Based on Montreal's Expo '67 and Cedric Price's Fun Palace, this exploration into kinematic architecture addressed the idea of architecture as a responsive and temporal object. Situated on Montreal's St. Helen's Island on the Saint Lawrence River, the site was once home to a range of forward-looking architectural exhibitions during Expo 67. Buckminster Fuller's Dome and the Korean Pavilion are all that remain. This project, programmed as a culture park, looked to reinvigorate the island with a contemporary take on Price's original ideas. As a modern-day architectural ruin, the building is able to open and close, changing the program from outdoor theater to occupiable landscape. As the panels of the building rotate they are able to leave remnants of the whole behind, creating a flexible system able to easily adjust to program and event.
Year: Spring 2015
Professor: Simon Kim
This studio, sited in Bosque de Chapultepec park in Mexico City, addressed brutalism and stacking/rotation through the program of an atmospheric research center. Questioning the interiority of stacked and piled projects, the section perspective became the main exploration of studio. The alternation of the plan and section and plaid/checkering of the section create a complex interior juxtaposed to the simple exterior form. The overall form is a ring of five pentagons, stacked and rotated five times to create an interlocked stack. The exterior skin is mirrored to draw intrigue to the building as an object and reflect the wooded park back on the scientific simulation center.
Year: Fall 2014
Professor: Brennan Buck
Exterior view of the atmospheric research center
section perspective showing the atmospheric simulation chambers, mechanical spaces, and programmed core
planta baja/ground floor plan showing the surrounding park and public program of the main entry space
Fifth floor plan showing the alternation between simulation chambers and mechanical space/research labs. The pentagonal forms held hierarchy over the interior spaces, informing the program and poché.
This Dormitory and Institute for the Culinary Arts, site in Manhattan on the Highline, focused on the ideas of pocketing space and questioning the traditional definition of poché. Poché is found within the project via nooks and pockets. These spaces are formed by two processes: the hinging of walls to serve the program of the space and the carving out of negative space for the allowance and transmission of light through the building. This flexible system creates a space in which each housing unit is unique and each space finds transparency. Void space becomes programmed space as the poché moves sectionally through the structure. The light cores of the structure carry the load of the building, allowing a large cantilevered section of the building to envelope the Highline and open towards the east. This creates a separation between public and private programs and allows pedestrian access through the building and connection with the Highline. The articulation of the envelope and the surface of the ground as the building climbs from 10th Avenue to the Highline draws from the faceted geometry of the units. The treatment of the apertures responds to this condition, allowing light to enter the building while obscuring the cut.
Year: Fall 2013
Professor: Kutan Ayata
View looking South down the Highline
View from W. 26th St. & 10th Ave.
Light Cores//Contour Plan
Ground Floor Plan
Dormitory Level Plan
South Elevation
This Cidori grid was modeled on the building system used in Kengo Kuma's GC Prostho Museum and Research Center in Kasugai-shi, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. Originally based on a children's toy and converted to architectural scale, the interlocking wood members conceal the joint in the grid, creating a solid structural system. A report on the building's structural systems, skin, environmental systems, and lighting was also prepared as a part of the project.
Year: Fall 2013
Professor: Lindsay Falck
Collaborators: Jonny Gorder, Nick Auger
Interlocking Cidori Grid modeled on Kengo Kuma's GC Prostho Museum and Research Center
Fabrication in progress
Fabrication in progress with team member Nick Auger
Team member Jonny Gorder hand-carving a test Cidori
Tools of the trade
Taking on both the flooding and devastation of Hurricane Sandy and archival needs of the MOMA in New York, this digital media archive in Red Hook, Brooklyn acts as both a storage facility and public education space. At over 400,000 sq. ft. the archive leads visitors through the chronology of digital media while allowing archivists the resources and tools needed to actively conserve media for decades to come.
Year: Spring 2014
Professor: Ben Krone
Collaborators: Dana Rice
1/8" = 1' scale section model (museum board, chip board, acrylic)
1/8" = 1' scale physical section model (museum board, acrylic, chip board)
The site for the digital media archive sits on the waterfront in Red Hook, but is elevated to sit above the d.f.e. (design flood elevation).
Axonometric circulation diagram
ground floor plan of the digital media archive
longitudinal section through the digital media archive
interior render of the exhibition space
exterior view of the digital media archive
This cantilevered adjustable height desk was a study for Alessi as a part of a Building Product Design course. The cantilevered design looks to insert a sculptural and elegant piece into the office environment while allowing for maximum adjustability and ease of use.
Year: Fall 2014
Professor: Jordan Goldstein
Collaborators: Eunil Kim
The Z Desk - Adjustable Height Desk
The desk surface is able to adjust to fit any user
A familiar quick-release mechanism in conjunction with a counter-weight allows for ease of movement
The Z Desk could be used in an office or home environment
Optional accessories for storage and convenience
This project analyzed, measured, and reimagined the Bertoia Diamond Chair in combination with the Magis Chair One. The final product is a folding, kinetic piece of furniture that acts as both shade and seating, conforming to its occupants.
Year: Fall 2012
Professor: Sofia Krimizi
Collaborators: Sarah Moses
seating (re)imagined: a collaboration with Sarah Moses
Sections through the Bertoia Chair
The Bertoia Diamond Chair was hung upside-down, measured with a series of 245 plumb-lines, and rebuilt as a point cloud in modeling software
The Bertoia Diamond Chair was rebuilt digitally and then overlaid on the Magis Chair One to create a new piece of hanging kinetic furniture
Physical Model shown overlaid in three positions
This plywood phonebooth designed and fabricated by student fabrication group CO+LAB occupied an unused space in PennDesign's Meyerson Hall and provides seating, storage, and a private place for a moment away in the buzzing halls of PennDesign.
Year: Spring 2014
Co+llaborators: Alyssa Olson, Cricket Day, Chris Mulford, Emily Gruendel, Greg Whitney, Nyasha Felder, Mikael Avery (CNC Milling)
