Gregory DalfonzoArchitecture Portfolio

“It’s the questions we can’t answer that teach us the most. They teach us how to think. If you give a man an answer, all he gains is a little fact. But give him a question and he’ll look for his own answers.” -Patrick Rothfuss

As a student, I am learning to ask the unanswerable questions that will push my design endeavors farther.

THESIS PROJECT Cape Town Civic Tower

PRIOR PROJECTS Chicago Studio - Cermak Axis

Roanoke Building Museum Blacksburg Middle School Blacksburg Graduation Hall Japanese Apartment

OTHER WORK Sketches

Photography Constructed Drawings

CONTENTS

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CAPE TOWN CIVIC TOWERTHESIS:The goal of the three dimensional city is the complete dissolution of the ground plane. This is not to say that everything should simply be moved up and into skyscrapers, but that the public realm should be so evenly distributed in space that ascertaining the original ground level is impossible. In a sense, ground level becomes nowhere and everywhere at once. It becomes relative to the observer.

My thesis examines this new typology through the program of a civic tower in Cape Town, South Africa, set in the year 2076. The site was chosen due to the juxtaposition of mountain and sea, creating a upper and lower reference point for a city that has none. Additionally, Cape Town was chosen due to the low to mid rise buildings, which create the possibility, that as the city grows taller and more dense, the idea of connecting all the buildings at multiple levels, and with public transit, could be realized.

The civic tower takes 6 programs that are typically sprawling low rise buildings and distributes them in a vertical arrangement, creating three towers and three crossover spaces. The

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WORKCURRENT programs were split into these categories based on the need for light and the size of individual spaces in the program. The transit fills one of the crossovers, halfway up the tower, and the elevators exist in the interstitial space between the towers.

Far Left: aerial views of Cape TownCenter Top, The site as it is todayCenter Bottom: The site in 2076, with my projectFar Right: Googl Street View of the Site

CAPE TOWN CIVIC TOWERTHESIS:

LIBRARY

LIBRARY

MUSEUM

MUSEUM

TRANSIT

TRANSIT

THEATRE GYM

GYM

TSCHOOL

SCHOOL

MUSEUM

THEATRE

THEATRE GYM

TRANSIT

SCHOOL

LIBRARY

EXISTING CITY TYPOLOGY

PROPOSED CITY TYPOLOGY

Left: Parti Diagram of the current iteration. The school library and museum are arrayed vertically, while the gym, transit, and theatre are arrayed horizontally.

Bottom Left: typical configurations today. Short long buildings that take up a lot of ground area.

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WORKCURRENT Center Top: The City as it is today

Center Bottom: The city as with ground dissolved, circa 2076

Right: Massing models from throughout the semester

CAPE TOWN CIVIC TOWERTHESIS:Left: Section\Elevation of the tower.

Center: Plans of various configurations of he tower

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WORKCURRENT

DIAGRAMMATIC PLAN AND SECTION OF PHASE III

SCHOOL

LIBRARY

MUSEUM

TRANSIT SERVICE SPACE

ELEVATOR CORE

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

FITNESS CENTER

Right: Diagram of iteration III (future)

NETWORKCERMAKThis group project focuses on integrating McCormick Place Convention Center into the surrounding context to activate the area as a single cohesive neighborhood. This will create an intermingling of local Chicagoans and Convention-goers that more fully utilizes the potential of this area. The method is tripartite: an urban master plan, new programmatic spaces, and a connective pathway come together to bridge the human scale with the aggrandized scale of McCormick Place.

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FOURTH YEAR

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Activation of existing elements

Creation of a tightly woven urban network.

Manipulation of scale and context.

CERMAK NETWORK

HISTORICALRESIDENTIALRETAIL DEPAUL STADIUM HOTEL DATA CENTER PARKING MCCORMICK NORTH MAIN ENTRANCE MCCORMICK SOUTH GRAND CONCOURSEHYATT HOTEL

RO

TATE

RO

TATE

RO

TATE

MCCORMICK EAST NORTHERLY ISLANDBURNHAM HARBOR

BUS STOP LOCAL BUSINESS OUTDOOR MARKET BRIDGEPATH WITH PROGRAM INDOOR PARK

25’ 100’ 200’ 400’

YEARFOURTH

HISTORICALRESIDENTIALRETAIL DEPAUL STADIUM HOTEL DATA CENTER PARKING MCCORMICK NORTH MAIN ENTRANCE MCCORMICK SOUTH GRAND CONCOURSEHYATT HOTEL

RO

TATE

RO

TATE

RO

TATE

MCCORMICK EAST NORTHERLY ISLANDBURNHAM HARBOR

BUS STOP LOCAL BUSINESS OUTDOOR MARKET BRIDGEPATH WITH PROGRAM INDOOR PARK

25’ 100’ 200’ 400’

BRIDGENORTHERLYThis portion of the aforementioned project focuses on a connection from McCormick Place to Northerly Island. The floating bridge connects the soon to be park designed by Jeanne Gang to McCormick and the surrounding neighborhoods. It also completes a loop, incorporating the new park more thoroughly into the city fabric. The design borrows hexagonal language from the Studio Gang project, which allows it to fold into a compact mass via tesselation to let ships pass into the harbour.

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CURRENT WORK

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Tesselation

Integration

Completion

Motion

ROANOKE BUILDING ENVELOPE MUSEUMThe Roanoke Building Envelope Museum responds to the surrounding civic center to create an icon for Downtown Roanoke. The copper cladding references the nearby Wachovia Tower, while the 122 foot height maintains visibility from other streets and gives back a part of the site as park space. The central atrium acts as a gathering space while emphasizing the gentle twist of the structure and the sky bridges complete the building structure while emphasizing sweeping views of downtown Roanoke.

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YEARTHIRDCentral Organizing Space

Material Choice

Individual Parts Create a Unified Whole

ROANOKE BUILDING ENVELOPE MUSEUM

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YEARTHIRD

MIDDLE SCHOOLThe Blacksburg Middle School is based on three main principles: the replacement of double loaded corridors with open atria, the usage of roof space as open green space, and views within and without. A central atrium organizes the building and provides usable interior space. The roofs of the cafeteria and auditorium become large open fields, while the offset of each floor plate creates an adaptable ribbon of green space on each floor. The roof acts as after hours community space and takes advantage of sweeping view of downtown.

BLACKSBURG

Stairs Teacher Prep

Female Bathroom SciencePrep Science Lab

Stairs

Cafeteria Roof

StudentOpenStudyArea

StairsStudent Open Study Area

Project BasedLearning LabMale Bathroom

Project BasedLearning Lab

ADAElev-ator

ClassroomClassroomClassroom

Classroom

StudentOpenStudyArea

StudentOpen StudyAreaStairs

Media Center Roof

Stairs

Auditorium

Gymnasium

Classroom

Storage

ClassroomClassroom

Resource

Classroom

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YEARTHIRDAdaptable Green Space

Interior and Exterior Views

Central Spaces Replace Corridors

GRADUATION HALLBLACKSBURGThe Montgomery County Graduation Hall creates an experience out of graduation through the use of processional architecture that reinforces the idea of graduation as a moving on. A glass cube acts as an entrance hall and uses light to respond to changing environmental conditions. A glass staircase leads underground to a gallery showcasing student work. A tunnel then leads to the graduation planetarium. The planetarium creates the illusion of leaving the current world behind, reinforcing the metaphor of graduation as a signifier of moving beyond the comfortable.

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YEARTHIRDSpatial ExperienceGeometric MinimalismTransparencyResponse to changing environmental condition

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ROANOKE BUILDING ENVELOPE MUSEUMJAPANESE STYLE APARTMENTA renovation project that began with a single column and defined wall and ceiling evolved into a Japanese style apartment. It takes advantage of typically low geometry to create a sense of openness, while using Shoji style wood and paper sliding screens to segment the symmetrical spaces. The layout is oriented to take advantage of southeast light in the bedroom and southwest light in the kitchen and conversation areas. The apartment embraces order and simplicity through careful control.

Evening Light

Reflected off closed Shoji Screen

Passes through open Shoji Screen

Morning Light

Bedroom

Closet

Bathroom

ConversationPit

Dining Pit

Kitchen

Foyer

WORKCURRENT YEARSECOND

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Section-Conversation Pit and Bedroom

Section-Entry Hall Section-Dining Room

Japanese Aesthetic

Low to the ground design

Adaptable Spaces

Sacred vs. Profane

Symmetry

SKETCHES

Great Court at the British Museum

Norman Foster + PartnersLondon, England

EUROPEThe Virginia Tech Eurotravel Program is an exploratory study abroad program that focusses on learning European Culture, Architecture, and Urban Life. Students are encouraged to document what they learn through sketching, photography, and other methods.

Feel free to visit our web page, that I lead the design team for.

http://www.eurotravel.arch.vt.edu/

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YEARFOURTHTop Left:Oruptgaard MuseumZaha HadidCopenhagen, Denmark

Top Right:NY Carlsberg GlyptotekWilhelm DahlerupCopenhagen, DenmarkBottom Left:

Copenhagen Opera HouseHenning LarsenCopenhagen, Denmark

Right:Notre Dame Du HautLe CorbusierRonchamp, France

ROANOKEEUROPE PHOTOGRAPHY

FOURTH YEAR

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DRAFTED DRAWINGSMy first semester of studio, I earned a B+. My professor said that anyone not happy with their grade could attempt to, over winter break, work up to a better grade. I was not happy with my grade, but I also realized that it was fair. Rather than try to argue, I did perspective drawings and design exercises over my break, and when I got back, my professor was extremely pleased. I re-earned myself an A for that first semester.

The perspective drawings I did over winter break, led into an exploration of drafted drawing in the second semester of the year. I created a set of 6 drawings, size 18x24, along with a few unfinished failures. I mostly used pencil, but explored pen as well. Rather than draw from observation, I chose to draw from imagination, only using real life as inspiration.

These are the two drawings that I consider most successful.

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YEARFIRSTPerspective

Interpretation

Shading

Precision