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NICOLE SYLVIA work samples

The New SALA

(Re)Viewing Vancouver

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To w e r o f F i n a n c i a l i z a t i o nP a r a b l e s o f D r e a m s , D e c a d e n c e , a n d R e n e w a l

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C a s e - S h i l l e r H o m e P r i c e I n d e x

1890 1910 1930 1950 1970 1970 1990 2010 21102090207020502030

Asset Urbanism 13

Laneway Micro-housing 11

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The New SALA UBC, vancouver | with fiona jones | spring 2015

featured at SALA Projects 2015

Through the design of a new building for SALA, this project investigates the ways in which architectural knowledge is produced and transferred. In every space, production and transfer of knowledge are coupled. The programs of the bottom floors – reading room, exhibition space, shop, plaza-display – focus primarily on the transfer of architectural knowledge to the varied publics with which the school interfaces, while still retaining elements of production in each space. The top floors serve as the predominantly production-focused space of studio; however, this space is overlaid with dispersed, transfer-themed nodes—pin-up, study, model-making, digi-fab, and lounge spaces—to enable fluid and informal knowledge sharing centered on student and faculty work. Conceived as a system, the new SALA building consciously and architecturally shapes the flows of knowledge within it.

INSTALLATION IN PLAZA

WORK ON DISPLAY

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DEVELOPMENT OF CONCEPT MODELS

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Ground Floor

1 : 100Nicole Sylvia and Fiona Jones

Fourth Floor

1 : 100Nicole Sylvia and Fiona Jones

FOURTH FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

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LAYERED ACTIVITIES OF STUDIO

VIEW TO EXTERIOR FROM READING ROOM AND PROFESSIONAL/ALUMNI THINK TANK STUDIO

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Longitudinal Section

1 : 100

studio

Section Through North Wing

1 : 100

Section Through South Wing

1 : 100

LONG SECTION (E)

SHORT SECTION (N) SHORT SECTION (S)

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Longitudinal Section

1 : 100

studio

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(re)Viewing Vancouver robson square, vancouver | spring 2014

CAFEWASHROOMSFREE EXHIBITION SPACE:

INTERSTITIAL SPACEEXTENTION TRADITIONAL

featured at SALA Projects 2014

Assuming the Museum of Vancouver relocates to Robson Square, what could this institution contribute to the existing symbolism of the site as the civic and cultural heart of the City? This project seeks to create a space in which the viewer is suspended, simultaneously a part of and apart from the everyday urban life. In this space, the attitudes, awareness and criticality one has within a museum are invited, through architectural form and framing, to be used as a means for viewing the city in its present.

REALITY

-the everyday-the exceptional

-select-categorize-name-amass-preserve

INTERPRETATION

-INTERNALIZE

-interpret-observe-reflect

INTERPRETATION

-represent-narrate-display

REPRESENTATION

PROGRAM DIAGRAM SITE PLAN

PROCESS OF MUSEUMS

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Lane-way Micro-Housing westend, vancouver | fall 2013

featured on SALA’s website

Taking advantage of lane-way airspace, the introduction of microunits is one way to address the need for affordable housing in Vancouver’s downtown core. Due to the limited space inherent to microunits, communal space, programmed to meet daily-life needs, serves as an extension of the individual units. Vertically stacked, these spaces become part of a shared domain enveloped by the primary vertical circulation instead of seemingly belonging to residents of a particular floor.

EXTERIOR FROM THE SOUTH CONCEPT MODELS

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N

ROBOSON STREET

FOURTH FLOOR

ACCESSIBILITY: PUBLIC COMMUNITY PRIVATE-COMMUNITY PRIVATE PRIVATE-PUBLIC

DN

UP

LOUNGE

LAUNDRY

OFFICESOFFICESFLEXSPACE

RETAIL

RETAIL

RETAILBIKE

STORAGE+ MAIL

C0-WORKINGSPACE

KITCHEN

PATIO

INTERIOR OF LARGEST UNIT (400 SQ. FT) PUNCH-OUT AS STORAGE, WINDOW & OCCUPIABLE SPACE

URBAN CONTEXT PROGRAM AND OCCUPANTS

In order to make the units themselves feel more spacious, the bay window has been reinvented as a multi-functional element, storing the bed during the day to free up coveted floor space, serving as an occupiable space, and providing natural light and views.

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T h e s e d a y s , f e w t r u l y r e m e m b e r h o w t h e t o w e r f i r s t c a m e t o b e . S o m e s a y t h e p l a n s w e r e r e l e a s e d w i t h C a r n i g i e ’ s w i l l , o t h e r s c l a i m t h e f o u n d a t i o n s w e r e l a i d c e n t u r i e s e a r l i e r w h e n t h e f i r s t p i o n e e r s e m b a r k e d w e s t w a r d . I o n c e h e a r d a m a n c l a i m a n i m a g e o f t h e t o w e r w a s f i r s t p e n n e d b y S i r F r a n c i s B a c o n i n a j o u r n a l r e s e r v e d f o r t h e r e c o r d i n g o f h i s d r e a m s . T h o u g h w e m a y n e v e r b e c e r t a i n o f t h e c i r c u m s t a n c e s t h a t l e a d t o i t s c o n c e p t i o n , o n e t h i n g r e m a i n s u n d i s p u t e d — s t i l l t o t h i s d a y i t s t a n d s a n d c o n t i n u e s t o g r o w . B y n o w a g r e a t a n d e n d l e s s l y d i v e r s e m o n o l i t h , t h e s t r u c t u r e h a s b e e n a h o m e t o r e s i d e n c e s a n d s u p e r m a l l s , s o u p k i t c h e n s a n d l u x u r y s p a s , m u s e u m s , m a r k e t s — h e r e i n t h e t o w e r , t h e o b j e c t s o f s o c i e t y ’ s d r e a m s a n d d e s i r e s f i n d p h y s i c a l f o r m . S w e l l i n g d u r i n g b o o m s , s h r i n k i n g d u r i n g b u s t s , t h e t o w e r e v e r c h a n g e s . . .

Asset Urbanism: The Tower of Financialization fall 2014

In recent years, shifts in the global financial and real estate markets have had dramatic effects on the built environment. Ever more deeply bound into the logics of real estate investment, architecture has come to increasingly serve as an asset for financial investment rather than for habitation – a fundamental decentering of architecture’s role that Matthew Soules has termed asset urbanism. Employing the methods of architectural representation and narrative fiction to explore and speculate upon these phenomena, this project follows one financial boom and bust cycle, tracing certain of its architectural and human effects. Rhetorically re-composed into a tower, the stories of the boom and bust illustrate the many ways in which spaces, bodies, dreams, possessions, and architecture respond to the possibilities and demands of the spatialization of capital. The following page contains excerpts of this story: the story of asset urbanism.

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To w e r o f F i n a n c i a l i z a t i o nP a r a b l e s o f D r e a m s , D e c a d e n c e , a n d R e n e w a l

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C a s e - S h i l l e r H o m e P r i c e I n d e x

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. . . A s p r o s p e r i t y s p r e a d f u r t h e r a n d f u r t h e r , a n o d d p a r a d o x b e g a n t o e m e r g e : o n o n e h a n d , p e o p l e h a d m o r e m o n e y t h a n e v e r t o s p e n d o n l u x u r i e s a n d v a c a t i o n s , w h i l e o n t h e o t h e r h a n d , t h e y h a d l e s s t i m e t h a n e v e r t o t a k e a d v a n t a g e o f t h i s m a t e r i a l i z i n g w e a l t h . D r i v i n g t o w a r d t h e p r o m i s e d p r o m o t i o n s a n d b o n u s e s , v a c a t i o n s w e r e p u s h e d b a c k f u r t h e r a n d f u r t h e r , s u b l i m a t e d — u n t i l , t h a t i s , t h e n e w c o n s t r u c t i o n p i c k e d u p . S o o n , a l l s o r t s o f r e l a x a t i o n a n d t h r i l l w e r e o n l y a n e l e v a t o r ’ s r i d e a w a y . E v e n t h o u g h t h e y w e r e n e v e r m o r e t h a n m i n u t e s f r o m h o m e , a n d e v e n d e s p i t e t h e v i b r a t i o n s f r o m t h e r o l l e r c o a s t e r s r i p p l i n g t h r o u g h o u t t h e c o n c r e t e f r a m e , t h e r e s i d e n t s t o o k t o t h e s e n e w l u x u r i e s w i t h g r e a t g u s t o . . .

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. . . W h i l e p a r t s o f t h e t o w e r w e r e p l a c e d o n l i f e s u p p o r t b y c h a r i t a b l e i n v e s t i n g , o t h e r p a r t s f e l t l i f e d r a i n a w a y , a s t h e y f e l l v i c t i m t o v a c a n c y ’ s c u m b e r s o m e e m p t i n e s s . S o o n , t h e d u s t a n d g r i m e o v e r w h e l m e d t h o s e t h a t r e m a i n e d , c l a d d i n g a c r e s o f r i m s a n d s i l l s a n d m o u l d i n g s a n d r a i l s i n a s l o w l y t h i c k e n i n g v e i l o f d e s p o n d e n c y . P a i n t c h i p p e d a n d f l o o r s c r a c k e d u n d e r t h e w e i g h t o f s t i l l n e s s . Ye t e v e n h e r e , r e s i l i e n c e c l u n g o n i n n e w — a n d o f t e n s u r p r i s i n g — w a y s . S q u a t t e r a g r i c u l t u r e w a s a s u r r e p t i t i o u s a f f a i r . R o v i n g b a n d s o f b l a c k - m a s k e d i n d i v i d u a l s c u l t i v a t e d t h e e m e r g i n g n o o k s , c r a n n i e s , a n d a b a n d o n e d v e s s e l s , s u b t l y i n s t a l l i n g e d i b l e w e e d s i n e v e r y s q u a r e i n c h o f a v a i l a b l e s p a c e . T h e p l a n t i n g s e e m e d n a t u r a l , t h o u g h i t w a s s t r a t e g i c : p l a n t s w i t h t h e m o s t d i s r u p t i v e r o o t s y s t e m s w e r e p l a n t e d f i r s t , a c c e l e r a t i n g t h e t o w e r ’ s d e c a y a n d c r e a t i n g m o r e g r o w a b l e e a r t h . . .