urban_shed competition :: S/M/ART DECK

 

FA_2009

grey.studio : Robert Shepherd, Principal / Yukiko Bowman / Jeremy Harris

S/M/ART_DECK recognizes the potential of an existing system that is not broken but must perform better in order to activate the shed experience. Our proposal is thus NOT a reinvention but an INSERTION of an intelligent, responsive modular deck that incorporates site-responsive programmatic needs [LIGHT, SIGN, + OTHER]. These decking modules in turn generate experiential opportunities for pedestrians below and workers above [eg: LIGHT + HEAT + ART = GALLERY].
 

The S/M/ART_DECK system is a simple, modular*, materially efficient, and standardized yet flexible system that anticipates future innovation. Utilizing existing scaffolding structure to re-define the sidewalk as a set of urban experiences, the S/M/ART_DECK is deployed through an act of local coding which defines the sidewalk as four distinct ZONES (Building, Pedestrian, Urban and Street). Modules are inserted on an as-needed basis in direct response to local conditions, which range from building entry to bicycle racks. Spaces not defined by a direct response to site become opportunities for augmenting the urban experience through the installation of custom modules (ex. wayfinding systems, street furniture, art, etc). Every installation thus becomes an index of the existing site. 

[*All deck modules are standard pre-fabricated widths appropriate to the structural module of scaffolding, and except for NULL infill modules (available in variable lengths), are 4’ and 8’ in length.]

resilient.cities competition :: FOOD AS UTILITY

 

SU_2009 

grey studio : Robert Shepherd / Yukiko Bowman / Gassia Salibian / Jeremy Harris

recognition : First Place, Urban Design Category 

format : 2-sided poster mailer

FOOD = UTILITY acknowledges that FOOD IS A PUBLIC GOOD. This opens the doors for government incentivizing (tax-breaks, lease-holds, etc.) which ensures more distributed access. Current urban agricultural efforts, while broad in vision and scope, lack both the will and the infrastructure necessary for permanent and meaningful change. An interconnected organizational model which uses existing land and resource infrastructures (ex. utilities, schools, easements, existing stores, etc.) to create a network of radial Food Utility Districts would allow available public land to become arable, private land to be capitalized, and just-in-time processing methods that promote local and regional food access.
 

The groundwork has already been laid for the implementation of a proposal that begins to generate a networked and localized FRESH-FOOD UTILITY SYSTEM. Cities such as Portland, OR. and Oakland, CA. have taken the first steps by conducting thorough urban land inventories that document existing public plots that show potential for urban agriculture. Moreover, Oakland and Toronto have also developed Food Policy Councils whose task is to work towards a secure and local comprehensive food system. However, while existing policy recommendations all acknowledge the need to reconsider existing zoning strategies, none to our knowledge has yet developed a prototype zoning map based on proximity and proliferation of food-system related programs, nor have they included processing and distribution as part of necessary land-allocations. By RECONCEPTUALIZING FOOD AS A UTILITY we reduce the market advantage which favors large-scale chains, corporations and distributors. This shift would return food security to communities which are currently detached from the means of food production. Equalizing distribution and providing important support infrastructure for local food systems would create production that is in tune with demand, distribution that is efficient and evenly available, and consumption that creates a sustainable supply.

thesis2 :: STOP.SPACE STUDY

 















SP_2008

Advisors : Jill Stoner / Nicholas deMonchaux / Ananya Roy / Lars Lerup

in the contemporary global city, there exists a proliferating but semiotically invisible spatial collision that hovers tenuously between the intentionally programmed spaces of private interiorities and the 'useful' infrastructures of the moving city.  often living near the intersections of linescapes, these stop.spaces are forgotten remnants, rarely rendered. 

however, it is precisely the programmatic and geometric ambiguity of these 'useless' leftover spaces that allow a perceptually thick experience of the city.  at such unexpected points of haptic encounter,  where speed meets stasis, body meets machine, and the temporal meets the geometric, an opportunistic and fleeting inhabitation of what exists is possible.  the explorative re-presentation of such perceptually-charged but seemingly invisible urban stop.spaces is the challenge of this thesis which asks: how might re-presentation be creation, and creation, preservation? 

The project began with a textual analysis of a 63,000 word blog which I kept during 9 months of global travel research [http://actofroute.blogspot.com; see diagram below].  The most frequently occurring words unique to each global city were then used as a verbal cue in defining a stop.space within each city.  Each city was also documented on site through cumulative cognitive traces [see drawing below.]

Each stop.space was then exploratively RE-presented via boards/drawings, video, and 3D models.  Above is one example from a stop.space in Sao Paolo -- a set of stairs that connect a park to an underground freeway.  The site was modeled in MAYA, and the velocity dynamic of the site was abstractly captured via both an animation sequence and two fabricated models.  For the final thesis review, I set up an installation in an unused hallway and stairwell of Wurster Hall, thereby activating a usually-ignored site within our building.

thesis1 :: WORD ANALYSIS + TRACE

global studio, johannesburg :: JOZI REMAP

 

SU_2007

Global Studio 2007 : Johannesburg, S.Africa

In response to a re-development flier for a soon-to-be gentrified neighborhood in downtown Johannesburg ('Jozi'), my team produced an alternative response + critique, which we presented to several members of the city council.  In contrast to the image of the neighborhood as empty and ripe for gentrification, our multiple site visits to the area revealed a dense population of illegal squatters and cottage-industry survivalism.  This two-sided quarter-fold pamphlet presents an analysis of the existing proposal, highlighting its shortcomings, and a new proposal that capitalizes on strengthening existing 'hidden' communities and social organizations. 

parametric modeling + fabrication :: SUKITUBE

 

FA_2006

CAD / CAM Seminar, Prof. Lisa Iwamoto

Team : Veronica de la Rosa / Will Oren / Yukiko Bowman

This seminar explored the potential of CATIA's Digital Project software to design and fabricate a parametrically responsive structure based on the proliferation of a singular baseline cell.  Our team pursued the extruded hexagonal lattice, commonly found in ocean-borne monocoque organisms such as radiolario.

The project was sited in the air intake area behind the CED library, striking for its varied atmospheric conditions and its unused, left-over quality.  Attributes concerning sunlight, wind, and upward views demanded a porous structural skin that could mediate between interior and exterior environments.  After initially instantiating the sukitube skin with the null-condition cell structure, the apertures and density of the cell field could be adjusted accordingly. 

wood.work :: GETABAKO + STOOL DETAILS

 

2002-2004

Takumi Company, Seattle Washington

Material : Doug Fir, Port Orford Cedar

Using traditional Japanese woodworking tools, Takumi Company specializes in hand-crafted Japanese joinery.  During my 2.5-year apprenticeship there I worked on everything from furniture pieces to interior remodels and new home construction.  I was responsible for the entire completion of both pieces shown here. 

xxxx shattuck ave :: WALL SECTIONS

FA_2008

Fernau&Hartman Architects

Software : Vectorworks 11.5 

This new retail+office building is adjacent to an existing building, also designed by Fernau&Hartman.  The new design will be a formal compliment to its neighboring predecessor. 

cpm competition :: CIRCULATION AXON

SP_2009

Fernau&Hartman Architects Competition Team : Cindy Liu, John McGill, Andrew Ballard, Yukiko Bowman

This renovation of an existing science museum adopts the FIELD STATION concept over a formal museum as its point of departure.  Maintaining existing structural elements, our design introduced porosity through outdoor access,  uninterrupted view-corridors, upper-story outdoor ramps, an inhabitable garden terrace, and a prominent observation tower near the field station's entrance.