EKATERINA DOVJENKO

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Film Stills Thesis Reserach 2016 “ The Search for the Perfect Form”

Contents | 02

M3 5 Gheskio Cholera Treatment Centre Analysis

4 1 Haus Addition

S 4 5 Algea Ceiling Detail

5 1 Sunshade Window

5 7 Dear Architecture

5 5 Wooden Joinery

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1 5 Arts Palace

03 Acolyte

2 3 AMS Student Nest

2 7 Catalytic Nodes

ACOLYTE: JACK LAYTON FERRY TERMINAL

Can we simulate pedestrian movement? Acolyte uses two simulation softwares : Diva for Grasshopper and Depthmap, and runs these through a modified generic agent-based movement plugin and an exclusively created script for the first ever light-weight pedestrian movement software for Rhino Grasshopper.

Data from the simulation(s) is then used to drive the final design–a big roof structure where programmatic elements create light openings.

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Movement diagram (plan) based on sunlight and visibility. June 21st at 10amRed: Departing AgentsTeal: Arriving Agents

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Levels of Enclosure

Day

light

Aut

onom

y (L

UX)

Left: Programmatic AnalysisRight: Flow Diagrams and Roof Spreading Diagram

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Above: Render from mezzanine viewing platform

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Visibility Study [Depthmap]at 0.9m spacingWhite is most visibleNot

VisibleMost Visible

Point in Time Iluminance [DIVA] Lux LevelsJune 21st at 10am10 0000

Top: First Floor Plan

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Above: 1:500 Cedar CNC milled Model, 3D printed starch

Below: Night Rendering

ARTS PALACE

Arts Palace can be understood through a series of layers: the first is a structural grid of column and span. The grid is then expanded into a truss skeleton to reduce torsion and to allow for suspended volumes within the structure. Milky white volumes plug into the grid and can be moved and adapted.

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View from Ramp

Scale model CNC Milled Topography

Above: View from Across HighwayRight: Site Plan

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Above: Longitudinal Section Looking WestCross Section Looking North

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AMS NEST PROJECT

The New Student Union Building (or AMS Nest) is a 255,000 square foot, $110M student-led building in the heart of the University of British Columbia-Vancouver. It houses over 350 club spaces, 5 levels of student-focused program, conference facilities and a myriad of food venues. It is the product of over 12 years of student pressure, a referendum and an innovative architect selection process.

Scope: Chair, New Student Union Building Stearing Committee; hired the architectural team; finalized building agreements; led conceptual design from the clients’ end

Above: Main agora space (photo from Dialog)

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Outside facing West (Photo by Ema Peter)

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Above: Groundbreaking Ceremony (Photo by Geoff Lister) 2011Below: Detail of Sustainability Student Charrette

CATALYTIC NODES

Catalytic Nodes uses existing infrastructure to spur economic development along the Allen Expressway. It argues that by utilizing lower value real estate along the expressway, Toronto can create a unique light industrial spine anchored by supporting nodes for “makers” such as artisans, small scale manufacturers and the tech sector.

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Below: Site AxonometricNext Page: detail axo | 30

Top: mid to low rise transition road cross sectionBelow: looping bridges axonometrics

Top: typological study of possible residential forms

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CHOLERA TREATMENT CENTRE ANALYSIS

The Gheskio Cholera Treatment Centre designed by MASS Design Group sits beside the “City of God” slum in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti‘s devastating earthquake and lack of infrastructure has created the worst cholera outbreak in recent history. Using simulation software, an analysis was conducted to predict movement according to light and visibility drivers. General movement patterns according to agents behaviour can help further refine the design process.

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Top: movement diagrams based on different behavior profiles and daylight conditions : swarm, attract, repulse, control

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Top: axonometric showing roof/ shading moduleLeft: physical data visualization model | 40

HAUS ADDITION

The client asked for a small addition to an existing home. A 1.8m wall on top of the balcony at the back of the property was required by the city. From this limitation the form of the roof was developed to create a two level space with a double height living area in the middle.

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Top: first and mezzanine floor plansRight: front rendering showing shading condition

ACOLYTE FERRRY TERMINAL: ALGAE

CEILING DETAIL

A theoretical future detail: A tensile membrane filled with algae pillows sits in an octahedron-like cage. Given light conditions, it moves to provide shading. Movements are biological rather than mechanical. The octohedrons are stacked or 3D printed into wooden beams. See page 3 for the large scale project.

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Top: using Galapagos solver to solve for optimized shading configurations

Top: axonometric cut algea geodRight: detail of ceiling condition | 48

Above: 3D printed detail model in starch

Below: Conceptual Model

ARTS PALACE: SUNSHADE WINDOW

This window-wall system folds up to become a sunshade in the summer and a fully insulated window in the winter using a motor, track and pulley mechanism. Thermal bridging is minimized through insulation and thermal breaks. See Art Palace page. 15 for the larger scale project.

1 Painted aluminum flashing2 Concrete Pavers3 Rigid Foam Insulation4 Thermal Break5 Perforated Metal Balustrade6 Low E Double paned Window7 Steel Brace8 Stiffener Plate9 Dropped Ceiling10 Motor11 Track12 Z-Bracket13 Zinc Panel Soffit14 U Chanel to pivot system15 Metal Grate16 Concrete Outdoor Deck17 Column18 Pivot Wheels in Track19 Rubber Thermal Break

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1 Painted aluminum flashing2 Concrete Pavers3 Rigid Foam Insulation4 Thermal Break5 Perforated Metal Balustrade6 Low E Double paned Window7 Steel Brace8 Stiffener Plate9 Dropped Ceiling10 Motor

11 Track12 Z-Bracket13 Zinc Panel Soffit14 U Chanel to pivot system15 Metal Grate16 Concrete Outdoor Deck17 Column18 Pivot Wheels in Track19 Rubber Thermal Break

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WOOD JOINERY

Two CNC milled wood joinery pieces in ash and walnut. One on a 90 degree slant with the other on a 30 degree slant.

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BLANKSPACE DEAR ARCHITECTURE

SUBMISSION

Dear Architecture,

Are you still there? Even after all these years? I hunch over my drafting table—back aching, my hand, shaking, grasping a pencil—and think of you.

My study is bathed in a golden haze. It’s late and Mrs. Whiskers paws at me, beckoning for bed. But I always work better at night, and this particular summer evening is no exception. I still feel the mad rush taking hold. Infinite to finite, ideas in my head take the forms of arches and columns, vistas and walls. Structure winds its way behind the simple lines of my pencil. That’s all they are after all: simple lines that can change the world.

And so I think back to when you and I first met. Was it in college? No, much earlier. It must have been building sand castles at the beach. The sand was rocky then, filled with ocean glass and oily sea froth. Perhaps it’s silly, but I knew we’d be great friends.

Oh Architecture! You delirious mistress! Fast forward a few years and I found myself hunched over a desk much like I am now. But unlike now, a cold shower of doubt poured over me. No one told me I would have to sell you to critics! I never expected you to be so fickle! One day I am creating beauty; the next, it’s garbage. You had so many sides that I struggled to keep up: Modern, post-modern, biophilic, art nouveau, technophilic, parametric…. The

list goes on. Who were you?! Everything was much clearer with sand castles.

But somehow I managed and then even flourished. We dashed hand-in-hand from client meetings to award ceremonies. We made it, baby! I pretended to master the unmasterable and to teach the unteachable. And so, for many years I thought I could control you while you spun and changed in front of me. I grew confident, then weary, and finally jaded. “Architecture is dead!” I even proclaimed.

One early spring morning, I stood on the sidewalk near the bustling train station. People hurried past me, some stopping to stare at the elderly man beside the taped-off brutalist building. It was one of my early works: a vast and unforgiving structure with swaths of concrete and dots for windows. That day, I saw it tumble to the ground, first keeling over like it was hit in the gut before collapsing into millions of pieces. That day, all my thoughts, dreams and plans amounted to dust and gnarled metal.

Architecture, I could not control you. Heck, you can’t even control yourself! And as we move from medium to medium towards an age where computers dream and the architect becomes the coder, I’m still baffled. But perhaps we shouldn’t worry and just let you go, wherever that may lead.

I lean back in my chair with a timid smile. On the paper in front of me are simple lines. Isn’t that all they are after all? Simple lines that can change the world.

Love always,Your Old Admirer.

Winner: honourable mention

“ Mrs. Whiskers objected to the post-industrial juxtaposition of tectonic form but couldn’t correct her owner due to her lack of thumbs.”

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