A little add-on: the DEck sized fun space

The husband of one of my favorite teacher from high school approached me with a wonderful design he had brewing in his mind. He wanted to build a small addition off of their house, connected by a small deck. Inside would be full of wonder: a hot-tub, small dance studio and atop would be a star-gazing space. The dance studio would have large sliding barn-style doors to let in the beautiful mountainside view they have and the screened-in porch to house the hot tub would ensure that same view. The construction would be simple and not too bulky and be a project a few people could construct.

NavsicaA: A Storytelling vessel

In my 3rd year of Architecture, my studio was tasked by the UVa Office of the Provost to build a vessel of storytelling. The project was to emulate NPR's "Story Corps" in that our structure would house interviews of students, professors, staff, visitors and others. With this vision, my studio mates and I set out to design and fabricate our vessel. We worked with 3D design software to narrow down our ideal
In Homer's "Odyssey," Nausicaa is a beautiful woman who takes Odysseus in and allows him to tell his story to her people.

Read more here: 
news.virginia.edu/content/new-oral-history-project-catalog-global-stories

LUCI: Linked Universal Compact Interchangeable

What started as a studio focused on a simple metal material study resulted in the creation of a mechanism usable in a multitude of situations. LUCI, as my partner Jenni and I called her, was simply an attempt to marry the concepts of durability and compactness.

We began our study as individuals, experimenting with different ways to make metal flex and move without permanent deformation. After different trials, Jenni and I put our heads together to combine and push our ideas further. Eventually, through sketching, designing, and prototyping, we achieved what we had set out to build.  By using a hinged-bracing system, LUCI was as strong as a steel beam and as collapsible as a lawn chair.