melissa marrero design portfolio
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Design PortfolioTRANSCRIPT
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Melissa Marrero Burgos | Design Portfolio 2013
La Casa Cortada
Riverside Alley
UNzipping Coasts
Children’s Art Museum
Affordable Housing for Artists
Peace Pavilion
ZipLamp
Sitting Apparatus
dwelling
urban
infrastructure | landscape
educational
housing
cultural
lighting
furniture prototype
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La Casa CortadaSan Juan, Puerto Rico
Food has been the basis for social gathering throughout time, and
serves as the inspiration for this project. Located in a highly cultural
and gastronomic area in San Juan, PR., La Casa Cortada is an
urban dwelling that focuses on the rituals of food preparation and
consumption, conceived as a unique space for social gathering and
exchange.
Inspired by the study of vegetables and fruits, this space is conceived
in layers. Concrete is the outer structural layer and the wood is
the soft interior layer. A single long central table dominates the
interior. The table is surrounded by a sequence of architectural slices
that respond to program, natural light, and ventilation. The slices
reveal views and create a physical atmosphere that enhances the
experience. The space symbolizes and celebrates the processes of
growing, making and serving of food. The dwelling fuses food and
architecture into one continuous process.
Second Prize Winner
Archon Prize Design Competition
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6’-6
”
standard table size
new table size
3’-0”
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Riverside AlleyChicago, Illinois
We propose an active fissure that will transform the alley into a path
for downtown Chicago and Printer’s Row Neighborhood for city life
and entertainment. The city of Chicago today has more than 1,900
miles of alleys, providing convenient access to buildings, garages
and loading docks. Many pedestrians walk through the streets of
chicago and notice those mysterious alley ways or urban gaps that
exist between building but these narrow urban lanes are usually
uninviting. In places such as Europe, alleys are often what is left of
a medieval street network, or a right way or ancient footpath in an
urban setting and they continue to be spaces for restaurants, retail or
art, where people can gather.
The idea of creating a project that embraces the idea of a city gap
and transforms this forgotten space into a path of activities and
landscape is the foundation of our intentions. The project will invite
people through an intentional landscape that will guide the public
through entertainment, galleries, art, music, restaurants and music.
It is important to create that transition from the city to the landscape
and from the landscape to the program that will respond to the hybrid
complexity of the project.
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residence
hotel
officeslibrary/ media labsretail
concert hallprogram structure circulation cavities
residence
hotel
officeslibrary/ media labsretail
concert hallprogram structure circulation cavities
residence
hotel
officeslibrary/ media labsretail
concert hallprogram structure circulation cavities
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metra communter rail
subway rail lines & stations
water taxi
elevated rail lines & stations
bus transit
bycicle parking
parking
bridges
downtown mixeddowntow servicehistorical landmarks
downtown core
planned developmentriver
zoning transit
analytical design sequence: site approach + program
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120 240 48060
S Wells st.
W Harrison st.
m
225 450 900ft
metra communter rail
subway rail lines & stations
water taxi
elevated rail lines & stations
bus transit
bycicle parking
parking
bridges
downtown mixeddowntow servicehistorical landmarks
downtown core
planned developmentriver
zoning transit
analytical design sequence: site approach + program
1 2 3 4 5 6
120 240 48060
S Wells st.
W Harrison st.
m
225 450 900ft
H
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P
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TAXI
KAYAK
BIKING
DOG PARK
RESTAURANTS
CAFE
BAR
SHOP
MARKET
LUGGAGE
UNDERGROUND PARKING
RESIDENTIAL
OFFICES
HOTEL
ESCALATOR
WATER TAXI
ground level
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12550 250ft
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m e c h a n i c a l
r e s i d e n c e
r e s i d e n t i a l l o b b y
m e c h a n i c a l
h o t e l
h o t e l l o b b y
m e c h a n i c a l
o f f i c e s
r e t a i l / r e s t a u r a n t s
u n d e r g r o u n d p a r k i n g
Cavities are created inside the high-rise
transforming interioir space, providing
natural light and direct contact with
the sky.
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hotel floor plan residential floor
15 30ft
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hotal floorplan residential floorplan
program structure circulation cavities
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[Un]zipping CoastsTokyo, Japan
Tokyo is famous for being one of the largest metropolitan areas and
one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city’s
urban composition is mostly conformed of tight spaces, small streets
and reduced public space due to rapid population growth and poor
urban planning.
Tsukiji Market is one of Tokyo’s main public spaces and it’s the most
well-known wholesale fish market in the world. This market is a
complex physical, cultural and laborious environment, which cannot
be understood apart from its placement. This construction of place
connects the social structure to a meaning of identity and tradition
carried out by the Japanese people and its processes.
This infrastructural intervention strives to embed the market in
its place and provide temporary relief against flood hazard while
still attending ecological issues in Tokyo Bay, with the purpose
of restoring and creating new ecosystems and providing safety
measures for urban life at water edge.
Director’s Choice Special Mentiond3space | Unbuilt Visions International Design Competition
Second Prize Graduate Studio Award for Design Exellence
i n f r a s t r u c t u r e i n h a b i t s y s t e m
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Tsukiji Market forms part of Tokyo Bay’s waterfront area,
but being at the water edge brings many possibilities as
well as many disadvantages. Tsukiji Market has to deal
with high flood risk due to sea level rise caused by storm
surges and global warming. Also, the waters of Tokyo
Bay suffer from Hypoxia, a lack of oxygen, due to high
pollution caused by land reclamation on the bay. Taking
this research as a backdrop, Tsukiji Market renders many
opportunities for much needed productive open public
space for city life at large.
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0 . anoxic water
Hypoxic and Anoxic water in estua ry are known to be
one of the causes of the coastal envi ronmental p roblems.
2-3 . start to affect animals
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lack of open public spaces high flood risk high pullution
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zipper-like behaviorsystem
adaptability infrastructure
To rectify the bay as a thriving ecosystem, hydraulic structures were
designed to treat the Tokyo Bay water. The zipper-shaped weir is
a hydraulic structure that works as a barrier designed to alter the
flow characteristics of water using a trapezoidal shape to oxygenate
the water as it moves through the weir. By aerating the water, this
infrastructure could provide sufficient oxygen to start restoring
marine life in Tokyo Bay. This design strategy became a way of
envisioning an intervention that would attend to the agendas of the
site in a passive way.
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Temporary water storage which can
provide water for current and future
needs
Zigzagging canals that control the flow of water
adequately with the purpose of increasing the
marshes capacity to absorb pollutants in the
water of Tokyo Bay
“Spillway” structures used to collect and release water due to water level rise by flood.
High water current canal that agitates the water sufficiently to introduce oxygen in the bay water by creating bubbles.
With the help of wetlands and the process of water aeriation, we will rehabilitate ecosystems in Tokyo Bay and bring more fish to these waters
Provides area of shelter for birds.
Use of wetlands with purpose of decreasing flooding,
removing pollutants from water, protecting the
shoreline, providing habitat for wildlife , and serving important
recreational and cultural functions.
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urban space _ strategy ecological _ strategyflood relief _ strategy
whole sa lestorage auct ion
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f i sh market ma in program ar rangement in 10 p ieces
Tsukiji Fish Market
existent tsuki j i f ish market
This ecological infrastructure is designed as a system formed by
vast concrete structures, which inject themselves 50 meters deep
into the ground and use the market as a catalyst for a larger coastal
intervention that invades other water edges. By attaching itself to
other sites it starts creating a buffer that offsets the water edge
further back with the purpose of protecting city life for future water
level rise.
The zigzagging behavior of the infrastructure provides
numerous possibilities of canals, lagoons, wetlands and
aeration areas for the treatment of Tokyo Bay’s water and
the growth of small ecosystems. Water tanks, spillways
and wetlands are used for water management and for the
temporarily relief of flooding that may occur around the
coast.
+
Temporary water storage which can
provide water for current and future
needs
Zigzagging canals that control the flow of water
adequately with the purpose of increasing the
marshes capacity to absorb pollutants in the
water of Tokyo Bay
“Spillway” structures used to collect and release water due to water level rise by flood.
High water current canal that agitates the water sufficiently to introduce oxygen in the bay water by creating bubbles.
With the help of wetlands and the process of water aeriation, we will rehabilitate ecosystems in Tokyo Bay and bring more fish to these waters
Provides area of shelter for birds.
Use of wetlands with purpose of decreasing flooding,
removing pollutants from water, protecting the
shoreline, providing habitat for wildlife , and serving important
recreational and cultural functions.
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02
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urban space _ strategy ecological _ strategyflood relief _ strategy
whole sa lestorage auct ion
X 10
f i sh market ma in program ar rangement in 10 p ieces
Tsukiji Fish Market
existent tsuki j i f ish market
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Children’s Creative Arts MuseumChampaign Illinois
“Think like a child, design like an architect.”
The concept of the Creative Arts Children’s Museum is to appeal to
the senses in a new way. By changing our perspectives and being
sensitive to a child’s scale, we can start perceiving the world in
a different way. For this reason the museum is designed in two
parts, the first half responds to the adult’s scale and the second
half responds to a child’s scale. These are connected with a hidden-
colors bridge that marks that transition between these two. From the
entrance to the lobby to the galleries, the museum tries to stimulate
a child’s senses by creating spaces that distort reality and enhances
it according to each sense.
The program of the museum provides art classrooms in the upper
level to educate children of different ages in making art and
appreciation. The lower level of the museum responds to a more
public realm providing exterior arts spaces, café restaurant and
library, where is combines the community, the park and the riverfront.
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a. SCALE DISTORTION
b. HIDDEN COLORS - BRIDGE
c. SURFACE MAZE
d. MAKE-A-SOUND GALLERY
e. EXHIBITION SPACE
f. KALEIDOSCOPE GALLERY
... A CHILD’S PATH
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... A CHILD’S PATH
scale distortion | air balloon entrance lobby
hidden colors bridge
texture gallery maze
make a sound gallery
kaleidoscope gallery
A Child’s Path through the Museum ...
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RECEPTIONPARENTS WAITING AREA OFFICESTHINK - TANKBRIDGEART STUDIOSSERVICE AREA
01020304050607
UPPER LEVEL FLOORPLAN
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start here
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The museum takes advantage of its location activating the
small riverfront by providing a cafe restaurant, library, an
exterior gallery space and a multipurpose room for the use of
the community. It also integrates in the program the fishing
piers and small piers for the small boats that pass around
the river.
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The museum consists of a double facade, of which the exterior is
designed to control light and views according to program with a
playful pattern made by fritting.
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Affordable Housing for ArtistsCaguas Puerto Rico
The objective of this proposal is to provide affordable housing
that acknowledges the art community and address the new
demographics in the urban center of Caguas. This program is
designed to accommodate a cafe theater and an art gallery space
that will provide a lieu for social exchange, art exposure and cultural
festivities.
My approach separates the functions by locating the residential
in the north building and the workshops in the south building with
the purpose of keeping the user or the artist in constant movement
and separating living from working areas. The residendial units are
deigned to accomodate diversity in one building, from the individual
to a family. The ground level is designed as a sequence of spaces
that are individual in prigrams but provide the opportunity to combine
themselves to create a larger space where art, flavor, music and
people come together.
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AMBITO SOCIAL : DIVERSIDAD DE APARTAMENTOS
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Peace PavillionLondon England
Facial scaring is deeply embedded in sudanese culture. Sudanese
tribes mark their bodies with patterns to commemorate
achievements - a mark of identity and distinction.
The structure consists of pieces that fit into each other, with no need
for secondary structure. Each module is of equal importance to the
stability of the structure, symbolizing cooperation required to sustain
the sudanese peace.
The pavilion embeds the traditional scarification patterns into the
piece. Shadows cast from the patterns are projected onto the
visitors. This symbolically allows the visitors to identify themselves
with the people of sudan, their social struggle and the universal idea
peace.
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SOUTH NORTH
S U D A N
CONCEPT
Two traditional patterns abstracted from facial scaring marks
characteristic for tribes of North and South Sudan are embedded into
the structure.
ATMOSPHERE
The pattern transcends the idea from the physical to a more
experiential realm through the play of light and shadow.
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A zipper is a commonly used device for binding the edges of an
opening of fabric or other flexible material. We use this device
everyday on conventional things like clothing, bags, sport gear, etc.
The concept of the lamp emerges from the idea of using a habitual
device, such as the zipper, in an unconventional way. The zipper as
the main material for the design of the lamp would convey properties
like flexibility, self-structure and an opportunity for unique lighting
effects.
The arrangement of the zippers in the lamp creates a variety of
lighting effects throughout the shade. This device provides the user
a possibility of interaction with the lamp by zipping or unzipping
different areas of the shade to reveal the light inside. The zip lamp
uses a compact fluorescent light to create a warm effect that would
not heat up the shade. The lamp creates an ambient light that could
be used in a diversity of spaces and functions.
ZipLamp
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“ Z IP “
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Sitting Apparatus
The concept of this prototype comes from the analysis of the
rotational mechanism of an exiting joint. The sitting apparatus
consists of two semicircular wooden pieces intertwined, allowing
a rotary movement, horizontal and vertical expansion. A simple
japanese joint embeded in both pieces is used to transform it to a
different shape and height.
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