The Axonometric Query

A phygital puzzle game of architectural sections

UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - Technology Seminar - MArch & MSAUD - Spring 2024


As architects, we're masters of spatial puzzles. We use projective geometry to translate our ideas into drawings. This isn't just about drawings – we create digital models that we slice through to generate drawings and even build physical scale models by putting back together these slices of our digital models. This seminar dives deeper than just making drawings and models – it challenges our relationship with them. What if these models are more than just representations?

This seminar is on a quest to reveal the playful potential of architecture. We explore a cutting-edge approach: phygital puzzle games. Imagine crafting a game that seamlessly blends digital and physical models of architectural sections. By playing and designing, we develop a fresh perspective on architecture, one fueled by exploration and discovery.


Why Games? Games allow architects to experiment with software and tools in a playful way. This playful relationship unlocks creative problem-solving and lets us push boundaries in a dynamic environment.

This workshop is your chance to rediscover the joy of exploration in architecture. Let's transform models into interactive digital puzzles and redefine our relationship with design tools.

Join the Quest!


Students work by UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - MArch & MSAUD - Spring 2024 Technology Seminar by Yara Feghali Game development by Folly Feast Lab Level 1 - Data Server by Weihan Zheng(Bella), Yanjie Zhao (Jessi), & Shiyue Shen Level 2 - Residential by Xinghang Chen & Yongjie Qi Level 3 - Hotel Casino by Giovanna Bentes, Grace Collins, & Alix Wilson Level 4 - Office building by Peiyin Chou, Liuyi Ding, Lingling Zhao (Lily), & Zezeng Fu (Jerry) Level 5 - Mega Mansion by Marcus Vazquez, Riley Hammond, & Blane Hornung Level 6 - Circus by Xinyu Wang (Shipley), Bingyu Liu (Gabby), & Jiahao Wu Level 7 - Water Park by Vivila, Jenny Lee, & Isabella Molina-Sanchez Level 8 - Vertical Farming by Anna Whittell, Nabil Davidson, & Zhuo Wang (Draw) Music by: Life is a Game by Mise Darling , Free Music Archive, CC BY.

Housing Los Angeles - Reframing the dream

UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - M.Arch 1st year 401 - Coordinator - Spring 2024

For decades, the single-family home has been synonymous with the California dream however, soaring housing costs and limited supply exclude most Angelenos from this dream. With this studio we explore the history of experiments in densification through studing housing typologies that are endemic to Los Angeles: bungalow courts, dingbats, Townhouses, Duplex/Fourplex, Tract Homes/Cottages, and courtyard apartments. To address affordability, this shift from the single-family “house” to broader “housing” solutions sees density as a key strategy for creating community.



For decades, the single-family home has been synonymous with the California dream: architectural innovation, cultural aspiration, and economic opportunity. However, soaring housing costs and limited supply exclude most Angelenos from this dream. This Los Angeles Paradox gave rise back in 1945 to the case study houses project where architects were tasked with designing single houses for mass production by rethinking architectural form, structure, and materials. This project failed and left Angelenos today, 80 years later, with a new focus: shifting from the dominance of single-family homes to a more diverse housing landscape that addresses affordability, density, and community needs. With this studio we explore the history of experiments in densification through thorough studies of housing typologies that are endemic to Los Angeles: bungalow courts, dingbats, Townhouses, Duplex/Fourplex, Tract Homes/Cottages, and courtyard apartments.


The American Dream of homeownership, once a cornerstone of economic opportunity and stable communities, now stands fractured. The housing market collapse and economic shifts exposed the inherent limitations of this dream, revealing the many who were excluded. Los Angeles exemplifies this struggle. Soaring home prices shut out most residents, while exorbitant rents far exceed recommended income to rent ratios.  This has fueled gentrification and displacement, eroding not just the economic prospects of Angelenos but also the city's vibrant social and cultural fabric. Recognizing this, city and state officials are pushing for change. New policies aim to increase affordability and curb urban sprawl's negative environmental impact. Recent legislation even allows for building up to four units on single-family zoned lots. However, these efforts face economic headwinds. Even single-family homes now exceed $800,000 on average, with low-income options barely better at $500,000 per unit. The high cost of land, especially in urban centers, is a major factor.  To address affordability, this shift from the single-family "house" to broader "housing" solutions sees density as a key strategy for creating a more accessible Los Angeles.



This studio dives deep into the challenges of Los Angeles housing. We move beyond traditional design, exploring how architecture can create new ways of living in the city. Examining social, cultural, and economic factors shaping housing, we'll study existing models and spatial arrangements to develop innovative designs that address affordability, community, and a sense of place. Inspired by Robin Evans' "Figures, Doors, and Passages," we'll delve into seemingly ordinary aspects of housing, exploring the balance between private and public space, individual versus collective living, and the transition between indoors and outdoors. Through this exploration, we'll analyze existing housing models and their spatial arrangements, learning from the past while pushing boundaries towards innovative and fresh solutions for social interaction, aesthetics, and economic feasibility within LA's living communities.





Students work by Cameron Kursel and Emily Liu - UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - M.Arch 1st year - Spring 2024

Digital Frieze

UCLA - AUD- Mediation III - Taught with Max Kuo (coordinator) and Tucker Van Leuwen - M.Arch 1st year 223 - Spring 2024



Digital Friezes will bring physical friezes to life. We work on narratives through the simulations from part one, to project onto the friezes to animate them. The use of lighting and shadow is crucial at showing the bas relief depth of the friezes.

This technical exercise consists of using animation and mapping the digital result on top of the physical. This technique can be used to map any digital content on top of physical models through projection mapping.



Students work by UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - M.Arch 1st year - Spring 2024 - with Teaching Assistants Xen Hoi, and Anna WhittellStudents: Bella Weihan Zheng, Jessie Zhao, Eason Yi, Fred Xu, Ivy Yue Xi, Jiaohao Wu, Shipley Wang, Sugar Baiqianqian Sun, Shiyue Shen, Mojan Sharafi, Emalee Sault, Brandt Rentel, Areeba Naeem, Alexander Morris, Harry Mao, Nathan Logan, Emily Liu, Gabby Liu, Kiki Li, Raymond Lee, Lucas Pacheco, Cameron Kursel, Jessica Harry, Amber Grovert, Alexandra Ferreira, Nabil Davidson, Beverly Chan, Hunter Blackwel, Dania Castillo, Geng Lin, Alanis Vasquez.

Thick-Skinned

UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - Technology II - B.Arch 4th year 142 - Winter 2024


This studio looks at the scattered parking structures across Los Angeles that support its automotive lifestyle and re-questions their façade design by proposing a thick-skinned structure that inhabits program. Learning from maximalist designers, we will work with artificial intelligent models to speculate on the possible three-dimensional skins that will be added onto the building. We dive into the work of aesthetics through the writings of Sianne Ngai and speculate on spatializing an image through the writings of Karsten Harries. We then scrutinize Robin Evans’ translation of drawings into buildings and adapt it to our contemporary architectural image culture. The goal of this studio is to learn new techniques of designing through image making.



Thick-Skinned is a studio that introduces students to construction systems and materials in relation to design. We study parking structures as a building typology endemic to Los Angeles and its automotive lifestyle. Learning from maximalist designers, we compose concept art imagery that serves as style for our image style transfer AI algorithm. From the curated results we then speculate through drawing manipulations on how this 2D image becomes a 3D form capitalizing on the discoveries made by Karsten Harries on the Bavarian Rococo.  Students venture into designing thick-skinned add-on structures for inhabiting interstitial program and how the new structure works with the existing one to support it.


Students work by UCLA - Architecture and Urban Design - B.Arch Seniors - Winter 2024 Students:  Arshia Alenaddaf, Anel Alpysbayeva, Camila Bauza Severo, Kae Bocanegra, James Fu, Jocelyn Gonzalez, Rui Huang, Juliet Iacono, Soomin Kim, Oscar Meza, Ward Miottel, Jas Nagra, Phap Nguyen, Max Orroth, Isabella Premo, Nika Sadrosadat, Dyson Salleh, Stephanie Singh, Imogen Spence, Sydney Torres, Agatha Vance, Jane Wang, Beatrice Xu, Yushi Xu, Amy Zhang, Gavin Zirke

Santa Monica

 A choose your own adventure architectural game
Advanced topic studio - Option Studio UCLA AUD M.Arch - Fall 2023


Let’s play a choose your own adventure game of Architecture.

What happens to a neighborhood when we design a building? Architectural design is an intricate process that involves many factors, and we tend to investigate each of them separately. In this studio we study micro urban narratives through understanding design as a participatory process.

We start from an existing urban block and design the future of it through new construction, gentrification, and market driven development. Depending on the decisions taken for each lot, the whole bloc gets redesigned. Learning from choose your own adventure games, we use branching narrative logic as a tool for world building and invite the audience to play an interactive game and design the future of a Santa Monica block. 

Santa Monica uses game engines to craft an interactive narrative for a mixed-use block in Santa Monica, each decision leads to a new design of the block. We design collectively these variations by simultaneously playing an interactive game where we can see the multiple scenarios play out by piecing together a plan, a physical scaled block model, and an 8bit style game.


Photo Credits: Alyssa Tohyama


You can play the game here: Give it 3 min to load







    


Santa Monica was a Fall 2023 graduate-level design studio led by Yara Feghali at UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design (UCLA AUD), part of the UCLA School of the Arts and Architecture (UCLA Arts). The Santa Monica studio participants are third-year Master of Architecture candidates at UCLA AUD: Peilin Cao, Haydon Chan, Zongli Casper Li, Yufei Ma, Kinamee Rhodes, Jane Wu, Qinyi Wu, Qing Yin, and Chaoying Mavis Zhao.
Game narrative structure consulting by Rachel Joy Victor.
Unity Game Development by Folly Feast Lab.




https://www.aud.ucla.edu/news-events/news/santa-monica-exhibition-killscreen
https://gameplayarts.org/products/exhibition-remaking-santa-monica-with-uclas-aud-studio
Yara Feghali / 2024