Vctor D.

Vargas Architecture Portfolio

Contents.
First Year
Hand Drafting. Pen Technical Draft.

Second Year.
Rest Station. Catenary.

Third Year.
Church.

Fourth Year.
Animal Shelter.

Misc.
Travel Photography.

To the right are a couple of sketches I made in one of my travels; Above is a decorative wall that works as a waterfall, below is a catholic church in the town of Tzintzuntzan, Michoacan, Mexico. Medium used: Pen and Ink Notebook.

This page contains hand drawings I made through my first 2 semesters of school, mostly basic geometric designs, we were instructed only to work on the exteriors and facades.

Conceptual Facade. Pen and Markers.

Geometric Facade. Pen and Markers.

Conceptual Plan View. Pen and Markers.

Building Illustration. Pen and Markers.

Rest Station.
This project was to be built outside of town, next to the highway from cities Chihuahua and Juarez, being located in the middle of the desert we had a lot of room but no services whatsoever , so my design was to use whatever material already in the area, earth from the site, and wood from its surroundings, the design is very simple, and area with travel information, rest rooms, eating area, and a landscape gazer. I tried to use all the light from the exterior to use minimal electricity, its open concept allowed it to gaze much of the natural landscape, the design was to simulate sand waves in the dunes.

Rest Station. Perspective View.

Front Elevation.

Left Elevation.

Aereal View.

Catenary.
In this project we only had 2 weeks to develop a conceptual proposal, the only requirement was to design infrastructure or urban furniture to be placed on a residential area, and the restriction to be a catenary structure. I choose to design a canopy on the walkways that connect the houses and buildings to make walking in those areas more appealing to the users. I used wood for all the framing, and natural wool shade designed to fit it and fall freely forming the catenary. Perspective in place of Conceptual Design.

Aereal view.

Conceptual Perspective View.

Front View.

Elevation.

Plan View.

Church.
One of my mid-studies projects, we were asked to design a church, any denomination, being from a mostly catholic country I decided to go that way. This project has a lot of symbolism in it. First off is made of basic geometrical shapes, a simple sphere in the center, representing perfection and God; It is open to the sky or Heaven. It is above ground representing the hard path to ascension and the penance of the believers. All the wooden sticks represent the individuals and families from all over the world approaching God. The water pond symbolizes the purification of the believers before coming to paradise. The whole structure forms a cross, a powerful Christian symbol, that is visible from all directions. The staircases are painted only on the risers, this conceptualizes only one point, ascending to heaven is a pleasure, and descending is really bad.

Church. Ground level Perspective.

Church Interior looking at the altar.

Final Project. Animal Shelter.

This was my last project to obtain my bachelors degree, I team up with another student , we were asked to design a solution to a social problem, one that could be solved with a building from the most part. We came up with the idea to design an animal shelter because in most cities of Mexico animals are left aside to tackle more important issues; We contacted local governmental agencies and non profit organizations involved in this particular problem , and came with the conclusion that for this project to work we needed to develop a complex in which both parties could work together to achieve the same goal. We divided the space into two buildings A and B, one which would be under the government management, and the other would be under NPOs supervision. In the project the two buildings work together to establish a synergy, one would workonlytocollecthomeless animals and evaluate them to see which ones could be adopted, the other would work to put the animals up Animal Shelter. Front View. to adoption.

Animal Shelter. Aereal View.

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In this project I was involved in the overall design, but more particular in the design of building A, this was designed to the government. The main design was a envelope similar to a cactus skin, this with the purpose to project an image of protection to the animals, envisioned first to fit a desert area, a place in which people would feel comfortable, come around to adopt, identify it as a positive aspect of the city, and promote similar projects to be built on other cities of the country. All the exteriors are massive to influence positively onto the city, and we tried to gain as much space to green areas as possible, hence given it a more natural look filled with local plants and trees.

Main Entrance and Parking Lot.

Main entrance.

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Building A.
My specific building to work with. This was designed with the purpose of collecting the animals, evaluating them, deciding if they are fit and healthy to be put up to adoption, and offering the service of euthanasia a cremation of pets to the public. The program encompasses, kennels, deworm showers, isolated kennels, freezing room, incinerator chamber vets. Clinics, re, search and zootecnic control lab, offices, dinning hall, lobby and reception. Building A.
Evaluation and deworm clinic. Patio and Services. Lab. Cremation Chamber

Exterior Kennels. Big kennels. Small Kennels. Vets. Head Office. Lobby. Offices.

Rest rooms and employees area.

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Building 'A' Plan.

Building B.
My part for this design was very basic, we discussed the main layout the formal relation of this and other building and some zoning plan. This building was designed to be operated by the NPOs its function is very different from building A, but without it the whole project lacks a more humanitarian side. This building contains mostly exhibition areas so animals can be adopted, dog a cat areas are separated, it has a formal veterinarian clinic, offices, a patio for the animals, and one of the most important parts is the lecture hall, in which education can be provided to the community, as well as local schools can make trips to receive information on the needs and obligations an animal represents.
Veterinary Clinic.

Building B.

Dog Kennels. Cat House.

Dinning Hall and Bathrooms with showers.

Front Desk.

Lobby and rest rooms.

Building 'B' Plan.

Offices.

Lectures Hall.

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Travel Photography.
Here are some examples of photographic work Ive done, these photographs reflect other interest that I have, I feel really inspired and attracted to pre-hispanic civilizations, thats a field I would like to pursue in the future at some other time, Im also very passionate abut naturalscapes and try to draw inspiration from it, although it is hard to get abstractions from nature to design compelling and at the same time functional architectural spaces, I believe that is very important to respect it and to some extent follow its example.

Pyramid of the Moon, Teotihuacan Archeological Site.

Morelia Cathedral at Night.

Monte Alban Archeological Site.

Uruapan National Park.

Fisherman's Boat.

Beach Sunset.

Flip Flops at the beach.

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Volcanc rock, Teotihuacan Archeological Site.

Travel Photography.

Jacaranda Tree.

Morelia Cathedral at Dawn.

Uruapan, Mexico.

Bridge, at Uruapan National Park.

Morelia Aqueduct, Mexico.

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Vctor D. Vargas