Portfolio Book - Dimitri Gudgenov

Delight often comes when the expected is subverted to display a variation that beforehand was unimaginable and is thereafter amusingly obvious. In some instances the form that a material takes can perform this feat. In this sculpture a layered and mechanically produced material like Baltic birch plywood is subverted to express an organic bulging shape that is textured by the lines of the wooden layers. It takes on the quality of waves, or mounds of earth frozen, cast into a geometric Cartesian production. The layers of the material amplify and describe the quality of the incline of the surface.

An organic piece, assembling a series of cast acrylic slices cut on a laser cutter. The object has qualities of a primitive creature, the referential points running through the slices form a rudimentary spine. When expanded into a longer sculpture with rope and spacers the piece behaves as a lifeless snake-like animal moving and deforming to take the shape of the environment.

In 2002 the Commonwealth of Virginia funded a new center for the performing arts in downtown Richmond. The project would encompass an entire city block around an existing historic theater. The additional spaces would create a complex with several theaters, new support spaces as well as incubator spaces where promising performers could hone their craft. The proposal was straightforward in its treatment of programmatic blocks in their formal expression. The concept took the potential of the volumes and treated them as realized spacial forces that pushed and squeezed each other creating non-traditional geometry and adjacencies. The resultant agglomeration was cut by the property limit. The clear span of the domed public spaces created grand airy lobbies for the theater-goer. This formal logic is similar to the hive cell, but with cells of divergent size, function and importance instead of a multitude of identical cells.

. Richmond, the capital of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Founded on the banks of the Charles river in 1737. Richmond served as the capital of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. The estimated population of the greater Richmond metropolitan area is 1.2 million

Roof Plan

First Floor Plan

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1. Entry/ Ticketing 2. Gift Shop 3. Lobby 4. Main Theater 5. Theater Support 6. Courtyard 7. Cafe/ Restaurant 8. Flexible Theater 9. Offices 10. Theater Support 11. Incubator Spaces 12. Storage/ Support 13. Management 14. Loading Dock 15. Existing Historic Theater

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Abstract Massing Model At a material scale, the main dome displays its triangulated geometry and fragments into variable component faces. These faces express the assembly of the parts to form the whole and transition into a shattered oculus that opens the lobby to jagged light from above. Bellow are shown multiple alternative layouts considered in the preliminary arrangement of the spaces.

produced w/CNC router

Schematic Program Main Chapel Library

3200sf 3000sf

Classrooms Offices Outdoor (min.) Student Housing Faculty Housing Dining + Support Support +Circ

1650sf 1400sf 2000sf 3000sf 1200sf 3400sf 6500sf

Our thesis project for the end of our Bachelor of Architecture was a project with certain limitations. It was to be located somewhere in downtown Richmond, VA and was to be a non-denominational seminary. The specifics of the program and the exact location were to be determined by the individual designer. The selected location was quite close to the dense urbanized center of the city, in a transitional zone where the overall size and mass of the buildings began to break into smaller units into a more porous and residential fabric. The site was a block away from Broad Street, the main wide thoroughfare of downtown Richmond. The lot is located at an anomaly in the street grid, a point where a tributary street branches off at 45 degrees. This created a strange gap in the facades of Broad street as well as a lot that was “naturally” divided into two zones roughly the sizes of two blocks in the program. The triangular shaped zone would be the location of the iconic, public object which would stand apart from the remaining environment. The remaining lot would be the location for the living spaces, classrooms and other support spaces surrounding a generous courtyard. The green space adjacent the main chapel was to be in contrast to the cloister, being open directly on two sides to the public to become an outdoor pulpit, the point of outreach into the surrounding community.

Richmond Zoning Plan Context

Preliminary Diagrammatic Model

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7. 6. Level 1 1. Library 2. Office 3. Sanctuary 4. Classroom 5. Cafeteria 6. Toilets/ Restrooms 7. Student Rooms 8. Support/Office 9. Faculty Rooms 10. Main Sanctuary 11. Sacristy 12. Seminar Spaces

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1. Library 2. Office 3. Sanctuary 4. Classroom 5. Cafeteria 6. Toilets/ Restrooms 7. Student Rooms 8. Support/Office 9. Faculty Rooms 10. Main Sanctuary 11. Sacristy 12. Seminar Spaces

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The forms express the adaptive quality of components of a building as they come together. We begin to understand the temporal nature of the geometry as there is a progression from low to high in deliberate, quantitative steps. We begin to understand the nature of each surface as being relative and informed by the next. Metaphorically, the triangular prisms around the courtyard activate the common outdoor area, unifying them as public circulation corridors as well as forming a transition between the truly organic tree canopy in the courtyard and the orthogonal, regularized habitable spaces. They are an abstracted canopy, a matrix that grows and branches above as one walks the grounds.

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A fanciful single person residence. The dwelling is designed to be sited in a wooded lot. The roof shape is to most effectively shed water and collect it at the points removing the need for gutters. The steady stream flowing down at the quarters would form an opportunity to manage water into a collection system, a decorative stream or other water feature.

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Building Diagram

2. 1. 1. Studio 2. Office 3. Classroom 4. Mechanical 5. Toilets 6. Lecture Hall 7. Storage 8. Gallery

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enlarged building section

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Structural Diagram

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This project was for a studio arts building on the East Campus of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina. The site within the campus was predetermined, with a small existing building to be demolished. The program consisted of a series of studio spaces, faculty offices, classrooms, a gallery and a large auditorium. The arrangement that was settled upon was a roughly J shaped courtyard layout formed by a series of thick walls upon which the spaces would be attached. The center area would be the public spaces, with generously lit hallways running in a circuit. This project included an opportunity to create an in-depth sectional model of an exemplary portion of the building.

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Studio Office Classroom Mechanical Toilets Lecture Hall Storage Gallery

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Sao Paulo is a metropolis where residential towers sprout up to feed a seemingly unending tide of humanity. This project is sited in a neighborhood that has a current and growing base of such buildings, facing Ibirapuera Park, roughly equivalent with New York’s Central Park. The structural logic similar to that of bone, a lattice of cells in a core matrix with a thick structurally active element around the circumference. This structural exterior skin is a perpetually branching weave that creates an effective and coherently acting shell. Modest and appropriate terraces are necessities in this building type and these grow from the same weaving principle.

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2. 3. 1. Bedroom 2. Kitchen 3. Living/Dining 4. Bathroom 5. Stairs 6. Elevator 7. Mechanical

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Portfolio of Works 2001-2009

Dimitri Ginaqui-Gudgenov Born in Sao Paulo in 1979, with Brazilian, Polish, Portuguese and Bulgarian ancestry. Raised in Montreal, Quebec and in Raleigh-Durham, also known as the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Attended North Carolina’s Governor’s School, East Campus for Fine Art in 1997. Graduated from North Carolina State University in 2002 with a Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture, and a Bachelor of Architecture in 2004. Worked for Rotman Architecture PA under apprenticeship of David Rotman, AIA from 2004 to 2007 on a mix of laboratory institutional renovations, commercial developments, commercial fit-ups, residential renovations, residential additions, institutional retrofitting and permitting. Joined the Freelon Group, Architects in 2007 known for cultural and educational projects, most visibly the National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington D.C. While at Freelon Mr. Gudgenov worked on laboratory interiors, 3D modeling and rendering. Worked in depth on New Cherry Hospital, a Psychiatric replacement Hospital for the eastern region of the State of North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. [email protected]

Sculpture

Personal Statement

A. Surface B. The Worm/Amber Flea

As a designer, I strive to find the convergence of innovation with practical solutions in the service of the greater good. My designs aim for the improvement and enhancement of our built environment.

Architecture C. The Virginia Center for the Performing Arts D. Central Richmond Seminary E. Individual Residence F. Studio Arts Building for Duke East Campus G. Sao Paulo Residential Tower Sculpture and other H. Jagged Movement J. Potency K. Partial Self-Portrait L. Slightly Above M. The Record - Temporary Memorial for 911 N. For Sale P. On the White

Emergent technologies offer the greatest potential for progress in future projects. Among these we can expect efficient materials and more effective analysis of information. We should harness this technology and knowledge to break new ground in our buildings. As these new technologies become realized, a radical re-imagining of the human built environment may be necessary. Biomimicry and organically inspired structures which regenerate are potentially powerful ideas which are in their infancy. In our future endeavors we will be wielding energy sources previously left untapped and making current energy sources more clean, responsible and efficient so that the future is prosperous, healthy and sustainable for all.