Dezeen School Shows: a building informed by immersive esport technology and an adaptable architectural design with detachable elements are included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at California Baptist University.

Also included is a poetry museum with contemplative interior spaces and a co-working space distinguished by a large atrium that provides access and ventilation.

California Baptist University

Institution: California Baptist University
School: College of Architecture, Visual Arts and Design
Course: Architecture Programme
Tutors: Krysten Burton, Ryan Chung, Susan Duemer, Aaron Greene, Keelan Kaiser, Young Lee, Matthew Niermann, David Ogoli, Katherine Papineau, Mark Roberson and Jacob Slagill

School statement:

"California Baptist University (CBU) architecture students design for the public good. The architecture programme at CBU prepares students to serve as design professionals rooted in the Christian faith tradition.

"This unique approach to architectural education encourages students to be inspired and guided by faith perspectives as they endeavour to serve the public good.

"The CBU architecture programme offers an accelerated five-year accredited Master of Architecture degree in the Inland Empire area of Southern California and features a variety of opportunities for interdisciplinary inquiry, professional development, and global study and engagement.

"The design curriculum within the CBU architecture programme emphasises an analytical and data-driven approach to understanding the impact of architecture on human experience and the natural environment across a range of project types.

"The work in this school show represents the imagination of a plurality of questions and courses by students who, as a whole, participate in critical investigations of design, material, and the ephemeral."

Heartease Sanctuary by Rosario Rojas

"This transcendent design studio examines the relationship between light and structure applied to the design of a Christian study centre on a university campus.

"The design proposal, entitled Heartsease Sanctuary, embraces human and environmental microcosms through transcendent approaches to establish serenity and relational security.

"The project explores the intersection of environmental wellness, academic study and worship to create optimal spaces for community and self."

Student: Rosario Rojas
Course: FA21 ARC410
Tutor: Matthew Neirmann

Invisible City Representation in Acrylic by Julieann Copeland

"The seminal work of Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino has a long history in architecture education and graphic communication.

"First-year design students are introduced to the imagined cities and asked to represent them in graphic representation.

"This student has interpreted one of the narratives that imagines a dense city of houses into iconic shape and form, manipulated the shapes to create a recurring pattern that implies density, and employed theories of colour relationships to create visual richness and diversity."

Student: Julieann Copeland
Course: FA21 ARC122
Tutor: Keelan Kaiser

Tercou Poetry Museum by Nathan Yansing Tong

"This project imagines an urban poetry museum with a prominent outward expression while simultaneously expressing inwardly contemplative spaces with exposure to natural phenomena, such as daylight and natural ventilation.

"The reading room seeks to capture sensations of refuge, peace and tranquillity."

Student: Nathan Yansing Tong
Course: SP22 ARC212
Tutor: Aaron Greene

Lighting Analysis by Abraham Hernandez

"Light is an elusive yet critical aspect of designing transcendent spaces. Any impactful incorporation of natural light requires a technical understanding alongside an artful vision, which requires intentional experimentation.

"This student developed light studies aiming to exemplify one specific characteristic effect of natural light through apertures of various types, sizes and materials.

"The student combined techniques to create taxonomies of evidence, documenting the design with sequential photography for analysis and adaptation. Direction, intensity, material and porosity were examined over the course of a day.

"The resulting choreography of material uncovers possibilities for framing architecture as an experience of the transcendent."

Student: Abraham Hernandez
Course: FA21 ARC412
Tutor: Matthew Niermann

Immersive Esport by Kate Reyes

"The goal of this studio project was to seamlessly integrate emerging immersive technology into the fabric of the building.

"The student conceived an esports expression in their design and then designed volumes and forms to fold in on themselves.

"This creates a blurring of inside and outside experiential space, heightened by the integration and enveloping of the continuous digital medium."

Student: Kate Reyes
Course: SP22 ARC412
Tutor: Keelan Kaiser

Co-working by Kyle Kerr

"The project is a co-working office building for freelancers and creative startups. The design adopts a dynamic central atrium where all amenities and support programmes are accessible to promote social and business interactions and collaborations between co-working tenants.

"The central atrium is also an ecological design feature as it works as a vertical tunnel that collects and ventilates warm indoor air by bringing in fresh outdoor air from multiple outdoor balcony cutouts with operable doors.

"The entire building is in a heavy timber structure and uses natural and green materials. Horizontal shading devices are designed creatively to provide an iconic continuous ribbon building identity and effective daylight and heat-gain controls."

Student: Kyle Kerr
Course: SP22 ARC412
Tutor: Young Seop Lee

Transcendence Analysis in Structure by Trinity Shizumi Kam Yuk Shiroma

"The student explored the topic of transcendence through structural-volumetric considerations. The configuration emphasises verticality by centre cords that draw fabric and resulting volume upwards.

"The tension of the fabric creates arched volumes and thresholds between each ground anchor. The tensile structure and shape may be appropriate for an event space or programme with the aim of creating the sensation of lifting or elevating.

"Precedents abound for such an approach. The student used a 3D-printed primary structure combined with a wire and fabric tertiary structure to create a diversity of material expression, achieving their analytical and design goals."

Student: Trinity Shizumi Kam Yuk Shiroma
Course: FA21 ARC410
Tutor: Karim Youssef

Prague Philharmonic Hall by Sam Soine

"This project sought to draw cues from the natural ecology of the surrounding site. At once a building and a landscape, the primary hall is a semi-subterranean nodule to the southeast portion of the site.

"The supporting programme is placed toward the public urban activity zones of the north and west. The undulating vegetated roof is envisioned as an urban fruit tree orchard with a topography of nuanced terraces.

"The hall is a conventional bowl with a numinous environment that features reflection pedals and ecological references in the arrangement and diversity of audience seating and sight lines."

Student: Sam Soine
Course: FA21 ARC510
Tutor: Keelan Kaiser

Immersive Technology Center by Aaron Gamez

"The student explored porosity in the building envelope as a key strategy for solar geometry and daylighting optimisation.

"The synthetic integration of media wall systems and the solid-void relationships of the envelope create opportunities for advancing and receding planes, each conditioned with diverse surfaces.

"The envelope, and similarly the interior spaces, exhibit a chameleon-like sensory experience with surfaces that regularly change depending on the programmatic events of the centre and the time of day."

Student: Aaron Gamez
Course: SP22 ARC412
Tutor: Keelan Kaiser

Creative Collaboration Center by Andriani Sugianto

"This thesis explores the application of transcendent design principles to creating an art and design collaboration building at a public University as a means to embolden creativity spatially.

"Deriving seven key design principles from an analysis of sacred and non-sacred transcendent architecture, the thesis seeks to capture the pensively motivated imagination found within transcendent spaces and translate it into the contemporary non-sacred typology of higher education.

"To do so, the project examines and designs three modes of transcendence – place, intersectionality, and visage – concluding in a polemic building exploration located on the main quad of the University."

Student: Andriani Sugianto
Course: SP22 ARC512
Tutor: Matthew Neirmann

Adaptive Architecture by Gerald Portea

"This student work explores architecture that is adaptable to different sites and contexts, striving to synthesise the dual considerations of permanence and impermanence.

"It explores the potential for all systems of assembly to be considered as detachable and portable, including the infrastructural scale."

Student: Gerald Portea
Course: SP22 ARC511
Tutor: Mark Roberson

Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and California Baptist University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.