Healing through nature was the primary aim of this studio and so I took inspiration from the Sacred Groves of India where I did research for four months in 2011. Here, I am translating the qualities of the grove, both physically and conceptually into this design. Physically there stands a grove of trees at the heart of the building over an interior sacred space. Conceptually, the units are organized around the grove with the idea that the occupants can form a support network from which to heal and grow. The building itself acts as a grove, with a water catchment system retaining water and harvesting heat from the sewer system, similar to root systems, and the roof top farm acts as a seed bank preserving biodiversity for the district.

Concept Diagram

Sustainable Strategies

Diagram

Concept Model

The Healing GroveThe Healing Grove was my thesis project: a transitional housing project aimed to heal not only the occupants who inhabit the building, but also the Lloyd Eco-district of Portland, in which it is set.

Entry

Dining Room

Exterior of Entry

View from MLK and Multnomah

ScalesSustainable

Strategies

I. a. i.

I. a. ii.

I. a. iv.

I. a. v.

I. b. i.I. c. i.

I. d.

I. e.

I. f.

I. g. i.

I. h. i.

I.I a. i.

I.I b. I.I c.

I.I d. i.

DayUser

ProgramUser

Permanent User

Staff

Dining Room

Kitchen

Lobby

Healing Center

Career Center

Grove

Lobby

Non Profit Retail

Wetland Water Filtration

MLK

Multnomah

Reception

Pharm

acy

Ther

apy

DesignatMultiple

Building ProgramGround

Floor Plan

Existing Urban Context Urban Design

GraphicsIN

Users

These are examples of my work for the Healing Grove to show my ability to design at different scales and by using multiple mediums.

Here I’ve used hand drawings, Autodesk Revit, Google Sketchup, and Adobe Illustrator to communicate design concepts and information.

F

The Second Street Corridor was a project completed for a class titled City Growth and Design. It was part of the second Sustainable Cities Year in Salem, Oregon. In a group of four students, two Architecture majors and two Planning majors, we worked to redesign the Second Street Corridor. We used strategies such as landmarks for orientation and neighborhood distinction, alleyways to create shortened more walkable blocks, a commercial corridor on Second Street, a mixed-use zoning code to promote variety, and bicycle boulevards to encourage bicycle commuters. These images were hand drawn. Illustrator was used to add color and Photoshop was used to add trees.

The Second Street CorridorSalem, Oregon

Commercial

UtilityStrip

Sidewalk Parallel Parking

TravelLane

Bioswale TravelLane

Parallel Parking

SidewalkUtilityStrip

SetbackArcade

Residential

Residential

Alley Additions to Shorten Blocks

Potential Commercial Corridors

Proposed Mixed Use Zoning

Second Street Cross Section

Landmark Second St.

This was the first successful project on which I used Revit. The renderings from Revit were combined with Photoshop to create the images on this page. This work was produced by myself alone Portland’s Urban Incubator is designed to blend into its’ social and environmental context. An open framework mimicking the classical forms found in Old Town Portland would provide the basic unit between which food carts can vend. A green roof on the second floor would provide a more private place for the residents who live and work in the building. A trellis of vertical green would provide shade in the lush summer months and omit light in the dryer winter months. A light slot down the center of the building would leave no part of the building more than forty feet away from access to natural light.

Light Slot Social Environmental OverlapConference Business

Live WorkCommercial

Building Uses

Portland’s Urban Incubator

Urban Context Perspective of Light Slot

Urban Incubator

Train Station

Concept Diagram

Arriving on the MAX

Bioswale

Community Park

Rockwood Boulevard

Rockwood Boulevard is a project that was part of the pilot studio for the first Sus-tainable Cities Year where the University of Oregon collaborates with one city to improve sustainability through planning, architecture, ecology, and business among many other areas of study. Our studio worked in collaboration with Gresham city officials, local business owners and citizens to transform a currently isolated and distressed site. In a group of three we designed a vibrant neighborhood. At the heart of the six-acre site is a street lined with local business creating an atmosphere bursting with activity and unique flavor. The street is small in scale, with numerous opportunities for shop owners to customize their storefront, creating a sense of ownership. Rockwood Boulevard facilitates a growing sense of pride among the residents in something as simple as a place to call their own.

Site Plan

StreetPlan

Whiteaker Station Shipping Container Lofts Cisterns for Water CatchmentAbove they are living wall art and below they are booths for PRI

Urban Farm for Pizza Research InstituteNever out of Season

Electrically-Run Mass TransitSustainable transportation

A Public VenueFor the Community

Covered Bicycle Parking

Electric Charging Stations

5th Street Bicycle Boulevard

Plus Bioswales for Parking lot Runoff

Solar panels on the roof take them off the grid

Because it Rains

Cars and Bicycles Can Get Along

An independent project with a local entrepeneur and business owner where he asked for a vision of what a block in the whiteaker district of Eugene could be in twenty years. This plan and perspective demonstrate how Whiteaker Station, as the owner calls it, can rejoin a sustainable cycle. Most importantly, this proposal seeks to accomplish such a development through a celebration of both the ecologically and socially rich environment in which it is set.

Whiteaker Station

Electric Charging StationsPlus Bioswales for Parking lot runoff

5th Street Bicycle BoulevardCars and Bicycles Can Get Along

Covered Bicycle ParkingBecause it Rains

A Public VenueFor the Community

Electrically-Run Mass TransitSustainable transportation

An Independent project with a local entrepreneur and business owner where he asked for a vision of what a block in the Whiteaker district of Eugene could be in twenty years. This plan and perspective demon-strate how Whiteaker Station, as the owner calls it, can rejoin a sustainable cycle. Most importantly, this proposal seeks to accomplish such a develop-ment through a celebration of both the ecologically and socially rich environment in which it is set.

Urban Farm for Pizza Research InstituteNever out of Season

Cisterns for Water CatchmentAbove they are Living Walls, Below they are Booths for Dining

Shipping Container LoftsSolar Panels on the Roof take them off the Grid

Willamette

Pede

strian

Bicyc

le

Open

Gree

nway

Comm

ercial

Outdo

or Co

mmerc

ial

Naito

Sidew

alk

Car L

ane

MAX/

Turni

ng La

ne

Mixed-Use Residential/Commercial

Urban DesignPortland Waterfront

Existing Street

3D Arial over Morrison Bridgeof Propsed Den-

sity

Section through Waterfront

Concept SketchExisting Urban Context

FigureGround

This is proposal was developed by myself and one other student for a Principles of Urban Design Class.

The project aims to improve the usability of the Portland Water-front through five main moves:

1) Create a business core at the Morrison bridgehead

2) Bring residents with a variety of incomes, as well as the imper-manent vacationers.

3) Extend the existing bar and restaurant activity on Second Avenue

4) Extend Cultural and Historic fabric from Skidmore fountain to Second Avenue

5) Extend life of down-town onto waterfront with small commercial spaces for breweries, bars, restaurants coffee shops...etc. We think that bringing the northbound Max line onto Naito would help this effort.

= Commercial= Residential = Office= Greenspace

Construction A Students Instillation

The Finished Project

Before

Perspective of Proposed Improvements

The Garden Canvas Project is a community design build project that was initiated, designed and built by a group of eight students of which I was chosen to be project leader. First, this project seeks to improve safety through employing principles of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design. Second, the project seeks to create a community space within an abandoned and underutilized courtyard. The project creates primarily of an open framework of steel vertical elements that acts as a blank canvas upon which art can be displayed. Each material was carefully chosen for its locality, embodied energy, and aesthetic beauty.

Broken Strap Chair

This chair was designed and built by myself. I was inspired by an object of nostalgia: my mothers’ purse. To me, this broken purse is a symbol of the once broken link between my mom and I through my adolescence and the now strengthened bond between us. Mimicking breaking and reformed bonds, I chose to steam bend the wood piece connecting the seat to the back of the chair, the process of which is quite similar. Mimicking the seams of the purse, the connections appear to stitch the chair together. Mimicking the curvature of the leather, the profile flows in a rounded form.

DrawingHand

These drawings are from my sketchbook from Europe (right page) and India (left page). The drawings seen on the left were done in just the last few weeks in Nuremburg, Germany, Dijon, France and Paris, France. Those on the right were done in the spring of 2011 to document temples in the southern state of Karnataka as part of my independent research on Sacred Groves and Temples. They were done with pens and paper and then scanned into Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator to be cleaned up.