Connor Ortega: Architecture Design II
Project 01: The Dream Apartment
This project is all about designing my ideal apartment as a young professional. I explore how to make the apartment fit into the larger architectural picture and express my personal vision. I'm both the designer and the client, so I'll design the space to match my personality, habits, and preferences. My goal is to create a living space that reflects my dreams and ambitions. I design based on my vision board, budget analysis, and my future goals as inspiration. The main question is, how can I use architecture to meet my needs and dreams in the future?
Research: Vision Board
My vision board serves as a visual representation of my future aspirations, which revolve around fitness, family, education, economic success, and a thriving career. The foundation of this vision board is a commitment to a healthy lifestyle, shown by track, weightlifting, and a balanced diet. Running shoes and gym equipment represent my dedication to physical well-being. Simultaneously, I aim to build a loving family, shown by images of a wife and kids, and prioritize education through a school like Rice University.
Financial stability and career success also hold a significant importance, shown by money, a car, and an architecture firm, illustrating my ambition for professional excellence. In addition to these goals, I want to focus on my creating strong family bonds, and creating a family of my own. The vision board's structure, featuring triangles and a consistent color scheme, separates the different goals into their own sections to give each idea its own focus so that it isn't overcrowded by other aspects of my life. This board represents my goals, ambitions, and plans for the future, and becomes the basis for my apartment design.
Financial stability and career success also hold a significant importance, shown by money, a car, and an architecture firm, illustrating my ambition for professional excellence. In addition to these goals, I want to focus on my creating strong family bonds, and creating a family of my own. The vision board's structure, featuring triangles and a consistent color scheme, separates the different goals into their own sections to give each idea its own focus so that it isn't overcrowded by other aspects of my life. This board represents my goals, ambitions, and plans for the future, and becomes the basis for my apartment design.
Apartment Design
My apartment design blends my future goals while also creating a functional living environment. It is centered around the concept of open space, creating an open and large area to live so that one doesn't feel trapped in a box. The use large windows and natural light, enhances the feeling of spaciousness along with providing the physical and phycological benefits of the sun.
One of the most important design decisions was to create a dedicated area for working out. Based on my goals for the future, maintaining physical health is vital, and the apartment accommodates this with a well-equipped workout space. It's strategically positioned to be separate from the working areas, ensuring that the living spaces remain calming. The layout also takes into account my budget analysis and what I would be making around that time. It does this by using as small a footprint as possible without the feeling of being cramped that comes along with it.
One of the most important design decisions was to create a dedicated area for working out. Based on my goals for the future, maintaining physical health is vital, and the apartment accommodates this with a well-equipped workout space. It's strategically positioned to be separate from the working areas, ensuring that the living spaces remain calming. The layout also takes into account my budget analysis and what I would be making around that time. It does this by using as small a footprint as possible without the feeling of being cramped that comes along with it.
Project 02: Aging Out Of Foster Care
Each year, approximately 20,000 youth exit foster care and enter a world that they have not been properly prepared for. The second project is focused on addressing these problems and providing them with a way of transition into the next part of their life. These designs aim to provide both a functional living environment, and the resources required to be ready for the future ahead of them, all while fostering a sense of community between the youth.
Research
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Before I began designing the buildings, I took the time to research the common challenges faced by the youth this project aims to support. This research helped me gain a deeper understanding of the issues that require our attention.
Among the challenges I found, many young people turn to substance abuse as a way to cope with their circumstances. Additionally, a significant number of boys find themselves in situations where they become legally emancipated, which can make their journey into adulthood more complicated. Young women often experience early pregnancies, and their chances of obtaining a college degree are very low, leaving them in a challenging position as they become adults. Considering these pressing issues is crucial in the building's design process, as it will determine its effectiveness. These statistics highlight the urgent need for academic and financial support, as well as the importance of teaching them essential life skills to help them become independent and successful adults. Our design should address these challenges and provide a supportive environment to help these individuals overcome their obstacles and build a better future. |
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Concept Design
Concept 01
The first building design for foster youth focuses on three main parts. First, there are two separate apartment wings, each providing a safe and comfortable living space for the young people. These apartments aren't just places to live; they're designed to make the residents feel at home give a strong sense of privacy while being together in an apartment.
The central area of the building is the heart of the design, meant for fostering a sense of community. It's a space where the residents can hang out, socialize, and build friendships. It includes common areas like lounges, outdoor spots, gardens, and places for games and activities. It's all about creating a friendly environment for the youth to connect with each other and build meaningful relationships.
Next to the apartments, there's a separate building, a resource center. Here, foster youth can get help with things like school, job training, career advice, managing money, and everyday life skills like cooking and budgeting. This center is a one-stop-shop for everything they need to be ready for independent living.
Together, these parts make the building a supportive place for foster youth as they transition into independent adulthood, giving them a strong start toward a successful future.
The central area of the building is the heart of the design, meant for fostering a sense of community. It's a space where the residents can hang out, socialize, and build friendships. It includes common areas like lounges, outdoor spots, gardens, and places for games and activities. It's all about creating a friendly environment for the youth to connect with each other and build meaningful relationships.
Next to the apartments, there's a separate building, a resource center. Here, foster youth can get help with things like school, job training, career advice, managing money, and everyday life skills like cooking and budgeting. This center is a one-stop-shop for everything they need to be ready for independent living.
Together, these parts make the building a supportive place for foster youth as they transition into independent adulthood, giving them a strong start toward a successful future.
Concept 02
The building design takes the shape of an "L," with another structure on top creating a shaded area below where foster youth can gather. The bottom part of the "L" is a space for social interaction and building connections, while the upper part houses living quarters. Beside this is a resource building focused on helping the youth prepare for their future.
The central shaded area under the building is meant for the youth to meet and socialize, fostering a sense of community. The lower story is designed for them to hang out and build relationships. The upper story provides living spaces for all the youth, ensuring they have a safe and supportive place to live.
The separate resource building offers services such as education assistance, job training, and life skills training, equipping the youth with the knowledge and skills they need for independent adulthood. Together, these elements create a supportive environment for foster youth as they transition into independence.
The central shaded area under the building is meant for the youth to meet and socialize, fostering a sense of community. The lower story is designed for them to hang out and build relationships. The upper story provides living spaces for all the youth, ensuring they have a safe and supportive place to live.
The separate resource building offers services such as education assistance, job training, and life skills training, equipping the youth with the knowledge and skills they need for independent adulthood. Together, these elements create a supportive environment for foster youth as they transition into independence.
Concept 03
The idea is to create a building design inspired by "Ready Player One" for foster youth. It features a 5 story structure made up of stacked rectangular apartments, like Jenga. The central area allows plenty of natural light while the initial floors offer group living spaces and essential resources for the youth.
The Jenga-like design combines a modern look with practicality. The central space fills the building with natural light and serves as a community area. The lower floors are for communal living spaces, encouraging social interaction and bonding. While right above are private apartments that let youth spend time alone. Nearby, resources like education, job training, and life skills support are readily available. This setup creates a space for foster youth to connect, learn, and prepare for independent adulthood.
The Jenga-like design combines a modern look with practicality. The central space fills the building with natural light and serves as a community area. The lower floors are for communal living spaces, encouraging social interaction and bonding. While right above are private apartments that let youth spend time alone. Nearby, resources like education, job training, and life skills support are readily available. This setup creates a space for foster youth to connect, learn, and prepare for independent adulthood.
Site Research
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Before settling on building designs, it's important to thoroughly research the site. For example, on this site, there's a wall of trees serving as a wall from the main road, providing a auditory and visual blockade. Along the physical components of the site, the sun path and wind direction is important to take into account, so researching the site is paramount in designing a building.
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Early Building Floorplans
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The final concept ideas for these buildings ended up being a combination of concept 2 and 3. I decided that while concept 2 wasn't big enough to serve as both housing a community, it could provide for one of those needs by serving as an area in which youth can go to relax, hang out, or get help for their future. Concept 3 had a modular idea for housing, where the apartments could be built in a different location and stacked, which lead me to shipping container homes. Along with being cheap to build, these homes provide a compact way to fit as many people as possible.
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Building Early Elevations
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The elevations provide a way of seeing where windows are located, as well as how the roofs look.
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Final Floorplans
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The final floor plans changed very little from the sketch ones, but I created a new building that is wheelchair accessible so that this solution is for everyone. Along with the new building, the daycare was removed because it's in such a public area, and would disturb others with the noise.
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Final Elevations
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Shows a change in the roof of the community building.
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Building Renderings
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Final site rendering shows the location of buildings, sidewalks, and the parking lot. The location of the tiny-homes were chosen to provide privacy to each resident while also allowing them to be a part of the community if they chose to do so.
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Site/Building Models
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An up-close view of each building.
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