JACOB DOUENIASPorfolio

Carnegie Mellon School of Architecture 5th year B. ARCH Candidate

5606 Fair Oaks Street Pittsburgh, PA 15217

Mobile: 01.607.368.0941

Email: jdouenias@gmail.com

Chair 001

Pattern through Lamination

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Annex

Communal Housing

Artist Colony

Market Hall

Algal Airport

Resumeè

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

C H A I R 0 0 1 [ Furniture Design and Construction ] Spring 2012

This piece of furniture was conceptualized as a single geometric form which conforms to the body of a seated occupant. The

resulting geometry evolved into a steam bent and glue laminated ribbon which connects to the seat and back legs through a

series of steel connections.

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The form of the finished White Oak ribbon was arrived at after an extensive series of full scale mock-ups were made by first steaming a single ribbon and then bending around a home-made bending jig (above). Each iteration balanced the strength of the material and the ergonomics of the form. With each iteration the jig became more sophisticated as it pinpointed the location of five key control points along the curve. The final ribbon, after lamination was shaped and then connected to a tongue-and-groove seat and beech legs with a bent and welded steel frame.

Form Finding and Fabrication

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P a t t e r n t h r o u g h L a m i n a t i o n

[ Hand and Machine Joinery ] Spring 2012

These pieces explore the pattern created by the careful assembly of a variety of woods into a structural cohesion.

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Chicago SymphonyOrchestra Annex[ Architectural Design Studio IV: Material ] Spring 2010

The character of each dedicated programmatic space was created through distinct yet interlocking structural systems. Each of these distinct systems use varying degrees of acoustic and visual isolation or integration, materiality and structural character. Each structural ‘loop’ and it’s internal circulation revolve around a heart of public space. 7 | 8

Communal Housing [ Architectural Design Studio VII: Occupancy ] Fall 2011

Housing for 4 unrelated occupants.

The two long corridors, one interior, one exterior define the organization of allcommunal and private spaces. The elevation change across the length of the site

is negotiated by these corridors, one which excavates and one which elevates. Projections from the interior corridor into the space below the exterior corridor to

form small service spaces. Projections into the massive south facing brick wall either project through to create small private bedrooms or they form along the wall

and are communed around dining tables, kitchens, and hearths.

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Nine Mile Run Artist Colony[ Architectural Design Studio V: Site ] Fall 2010

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Decades of slag dumping, a waste product of Pittsburgh’s steel

industry, has created an impervious artificial topography with infertile

plains. After hiking and analyzing the area through transect sections, it

was concluded that the most healthy and diverse biomes were evident

at the edges.

This 4-season artist colony occupies such an edge. By cutting and

filling the hillside, arable land is created on the impervious ground. This

scab that grows along a gash in the hillside could provide the produce

and the means to clean and release waste water and runoff.

Site Healing Architecture

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Wood burning bisque kiln

Heat sharing convection current

High efficiency catalytic wood burning stove

A significant amount of the heating requirement of the artists can be provided by sharing ‘free-heat’.

Large wood burning bisque kilns used for annealing clay work provide plenty of waste heat which is recovered and used

throughout the building. The painting studios on the other hand are largely unconditioned besides passive ventilation.

Because potter’s and painter’s equipment have very different effects on the space they occupy, the colony’s activities change

from season to season.

Behavior Based Conditioning

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Mini farm

Storm water treatmentCistern

Solar Water Heaters

Passive and renewable systems enable the colony to

operate with near total self-sufficiency.

The cut-and-fill methodology allows for other

passive strategies. The northern exposure is largely

earth-sheltered, reducing heat loss in the winter. In the

summer, the cool shaded forest to the north helps

facilitate natural transverse ventilation across the building.

Some of displaced fill acts as a biofilter for gray and black

waterwhile others provide food for the colony.

The buildings are arranged around core spaces which are

heated and occupiable throughout the year. Other

spaces are unconditioned and are shut down in the

winter to conserve energy.

Direct Heat Source4-Season Spaces

3-Season Spaces Solar Thermal Storage

Radiant Heat Source

Passive Heat Source

Passive Systems

Market Hall[ Architectural Design Studio VI: Advanced Construction ] Spring 2011

The cell-like parti illustrates the fluidity of movement through this large commercial structure. This

site’s opportune location at a bustling intersection in East Liberty, Pittsburgh, nearby a

major public transportation hub, accommodates thousands who arrive from many directions. The

form of the main market hall yawns outward from the urban towards the people exiting buses and

parking lots to accept them into its unencumbered belly.

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Discovering the form of this structure was a wonderful challenge. Preliminary abstracted form finding exercises using water

balloons, plaster casts, and noodles transitioned quickly into design studies applied to the site. Glulam timbers were chosen to

make the span of the structure. Individual weighted form-finding models were made for each arch to determine a form of minimum

structural energy. The cladding spanning between each beam consists of a parametrically generated steel skeleton supporting a

stretched translucent membrane. The form of the building was optimized for maximum solar exposure and ventilation in addition

to the structural parameters.

Form Finding

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Open Market

Creating a long span, column free space allows the 4-season market to take on many different configurations and

combinations of vendors as well as to accommodate other functions. The structure that sails overhead delineates paths and

entrances on the ground. The cafe and bathrooms sit inside of the structures terminus. The elevated offices fit snugly

underneath a beam overlooking the market and the delivery bays. The intended effect is to establish a legible public space

defined by a strong structural language that allows for unencumbered movement in and out of the lively market.

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Algal Airport: Holistic Systems Integration[ Architectural Design Studio VIII: Systems Integration ] Spring 2012

Integrate algae photobioreactors as architectural features, mechanical system components, and bio-fuel producers.

The international airport concourse is a strange place indeed. For a few hours a day thousands of travelers pass through this building, coming in clumps and waves and then the building goes quiet. Because of this pattern airport concourse’s mechanical systems take a beating everyday and operating these massive structures becomes very expensive. This radical form of seemingly instantaneous occupancy can also make it difficult for a traveler to find much respite in a gate lounge. In addition to theses stresses the airline industry is subject to razor thin profit margins and extreme vulnerability as a result of dependence on oil.

Enter and unlikely hero, green algae. Algae’s capacity to produce bio-fuels at rates that far exceed it’s competitors combined with the fact that it can be grown efficiently in a closed circulated aqueous suspension (photobioreactor) mean that algae could be the answer to some of the major issues at hand in an airport. Bio-diesel synthesized from algae can be used as a drop-in fuel for ground support vehicles. Calculations based on the volume of water used by algae photobioreactors in this proposal project that 52% of the entire terminal’s diesel requirements could be met by algae grown overhead.

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What can algae do?

Employing massive quantities of a living organism as a building material means that there is constantly input and output from the system,

nutrients and waste.

Algae uses sunlight, nutrients, and CO2 to make sugars, fats, and O2. Just based these basic inputs and outputs one could see how

algae could be used to soak up nitrates from waste water, oxygenate air, sequester CO2, and produce drop-in fuels (when processed).

In this proposal thousands of photobioreactors are ganged together and sandwiched in a double glazed assembly. The biomass of a

mature algae culture absorbs the light that it needs while remaining highly transparent. This phenomenon is used to allow the algae to

shade the interior while providing soft diffuse light.

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ReorganizationTypically an airport concourse is essentially an extrusion. This scheme segregates each gate lounge (usually a with retail space or bathroom nodule) into a separate structure. Each gate lounge is connected by a two floor suspended circulation structure. The isolation of each gate creates more peaceful spaces and allows each gate to shut down when not in use. 27 | 28

Methods of Heat ExchangeFresh intake air is brought in through the glass plenum that

encloses the photobioreactors. Heat transfer occurs between

the intake air and the thousands of gallons of water.

The air handler heats or cools air by pushing air over coils filled with

water. Heat exchange occurs between these coils and the water

stored in the algae holding tanks which maintain temperature.

Water as Thermal Mass

Algae cultivated in photobioreactors is suspended in water. This means that the proposed roof

assembly is essentially a very large glass radiator coil whose primary heat source is the sun.

Solar radiation is absorbed in the thermal mass (water) and stored for much longer than in air. This means that

because of the quantity of water constantly circulating throughout the building the difference between nighttime and daytime temperatures

is lowered. The added thermal mass not only allows the building stabilize diurnal swing but also to balance E/W and N/S load differentials

because of the circulation of the water and algae. The added thermal capacitance also allows for heat exchange and coupling to mechanical

systems to occur.

Photobioreactor unit

Fresh air intake

Air supply

Air return

Air exhaust

Emergency exhaust

Algae return

Algae supply

Storm water

Geothermal

Algae return to on-site

biorefinery

The air handler heats or cools air by pushing air over coils filled with

water. Heat exchange occurs between these coils and the water

stored in the algae holding tanks which maintain temperature.

To help regulate the baseline temperature of the water that is

circulated throughout the photobioreactors heat exchange occurs

between supply water and a geothermal heat pump. 29 | 30

Jacob Douenias

Jacob Douenias

Thank You.

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