2026 Graduate Portfolio

ARC PO

HITECTURAL RTFOLIO

Architectural Designer

Tony Rivero

Contact Information (620)-655-7672

www.linkedin.com/in/triverss triverss@ksu.edu

Summary:

I am a fifth-year architecture student at Kansas State University and a first-generation college student of Mexican descent. In my work, I prioritize cultural sensitivity and environmental responsiveness, often finding inspiration in adaptive reuse and community-based projects. I believe architecture should connect with its context, breathing its history, values, and identity. My process is research-driven, iterative, and grounded in strong conceptual thinking. I hope to work internationally in the future, creating meaningful design that resonates with diverse communities around the world. I bring curiosity, creativity, and determination to every project, always striving to design with clarity and purpose.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Montjuïc Passage

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Fall 2025 | 12 Weeks

NYC Black Box Theater

New York City, New York

Spring 2024 | 10 Weeks

MONTJUÏC PASSAGE

ACSA

Masonry Competition

In partnership with Parker Smitko Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain Fall 2025 | 12 Weeks

Montjuïc Passage builds on Barcelona’s long history of thresholds, from medieval defensive walls to the porous promenades that shape the contemporary city. Positioned along the ceremonial axis leading to the Museu Nacional d’Art de Catalunya, the project reinterprets the wall as an ecological mediator. Instead of defining an edge, the wall becomes a climatic device that organizes movement, produces shade, and extends green infrastructure into one of the city’s most monumental public routes. A biophilic breeze-block system forms the core of the design. Integrated HDPE channels support hydroponic cartridges, allowing native species to occupy the depth of the wall and create a porous, vegetation-filled surface Reinforced pilasters anchor the assembly while housing a closed-loop hydrological network, where rainwater is collected, filtered, stored, and redistributed to sustain planting and temper heat through evaporative cooling. Programmatic volumes are placed adjacent to the wall and shaped by the microclimates it produces. A sequence of platforms, terraces, and shaded rooms creates a rhythm of approach and release, allowing visitors to pause, gather, and experience shifting degrees of enclosure, light, and vegetation density along the ascent.

MODEL ITERATION

These early study models explore how masonry fins can organize the site by dividing space, angling to admit light, and defining circulation paths through a field of walls. By shifting fin spacing, rotation, and height, I tested how movement could be guided through compression and release, creating shaded pockets and framed outlooks within the gaps. The fins begin to read as a spatial framework rather than an enclosure, where small changes in alignment produce distinct zones of passage, pause, and orientation along the ascent

As the design progressed, the project moved away from a collection of separate fins and toward a single question: what if the fin itself became inhabitable. This shift reframed the wall from a divider into a thickened armature capable of holding circulation, landings, and spatial relief within its depth. The later iterations test how one dominant wall can absorb the functions once distributed across multiple fins, setting the foundation for the ecological wall system where porosity, shade, and future planting become integrated performance rather than surface effect.

CONTEXTUAL COMPOSITION

Santa Madrona Medieval Walls

The Santa Madrona walls demonstrate how Barcelona uses monumental vertical surfaces to guide movement, frame long views, and shape public edges. Their massing and strategic openings show how a wall can mediate between enclosure and outward orientation. This precedent informs the project’s use of height, rhythm, and calibrated perforation to create spatial depth rather than division.

Park Güell

Park Güell introduces a layered system of thresholds where structure, circulation, and landscape blend together. The colonnaded spaces below and the accessible platforms above create sequential zones that shift from shelter to viewpoint. This logic supports the project’s exploration of inhabitable thresholds and multi-level public circulation

Final Design

The final design combines the monumentality of Santa Madrona with the layered spatial sequence of Park Güell to create a contemporary, permeable wall condition. Vertical massing anchors the project, while circulation weaves through, behind, and atop the structure. These precedents reflect broader patterns found across Barcelona, grounding the project within the city’s architectural lineage without limiting it to specific sites.

Biophilic Breeze-Block

The exploded diagram breaks down the biophilic breeze-block and the logic behind its fabrication. Each unit is cast with embedded HDPE tubing, troughs, and small reservoirs that receive water from the pilasters and distribute it through the façade for wicking and moisture retention. Perforations and grating maintain airflow and light while preparing the block to accept a modular plant cartridge.

Wall As Mediator

The wall acts as an active threshold, using openings, offsets, and layered edges to choreograph movement and views between the landscape courtyard and the circulation spine while filtering environmental conditions.

Water Cycle

The water cycle diagram maps a closed-loop system embedded in the pilasters, where rainwater drains through the permeable breeze-block façade into a cistern for filtering and storage. Water is then pumped back up through pilaster cavities to irrigate wall channels and planter beds, supporting evaporative cooling and water reuse.

BIOPHILIC BREEZE-BLOCK

This detail spread explains the biophilic breeze-block as the project’s primary environmental assembly. Reinforced pilasters establish a structural rhythm and act as service cores, feeding water into cast-in HDPE channels and reservoirs embedded within the porous masonry units. Together, the pilaster network and breeze-block façade form a closed-loop system that supports planting, regulates airflow and daylight, and tempers the circulation spine through evaporative cooling. The wall is designed as both enclosure and infrastructure, where fabrication logic, structural alignment, and hydrological performance operate as one integrated armature

Notes:

Coping Stone w/ Drip Edge

Biophilic Breeze-Block

8” Precast Panel

Cast-In-Place Steel Trellis

Custon 1/2” HDPE Chanel w/ Embedded Grates

Water Trough

Water Reservoir

Drip Emitter

1/2” Rubber Irrigation Micro-Tubing

Plant Cartridge

Plant Plug

Root Control Layer - Geo Textile Mesh

Coconut Coir - Substrate

Wicking Pad

4x8” Reinforced Concrete Beam w/ Embedded 1/2” Steel Edge Plate

1/2” Steel Angle

Metal Floor Grate

CMU Structural Pilaster Steel Ladder

Fully Grouted 16x8x8” Bonding Beam Layered every 4 courses

16x16” Reinforced Concrete Column

8” Reinforced Concrete Beam

2x2” HSS Tube

1/4” Steel Angle

3/4” Steel Edge Plate

1 1/4” PVC Pipe - Irrigation Line

Pipe - Panel Drainage Line

8” Concrete Floor Plate

1/2” Steel Bearing Strip

3 1/2” PVC Pipe - Standard Drainage Line

Water Filer

Cistern w/ Water Pump

18” Concrete Footing

Breeze-Block Facade & Structural Alignment

This detail shows how the biophilic breeze-block façade is stabilized between floor levels by a concrete member set behind the permeable wall. Concrete beams beneath the grating transfer loads into the pilaster columns, clarifying the relationship between the breathable façade and the structural frame.

Pilaster Interface

This detail shows the grade connection into the CMU pilaster, where structure and environmental systems converge. Drainage and irrigation lines drop from the breeze-block panels into twin channels within the pilaster cavity, directing excess water below grade to the cistern and pump for reuse.

Reception / Information Desk (3) Offices

Spatial Intimacy Gradient

This diagram maps an intimacy gradient, showing how the project tightens openings in private zones and expands porosity in public-facing areas to mediate visibility, transparency, and social engagement.

Plant Cartridge Installment

This diagram illustrates how individual plant cartridges are placed into the breeze-block openings, allowing each species to anchor within a controlled soil volume that supports early establishment. The system provides a simple, repeatable method for inserting vegetation directly into the façade, enabling consistent growth across the wall over time.

Plant Selection

Hedera Helix

Hedera helix is well established in Catalonia and thrives in Barcelona’s Mediterranean climate, providing reliable evergreen coverage. Its shallow roots and climbing growth suit the limited soil volume of the breeze-block cartridges, creating a stable green layer that softens the wall.

Growth Pattern

6 Month Growth

At six months, the system is still establishing, with healthy new growth beginning to reach and occupy the breeze-block openings. The wall remains primarily defined by its architecture, but early vegetation patches signal an emerging ecological layer

Smilax Aspera

Smilax aspera is native to Catalonia and thrives in rocky, low-soil conditions similar to the breezeblock cartridges. Its semi-evergreen, hooking stems weave through openings to create a layered texture, with seasonal berries adding subtle variation tied to local Mediterranean vegetation

1 Year Growth

After one year, climbing and cascading growth becomes more visible, beginning to soften the façade’s geometry Vegetation shifts from isolated patches to a clearer, more continuous distribution across the wall.

Lonicera Implexa

Lonicera implexa is a Mediterranean honeysuckle native to Catalonia that tolerates Barcelona’s heat and drought. Its light twining growth suits elevated cartridges, weaving through the breezeblock system and adding a softer character through seasonal flowering that complements the project.

3 Year Growth

At three years, planting reaches a mature condition, forming a continuous layered surface across the wall. Architecture and vegetation operate as one stable system, expressing the design’s ecological performance.

02

THRESHOLD

BLACK BOX THEATER

New York City, NY - Commercial Design Spring 2024 | 10 Weeks

This black box theater project was designed as a relationship to the surrounding urban fabric. Located on the high-profile corner of Gansevoort Street and 9th Avenue in Manhattan’s West Village, the project sought to give architectural presence itself, elevating literal and symbolic centerpiece

The black box was placed visibly on the street-facing corner of the building, raised like a monument above the public plaza, and intentionally framed to be perceptible from every other space within the building.

The design embraced simplicity and interconnectedness, stripping away excess to emphasize clarity in form and program

Circulation, lobby space, and support zones were all arranged in response to the black box’s location and structure. The building included a public lobby, exterior plaza, back-of-house program (dressing rooms, storage, costume change), and vertical entries that served a three-story black box theater. Materially, the theater volume was clad in a sleek black aluminum rain screen, contrasted against concrete and transparent glazing in the surrounding building, reinforcing the purity and separation of the performance space. This architectural clarity aimed to dissolve boundaries between audience, performer, and city.

ORDER OF OPERATIONS

Massing

Initial massing sets the building’s main volume and footprint. It gives the project a clear starting form, making later moves like carving and shifting more intentional.

Elevation

The black box theater is lifted to read as an anchored volume. This frames the plaza and pulls circulation into the building.

Recess

The surrounding form is pulled back to sharpen the black box as the focal volume. This creates a clearer hierarchy and strengthens the entry moment around it.

PLAZA ENGAGEMENT

Compression

A raised platform tightens the space beneath the black box to create a compressed threshold. This adds drama and heightens the transition into the main sequence.

Public Extension

The platform extends to the street to pull public movement into the project. This strengthens the threshold and makes arrival more active.

Accessible Flow

Accessible paths connect each elevation for clear, inclusive movement. This keeps the full route usable and legible for all users.

Carve Final Form

Targeted cuts open the mass for clearer circulation and natural light. These voids also ease the thresholds between major spaces.

The final form layers performance space with public circulation and outdoor moments. This creates a clear sequence through the building while supporting comfort and environmental response.

Plaza Definition

Planters and plaza zones guide movement and shape clearer paths. They also create small pauses for seating, shade, and gathering.

Ground Floor Plan Section A-A’

Circulation to Use

SHARED GROUND

Eureka Low-Rise Housing

Eureka, KS - Residential Design Fall 2023 | 5 Weeks

Shared Ground is an affordable

Positioned between the town’s residential core ties rather than disrupt them. Drawing spatial potential of overlapping and subtractive volumes communal gathering areas, fostering a collective rhythm balance private thresholds with public interaction, reinforcing architecture that frames, rather than isolates

DESIGN INFLUENCE

Creating Communities

Pulled volumes inspired by Roji Park generate shared space between units, encouraging spontaneous interaction across adjacent dwellings.

ORDER OF OPERATIONS

Paths

Entrances follow existing approach lines to guide movement into and through the site. This makes circulation feel more natural and easy to read.

Proportions

A regular grid sets a clear structural order for the units. It supports density while keeping spacing consistent and fair across the site.

Site Massing

Volumes are spread across the site to improve daylight and privacy. This layout also keeps more units connected to shared green space and views.

Centralized Space

A central void becomes the core of community life, acting as a flexible, semi-public node between otherwise private zones.

Zoning

Vegetation helps define private edges within the shared framework. This keeps the community open while giving each unit more privacy.

Subtraction

Subtractive cuts carve circulation into the mass and frame key views. These voids also create layered thresholds between public and private spaces.

Framed Community

The forms wrap a shared courtyard to create a protected outdoor room. This supports everyday gathering and keeps community life centered in the open space.

East Elevation

Communal Gathering

This diagram emphasizes the value of shared outdoor space within a compact housing arrangement. By carving out central green zones and softening transitions with vegetation, the design encourages informal interactions between neighbors. These communal pockets enhance a sense of belonging without compromising privacy.

Creating Thresholds

Thresholds are defined through the subtraction of volumes along pedestrian paths, allowing circulation to shape the architecture itself. These linear voids not only organize movement but also create moments of pause and spatial relief. As a result, the experience of moving between units becomes layered and intentional.

04 PIXEL DRIFT

RESIDENTIAL COMPLEX

Manhattan, KS - Adaptive Reuse

Fall 2024 | 12 Weeks

Pixel Drift

building into a dynamic residential complex. The design features a double-skin aluminum panel facade with pixel-like perforations that respond to both interior programming and external conditions. As one moves through the building, the facade visually dissolves in areas of greater human interaction, such as lobbies, corridors, and shared spaces, and becomes more opaque around private units

These perforated panels do more than filter light, they frame and define interior zones, creating a patchwork of small communal environments within the larger structure. In doing so, the architecture fosters connection, forming microcommunities where residents naturally engage. Inspired by ideas of transparency and reciprocity, the facade operates as both a screen and a connector, blurring the boundary between inside and out, and between the user and the city

MODEL ITERATION

These early study models explore the relationship between mass and void in a double-skin facade system. By varying panel sizes and alignments, I tested how openness could shift across a surface, affecting both transparency and rhythm. The resulting patterns began to read as texture, introducing visual depth while suggesting how perforation density might respond to interior programs or degrees of privacy

These models explore the dynamic relationship between the existing building’s mass and the newly introduced facade system. One version investigates how solid elements from the original structure extend outward, piercing through the facade to create moments of spatial tension. The other reverses this approach, using facade panels to carve into the massing and generate new voids Together, they demonstrate how the facade is not just a surface treatment but an active participant in shaping interior and exterior conditions

Projected Facade Study

This study tests a facade that projects beyond the existing envelope to create layered pockets along circulation. Panel depth and perforation are tuned to build shadow, privacy, and a stronger facade identity.

Pierced Facade Study

This study reverses the approach, the existing mass pushes through the screen and breaks the panel grid. These interruptions frame views, bring in more light, and sharpen the contrast between old structure and new skin.

DETAIL + FACADE SYSTEM

This building chunk model and wall section illustrate how the doubleskin facade system attaches to the main structure. The detail focuses on a layered assembly of insulation, thermal breaks, aluminum panels, and a suspended rail system These components work together to support the concept of dissolution while maintaining a functional and responsive building envelope

3/4” Finished wood Flooring

5/8” Plywood Sheathing

Existing Concrete Plate with Steel Decking

W8x20 Steel Beam

W21x73 Steel Beam

W10x33 Steel Column

2 sheets 12.5 mm Plaster Board

U-Track Standard Light Gauge Steel Framing

Bat Insulation

12mm Cement Based Calcium Sheathing Board

Kingspan Kooltherm k15 Rainscreen Board

NVELOPE NV3 Rain Screen Assembly

Helping Hand Clip L Rail

Adjustable Panel Hanger

Elemex Aluminum Composite Panel

Flat Steel Profile

Shock Isokorb T Type S Thermal Break

20mm Bolt

20mm Threaded Steel Rod

Aluminum Bar Grating w/ C-Clips

Aluminum Spandrel

160/80mm Aluminum Profile

Perforated Aluminum Panels

The section highlights communal cut-through spaces that organize movement and gathering across the building. It also shows how each unit’s balcony aligns with the perforated screen to filter light, add privacy, and connect residents to the facade system.

Ground Plan

The elevations emphasize the larger public openings as moments where the building becomes more open and legible from the site.

Across the residential massing, the pixelized facade dissolves in density to add texture, filter light, and soften the overall volume

Existing Office Space

Residential Units

Community Spaces

Communal Space Organization

Elevation

THANK YOU