Current Works

These projects consider and work with:

SYSTEMS - that shape our world; ideas, industrial-complexes, webs
URBANISM - city scale interventions, research, phenomena
ROOMS - places we occupy, group dimensions, spatial conditions
BODIES - the scale of senses, perception, interpretations

Aquí vive el árbol

Research Book

Independent Research_2024
Mexico City, Mexico
Co-Author, Co-Designer, Co-Producer, Illustrator

In collaboration with Christopher Hassan Allen.

Aquí vive el árbol is an independent research project that focused on street trees and urban forests in Mexico City, and their environmental, infrastructural, and architectural roles as nonhuman "residents" of the city. This research comprised historical and statistical research, fieldwork, photography, the production of artistic and architectural drawings and analyses, as well as other forms of documentation. Chris and I co-authored a book compiling the research titled "Aquí vive el árbol," which compiled our observations and documentation in a collection of musings on street trees, cycles of urban de- and reforestation, and the role of arboriculture in the image-making of Mexico City. We collaborated on the design, editing, and production of the book.

The images include a series of excerpts from the compiled research.

cover me softly

Biennial Exhibition, Publication

Beta_2024
Timișoara, Romania
Lighting Coordination and Design, Exhibition Production, Publication Production

Biennial curated by Oana Stănescu
Lighting coordination and co-design supported by Anda Maier (consultant), Miruna Trașcă (Beta), Evelina Ursatii (Beta), Ana Lucas (Beta). Exhibition by many see here. Production by Beta Team.

“Sited in the historic Garrison Command, the exhibition brings together a wide selection of architects, designers, musicians, artists, activists, photographers, writers, directors, and those that refuse categorization to present their own take on the cover. The works exhibited demonstrate a range of fidelities to the original—some closer to a direct copy, others a distant reference. They reflect on life cycles of ideas and intellectual property as well as that of the material that makes up our built and natural environments, lending important perspectives for addressing architecture’s complicity in ongoing environmental degradation. Fundamental to this question, cover me softly encourages us to take stock of what is in front of us and imagine where we could go from there.”

-cover me softly exhibition guide book

Check out press coverage here. Buy the book here.

Image © Gabriel Amza

Image © Bianca Purice Azap & Dan Purice

Image © David Dumitrescu

Image © Gabriel Amza

Image © Marius Vasile

Image © Amanda Ugorji

Image © Laura Ghise

Image © Amanda Ugorji

Urbi-box

Urban Intervention

PRAUD _ 2023
Seoul, South Korea
Designer (Primary), Map Maker

Urbi-box is an urban intervention designed to address urban cultural deserts in Seoul. Mounted on an outfitted pickup truck, Urbi-box travels to public streets, parks, and open spaces around the city with less access to libraries, community spaces, and cultural spaces. PRAUD activates each site with free programming like children’s reading rooms, concerts, and lectures.

You can follow Urbi-box and related work here.

Image © PRAUD

Architectures of Belonging:
Ownership in NYC

Interview Series, Interview Visualization

Independent Research _ 2022-2023
Cambridge / NYC
Qualitative Researcher, Data Visualizer, Narrative Builder

Research funded by the Ennis Research Award at MIT SAP.

Architectures of Belonging: Ownership in NYC is an interview series with NYC residents that addresses questions surrounding self-identified belonging and the built environment. The research was particularly interested in how minority-identifying bodies foster a sense of belonging within environments designed for exclusivity and, more generally, how residents can grow feelings of ownership over spaces in the city.

The participants shared a varied set of relationships to public space. Many interviewees described a connection between feelings of ownership and a local with a consistent point of return. Another interesting phenomenon was the connection some residents drew from with clear and unique spatial identifiers (e.g., a large sculpture or a unique piece of furniture) or environments in different parts of the city that have similar sensorial stimuli (e.g., the sound of water or proximity to bodies). Not so curiously, almost all participants felt on guard while waiting in the subway.

The featured interview is with longtime NYC resident Cecley Hill.

Tactile Furniture

Stool and Coffee Table

MIT SAP_2022
Cambridge, MA
Furniture Designer, Fabricator

Projects advised by Christopher Dewart.

Swell Stool and Tactile Table are two tactile furniture explorations. The process involved CNC milling experimentation, lathing, and a lot of hand sanding.

Swell Stool (ash and maple)

Lorem Ipsum.

Tactile Table (ash

Tactile Table (ash)

Seamless Transition

Speculation

MIT SAP_2022
Speculator

Seamless Transition is an investigation of an aging rental unit. The project proposes a retrofit for a typical developer standard apartment in Maryland that considers the specific dimensional needs of parents to young children, renters experiencing the effects of aging, including a lack of strength and potential sickness, and two roommates in need of additional storage. The design considers the intersection of care and dimensionality.

No Bend Zone

Academic Research, Accessible Design Research

MIT SAP_2022
Cambridge, MA
Research Compilation, Research Visualization

Scale figures sourced from dimensions.guide.

Sources include but are not limited to:
Boys, J. (2014). Doing disability differently : an alternative handbook on architecture, dis/ability and designing for everyday life. Routledge.
Cheung, O. (Ed.). (2018). Public restroom design. Images Publishing Group.
Cunningham, D. (2011). Psychiatric tales: Eleven graphic stories about mental illness. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
Fischer, J., & Meuser, P. (2009). Accessible architecture : age and disability-friendly planning and building in the 21st century. DOM.
Sorensen, R. J. (1979). Design for accessibility. McGraw-Hill.

This is the first step in a long-term research project considering and compiling the dimensionality of access surrounding aging and varying physical needs.

Blueprints of Justice Vol. II: The Weaponization of Space Against the Body

Spatial Justice Research, Proposal
MIT SAP/Stanford Legal Design Lab _2022
Researcher, Co-Speculator

Instructors: Oana Stănescu and Nóra Al Haider
Teaching Assistant: Myles Sampson
Students / Researchers: Christopher Hassan Allen, Zekun Fan, Vijay Gautham Rajkumar, Mariana Medrano, Tristan Searight, Amanda Adaku Ugorji

In memory of co-creator Virgil Abloh.

Blueprints of Justice Vol. II: The Weaponization of Space Against the Body includes research on the landscape of abortion access in America, abortifacient plant studies, and proposals for existing clinics, future clinics, and alternative clinics.

The excerpts selected show a proposed analysis and renovation of a women's health clinic located in an abortion-hostile state, where a ban on abortions beyond six weeks is set to go into effect in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade, which we have now seen come to pass. Our conversations with the providers and administrators of the clinic, as well as our visit to the site, informed us of areas where the experiences of providers and patients could improve and where obstructions to the efficient flow and circulation of the clinic occur. Additionally, anti-abortion protesters harass both patients and providers at the clinic, posting gruesome signs just outside of the property line of the clinic, using megaphones to hurl insults at the clinicians and patients alike, trespassing, vandalizing, and destroying clinic property. Identifying storage methods, waiting room design, and defensive landscaping as strategic points of architectural intervention, this project offers a series of retrofit, renovation, and redesign proposals for addressing both the internal and external challenges facing the clinic, which can occur within the bounds of the existing building and landscape.

This specific excerpt is co-authored by Christopher Hassan Allen and me.

Post-Disaster Housing Toolkit (FEMA)

Beta Toolkit
Urban Risk Lab_2021-2022
Cambridge, MA
Map Maker, Report Producer, Toolkit Developer, Researcher

Project Management: Larisa Ovalles Paulino

Urban Risk Lab (URL) worked with FEMA on a beta toolkit to assist city municipalities in planning for post-disaster emergency housing scenarios. The online interface simplified the bureaucratic processes needed for the city to apply for FEMA funding and provided support for different disaster scenarios.

While the URL team has worked with several municipalities using this toolkit, my work was with the City of Chelsea (Chelsea Disaster Housing Working Group and the Boston Office of Emergency Management) to produce the Chelsea Basic Workshop Summary Report and build toward the intermediate level of the toolkit interface.