ELI SOKOL

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST LOUISSAM FOX SCHOOL OF DESIGN & VISUAL ARTS

COMPAS + COMPOSITION

ACOUSTIC GEOMETRIES AT SHAW NATURE RESERVE

FIRENZE COM’ERA FLORENCE AS IT WAS

FIRENZE COMPOSTA FLORENCE COMPOSED

LIVE WORK SHOW

CARONDELET PARK POOL COMPLEX

MAPPING SOFT BODIES

CITY WALK FRAMING THE URBAN CONDITION

CASE STUDY POMPIDOU CENTER

CASE STUDY VITRA FIRE STATION

PROFESSIONAL WORK UIC + CDO

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International Design Competition Collaboration with Yurina KodamaCOMPAS + COMPOSITION`

Flamenco music is a compositional dialogue between dance, guitar, singing, and clapping. To architecturalize Flamenco is to materialize its cadential elements into a complementary and fluid space, at the same time using fundamental rhythmic principles to create a l inear but l inked series of spaces. An analysis of the flamenco score “Sevil lanas,” informs the scheme for a cultural dance center in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.

Above: Mapping of “Sevil lanas”Right: Model Construction

program

danceexhibition

gymlecturelibrary

performanceplaza

restaurantshop

2: Plaza Entrance

1: Interior Courtyard First Floor Layout

Second Floor Layout

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ACOUSTIC GEOMETRIES AT SHAW NATURE RESERVE

A mapping study of a forested portion of Shaw Nature Reserve in eastern central Missouri reveals a dichotomous acoustic relationship between the tree canopy and ground vegetation. The space between the two is occasionally punctured by the passage of sound.

Featured in 2010 Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts student catalogue

Above: Acoustic abstraction of forest sectionTop Right: Acoustic mapping of forest sectionBottom Right: Volume construction of acoustic geometries

Informed by the preceding auditory data, a classroom space with a crystall ine envelope responds to the acoustic geometries of the forest as well as its varied topographical landscape.

The streamlined triangulation of earlier models is recomposed to meet site conditions. Raised within the forest tree canopy, the building skin allows for interior acoustic conditions similar to those of the forest itself.

Right: Geometric Form TransformationFar Right: Classroom Model

Above: South Elevation and Cross SectionsRight: Geometric form evolutionFar Right: Model ConstructionBelow: East Elevation

LECTURESPACE

ENTRANCE

MEZZANINE

FIRENZE COM’ERA FLORENCE AS IT WASFeatured in exhibition of selected works from Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts study abroad programs

INTERIOR PUBLIC PIAZZA

PROGRAMMABLEEXHIBIT SPACE

MAINEXHIBIT

ADMINISTRATIVECAFE

EXITOBSERVATION

The Challenge: A museum that exhibits a historical narrative of the city, to be located beneath the narrow Piazzale degli Uffizi in the center of Florence’s historic core. Museum program is informed by historical perspective and expression.

Ground Plan

-1 Plan

-2 Plan

Florence has a layered quality, both in historical sequence and urban form. The subterranean site typifies the complex networks of society and the spaces that define the city.

A line perpendicular to a slight geometric imbalance on the ground level arcade of the Uffizi Gallery regulates the program and form. A series of ramps, stairs, and plateaus shift and undulate along this off-axis tectonic l ine.

Above: Interior Exhibit VignettesRight: Floor Plans

Model Construction

Interior Exhibit Vignettes Axonometric Diagram of Regulating Order Axonometric Diagram of Circulation

Model Construction

BOUNDARIES

RELATIONSHIPS

FORMS

Built or unbuilt, these are physically significant conditions. Boundaries mold their environments, acting as either a force of containment or a force of attraction.

Relationships highlight context. They exist as both physical and visual connections but also as l inks to past ideas or spaces.

These are the elements that define the built environment. They are expressive artifacts of an ever evolving society. As physical entities, they are a manifestation of cultural ideas and values.

Using physical milestones as notation, the built environment becomes a choreographed composition that reveals the evolution of Florence over time.

FIRENZE COMPOSTA FLORENCE COMPOSED

Midtown Alley is a St. Louis neighborhood sandwiched between the city’s most urban pockets. It is an incomplete landscape, fractured by demolished buildings and surface parking lots. The experience of compression, release, and convergence in this built landscape is extracted to inform the program of the building.

1 Painter1 Sculpter

Artist living spaceArtist studio spacePublic exhibition space

LIVE WORK SHOW

Right: View facing West, Locust Street at Garrison AvenueBelow: Model Construction

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Midtown Alley Plan

North Elevation Cross Sections

Interior Perspective Collage

A series of interior perspectives highlights the surfaces that help to distinguish programmatic space. The ceiling and street-facing walls are the only surfaces that change in pitch and height along the length of the site. Shades of blue highlight this progression of shifting surfaces.

Each end of the building is reserved for its respective artist in residence. To meet in the middle, the two residents each experience a spatial compression that ultimately terminates in the most open interior room, where all shared living functions are housed.

West Elevation

Longitudinal Section

Second Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Basement Plan

Above: SectionsLeft: Floor Plan

CARONDELET PARK POOL COMPLEX

Carondelet Park is a victorian era St. Louis park distinguished by its centrally located lake and Olmsteadian artificial topography. The design for a recreational swimming center called for pool and spa facilities as well as space to exercise and sunbathe. Oriented along the northwest edge of Carondelet Lake, the complex is nestled into the rolling hillside surrounding the water.

To enter, visitors descend from the steet along a winding pathway that carves into the hillside and funnels into the building proper. This linear experience terminates with a vista of the lake and nearby boathouse at the south end of the complex. Metaphorically speaking, the building interior has the appearance of a gorge... a sunken space created by the presence of water.

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To achieve an etheral and weightless quality within this sunken space, recesses in the ceiling and floor planes create the illusion of floating surfaces. Horizontal apertures along the retaining wall extend through the adjacent hill to provide lakeside views.

MAPPING SOFT BODIES

The Paramecium Multimicronucleatum is a freshwater-based cell found in waterborne microrganisms. Tracing a microscopic image of this cell reveals a fibrous composition. This quality is then extruded in a three dimensional digital model which seeks to better convey the formal relationships of the cell and its various functions.

Paramecium Multmicronucleaturm, digitally rendered

H2O Freshwater H2O Waterborne Microrganism Paramecium Cell

Paramecium Multimicronucleatum

Isolated Paramecium Cell

Paramecium, digital drawing Paramecium Multimicronucleatum, digital drawing

plasma membrane

aveolar sacs

septa

cilia

granulo-fibrillar material

trichocyst tips

A complete three dimensional transformation of the original paramecium tracing hypothesizes the formal properties of this dynamic network of cells and functions.

Paramecium Multmicronucleaturm, digitally rendered

Model Construction of Trichocyst Tips

To examine a closer scale of the paramecium cell, the trichocyst tips region is chosen as a candidate for further study. Unique in its form, the trichocyst is a fi lamentous cell with a large oval-shaped cavity at its center. This model speculates the three dimensional qualit ies of a cell that is presented microscopically at a two dimensional level.

THE FOOTThe Foot keeps each ring in place. Maximum extension is reached when the foot locks below the Lip of the preceding ring.

THE LIPThe Lip is the top horizontal surface of each ring.The Lip overextends to lock each ring in place during maximum extension.

THE NECKThe Neck is a topographical extrusion. It is fully exposed when the system is at maximum extension, while a base segment is still revealed at minimum extension.

Above: Trichocyst Transformation from compression to extensionBelow: Diagram of system components

Above: Section Cut of the Trichocyst SystemTop Right: Section Cut of the Trichocyst SystemBottom Right: Overlay of extension transition

The trichocyst structure is formally driven by its ability to eject thread-like filaments in response to various stimuli. To further examine this dynamic property, a flexible system is proposed. The system is effectively a machine that recreates the potential forms of a trichocyst with a series of extendable interlocking rings.

Pullling on either end of the object, all rings will extend outwards from the center. A condition of maximum extension is reached when all the rings interlock in place. Complete compression in this system cannot be reached, considering the cell structure never exists in a two dimensional state.

I l lustrated Route indicating views and sections

CITY WALK FRAMING THE URBAN CONDITION

Section: Palazzo Medici Ricardi

Piazza San Marco to Piazza della Republica

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Section: Accademia GallerySection: Via de’ Bonizzi

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Selecting two Florence piazzas as endpoints, various routes emerge through the city, revealing the dynamic of the street and its shaping elements. These Illustrations examine the complexity of the built environment and the notion of “place” as a qualifiable urban condition.

CASE STUDY GEORGES POMPIDOU CENTRE

Plan courtesy of Roberts Stirks Harbour + Partners

Collaboration with Michael Pogran

This model was featured in a university exhibition of selected Case Study works

plumbingelectricalcirculation/safety climate control

This model isolates the Pompidou Centre’s distinct features from its spatial regulating order. It explores the designers’ aspirations of a more expressive built environment, where buildings are viewed as machines rather than static entities, activated by integrated systems as well as interaction.

CASE STUDY GEORGES POMPIDOU CENTRE

CASE STUDY VITRA FIRE STATIONRight: Orthographic Drawing, pencil on vellumBelow: Axonometric Drawing, ink on mylar

This axonometric drawing emphasizes the building’s regulating order, such that the project’s series of intersecting planes are shown to articulate the unique qualities of the space.

This orthographic representation is composed by a derivation of the Vitra Fire Station’s acute angles and their supplements.

The hybrid composition draws on the building’s dialogue of fragmentation and intersection, expressing the fragile tension and dynamic qualities of Vitra’s forms. Similar to the intentions of the building, this image aspires to convey a sense of tension and movement.

Above: Hybrid composition, pencil renderRight: Hybrid composition, digital render

PROFESSIONAL WORK UIC + CDO

Street Perspective Rendering

Proposed Floor Plan

Collaboration with Central Design Office

Proposed changes

Existing conditions

PROFESSIONAL WORK UIC + CDO

Threatened by demolition, a landmark midcentury gas station is proposed to be integrated with its surrounding modernist plaza as a mixed-use urban center.

A new two-story building with a skewed orientation creates a dialogue with the bold contour of the gas station, as well as the regulated geometry of the ex ist ing mal l across the street.

Sidewalks and landscaping as well as ground level retail seek to form a sense of place along a newly formed street that bisects all proposed developments and existing buildings.

Tower Grove Ave & McRee Ave

Tower Grove Ave & Flora Ave

Tower Grove Ave & Interstate 44

Tower Grove Ave & Vandeventer Ave

The Botanical Heights neighborhood of St. Louis is experiencing a combination of urban infi l l and renovation of existing homes. To complement the new development, major thoroughfares are being modified to accomodate bike lanes, street parking, crosswalks, and rain gardens. These new features seel to activate use of sidewalks, slow traffic, and help contribute to an overall friendlier pedestrian environment.

A 1930’s Standard Oil Station in Botanical Heights, St. Louis is being converted to a wine bar. A connective addition between the main structure and the wine cellar and kitchen located in an adjacent home facil itates easy circulation. Contemporary but subtle, the addition’s small scale and gentle angles allow a seamless transition between the two nodes.

Cross Section facing West

Site PlanSouth Elevation North Elevation

Cross Section facing EastLongitudinal Section facing North

Existing conditions at Gas Station site

ELI SOKOL517 Kingsland Avenue, #1SSaint Louis, MO 63105Elisokol@go.wustl.edu(305) 439 2235

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCESam Fox School of Design - WUSTL / St. Louis, MO www.wustl.eduDigital Fabrication Lab Monitor / Assisted students and executed operation of laser cutter facilities

UIC + CDO / St. Louis, MO www.uicstl.comArchitectural Intern / Collaborated on a design proposal, produced construction and schematic drawings

The J. Co LLC / St. Louis, MO www.thejco.comProject Assistant / Developed industry research models, contributed to creative project brainstorming.

Burger King Franchising and Development / Miami, FL www.burgerking.com Development Intern / Proudced comprehensive design, drawings, and models for a restaurant prototype

Oppenheim Architecture + Design / Miami, FL www.oppenoffice.comArchitectural Intern / Assembled, catalogued, and categorized an architecture and materials library

(08/11-12/11)

(05/11-08/11)

(10/09-05/10)

(05/09-08/09)

(09/06-08/07)

EDUCATIONWashington University in St. Louis / St. Louis, MOBachelor of Arts in Architecture / Sam Fox School of DesignMinor in General Business / Olin Business SchoolMinor in American Culture Studies / College of Arts and SciencesCumulative GPA 3.60

Gulliver Preparatory / Miami, FLInternational Baccalaureate program graduateTop 10 GPA of graduating class

(08/08-05/12)

(08/04-05/08)

ACTIVITIESArchitecture Student CouncilAcademic Vice President / Managed undergraduate student academic experience

Sam Fox School of Design & Visual ArtsPeer Advisor / Mentored transfer students in their transition into the architecture program

Sigma Alpha Epsilon FraternityBrand Manager, Correspondent, Standards Committee / Developed brand image for chapter affairs

Themed Entertainment AssociationYouth Member

AWARDSDean’s List (2008-2011)Junior studio work featured in university exhibition of selected works (2011)Case Study studio work featured at university exhibition of selected works (2011)Sophomore studio work featured in undergraduate architecture catalogue (2009-2010)1st Place in Fairchild Tropical Gardens sustainable architecture competition (2008)

SKILLSSoftware: Autocad, Revitt, Sketchup, Rhino, Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft OfficeDigital 2D and 3D fabricationDigital photographyModel constructionMultilingual in English, French, ItalianTechnical hand drawing

(04/11 - present)

(08/11 - present)

(01/10 - present)

(11/07 - present)