N Gemigniani Spring10portfolio Arch133ridley

ridley ARCH 133

spring portfolio ‘10nico gemigniani

Growing up in the large suburban area outside downtown Los Angeles called The San Fernando Valley, exposed Nico Gemigni-ani to many different architectural styles of homes and skyris-ers. After working for his father, Architect Richard Gemigniani, during the summer of 2008, he knew he wanted to attend ar-chitecture school. Graduating from the Buckley School in the summer of 2009, he moved on to what he wanted to do in the next step of his life, study architecture. Attending Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Nico Gemigniani is a 1st year architecture student.

index

design village modern dwelling studio design

04-12

13-16

17-28

project one_design villagepart one_dwelling for one

explore the elements of a dwelling and its purpose: to inhabit, to perma-nently or temporarily reside, to shelter, or to live.

04


05


06

project one_design villagepart two_dwelling for more than one

develop a sysnthesis from the exploration through the purpose of a dwelling

07

project one_design villagepart three_developed dwelling

develop the synthesis to fit program requirements: mostly recyclable materials, livable for a group of people, and transportable through a canyon (~2 miles)

08

project one_design villagepart four_dwelling in the canyon

assembly drawings of components, tools, and materials for the dwelling

09


creating a livable structure from wood pallets

10

final construction


highlights of the gruleing journey: the sweat, difficulty, and a skateboard

11


The PalletINN

project two_modern dwelling

Although born in Michigan, John Lautner came to Los Angeles in 1938 and helped define futuristic architecture in Calfornia forever. As a student at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin, Lautner adopted many of his ideologoies from Wright. Of his many designs in California, the Stevens House became my project to analyze.

The Stevens House was one of the first houses to have reinforced concrete on the western canon, which doesn’t allow the moist air to deteriate the struc-ture. The concrete not only protects the clients from the harsh winds of Malibu, but they also are aesthetically connected to the waves the ocean just next to it.

The project addressed the emerging issues of “California Dreamin’” by cre-ating the ideal California dream home. People want to leave those cold winters and take advantage of those nice warm winter days in California.

The clients, Mr and Mrs. Dan Stevens, had one main aspiration for the house: a pool. On such a restrictive lot size (32’ x 90’), Lautner was able to fit 5 bedrooms and a pool. With the lot size so closed-in, it is incredible that Lautner was able to create such an open and unrestrictive design.

the stevens house

part one_california dreamin’

13

project two_modern dwellingpart two_analyzing the dream

The interior spaces are organized between the front entrance and the pool. The rooms and spaces slide past the pool on all three levels. The pool causes the three floors to make an asymmetrical plan similar to that of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House.

There are clear rectangular geometries in Lautner’s plan that further suggest his similarity to Frank Lloyd Wright’s spatial organization. The re-lationship between Lautner and Wright is most clearly seen when compar-ing the Robie House to the Stevens House. In Wright’s plan, the rectangular walls create open areas outside for a courtyard. Similarly, the open area for the pool is created by the dual-rectangular plan laid out by Lautner.

The entire design is a frame for the view of the beach. The architecture of the house focuses on the view, rather than being a distraction that sits in the way of the view. The view, being an ocean, is harmonized with the shells of the house.

14

part two_analyzing the dreamproject two_modern dwelling

part three_translating the dream

the robie house the stevens housecomparison of spatial patterns and organizations from frank lloyd wright’s robie house and john lautner’s stevens house

formZ analysis

15

project two_modern dwellingpart three_translating the dream

the stevens house

part three_translating the dreamproject three_designing cal poly

part one_recording setting

record the site’s setting and its natural landscape to further understand the spaces, objects, and the surrounding environment

17

project three_designing cal polypart two_site analysis

analyze current circumstances of the site and explore the light, geometries, and circulation of the site to further understand its inner elements

18

project three_designing cal polypart three_stairs

design and create two stairs that take information from the site analysis and transform those ideas into a transversing object

19

project three_designing cal polypart four_wall

add a wall to the site based on the findings of the site analysis

20

part four_wallproject three_designing cal poly

part four_wall

delete a wall to the site based on the findings of the site analysis

21

project three_designing cal polypart four_wall

modify a wall to the site based on the findings of the site analysis

22

part four_wallproject three_designing cal poly

part five_a dwelling for studio culture

privacy ground floor top floor

create two architecture studios based on the analysis seen in the site, stair, and wall and design the studio based on the culture eperienced in design class.

interaction studio

23

project three_designing cal polypart five_a dwelling for studio culture

amoebic studio

24

project three_designing cal polypart five_a dwelling for studio culture

developed amobic studio

25

project three_designing cal polypart six_a dwelling for studio culture: documentation

concept diagrams

design the final details of the studio and develop a formal concept analysis that relates to the site and the studio’s surrounding environment

site circulation

circulation through specific location

manipluated form of specific circulation

fusing amoebic form with site rectangularity

amoebic transfusion

attempts to shape and respond to site circulation

26


the amoebic-transfusion studio


spring 2010 reflection

This quarter has been the epitomy of all my learnings as an archi-tecture student. Not only have I learned how to use the shop effecetively, make great wood joints, use formZ, analyze a building to its core, and even design a full-scale architecture studio, but I have learned what archi-tecture stands for: a centralized concept.

Every one of the projects this quarter dealt with designing and fig-uring out a cetralized concept. The Design Village project allowed for my team to make a structure based on the site as a whole because our group did not have an assigned site. The Modern Dwelling project allowed for my team to disect a great architect’s concept and translate it into words and diagrams. The Studio Culture Design project allowed me take what I learned about concept analysis and design my own concept to create a structure that is architecturally sound and backed up with strong ideas.

When I first look back to my most valuable items I have done this year, I will always think of the design village PalletINN, the studio concept board, and the studio formZ. In all of these items, I feel that I was really understanding WHY I was doing something and why it was important and necessary.

This quarter has been the most influencial expereince because I can tell that I am starting to get a grasp on architecture and design. I know that the knowledge I have learned this year, especially this quarter, will help guide me throughout my entire architecture career.