abraham n. rodriguez | work
DESCRIPTION
Portfolio of Architecture + Design WorkTRANSCRIPT
ABRAHAM N. RodRíguez woRk
INDEX
acaDEmIc
cOmPETITIONS
KaSe Study
Khmer Housing cORE
milwaukee River Projects
equinox skin boat school
caesar’s park boathouse
PDX alternative High School
PROFESSIONaL
SKETcHES
Irene c. Hernandez middle School
Europe Sketch Journal
Sunnyside Reading Room
kHMeR HousiNg CoRePhnom Penh, cambodiaLow cost mass Housingw/ Peter Barich, copeland Downs, & Eric Nielsen
CORE CONCEPTBecause of these issues, we designed the housing CORE to address all of these issues in a single unit that could be used in both new construction, and retrofitted to existing housing. The addition of a CORE to a home will sufficiently provide the basic daily needs for a family of six. Along with benefitting the family, the Core is linked to the ecology of the site with the intake of rainwater and production of fertilizer for crops.
ADAPTABILITY & SCALABILITYAdaptability and scalabilty are important aspects of the Core and allow the Core to be used beyond new construction. The Core can function as an integral element to new construction, or alternatively as an addition to existing homes. At a community level, the Core can be scaled larger or duplicated to provide services to multiple families.
CORE + NEw hOuSINg
CORE + ExIST hOuSINg CORE + NEw & ExISTINg COmmuNITY
A locally sourced material palette works well for a variety of wooden and woven grass wall assemblies that are innovative in keeping weather out.
It is common practice to have a house on stilts in response to the seasonal floods. This interstitial space provides important storage and gathering space during the dry season.
Open floor plans allow families to adapt to a variety of family sizes, storage needs and activity support. The open plan also allows free flow of natural ventilation.
In starting to look at the design for this Cambodian Sustainable Low Cost housing Competition, be studied the characteristics of rural Khmer vernacular housing. we discovered that this housing style often has the following three primary characteristics (illustrated in the diagram to the right); a locally sourced material palette, open floor plans, and housing on stilts. Rural Khmer housing tells of the long history of living in a cyclically flooding area with stilts, stairs and floating housing illustrating the adaptation Cambodians have made to living in their unique ecological conditions. while the living conditions may seem dilapidated to an outside eye, the major physical structure of Cambodian housing is rational, well ordered, and is rooted in the family’s customization of their home to meet their required spaces. Our research shows that It is not the vernacular housing unit that must be improved, but rather the key to addressing issues of health, safety, and affordability is to provide sustainable solutions to the following key points: water collection & filtration, waste management, and cooking. All of these issues must be addressed in ways that take into account the drastic changes between Cambodia’s dry and wet seasons, where flooding can reach a meter deep. Thus we need to design for both the dry, and wet seasons.
typiCAl kHMeR RuRAl HousiNg
RAINwATER COLLECTION
wATER fILTRATIONBIODIgESTER:fuEL fOR COOKINg
BIODIgESTER: fuEL fOR CROPS
CoNCept diAgRAM
wATER wASTE COOKINgThe housing core serves as a way to efficiently deliver lacking sanitation, storage and fuel services. water from the rooftop collection is stored in barrels which is routed to a toilet and spigots for cooking and bathing. waste is deposited and flushed into a biodigester set into the ground which allows anaerobic decomposition treatment as well as producing methane fuel. This methane is used to supplement fuel needs for cooking. The cooking areas also contain rocket stoves that make more efficient use of wood fuel for cooking.
ELEVATED mONSON wATER LEVELSA cooking area on each the first and second levels of the housing core make it possible to enjoy preparing and gathering for meals under the shade of the house in the hot, dry seasons while maintaining an elevated cooking space accessible year round. Both share a brick chimney that reduces the chances of respiratory harm.
wOOD COLumNS + JOISTS
PALm LEAf mATTINg
wOVEN BAmBOO ROOf
BAmBOO SCREENS
wOOD wALL CLADDINg
MAteRiAls/AsseMBly diAgRAMThe design of the house itself honors the vernacular of rural Cambodian housing while at the same time being optimized for modular construction and use of housing core. The roof pitch is optimized for water collection to the housing core. It is constructed of woven bamboo for water collection, while also allowing the structure to breathe. wall construction is dimensional lumber, allowing for modular construction, while window shutters are constructed of traditional woven palm. Lastly, the house maintains the open plan of the traditional Cambodian house; allowing the occupants future flexibility and customizability in it’s use.
LONg SECTION ShORT SECTION
In 2007, greensburg, KS was hit by a tornado devastating the entire town. In the extreme weather conditions found here, the typical midwestern house does not respond well. KaSe Study is designed to greatly reduce the amount of damage sustained in a tornado while being environmentally sustainable. The design uses recycled limestone blocks, providing a strong structure and breathable walls. At the south elevation, the sun heats the trombe wall used as the center spine; while sliding doors in the main living areas maximize passive ventilation. A cool roof system prevents interior overheating. Rafter ties are utilized to secure the roof down to the foundation. The butterfly roof blocks sunlight in the summer; lets it pass in the winter and allows rainwater harvesting. water is conserved through smart land use practices and energy efficient appliances. The design of the home strives to be affordable, energy efficient and sustainable.
KaSe STuDyGreensburg, KS Low-cost Housingw/ Danny massaro & Gail cavanagh
fLOOR PLAN
IOwA AVE.
SYCA
mOR
E ST
.
bioswale
native plants planted along rammed earth privacy wall
vegetable/flower planters
grey water filtration swale
nativ
e tre
es p
rivac
y sc
reen
rain
bar
rel
rain
gar
den
and
irrig
atio
n sw
ale
SITE PLAN
wEST ELEVATION NORTh ELEVATIONSOuTh ELEVATION
PASSIVE hEAT ABSORPTION
PASSIVE VENTILATION TYPICAL SITE LOCATION
SPATIAL SEPARATION ROOf ARTICuLATION
EAST ELEVATION
white membrane “cool” roof with r-30 glass batt insulation
recycled corrugated metal cladding attached to recycled limestone wall
operable wood window assemblies with low-e glass and thermal break
voc free interior plaster
recycled limestone blocks filled with structural grout
recycled wood deck
rigid insulation and vapor barrier under floor decking on top of recycled aggregate fill , typ.
rigid insulation and vapor barrier at exterior face of foundation walls, typ.
engineered wood floor with recycled content over fsc certified floor joists, with r-30 glass batt insulation
recycled limestone trombe wall
wALL SECTION
This school provides a space of refuge and learning for the disenfranchised youths of the city of Port-land. The project is sited to create an educational campus along with the existing harriet Tubman school dividing the site in half for park and educa-tional use. The school’s entry is located on an axis with Tubman’s strengthening the connection be-tween the two schools. from here one has access to the school main commons space, daylight with diffuse northern light. The classroom bar adjacent to the commons is elevated, creating a shaded out-door space that connects the school to the outside. The existing berm of Tubman’s basketball court is partially paved and stepped, creating an outdoor classroom, gathering and event space that can be used by both schools. The building is a long bar oriented east-west for access to light, natural ven-tilation, and passive heating and cooling. Diffuse north light illuminated the commons space while south light is controlled in the classrooms other south facing spaces through the use of shading devices. The floors are untreated concrete to allow for passive heating and cooling.
PDX aLT. HIGH SCHOOLPortland, OR K-12 Educational
northern ligth
prevailing summer winds
summ
er
equinox
winter
SECTION
EAST ELEVATION
summ
er
equinox
winter
stack effect ventilation
harriet tubman middle school(exist)
lillis albina city park
n russell st
n fli
nt a
ve
SITE PLAN SOuTh ELEVATION
gROuND fLOOR PLAN
1RST fLOOR PLAN
wALL SECTIONPARTIAL ELEVATION
corrugated metal roof
curtain wall assembly
pv-panels
vegetated roof
metal ligth shelves at classroom windows
wood panel cladding
curtain wall assembly
The two projects in the following pages sought to explore the milwaukee River as a pocket of nature within a dense urban environment. while these two projects, the Caesar’s Park Boathouse and Equinox Skin Boat School, share a common programmatic element (skin boats); the academic focus of each was quite different. Caesar’s Park Boathouse focused on an aesthetic and spatial solution to the program, while the Equinox used a simple program to focus and materiality and skin options.
mILwauKEE RIvER SKIN BOaT PROJEcTSmilwaukee, wI
The design is driven aesthetically by the site’s variation, and pragmatically by the program’s need of surveillance. when you approach from the pedestrian bridge you pass a series of newly constructed structures and if you descend the trail from Caesar’s Park you will be surrounded by trees as you go along. This is the main aesthetic driver for the building’s parti. when you approach the building from the park trail, you see the building engulfed in nature; merging into the landscape with its green roof. On the other hand, when one arrives to the boathouse via the pedestrian bridge, you see a strong rectilinear façade composed of cubic volumes that echo the surrounding development. Thus the cantilevered cube of the office becomes a unique object within the park’s landscape.
caESaR’S PaRK BOaTHOuSEmilwaukee, wIRecreational
SITE PLAN
ROOf PLAN
1RST fLOOR PLAN
BASEmENT PLAN
The cube of the office cantilevers out into the loading level outside, allowing the manager in charge of the boathouse constant views of all patrons using the boathouse. This cantilever allows for surveillance to the patrons out in the water, ensuring their safety. A split level glazed wall allows for constant surveillance into the skin boat storage bellow and the observation deck above. These simple moves come together to form a design that is both aesthetically pleasing and also highly pragmatic.
LONgITuDINAL SECTION
TRANSVERSAL SECTION
The EQuINOx project was conceived as a sister project to the earlier Caesar’s Park Boathouse, and as such they share opposite sides of the same site along the milwaukee River. The program consists of creating a school for the creation of traditional skin boats, and a small residence for the owner of the school in the back of the building. These skin boats would then be transported across the bridge in order to be rented out in the aforementioned boathouse across the river. After much deliberation, it was decided that the design exploration would take its starting point from the idea that the program can and would be best accommodated in a simple double story box; that the architectural richness of the project would be achieved via skin and material options.
EQuINOX SKIN BOaT ScHOOLmilwaukee, wILight Industrial
NORTh ELEVATIONSOuTh ELEVATION
KIT Of PARTS DIAgRAm
structural insulated panel roof panels
long-span steel beam structure
corrugated metal screen wall
metal window frames & light shelves
structural insulated panel walls
steel truss
with this in mind I set out to create a long linear box scheme that would allow plentiful natural light to enter the space, while exploring different high performance building skins. The double skin facade is composed of Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) clad in cement board, with a corrugated metal screen hung in front of them. This metal screen adds articulation to the façade and allows for clearstory windows with deep metal window frames to punch through the SIP panel walls in order to bring light across the workshop space bellow. This corrugated screen is continued over the railings of the balconies of the attached residence, unifying the building’s façade. Above the workshop space a suspended gallery, allowing onlookers and students to view the creation of the skin boats bellow. The workshop space is further illuminated by low level frosted glass openings in the walls. Because of these openings and double skin when seen from afar, EQuINOx brings to mind the idea of the classic modernist box on pilotis; a long narrow box that extends into space and is seemingly suspended in the air. SITE PLAN
gROuND fLOOR PLAN
1RST fLOOR PLAN
2ND fLOOR PLAN
green roof insert
structural insulated roof panel
long-span steel beams and columns
frosted glass window wall
structural insulated wall panel
fly ash concrete floor slab
corrugated metal screen
metal window frames & light shelves
wALL SECTION
low e-glass clearstory windows
Principal in Charge: Donald CopperProject manager: Daniel Sumita Project Team:Elizabeth fragosoAbraham N. RodríguezEduardo Bodmer Leah Lehr
126,507 Sf; 3-Story middle School.Includes green Roof over 25% of the roof area, 1-1/2” Story Library, Science Rooms (5), Art Room (1), Computer labs (2), multi-Purpose Rooms (2), full service Kitchen/Dining and gym with Stage for School Assembly functions. LEED gold Certified. Recently completed.
Responsibilities Included: Interior Design, Construction Documents, Design and documentation of casework/furniture.
IRENE c. HERNaNDEz mIDDLE ScHOOL chicago, ILK-12 Educationalw/ GREc architects, LLc.
fIRST fLOOR PLAN
ThIRD fLOOR PLAN
SECOND fLOOR PLAN
CASA BATLLO, BARCELONAEVRY CAThEDRAL
NOTRE DAmE Du hAuT
The following sketches represent some of the sites we studied in the Study Abroad program I participated in the spring of 2005. while we studied historical, modern, and contemporary European architecture; early 20th century modernism made the most lasting impression on me in the trip, thus these are the buildings that most frequently appeared on my sketchbooks.
EuROPE SKETcH JOuRNaLvarious countries in EuropeOn Location Sketching
BARCELONA PAVILLION 1
BARCELONA PAVILLION 2 TORRE TELEfONICA, BARCELONA
