Another project that has been of great significance in my educational development is from Design Studio 4B: Urbanism. For this class I chose to explore the dynamics of a bi-national airport that straddles the border between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California and the possible urbanity that could be activated.
I began this project with a series of diagrams exploring the different possibilities of how the borderline could be drawn. The existing line between California and Baja California has no regard for the topography, just a straight line moving slightly northeast in direction until it reaches Arizona. The final possibility would be to create a border zone, or border city.
I also researched the history of this border area and the security that has been born out of this condition. The growth of the United States Border Patrol and the number of people trying to cross the border into the United States is astonishing and helps better inform the program for this project.
Because this project is about exploring and discovering the urbanity that would surround an airport on an international border, I also made a case study of how the airport works in El Paso, an American border city in Texas right next to Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico.
What I found was a dense, porous border condition between these two cities with an infrastructure
well equipped to handle the present and future needs of commuters crossing the border and inter-
national commerce.
With that in mind, I concluded that San Diego and Tijuana are not maximizing their potential for air commerce.
The current international airport in San Diego has one international flight to Cabo San Lucas and few direct flights within the United States. Similarly, Brown Field and the Tijuana Airport are both under utilized.
This research and critical examination have helped shape the program for this project as well as serving as justification for doing it.
My solution is to grab the line that is the existing border and pull it apart to the north and south to natural boundaries creating a city between the two countries where the airport is built. This city will be accessible from both countries where visitors, inhabitants, and others are free to enter the new city without going through any security.
It is a blurred border upon entering the city, only marked by city limits and welcome signage coming in. It would be either upon exit from the city to the United States or Mexico or when one goes through the airport to their gate that anyone would have a security checkpoint to pass through to get to their destination.
After generating a series of diagrams and wind pattern and noise pollution studies, the orientation and location of the airport becomes defined.
For this project, I decided some unconventional design strategies were appropriate because this airport is right in the middle of a dense urban area. And rather than have this airport slice through the fabric of the city forming a barrier between neighborhoods on different sides of the long runways required for adequate take-off and landing, my solution is to lift the airport up and set it literally on top of the city.
The infrastructure needed to support this system would be a series of buildings designed for mixed-use including spaces for residential, office, retail, restaurants, hotels, bars and night clubs, theaters, and maquiladoras with direct access to airport freight facilities.
With some clever design features, the noise generated by the airport can be effectively attenuated by directing the noise upward from, rather than all around, the source.
The result is a new urban landscape where the fabric of the city is literally layered densely with a variety of activated spaces intertwined with a major international airport serving the needs of two cities separated by an international border for both commercial and freight flight services.
San Diego and Tijuana are two neighboring cities, each developing separately out of their own conditions. Yet both have grown from small towns to mid-sized cities at phenomenal rates and are both projected to continue growing at a rapid rate. Many San Diego residents have an unfavorable opinion of Tijuana. This is apparent when one observes the development of the border from both sides. San Diego is set relatively far back from the border with very little engagement except at the border crossings whereas Tijuana is literally shoved right up against the wall from the ocean to the mountains.
The fabric of Tijuana for a long time was once a city set up as a final stop before getting into the United States, but it is evolving. Because of that, for years there was little to no pride in the city or organized community development. As the city has grown to be the second largest manufacturer of goods in Mexico, communities have developed and the city is becoming a destination rather than merely a stepping stone.
Regardless of the past relationship issues between these two cities, the connections are undeniable and the possibilities are endless.
Studio 4B: Urbanism
Studio 4A: Phenomenology
"A symbolic Architecture is one that represents, one that can be recognized as part of our collective dreams, as a place of full inhabitation."
- Alberto Perez-Gomez
"Architecture is a direct expression of existence, of human presence in the world. It is a direct expression in the sense that it is largely based on a language of the body of which neither the creator of the work nor the person experiencing it are aware."
- Juhani Pallasmaa
During the summer term 2003, my design studio took a very interesting approach to Architecture. Influenced by issues of Phenomenology, we examined the experiences and perceptions that are associated with different types of spaces.
The idea of this studio is to build on every exercise that will lead into the final project, which for this class ends up being a monestary for the Sufi Order of Islam in downtown San Diego.
Mental Polaroids
One of the first exercises was to generate "Mental Polaroids" of eight given spaces. These spaces include: the space of smell, space of work, space of water, space of sleep, space of reunion and assembly, space of rest and daydreaming, gallery of passage and illusion, and the 
garden of delights and introspection.
For this exercise, I used a variety of media to express the perception I have of these spaces. These media include: pastels, both oil and charcoal, photography, and colored pencil. For some, I used Photoshop to apply filters and enhance the color and light and shadow tones.
Keeping light and color in mind, I combine various media, including text, and techniques in a way that shows the feelings and experiences evoked by each individual space.
Each mental polaroid is of its own size and on a specific type of paper. Each is mounted individually on its own board with a specific border appropriate to the space.
Architectural Embryos
We then took this exercise to the next level by constructing models, or "Architectural Embryos," of these spaces. This
is especially interesting because several of my embryos require a moving, external light source to achieve the desired effect. This is done by either moving a light around or by walking around under a direct light while looking inside the embryo.
The Architectural Embryo is an attempt to bring a more direct perception of each space that was defined by the Mental 
Polaroids. By combining a variety of materials and using direct and indirect light, I am able to produce an experience that is unique and fitting to each space.
Each embryo carries its own phenomena with light, shadow, and the combination of materials. They are all meant to be hand held and viewed in a particular way in order to experience the desired effect properly.
As I already stated, these embryos will become the building blocks for the term project which we had not yet been given a program for at this point in the class.
There is one embryo which is not shown here, the space of reunion and assembly, because it is meant to be touched. A visual representation of the model would not properly convey the desired effect.
Program
The program for the term project of this Design Studio is to design a monastery for monks of the Sufi Order of Islam located in downtown San Diego, California. The first exercise before designing begins is to create a scratchboard expressing points to jump off from.
My scratch board is cut into pieces that are raised and lowered so that multiple levels are created. I incorporate other materials such as orange plexi glass to express the firy sunrise and sunset which the Sufis meditate on everyday and wiring from an old photocopier to pronounce the interconnectedness the Sufis believe exists between all life in the universe.
With the Mental Polaroids, the Architectural Embryos, and the scratchboard, I now have the tools I need to design a space for the Sufi monks.
The building is 7 stories tall with a series of private monk quarters lining the east and west sides of the building on most levels, a refectorium (kitchen) and common dining area, a library/study, ambulatorium spaces (walking corridors and exterior common 
areas on the roof levels,) a common bathing area on the ground level, a meditation and dance space also on the ground level, and a waterfall that falls all seven stories to one end of the common bath pool where the monks bathe before entering the meditation space.
The structural system is a series of columns lining the perimeter and another series of columns on the interior that are offset from the perimeter. Spacing varies from being relatively tight toward the corners and more spaced out toward the center. This allows an open ceiling from the meditation space all the way to the roof. Two exterior stairways that zig-zag down the face of the building serve the entire structure. The finishes are very minimalistic being simply concrete, steel, and translucent glass.
Research into the Sufi lifestyle informs me that they meditate on light as it is the giver of all life as we know it, so I begin with a study of how the sun travels through the sky throughout the year over Southern California.The main goal for this project is to manipulate the way in which the sun enters the building to not only create natural lighting effects everyday, but also some phenominal effects marking the solstices and equinox.
The daily phenomena produced by the light of the sun is a glow from the sunlight hitting the exterior wall from the horizon. The light is allowed in through a well created by putting the top portion of the wall on the inside of the structural columns and the bottom portion being put on the outside as is shown on the right. 
This means of bringing light in is common throughout, the only difference is from what height the light enters the skin of the building. The point at which the material shifts from interior to exterior side of the columns is low creating a soft natural light for private quarters, and high in common areas creating a stronger natural light source.
The annual phenomena occur on the summer and winter solstices and the spring and fall equinox. 
During an equinox, when the sun is highest in the sky, a light well located in the center of the building allows sunlight to pass through all levels to create a spotlight on the ground level on the north side of the dance and meditation space. On the summer solstice, when the sun is highest in the sky, a horizontal daggar of light is seen at the base of the waterfall where the Sufis bathe before entering the meditation space. Finally, on the winter solstice, the whole building glows throughout the day through controlled light wells on the east and west sides of the building and through filtered glazing along the south side of the building.
This project is presented with the variety of work produced from the exercises leading up to the program plus a model built at three-eighths inch scale.
Design Studio 3B: Long Span
Background
During the spring semester 2003, my studio design class participated in an annual steel design 
competition. The pro-ject is to integrate an experimental performing arts theater into Chattanooga, Tennessee's growing urban landscape. The site is located on the south side of the Tennessee River and is surrounded by the Tennessee Aquarium, the 3-D Imax Theater, and the new Sam Boyd Stadium.
We begin the project building a series of concept models and 
are given a choice of forming teams or working individually.
After forming a team, my partner and I decide to combine two of my concepts with an element from one of his.
Working on a team has been 
a valuable learning experience because it has shown me how to be a part of a larger effort and what it means to carry out my responsibilities.
Program/Design Concept
Our goal is to create a space that nurtures the education of performance artists and provides a public venue for events while expressing the spirit of an experimental performing arts theater.
The concept for the design begins with the educational aspect of this project. The process of education can be seen as a developmental stage or incubating period. That is the influence for the education and administrative space. The structure is made up of steel 
I-beams that define the walls and support an I-beam that curves up to meet a ridge beam to form the roof and make any interior load-bearing walls unnecessary.
If the egg is representative of education, then the theater can be imagined hatching and emerging from the egg, the result of the growth and development. Because the theater is the heart of the school, it is expressed with an initial gesture. A steel arch curves out of a concrete foundation tapering as it wraps up and around, embracing the existing 104 foot smoke stack as it plunges back into the ground. The next gesture is the five arched trusses that curve up from the plaza to meet the arch and form a structural element that creates a long spanned support allowing for a free-formed floor plan. The roof is curved to form and attached to the underside of the trusses so that it floats above the walls.
Site Plan
Forms created in the design extend past its walls, or skin, into the surrounding urban landscape creating a circulation that is user friendly as well as providing easy access to and from its critical adjacencies, the Tennessee Aquarium and the Imax Theater. A pedestrian path ramps down from a neighboring ball park cutting through the plaza of the experimental theater and becomes a pedestrian bridge connecting this site with the twenty-five mile river parkway system.
East Elevation
This design works because of the use of steel construction to provide a structural element that allows for any space to be altered to fit the possible changing needs of the experimental performing arts center.
Theater Interior Perspective
This design works because it enhances and illustrates the birth, growth and maturity of any performance artist.
Site Section
This project is presented using four 20 by 20 inch color boards and is one of eight selected by Woodbury University to compete in the2003 Steel Design Competition Sponsored by the ACSA and AISC.
Board 1
Board 2
Board 3
Board 4
