Gator Expansion at the University of Houston-Downtown

Campus expansion and renovation for University of Houston-Downtown. An expansion of a 4th floor will be newly constructed on the existing roof of the Girard St. Building (GSB). Current UHD campus compromises of 3 separately built buildings that is only connected altogether on the 3rd level. Newly constructed 4th floor will be designed to interconnect all buildings. Design emphasis on the roof architecture was inspired to mimic an alligator sun-bathing at the top and create a landmark piece to showcase the University in the midst of the Houston downtown skyline.

Various lounges are designed into the interior to provide gathering and resting spaces for students and staff. Isometric diagrams below show the different types of lounges and design features and architectural volumes of each lounge space. 

Parametric modeling and computation scripting: Voronoi + PopulateGeometry

The new expansion floor features parametric design walls inspired by the skin texture of an aliigator which is the mascot for the UHD to accentuate the university identity into the architecture. Parametric modeling for the design walls was done through Rhino/Grasshopper using mainly two-step methods of manipulating Voronoi pattern and PopulateGeometry.

Polished Interior Renderings