RESEARCH

In hope of redressing the systemic inequities of gentrification with regard to historically black communities we present a 16,000 SF civic-centered mixed- use development envisioned for urban in-fill in East Tampa, FL. This seven-square mile neighborhood is consistently overlooked for private investment and often undervalued, as evinced by its stagnant commercial development and high concentration of low-income housing. The Reserve at 40th is a proposed revitalization-through-Architecture characterized by improvisation, honest materiality, and a re-interpretation of provincial vernacular. We aimed to craft a design response to the site context that expresses genuine solidarity with the aspirations of the community to which it belongs. Part of the research process included, by necessity, meeting with neighborhood business leaders to gain understanding about the needs and desires unmet in the area.

Herein, differences are celebrated, humble materials are elevated, and sub-Tropical Resilience is integral. Our design approach considered the climate context, East Tampa overlay zoning regulations, City of Tampa comprehensive plan development direction, and the relationships between the existing residential context and the high intensity commercial thoroughfare bordering the site to the west. These four parcels comprising the newly proposed combined lot boundary feature conflicting zoning designations and low property values. This timely development proposal strikes a forward-looking relationship with the identity and heritage of the neighborhood, opening up the potential for the expression of the dynamic efficacy of its inhabitants. A harmony between its existing urban fabric and the district‘s FUTURE promotion to a regional leader IN CHARACTER, SUBSTANCE, AND SPIRIT is provided for through a bold and respectful interpretation of blending dwelling, leisure, and work together at both exterior and interior spaces.

Located at 4719 N40th Street Tampa Fl, inhabitants would have multi-modal mobility options being only five minutes from downtown, Interstate travel, and mass transit. The Reserve features 1300 SF of cafe space, 3000 SF of Tenant office space, a Second floor outdoor Terrace event space, and a public garden.

Design study for a post-vernacular cottage in the subtropical climate.

Garner Development identified an housing opportunity within the City of Greenville, SC. The prospective project is a housing development and undervalued parcel of land that would be financed by HUD funding.
The task is to design a Multifamily Residential Development utilizing shipping containers as primary structural system and building envelope components. Current site data indicates allowable 6.56 dwelling units per acre – this would appear to allow only two (2) three level “buildings.” On this parcel. Any proposed schemes will incorporate the permitted density or propose increase to density based upon approved variance. The site location will be 2204 W Parker Road, Greenville, SC. Given that the City Council was looking for innovative proposals and hoping to invest funds into the site and surrounding neighborhood, we completed this study to the benefit of the common good as a pro bono effort.
ArcGIS 3D Geospatial modeling and visualization techniques learned during doctoral studies at UF DCP provided invaluable support for our urban analysis and context investigations. The essential question of this research was : How can vernacular housing common to the Carolinas could be reimagined and inform residential transformation for blighted sites in developing neighborhoods? A question of cultural identity participating in the discharge spatial-political necessity. The ensuing proposal was a neo-vernacular housing prototype that employed shipping containers and conventional construction in a hybrid approach to Multi-Family Housing.

The project is conceived with aspirations to rethink the solitary development and proffer a quilting of history, memory, purposes, and civic beauty. The Loom reconstitutes the social material of its urban context and it ventures to provide a sympathetic construction. Through its effluent civic programming, the design provokes a livelihood and seeks to gather what is absent from the place-culture of the cityscape. Furthermore, The Loom formulates a firmness, functionality, and quiet beauty befitting Detroit’s metropolitan fabric, its city identity, and more importantly, its fluvial heritage.

Whether the house is a unit of democracy or boundary in abnegation, It remains a prominent setting for the Usonian home In the 21st century. In It best from, the house emerges from the Institution of Home, and home is where wisdom and love prop open the gossamer curtain of civilization; a first universe holding a world of experiential treasures. Its domains are polysemic, and its full expression is not rightly captured by a single syllable. We believe the value of the house is not derived from practical dimensions, embellishments, or topological possessions. So then, the notions anchored by housing within human settlements carry the unique mantle of crystallizing that moment of dwelling we know as homecoming.

This Neo-Americana Urban House Is conceived as a measure of space, unadorned by the cluttered syntax of common rhetoric. Being of Its time and place, no energies are expelled evoking nostalgia and it’s aspect Is informed by atmospheric contexts. This case study exploration frames an American domicile as a setting liberated to provide a poised proscenium whereupon the unfolding of memories happens; A docile precinct purposed to express a unit of habitation. Haus NYC responds to the dense urban fabric and harsh climes of Inner city New York with a sensitive and friendly visage, dwelling spaces oriented toward unyielding natural themes, and aspirations about cooperative living.

Repositioning of an abandoned house in East Tampa

Hillsborough Country Habitat for Humanity launched an open competition for the design of a new home prototype in May 2014. The competition task was to design a single-family residence that would contribute to the success of many families in our local community through creative and strategic thinking. We have since revisited the task to challenge the prescriptive boundaries of form-based mandates.

The problem of the house has not yet been exhausted and as we begin to look into, or return again to though about crafting an essential domestic setting, the immutable themes of dwelling can emerge as prominent and necessary. Rest, gathering, tarrying, nourishing, conserving, revering, and references to the horizons of memory. We see something familiar and yet uniquely uncommon condensing each of these notions into a modest and aspirational domicile. Habitat 15 is one iteration of questioning regular answers to the question of economical sub-tropical residences. While is still fits within the competition guidelines and footprint of 30ft x 60ft, this design explores how light, air, and tectonics are communicated through material culture, form, and domestic contexts.

World War One Memorial Competition - Pershing Park This monument adjacent to the National Mall is envisioned as a reconfiguration of an existing World War I memorial park in the heart of Washington DC. The existing park is redeveloped as a funerary complex and cenotaph guided by the scriptural Psalm credited to King David of Judah "I lift my eyes to the mountains; From whence shall my help come?" Psalms 118:1 Informed by the belief that today is a fragment of eternity that was never promised, the complex's itinerary is a procession through, around, beneath, and upon a mournful Architecture of recollection. Rendered as a Campo di Pianto (Field of Weeping) it is a hardscaped piazza punctuated by shards of light and contemplative enclosures. The design preserves the fabric of the encircling park while establishing a pensive and somber precinct of reflection for the city's residents and visitors .