Transforming Environments: An Architectural Journey

I joined JXTALabs in 2015 as an apprentice in the Environmental Design Lab. Before working in the Environmental Design Lab, I wanted to do video game design and thought of it as animation. I didn’t really think about it as coding or as building a 3D environment. During my interview to join JXTALabs, the Environmental Design Lab Lead, architect Sam Ero-Phillips, was like, “that’s pretty much what architecture is.”

Once I started working in the Lab, I could see the connection and it changed my understanding of how an environment impacts its community. I fell in love with the design process and I’m currently in college pursuing architecture.

Through my apprenticeship at JXTALabs, I had the chance to work with real clients. These projects required me to work collaboratively with others, and I honed my skills as a designer and as a professional. This portfolio is a repository of some of the projects that I have been fortunate to work on while being a member of JXTALabs.

04. SKATE-ABLE ART PLAZA

12. MWMO

18. THE NASHVILLE FARMERS MARKET

26. WOLF AND MOOSE

36. GUTHRIE

42. HIP HOP ARCHITECTURE EXHIBIT

The Skate-able Art Plaza replaced a commercial building that was falling apart. It was supposed to be a temporary installment while planning for a new building for Juxtaposition Arts, but it was so popular that JXTA decided to make it permanent.

I developed the concept design along with other JXTA apprentices. After analyzing the site’s existing conditions, we consulted with City of Skate (a local skate park advocacy group) to determine what makes a space skateable. We then created physical models and sketched out ideas to create a site plan.

In collaboration with the Mississippi Watershed Management Organization, we designed rain gardens to address stormwater runoff issues. After the rain gardens were installed, I designed an infographic that explains how the rain gardens work.

It would be great if there were more places for gatherings, for performances, and for community building on the Northside. Keeping our youth engaged in creative and constructive activities will help us to keep them out of trouble and reduce the violence in our communities.

This rain garden cleans our water!

MULCH (2-3 in)

NATIVE PLANTS

SOIL (24-30 in) SAND (6 in)

GRAVEL (1-4 in)

Rainwater runs off of buildings, streets, and sidewalks.

Rainwater is contaminated by salts and fertilizers.

Rainwater enters the garden and filters through the soil.

The soil, sand and gravel clean the rainwater.

Clean water feeds the plants through their roots and continues through the ground to the river.

MWMO’s longboard project was directly influenced by JXTA’s Skate-Able Art Plaza. I collaborated with JXTA, MWMO, and Urban Boatbuilders to make multilayer screen prints. Throughout the design direction, the Mississippi River and its relationship with North Minneapolis were focal points.

As part of our design process, my JXTA team studied Emory Douglas, Jenny Holzer, Jacob Lawrence, and the Center for Urban Pedagogy, among others. After that, we sketched graphics and composed them together to tell different stories. Following this, the sketches were vectorized and printed on mylar before being burned onto a soak screen. The screens then served as a stencil for the images, which we used to screen print directly on to the longboards.

With artist Justice Jones, I led creative direction, and we worked with our youth colleagues to realize our design concepts. The project was particularly engaging to me since it was my first time working with screen prints. We learned how to stack and layer our designs by trial and error, and with each print, we improved.

THE NASHVILLE FARMERS MARKET

Working with artist Seitu Jones, I created a SketchUp model of Turnip Greens, a sculpture for the Market House at the Nashville Farmers’ Market. The goal was to create a basket overflowing with turnip greens. In my role, I was responsible for developing and implementing this idea into a large-scale sculpture fabrication with technical drawings.

In order to approach this idea, I sketched out a bushel basket and measured its dimensions. Using SketchUp, I scaled up my sketch to give it monumental scale. After the bushel basket was completed, I worked with my team to process the poured leaves. We worked out a rendering of the leaves in SketchUp, then modelled and enlarged them.

As of 2019, this sculpture is on display at Nashville’s Farmers’ Market, and visitors can view it upon entering. It not only reflects the market experience but also creates a landmark for customers.

In 2016, I worked with artist Christopher Lutter on the Wolf and Moose sculptures that were constructed and presented at Northern Lights. This sculpture won the 2016 Creative City Challenge.

Using recycled materials, I created sculptures with a group of coworkers and peers. As the sculptures were built in layers, metal bars served as the creatures’ framework and skeleton, window screens as skin, and plastic bottles as fur. Ninety percent of the materials used in the sculptures were recycled waste-stream materials. The sculptures included stationary bicycles that, when pedaled, produced animations within the animals’ bodies: breathing, heartbeats, and rotating globes that lit up. Pedaling also powered an onboard speaker that played recorded poems and stories about human relationships with animals and the environment.

By creating this project, we wanted to demonstrate that Minneapolis is at the forefront of measures to live more sustainably on this planet. This initiative also acknowledges and respects the balance and significance of the wolf-moose relationship from a spiritual and ecological perspective. Moose are the wolves’ primary food source, and in turn, the wolves help control the moose population. The subsequent food shortage, however, reduces the wolves’ numbers when they eat too many moose.

The Luminous Current can be found on the ninth floor of the Guthrie Theater in the elevator lobby adjacent to the Yellow Room. The sculpture was inspired by the Mississippi River and was created from geometric shapes. To come up with concepts, I worked with artists Niko Kubota, Temesgen Besha, and D’Angelo Raymond. We wanted to create a sculpture with meaning, and to connect shapes in an abstract manner. To determine where the sculpture’s new home would be, we made sketches and created photoshop renderings.

We created full-scale prototypes, starting with foam core, then moved to wood and fabric to simulate lighting conditions. My design crew retained Solid Metal Arts to plasma cut and weld the aluminum structure and test how the sculpture would interact with lighting, so that it could cast a pattern on the wall based on the geometric shapes in the skeleton.

HIP HOP ARCHITECTURE EXHIBIT

The hip hop architecture event showcases my two passions: architecture and Hip Hop. It was staged within the Hip Hop Architecture exhibit by Sekou Cooke, and I dressed it up as a neighborhood block party to recreate an actual Hip Hop environment. I MC’d the event, booked the performers, and even performed. James Garret Jr, a Minnesota-based architect and owner of 4RM+ULA, gave the keynote presentation that tied everything together by explaining the concept of hip hop architecture and how the two mediums relate to one another.

To me, hip hop architecture is deeply rooted in community. Because of this, I recreated the block parties from The Bronx to demonstrate how space influences people to interact with one another. To recreate this scene, I hired a caterer to serve barbecue, which is a common food served at family and community gatherings. I also booked artists relevant to the content of the show. In all this, I found ways to incorporate three of the four main elements of hip hop: Master of Ceremonies, DJing, and graffiti.

In this event, I demonstrated my strengths as both an artist and a designer, from coordinating with a client and a diverse group of artists, to managing a national art and design exhibition, all in real time.