Architecture Portfolio

oscar alejandro gutierrez

PORTFOLIO

The site is located south of the existing High Tech Village Campus. The Rock Academy, a 3500 seat mega-church, is located on the north end of the site. High Tech Village houses an elementary school, middle school, and high school. NTC Park sits on the south. The current HTH Campus is divided by two streets that segregate its educational buildings. Clos-ing the dividing street to vehicular access uni-fies the campus into a whole. The proposed building will replace the current parking lot located on the south side of the site.

Three coves, located on the third level, provide an area for students to study in a different type of environment. The three bays point towards the San Diego International Airport, providing an interesting backdrop for students to visually experience the airplanes flying by.

classrooms classrooms

shop shop gallery

gym

workshop building. san diego, CA

N

The classrooms overlook the main shop spaces located below. The north facing shop spaces are double-height, which allows for plenty of desirable north light to filter in.

A suspended walkway provides the main interior circulation for the building. The suspended walkway frees up space below that is shared by the main shops and storage areas.

shop

shop

rooftop space

storage

classrooms classrooms classrooms

classroom

classroom

classrooms

student lounge

storage

atrium

atrium

atrium

gym

gym

admin

gallery

shop

shop

shop

The new student workshop building will facilitate the creation of objects by the students. Providing a place that supports the creative arts will provide students with the necessary tools to creatively express themselves.

The program aims to unite all the trades under one roof. An environment where creating things is facilitated and encouraged.

The site is located south of the existing High Tech Village Campus. The Rock Academy, a 3500 seat mega-church, is located on the north end of the site. High Tech Village houses an elementary school, middle school, and high school. NTC Park sits on the south. The current HTH Campus is divided by two streets that segregate its educational buildings. Closing the dividing street to vehicular access unifies the campus into a whole. The proposed building will replace the current parking lot located on the south side of the site.

A perforated steel screen provides shade for both the building and the exterior circulation on the south and west sides of the building.

The use of steel is incorporated to have a highly visual aesthetic throughout the project. Every major programmatic space uses steel expressively.

The main exterior circulation path is located on the south end of the site where it is shaded by the steel screen. The path connects to all aspects of the program.

section model

Structural Diagram

classrooms

workshops

circulation

screen

glazing

The main goal for the project was to bring human scale to the architecture building. The massive concrete structure does little to welcome students; it offers no place to congregate besides the dark, breezy stair court. The bench is constructed of redwood and steel angle iron. The redwood contrasts the cold concrete with a warmer, inviting material. The redwood donated by Big Creek Lumber Company is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, an organization that promotes sustainable logging practices. Through the aging process, the colors of the now vibrant redwood and grey steel will become inverted. The steel angle iron will rust with an orange patina, while the redwood will grey with age.

The main priority was to create something that would leave the site in its original condition if and when the project needed to be removed. The bench therefore hangs off an existing retaining wall that surrounds the only green space in the architecture building.

2012 WOODWORKS Innovation In Wood Design Award

hanging bench. san luis obispo, CA

The project gave students an insight on the construction process. Typically in a design studio, students produce drawings, renderings and scale models of their designs. However, in Studio Concilio, students had the unique opportunity to partake in the actual construction of their design. After numerous weeks of construction due to countless setbacks ranging from poor weather conditions and a lack of a building permit, it is rewarding to see people actually enjoying the bench at different times of the day.

7/12”

4”

1-3/4”

3-1/2”

50”

46”

2”

Typical Wall 50"x10West Wall End 25"x9

25”

3-1/2”

7/12”

7/12”

7/12”

2”

4”

21”

2”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

3-1/2”

2”

96”

Sleep Cove Wall 96"

1-1/6”

x14

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

2”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

7/8”

7/8” 4”

1-3/4”

3-1/2”

96”

92”

1-5/8”

2-3/8”

Typical Wall 96"x79

7/12”

4”

1-3/4”

2”

96”

Wall Ends 96"

1-1/6”

x14

7/12”

7/12”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

2” 1-1/6”

3-1/2”

2”

50”

Work Cove Wall 50"

1-1/6”

x14

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

2”

1-1/6”

1-1/6”

Angle Iron Steel

FSC Certified Redwood

Sleeper

Screws

Color coded diagrams made placing the pieces in their proper location a simpler process. The amount of wood needed was calculating using a 3D-model. The number of planks and their lengths needed were calculated by determin-ing where the joints would be.

The bench project can be divided into two main categories, the structure and cladding. The main structure was fabricated using angle-iron steel which provides a long-lasting material that weathers well.

The structure of the bench was designed so that it hangs off the existing retaining wall so that it did not damage it in any way.

Once the structure was fabricated and hung on the wall, the planking process could proceed. Sleepers were placed in between the steel and redwood providing a screwing surface. The sleepers are bolted to the main structure. The redwood planking is then screwed into these sleepers.

The redwood joints (shown on the right) con-sist of two planks which slightly overlap, cre-ating a surface suitable for screwing onto the structure.

Seattle plans to redevelop its water-front by rethinking how it connects back to the city, this unique situation allowed for this idea to influence the project’s design. Sitting at the south-ernmost end of the proposed water-front redevelopment, the project is designed to serve as an icon for not only the waterfront, but for Seattle as well. The program, consisting of

a hotel, retail space, and a sports arena, is unified by a diagrid skin that drapes over it. The continuity of form was able to be achieved through the use of steel as a structural material. The form gently sweeps across the length of the site, encompassing the hotel, retail and arena programming. This allowed for a unified project, one that integrated structure and archi-

tectural form. This creates unique opportunities allowing the different programs to interact with the skin in different ways. The skin not only provides a unifying flow and protec-tion from Seattle’s 300 days of rain, it also serves as a directional guide for visitors.

sports arena.

0’ 50’ 150’

Diagrid

Stadium Trusses

Seating

Floorplates

Structure

Diagrid Stadium Trusses

Seating

Diagrid envelope

Box level

Underground level

Concourse level

Box level

The diagrid skin sweeps around the three distinct programs, uni-fying them under one roof. The arena is wrapped by the skin that fluidly connects it to the retail and hotel on the north end of the site.

The three-tiered arena sits 19,000 spectators. Box seats are situ-ated on the third level, which is a completely private floor. This al-lows VIP customers the ability to maintain a level of privacy at such sporting events.

A compression ring ties all of the trusses together at a height of 150’. The properties found in steel minimized the number of trusses needed to span the arena. In the end, 13 trusses, spaced at 45’, surround the arena. The trusses also support the diagrid skin that sweeps around the arena, start-ing at a height of 90’ and gradu-ally elevating up to 150’ to meet the retail program.

The arena’s skin is opaque except for strategically placed transpar-ent panels where day lighting is needed, such as main circulation paths. The layering of both struc-tural systems creates a dynamic environment for fans to enjoy.

Getting out of the mind set of cheap construction = a box, I tried to come up with a de-sign that was more interesting than conventional ‘affordable’ housing. This lead to many different iterations which ultimately became the design found in this project. Early on, I realized that one of the most effective ways to cut costs is to modulate as much as pos-sible. Panelized walls host many benefits for both the builder and homeowner who utilize them. This lead to the idea of utilizing SIPs to, not only panelize the structure, but also provide high R-values to save on heating and cooling costs during the life of the building.

This housing complex is located in Pismo Beach, CA. The program called for different residential units varying from single stu-dio apartments, one-bed-room, and two-bedroom options. The units are situ-ated on a long, rectangular lot. Top plate

Bottom plate

OSB

Core of extruded polystyrene

SIP

affordable housing. pismo beach, CA

Walls modulated by SIPs

Walls modulated by SIPsNumber of SIPs

determined by wall length needed.

3

2

4

5

4

21 3 4 5elevation

studios

modulation

First FloorSecond Floor

First FloorSecond Floor

Two Bedroom

One BedroomStudio Two Bedroom Community Center

The layout and design of the studio unit, at 400 sq. ft., is the basis of the rest of the units. For example, the footprint for the one-bedroom is almost identical except the bedroom is located on the second level.In addition, the two-bedroom unit is practically the same as the studio unit except for the added bedroom on the oppo-site end of the unit. The one-bedroom unit, on the right, shows the mezzanine space created by the bedroom.

BOX

PARTI

Studio Units One Bedroom Units Studio Units Two Bedroom Unit

Two Bedroom Unit Community Center

from the street. The community center houses a general manager’s office, laundry facilities, a kitchen, communal gathering space, and re-strooms. The community center faces south towards an existing community park. Each unit has ceiling-height windows at ev-ery corner. The walls extend past the window on one side, making the interior space seem bigger than it actually is by visually extend-ing the interior wall past the glazing and out to the outside environment. In addition, the orientations of the windows allow the tenants views of garden spaces located strategically throughout the project and not into the units of other tenants.

One of the biggest challenges was fitting the entire program on the site along with an ade-quate number of parking spaces. A lot of differ-ent parking options were examined before the resulting scheme was developed. The types of units are purposely placed next to similar types of units in order to combine similar lifestyles. The first set of studio units are located closest to the entrance of the complex allowing the residents to come in and out easily. Since the two-bedroom units will more than likely house families, they were placed near the back of the complex where it is quieter and closer to the green area and park. The community center is situated on the eastern-most end of the site which allows its users to maintain their privacy

The concrete structure project is one of my favorite and most memorable thing I did at school. Getting to design a structure and then build it was something I had never done before. It proved to be a wonderful and challenging project. We were given the task to design some sort of abstract structural form that was to be realized in concrete. This project made me real-ize how the decisions one makes during the de-sign phase of a project can substantially impact the construction time needed to build it.

The structure is composed of three slabs that are held together using a combina-tion of post and beam with shear wall construc-tion. Each phase of the construction had to be meticulously formed and cast. The final result truly surprised me, not only did I have a whole new level of appreciation for the amount of time and effort needed to complete such a task, but seeing the completed project brought a sense of accomplishment. Building something that actually existed physically in the real world was a feeling I very much enjoyed.

This particular project is only part of a series of connected structures built along a 30’ surface. Though the designs differed among people, each project shared two borders with different neighbors thus making collaboration a necessity. In addition, water features were to be integrated with the design concept as a whole. The structure shown here shares a canal in which water flows throughout the entire ta-ble, but also has its own waterfall that cascades down from the ledge located on the bottom of the first floor slab. Running pipes and hoses within the concrete was a difficult, yet reward-ing, task in the end.

concrete structure.

Walls Beams Slab Walls

Beams Slab

Finished redwood bench, supported by bent steel structure.

The 8th-annual Vellum Furniture Competi-tion was held on the night of November 14, 2011. The design of the bench was manifested through several iterations of different types of seating options. The curved-steel was used as an exploration of its non-conventional.

A 12”x 132” strip of hot-rolled mild steel was curved by forming it along a secured semi-truck rim. The initial bend formed the begin-nings of the form, the subsequent bends go the opposite direction.

The 2x4 redwood bench seat bolts directly to the steel structure underneath. All connections are hidden for visual continuity along the sur-face of the redwood. The bench seat bolts di-rectly to the curved-steel base.

steel bench.san luis obispo, CA

Stainless-steel cable detail.

Stainless-steel tension cables reach through the curved-steel from. The 3-inch diameter openings allow the cable to flow through the structure.

Aluminum sleeve and stainless steel cable connection detail.

Fig.1The bench is designed to become stronger as the load put upon it increases.

Fig.1

Fig.2

Fig.3

Fig.2Countersinking was used to conceal the screws used to attach the redwood to the sleeper bolted to the steel frame.

Fig.3Crimped aluminum sleeves hold the ends of the stain-less-steel cables in place.

e l e v a t i o n

w o o d p l a n

case studiesRachofsky House

Baileyana Winery

www.oscaragutierrez.com