Voxel in the Grove proposes a multi-family affordable housing complex in West Coconut Grove built entirely of a hybrid Southern Yellow Pine, 5ply CLT and Glulam column structure. A voxelized mass would surround a communal courtyard, with small terraces connected by metal catwalks on upper levels, creating an exterior circulation to access most of the units. The 16 differently shaped units give a range of options, providing a village like space nestled into the forest-like structure, creating a diverse community in the complex, one which promoted diverse interactions between its inhabitants.
Voxel in the Grove proposes a multi-family affordable housing complex in West Coconut Grove built entirely of a hybrid Southern Yellow Pine, 5ply CLT and Glulam column structure. A voxelized mass would surround a communal courtyard, with small terraces connected by metal catwalks on upper levels, creating an exterior circulation to access most of the units. The 16 differently shaped units give a range of options, providing a village like space nestled into the forest-like structure, creating a diverse community in the complex, one which promoted diverse interactions between its inhabitants
Rather than randomly “pixelating/voxelizing” the mass of the structure, the anatomy of a tree was used to base the form of pixelation. The first floor would be the “trunks,” pulled back and split into separate masses, creating large spaces punctured by glulam columns, as if one was walking through the forest. The second floor would extend significantly out over the first, as if they were the base branches, the thickest ones that extend the most. The third floor, while still branching out would be “thinned” out, much like the branches of a tree when you go up. The fourth floor would house a roof terrace, with very little mass, reflecting the canopy of a tree
A recycled engraved steel facade cladding would envelope the wooden structure, which combined with the metal catwalks for exterior circulation would flip the typical narrative of steel being used for structure and wood for cladding/ornamentation. The panels themselves will have pixelated images of the southern yellow pine forests where the wood was sourced engraved on them. The image itself would be split into four different “levels,” so that as you go up the floors, it is also as if you’re rising through the trees in the forest.
Impractically Practical
To create the diverse range of unit types, a system of panels was devised and placed along the 9’ 9” grid (tailored specifically to account for the standard CLT panel dimensions) created for the mass of the building. Walls were strategically placed to create rooms, thus shaping the different unit layouts. This was done instead of creating a repetitive system, to be able to provide the diversity in unit shapes and thus create an organic, almost grown pixelation of the plan. This can be seen as creating “impracticality” instead of being “practical” and using a modular material in an un-modular way, showing that as long as you have a set system of panel “blocks” and someone willing to think it through, you don’t have to resort to a standard, repetitive system of using a wood load bearing/columnated structure. Wood is a material that is full of life, full of unpredictability, and here it would be used as such to create spaces that reflect that life
kg CO²e
Saved by using a mass timber structure and other environmentally conscious materials*
*According to OneClickLCA
Location: North Miami Beach, FL
Year: Undergraduate 3rd Year
Semester: Spring 2023
Partner: Xinrong “Cindy” Ye
Professor: Edgar Sarli
50/50 Design Work
*All drawings completed by myself
FLOW proposes a new youth center for North Miami Beach, uniting the surrounding areas at a single multi-use center that features a skate park, gymnastics hall, table tennis rooms, multi-purpose classrooms, and commercial spaces interspersed in pavilions between long-spanning terraces, all wrapping around a central courtyard.
The southern volume is based around the concept of larger terraces dotted with programmatic pavilions. Theres pavilions are able to be cooled actively and passively as needed, decreasing the need for constant use of air conditioning.
The northern volume, which mainly houses the gymnastics hall, skate shop, and acts as cover for the skate park below is mainly based around a wrap-around ramp that mimics the skate park below, as well as being structurally held by programmatic volumes on the exterior that hold most of the administrative needs, freeing up the central space for public use. Vibrant colours were chosen to be present throughout the space to respond for the young audience of the youth center.
ECO
ECO-Nest
Location: Governors Island, NY
Year: Summer 2022
Partners: Hazel Xing, Milad Saboori
AAVS New York: Urban Futures
*All drawings completed by myself
The ECO-Nest proposes a modular, component based urban system to be installed in Governors Island in New York City. Inspired by concepts of video game urbanism and designed to provide refuge from the bustling city, the system is flexible and expandable to accommodate growth. The raised platforms allow the system to permeate the existing coastline, blurring the demarcation of land vs water and allowing it to function even under flooding conditions in the future. Designed from a “catalog” of different functions, the new urban proposal would enable a certain form of “glamping” (which already exists on the island) as well as new functions of play, meditation, and urban circulation.
A series of components was created, each able to connect with the other to create a flowing urban fabric raised on stilts and be nestled in a sort of artificial canopy.
Circulation v.2
Circulation v.1
Meditate
Treehouse 2
Treehouse 1 Generate
Treehouse module
The treehouse module re-thinks the existing “glamping” program of Governors Island, proposing two different style of accommodation within the overall clustering.
Each of the components can be clustered into a larger series, each with individual programs. The resulting cluster “catalog” could then be aggregated further, creating an even larger fabric with each cluster “villages” being interconnected.
The raising of the components came at the face of sea level rise and flooding conditions that Governor’s island faces. By raising them, not only can the fabric continue to expand even after coastal areas are flooded, but the coastline is permeated, providing interest both on land and on the water.
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
TLALTÍCPAC
Centro
TLALTÍCPAC
Location: Mexico City
Year: Undergraduate 4th Year
Semester: Fall 2023
Professor: Charlotte von Moos
Individually selected site
*All drawings completed by myself
A center for architectural research nestled in the lava flow formations of South-Western Mexico City. Through 3D scanning the geological terrain through aerial Structure from Motion (Sfm) Photogrammetry and by utilizing the resultant model a more natural combination of architecture and landscape is created, with the ability to precisely calculate the excavated areas to be used for construction.
In Mexico City, the National Autonomous University (UNAM) stands as a key influencer in architectural education. Its campus, marked by distinctive murals and modern structures, serves as a hub where students delve into both traditional and contemporary architectural practices, shaping the city's architectural narrative.
Proposed to act as a connecting point between practicing architects and university-level studies, it is located in the southern, more public section of the University City, on a currently empty lot, providing a playground of terrain.
MIDDLE LEVEL
The campus itself is known for the malpais landscape its built on, as well as the modernist structures designed by Mario Pani and Enrique del Moral, two of the leading modernist architects of Mexico. Centro Tlaltípac aims to marry the two, creating an orthogonal architectural system embedded into the landscape and creating a more symbiotic relationship between the two. The staggered orthogonal volumes are spread throughout the landscape, attuned to the respective topography and connected by pathways, creating a sense of exploration through the intensely rolling, rocky landscape.
In the embrace of lava's whispered breath, the earth reveals its ancient ardor, unfolding a passionate tale written in the dance of flames—a poetic symphony composed by the geological heart of the land.
Drawing study done for summer 2024 Japan Studio of the Western portion of the Seto Inland Sea, reimagining it as a traditional Rock garden mainly using elements from Daitoku-ji and Tofoku-ji.
Moss represents the main islands of Honshu and Shikoku.
Stone represents the islands of the Seto inland sea.
Sand direction mimics the tidal currents of the Seto inland sea.
Swirls are the tidal eddies.
Concentric ripples from the islands represent ferry connections, with an accurate number of ferry connections correspondent with the number of ripples.
Samples from a class on the studies of Louis Kahn and Rafael Moneo through the act of drawing.
Surrounding is a study of light and shadow through detailed rendering of the modern marble facade of the extension of the Bank of Madrid by Rafael Moneo.
Detailed to mimic the elements of the old facades but made modern through digital fabrication and sculpting.
To the left another light and shadow study of a reflected ceiling of two of Louis Kahnʼs buildings: the First Unitarian Church and the Dhaka National Assembly. Similar in the idea of plan, both featuring central assembly halls with side light-well lit spaces.
Selected drawing made for the Arquine Mextropoli 2023 Competition. Individual work and drawing, for the projects “Voces de la tierra” (Voices of the Earth), a temporary monument made to the major earthquakes that occurred in Mexico in the previous 25 years.
