Archaeological Performance
Museum for Excavation and Restoration
Pantry Partition
Faculty-Selected Outstanding Project
Paper Fabric Chair
Baird Prize Competition Award Winner
Spiedies Revisited
Artist Housing, Edwin A. Seipp Memorial Prize Winner
Château La Coste Structural Model
Structural Systems Model
Roman Forum, Rome, Italy
2024
Archaeological Performance hinges on the Via dei Fori Imperiali to descend to the level of the Forum of Augustus on one side and to rise towards the Chiesa dei Santi Luca e Martina Martiri on the other. Creating a diagonal gesture across the site, the museum connects antiquity to the renaissance with the contemporary world as a medium. Via dei Fori Imperiali, originally built by Mussolini for processions, is transformed into a pedestrian artery through the archaeological site. Excavation and restoration labs in the museum allow for archaeological study to take place amongst the layers of history of the Forum and for visitors to experience the process as they descend and ascend the museum. An openair amphitheatre with a backdrop of the Forum of Augustus creates a stage for the display of found objects. The museum is envisioned as a folded Corten steel sheet with the scale of the fold creating steps, seating, and spaces.
Instructed by Labics (Claudia Clemente & Francesco Isidori), Luben Dimcheff, and Matilde Mellini
1. RECEPTION
2. EXCAVATION LAB
3. RESTORATION LAB
4. GALLERY: HISTORY OF EXCAVATION
5. GALLERY: FOUND OBJECTS
6. CAFE
7. AMPHITHEATRE / GALLEY
8. SHOP & WC
Enfield, NY, USA
2023
Pantry Partition acts as a programmable machine that anticipates the changing needs of the Enfield Food Pantry. Annually, food inventory changes drastically with produce being reduced by half during the winter after the fall harvest. On a weekly basis, the pantry runs three days of the week. Inspired OMA’s Alserkal Avenue, an adaptable moving wall system was designed.
Circular and linear tracks attach to the truss structure in the ceiling, elevating the walls from the floor freeing it of any preconceived partitions. The plan is divided into three programmatic zones: shopping, community, and wood shop. Fixed and private programs are scattered throughout. In the shopping area, moving walls accommodate changing inventory. In the community area, the teaching kitchen, classroom, gathering, and children’s play area can be combined or separated into two, three, or four spaces, creating combinations such as a teaching kitchen for children or a community dining space.
Sectionally, a sawtooth roof is employed to allow diffuse North light to enter the large space. To engage with the site, the idea of the pivot is applied to create a playground leading visitors from the pantry to the hoop houses and farm plots populating the rest of the site.
Instructed by Mustafa Faruki
Variable v. Fixed Programs
SUMMER SHOPPING
GATHERING + CLASSROOM
CHILDREN’S CLASSROOM / TEACHING KITCHEN
COMMUNITY DINING LOADING
CHILDREN + TEACHING KITCHEN
WOOD SHOP + RECYCLING
1/32''=1'
1/8''=1'
Ithaca, NY, USA
2022
The Paper Fabric Chair pushes the material properties of paper. Typically a planar and flat material, I design a 100% paper chair exhibiting fluidity and flexibility. The form is everchanging, never linear. Upon researching ways to manipulate paper and flat sheets of wood, I discovered lattice hinges; with this concept, I developed a flexible paper fabric that could be cut and bent into any shape for the curvilinear chair. The laser-cut lattice hinges soon became the essence of the chair as they function in two ways: creating soft, plush, and volumetric pillows covering the top of the chair, and smooth surfaces covering the bottom showcasing the chair’s contours.
To construct the chair, the pillows, which retain their shape with a hook in the back, are attached to slots in the underlying cardboard grid structure. Smaller pillows are attached at the perimeter for a tailored appearance. For the back of the chair, smooth strips of the paper fabric, which have tabs that are placed flush to the structure, are fitted at each cardboard element seamlessly.
Instructed by Christopher A. Battaglia
Binghamton, NY, USA
2024
Spiedies Revisited is a restorative housing project for artists. Inspired by the artist-focused “Manhattan Plaza” (Mitchell-Lama program in NYS), the scheme brings together local practices to create a domestic and cultural space.
Located in downtown Binghamton, the existing bank facade acts as a frame for the light structure, composed of two intersecting boxes, to emerge from.
There is a system of sectional hierarchy. The ground plane, an open plaza with throughways to the alleys, plays into Binghamton’s alley culture to create a festival space. Through the bank facade, the community is led into an inverse porch theater referencing PorchFest. From inside the theater, people can look directly at the spiedies kitchen.
Housing sits above the public programs. Apartments run along a single-loaded corridor. In the block parallel to Chenango Street, there are nine two-bedroom, two-story apartments. In some units, residents go upstairs to reach the bedrooms, and in others, downstairs, maximizing area since plans are repeated every other floor. In the other block, there are one bedroom apartments.
On the end of the block, a vertical stack of dance and recording studios enrich the theater.
Instructed by Peter Robinson
Model by Ingie El-Khazindar, Ben Pahucki, & Jonathan Wilmers 2022
The architectural effect of the building became a structural driver as various structural technologies are employed. The siting of the building 6 metres below grade to integrate the structure into the surrounding vineyard results in the thick retaining walls on either side of the pavilion. Above and between the two walls, a steel and tensile fabric roof structure made of five distinct elements acts as a lightweight and visually unobstructive solution. A series of 12 horizontal beans are positioned above the concrete walls. These beams are pin connected to 3-dimensional diagonal members which elegantly respond to lateral loading in all directions. Each eight of these members support a slightly bowed steel tube defining the top edge of the structure. Between each of these tubes, a tensile fabric is stretched creating a waterproof membrane and solar shading solution. To stabilise this membrane, steel cables run through the center of the tensile fabric parallel to each tube, arching and attaching to each of the lower steel beams. This creates a double curvature geometry which ensures the stability of the tensile structure.
Instructed by Mark R. Cruvellier
Extruded aluminium with rectangular U-shaped profiles are supported by small rectangular columns on the retaining walls.
Hollow tubes are bent along laser-cut chipboard jigs as each tube has a different curvature due to the trapezoidal plan.
Using a concrete jig, four aluminum members at different angles are soldered at one point, simplifying the pinned connection.
Rockite is poured into precise laser-cut formwork. Acting as the intermediary between the building and the site, the retaining walls are attached to a rockite base.
To represent the parallel lines of the vineyard aligning with the gallery’s structure, loam made of glacial dirt and sand is cast into a mold.
