Table of Contents:
• Cover to Cover
• Lab Imprint
• Fab Tree Hab
• Harlem Tower
• Play Time
• The Forgotten Island
Throughout my career, I have cultivated a fascination with technological systems and strategic resilient design, concepts that continue to shape my work. I am driven by curiosity and a strong desire to visualize ideas.
I recognize the high stakes of the field I practice in and approach that responsibility with care and intention.
In Mexico, the roof is more than shelter. It is a gesture of protection without restriction, an open system connecting public and private, formal and informal, individual and collective. This project re-imagines the block around Mercado de San Cosme as a shared framework for vendors, fonda owners, and working class residents.
Rather than replacing existing dynamics, the proposal builds upon them. A new civic infrastructure becomes visible, anchored by a roof that collects and distributes essential resources. This canopy becomes a shared asset, delivering water, electricity, shade, and other services across spaces, redistributing value between areas often divided by front and back of house functions.
Inspired by the traditional Mexican markets, the project blurred thresholds to support both formal and informal economies while integrating affordable housing for young families. It addresses inequality through unity, offering dignity, shared purpose, and a renewed sense of belonging rooted in cultural life.
Location: San Rafael, Mexico City
Course: ADV Studio VI
Partner: Seong Hyun Leem
Professor: Gabriela Carrillo & Thomas De Monchaux
Term: Spring 2025
We approached Mercado de San Cosme by looking beyond its existing roof and into the spaces between. The market’s layout revealed underused pockets and overlooked edges, offering the opportunity to insert new structures that would both fill these gaps and create new ones for gathering, circulation, and exchange. These insertions aim to extend the market’s activity into surrounding streets while introducing housing that benefits from and contributes to the daily life of the market. By stitching together these spaces, the project forms a network of living, working, and public areas that evolve with the community over time.
We opened the San Cosme to the public by prioritizing human and pedestrian movement over cars, extending the market outward and blurring the boundaries between formal and informal, public and private. In Mexico, markets reflect a culture shaped by warmth, joy, and generosity, where social life naturally extends beyond walls.
Mercados are home to many forms of talent. Beyond selling food, people repair cars, offer care, provide therapy, friendship, and healing. It is common for individuals
to embody multiple skills, and this layered normality became central to the project. We translated this mentality into architecture by designing a building that is as complex, adaptive, and performative as its users.
Mercados also bring together all generations, from infants resting with their parents, to children playing after school, to grandparents shopping for their families. The project creates a welcoming environment for all ages, reflecting the concept of “cover to cover” as both a spatial and social condition.
This conceptual model is inspired by the reflected ceiling plan of Mercado de San Cosme, which informs both the facade and the interior programming of the building. Constructed from found objects, the model explores how the roof’s open and connective logic can extend vertically. A kinetic element allows the structure to shift, generating multiple spatial configurations that reflect the adaptable and ever changing character of the market.
The project proposes a redefinition of housing. Rather than understanding housing solely as shelter, it is envisioned as an extension of the individual. With this idea in mind, the residential unit is treated as a market stall. By maximizing usable surface, residents are able to transform and personalize their homes according to evolving needs. The space can support selling goods, teaching, or functioning as a more traditional dwelling.
The intervention reclaims an underused parking area in front of Mercado de San Cosme, a space already informally occupied for gathering and storage. The project extends the market into the street, increasing pedestrian activity and strengthening its civic presence.
Conceived as a growth of the existing market, the structure reuses and reorganizes shared water and electrical systems. Infrastructure becomes collective, allowing resources to be distributed efficiently across market and housing spaces.
Detail Unit Plan
Minimal space does not mean minimal care. The project proposes a modular, off-site research station designed for disassembly, approaching architecture from its end of life toward its beginning. Recognizing the temporary nature of inhabitation, the structure redefines minimalism by introducing comfort, warmth, and familiarity within an otherwise unlivable environment.
This project questions conventional approaches to inhabiting extreme environments by designing with the site rather than against it. The modular, off-site research station embraces Antarctica’s conditions, using snow as insulation and protection instead of treating it as an obstacle.
By merging architecture with the environment, the station redefines minimalism through comfort, warmth, and familiarity within an otherwise uninhabitable landscape. In a territory indifferent to human presence, architecture becomes the sole mediator between humans and their surroundings, transforming isolation into belonging. The station stands as a contemporary monument to human presence grounded in endurance and coexistence.
Location: Antartica
Course: YACADEMY - Offsite Technologies
Tutor: Nicola Scaranaro / Foster + Partners
Term: Nov 2025 - Feb 2026
The horizontal structure is assembled from 2-meter-long modules (A &B), optimized for transportation and ease of handling. Two module types are used: single-floor modules and double-floor modules, allowing programmatic variation along the length. Modules are mechanically connected through internal structural joints, keeping the exterior façade continuous and smooth, ensuring uninterrupted sliding during removal and preventing ice bonding at the envelope.
Structural and façade modules are prefabricated off-site in controlled conditions. Modules are transported and assembled into larger horizontal units on site. Units are mounted onto ski-runner bases and structurally connected. Mechanical and electrical systems are linked by module.
Antarctica plays a critical role in regulating global climate systems, yet it remains one of the least instrumented and most inaccessible regions on Earth. The station is positioned in Commonwealth Bay, near the Australian and African continents, a location selected for its advantageous time zones and logistical access for material transportation. The bay’s distinctive geography provides natural protection from strong winds while offering researchers a strategic vantage point to study diverse ice conditions and surrounding biodiversity.
The station remains fully operational and buried within accumulated snow. Prior to disassembly, access zones are cleared and mechanical systems are isolated by module. Pressure-relief drilling in the surrounding ice reduces bonding and prepares the structure for phased removal.
The vertical tower is dismantled first, floor by floor, reversing its construction sequence. Structural loads are reduced and services disconnected, clearing the path for the horizontal extraction of the main station.
The horizontal structure is removed in modular segments. Side excavation and drilled relief holes release ice pressure. Each module is disconnected, systems shut down, and slowly slid out on ski runners through controlled incremental movement.
After removal, a negative ice mold remains, shaped by years of snow accumulation. This temporary cavity acts as an ice shelter and spatial archive, gradually deforming and sealing as the landscape returns to ice.
11.
15. Inspectable suspended ceiling
16. Precast driveable floor slab (vehicular-rated)
17. External ring beam / edge beam capping
18. Insulated precast ring beam / edge beam
Initial Occupation (Year 0)
Partial Ground Floor Coverage (≈ 2–3 Years)
Full Ground Floor Coverage (≈ 4–5 Years)
First Floor Coverage (≈ 8+ Years)
Over time the station gradually integrates with its environment through natural snow accumulation. As the snowpack grows, the lower levels become embedded within the ice, improving thermal stability and transforming the building into a partially insulated structure. The station is designed for a crew of nineteen people, including
twelve researchers and seven support staff, a number selected to balance scientific productivity, operational needs, and psychological well-being during extended isolation. While the exterior adapts to changing environmental conditions, shared interior spaces remain a stable social core for the research community.
A new approach to affordable housing that challenges traditional design limits to re-imagine what “home” can feel like in the urban context of Harlem. The project offers an innovative perspective on space, focusing not only on square footage but on height, volume, and inventive spatial strategies. It moves beyond conventional apartment layouts to create residences that are compact yet full of possibilities.
In New York City, where space is precious and every inch matters, the question arose: how can affordable housing feel as luxurious as it is accessible? This project answers by rethinking the living experience within limited dimensions. Through a three-dimensional design approach, interiors feel expansive and open, capturing the airiness and flow typically associated with larger homes. Elevated ceilings, flexible layouts, and multipurpose furniture transform spaces with ease. Every wall, corner, and view is intentionally designed to enhance comfort, efficiency, and a sense of belonging. Offering residents a home that feels both generous and welcoming.
Location: Harlem, NY
Course: Core Studio III
Partner: Nicholas Richards
Professor: Garry Bates Term: Fall 2023
The architectural concept extends beyond the individual units to actively engage with the surrounding Harlem block. At street level, the project introduces public spaces that foster community interaction and a sense of unity within the neighborhood. These inclusive areas invite people of all ages and backgrounds to gather, connect, and participate in shared activities, setting the building apart from its surroundings. Programs dedicated to wellness, the arts, and education are interwoven throughout the design, creating an environment that not only serves residents but also enriches the cultural and social fabric of the community.
This model was an early exploration of how varied unit sizes and configurations could shape the architecture itself. From a slim three story volume to a generous one-bedroom, these diverse layouts initially presented structural challenges. By embracing a modular design, we transformed those challenges into strengths, allowing each distinct space to coexist seamlessly within a unified framework.
What if we measured housing by volume instead of just square footage? This question inspired a design that is flexible, adaptable, and deeply responsive to its residents’ needs. Imagine exchanging ceiling height with a neighbor to gain an extra room in your apartment. This approach not only makes housing more enjoyable, it ensures that every cubic inch of space holds value and meaning for someone.
Located in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Terreform ONE is a nonprofit architecture and design research group dedicated to advancing a socio ecological future. Guided by the principle design against extinction, the studio integrates biotechnology and architecture to support biodiversity within urban environments.
One of their explorations, ELM, envisions living architecture as a system grown from biological materials that serve both human use and ecological function. The project proposes an all natural pergola that incorporates planters and habitat spaces to support birds, insects, squirrels, and other species.
As co-founder Mitchell Joachim explains, “It is a multi tiered structure that cares for avian species, insects, squirrels, and all our friends on the outside of our building. It begins with scaffolding and multi species facades. We fit the scaffolding with willows from farms, and after a year or two we remove the scaffolding and reuse it elsewhere, arriving at a multi species system held together by living structures.”
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Course: Summer Internship
Professor: TERREFORM ONE
Term: Summer 2023
I developed a Grasshopper script that simulates natural growth patterns to inform the organic form of each habitat module. This algorithmic process generated complex geometries derived from biological structures, allowing the modules to integrate seamlessly with their surrounding environment. Once the designs were finalized, they were
fabricated through a precise 3D printing process, translating digital models into durable physical components capable of supporting multiple species. This workflow grounded the project in natural logic while enabling a direct and continuous transition from computational design to ecologically integrated architecture.
The research centered on developing a 3D printed system capable of withstanding harsh weather conditions while maintaining structural integrity over time. The objective was to identify a material, coating, or fabrication process that ensures long term durability. These printed elements, potentially made from ceramics or other environmentally responsible materials, are designed to support plant and animal life for decades. As noted during the design
process, “If we want this structure to last a minimum of fifteen years, the time required for trees to establish, we cannot leave raw fibers exposed to the elements.” The finalized components are suspended within the wooden modules shown to the right, each acting as a protective cradle for future habitats. Together, they form a resilient system that integrates durability, ecological performance, and long term environmental stewardship.
https://www.terreform.org/fab-tree-hab
https://www.terreform.org/fab-tree-hab
This project proposes the adaptive reuse of an existing government facility in Veracruz to create a daycare for the children of public employees. Many parents working in the building face extended work hours while local schools dismiss students earlier in the day. As a result, children often remain in offices and corridors without appropriate spaces to play, learn, or stay engaged.
Although a daycare currently exists within the facility, its interior conditions are inadequate due to poor material choices and environments not designed with children in mind. The proposal focuses on rethinking the interior architecture to create a safer and more stimulating environment. Materials, colors, and surfaces are carefully selected to prioritize durability, safety, and sensory engagement.
Soft and warm materials encourage exploration while minimizing hazards. The design also promotes natural light, ventilation, and visual connections to the outdoors, creating distinct zones for play, learning, rest, and social interaction.
Location: Veracruz, Mexico Professional Work 2026
The project is located within the Secretaría de Finanzas y Planeación complex in Xalapa, Veracruz, along Av. Xalapa. The building sits next to an existing garden and benefits from Xalapa’s mild, humid climate, which allows the program to extend beyond the interior and take advantage of outdoor spaces. Observations of the site revealed that children often spend much of their time outside or doing homework, suggesting the need for a balance between active and
quiet environments. The proposal responds by opening portions of the building toward the garden, creating a stronger relationship between interior learning areas and exterior play spaces. The study of the existing structure also identified materials and elements that can be preserved, while others require replacement to improve safety and comfort for children of different ages.
B A C
This slide compares the existing floor plan with the proposed intervention. While the overall building layout remains largely unchanged, the project rethinks the interior organization through material choices, furniture layout, and more efficient use of space. The existing plan functions as a single open area where different activities overlap, while the proposal introduces flexible zones that support sleeping, learning, and play for children of different ages. The new plan also strengthens the relationship with the adjacent garden, allowing interior spaces to extend toward the outdoors.
Area with computers, desks, and seating to support children’s study.
Area with bookshelves and a resting space for listening, reading, and conversation.
area for younger children with books, toys, and activities.
Ossabaw Island, located off the coast of Georgia, is a protected barrier island known for its rich biodiversity and cultural history. Despite its significance, access is currently limited to a small group of people at certain times of the year due to ecological imbalances caused by invasive species.
This project seeks to restore the island’s fragile ecosystem while opening it to a wider audience through carefully managed access. In collaboration with the Ossabaw Island Foundation, it integrates sustainable practices that protect habitats, improve resilience, and enhance the visitor experience.
Educational initiatives connect guests with the island’s unique wildlife, landscapes, and history, fostering a sense of stewardship. Architectural interventions provide spaces that support conservation and responsible living. By improving both ecological health and public understanding, the project positions Ossabaw Island as a living example of how thoughtful design can balance preservation with accessibility, inspiring a renewed commitment to environmental care and cultural appreciation.
Location: Ossabaw, Georgia
Course: Design Studio V
Professor: Brent White
Term: Winter 2022
A study was conducted to understand the main user groups and their activities on Ossabaw Island. Four primary types were identified: government officials, researchers, campers, and hunters. Each group’s needs and responsibilities informed the project’s architectural and programmatic direction, ensuring spaces were tailored to their functions. The study also identified suitable zones for each activity, allowing resources to be used efficiently while protecting the island’s ecological balance and preserving its natural and cultural heritage.
The design for Ossabaw Island prioritizes self-sufficiency and harmony with the environment. Site layout responds to local weather patterns, roofs are shaped to harvest rainwater, and walls are oriented to maximize natural ventilation. Every material and surface is chosen for efficiency and resilience.
Located off the coast of Georgia, Ossabaw is a protected barrier island with 13 miles of undeveloped beaches accessible only by boat. It serves as a sanctuary for species like loggerhead sea turtles and endangered wood storks, while also offering a place for research, education, and cultural inspiration.
A portable pod extends the capabilities of the main structure into the field. Towed by car and unfolding into a compact shelter, it draws water, power, and supplies from the primary building before venturing into remote areas. Equipped with its own rainwater collection and renewable energy systems, the pod supports extended stays while minimizing impact on the island’s fragile ecosystems.
To bring the project to its most complete stage, I decided to build a full-scale version of the portable pod. The process began with assembling a small trailer, chosen for its dimensions to match standard 4-by-8-foot plywood sheets for the walls. This made construction straightforward, reduced material waste, and kept the design practical. Careful planning and steady execution allowed the structure to come together efficiently and remain adaptable for future use. The images document the process from initial assembly to the finished setup, showing how the concept translated from design to a working prototype.
