Alexander Llantada
Alexander Llantada
I came here in 2015, and was immediately overwhelmed by the workload. During the first year, I was struggling to balance studio with my other classes. There were even a few times when I seriously considered quitting. However, I stayed because I realized that the actual design process is fun and playful. This mentality of treating the early parts of the design process like molding clay and playing Minecraft helped me get through these 5 years. Despite having functional and regulatory requirements, architecture is still an art form and I find it fun to work with. I prefer to challenge myself with unconventional shapes, like curves and things that don’t look like boxes. My pursuit of these forms has led me to learning Grasshopper. I also find a lot of joy in making renderings, leading me to testing various techniques and software like Twinmotion.
Four Freedoms Center
This building serves as a gallery space and social center for the Four Freedoms Memorial on Roosevelt Island. My analysis of the site has led me to some design choices relating to the memorial and the Smallpox Hospital. This includes my café being accessible through its own entrance and the lobby splitting the building along the axis between the hospital and memorial. Some of my other decisions stemmed from my desire to challenge myself and see whether these weird forms could work with all the structure and HVAC systems. This is where the curvy design came from. Finally, I did some things in the design just to see if they would look as good in the renderings as in my head, and for the most part, they do, like the double and triple height spaces with the angled roofs.
