Stella Capuli

11/12/2019

Krus Na Ligas Incremental Housing

For our Arch 163(Planning and Urban Design IV): Socio-Cultural and Institutional Aspects of Housing, my pair, Joyce Reyes, and I were one of three groups assigned to study the housing situation in Brgy. Krus Na Ligas.

After conducting site visits and interviews with the community and the barangay officials, we caught interested on how the community dealt with a rapidly growing population in a dense site. As their population grows, so does their housing need, and they address this by adding more floors the existing structures. The key problem we identified was that the current incremental housing situation compromises safety and overall cohesiveness of the character and macro-planning of the site, with some floors cantilevering over the streets multiple times over different floors.

In our proposal, we took the typical lot size and worked with the existing housing model to develop a similar, but regulated model of incremental development. We developed two iterations of a structural system for the typical housing unit, with different 'modules' with different configurations for the different floors depending on their desired use (Residential, Commercial). This allows for flexibility, variability and customization!

Here are some of the final renders of the model!

Note: Lots in KNL vary in sizes and this model is based on the most common lot cut and building design on the site. This is a visualization of KNL limited to the housing model developed.

Group Members:
Stella Capuli
Joyce Reyes

10/12/2019

Nakagin Capsule Tower / Kisho Kurokawa

Built in 1972, the Nakagin Capsule Tower located in Ginza,Tokyo was the first capsule architecture design. "It is a prototype for architecture of sustainability and recycleability, as each module can be plugged in to the central core and replaced or exchanged when necessary."

Today, the building is under threat of demolition due to several problems encountered from the design, construction and how the building withstood time. Still, the concept of capsule architecture was innovative for its time, and serves as a prototype for today's micro apartments!

Link:

Completed in 1972 in Tokyo, Japan. Architect Kisho Kurokawa was very innovative in his creation of the Nakagin Capsule Tower in 1972, which was the first capsule architecture design....

10/12/2019

A Challenge to Cities: How Can We Incorporate Green Spaces?

Rapid urbanization comes at the cost of congestion, pollution, and loss of the natural environment. "Urban green spaces provide a wide range of ecosystem services that could help combat many urban ills and improve life for city dwellers." The challenge to incorporate green spaces in our cities which continue to urbanize is becoming more difficult and urgent.

Link:

Urban green spaces create great cities where the built and the the natural environments are interwoven. However, sometimes creating green spaces are considered as a challenge, particularly in developing countries, where there is pressure for space, resources and development. Concept of Urban Green S...

10/12/2019

Kampung Admiralty / WOHA

Awarded as "Building of the Year" at the 2018 World Architecture Festival, Kampung Admiralty is Singapore’s first integrated public development that brings together a mix of public facilities and services under one roof. It combines a community plaza on the ground floor, a medical facility above the plaza, residential units for the aged on top of the medical facility, and a community park on terraced roof tops!

"This one-stop integrated complex maximizes land use, and is a prototype for meeting the needs of Singapore’s ageing population."

Link:

Completed in 2017 in Singapore, Singapore. Images by Darren Soh, K. Kopter, Patrick Bingham-Hall. Kampung Admiralty is Singapore’s first integrated public development that brings together a mix of public facilities and services under one roof. The...

09/12/2019

Have you heard of Color Psychology?

Color is a powerful communication tool which can influence moods and actions. It is a "sensory perception, and as any sensory perception, it has effects that are symbolic, associative, synesthetic, and emotional. The goals of color design in an architectural space are not relegated to decoration alone."

Read about how the different colors affect emotions and behavior! 🌈

Link: https://medium.com/studiotmd/the-perception-of-color-in-architecture-cf360676776c
Read more: https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-2795824

Color is an integral element of our world, not just in the natural environment but also in the man-made architectural environment.

09/12/2019

Tower of Pisa

The tower of Pisa is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is famous for its lean, the result of an unstable foundation. Today, engineering solutions allow the tower to keep the lean stable at 4 degrees, but it hasn't always been like that.

Learn about how the Leaning Tower of Pisa came to be!
Link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFqf6aKdOC0&t=54s
Owner: Ted-Ed - https://www.youtube.com/user/TEDEducation

08/12/2019

Architectural Lighting: Palma Hall

For our Arch 143: Architectural Lighting class, we were tasked to redesign the lighting of UP Diliman buildings around the Academic Oval. My groupmate, Julia Del Rosario, and I were assigned to do Palma Hall and Melchor Hall.

Knowing that most, if not all, UP students have had class in these buildings (particularly AS/Palma Hall), we talked about how we wanted users to experience the space at night - a less familiar scene. After 3d modeling the two iconic buildings of UP Diliman, we highlighted the horizontal features of Palma Hall, and the vertical features of Melchor Hall. For both buildings, the main entrance and the steps were made to stand out!

Here is Palma Hall reimagined at night! Check out the other half of our final output on Julia's page!!: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=161072148583599&id=109623687061779&sfnsn=mo

Group Members:
Stella Capuli
Julia del Rosario

07/12/2019

Did you know that architects can design buildings with consideration to the sun's light and heat? Architects use sun path diagrams to design and orient buildings to take advantage of natural light and heat. This is particularly important in designing in tropical countries such as the Philippines! ☀️☀️☀️

Link:

Solar orientation, sun paths & sun angles: Learn the fundamental building blocks of passive solar design to help you design a house to respond to the sun.

06/12/2019

Climate Crisis

Architects design the urban landscape, influencing the lifestyle of people and shaping the environment. Such skill also comes with a responsibility to either improve or at the very least, minimize destructive effects on the environment. With climate change becoming worse at an alarming rate, architects must be more involved in combating the climate crisis.

Link:

With that being said, we’ve put together a list of some tangible ways architects can better combat the climate crisis.

06/12/2019

Adaptive Plans

"Will robots take over your job one day?" Due to the specifications required and creative aspect of architecture, the chances of automating the work of an architect has always been low. But, what if it was actually possible? And soon?

Finch is an algorithm that "generates different spatial configurations according to predetermined parameters as you change the total area of the space." Automation is almost here, but it is currently under development and will be launched as a plug-in to Rhino/Grasshopper during 2020.

This makes me wonder about the future of architecture. Will this aid the architect in the design process, or will it come to a point where architecture can be completely automated? I believe though, that this algorithm would help architects create code-compliant designs with ease (especially during initial stages of design), but such programs cannot cover the contextual and creative aspects of architecture!😃

Link: https://www.archdaily.com/919339/adaptative-plans-are-here-an-algorithm-that-predicts-spatial-configurations?fbclid=IwAR1UHZh9Mby6CxixxCQu0o51pMvEcpE1YdGi8NBXBpGT53LyW4uZuMgf3rw
Finch Site: https://finch3d.com/

Automation has finally reached our desks. If just a few years ago we believed that technology (including robots) could replace the work done by...

06/12/2019

Sustainable Design

Sustainability is a widely used concept, from project features to long term goals. However, it isn't uncommon for people to misunderstand the concept, or to be unable to fully grasp what sustainability, particularly in architecture, actually means.

"Perhaps the most confusing thing about sustainability is the word itself. A 2015 survey from the marketing company Shelton Group found that nearly half of consumers say they don’t understand the word or feel it conveys anything important. People commonly use the word as a vague reference to resource conservation alone, but this misses the point."

Link:

Sustainability and design deserve clear language, writes Gensler design director Lance Hosey.

05/12/2019

Coffee is a popular drink to boost productivity! But did you know that there is a wrong and right way to drink coffee? If you're a coffee lover like me, check out this video to make sure you're caffeinating properly!!

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_0e0X_7MnQ
Owner: Med School Insiders (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3VWbWk8qDBiF0741izgpQg)

Further Read: https://luxafor.com/coffee-for-productivity/
Further Read: https://www.monster.ca/career-advice/article/why-coffee-increases-productivity-ca