Hub Boriken — Brad Machado

Type: Graduate design studio
Role: Individual project
Tools: SketchUp · Enscape
Status: Completed studio project

Five-story mixed-use building exterior render at a street corner, with a glass-fronted ground floor, taxis, pedestrians, and a bus. — Fig. 01 — Street-level exterior render, ground-floor retail frontage.

01 / Process

Hand-drawn street elevation sketch in colored marker, with handwritten notes about balconies, glass facades, and building heights. — Fig. 02 — Street elevation study, hand sketch with massing and material notes.

Hand-drawn diagram labeled 'Step 3' showing building massing broken into 25-foot property-line increments, with force and connection notes. — Fig. 03 — Massing rhythm study, 25' property-line breakdown.

Method

Initial concepts focused on maintaining the walking cadence of the street by retaining the 25' allotment spacing and commercial frontage. Apartments would be lifted off the street. Care was taken to reduce mimicry (left) by abstracting the forms (right).

Hand-drawn concept sketch listing four design strategies alongside a site plan with arrows marking a market, hub, and transportation routes. — Fig. 04 — Concept diagram, cultural-anchor program and site strategy.

Hand-drawn building section sketch labeled with street residences, a central hall, courtyard residences, porches, and a skylight. — Fig. 05 — Section study, street-to-courtyard sequence.

Program

Set behind the street frontage, shops would open onto an internal market. Taíno culture was built around a communal gathering space.

Grayscale 3D massing model showing a row of building volumes of varying heights along a street. — Fig. 06 — Massing model, street block overview.

Grayscale 3D massing model of an L-shaped courtyard building block, shown as floor plates with structural columns. — Fig. 07 — Massing model, courtyard block, iteration.

Grayscale 3D massing model of a second courtyard building block, shown as floor plates with structural columns. — Fig. 08 — Massing model, courtyard block, iteration.

Grayscale 3D massing model, another iteration of the courtyard building block. — Fig. 09 — Massing model, courtyard block, further iteration.

Grayscale 3D massing model, a further iteration of the courtyard building block. — Fig. 10 — Massing model, courtyard block, further iteration.

Labeled axonometric diagram of Hub Boriken identifying affordable residential, internal courtyard, retirement housing, and green house zones, with a legend of space categories. — Fig. 11 — Program diagram, space-category breakdown.

Labeled site diagram showing the market, parking, childcare clinic, fire department, and bus hub in plan, with a building section below labeled by program. — Fig. 12 — Site plan and section, program and transportation adjacencies.

02 / Outcome

Result

Initial conceptual overlooking the central courtyard.

Photorealistic render looking down from a rooftop terrace toward a landscaped courtyard and the surrounding Chicago rowhouses. — Fig. 13 — Rooftop terrace render, view toward the surrounding Division Street block.

Next Project Less Siteless →