https://elenabouton.com elena b Sat, 27 Aug 2022 17:55:42 +0000 https://elenabouton.com en https://elenabouton.com/Information Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:29:53 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/Information Bureaucracy and Labyrinth, Perfect Crimes of the Self and City Franz Kafka (Prague, Czech Republic, 1883-1924) was a German-speaking Bohemian novelist and short-story writer, widely regarded as one of the major figures of 20th-century literature.It is claimed that the doorkeeper does not know the inside of the Law, only the path outside the entrance which he has to keep walking up and down. The ideas he has of the inside are considered childish, and it is assumed that he himself fears the things he wants to make the man afraid of. Jorge Luis Borges (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1899-1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, and a key figure in Spanish-language and universal literature. I imagined a labyrinth of labyrinths, a maze of mazes, a twisting, turning, ever-widening labyrinth that contained both past and future and somehow implied the stars. Absorbed in those illusory imaginings, I forgot that I was a pursued man; I felt myself, for an indefinite while, the abstract perceiver of the world. The vague, living countryside, the moon, the remains of the day did their work in me; so did the gently downward road, which forestalled all possibility of weariness. The evening was near, yet infinite. https://elenabouton.com/About Wed, 21 Jul 2021 18:51:13 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/About Elena is an architect living in Oakland, California, where she likes to design, garden, break things, fix things, sew, and build furniture. For her thesis, titled ‘Ingrown’, Elena was awarded the 2021 Ciampi Art in Architecture Award. For research, titled ‘Loopholes and Extralegal Architectures’, she was awarded 2020 Branner, Stump, and Beckerman Travel Fellowship. Elena is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley Master of Architecture and completed a Bachelor of Science at McGill University in Geography and Environmental Health. She was the 2020-2021 co-editor of the award-winning architecture journal, Room One Thousand. RM1000 published it’s first collaborative issue, Issue 9: Breaks, sponsored by the Graham Foundation. Elena has worked as an architectural designer, graphic designer, studio assistant, design studio instructor, teacher, drafter, cartographer, and spatial analyst, lifeguard, server, hostess, babysitter, and dogwalker.&nbsp; &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; research &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt; . https://elenabouton.com/Selected-Work Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:29:53 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/Selected-Work Selected Work https://elenabouton.com/Research Sat, 27 Aug 2022 17:55:42 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/Research Loopholes and Extralegal ArchitecturesPostponed Summer 2020 to Fall 2022 The architectural legacy of engaging with occupied space has shifted during period of extreme social unrest. In Milan in the 1970’s, architecture classes were held for youth squatters and protestors to instruct them on safe building materials and construction methods. In Berlin in the 1980’s, city planners would collect ways in which building codes were disregarded, and would work toward legalization and amendment. Contemporary architects have engaged with legality by publishing ways to hack the building code, like Santiago Cirugeda’s Recetas Urbanas and Finn Williams and David Knight’s SUB-Plan. In the case of Michael Sorkin’s Local Code, a city is reduced only to the restrictions that are applied to it. <img width="1000" height="562" width_o="1000" height_o="562" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/9e195956ae7f376b177cd0f623113d814cd5e5d308c6d0163fb0c50c5850bbe9/marinaleda.png" data-mid="151434465" border="0" alt="Marinaleda" data-caption="Marinaleda" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/9e195956ae7f376b177cd0f623113d814cd5e5d308c6d0163fb0c50c5850bbe9/marinaleda.png" />This project aims to place ‘loophole’ architecture and extra-legal architecture in conversation with each other through their action as a spatial occupation, to understand how code generates form. None of the chosen sites are clandestine and some receive official support despite their (il)legal standing. The existence of sanctioned illegal architecture forces us to reevaluate the building code, not as an absolute but rather, a negotiation. I will be visiting sites that engage with this ‘grey zone’ in different ways, divided into Occupations of Site or Occupations of Code. In some cases, they may occupy both site and code, or in their lifespans, fluctuate between the two.&nbsp; Occupations of Site could be a resettled medieval village, scaffolding hovering above the street, or farm land claimed from aristocrats. For those who believe the refrain, “The land belongs to those who work it”, they might not be occupations at all. Occupations of Code include acts such as the installation of an exterior room latched onto an urban apartment, or an addition stacked onto an existing building that becomes a rentable apartment, and then a second addition stacked onto that. This research will develop an analysis of built works that confront legal ambiguities, and look to these occupations as a generator of form, whether at the scale of a single scaffold, or the development of an autonomous city within a city. It is situated within a robust literature of alternative settlements and anarchist architecture, but aims to fill a gap in the understanding of the evolution of built sites that contradict legal expectations, in addition to furthering investigations into the formal manifestations of ‘squatting’ the code. https://elenabouton.com/01-Community-Nest Thu, 28 Oct 2021 01:01:32 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/01-Community-Nest <img width="2160" height="2238" width_o="2160" height_o="2238" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/d285cc6f7d66eca380cfd994906e5d7067cf8ccf0c82e978716d289738348473/Portfolio_2Page_2021.png" data-mid="122895927" border="0" data-scale="58" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/d285cc6f7d66eca380cfd994906e5d7067cf8ccf0c82e978716d289738348473/Portfolio_2Page_2021.png" /> <img width="1637" height="1675" width_o="1637" height_o="1675" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0b9971b3249b288d5a905d615ccd84149306e271fd171ff7e6e7aa224e7af7bf/senior.png" data-mid="122895935" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0b9971b3249b288d5a905d615ccd84149306e271fd171ff7e6e7aa224e7af7bf/senior.png" /> <img width="1628" height="1642" width_o="1628" height_o="1642" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c67a61de41988bc56965d0928cdcb317b4705cc7900a32291c545505476b8470/laundry1.png" data-mid="122895934" border="0" data-scale="43" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c67a61de41988bc56965d0928cdcb317b4705cc7900a32291c545505476b8470/laundry1.png" /> <img width="1628" height="1650" width_o="1628" height_o="1650" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/74d827f44feca798bc50ab9837497bcff9dd35aa70ace8a522799d984c528681/shower.png" data-mid="122895936" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/74d827f44feca798bc50ab9837497bcff9dd35aa70ace8a522799d984c528681/shower.png" /> <img width="1392" height="1392" width_o="1392" height_o="1392" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/28893c229b5f1639aed6b75eedec514a558d0484238e05933909992ab8713480/front.png" data-mid="122895933" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/28893c229b5f1639aed6b75eedec514a558d0484238e05933909992ab8713480/front.png" /> 01.Community Nest In collaboration with Marta ElliottAdvised by Dan SpiegelFall 2020 This community center is intended to evoke a home - not four walls where a nuclear family convenes, but a multi-generational amalgam in which we share resources, take productive action, and collectively rest. Here, four walls are insufficient. Shifting levels and splintered spaces inspire dynamic, everyday use. Non-precious spaces are accessible to those passing through, waiting around, or meeting up. Within the greater volumes of enclosure, there is an additional layer of interiority of spaces nested within the system of frames facilitating gradients of views and privacy. Movement through thresholds, boundaries, and walls remains fluid throughout, while nested volumes are more specifically programmed. <img width="6469" height="1695" width_o="6469" height_o="1695" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/b8e7f68c68c5e47262f7d6c5f8bdfe8bbeaee98818491b6994f355c6561803c3/elevation.png" data-mid="122895931" border="0" data-scale="72" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/b8e7f68c68c5e47262f7d6c5f8bdfe8bbeaee98818491b6994f355c6561803c3/elevation.png" /> Community Nest is laid out a 4’ grid. Set against the existing station building are administration and meeting spaces, connecting to the print shop in the baggage wing. The frames here, create a covered terrace surrounded by large sliding doors at the ground level. Moving toward the street, a single floor senior center contains a single nested space that utilizes an offset skylight. With this offset, the nested space is open to above, and part of the larger space, with walls acting as visual barriers, but losing their ability to provide acoustic enclosure. The senior centers gestures across the central axis through large sliding doors to the youth center. <img width="1825" height="2402" width_o="1825" height_o="2402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/0d02b5e017f27ccc7897c119241afd10c54406a3dd614741fa404b1edb1e7e8d/lockers.png" data-mid="122895939" border="0" data-scale="37" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/0d02b5e017f27ccc7897c119241afd10c54406a3dd614741fa404b1edb1e7e8d/lockers.png" /> <img width="1775" height="2402" width_o="1775" height_o="2402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fe680939f260491175de92c61901f6439842a06ff885b46a867df50deeb64b3f/senior.png" data-mid="122895940" border="0" data-scale="41" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fe680939f260491175de92c61901f6439842a06ff885b46a867df50deeb64b3f/senior.png" /> <img width="1775" height="2402" width_o="1775" height_o="2402" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/7fa5c943f60954b9a9dc6f92b1084b2793ae58aa73f869905c5a6009fb861a5d/shower.png" data-mid="122895941" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/7fa5c943f60954b9a9dc6f92b1084b2793ae58aa73f869905c5a6009fb861a5d/shower.png" /> <img width="1783" height="2383" width_o="1783" height_o="2383" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3a75ec1513db88eac0302fd6992ebae78dd188babd7fde8bce3ba1377953dd17/youth.png" data-mid="122895942" border="0" data-scale="40" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/3a75ec1513db88eac0302fd6992ebae78dd188babd7fde8bce3ba1377953dd17/youth.png" /> Narrative callouts combining structure with program and adapation are key to the representational presentation of the project. Providing multiple modes of drawing for individual excerpts gives context and emotion to these moments, shown often simultaneously in plan, section, and collage. <img width="9001" height="2549" width_o="9001" height_o="2549" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/8f4dd010724814f91f1b0bec323def7634f1bff1e4fd5684b908f3829ed98409/Long-Section-10222021-01.png" data-mid="122895938" border="0" data-scale="79" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/8f4dd010724814f91f1b0bec323def7634f1bff1e4fd5684b908f3829ed98409/Long-Section-10222021-01.png" /> Structural frames extend beyond the boundaries of the walls they support, implying connections and programmatic adjacencies between the inside and outside, and sometimes back inside. Frames cue a greater connectivity in what appears to be a series of pavilions. These conditions are facilitated by the structural system of enlarged and frequent frames, rhythmically woven throughout the larger site. Four heights of frames overlap and extend over one another, beyond the boundaries of walls, creating a variety of vertical spaces. Offset height datum from 14-30 feet creates various heights of spaces. The cladding of the building is a rain-screen of narrow fir panels, backed by a secondary structural system, bolted to but separate from the glulam frames, here shown crossing at 14 and 26 feet. <img width="8657" height="5713" width_o="8657" height_o="5713" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/804c20c28769693a245d26d24cd0069eeb8bff5c927e7f8fa8e9542dc799c6a2/detail-secction.png" data-mid="122979632" border="0" data-scale="67" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/804c20c28769693a245d26d24cd0069eeb8bff5c927e7f8fa8e9542dc799c6a2/detail-secction.png" /> This project refuses binary thresholds; spaces belong to multiple territories and programs are delineated by nested walls or exterior passages, if at all, within a fractured hierarchy of frames. What constitutes a home are the structures we belong to, which are rarely either or. Here we frame interactions and use through diffusion of space, and leaky light, with parts belonging to many things at once. <img width="6216" height="8786" width_o="6216" height_o="8786" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/fa7ee97c75ce6cde27544adbe54bcb6640ba54c4bab84e44166e72057b046acb/plan-crop.png" data-mid="122981382" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/fa7ee97c75ce6cde27544adbe54bcb6640ba54c4bab84e44166e72057b046acb/plan-crop.png" /> https://elenabouton.com/02-Hollow-Walls Wed, 27 Oct 2021 21:29:53 +0000 elena b https://elenabouton.com/02-Hollow-Walls <img width="2160" height="2159" width_o="2160" height_o="2159" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/a4eb94e23ae932862297e4773f979a9db85f1b6cb2fbc92ba8077671912ffe9c/Pool2w.png" data-mid="122895989" border="0" data-scale="49" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/a4eb94e23ae932862297e4773f979a9db85f1b6cb2fbc92ba8077671912ffe9c/Pool2w.png" /> 02. Hollow Walls Advised by Raveevarn Choksombatchoi and Luisa Caldas The following proposal for a Center for Sensory healing for research and education center for Autism Spectrum Disorder starts with the crafting of moments of experiential lighting. Light strategies are used to create subtle washes, delineate transition spaces and create way-finding patterns. The use of a thickened and hollowed wall allows light to be transferred downward and light canons demarcate key spaces, while creating a landscape of features on the roof. <img width="7436" height="1980" width_o="7436" height_o="1980" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/52e0d5da70a2dbd7de4dc21b2386d32e3d1bcc773d5c14912f556c6d97569e89/Combined_Modelphotos_notexture111.png" data-mid="122956750" border="0" data-scale="71" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/52e0d5da70a2dbd7de4dc21b2386d32e3d1bcc773d5c14912f556c6d97569e89/Combined_Modelphotos_notexture111.png" /> Sectional moments were designed to prioritized implementation of key lighting features. For example, transitional spaces are marked with light, using again the hollow walls to act as light shafts (shown second from the left). An interesting feature of this is the difference that emerges between reflected light and direct light, in terms of quality and coloring (shown on the far right). <img width="2110" height="2110" width_o="2110" height_o="2110" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/e80a401029700935b85a7a9704f876ae43034a5b7b9a472df717b098a79c6be7/gallery_compressed_final_1.png" data-mid="122957079" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/e80a401029700935b85a7a9704f876ae43034a5b7b9a472df717b098a79c6be7/gallery_compressed_final_1.png" /> <img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/800908c48973d361e314eb24da0889cef899989f1fec4bcd87522d3b9703e898/plan1.png" data-mid="122957348" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/800908c48973d361e314eb24da0889cef899989f1fec4bcd87522d3b9703e898/plan1.png" /> <img width="2160" height="2160" width_o="2160" height_o="2160" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/cb8b558c9a3eb07542d52d260d9a987fc27c41b2326435c09cdba3144359348b/scene2_square_SKY.png" data-mid="122957081" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/cb8b558c9a3eb07542d52d260d9a987fc27c41b2326435c09cdba3144359348b/scene2_square_SKY.png" /> <img width="1500" height="1500" width_o="1500" height_o="1500" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c150c6baf329e2ab8b14600b600c2aed6e9579017324f32f7cb97abf3a6f0711/plan2.png" data-mid="122957349" border="0" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/c150c6baf329e2ab8b14600b600c2aed6e9579017324f32f7cb97abf3a6f0711/plan2.png" /> . Above: Wall washing in the gallery allows for control of light and sensory conditions. Opportunities for rest and respite found within the wall. Below: Gallery shown in plan, hollow walls become apparent The scale-lessness of light is played with, in the representation of detail versus room across the project. <img width="5100" height="2868" width_o="5100" height_o="2868" data-src="https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/43aa7263be74642bff5701b70aff3c3a44637bd9f6b85e925bcb3508daa132fc/plan-walls.png" data-mid="122958683" border="0" data-scale="100" src="https://freight.cargo.site/w/1000/i/43aa7263be74642bff5701b70aff3c3a44637bd9f6b85e925bcb3508daa132fc/plan-walls.png" />