April 27: FINAL PRESENTATION DONE

Today we finished all drawings, including editing the plans, diagrams, sections, elevations, and perspectives. We put the finishing touches on the whole presentation and were able to submit it to Bulgaria, in order to be printed out and turned in before the due date of May 7th. This project was incredibly instructive and inspiring, especially for me since that is the exact place where I grew up and spent all Sunday afternoons. The Sveta Nedelya Church was always a main destination for all Orthodox services in Sofia, throughout the whole year and it stands at the exact center of a Roman establishment, all of which adds to its significance as a holy and religious place in Bulgarian culture and tradition.

I was lucky to be a part of such an amazing team that is NC-office and would gladly work with them again. This internship helped me not only to work in the field of architecture and follow all I feel passionate about, but it also linked me to our own heritage and Bulgarian culture: a privilege i feel honored to have been a part of. Thank you NC-office for the incredible semester!

April 26: Model Pictures and Final Drawings

Today we took pictures of the finished model in order to edit them in a Final Presentation. We also continued working on all Final Design Drawings including plans, diagrams, sections, and elevations. I searched for scaled people we can use in our context perspectives and elevations, editing them in Photoshop and prepping them for use in the Final Presentation.

April 19: Final Model and Church Elevations

Today we finished the model including the plaza design. It includes several peeling platforms next to the church that create inhabitable layers of spaces similar to the layers of history we discovered the church to have. We put the finishing touches to the Site Model and our Final Design model. After concluding the building of a physical model, I finished all elevation drawings of the church so we can plug them into the Final Sections and Elevations.

April 12: Model

I finished up the Site model and all blocks I missed last week. I had finished a building at home and added it to the model. The only part missing was the Plaza design itself at this point.

March 29: Model

Today I continued working on the Site model. I learned a bit of how to draw projections and make gabled roofs for a model using both the elevation and plan of a building with such roof. I practiced by making one of the roofs a gabled roof and it turned out great. Continued making the largest buildings of the model.

March 22: Model

Today I continued building the different blocks of the Sofia site. I constructed 3 individual blocks of the model and took some material home to finish a building.

March 15: Model

Today I began construction and assembly of the Final Model. NC-office had already assembled the base and ruins part of the site. I was assigned several blocks and began building immediately. Using white matte board and white glue I began grouping buildings in the same block and constructing a single box with varying heights on each side. Later I established a method for building separate structures.

March 1: Topography and Sections

Today I began to analyze the topography of Sofia and incorporating that knowledge into the section cuts. I revisited Google Earth several times and traced the topography line as base. I adjusted all buildings according to this line.

February 22: Competition Sections

Today, I began developing the sections necessary for the competition. I began analyzing the perimeter of the plan I must create a section for. After determining the zone to be analyzed, I began putting together all sections from the previously gathered drawings and determining foreground and background buildings.

February 8: Plans and SITE VISIT (Miami Beach House)

Today I continued to develop the Site plan for the Sofia Competition but we also went to visit one of NC-office's current projects under construction in Miami Beach.

They are developing a two-floor, single-family home, with 50 feet pool in the backyard. The house has 5 bedrooms upstairs, and a master bedroom,office, kitchen, living, and dining rooms below. The house was still being built and was missing interior finishes, lighting fixtures, and plumbing. The electricians, who were on site, discussed the fixture connections and outlets of the house. We looked at tile finishes and combinations for the bathrooms, all of which had to differ slightly from one another. We discussed the form of the house and how they had arrived at the modern design. We looked at construction drawings and they explained to me some notifications and symbols.

February 1: Developing the Site Plan

Today I began downloading all AutoCAD drawings from the competition's website in order to create our design's Site Plan.

The website is:
http://www.sofia-agk.com/en/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=300&Itemid=49

Here I was able to find many elevations, plans, and sections of the existing buildings which we later used as references and backdrops for our Final Design Drawings.

January 25: Beginning Analysis

Today I developed some studies of the historical layers of the current plaza focusing on the Roman times, stretching into the 1800's when the church was destroyed under Ottoman rule and continuing with its further degradation in the 1900's. The Sveta Nedelya Church we see today was erected in the Mid 1900's. These diagrams attempt to juxtapose all layers of the church's history. We discussed the ideas and began understanding the parameters of our task for a plaza design.

January 18: Sveta Nedelya Plaza Competition INTRO

Today we decided to begin work on a Plaza Competition in Sofia, Bulgaria. I perused the general guidelines, at the time, written in Bulgarian and translated them to English for the whole NC-office to understand. The competition involved the design of a plaza next to the church Sveta Nedelya (St. Sunday Church) located in the very prominent center of the Bulgarian capital itself. The church sits on the remains of a Roman Decumanus (Via Principalis, or Main Road) and ancient ROman and Pagan temple ruins, all of which we decided was crucial to our future design and those numerous historical layers MUST be taken into urgent consideration.

End of the Line

The competition boards were submitted. The semester is over. I'm about to graduate. Go on vacation and then reenter the real world. 'Tis a sad day, but I enjoyed my semester while at NC Office. They are all good people and I owe them some cupcakes! I learned a lot and had some good times. I would recommend it to anyone at the FIU SOA. 

~Jordan 

Looking Back for the Future

As part of the competition I took a look back at different historical precedents for public squares. These ranged from large to small. From famous to not so famous. Such as the Piazza Novona to the brilliant Jemaa el Fna in Marrakech. (Seen below)

From here a series of line drawings were completed that highlighted the squares. 

~Jordan 

Building a Village

After the scheme of the project was set, I helped build a site model. Just like studio, it involved matboard, chipboard, exacto's, and glue. This was to be used for the boards and photos on them. 

~Jordan 

Moving On....

After the CAD drawings were completed, I moved on to helping the office with a Architectural Competition in Bulgaria. It is a Public Square in Sofia, that contains many layers of history all packed on top of each other. One of the challenges is the incorporation of cultural artifacts and infrastructure. There are layers of Roman history, the Turks, the Christians and the Russians. It seemed as though each one of these cultures left a church, mosque, or basilica on site. There is also a major road that travels through the site. Almost a day was spent with Nik explaining the site to me and what was what. Shown below is the site in the roaring 20's. 

~Jordan 

Went on a Walkabout

The first assignment I was given was to draw a CAD drawing of the core of Downtown Miami. Taking an incorrect CAD file and fine tuning it to be more of the 'idealist' version of a city. So, if a block were 243' 6.76767677", its ideal dimensions would be rounded to 250'. The same rule applies to the property lines and the building footprints. 

It involved a lot of walking around and pacing the distances between buildings or the width of sidewalks. It was very enjoyable partially because of the wonderful weather that Miami has in January and February and partly because of the nature of Downtown Miami. Most people whom I have talked to seem to have a negative view of Downtown. Partially this is based upon historical precedent and partially naivety. I found it to be a very bustling place during the day. Plenty of people, plenty of places to eat, things to smell, sounds to hear, and muy cafecitos! As a side note, I think one of the challenges is how to continue this activity past 6 o'clock in the area. 

~Jordan 

Downtown Miami

Nik gave me a tour of Downtown Miami. Including its many oddities and peculiarities. Everything from a vertical conveyor belt for valet workers to maximize space in a garage to a barrel vaulted convenience store. The highlight was the building with the eagles with are slightly inclined to appear as if they are almost flying or watching over the streets of Miami. 

It was on this day that the first of many coladas was shared and I was introduced to the rest of the NC Office team (Elizabeth, Peter, and Christine). I was also given the first part of my 'assignment' on this day. 

~Jordan