SYNERGY
Spring 2023, University of Pennsylvania
The city of New York uses water for thermoelectric power generation throughout the city and the largest supplier is currently located on Pier 98, our site. The current issue is that the utility company is taking all of the residual hot water and dumping it back into the river, negatively impacting the marine life. Tasked with hybridizing a data center and another program, this project aims to propose a solution to the hot waste water caused by the cooling of the city, and the steam waste that is typically produced from data storage facilities.
This partner project challenges the typology of the pier, by hybridizing infrastructure and leisure spaces through nesting, wrapping and intersecting space, program, and function. The city of New York produces hot water waste, and data centers produce an abundance of heat waste, so this proposal aims to be a solution that could utilize both. By hybridizing a data center and bathhouse, the hot water is filtered and used in the pools before being cooled and released back into the Hudson, while the heat waste from the data servers is moved into the bathhouses and naturally heats the pools.
The relationship between the data servers and the bathhouse plays a crucial role in our design and our aim was to challenge the typical relationships of these programs. The data makes its way into the public space of the building in the form of towers and also in the mineral spirits in the walls. The organization of the building was derived by the intersection of different geometries. These interstitial spaces became the main attractions of our building: the data and the pools.
RESIDENTIAL PLAYSCAPE
Fall 2022, University of Pennsylvania
One of the unique characteristics of Red Hook is the neighborhood feel that it exudes. This proposal aims to take this unique character of the Red Hook neighborhood and recreate it in the span of one block. By analyzing and diagramming patterns of gathering at inflection points, the goal is to recreate these conditions throughout the design of this residential housing.
Circulation around a central courtyard and shared kitchen spaces for clusters of units both act as inflection points in this proposal. This design is an experimentation with color and is meant to have a playful feel. Pops of color and greenery tie together the public and private spaces. The arched and curved geometries are a staple of architecture in Red Hook so those conditions are carried into this design as well.
Another goal of this project is to activate the existing brewery that inhabits the first two floors of the building. To do this, the design has a central courtyard and core circulation that encourages residents and visitors to enter the brewery in order to access their rooms as well as access the public roofscape. This central common space connects the public commons of the ground with the public commons of the roof, creating a literal core of public space that begins to spill out of the design and onto the street.
MARKET AND PUBLIC ART
Spring 2022, University of Pennsylvania
This studio began with researching and mapping different aspects of the city, with my focus being public art - particularly murals. We visited the site of our proposals, which was located in Callowhill, Philadelphia, and was situated next to an existing rail park that is no longer functional. Using mapping techniques and grids, both goals of the studio, we were tasked with creating a building that could house two programs, one being a market by requirement.
This proposal aims to hybridize a farmer's market and public art in the neighborhood of Callowhill. Utilizing the grid as an object, natural light can penetrate various spaces while also opening up the form of the building to create a balance of interior, exterior, and in between. Minimizing the footprint of the building at ground level, the site remains open for the outdoor farmer's market to take over; this also enables the landscaping of the site to incorporate a much needed greenspace in this area of the city.
The program of public art is a way for the community of Callowhill to have the opportunity to express themselves and regain agency over their voices and the neighborhood. The goal is for this space to function both for the creation of art, but also as a way to display art.
MUSEUM EXTENSION
Fall 2021, University of Pennsylvania
This studio began with using material studies to experiment with fibrous materials and architecture. We visited the site of our proposals, which was located in Philadelphia, adjacent to the Fairmount Waterworks and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. The goal of the studio was to incorporate "flow" into our proposals and relating the building to the context of the site. After visiting the site and learning about it's historic significance, this proposal was introduced with the goal of preserving the existing context, function, history, and views.
Proposing an "extension" to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Waterworks. This proposal is shaped to encourage the flow of people towards and through the building to enjoy its activities as well as the surroundings. To preserve the existing views, this extension matches the height of the Waterworks, but does not exceed it. Through the use of circulation along and above the structure, and by placing the public spaces in an accessible and visible location, the people are the focus of the space, and the exhibits housed within are an accompaniment. This is further achieved through the use of curved architecture in the form and public access to all levels of the building; these conditions further reiterate the importance of the public in this space. This is a multipurpose, public gathering space that is meant to bring people together and allow them to enjoy natural lighting with beautiful views of the Schuylkill River, Boathouse Row, the Fairmount Waterworks, and the existing Philadelphia Museum of Art.
CHAMBER, FIBROUS ARCHITECTURE
Fall 2021, University of Pennsylvania
This group project was intended to build off of the previous material studies that had been completed in the studio. Using only the fibrous material of macrame rope, Elmer's glue, and liquid plastic, this "chamber" was completed with the Gaudian notion of catenary curves. Building the entire model upside down, and enabling gravity to impact the form, the goal was to transform a material that works well in tension into a material that could stand structurally as a material in compression.
Completed as part of a group of four, this project required collaboration, time management, teamwork, and discipline in making our own deadlines to meet in order to complete the project on time. Although the work was split up among the group members in order to execute all of the tasks, each group member was a part of each step of the process and working towards the same end goal.
MATERIAL STUDIES, FIBROUS ARCHITECTURE
Fall 2021, University of Pennsylvania
These studies were intended to use found, fibrous materials to create an object that exhibits flow. These studies show the range of fibrous materials that were used in this experimentation. Various modes of transitioning between digital and physical were also used throughout this process: photogrammetry, 3D printing, and casting.
SANCTUARY
Fall 2018, Princeton University
Proposing a sanctuary from work for office workers in the city of Philadelphia to be constructed within an excavated plaza site located adjacent to the Municipal Building and north of City Hall. The ellipsoidal shapes juxtapose the cubicles that these individuals reside in every day and inclusion of multiple staircases results in a need to traverse through spaces in order to move from floor to floor, enabling and encouraging interactions.
Experimentation with collage (printed images and glue), plaster of paris, balloons, hand sketches, paper and graphite drawings, and CMC milling was conducted.
SOCIAL SPACE, SOCIAL MEDIA, THE FUTURE OF THE EATING CLUB
Spring 2018, Princeton University
The Princeton eating clubs are an on campus dining option for upperclass students at the University. This studio required the dissection and analysis of one eating club through drawings and models, across an array of themes and issues. By identifying one relevant issue, the eating club was to be redesigned with a radical transformation as a vehicle for research that encapsulates a critical architectural position.
This study represents the combining of three eating clubs into one, present-day eating club called Cannon Dial Elm. By analyzing this merge, a new eating club was proposed that encapsulated this merge into a physical space.
Experimentation with algorithms to create scenarios for the properties of the new eating club, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and 3D Printing was conducted.
MAGICIAN AND ANALYST
Fall 2017, Princeton University
The purpose of this studio was to explore the concept of space. Two projects were completed throughout the course of this studio.
Project one required the students to visually represent a physical gesticulation that is created when speaking to another individual. However, the visual representation was not of the action, but of the space that is created when the action is made. Experimentation with foam core, plaster of paris, and white museum board was conducted.
Project two required students to work in pairs to create a space for two individuals to carry out their most significant identity traits. Assigned a magician and an analyst, the goal was to create a dwelling where both of these individuals could reside. The final design was created on the notion that the magician could use mirrors to distort his location in space while the analyst used circulation and motion patterns to identify the magician’s location. There is also an attention to the audience which added a third party to the dwelling that needed to be considered in the design and creation of this dwelling. Experimentation with foam blocks, white museum board, and black foam core was conducted.
Rammed Earth Exhibition
Summer 2017, Beijing, China
The purpose of the exhibition was to inform individuals about rammed earth architecture which can be used in developing areas within Beijing and as well as its surrounding rural areas. The goal was to encourage participation in the exhibition and to educate those who would attend. The visual aids created were to be used to promote the event as well as to accompany the physical materials at the event. The following were created by using Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator.