A continuation of themes from PIER ZERO, this project aims to highlight the sublimity of national parks and give visitors a heightened awareness of their fragile and ever-changing beauty. Meant to disappear, a series of exhibitions stretch across the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

Focused on reversing San Francisco’s “doom loop,” Pier Zero proposes a new urban landmark that combines ecological awareness with public engagement. Pier Zero features a series of immersive, multi-sensory exhibitions interwoven with public nature modules. Through each installation, the effects of rising seas are made tangible, telling stories of impermanence, erosion, and disappearance

Vaults challenges the conventional notion of underground seed storage by exposing the seed vaults for all to see. The exposure symbolizes the growth process of a seed, transitioning from hidden to revealed, much like a seed's natural growth into a plant. The vaults become a central visual element, emphasizing the importance of preservation and education.

Hidden within the trees, WEST HILL, a new event center and community space, provides a new perspective on Greenwood Park. Overlooking Greenwood Pond, the event center maintains a low profile in the park, only visible through breaks in the trees. The primary building includes a primary event space, classroom, kitchen, and flex rooms for events. These spaces are dispersed along the spine of the building, capturing the experience of walking through the park. Throughout the buildings, a constant elevation is maintained to emphasize the hilly landscape and remain accessible for all users.

Herbie Hancock, the client for this project, is a legendary jazz musician and pianist. His first international hit, “The Watermelon Man,” was the chosen inspiration for the design of the entry door and loft. As Herbie has explained, the rhythmic and groovy tune of the song was inspired by his memories of “the watermelon man” riding along the city streets of Chicago. Taking inspiration from this pulsating rhythm, the door attempts to create its own rhythmic tune. As it rotates on its circular axis, the wooden, conelike dowels clang and beat against each other. The track, which operates the movement, also creates a memorable pattern of its own. Circular architecture follows the geometry of the rotating door. The forms and curves are molded by the circulating rhythm of the watermelon man’s rhythmic tune. These forms not only circulate the space but also follow an organization logic, as their centerpoints create an angled axis.

The Screen project involved a deep investigation and exploration into a chosen architectural detail. Throughout the project, I was encouraged to test, experiment, discover, and iterate to create a screen system. This screen system focused not only on individual connections within the system but also on the relationship of a part to the whole.