospital Association. That number increased to 70 in the year 2015. Total of 1,619,554 emergency department visits were made in the year 2015 in Houston, out of which 82.7% were made by the residents of Harris County alone. 34.5% of the visitors were children aged under 17 years and 24.4% of visits were made by adults aged 65 years and older. Out of those 24.4% visits by adults of 65 years and over resulted in hospitalization. Looking into genders, 54.6% were by females and 45.4% were by males.
The Rural Outpatient Veterinary Clinic R.O.V.C.
Orpinel, Darrion; Pentecost, Ray; McCord, Carly; O'Brien, Michael; Teller, Lori; Holliday, Ray
Traditionally, the well-being of animals and humans are kept as far away as possible, but what happens when these two types of facilities get close to one another? The One Health Model tackles exactly that by bringing Human, Animal, and Environmental Health together. Creating a facility that allows two clinics, one for human and one for small animals, will provide the proximity of bringing these two types of health care together. Cross Laminated Timber (CLT) will be the sustainable construction material to complete the One Health Model, with Environmental Health.

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