Issuu

TEMPORARY & PERMANENT

PUBLIC & PRIVATE

NATURAL & BUILT

CENTRAL & PERIPHERAL

RITUAL & SPIRITUAL

REUSABLE & DISPOSABLE

AUTHENTIC & ILLUSIVE

HISTORICAL & CONTEMPORARY

ORGANIC & GEOMETRIC

DWELLING

An Adaptive Housing Development System

TWO EGOS

The Double Identity of Fire Station No.7

BIO-TECH MACHINE

The Mechanical and Natural Renovation of Baynard House

WASTE[A]POSITION

Waste Management as a Community Unifier

RECURSIVE PARADIGM

A Memorial for Ritual and Spiritual Grieving

SLOW FASHION

An Alternative Future for Synthetic Textile Waste

SEMBLANCE WRAP

An Experimental Pavilion in Crochet

100 OLD SLIP

Renovation Project - Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects

CERAMICS

Experiments with Idiosyncratic Clay Forms

DWELLING ECOLOGIES

An Adaptive Housing Development System

Fall 2024

Location: Ebrah, Côte d’Ivoire

Yale Advanced Studio

Mentor: Issa Diabate, Anna Dyson, Matthew Rosen

Collaborator: Ilha Niohuru

Dwelling Ecologies reimagines material culture as the foundation of an adaptive living system in Ebrah, Côte d’Ivoire, where materials shape spaces that foster flexible social relationships in response to evolving needs and environments. Emphasizing sustainable design, the project integrates local, biodegradable materials into modern building elements, drawing from traditional practices. With varying lifespans, these materials support a closed-loop cycle, allowing them to be repurposed as biomass or fertilizer, enhancing resilience. Architectural flexibility is achieved through operable façades, modular components, and optimized ventilation, enabling spaces to fluidly adapt to environmental and social changes.

At a broader scale, the project envisions a dynamic community structure where households evolve organically around gathering spaces, fostering social interactions. The design balances immediate and long-term growth by incorporating staggered planting strategies that align agricultural production with biodiversity. This holistic approach integrates architecture, material culture, and social adaptability, cultivating resilient communities that harmonize with both ecological and societal transformations.

Agricultural Residue

While Côte d’Ivoire increasingly uses artificial materials, it has a tradition of maximizing local resources. This project highlights the potential of agricultural residue as a construction material.

Material Culture

Farmland

Forest

Deforestation

Lagoon

Object Lesson - Porosity

The exercise compares the porosity of a menstrual pad, a paper towel, and a basket. Hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties are crucial factors in determining the suitability of bio-materials for building envelopes.

Paper Towel Basket

Menstrual Pad

Leaf Panel - A

Raw Materials: Coconut leaf, wood Making Method: Weaving, laminating Recommended Service Life: 2 years

Leaf Panel - B

Raw Materials: Coconut leaf, wood Making Method: Weaving, laminating Recommended Service Life: 5 years

Partition System

Partitions are crafted from diverse waste-stream materials. This system allows self-installation while also provides scalable production opportunities.

High Porosity

Weaving Coconut

Unit Plan

Overlapping the partitions based on their porosity, permeability and durability can create spaces that encourage diverse social interactions. The adaptability allows spaces to respond to the evolving needs.

Roof Terrace

The roof terrace incorporates communal programs such as a laundry area, kitchen, and playground, serving as a gathering space for the community.

The open ground floor promotes ities and hosts local workshops recycling agricultural residue.

Conventional Mid-range

Ground Floor

Floor Commerce promotes commercial activworkshops for processing or residue.

Public Living Room

In a more flexible scheme, dynamic void spaces can be strategically planned, with several households sharing the space as a communal living area.

Flexible

Urban

New manufacturing industries and markets al upcycling. The housing units are integrated systems, reinforcing a cycle of regeneration.

Scale markets emerge as a result of materiintegrated into on-site natural energy regeneration.

TWO EGOS

The Double Identity of Fire Station No.7

Spring 2023

Location: Columbus, Indiana, US

ARC409 Integrative Design Studio

Mentor: Gregory Corso

Collaborator: Olivia Porrill

Awards: Integrative Design Studio Competition, Honorable Mention

Publication: Featured by Syracuse Architecture WeChat Official Account

Two egos: Fire Station No.7 explores the identity of the fire station as both a private institution and as an establishment for serving the public. This project investigates the historical development of fire station typologies in order to establish design principles that meet the needs of contemporary fire departments.

To maintain the intricate balance between the fire station’s two egos, a polycarbonate screen is introduced, cocooning the creature of the program within. The form of the fire station is contained by this screen, emphasizing the private aspects of fire stations. Meanwhile, the project creates a visual connection between the firefighters and the surrounding community through moments of revelation and translucency, inviting community members to observe the inner workings of a fire station. This is further achieved through the creation of public space that carves itself into the form of the building. Fire Station No. 7 not only becomes an emblem for the community it protects but also provides a space for the community to occupy, lifting the veil which covers a public institution.

Typology of the Two Egos

A fire station possesses two identities - a repository of private institutional programs and a vehicle for serving the public. The relationship of these two egos is continually evolving. This project explores the nuanced duality.

Study models investigate the relationships between the two egos of the fire station and optimize their programmatic arrangement.

A translucent envelope is introduced to define the boundary between private space and public institutions. The carved-out areas embed public activities, and the punctures engage with the community.

Nest Attach

Overlap

Intertwine

Join Interrupt

Detach

Envelop

Boundary

Carving

Puncture

Ground Floor Second

Third Floor

A Exchange glazing = transparency

D Separate polycarbonate = translucency

B Reveal glazing + polycarbonate = translucency

E Display wood + polycarbonate = opacity

egress drill wall

C Conceal wood + polycarbonate = opacity

F Highlight wood = opacity

bathroom mechanics apparatus program entry study dining

Taxonomy

The facade creates an opportunity for interaction with the public and displays the identity of the fire station. The openings in the building envelope and the level of visibility between the interior and exterior spaces is determined by the program. Moments of transparency, translucency, and opacity are created by playing with the wood and polycarbonate envelope.

Structural System

Fire Station No.7 uses a steel structure to adapt to a variety of spatial requirements. A set of three vierendeel trusses in the educational space above the apparatus bay enables 50-ft spans and a cantilever supported by smaller horizontal members. The semicircular curve of the extruded space attaches to this cantilevered orthogonal structure.

West Elevation

The facade forms the interface between the community and the fire station

Sectional

A continuous floor surface connects

South Elevation

The apparatus bay faces a major street.

Exterior

Fire Station No.7 proposes a public garden for the use of the surrounding community, while punctures reveal the fire station’s daily operations.

Interior

The triple-height atrium in the apparatus bay serves as a light well, ventilation shaft, and an emergency circulation zone when there is a fire alarm.

BIO-TECH MACHINE

The Mechanical and Natural Renovation of Baynard House

Fall 2022

London, United Kingdom

ARC408 London Study Abroad Studio

Mentor: Amber Bartosh, Vanessa Lastrucci

Collaborators: Greta Ulatowski, Qi Liu

The Bio-Tech Machine critically reflects on the interdependent relationship between humans, machines, and nature. It exists in the context of contemporary urban issues, such as industrial pollution and the energy crisis. A conversion of London’s Baynard House, a former office block, into an environmental research lab, this project crafts a dystopian narrative which illustrates how human collaboration with nature via machinery might ultimately fail.

Over a span of 250 years, the architecture undergoes three phases. In Phase I, the project functions as a tidal power plant and a plant-purification research lab dedicated to urban sustainability. In Phase II, scientists evacuate the building due to the increasing toxin levels in plants and aging mechanics, leaving behind a domain solely for machines and nature. In Phase III, a post-human stage, machines plant growth, while plants provide bio-resources for machines to generate energy. The building becomes a point of symbiosis between inorganic and organic matter. Without conclusively determining the fate of Baynard House, the project serves as an evolving hypothesis, systematically contemplating the mutual impact of humans, machines, and nature.

Environmental Challenges

London is enduring a significant energy and pollution crisis. Scientists and city planners are experimenting with new solutions to the problem of creating a sustainable urban environment. We ask ourselves: What is the future of Baynard House within this context?

A - Green Facade Module

B - Mycelium Module

C - Lab Module

Ideal Scenario

A renovated Baynard House serves as urban infrastructure which feeds and sustains life within the cityscape.

Actual Scenario Baynard House’s systems fail due to aging machinery, toxin levels which increase beyond the system‘s capacity, and the neglect by policy-makers.

PHASE I = HUMAN + MACHINE + NATURE

PHASE II = MACHINE + NATURE - HUMAN

PHASE III = NATURE + MACHINE

WASTE[A]POSITION

Waste Management as a Community Unifier

Fall 2021

Location: Rochester, NY

ARC307 Urban Autophagy Studio

Mentor: Lori Brown

Collaborator: Jediel Ponnudurai

The waste management system in New York State experiences operational difficulties attributed to inappropriate sorting. Despite longstanding advocacy for recycling, there remain impediments which prevent the public from putting it into practice. To address this issue, Waste[a]position overthrows the convention of siting waste management facilities in the urban periphery. The project proposes a recycling center at the center of a residential neighborhood, highlighting the process of waste management and increasing public awareness of proper recycling methods.

Waste[a]position incorporates a community center and public park (on the green roof) into the recycling facility. Through this juxtaposition, the project integrates recycling routines and the public’s social life. Local residents are encouraged to bring in their household waste, sort it by hand instead of relying on single-stream recycling, and immerse themselves in the accumulated human impact on the environment through waste disposal. The project challenges the typical concealment of humans’ negative environmental impact and alleviates practical difficulties for post-processing facilities.

9/1/2021 - 10/1/2021

By analyzing the waste I produced over the course of a month, I observed my own improper treatment of recyclables and began to understand the weaknesses in the existing initial process of waste sorting systems.

Waste Journal

Exiting Facilities Community Center and Periphery

From Periphery to Center

Site

Highlighting spaces for waste management, the project proposes a recycling center and a community center at Neighborhood Group 14621 in Rochester, NY. The scheme is distinctive, celebrating the value of household recyclables.

Waste Circulation

Local residents contribute recyclables to the center by driving along the extended Avenue-D. Specialized trucks collect recyclables via riverside roads and transport them to specialized waste processing facilities.

Public Circulation

The project welcomes a variety of groups, from young to old, laypeople to professionals, and visitors to educators. It aims to engage with the community, raising public awareness of recyclable management.

Formal Evolution

Ground Floor Plan

Sorting Waste Recycling Center

Ventilation

Oculus Skylight

Gathering

Amphitheater Drop Down

Amphitheater

The green roof drops and meets the ground to form an amphitheater, a public space for the community. It is a gesture which welcomes the public to climb on and explore the center.

Columns

A spiral staircase is embedded within a structural column and provides vertical circulation. Visitors can access the green roof and reach the observation platform at the top.

RECURSIVE PARADIGM

A Memorial for Ritual and Spiritual Grieving

Spring 2021

Location: Antananarivo, Madagascar

ARC208 Landscape Studio

Mentor: Ryan Thomas

Collaborator: Shengxuan Yu

Publication: Featured by Syracuse Architecture Instagram Account

Famadihana, a ritual held every seven years to rebury the bones of the deceased, is a significant event in Madagascar’s culture. The Malagasy people highly value spiritual connections with their ancestors. Inspired by these activities, the project creates a sacred space that embodies the psychological process of establishing a ritual and spiritual connection with their ancestors.

The memorial’s form draws an analogy between the psychological process and the concept of a paradigm shift. People’s understanding of their relationship with their ancestors is constantly evolving. In this project, each spatial node indicates a shift in the perception paradigm. Another concept, recursion, is introduced to describe the “editing down” process of discovering personal connections with distant ancestors. Guided by natural light and rainwater, visitors experience the memorial through a linear circulation through stepped spaces. As their journey continues, visitors feel a gradual compression of space, culminating in an expansion at the final platform. The project serves as a metaphor and a vessel for people’s emotions, memories, and beliefs.

Landscape + Vector

The slope of the site exhibits strong directionality. As it blends into the natural landscape, the cemetery becomes a vector.

Paradigm Shift

The process of establishing connections with ancestors undergoes several paradigm shifts.

Recursion

The “edit-down” recursive process of gradually discovering personal connections with one’s ancestors.

Paradigm Shift + Recursion

An analogy is created using the concepts of a paradigm shift and a recursion to explain spiritual changes during the Famadihana ritua.

Formal Strategy

The cemetery comprises five overlapping and gradually diminishing volumes, each slightly rotated in various directions to form spaces. This design mirrors the journey of rediscovering one’s ancestors within the sacred grounds.

Conceptual Plan

Through the combination of rotation and overlapping, the five nodes are apparent in plan. The design of the nodes prolongs the visitor’s stay and forces them to linger in each space. Circulation emphasizes a continuous journey.

Concentrated

Hierarchical

Conversational Circular

Parallel

Paradigm Node Prototype

Visitors experience five key nodes, corresponding to the evolving perception which characterize one’s relationship with their ancestors. These nodes represent the rituals of exploring, reading, meditating, praying, and gathering.

Explore “We will become our ancestors”

Read “We learn from our ancestors”

Meditate “We contemplate

Meditate contemplate our ancestors”

Pray

“We worship our ancestors”

Gather

“We celebrate our ancestors”

Circulation

Rainwater Flow

Natural Light

Ceremony

Prayer

SLOW FASHION

An Alternative Future for Synthetic Textile Waste

Spring 2024

Location: Syracuse, NY

Undergraduate Thesis Project

Mentor: Britt Eversole, Julie Larsen

Collaborator: Yaxing Xu

Awards: Dean’s Citation for Excellence in Design Research

In recent years, the fast fashion industry has experienced significant growth, driven by the proliferation of social media and a consumerist culture. With over sixty percent of clothing made from synthetic fibers, the industry poses environmental hazards on both macro and micro scale. Slow Fashion proposes the establishment of a non-profit organization dedicated to repurposing post-consumer textile waste into construction materials. By localizing waste processing, the project aims to prevent synthetic textiles from ending up in landfills, promote a circular economy, expose the often-overlooked issue of textile disposal, and advocate for a more sustainable “slow fashion” lifestyle.

The project invites community members, regardless of their skill level, to participate in the slow craft process. As social activists, we uncover and collect unseen textile waste from the public, create job opportunities, and challenge consumerism by promoting a need-based lifestyle. Revenue generated from product sales serves as an incentive to raise public awareness and contribute to a long-lasting material cycle.

Global Flow of Synthetic

The fast fashion industry operates on a the raw materials for synthetic fibers originate? and consumes them? What is their ultimate

Synthetic Textiles a global scale. We inquire: Where do originate? Who manufactures, sells, ultimate destination?

Material Experiment

The preliminary experiments explore potential methods for transforming synthetic textile waste into construction materials, including shredding, solidifying, firing, and corrosion.

New Products

Slow Fashion draws inspiration from the non-profit model of Goodwill. The project establishes a network of recycling and fabrication workshops distributed throughout the community. This initiative collects non-wearable clothing from various post-consumer stages, then shreds and transforms them into alternative construction materials.