Alulema Mario Portfolio

DESIGN PORTFOLIOMario Alulema

CONTENT

Dumbo Skyscraper

Shipping Container Housing

Brooklyn Pavilion

DWGS

Dumbo, a neighborhood known as a historic manufacturing district, is now a destined location for tech and art businesses. Its lofts apart-ment spaces and studios are well known throughout all of New York City.

Living in Manhattan is becoming more expensive as time passes, and peo-ple are looking for living spaces in Brooklyn, Dumbo being one of their op-tions. This project is a residential tower in Dumbo’s waterfront adjacent to the Manhattan Bridge. It will provide apartment units with great views to the Manhattan Skyline as well as the iconic Brooklyn Bridge. Also, com-mercial spaces will occupy the first two levels of the Dumbo Skyscraper.

Dumbo skyscraper is designed using digital techniques, starting with a simple box in its conceptual phase. Then, taken in consideration the dimensions of the proposed site, FAR, building setback, and other important zoning requirements, the conceptual phase evolved from a generic “block” to a subtractive abstract form. The site sits on a sea leveled plane supported by concrete pillars piled into the ground under the East River.

Down Under The Manhattan Bridge (DUMBO) is known for having magnificent views of Downtown Brooklyn, Manhattan Bridge and the Brooklyn Bridge and its adjacency to the Brooklyn Bridge promenade which will become part of the project.

The building’s first floors will function as public spaces, important for the neighbor-hood’s social balance and foot traffic. Retail spaces, restaurants, and boutiques all partitioned based on their functionalities will be opened to the public and it will ease circulation between nearby streets and the park promenade. Dumbo Skyscraper will be 65 floors high with two penthouse units at the top and five levels dedicated for mechanical and sustainable functionalities. The concept that came with the ab-stract curvilinear form came from the site and its characteristics. Wind patterns, sun orientation and desirable views all resulted into the final form of the structure. Each floor has a minimum of 3 apartment units all ranging from studios, 1 bedroom, 2 bedroom and 3 bedroom apartments. Residents will enjoy breathtaking views of the Manhattan Bridge, Brooklyn Bridge and the downtown Manhattan Skyline.

DUMBOSKYCRAPER

Zoning Envelope Solar Orientation Wind Resistance Program Massing

Site

Ground Floor Plan First Floor Plan

Typical Residential Floor Plan

Using Revit for the conceptual and documentation phase for the Dum-bo Skyscraper I began by creating mass floors for each level in the building after completing my con-ceptual envelope. By creating mass floors (having commercial spaces with a 20’ floor to floor height, and 12’ tall residential spaces) I was able to organize my floors by cre-ating a schedule which shows each levels perimeter and floor area. I was able to see how many apart-ment units I can design in each level according to its surface area. A core system was created with egress staircases cutting through each floor plate. Each staircase, ac-cording to code, is located as far apart from each other as possible.

Mass Floors

Core System Facade System

East Elevation

Customized Panel 1

Customized Panel 2

Customized Panel 3

Top Front Section A Section B Axon

Original Curtain Wall Panel designed with dimension

parameters

The building’s skin consists of curtain wall based pattern panels. Using a parametric glazing system consist-ing of a stainless steel frame with reflecting insulated glass panels. A rectangular grid was developed, cov-ering the envelope of the building, which then was rotated and scaled according to the size of the each floor height and the total height of the building. Each panel in the sys-tem is unique because of the build-ing’s curved form and each panel has a slight unique degree. I documented three panels in critical connections, which appear to be in the sharp cor-ners of the Dumbo Skyscraper. The parameters were critical in the shape of each panel. A height and width pa-rameter were given to the steel frame, which eased the transition from win-ter to months to summer months. During the summer, panels will be more closed due to the intensity of the sun and during the winter, they will be more opened, allowing more heat and daylight in. The default size of the panel is 6’ x 12’ with a few having slightly different dimensions.

After Hurricane Sandy, New York, as well as other states in the North East, were left devastated. Hurricane Sunday left many New York neighborhoods destroyed, with collapsed houses, broken trees in streets and heavily flooded areas which left the city without power. This projects aims to design temporary emergen-cy housing for people who have lost their homes due to a storm. The site is lo-cated in Coney Island, Brooklyn in an unused park near the waterfront. Calvert Vaux Park was chosen as the site where a temporary emergency relief com-munity will exist the months after a hurricane has passed through the city.

Shipping Containers are becoming widely popular in the field of architecture as pre-fabricated building modules which serve as living spaces. Shipping Containers costs less than a traditional house, and it saves designers a lot of time since its already constructed and ready to be used. Containers are good structures because they are heavy and could hold up a generous amount of live and dead loads. For this project, we were assigned to design a Master Plan and a housing unit using shipping containers.

Using this building modules restricts us from designing abstract buildings. It lim-its us to a rectangular space which has a low ceiling height and a length that extends twenty feet long. For my housing unit, I wanted to develop a series of openings that will allow the house to breathe, and at the same time will allow for natural light to enter through the east and west sides of the house. These large openings helps the container housing unit feel bigger than it really is. By creat-ing cuts through the container material, I allowed for a more positive feeling and a unique aesthetic that is not sees often when designing with shipping containers.

SHIPPINGCONTAINER

HOUSING

SITE

SITE

Concept: “Chopping” Elevation Axon Side Axon Front

Plan Living Room

Bedroom

Bathroom

Kitchen

Circulation

I was assigned a family of four as my clients. The father, Antonio Sanchez, is a senior chef at a French restaurant in Manhattan. His wife, Megan works as a school teacher in Brooklyn Heights. They have two kids together Mario and Nicole. They were living in Coney Island when Hurricane Sandy passed through, leaving them homeless and with no hope. Thanks to the Hurricane Re-lief program taking place in Calvert Veux Park, a housing units was assigned to the Sanchez family.While working on the design of this house, I was inspired by Antonio’s cooking skills, especially his ability in cutting food perfectly, leaving equal piec-es showing a slow moving tra jectory from being a whole piece to being thin small equally cut slic-es. Whether it was a tomato or an onion, Antonio’s cutting skills served as the parti for this project. To make the family feel more at home, I decided to cre-ate large openings in the facade which will help the family bring their hopes up and bring some posi-tivity in their temporary home. These openings will allow sunlight to enter and it will make the small congested walls feel a bit more opened. The kids share a room in the first room, while the parents sleep in the second floor, which has a balcony look-ing out the river and the Verazzano Bridge. Using four containers, I created both living spaces and pri-vate spaces which will serve as the family’s home for the next year until they find a new place to live.

Master Plan

First Floor Second Floor Roof

South Elevation West Elevation Section

Every day, hundreds of tourists walk the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan. Once reaching the Brooklyn side one can only experience a noisy freeway and an empty parking lot when getting off the early exit stairs of the bridge. People have trouble finding their way into Brooklyn Bridge Park or the sub-way station. Solving this design issue, I designed an abstract pavilion which will offer seating spaces both indoors and outdoors for the hot summer months, as well as a small exhibition space for local Dumbo artists to display their work, and a time line showing important events in Brooklyn’s history.

The Brooklyn Pavilion will also offer illustrated directions on how to get to the park and to the nearest subway station. It will have a sloped roof partly accessible to the public so they can enjoy the Manhattan Skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Skylights will be installed for natural daylight to enter making it a friendly inviting place.

Built from concrete panels and glazing frames, Brooklyn Pavilion will be seen from the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as from the BQE and people coming out of the subway station as a way to guide them and welcoming them to Brooklyn.

BROOKLYNPAVILION

Shape Fold Cut Merge

Aerial View

Program

Circulation

Green Area

Seating / Exhibition Area

Floor Plan

Circulation was a very important issue to solve while working on this design. The objective was to create a path from the Brooklyn Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge Park. Also, there needed to be an entrance that faced the direction of the subway station so when people left the station they can view the pavilion and have an urge to see closer what it is. A green area was added for peo-ple to enjoy warm days shaded by the arches of the Brooklyn Bridge. Seating areas are designed and sepa-rated into two parts, one that is public and the small-er section is semi publc for more intimate moments.

Axo View 1

Axo View 2 Axo View 3`