ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

AARON BELL2006-2011

PORTFOLIO

Selected Works

Sus

tain

able

Edu

catio

n

01

A R

oman

Fac

ade

02

Por

tal D

esig

n

0

3

Bui

ldin

g a

Dia

gram

07

Des

igni

ng fr

om N

atur

e

08

Inve

rted

Hot

el

09

12

Aur

elia

n H

ousi

ng

0

4

Hou

se fo

r a S

cupl

tor

05

Rod

in E

xhib

it

0

6

Pro

stet

ic F

acad

e

1

0

Gar

deni

ng U

rban

Spa

ces

11

Pap

erba

ck S

oup

Kitc

hen

12

In the summer of 2010, our team at P-Studio col-loborated on a competition for a new sustainable school facilitiy for the region of Benevento, Italy. The competition required the design to be built in phases and utlize new sustainable technologies as part of its architecture. In addition, each volume was to operate independently during different phases of construction so the school could operate during the projected 7 years it would take to construct the buidling.

Our team designed the school to respond to both environmental concerns as well as its historic, Ital-ian site. On the southern exposure of the building, a double glazed envelope of the building captures the sun’s energy and converts it via solar panels. On the nothern elevation, traditional stone construction and redclay tiles are used to invoke to local venacular.

Sustainable EducationCastelPetrosa, Italy

Pro

gram

tic F

eatu

res

Section Looking South towards Classrooms and Faculty Offi ces

Section Looking North through Gymnasium and Courtyard Space

Section Looking North through Cafeteria and Preschool Outdoor Learning area

As point of departure for exploring the ancient archi-tecture and urban development of Rome, our studio examined the Aurelian Wall and how it relates to the modernized city. Historically, the Aurelian Wall served as a border and a defence for the city for hundreds of years. As military technologies grew, so did the wall, and what we can observe today is a collage of differ-ent parts that depict a narrative of the city since its earliest development. At multiple locations in Rome, our studio discovered the Aurelian Wall suffering from neglect and damage. To accomodate modern traffi c needs, holes have been irreverantly slashed through the wall whereas historically an entry into the city would have been cel-ebrated by the construction of a grand portal. Other wall conditions include vandalism, cramped and crowded public spaces along its perimeter, and other issues that we sought to address by architectural design solutions. Ultimately the following three design projects emerged, each designed for a particular con-dition of the Aurelian Wall.

Studio RomaRome, Italy

The fi rst project was the re-design of the façade of an existing building that faces the Aurelian Wall. The design of the facade fi guratively uses the ancient Roman ritual of the ‘death mask’, and takes a ‘cast’ of the textural features of the wall and supplants them onto the existing structure.

Roman Facade

The second project features the same site conditions, but uses a demolished part of the wall as an opportunity to design a modern gateway into the city. The design is the extension of two halls that exhibit historic displays about the wall and creates a public promenade within the historic wall as part of a larger urban program.

Portal Design

The third project is sited along the Aurelian wall and connects two important churches; Saint John Lateran and San Giovanni. The Mixed use development includes shops and cafes on its lowest level and incorporates housing into its upper fi ve stories. The building design adjusts the existing park space into seperate zones and creates a piazza near San Giovanni. Along its access are twelve bays that symbolize the twelve stations of the cross as useres move along the street.

Aurelian Housing

Th e design of the building was part of a larger collabora-tive eff ort to create an artist community. Each building was sited off the banks of the Delaware River in New Hope Pennsylvania and were to be connected by a single pub-lic walkway for both the artists and people visiting their studios. Th is particular design was for a metal scupltor and allows for larger scale metal working on the roof and small scale projects within the interior. Th e design relies heavily on the designs of Andrew Caulder for its conceptual and spatial development. Th e orientation of the design was crucial to the devel-ment of the facades and spatial planning. On the southern facade, double glazed windows are angled to allow for an ambundance of natural light and solar heat gain. A trombe fl oor system is on the outer most southern portion of the fl oor and adds additional thermal gain. Horizontal louvers were placed on the east/west axis which are operable to reduce glare and maximize views of the river and town of New Hope.

House for a SculptorNew Hope, Pennsylvania

01 02 03

01

02

03

Elevation Development Series

Structural Development Series

03

Concrete Foundation

Pressure Treated Wood

Concrete Flooring

Galvanized Steel Stairs

Paarallel Strand LumberInsulation Wood Finish

Glass Wall

Galvanized Steel Louvers

Wood Panels

Polythene Insulation

North Section 4’ 12’

Th e project is the design of a temporary exhibit for a sculpture from the Rodin Museum in Philadelphia. Th e site is unused and awkward lot located on 12th and Chesnut streen with dimensions suitable for a small scale interven-tion. Approximately 12 ft by 60 ft , the exhibit begins at street level and gradually moves underground via a 40 ft ramp. While traveling along the corridor, a user experiences a transition of shadows and play of light that would immitate the lighting and visual experience they would encounter upon reaching and moving around the sculpture. Th e aper-atures are created by an intricate ‘shingling’ of prefabricated wooden members that are derived from a visual analysis of the Rodin sculpture. By accomplishing this visual eff ect, the design seeks to recreate the experience of the sculpture through the architecture itself and would preclude the ac-tual visual experience of the sculpture with its own creation of light and show.

Rodin ExhibitPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania

Sectional Array Circulation Cladding System

Light Sequence and Transition

Corridor Section

Th e relationship between the diagram and built architec-ture has been traditionally conceptualized by architectural theorist such as Jaqcue Derrida, Peter Eisenman and others Buildings can be translated into diagrams that can illustrate its particular characteristics of height, scale, texture, etc., but can the reverse happen as well? Can diagrams be trans-lated architecturally and does the resulting structure carry any of the imbedded information of the diagram that was orginally presented?

Th is project begins with a narrative that takes place in the Village of Arts and Humanities in Philadelphia and follows a character as he escapes from prison, confronts is enemy, and meets his untimely doom. Th e plot was then dia-grammed two dimentionally by hand and then translated into three dimensions in the computer. From the computer diagram, a physical model was transcribed and placed into the site as an intervention where the narrative it was based off of took place. Th e fi nal form of the project is experi-enced by moving through the intervention, and attempts recreating the original narrative through its architecture.

Building a DiagramNorth Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Computer Model Synthesizing the Th ree Diagrams

Site Narrative Diagram

Character Plot

Event Mapping

Architecture and nature are two fundamentally diff erently perceived things traditionally thorught to be at odds with one another. Architects such as Louis Sullivan and his suc-cessor Frank Lloyd Wright saught a solution to this divide through their notion of Organic Architecture that seeks fi nd harmony between the two. Th is project takes a more literal approach to designing architecture from natural forms of a living organism. Th e lobster was chosen for its interesting qualities of segmentation, exoskeloton, limbs, and organiztional rela-tionships of its anatomy. Th ese qualities are then translated architecturally to describe spaces and structures that relate to the relationships inherent to the organism.

Designing from NatureArtifi cial Site

Th e Project began as the development of a modular archi-tecturalspace. Th e module was ergonomic in design and intended for outdoor occupation much like a sophistated tent for urban life. Th e second phase of the design incorpo-rated traditional programs of a hotel that worked in tandem with the modular system. Th e program was conceived as part of the urban landscape taht allowed for users to take advantage of its accomodies. Th e roof of the complex was designed as a park space that was open to the public as well as modular units that could be rented by the hour. .

Inverted HotelCenter City, Philadelphia

Strategically based out of Akron, Ohio is the proposed manufactoring of the Prostetic Facade. It is universal in design and can be applied to a variety of building structures including light framed steel and wood. Each module con-sists of two layers of rubber membranes that is scored and punctured so that when infl ated, creates a textural surface that allows for greater expansion. Five infl atable modules of ETFE fabric is housed within the panel and can be ad-justed electronically to control the size of the aperature and amount of light. Th e design began of the module is based of off research-ing rubber as a building material and its various properties. Its maleable and fl exible nature is modifi ed pnuematically and immitates the breathabiility and wearability of the human skin. Water-resistant, rubber provides great protec-tion from the elements as well as provide acoustic insula-tion. Th e pneumatic ETFE pillows within each module can be adjusted by people inside the building and are able to emerge through the rubber skin’s pores to increase or decrease the amount of light within the space.

Prostetic Facade Akron, Ohio

With so many living below the poverty level in North Philadelphia as well as the rising costs of food, community farming is a great way to provide sustanance and revitilize an area. Vertical hydroponic farming is innexpenise, low-tech, and is the most eff ective method for growing crops. When designed for tight urban conditions, vertical garden-ing can create productive recreational spaces for the public. A common site condition in North Philadelphia is the presence of a vacant lots between rowhomes. Th ese lots can drain a city block of its vitality and are oft en fi lled with trash and other debris. By designing a low-tech scaff olding system to an adjacent blank elevation of an exisint row-home, and temporary or permanent system for growing crops can be used by the community. Extending the system horizonantly provides an overhead canopy that can house a farmers market and provide shaded areas in the summer months.

Gardening Urban SpacesLudlow Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nominated for entry into the Annual Stewardson Competition, this design is for a soup kitchen at the heart of University City in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Th e structural components, fl oor treatments, and recy-cling components all stemmed from research into utiliz-ing cardboard tubes, a technique pioneered by Shigeru Ban. It attempts at a net-zero energy system that uses 100% recylclable materials into its design.

Th e building features a variety of programs that serve the homeless community of Philadelphia. A soup kitchen/college diner is at the heart of its programming is situated along the main commercial corridor of the site. Offi ces for management and personal are located to the north and are connected via a private portion of the building that operates as a dormitory for people in need of temporary and emergency housing. A large portion of the produce used in the commerical kitchen is grown directly on site via the system of cardboard tube plant-ers that can be moved, replanted, and taken off site for personal comsumption.

Paperback Soup KitchenUniversity City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania