A R C H I T E C T U R E

PORTFOLIOCARLOS ALBERTO TORRES | 2017

The following projects are a collection of the assignments I completed for

ARC 403 - Architecture Design Fundamentals Environment (Studio) during my first

semester of the Track III Master’s in Architecture program at NC State University.

From August through December 2016, I was under the guidance of Professor

Ellen Weinstein and Practicing Architect Mary Conley to create the absolute best

work that I could make in an effort to begin taking my first steps and learning

how to think, work, build, and draw like an architect. Also I learned how to further

develop my team building skills by collaborating in groups to complete projects

3 and 4 with my fellow students Sarah Hefner and Brigitta Mills.

C O N T E N T S

1 ROOM & GARDEN

CITY DIAGRAM

RESEARCH DIAGRAM

DISTRICT DIAGRAM

THE MUSEUM

3

2

4

5

1 ROOM & GARDEN

The Room & Garden is a 12’x24’ space with its only context being that it is between two buildings. The idea was to create two separate spaces within it - a room for reading and a garden. I defined the two spaces with a “Wall of Light” and a “Wall of the Surveyor.” The second floor serves as the Wall of Light by transforming the sunlight from above and filtering it into the first floor. The over arching beams that create the space on the second floor and the repeating linear patterns that govern the entire design function as the Wall of the Surveyor. The reading room is the cooler, darker first floor and the airy, more open garden is upstairs with foliage growing out of the columns in the back and intertwining with the beams over head.

2 RESEARCH DIAGRAM

Project 2 introduced me to the concept of collecting data about one single location. Seeing as assignments beyond the Room & Garden would revolve around the idea of designing with context in mind, one couldn’t complete the final project without understanding as much as possible about the Charleston SC peninsula. I had to decide what about the it interested me, what story was I going to tell, and how I was going to put that on display in two-dimensional form. The following four images below are my “Analytical” diagrams. From left to right, I researched and displayed the evolution of the landmass over time, the areas of the city that are shaded along with the open green fields, the evolution of the city starting with the walled “Charlestown,” and the population density over time. The final step of the project was to create a “Synthetic Diagram” where I coalesced three of the Analytical Diagrams into one with a direct message. By using the research from 1, 3, and 4, the final diagram on the right displays the evolution of Charleston from 1670, 1711, 1784, and 1820.

3 CITY DIAGRAM

The purpose of this project was to take the previously created diagrams and represent them in a three dimensional way. The goal was also to group up with two other classmates (Sarah Hefner and Brigitta Mills) and synthesize everyone’s chosen diagram into one single object. As a group, we combined the information of the landmass’ evolution, the Charleston peninsula’s main streets, its churches, and its population density over time. We decided on working with acrylic plastic (the landmasses), sheets of metal (the main roads), and metal rods (churches). The idea being that the clear acrylic would serve as a visible see-through timeline. Starting from the bottom up, the first piece is the walled city built in 1670 when the first pilgrims colonized this land. As you move up, one could see how the city evolves over time and when the main roads and churches are introduced. The final landmasses on top represent 2016 - 2150. These are the years that rising water levels submerge the peninsula and leave only the middle ridge of it above water.

4 DISTRICT DIAGRAM

The focus for this project was to represent the very tip of the Charleston SC peninsula. My team and I emphasized the hierarchy of the streets, the open garden spaces, the orientation of the houses and their porches. We also exaggerated the heights of the residences to better understand the rhythm of this district and cut indentations (one cut for two story houses and two cuts for a three story houses) into every building to physically see their orientation and in which direction their porches were built. As a class, we all visited the Charleston peninsula for a weekend in order to collect data. My group and I took photographs, measurements, sketches, physical objects, and walked around the district with an open mind in order to better understand the space and culture of the area and thus make for a better, more accurate physical model. Ultimately, all this information would help us better understand the context of our final project (the site of which I’ve highlighted in white on the far right).

5 THE MUSEUM

The Museum was the final project for ARC 403. It was a culmination of all the skills I had accumulated during this semester. The idea behind this design was to create a museum that was inspired by all the research I had gathered about Charleston SC. I worked within the parameters of a “Wall of Light” (a structure that transforms sunlight in someway that relates to the rest of the design), a “Wall of the Surveyor” (a repeating pattern that defines the rhythm and order of the space), a “Wall of Books” (a thick and containing wall that would hold actual historical documents), “A Volume of Center” (a 24’x24’x24’ cube that is a multipurpose space for gathering), and a “Volume of Line” (a 12’x24’x72’ structure that created a space within which must be completely experienced and not sectioned or split in any way). My inspiration and decision making process for this final project was dictated by the concept of a fully accessible and representational depiction of the Charleston residential district’s best attributes (garden space, elevated views from porches, terraces for seating, vistas of the river, and water elements).

ARCHITECTURE PORTFOLIO CARLOS ALBERTO TORRES | 2017

Carlos is currently a student at NC State University studying to achieve a Master’s in Architecture at the College of Design. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Industrial Design at the same University in 2012 and afterwards worked for 4 years as a Graphic Designer in Durham NC.