Portfolio _ Anthony Penna

selected works Portfolio anthony penna

Portfolio Anthony Penna

Natural Bridges Selected Works

Anthony Penna

Natural Bridges

Location: San Diego, CA

Year: 2020

Team: Individual

Type: Conceptual

Natural Bridges accentuates a common threshold that Balboa Park has to its historical forms and its natural setting in San Diego, California.

The aim is to generate a dynamic biotope stimulating an experience of connectedness in nature, while appreciating the cultural context. Natural Bridges would help create silhouettes between nature and the built environment around us.

India Street

Location: San Diego, CA

Year: 2019

Team: Individual

Type: Conceptual

This project purposed an investigative process to understand and develop program typologies that could expand or contract for different context applications. This investigation was done for mixed-use buildings in higher density areas. There was an original case study analysis of the Nexus World Housing project by OMA which showed how the design consisted of two interlocking unit types deployed over a first story commercial use level. This design model was than reintroduced into a conceptual design for a vacant lot on India Street in San Diego, California. This investigation proved that developing a series of interlocking unit blocks can create a facinating design development for higher desity units.

The Camphaus

Location: San Diego, CA

Year: 2020

Team: Anthony Penna, Allison Devlin

Type: Research Through Design

The Camphaus was a four month design research project for the California Governor’s office seeking design solutions for the adaptive reuse of parking structures into affordable housing. Los Angeles dedicates approximately onehunderend square miles to parking, roughly four times the size of Manhattan. As a society, we choose to house inanimate objects rather than humans with housing insecurity. With the anticipated move towards autonomous vehicles, ride hailing services and more efficient public transportation, parking structures

The Camphaus Selected Works

will become less desired, providing the opportunity for adaptive reuse into affordable housing. Potential issues explored were creating voids in the pretentioned concrete slabs,

low beam hieghts and ramped floors. The Camphaus provided a look into offering a sense of ownership and community, prioritizing healthy living, low-tech and passive strategies, access to light and green space, and focused on education for upward social mobility.

NoWhere | NowHere

Architectural Thresholds & The Space In Between

Location: San Diego, CA

Year: 2022

Commitee Members: Vulsat Demircay, PhD., Charles Crawford, Philipp Bosshart

Type: Thesis Project

American cities continue to prioritize the value of control and efficiency rather than the value of sensational experiences in our everyday landscapes. Acknowledging the spaces in-between by celebrating the thresholds, can contribute to a more enriched human experience, and a liberated built environment.

This thesis explored The hidden landscapes in our everyday environment and how they may serve as a vital component in elevating the human experience by making the unnoticed, present, as well as acnowledge our collective and individual understanding of space.

noWhere, nowHere investigated the evolution of public space into what has morphed into today’s pseudopublic and private realm. The research contextualized a foundation for identifying historical, cultural, and political thresholds impacting everyday urbanism, human experience, and identity.

Identifying the context for these implications led to more research on how “junkspace”, as Rem Koolhaas puts it, impacts the human experience and shapes what Aldo Van Eyck expresses as “place and occasion”. Therefore, uncovering how space creates experience, as well as how these spaces can make an impact on individuals and the collective alike. The study reflects on how the space

in-between provides an opportunity to create an experience, such as John Dewey suggested.

One of the strategies used was to recognize the fault lines in San Diego and compose an above surface event that somehow reminded people that the street is a part of a much larger fabric which literally helped shape the city. Additionally, that the ocean and its shoreline are reflected in the culture of San Diego.

This project embodies the cultural significance of the Pacific Ocean and the seismic activity [s-wave] of the area. By bringing the unseen to the surface, it gives context to an otherwise liminal site. Its purpose is to reimagine this public space and prioritize a physical relationship to the hidden landscapes. This transformed a dead-end street into a pedestrian-friendly community hub, fostering connection and reflection.

Portfolio Anthony Penna

This project sheds light on a seemingly ordinary space, drawing attention to the hidden fault lines beneath its surface. By unveiling an element that significantly influences and will continue to shape the built environment, this endeavor transforms a street crossing and accessibility ramp and provokes a moment of awareness for the collective and individual understanding of space and its impact on our shared reality

Portfolio Anthony Penna

Physical Models

Year: 2020

Team: Individual

Type: Physical Model

This model was made by casting plaster and concrete. The challenge of this project was to make asymmetric interlocking forms.

Year: 2019

Team: Individual

Type: Physical Model, Case Study

This model was a case study to analyse the Pael House by Pezo Von Ellerichshausen. Made from bass wood, all handcut at 1/8” Scale, including interior furniture details.

Hand Sketches

Year: 2020

Team: Individual

Type: Visual Notes

These hand sketches were visual notes taken during my architectural history courses in my Masters program. The mediums used were graphite, ink, and coffee. These visual were an aid to help convey key concepts, ideas and insights for enhancing comprehension.