Browsing by Author "Castellon, Juan Jose"

Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
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    Combinatory Modular System for Integral Forms
    (2020-04-20) Cheng, Yuqing; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn; Colman, Scott
    The relationship between form and structure is a topic that, historically, has been broadly discussed in the disciplines of architecture and engineering. Taking some of these precedents as reference, this thesis focuses on the development of a combinatory modular system that integrates expressive forms and structural principles. This is achieved through the implementation of geometric and structural parameters as well as industrial processes and material properties from the early stages of the design process. Through this design approach, expressive forms move away from personal and figurative references. Moreover, this modular system reevaluates the role of industrial mass production and the new opportunities offered by digital prefabrication methods through the development of a combinatorial assembly system of structural modules at multiple scales.
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    Cultivating Commons Adaptive Reuse of a Parking Garage
    (2023-04-19) McGlone, Kim; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn; Jimenez, Carlos
    ABSTRACT Parking garages are part of the invisible infrastructure of urban centers. Tectonic masses that are relatively unnoticed until needed. Interest in alternate transportation and urban planning methods make them increasingly obsolete, leaving the skeletal remains to assume a new identity. They are situated on desirable real estate, provide an occupiable structure and opportunities to reduce the economic and environmental impact of demolition. Cultivating Commons transforms an underutilized parking garage into a hybrid condition, accommodating current parking needs and incorporating ecological programs to create a public center that promotes social and community interaction in a healthy and balanced building ecosystem.
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    Dirty Assemblies
    (2023-04-19) Cook, Anna; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn; Jimenez, Carlos
    This thesis is a critical analysis of the existing building culture in Houston, including the material choices and lifespans that make up the current conditions. Rather than accepting the anonymity of construction materials and practices, this project disrupts the seemingly inevitable inertia of these norms. This project speculates about an alternative future of building working within the framework of the seemingly banal existing construction assemblies through the exploration of a case study house as a lab of living building materials, capturing a testing ground in a moment of transition. This new understanding of assemblies, materials, and processes changes the relationship between the natural and built worlds. By creating a messy living situation, we are forced to consider our surroundings and the messiness of living in the world. As this system takes over the building, it will eventually compost the existing construction. In the same way, this system is eating away at existing practices to transition to a more holistic system of biomaterials. After testing these systems on the case study house, the vision is that these interventions are strategically deployed across many building types in order to slow down the damage of construction while building up a counter-reality. I want to acknowledge that this presentation essentially shows a moment in time probably a few months past the installation. The users of this Lab House record their experiences in many terms: experiential, thermal, and maintenance. They plan to start similar interventions on other local buildings using these studies to produce a strategic, targeted application of materiality. Although their built environment has been subsumed with the natural, not all buildings using these assembly processes will be quite as heavy in terms of application. Introducing the results of the case study house into the mainstream construction market creates new methods and systems that can be broadly applied and eventually replace our existing materials and assemblies. This exploration of a transitional mode of building revolutionizes the value systems and methods that designers and construction professionals use. As we rework this paradigm, it raises the issue of the continuous labor of care and the question of who and what else should be considered in the creation and maintenance of buildings . By treating soil, buildings, and humans as equal companions, the given paradigm is no longer valid, and the creation of a new system lends itself to an industry of building care. This thesis is a stance on individual and collective relationships with the environments in which we live. A key supporting document is the catalog of dirty assemblies which details building processes, experiences and metrics from the case study house, and insight into how to move forward. It shows how to tangibly confront pressing issues of environment, material, and existing building culture. The catalog offers an accessible framework that makes us deeply examine what it means to inhabit the world today.
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    Energetic Ecologies: Industry, Adaptation, and The Thermodynamic Paradigm
    (2021-04-22) Hernandez, Michael S.; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn
    Addressing the widespread problem of post-industrial urban decay is imperative for helping our cities become safer, healthier, and more equitable; however, a close look at prevailing methods of intervening in these sites reveals underlying socio-economic, ecological, and long-term energy concerns. Starting with an abandoned industrial site in Houston as a case study, this thesis offers an alternative approach: re-engaging industrial ruins through the lens of thermodynamics. In developing a low-cost, low-embodied energy public space with high social and ecological value, this project considers the broader implications of biasing the ambient, sensorial properties of energetic exchange in architectural design. From a thermodynamic perspective, industrial ruins hold immense value -- from the materiality of their structures, to the land they inhabit, to their surrounding urban and ecological contexts. Because of their construction, composition, and formal qualities, post-industrial sites can be extraordinarily thermodynamically active and embedded with energetic potential that can be re-engaged and deployed in a variety of ways. Detailed analyses of the energetic pre-existences and microclimate of the site lead to development of an integrated structural and material system that calibrates passive ventilation to generate atmospheric zoning. Atmospheres are further articulated using intensive properties like pressure, density, convection, and conduction. At each step, the project is tested and refined using CFD analysis. Conceived as an overlapping network of passively-conditioned public spaces, programming is not pre-determined, but evolves as a function of atmospheric diversity. The formal expression of the project emerges as a synthesis of the material, structural, atmospheric, and energetic qualities of the site. By integrating non-isolated energy modeling, lessons from systems ecology, and modern analysis tools, the thermodynamic paradigm can not only transform how we conceive of site-specific design solutions for industrial ruins – it has broad implications for how we design and build architecture in our increasingly energy-conscious societies.
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    This House Could Be A Home
    (2024-04-19) Cicinelli, Cande; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn; Jimenez, Carlos
    For an individual to think of their house as their home there needs to be an established community and collective spaces for one to feel at home. To accomplish this, I propose 8 multifamily buildings with a semipublic green rooftop and 9 surrounding public buildings. This open community invites neighbors in as it includes public spaces for social gatherings and services, such as a community center, an elderly center with a vegetable garden, and a grocery store, among others. There are multiple collective scales from private spaces and patios inside the units, to semipublic as we can see in the rooftop or laundry rooms, collective kitchens and work-study areas, and finally to public spaces that invite neighbors in, such as the community center.
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    Vaults in Deserts and Swamps
    (2022-04-22) Barajas, Estefania; Castellon, Juan Jose; Finley, Dawn; Geiser, Reto
    The project aims to promote urban agriculture and create new public spaces that introduce play, fresh produce, and entrepreneurial opportunities for historically disinvested communities. By developing a multiscalar structure that serves as a vertical farm, outdoor classroom, and distribution center / local store, the project aims to help introduce an alternative collective space within public schools.