Architecture Design Portfolio

VEGA URRUTIA

JULIETA about me education

I’m an architecture student who is enthusiastic about the built environment and architectural design. Having worked in the industry, I have a solid background in technical skills, problem-solving techniques, and design thinking. I can efficiently convert ideas into technical and visual representations because I am skilled with industry-standard design and modeling softwares. I’m eager to learn from experienced professionals and explore fresh design ideas in order to produce well-considered and powerful spaces.

COMPREHENSIVE

DESIGN PORTFOLIO

MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE

2023-2025

julietavegaurrutia@gmail.com

Florida International University - Class of 2028

Master of Architecture (M.Arch)

Coral Gables Senior High School

International Baccalaureate

experience

Behar Font & Partners, P.A. - 2022

Internship

Assisted in creating diagrams and visual representations of planning concepts, conducted research on multifunctional furniture for small spaces, presented innovative design solutions, and facilitated clear communication with clients.

skills

AutoCAD

Rhinoceros

SketchUp

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Indesign

Microsoft 365 Applications

honors and awards

Honors College Dean’s List

Fall 2024

2023-2024 Academic Year

Video Editing Photography

Sketching

Model Making English (native) Spanish (native)

Florida International University Dean’s List

Fall 2024

2023-2024 Academic Year

affiliated organizations

Alpha Rho Chi - Nicon Chapter

2024 - present

AIAS - Florida International University

2025 - present

Honor’s College - Florida International University

2023 - present

Artist’s House

Coconut Grove, FL

Spring 2024

Design Studio 2

Professor Elite Kedan

This project aimed to create a courtyard house for Brazilian contemporary artist Lygia Clark on a sloped site in Miami. As an artist, her art spans from paintings to sculptures, with an emphasis on interactive pieces. Considering this, I designed expansive areas conducive to socializing, exploration, and interaction, complemented by natural light and flexible spaces for her work.

My design process began with an exploration of zoning and spatial organization through diagrammatic studies. I experimented with programmatic layouts, using simple sketches to analyze spatial relationships and circulation. By mapping potential movement patterns, I considered how occupants would navigate the space, envisioning a dynamic flow that guided their experience. This iterative approach allowed me to refine the interaction between form and function, emphasizing seamless transitions and purposeful pathways within the design.

The programs included are a master bedroom, two children’s bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room area, an exhibition space, a swimming pool, parking spots, and an area for a garden.

My concept surrounds the idea of ascending and descending spaces. This is evident in the layout, where interconnected spaces form a stair-like progression from one corner to another. Recognizing the varying levels of public access from the East and West sides, I positioned the more accessible elements, such as the studio and exhibition spaces, at the lower elevation, while the higher spaces were reserved for the owners’ private usage.

Thick Wall

Brickell, FL

Spring 2024

Design Studio 2

Professor Elite Kedan

Located in Brickell, the Thick Wall was the basis of a threshold from a public space to an imagined cemetery. The process of entering a cemetery is solemn and private, marked by introspection, remembrance, and an emotional shift. My design aims to create a physical and psychological barrier between the public and the private for the person to have a transcendental experience.

My concept for this project revolves around the process of excavation and its interplay with light and shadow. By treating architecture as a subtractive act, where space is revealed through careful removal rather than additive construction, I aimed to create a design that feels sculpted rather than simply built. The architectural form is defined by a series of excavated volumes. Voids are carved out of the walls and roofs, generating dynamic spatial conditions. These cuts introduce moments of contrast between solid and void, enhancing the play of light and shadow throughout the space.

The project’s site in Brickell, Miami, directly faces the ocean and is adjacent to a large public pedestrian walkway. This setting played a crucial role in shaping the design, as the excavated forms frame views of the water while strategically controlling light and ventilation. The contrast between the solidity of the structure and the openness of its cut spaces allows the architecture to engage with the surrounding environment. Openings are oriented to capture natural breezes, making the indoor-outdoor transition seamless and reinforcing a connection to Miami’s coastal climate.

The Rubell Museum Wall is a multifunctional architectural addition inspired by the Tate Modern Museum. It serves as a boundary for the museum’s garden while integrating a café, a bookshop, and an art exhibition space. My design emphasizes fluid movement between programs, fostering a seamless connection between the museum, the garden, and the surrounding city.

Inspired by Herzog & de Meuron’s Tate Modern, my design for the Rubell Museum Wall transforms the museum’s northern edge into an architectural statement that blends form, materiality, and light. The structure consists of three primary layers, beams, lintels, and bricks, creating a rhythm of solidity and openness. The brickwork is designed to be porous, allowing controlled light and visibility from within while maintaining a sense of concealment from the outside. This duality reinforces the idea of the wall as both a protective boundary and a permeable interface between the museum and its urban surroundings. The overall massing of the design loosely references a ziggurat, giving it a monumental yet grounded presence.

The Rubell Museum Wall project builds upon a previous analysis of the Tate Modern, where I explored the transformation of its existing walls into functional extensions. In that study, I experimented with how the Tate’s structural elements could evolve into new spatial experiences, creating a bench, a stair, and a secret room that emerged seamlessly from the original walls. This exploration of continuity, materiality, and adaptability directly informs my current design, where the wall is not just a boundary but an architectural feature that defines space, guides movement, and engages visitors in a layered experience of concealment and revelation.

The museum wall’s structural and spatial logic enhances its role as a threshold, guiding visitors from the street into the museum’s inner world. The tapering walls and textured surfaces create a sense of procession, reinforcing the boundary while also inviting engagement. This balance of enclosure and openness defines the Rubell Museum Wall as an integral part of the museum’s identity, a sculptural, functional, and atmospheric element that enriches both the art within and the neighborhood beyond.

The program consists of an art exhibition, a bookstore, and a café, each carefully separated to ensure the integrity of the artwork. By physically distancing the gallery from the café and bookstore, the design prevents the mixing of food, drinks, and merchandise with delicate art pieces. The wall itself becomes more than just an enclosure, it is an inhabitable space that enhances the visitor experience. This interplay of transparency and opacity offers moments of discovery, echoing the layered experience of moving through the Tate Modern.

PAMM Exhibition Stairs

Pérez Art Museum Miami, FL

Spring 2025

Design Studio 4

Professor Claudio Rossy

This project creates a sculptural staircase in the Project Gallery at the Pérez Art Museum Miami, connecting the exhibition space to the courtyard. It serves as both a functional path and an architectural intervention, guiding visitors through windows that frame curated views. The design enhances engagement by integrating movement, light, and materiality, blurring the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces.

The concept revolves around a powerful, monolithic concrete wall that dominates the entrance to the staircase, creating an initial illusion of concealment. This angled triangular form disrupts expectations, acting as a visual and spatial barrier that momentarily hides the stairs from view. As visitors move around it, the staircase is gradually revealed, emphasizing the contrast between the rigid, heavy mass of the wall and the open movement of the steps. The juxtaposition between the triangle’s sharp, slanted form and the more structured, rectangular geometry of the stairs heightens this sense of discovery and spatial layering.

The design responds to the museum’s balance of solid and void, interior and exterior. The massive concrete wall echoes the museum’s structure while contrasting the light-filled space. As visitors ascend, framed views through the windows heighten the transition from gallery to courtyard, reinforcing PAMM’s connection to its waterfront surroundings. The layered steps mirror Miami’s rhythm—both fast-paced and leisurely—offering moments for movement and rest. Shifting light interacts with the raw concrete, emphasizing time and further grounding the design within the museum.

The staircase itself exists as an object within an object, embedded within the larger volume of the room yet distinct in its own presence. The steps are designed not only for movement but also for moments of pause, with larger steps integrated for sitting and gathering. This variation creates a dynamic rhythm when viewed from above, appearing small, large, then small again, reinforcing the interplay of function and form. Excavated from a larger mass, the stair’s design feels carved and intentional, further accentuating its weight and permanence. The use of raw concrete, strict linear edges, and the shifting play of light against the massive wall enhances the sculptural quality, making the space both a passage and a place of rest.

thank you.