ANA CONTRERAS ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO

ANA CONTRERAS ARCHITECT

Place of birth: Madrid, Spain

Nationality: Spain

Phone number: 07732 970937

Adress: Flat 3, 201 A Cheltenham Road, Bristol. BS6 5QX

Email: anacontreras_86@hotmail.com

DETAILS

Responsible, creative and organized person, with iniciative and good interpersonal skills, who likes learning from new experiences and capable of integrating different fields at work.

Willingness to learn and to take on new challenges set by the company and the working group.

Interested in interior architecture, sustainability and energy efficiency in buildings, besides the rehabilitation of existing buildings, giving them new functions.

Since March 2014, living in Bristol looking for new experiences and professional challenges.

PROFILE

EDUCATIONBIM Course in BIM - Building Information Modeling - learning the usage of Autodesk Revit and his applications in Architecture, by CICE.

BIM2013

ERASMUS2009 - 2010

Erasmus scholarship in the Prima Facoltà di Architettura “Ludovico Quaroni” in the Università degli Studi di Roma - La Sapienza, with special interest in architectural restoration.

WORKSHOP2008

Participation in a Townplanning Workshop - International Workshop Albenga 2020 - Genoa, Italy, in colaboration with the Facoltà di Architettura di Genova and the École Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Grenoble.

COURSES2007

Courses in Autocad and Photoshop for Architects.

SEMINARS2006

Accident Prevention in Laboratories and Health and Safety seminars, for the protection of workers against risks, by the University San Pablo - CEU, Madrid, Spain.

ARQUITECTURE2006-2014

Architecture studies in the University of Alcalá de Henares, Spain. Architectural projects and graphic expression, history and theory of architecture, urbanism, territorial management and planning, construction and architectural technologies, structure and foundation calculations, urban facilities and buildings, conservation and restoration of the architectural heritage, organization of works and companies.

RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE

Development of works as freelance architect; measuring and getting documentation for the drawing up of plans and writing the Current State Descriptive Memory of Buildings.

ARCHITECT2013

SOLAR DECATHLON2012

Participation in the competition area with the organization of the Solar Decathlon Europe 2012, an International university architectural competition that promotes the development of efficient, self- powered solar houses.

WORKCAMP2012

Participation in a Restoration Workcamp - International Workcamp Capdenac-le-Haut, France, restoring the walls of a historic villa.

COOPERATION AGREEMENT

2012

Cooperation agreement with the University of Alcalá de Henares and the Architecture Studio Rosario Espada Orbís developing implementation projects.

COLLABORATION GRANT

2011

Collaboration grant at the Architecture Studio Rosario Espada Orbís developing implementation project.

ECOLOGICAL REPORTING

2008

Ecological reporting for an information campaign by the Environment Counseling of the City of Madrid.

ADDITIONAL INFO

Advanced level: Mac OSX and Windows operating systems, Microsoft Office, AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, InDesign.

Mid-level: ArchiCAD, Adobe Illustrator, Maxwell Render, Rhino, Sketchup, Adobe Lightroom.

COMPUTER SKILLS

Primark Bath: Retail assistant at Primark Bath, 2014.

Jimmy’s Bath: Work experience as waitress, 2014.

Little Steps Charity Shop: Volunteer work for Children’s Hospice South West in Bristol, 2014.

Brand promoting: Promotion of brands such as mobile telephony, newspapers, etc. during the university studies.

OTHER WORK EXPERIENCES

LANGUAGES Spanish: First language English: Advanced level Italian: Advanced level French: Basic level

OTHERS Special interest in the design of interior spaces. Experiences working abroad as volunteer. Amateur photographer.Driving license.

Development of works as part of a team of architects to get urban planning consents, creation of 3D visuals and interior design for private clients.

ARCHITECT2014

INTERMODAL STATIONALCALÁ DE HENARES, SPAIN

THESIS PROJECTProject developed for the end of the Architecture studies. The Intermodal Station is a metropolitan building whose function is to allow the efficient transfer between different modes of transport. It is located in Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain.

CURRENT STATE The current railway station does not have the role of urban infrastructure. Its layout creates an urban barrier between the two sides of the tracks, leading to big accessibility issues for both pedestrians and vehicles. It also creates residual surroundings with large parking areas and unused spaces. The total absence of edge treatment, small outdated buildings for the current needs, and degraded marginal areas become a big challenge that needs to be solved to improve the area.

1. Physical barrier 2. Outdoor parking 3. Unused buildings 4. Existing connections 5. Low quality buildings 6. Dangerous roads

Existing site plan

PROPOSAL The aim of the project is to go beyond the mere creation of a transport exchanger, taking advantage of the potential as an “urban staple”. This is formalised by solving the intersection between the three main existing axes that lead to the station: the road along the railway tracks, a transversal avenue (Paseo de la Estación) and a diagonal avenue (Avenida de la Alcarria), giving priority to the continuity of the main urban flows across the railway tracks. To ensure the viability of the project in the current economic situation, the railway tracks have been kept above ground.

PROJECT IDEA A real connection between the two sides is urgently needed, a true joint project that connects them not only physically, but also perceptually and functionally, with a large pedestrian walkway that will play a supporting role, dynamising both sides.

Integration has to be achieved firstly joining both sides for pedestrian and vehicular flows, and secondly establishing an adequate relationship between the different building densities on both sides.

Proposed site plan

A BRIDGE OVER THE TRACKSBecause it is a sewing up strategy, the materialisation of the proposal is carried out with a bridge-building as the transition between the two sides. The intention of this bridge-building is not only to be crossed, but to be “walked” as if it was a boulevard that avoids the railway tracks.

It becomes an important piece of infrastructure with the role of an urban city gate for travellers who visit the city and for being the new link between the surrounding areas that have had no connection so far .

The main volume, visible from several spots of the city, is set transversal to the railway as if it were a final station.

INTERMODALITYTransport hub that enhances and activates the development of mass public transport.

The aim is to encourage the exchange between different means of transport to move in a regional (train, intercity bus, car, motorcycle) or local (city bus, motorcycle, bike) scale. The future of a sustainable city is the proper and rational use of the means of private transport in favour of using the public or clean private means.

The proposal not only encourages connections between areas with the construction of the bridge, but also creates a hub between different means of public transport, more efficient and more ecological.

Ground Floor Plan _ 00,00 mTrain Station

-1st Floor _ -06,46 m, -08,67 mParking and Bus Station

BELOW GROUNDCOACH AND BUS STATION Different means of transport need to be integrated in the same core to enable an efficient, comfortable and functional transfer for all the travellers.

City buses stop at street level, whilst coaches are located below ground to free the maximum urban space. This coach station has eight platforms, and despite being attached to the car parking, it has its own entrance and core services to facilitate the flow of users.

PARK AND RIDEA car parking linked to the station with spaces for motorbikes and bicycles allows commuters and other people headed to other areas to leave their vehicles and transfer to public transport means.

1st Floor _ 08,00 mTrain Station

2nd Floor _ 12,91 mFood & Beverage area

ABOVE GROUNDCO-WORKING SPACEThe co-working space goes beyond the traditional business centre where closed offices and companies that share the building not knowing each other are found. It is addressed to, startups, freelancers, and small companies that require little space to carry out their activities. Thus, they can share spaces, services, equipment, and communal meeting rooms to hold different events.

FOOD AND BEVERAGE AREAThis space is tightly related to the co-working space, serving the large number of people who work in that area and require this kind of services. Three types of establishments can be found, according to the user’s needs: restaurant, dining room and cafe.

TERRACEChill down and social space for workers, station users, and all residents in the area.

3rd Floor _ 19,03 mCo-working Space and Terrace

SPATIALITY The new layout transforms the station, turning it into an urban scale space which not only serves to the mobility and convenience of travellers, but also generates a public space that connects the different districts of the city.

Both the internal and the external areas of the station offer bright and broad spaces for the visitors. They give answer to the urban scale that a railway infrastructure needs and to the human scale, attracting people to travel by train and use the retail areas. This way, the development of the project and its surroundings is promoted.

View from the platforms

View from the main entrance

CLIMATE ADAPTATION North-East is the most favorable orientation from a climate point of view to naturally achieve comfort conditions. In addition, canopies have been placed in all the entrances to act as a protected urban hall for all citizens.

A double skin is proposed to face the incidence of solar radiation from the different orientations. The NE elevation uses an open, permeable and welcoming front made of timber battens, which provides the building with efficient natural lighting. However, the SW elevation needs a tight, dense and thick front to protect the building against excessive radiation. It is a ventilated envelope cladding made of folded bronze plates.

Transversal section

NE elevation

MATERIALITY: DICHOTOMY CONCRETE-STEELThere is a difference between the object buried below ground - stereotomic architecture - and the built object above ground - tectonic architecture.

The first is the one in which the forces are transmitted throughout a continuous structural system. It is the massive, stony, heavy architecture, sitting on the ground as if it had been born from it. It is materialised with concrete.

By contrast, the second is the one in which the forces are transmitted in a syncopated way, in a structural system with knots, joints, and where construction is articulated. It is the lighter architecture, materialised with steel.

This way, what is built above ground and below ground have different languages at the same time that they are related to each other,

CONSTRUCTION Tectonic structure above ground: steel

• Composite slab: reinforced concrete cast on top of profiled steel decking• Beams: transversal to the main volume each 5 meters• Prefabricated steel columns formed by two soldered UPN 400 profiles. • Railway platform roof formed with a lighter metal structure, “Asymmetric Y” type.• Structure below ground: concrete • Two-way spanning concrete slab, reinforced where the railway tracks pass to withstand the train’s overload. • Prefabricated concrete columns of variable square section and inverted pyramidal capital to increase strength with smaller

sections. • Shallow foundations based on a lightened concrete slab.

Construction details

EXTENSION OF THE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTUREALCALÁ DE HENARES, SPAIN

PROPOSAL The proposed extension of the School of Architecture wants to give an answer to the current lacks of the school. On one hand, a suitable canteen and dining room that can serve as a social space for students is needed. On the other, spaces that complement the architecture learning process like workshops to build models, drawing rooms, spaces for projections or areas to comfortably read architecture magazines.

Ground Floor _ 00,00 mCanteen

PROJECT IDEA: FACADE AND INTERIOR SPACEThe facade is understood as a skin, an external layer dealing with the relationship between the building and its surroundings. It is not intended to be a muted elevation, but an active, informed, connected and communicative membrane. A skin that is occupied by functional elements capable of hosting facilities, not only capable of capturing and transmitting energy, but also capable of supporting other built layers, overlapped more than attached.

It is not a simple boundary line between interior and exterior, it is meant as “a technical width” an “equipped wall” that allows functional and operative solutions. Beyond the inner - outer separation, it is an effective support for services, “a thickness” with equipped fills and gaps that allow the penetration of light and air. The fixed components of the system are contained in that layer to free the interior space, suggesting the idea of an empty box as the place in which “everything is possible”.

Main elevation

Transversal section

Generation of the shape influenced by the immediate context

Longitudinal section

1st Floor _ 03,50 mWork Space (24 h)

2st Floor _ 06,50 mWorkshop and Rest Area (24 h)

3st Floor _ 10,70 mDrawing Workshop

EXTERIOR - INTERIOR PROTECTIVE LAYER AND PROTECTED OBJECTThe two organisms are brought together to enhance each other.

The inner body is made of glass, and therefore capable of radiating. Irradiation is understood as the ability to manifest spreading, aiming to receivers that are turned into the building’s accomplices. It is a vibrant, resonating and an energetic capacity, being able to demonstrate concepts such as tension, depth, heaviness, multifunction, floating, celebration, ceremony, community, intimacy. This capacity goes beyond the material that sustains itself and interferes with the individual. Radiant architecture is the architecture that echoes in the territory and reverberates in the field of ideas, the one that moves the industry.

4st Floor _ 18,00 mLounge and Terrace

DRAWINGSSKETCHES OF A CITY

Park Street, Bristol

View from Castle Park, Bristol

Pulteney Bridge, Bath

Adress: Flat 3, 201 A Cheltenham Road, Bristol. BS6 5QX

Email: anacontreras_86@hotmail.com

Phone number: 07732 970937

ANA CONTRERAS