Architecture Thesis Project Competition Design Proposal
Passive House Design Proposal
Pre-Fab Building System
Lounge Chair
Development and Zoning Research + Analysis
Architectural Illustrations
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Project Type: Undergraduate Architecture Thesis
Date Completed: Spring 2024
Advisors: Amelyn Ng Debbie Chen
“Meet Me at the Arroyo” is a meditation in reimagining urban development in Albuquerque through collaborative design, emphasizing reciprocity, gratitude, placemaking, and environmental stewardship. By celebrating and revitalizing the arroyos - water drainage channels found in desert landscapes - this thesis advocates for a grassroots approach that fosters a symbiotic relationship between human and nonhuman ecologies, challenging the prevailing topdown planning practices. Much like its original statement, this thesis is a call to collaborate and congregate, bringing exposure back to the currently overlooked lifelines of the city.
Material research uses adobe construction and resources from channelized arroyos to create a “cradle-to-cradle” cycle for on-site concrete and construction waste. This transforms materials that once harmed ecosystems into structures that support site regeneration.
The material research recipes are documented in the Arroyo Cookbook, capturing their iterative design process. The cookbook is intended as a living resource open for current and future readers to build on past entries and contribute their own.
Each intervention begins with a stamp print. This method of printmaking/working is employed to empower users with creative freedom, placing design agency in the hands of stakeholders and embracing the messiness of hands-on engagement with materials.
Page from the Arroyo Cookbook depicting a possible shading and rain collection device
A sample of the stamps used in the project
Timestamps: <1880. Summer, Monsoon, Wildflowers. Life After the Rain. 1980. Summer, Monsoon. Arroyos, Now Channelized. 2024. Spring. Surveying Current Conditions
Timestamps: 2050. Late Spring. Yard Sales. 2080. Autumn, Work, Harvest. Balloon Fiesta, Burning of Zozobra, Sediment Harvest. 2124. Summer, Monsoon, Wildflowers. Rest and Sediment Collection.
Concluding this thesis is the exhibition structure itself. It was a meditation on the overarching ethos of the project - the joy of collaboration, sharing knowledge through an embodied process, and repurposing materials found “on site.”
Thesis Exhibition Model
Project Type:
Saint-Gobain International Architecture Student Contest 2023 Design Proposal
Award: U.S Semi-Finalist
Date Completed: Fall 2022
Advisors: Jonathan Knowles
Woven Landscapes draws from the Tagus River’s meander and the direct pathways integrated in the city’s central urban fabric. The project is structured around the relationship between the natural and the manufactured to reimagine the Boavista Landfill as a space of coexistance and collaboration between the public and private. The interaction between the two entities is utilized in all aspects from facade design and material choices to the designed circulation defining the project’s structure.
The Envelope:
The building’s design features a perforated metal facade with varying visual opacities that are expressed throughout the entire structure. This unique design is achieved by combining two popular azulejo tile patterns, forming a composition that directly references the Tagus River and its movement.
In addition to its aesthetic qualities, the screen also serves as a sun shading device, diffusing the rays and reducing the amount of heat that enters the building's interior while still allowing ample airflow.
Water Collection and Renewable Energy Source
Vertical and Horizontal Circulation
Facade - Perforated Metal Screen
One Bedroom (1BD) - 24 Units
Two bedroom (2BD) - 18 Units
Independent Living Units (ILU) - 14 Units
Retail and Commercial - 4 Units
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a. 1BD (Compact) - 588 sf
b. 1BD (Typical) - 607 sf
c. 2BD (Typical) - 981 sf
d. 2BD (Compact) - 675 sf
e. ILU (Typical) - 189 sf
Project Type: Passive House
Date Completed: Spring 2024
Organization: PHIUS
This project submitted for CPHC certification is a proposed Passive House residence for a recently retired couple in Truckee, California. Designed to host visiting friends and family, the three-story, six-bedroom home balances comfort, efficiency, and performance.
The layout prioritizes eastern views of the nearby lake for both shared and private spaces, making the most of the wooded site. Meeting the PHIUS CORE 2021 standards, the design integrates high-performance insulation, natural and mechanical ventilation, and optimized glazing to create a resilient, comfortable home year-round.
communal space
Metal standing seam roofing
Roof underlayment
1/2” plywood sheet
Overlapped furring strips (for ventilation cavity)
3 layers of 2” EPS rigid insulation (staggered + taped seams)
5/8” ZIP system (see continuous air barrier on S1)
14” blown-in fiberglass wool dense-packed (installed at 3.5 pcf to prevent settling)
Capillary break beneath sill plate
Tape or liqud flash seam between sheathing for continuous WRB and air barrier
Metal flashing with end dam
Fiber cement board
4” EPS foam board wrapped around footing
Liquid applied foundation waterproofing and drainage fabric
Concrete foundation wall, extending to 24” below grade (frost line at 18” below grade)
1/2“ dia. draining glavel
4” dia. drain pipe
1/2” Exterior siding
Vertical furring strips (air space and drainage plane)
3” Rockwool board insulation
5/8” ZIP system (see continuous air barrier)
9.5” Fiberglass wool dense-pack between 9.5” TJI vertical, framing spaced 2’-0” on center
5/8”osb sheathing
1.5” service cavity
5/8” gypsum board interior finish
1/2” Exterior siding
Vertical furring strips, air space and drainage plane
WRB lapped over all flashings
Liquid flashing or self-adhered membrane over entire R.O.
Head flashing with end dams, extend head flashing 3“ beyond R.O. on each side
Exterior waterproofing, closed cell backer rod and sealant, continuous at head and jambs
Continuous exterior sealant, continuous at head and jambs only.
Continuous sealant along backdam and jambs.
Weep route
Shims spaced per installation guide
Metal flashing with end dams
Positive drainage at R.O
Liquid flashing or self-adhered membrane applied to backdam and wrapped around over R.O. to overlap WRB
WRB
For detailed list of the wall assembly, refer to S2
Break, “8” closed cell spray
5/8” Gypsum board interior finish
Project Type: Prefab Structural System
Date Completed: Spring 2023
Collaborators: Studio-wide
Advisor: Jonathan Knowles
“Walden” is a semester-long studio project exploring modular construction with a focus on quick assembly and disassembly. All components are propped up or clipped in, combining high- and low-tech strategies.
Using CNC technology, the team developed proprietary building methods that allow a structure to be erected in an afternoon, with minimal screws to preserve the continuity of the weather-resistant barrier. The walls were also designed to be thinner than typical highperformance assemblies, without sacrificing energy efficiency.
The structure was built in Providence, RI, and is slated for disassembly and exhibition in Europe.
X Frame Rachet Straps
Eyelet Hooks Strut
Wall to Floor Clamps
X Frame Sill Truss
Floor Truss
Cladding Clips
Exterior Cladding
CertaWrap™ Weather Resistant Barrier
Batten to Sill Clamping Bolt
Exterior Batten Frame
Floor Truss to Foundation Jack Clamps
Interior Bottom Cladding Panels
Interior Batten Frames
CertainTeed MemBrain™ Smart Vapor Retarder
Structural T-Studs
Floor Finishes
Sub-Floor Tiles
Sub-Floor Stoppers
Minor Joists
Floor Rachet Strap
Eyelet Hooks
Floor Sill Plate
Floor Jack Floor Truss
FLOORING SYSTEM WITH TRUSSES AT 24” O.C, RATCHET STRAPS, AND SUBFLOOR PANELS
Load Testing the System After Subfloor Tile Installation
Project Type: Furniture
Date Completed: Winter 2024
Advisors: David Dilks
James Dean
The “Live-Edge Lowrider” lounge chair draws inspiration from George Nakashima’s woodworking ethos, specifically his Conoid Bench. Crafted in a mid-century (and some say Bauhaus) style, the chair features a single live-edge walnut slab divided into the seat, armrest, and backrest. Hand-polished chrome steel tubing intricately weaves through and around the wood, subtly accentuating each walnut piece and creating an impression of an exploded assembly.
Unlike traditional designs that emphasize joints and connections, this chair celebrates the natural beauty of the wood, minimizing alterations and instead designing around its intricate, organic shape.
Project Type: Book
Date Completed: Spring 2025
Collaborators: Freecell Architecture
Developed in collaboration with Freecell Architecture, this book examines housing as a non-aesthetic practice; focusing on how zoning, density, land value, and cultural norms shape market-rate housing in Brooklyn.
Using plan and isometric drawings, it analyzes how code compliance especially FAR limits and egress rules drives spatial layout and architectural expression. The study focuses on two typologies: single-stair, six-story buildings on narrow lots, and scissor-stair, 11–12 story buildings along corridors like 4th Avenue.
Case studies both conform to and test zoning boundaries, offering a framework for understanding how regulation shapes housing, and how designers navigate its limits.
Initial composite floor plan assembled using unit plans found on Zillow and StreetEasy
Final furnished floor plan with egress cores and circulation paths
Project Type: Architectural
Illustrations
Date Completed: Summer 2025
Inspired by the entropic universe of Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics and the uncanny world of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84, this series of illustrations explores environments that feel familiar yet remain fundamentally unreachable. Titled Greeting Cards, the series frames these scenes as destinations the viewer is invited to imagine, but never truly visit.
The process centers on identifying the defining elements of a space or action, then subtly distorting them just enough to make the world believable at first glance, but strange enough to unsettle upon closer inspection.
