U R B A N   M E A L   M I N E   C O M P E T I T I O N

These are process sketches that I prepared for the Urban Meal Mine Competition. Drawn on a tablet, these quick illustrations convey my earliest instincts in concept and design.

COMPETITION ABSTRACT: Food is one of the most fundamental elements of human existence... As a designer how can you bring farming to the cities where people can see, participate or celebrate cultivation - and understand what they eat, much better? Where not only awareness related to food is available, but as a community we become more responsible for our actions. How can you change the image of cities as the ones that only consume, to ones that contribute too? Or make farming so easy for people using technologies of today that makes it easy for people to grow it in their homes? Urban meal mine(n), is a place where people can generate/learn/contribute to grow food for their city. This is usually located in the heart of the city where skilled labour + abundant transport + short distance logistics + faster production technologies can break even revenue over the high cost land it occupies.

W I K I T O P I A   I N T E R N A T I O N A L   C O M P E T I T I O N   E N T R Y:

F L Y   M E

As an entry to the Wikitopia International Design Competition, I submitted a concept for installations that can be manipulated by anyone who downloads a conceptual phone app that I call Fly Me. With Fly Me, users can harness drones attached to inflatable furniture to create temporary parks or sitting areas. The drones will apply a combination of mapping software and tolerance controls to fly safely where users direct them. When any drones are unmanned, they will float peacefully around a controlled area until harnessed by a new user. 

This work is an ode to the late nineties, when my sister and I made our dad watch Spice World with us on glittery, inflatable chairs.

COMPETITION ABSTRACT: Wikitopia Project is an ambitious, cross-disciplinary research project, the goal of which is to realize technologically-enhanced future cities that can be continuously edited and improved by citizens like the online encyclopedia Wikipedia… We seek ideas for new designs, technologies, systems, and concepts that we can realistically expect to be implemented in the near- to mid-term future. In other words, what we would like to see is not complete science fiction, but forward-looking ideas that nevertheless can inform or become part of our research agenda in the coming years.

G R A M E R C Y   P A R K ,   R E I M A G I N E D

Gramercy Park is famous for being an elegant, yet inaccessible escape. My parents' building has a key to it, and while I've always loved visiting, I also believe in parks as places for all. Here I've reimagined GP as a space that the public is welcome in, one locked only in the evenings and for key holder hours on Sundays. Inspired by Peter Sis' timeless, "jewel-like" illustration for the New York Metro, this plan crafts contemporary rooms that preserve the quiet grace of the neighborhood's heritage, while also providing more versatile seating options for all visitors. Path design respectfully balances Gramercy resident needs with those of the public, by promoting comfort primarily for those who aim to take it slow. Upgraded materials and textures offer an assurance to long-time key holders that the integrity of the park will always remain.

F O R T   P O I N T   A R T S

Fort Point Arts is a response to an under-utilized Bostonian waterfront. This design, generated as part of a graduate level assignment, was an exercise in taking neighborhood planning down to finer levels of detail. I enjoyed plugging an experimental greenhouse into the urban gradients. Below, extensive site inventory and analysis led to the masterplan on the right. Above, concepts and perspectives bring the Farmer's Market in the plan's northeast corner to life.

H E R S C H E N D   R E S I D E N C E

The Herschend Residence was modeled on an existing site in Atlanta. This assignment, and others from Professor David Spooner, inspired my initial foray into high-end residential design. This experience eventually led me to understand the importance of cultivating high-performance, intimate spaces in public settings.

H o m e