concept: an addition to and replacement of existing business school buildings. The three story, 100,000 sf new building creates socially active learning spaces and brings together both undergraduate and graduate students in collaborative environments at various scales. A large, daylit atrium provides both places to study and socialize.
role: architect assisting Project Architect; design, document, and coordinate on classroom layouts; programming; creating client presentations
firm: LMN Architects, 2019
concept: located on tribal land, the new ferry terminal takes on the traditional longhouse typology while providing passengers with clear wayfinding, natural ventilation, daylight, and views of the Sound. The building is net-zero ready and has a high attention to craft and detail.
role: architect assisting Project Architect, BIM Manager, researching and building full-scale mockups, consultant coordination
firm: LMN Architects, 2015
The Platform is designed and engineered specifically for manufacturing and assembly while being configurable for almost every climate zone and jurisdiction in the US, meeting market-rate demand including interior finish options. It has several kits that optimize installation, cost, and construction. Every part and piece is accounted for and coordinated among all disciplines.
role: Product Architect, Exterior Systems Horizontal Lead, remote team manager
company: Katerra, 2020
concept: one of the eight eastside stations, East Main St station takes on its own identity while still being a part of the Sound Transit station family. The on-grade station takes design cues from the nearby neighborhood while integrating into the urban fabric.
role: architect in training assisting the Project Architect, consultant coordination, researching and building a full-scale mock-up of the steel screen, construction documents
firm: LMN Architects, 2023 completion
concept: providing a modern, updated refresh of the Oregon Convention Center interior as well as flexible, informal spaces for convention attendees, the renovation incorporates both urban and natural pacific northwest textures and patterns.
role: Project Architect, assisting Project Architect, coordinating meeting rooms, Ballroom, and lobby layouts and devices, designing and documenting a new exterior canopy that is integrated into the existing structure, BIM Coordinator
firm: LMN Architects, completed 2019
Both natural and social disasters have shaped San Francisco – in each case de-layering the city’s artifacts and prompting the addition of a new layer to emerge. From the 1906 earthquake to the blight under the Embarcadero freeway, these “disasters” have repeatedly shaped and reshaped the Embarcadero edge.
Aside from the days dedicated for the farmer’s market and rush-hour commute, the existing Ferry Plaza remains underused. As a part of the design strategy, the project proposes to deconstruct in order to break down the scale of the large open plaza into a series of strips that vary in scale to accommodate both the congregational as well as the intimate activities. The form of the strips also allows for future alterations to the site (through addition or subtraction of strips) with a limited amount of disturbance on site. With each strip, a different material is introduced (including wood, concrete, decomposed granite, water) to accentuate the different wear from use of each material.
Situated on the front porch of the city’s edge, de[con]struct attempts to create both a softer edge and a more varied edge between land and water. The buildings and landscape of the project allow the visitors to be above, at, and under water as well as use water as a place to swim, travel, view, filter, and reveal.
There are three main buildings and programs on the site. The Ferry Terminal replaces the existing terminal and connects directly to the Ferry Building, creating a stronger linkage between the two. The Kitchen is for use by the public to cook or prepare food bought at the Farmer’s Market. It also has a demonstration kitchen for cooking classes for the public. Finally, the Info Box is situated on top of the existing BART ventilation shaft and displays current site weather conditions and features a rotating local history display.
With the site’s continual dynamics, de[con]struct suggests to embrace the destruction that has and will come upon the site, rather than attempt to shield it. de[con]struct proposes an intervention that generates a transformative edge that continuously adapts to future conditions.
This group project at CCA is in collaboration with Anesta Iwan. It received a Merit Award in the Unbuilt Category at the AIA San Francisco Design Awards and was featured in an AIA SF exhibition.
St. Monica church and school requested a stand-alone building for their new preschool program and a large area for adults to hold meetings. The solution comprises of a transitional space that ties together two large volumes while smaller, ancillary rooms reduce the scale for the preschoolers. Continuous windows provide a view to the outdoor play area for the teachers to monitor students. A front porch welcomes students upon arrival and large north-facing windows provide indirect light into the large multi-purpose room.
Sustainability played a key role in this project. Many local materials were used as well as those with low Volatile Organic Compounds, VOC’s. In order to reduce the overall square footage, functions were combined into a space that is flexible, transforming to meet the users’ needs. R-values in the roof and walls were increased to reduce energy costs and large overhangs block out summer heat gain.
project type:
Preschool and multi-function space
location:
Mercer Island, WA
firm:
PTS, Thomas Holland architect, 2009
Many cities’ infrastructures around the world are reliant upon glacial water as their primary water source and are unprepared for the imminent water scarcity and for their increasing population. Using glacial movement flows and ice formation processes as methodologies, a new, performative landscape and city typology emerges that confronts the water scarcity issue. Selecting Anchorage, Alaska as a pilot site, this project incorporates artificial glaciers that provide both water supply and a platform of growth for the new city that grows and shrinks with its resources, coupling infrastructure and natural systems.
project type:
Thesis project: Urban planning, landscape, infrastructure
location:
Anchorage, AK
awards:
CCA Thesis Honorable Mention, 2013
CCA Thesis Travel Grant, 2012
studio:
Thesis, Nataly Gattegno / Christopher Falliers, CCA, 2013
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, UWM, received the Marcus Prize, grant funds, for a studio. This year focused on a design-build studio in collaboration with the firm Barkow Leibinger. The Menomonee Valley Park is undergoing major brownfield cleanup and replanting. This pavilion provides shelter for volunteers and tools.
Sixteen students teamed up with each other working in groups of four on skin, structure, site, and material. The skin team designed the storage walls, floor plan configuration, and columns, taking que from nature and utilizing parametric design via scripting. The wood planks were charred to give a weathered, blackened appearance.
Design was completed within a semester and construction continued throughout the summer. Customized box beams were designed and built utilizing parametric scripting and structural input from Arup. Cream city bricks from a demolished brewery were used as cobblestones for the floor.
project type:
park pavilion
location:
Menomonee Valley Park, Milwaukee, WI
exhibition + publication:
Venice Biennale Exhibition, 2012
Architecture Now! 7, 2010
studio:
Marcus Prize Design-Build Studio, Kyle Talbott / Frank Barkow, UWM, 2008
Three membranes, informed by the Tokyo Bay context, are set in place as layers of protection from the rising sea level and future tsunamis; the first, the “Succulent Wall” is located at the south-end of the bay thus taking advantage of the bottleneck facing the ocean tides. The succulent wall is an array of extruded geometries that take the basic principles of a sponge’s network-water-flow strategy. The hexagonal-tube components allow the typical flow of water while harnessing its pressure with strategically placed filtered-turbines for energy. In an event of a tsunami, this system will be programmed to shut down and act as a levee.
The second membrane provides further protection from the imminent tsunami with more hexagonal turbines and programs of industry, parks, and high-speed transportation. The following images represent pieces of the second membrane. The third membrane is an extension of the city of Tokyo and is represented as lines in the diagrams.
project type:
Urban design, disaster planning, landscape
location:
Tokyo Bay, Japan
award + exhibition + publication:
CCA Jury Honorable Mention, 2012
Tokyo University Exhibition, 2012
Construct, 2013
studio:
Landscape Tectonics Studio, David Fletcher / Mona El Khafif, CCA, 2012
In collaboration with Cesar Lopez and Nastaran Mousavi
Amsterdam is a city of water. Starting from the middle ages, water has been used for defense, housing, and transportation. This study focuses on the water edge typologies of Amsterdam and its physical transformation throughout the years. This studio was in conjunction with a summer study abroad program at CCA throughout Europe with help from Dennis Huang and Kenneth Lin.
Polders make up a good portion of the surrounding topography and enable greater control over flooding. They are low lying land areas enclosed by dikes, land barriers, made of peat. The main central ring of the city contains stilt, floating houses, and old warehouses reused as houses. The islands contain contemporary row houses as wells as stilt and floating houses.
Amsterdam spends about five percent of its GDP on infrastructure. The large map in the center shows what part of Amsterdam would flood, the blue hatch, if the locks, dikes, and dams were disabled.
project type:
city mapping study
location:
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
studio:
European Water Cities Study Abroad, Mona El Khalif / Ila Burman, CCA, 2012
In collaboration with Dennis Huang and Kenneth Lin
Varying Campsis is derived from the genus name of the Trumpet Vine. The inspiration came from Campsis because of the variability of the sizes of the petals, whether they are open or closed, and the connections between the other flowers. Varying Campsis starts with smaller units at one end with large openings and continues to the other, gradually becoming larger and revealing a smaller opening. All of the units are connected in diagonal strips as well as individual, customized connector pieces. Polypropylene pieces control the opening of the units while the customized connectors maintain the correct height between units. Plywood is laminated with blue polypropylene to maintain its form.
project type:
parametric design installation
exhibition:
Working Textiles at Scissors Gallery during Art Murmur in Oakland, CA
studio:
Synthetic Tectonics, Jason Johnson, CCA, 2011
We encounter a multitude of sounds on a daily basis and many of them go unnoticed, the white noise. This project converts these sounds to their basic frequencies and visualizes the forms that they create. This can be seen as a phase change, both physically and emotionally, how a viewer responds. As Robert Irwin in Being and Circumstance states, “Change is the key physical and physiological factor in our being able to perceive at all.” The goal of Cymatic Form is to visualize the affect of sound on a material through vibrations by changing the frequency and wave functions of sound.
Cymatics is the study of visible sound and vibration. When a surface is vibrated, regions of maximum and minimum displacement are made visible through a thin coating of particles or liquid. Different patterns emerge depending on the geometry of the surface and the driving frequency. Changing the frequency and amplitude can create different sine wave patterns such as a sawtooth, square, or triangular. Hans Jenny was a pioneer in the Cymatic field, conducting experiments on sand, water, salt and other materials. Chinese and Tibetans made bowls that resonated sound, making the water “jump” inside by vibrations. These bowls not only created sound for meditation, but also forms by different vibrations
project type:
prototype installation
exhibition:
California Academy of Science Nightlife, San Francisco, CA 2013
studio:
Out of Control, Thom Faulders, CCA, 2012
In collaboration with Myoung Kang
Esparto was once a bustling town along the Southern Pacific Railroad until service was discontinued in 1957. Following many fires of local institutions including a hotel, population declined dramatically. Esparto residents are proud of their history, including their buildings, and when the old train station was purchased, locals were eager to get involved. This multi-disciplinary studio included writers, fine art majors, architects, and graphic designers that each made an installation in the abandoned train station to highlight certain aspects of Esparto.
The process began with mapping and photographing Esparto and the surrounding areas. Photos were taken from doorways that framed different views of the city as well as of the door themselves, identifying which buildings had been repurposed. This helped us to start piecing together a picture of certain aspects of Esparto, both in the past and in the present. The rich texture of the surrounding farms immediately caught our attention and thus a series of questions were brought up about how Esparto is connected to the Capay Valley farms and where the produce is being dispersed. Questions were also formulated about the original purposes of the local buildings and how the change of use affected daily life.
To help answer these questions, two locals were interviewed, Judith Redmond from a local, organic farm, Full Belly, and Sue Heitman, retired from the local community board, Capay Valley Vision. Judith identified where the produce traveled to from her farm in addition to sharing that much of Esparto’s population works on farms. Sue explained that Esparto’s basic needs have to be met such as food and shelter and that there is a need for an economic engine.
These interviews helped us identify Esparto’s needs and a possible use of the old train station. The need for produce and fresh meat from the nearby farms is great as well as a way to capitalize on the agricultural industry. To further our study into where the produce is distributed from the Capay Valley farms, all of the receiving cities where mapped out in a visual form. This had a profound effect on the locals that realized where the produce was actually going. This led us to the idea of having a spacial, visual display of this two-dimensional map. Because the residents can no longer see the produce being distributed, we wanted to show the dispersal of produce in a visual way.
Each city receiving the produce from Capay Valley farms are represented by a cylindrical, plastic tube that is sand blasted. The length of the tube depends on the distance from Capay Valley farms. The tubes are lit from the top and hang vertically, creating both horizontal space as well as intruding into the viewer’s space in a vertical way. An acrylic circle caps the end of the tube with the distance cut through. This number is projected onto the floor, allowing the viewer to see the horizontal distance away from Capay Valley as well as the actual distance in miles on the floor. We hope that this display starts a conversation within the town of Esparto of how the local, nearby agriculture can become an economic catalyst for the town and give the residents a pride in their agriculture.
project type:
multi-disciplinary installation
exhibition:
Building Narratives: Installations for a Transitional Space, Esparto, CA 2012
studio:
Building Narratives, Maria McVarish, CCA, 2012
In collaboration with Mike Atherton
