Carroll Gardens Residence, Brooklyn, NY, 2008

This three story townhouse in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, was in a state of disrepair when it was purchased in 2007, with a severely deteriorated front and rear masonry facade, sagging floor joists, and unsalvagable interior finishes. The gut renovation included rebuilding the front and rear facade, replacing most of the floor joists for the 1st and 2nd floors, and a complete reconfiguration of the interior on the 1st and 2nd floors. The ground floor was reconfigured as a single open space, with visual focus on the opening to the rear garden. The rear facade was rebuilt with a steel transfer beam at the ground floor level, allowing for the entire 1st floor space to be opened up with a bi-parting Nanawall system that incorporates an extension of the kitchen counter. A set of french doors at the 2nd floor open up to a Juliet balcony, visually connecting the 2nd floor back to the garden at the rear.

Hotel Centro, Guadelajara, 2011

The concept for Hotel Centro begins with the creation of a structural core and facade, each developed from a triangulated frame that serves as the primary vertical structure. The core serves as a central shaft for light and air at the center of the building. Integrated into the structural core is an inviting communicating stair.

The facade and core are connected by a series of programatically flexible nodes, one on each level. Their uses range from lounge spaces to special event and party rooms, a small cafe, library, or work space. In addition to providing amenity spaces throughout the hotel, these spaces provide natural light to the interior corridor, and can be left open-air in good weather to allow air circulation through the facade and up through the central core for natural ventilation and energy savings.

The program nodes are expressed on the facade, and their placement creates a shifting of the structural frame, which results in a series of unique panel sizes.

The building's core extends to the roof level, where it becomes a canopy covering the rooftop lounge and restaurant areas.

OPerA House, New York. Design Phase

Central to the concept behind Opera-House is the fact that a great deal of energy efficiency and waste reduction, as well as increased environmental comfort, can be achieved through prefabrication processes in controlled environments. Therefore, the concept uses the prefabrication of a series of fixed elements as a starting point. While utilizing prefabrication, we wanted to avoid one of its' major limitations: the confinement to a module (usually a box), sized to fit on a truck for transport, which often results in the primacy of the box, or a series of boxes, in the design of the building.

In this design, the module was reconsidered as a ten foot wide construction bay. The primary elements are a series of walls that are with a depth that allows them to act as vertical trusses. Each wall is tilted up into place, and their thickness allows them to contain the service aspects of the building: stairs, bathrooms, storage and circulation. In addition, the thickness of the walls allows them to operate as passive climate control devices. The north facade is developed as a double skin with interior doors and exterior shutters, which allows it to be closed off for increased insulation against northern cold winds in winter, and opened up for balconies in the summer to assist in passive cross and stack ventilation in the house. The south facade utilizes its thickness to create summer sun shading, with a built in light shelf to reflect winter sun deep into the space to minimize the necessity for artificial lighting. The central wall modules are designed as a vertical garden, which can open up to the interior spaces and at the top to create stack effect natural ventilation, eliminating the need for air conditioning on most summer days. This space contains all of the house's circulation.

Floor and roof plates are simple slabs spanning between wall modules with a ten foot standard width. East and west facades are infilled and designed with vertical baffles for shielding east and west sun.

Modules were developed to be similar enough to each other to streamline their fabrication, yet with built-in variability that allows each to respond to its specific performance requirement on the site. The design evolves as a reaction to the manner in which each unit operates. Therefore the name: Opera(tive)-House.

Ponte Academia, Venice Italy. 2006

In 2006, we submitted our proposal to Arquitectum's international design competition for reconstruction of the Ponte della Academia in Venice, Italy. There currently exists on the site a temporary wooden bridge, which is to be replaced with a new structure that would also contain gallery spaces to host rotating exhibits on the history of Venice. As a starting point, we referenced the construction system of historic venetian stone tracery. Each of the facades aligning the grand canal features a large multi-story void, with an open stonework that supports its balconies. These light facades extend to the water, reflected in the canal and contributing to the ethereal nature of the city. The stonework is created out of a series of smaller modules which, in combination, contributes to the effect of the facade.

Our design concept took this module system as a launching point, but translated it into a 3-dimensional occupied structure spanning the canal and containing the gallery spaces. Seven standard modules derived out of two basic types – one vertical spanning and one horizontal spanning. Modules are built from variant molds, which have parts that can be switched out to allow the basic unit to fit into different connection conditions. The horizontal modules have flat and sloped variations, allowing for vertical movement.

Each of the seven base modules fit together in various configurations to create the 3-dimensional span of the bridge and the interior spaces. A secondary set of modules infills the base modules to enclose the interior galleries. The form of the modules is designed to create horizontal surfaces for seating at the bridge and display elements within the gallery. The final effect is a geometrical tracery of open structure that floats above and is reflected by the canal.

Palos Verde Arts Center, Palos Verde, California.

The competition brief for the Palos Verde Arts Center asked for the creation of a community arts center containing gallery and studio spaces as well as outdoor gathering spaces. The design is built around the creation of two large intersecting mural surfaces, one oriented to the internal space, and the other oriented to the heavy automobile traffic artery that borders the site. The galleries and studios are situated on opposite sides of a central circulation spine that is open to the sky. A dialogue is created between these two spaces across the spine.

The mural bordering the high-traffic artery of Crenshaw Boulevard is intended to announce the function of the building as a community arts center to passing traffic. The studio spaces project past the streetside mural, with shuttered translucent glazing displaying the activities within (or not, as appropriate). The result is a collage surface of art and activity. The two murals together establish the geometrical order for the building, and create the union of art and architectural form.

The internal mural is oriented towards the pedestrians in the central circulation spine. The walls that define the spine open up to reveal the mural as one moves through the space. The studio spaces sit beyond a sheltering covered walkway to the left, and the gallery spaces sit beyond sculpture gardens to the right.