It was another successful ending to a week. We had eight people over for the Modo Training. Down from thirteen the week before with Alaas 3D Studio Max training session. Its a much more intimate environment. We drank some Sake and ate some Sushi. Everyone had a computer this week and we walked through the entire process of developing an interior space; From modeling, openings for windows and doors, applying and creating materials. I am not sure what other workshops we will be doing in the future, but I will be sure to post it onto the workshop website. I am hoping to go over some sort of BIM software… the benefits of Revit, Bentley, Archicad, Vectorworks, and Digital Project, if I am missing anyone let me know.

An experimentation of a variety of diagrams; relationships with the surrounding site, material relationships, enclosed space vs exposed space, form alignment to create semi-enclusive spaces and exclusive space, interior space vs. exterior space, relationships between interior/exterior thresholds, and structural diagrams.

Aalto’s enthusiasm for the design, Schildt tells us, that he tried to persuade the Gullichsens to build their home over a stream on Ahlström land a few miles out of Noormarkku. The influence of Fallingwater is evident in several sheets of studies, which show boldly cantilevered balconies and an undulating basement storey intended as a substitution for the natural forms of the stream and rocks.

The goal of this competition is to achieve an architectural ensemble that responds to the multiple scales that these kind of projects require. The project to develop must not only attend to the specific function it’s designed for but also to its urban insertion and impact.

Team Members
Martinas Adruiskiavichus
Thom Boessel
Jesse Hans
Rilwan Kujenya
Micheal Velentzas

AIAS / Modular Building Institute: Miami Beach Hotel

Team Members

Thomas M. Boessel
Nway Oo
Robert R. Ortiz
Mikkel D. Strømstad

Faculty Sponsors

Gabriel Bergeron
Eric Nelson

Moho is a new concept in the long-standing tradition of world-class Miami hotel design. Its dynamic form expresses the grand sense of luxury and theatricality that popularized Miami hotels in a kit-of-parts assembly that efficiently responds to contextual, programmatic and environmental variables. In this way, the ability to adapt and respond—to cater to each guest—is articulated as its primary function.

The hotel floats eighty rooms made of one hundred eighty re-purposed shipping containers above a plinth of stepped landscape and public function areas. The rooms are arranged in two bars backing onto an open atrium. The front, urban bar develops a strong relationship with its Collins Avenue neighbors and frames Western views to Biscayne Bay and downtown. Unique features of the facility including elegant restaurant and retail areas, the projecting event room and seventh floor glass spa are dramatically expressed to the surrounding community. The rear ocean bar sweeps in a series of cascading levels from the eleventh floor to the pool area. Generous terraces with stunning ocean views define a strong sense of connection to the pool and shoreline below. Central to the complex, the canted atrium dramatically features a braced tubular steel frame and series of asymmetrical bridges linking the open corridors of the Ocean and Urban guest bars. Guest and staff elevator towers define the southern and northern edges of the glass roofed Lobby below.

Moho intentionally blends an attitude of sheltered luxury and outreach to the community. The massing of the facility presents a wall of private rooms punctured with public functions and open spaces. This architectonic element simultaneously shelters guest rooms above Collins Avenue and reestablishes the urban street wall while the community is encouraged to view and participate in various functions below. Color tinted glass is expressed against the white painted shipping container (guest room) walls and limestone circulation towers to create drama at night and attract pedestrians. The ground floor area, largely devoted to parking and back-of-house functions, includes a small, convenient retail space and open atrium Lobby. Guests and public patrons are dramatically drawn into the facility entry below the large projecting spaces of the upper Lobby. Restaurant, bar and a variety of public and private meeting areas are woven around this pivotal space and finally, access to the cascading landscape and ocean beyond is provided through a series of pivoting glass panels.