3. ATTACHMENTS
MASTERS RESEARCH PROJECT 2010
Program................................................................Media Center - Bazaar
Location................................................................Cairo, Egypt
Computer Modeling..................................Rhinoceros
Rendering............................................................V-ray
Professor............................................................William TIlson
4. ABSTRACT
Informal Settlements inject and spur from a
seed of urban poor in the city. As a barnacle of
poverty and a supply of necessary housing,
these settlements provide shelter for the
transient working classes of mega cities
around the world. The constructions of the
settlements shift and transform daily, using
the most modest of means. Of intrigue to
the architect are the theoretical implications
of the non-architect’s performance of
instinctual building processes with salvaged
means. Architectural attachments expose
the basic elements of building in this urban
condition.
The City of the Dead, or Qarafa, in Cairo is
such a place, securing contested housing
for 100,000 – 500,000 people. Although
mirroring a common condition throughout
the world, this settlement resides within a
historic cemetery, dating back to the Arab
Conquest of Egypt in 640 AD. Living among
the Dead leads to an investigation which
explores how architecture, through poverty,
is at its core a skill of all people to create
place and define shelter.
5. SITE HISTORY
MOSQUE
AL-AZHAR PARK
SALADIN CITADEL
SULPHUR BATHS OF
AIN AL-SIRA
The history of the cemeteries in Cairo follow
a series of rulers and dynastic periods. From
the Arab Conquest to the Ottoman Conquest
in 1517, governing bodies have passed from
Fatimids, Ayyubids and Mamluks. After the
Ottoman Empire rule, the French Expedition
brought a westernized influence, followed
by the British Protectorate and eventually
the Egyptian Revolution which occurred in
1952.
Ancient Egyptians interacted with the dead
and placed items from the world with them.
Believing not necessarily in reincarnation but
that the spirit lingered amongst the tomb
for sometime in the form of another, such as
a bird. Modern Egyptians perceive the dead
in similar ways. The body and materials go
into afterlife, but still remain.
Living and visiting the dead on main holidays
is welcomed, and not strange. Living occurs
permanently in a tomb as either a guardian
or caretaker in many cases, while homeless
may use them as free housing. Rumors
exist of criminal business and can provide
efficient hiding.
6. SITE LOCATION
Existing Neighborhoods
As the city grew to surround the
cemeteries with transportation arteries
Saladin’s citadel and the cemeteries have
become weaved into the urban context.
The city edge begins to dissipate at the
topographic incline of the Moqattam Hills
to the east of the cemeteries. Al-Azhar
Park lies in ‘Islamic Cairo’, aptly named for
the density of mosques. To the southeast
of the Citadel modern development of
condos and private hotels along the
edge of the Sulphur Baths of Ain Al-Sira
lie in a ‘Marketable Cairo’. An interjection
between the new developments and the
Southern Cemetery bridging the road
links the residents of the Qarafa with a
modern lifestyle. Using informational and
economical programs will supply a source
of opportunity to sell goods and access
information.
Southern Cemetery
Kadi, El, Galila and Alain Bonnamy. Architecture for the Dead. Cairo: American University in Cairo Press, 2007.
Northern Cemetery
vacant tombs
inhabited tombs
vacant tombs
residential enclaves
zones of encroachment
cemetery boundary
100
0
400 m
200
residential enclaves
Intersect Viability
inhabited tombs
city
cemetery boundary
RESIDENTIAL ENCLAVES
Residential Enclaves - Informal
100
0
200
400 m
Formal Residential Development
8. APPLYING TYPOLOGY OF ATTACHMENTS
PROGRESSIVE
PROGRESSIVE
media center
media center
elevated landscape
elevated landscape
ED
es
IMBEDDED
IMBEDDED
ground level armature
ground level armature
terraced bazaar
terrace bazaar
SUPERIMPOSED
commercial spaces
SUPERIMPOSED
commercial spaces
9.
10. THE SUPERIMPOSED GRID
PROGRAM DESIGNATIONS
ACCESS TO INTERIOR
ACCESS POINT LOCATIONS
embedded ground level
BAZAAR CONDITION
media access
lifted parks
office spaces
bazaar condition
11.
12. 1
1
1
2
2
2
3
4
3
3
1/256” = 1’
1/128” == 1’
1/128” 1’
MEDIA CENTER
media center
ELEVATED LANDSCAPE
elevated landscape
4
4
bazaar BAZAAR INTERSECTION
intersection
1/256” = 1’
13.
14. DETOUR
ADVANCED STUDIO FALL 2008
Program................................................................Pavilion
Location................................................................St. Augustine, Florida
Computer Modeling..................................3ds Max
Rendering............................................................V-ray
Professor............................................................Michael Kuenstle
15. THE ARTS
Abandoned parking lots along Cordova
Street are being transformed for the visitors
and citizens of St. Augustine. The purpose is
to offer a place of pause and contemplation
for artists and tourists. The site is divided and
formed by walls cutting across the ground
holding a porous volume. The overhead
condition connects to the sloping walls to
gather and move water from the building
to water garden on site. The pavilion is a
transitional landscape for passing or resting
pedestrians.
Site
Cordoba
St. George
17. COLLISION
ADVANCED STUDIO FALL 2008
Program................................................................Museum
Location................................................................St. Augustine, Florida
Computer Modeling..................................3ds Max
Rendering............................................................V-ray
Professor............................................................Michael Kuenstle
18. EL CASTILLO AND THE HISTORIC DISTRICT
El Castillo de San Marcos National Monument
El Castillo
open diagram
reaction to fort
pedestrian artery
re-route george street
green space
continuation of urban plain
water orientation
water orientation
auditorium
body of water
urban plain
urban plain
sitesite access
access
19. PATHWAYS
St. Augustine has arts and architecture
rooted from Spanish colonial times. Drawing
from the Arab influence of Spanish culture
a mashribiya screen has been modified
to wrap the surface voids. Three radial
pathways collide into the main atrium of
the building.
20. MASHRABIYA
A mashrabiya is a nook projecting from a
building wrapped in a lattice screen made of
wood and carved with intricate designs. This
is a screen of circular patterns. incorporated
with Eglass which controls lighting and heat
transmission allowing the patterns of the
meshrabiya to paint the interior surfaces.
21. Level 0
Spanish Quarter Exhibit
Castillo Exhibit
Exterior Exhibits
Gift Shop
Transitional Lobby
10
N
25
50
100 ft
23. BUOYANCY
ADVANCED STUDIO SUMMER 2008
Program................................................................Chapel
Location................................................................San Martín de las Cañas - Mexico
Computer Modeling..................................3ds Max
Rendering............................................................V-ray
Professor............................................................Alfonso Perez-Mendez
24.
25. SURFACE TENSION
With the overflow of the reservoir creating
a limit of depth, the chapel appears to rest
on it’s surface during the rainy season.
STANDING CHAPEL
FLOATING CHAPEL
29. TRANSCENDENCE
ADVANCED STUDIO FALL 2009
Program................................................................Funeral Chapel and Garden of Remembrance
Location................................................................Gainesville, Florida
Computer Modeling..................................Rhinoceros 3d
Rendering.............................................................V-ray
Professor............................................................Juhani Pallasmaa
31. ELEPHANT EAR GARDEN
Nature can comfort the mind. The placement
of the deceased is framed by an unattainable
diorama of nature. Behind the glass lays an exterior
water garden of elephant ear plants. Common in
Gainesville, but native to the lowlands of Malaysia
the wild plants form on the edges of sinkholes
and streams rooting into saturated ground. Above
the garden is a wooden screen allowing rain to
drip through. During rain the large leaves of the
elephant ear plant curl and funnel toward the sky
catching the water as it falls.
LONGITUDINAL GARDEN SECTION
LONGITUDINAL CHAPEL SECTION
34. LIGHT WALL
Consciousness is a weightless embodiment,
elapsing as the single intersection of life and
death. Watching the sun move we find a
passing measurement of our own lives.
