Virginia Carolina Singh Del RioFay Jones School of Architecture

b. arch. portfolio

Cover Page/AboveBob. Design Build Project #1Nightclub for Insects; inspired by cedar apple rusts and bugworms

Yesler Library BranchRevitalizing Eje CentralL-Rock High School for the Arts

The Ohshed

Mutation and RegenerationFlat Pack Furniture

Because of e-books and access to online information, there are signifi cantly fewer book collections. Acknowledging changing needs, the design of this library responds to a new set of programmatic uses. A place not only to read books and do homework but to create and share stories. This building has the open space and fl exibility of a free plan and layouts that can be changed and re-arranged depending on what is desired at the moment. Fun activities are incorporated, including indoor skydiving and a rock climbing slope - taking into consideration the necessity to maintain reasonable noise levels in a destination where people feel comfortable to gather.

Sea le, Washington 47°36’10.13”N 122°18’47.43”W

Yesler Library BranchSeattle, WashingtonSpring 2013

StudyWork

SilenceRead CalmPrivate

DiscoverMeetHangout

Children Noise

Focus

Software: Rhino, Revit, 3ds Max, Photoshop, Illustrator

Model 1”:16’

The design of this library deploys structure to free the façade for visual openness and transparency—enabling controlled sunlight and views of the neighborhood. The building is organized vertically to negotiate the steepness of the topography of the site.

Detail Section Perspective

L-Rock High School for the Arts

High School for the Arts in Little Rock, Arkansas, creates a place where students can take responsibility for their own education by (1) fi nding inspiration and competition from their student colleagues, and (2) curating their own curriculums according to their interests and goals, both academic and professional. An atrium space accomplishes these goals by taking away the programmatic bulk of administration, and giving it back to the student body. This atrium encourages unity between students. Separation between spaces occurs transparently through split levels and glass walls—enabling a sense of community throughout the school. Spaces for administration is compressed to the ground fl oor—facilitating the transition between the city outside and the realm of the student body above.

Second PlaceLittle Rock, ArkansasSpring 2014

Software: Rhino, Revit, Photoshop, Illustrator

Views out into the surrounding city is important. It encourages (within the students) a sense of connection to the world outside. Classrooms are directly adjacent to the innermost atrium, allowing for circulation to occur at the edge of the building. Access from one side of the atrium to the other occurs through three stairs. These stairs link opposing programs like classrooms and laboratories expediently.

1/8

Views out into the surrounding city is important. It encourages (within the students) a sense of connection to the world outside. Classrooms are directly adjacent to the innermost atrium, allowing for circulation to occur at the edge of the building. Access from one side of the atrium to the other occurs through three stairs. These stairs link opposing programs like classrooms and laboratories expediently.

1/8” = 1’-0” Model Photographs

The building is a post-tension concrete structure, enabling long spans, and minimizing the number of columns. A raised fl oor ventilation system heats and cools the building through geothermal wells (a useful HVAC strategy given the building’s close proximity to the Arkansas River). Here, the necessity of recreation in a high school is solved via a roof garden—a place where students can relax, study, eat, and play sports.

The spatial typology of an atrium allows cross ventilation, preventing overheating through night fl ush cooling. A curtain wall system of vertical transparent PV louvers fi lters lighting, controls climate, and enables views.

Revitalizing Eje Central

Historic map of Mexico D.F. The line in red shows the studio site, the Eje Central, a street

The Eje Central works well as a facilitator of movement that it has neglected the possibility for a stronger role as a place that could serve the needs of the community. In this team project we made the Eje a destination, a viable living environment, and a greater community amenity through increased density and enhanced public space, which can off er a variety of experiences and uses; not simply a street in and out of the centro.

Study Abroad: Mexico D.F.Summer 2013

eje as a diverse living environment

eje as a “to place” not a “through place”

eje as a ball court

Terrace and Tower TypologyMuch in the way Pre-Columbian architecture used terraces and pyramids to emphasize monumentality and use, we used the terrace as a programed landscape with a series of towers to create a monumental street, not merely iconic buildings.Replicate the Mountain BasinMexico City sits within a mountain basin, as if the city belongs to a larger but defi ned “room”. We used slabs to create a space within the city (the Eje in this case) - creating a room within, where the residents from the Eje and the adjacent communities can identify themselves with.Widen the StreetThe street activity along the Eje may already seem overwhelming even without the projected 100,000 people living in it. To provide adequate and comfortable space for the increased activity, we suggested giving the impression of a wider street by making the buildings closer to the street shorter and those further from the street taller.

This project is about borrowing, creating layers and transforming them, curious for what the outcome could be. Exploring the site’s geography and trying to understand the use of curves and how they can respond to this site lead me to explore analogies for these curves: birds wing and a fi nishing net about to catch fi sh. After having the urban fabric, it became of interest how the building would aff ect and interact with this - how they both could mediate. I used Piazza dell’Anfi teatro della città di Lucca as my originating device for the buildings. The piazza got stretched, cut, scaled down, scaled up, used as solid, used as void, collaged and decollaged. Analogies to the piazza also came into play: how can this piazza relate to a spoon, to diff erent monuments? Things external to the Piazza dell’Anfi teatro became landmarks, monuments, or places of ritual (church, baseball, swimming pool).This city has 7 neighborhoods - they have diff erent themes: the high-rise, the linear park-fork, the medieval, the opera-market, the middle, the Copenhagen riverfront, and the labyrinth. The closer south, the shorter buildings are, and the closer north the taller they get for solar purposes.

Mutation and RegenerationNYC Hunts Point BronxFall 2015

Software: Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator

the fi sh market

the Copenhagen riverfront

Flat Pack FurnitureFurniture DesignFall 2015

In this studio, we designed with the concept of building furniture out of cheap ma-terial, in this case, birch plywood sheets. These can be fl at packed, and assembled easily with no glue or extra materials; possibly be reproduced anytime with a CNC router. The table was done with 30”x30” birch plywood and the chair with 60”x60” birch plywood. Both using nesting and creating minimal waste. The shape of the chair came from the shape of the table, they both changed their shape and forms when nested in a sheet. To have enough space for the wood slats, and the rocking part of the chair changed in form from the table. It also has holes to make it a lighter structure and give it a fun cheese with holes look.The table is mainly designed for the space below the table. We always think about what is above the table, but the space below can be interesting as well.

Software: RhinoCAM, Rhino, Illustrator, CNC Router.

The OhshedGoshen, ArkansasSpring 2016Members: Justin Tucker, Thomas Geeslin, Zack Hale, Kiara Luers, Katie Lynn, Alessandra Voss, Natalie Vitek, Virginia Singh.

In 12 days we built and designed this shed in a group of 8. Our client, artist George Dombek, provided us with Limestone from his hometown. Taking advantage of this, we used it as foundation in combination with cast-in-place concrete. This stone also became our landing and our entry. This shed is a double height space inside, with a second story that over looks to the barn, the fi re, and the double height space. The exterior of this shed is from a barn we dismantled; 60 year old oak wood. Most of the wood in this project is recycled from our last project (the bookshelves) or from construction sites that had scrap wood. The fl ooring and the columns were the only wood we bought. We used bypass structures, diagonal bracing where needed, and scarf joints as beams - all these were the choice because it allowed us much fl exibility as we built.

Rome Study Abroad Sketches

Mexico Study Abroad