Food as a resource is limited. Supply will soon not meet demand. With population growth, food production in the United States is reaching maximum capacity. Current trends in development create a struggle between farming and living. These two practices are modeled for their own benefit and are soon to clash in a disastrous agglomeration. According to the FDA, the average American alone consumes 707.7lbs of fruits and vegetables each year. With the majority of produce coming from the Imperial Valley, Central California Valley, neighboring states and other countries the 30,000 plus residents of San Diego’s central urban context consume 21,231,000 pounds of produce each year. Where will we get our food? Transparency in the food industry needs to occur and enlighten blinded consumers. Our city needs to handle this critical issue with an architecture that responds. A new type of residential tower needs to come forth.
Utilizing vertical farming, a new model of living can be tested and resolved in a dense vertical community. With local production comes local exchange. A new type of market will become a specimen of culture that dramatically contrasts the a-typical American means of consumption, an apparatus enriched with an exchange of local produce, and a place for the community to gather.
The farm tower located in a vertical community of tourist resources and developer condos will provide fresh produce daily to celebrate a direct injection of goods from farm to market. It will create new opportunities for education, commerce, and healthy living while utilizing the local by products of city living. Waste, grey water and black water can all be redeemed through recycling, grey water infused aquaponics, and black water compact combustion to create thermal energy.
This new form of residential high-rise can be plugged into the existing city grid injected with the by products of its traditional equivalents to produce something responsible, something different from its otherwise insular counterparts. Vertical crops can grow food hydroponically supporting the greater masses directly, and allowing for reclamation of delusive farmland. The adjacent Children’s Museum with its motto of Think, Play, and Create will be embraced with a second motto to foster a new level of social interface and engage a community from farm to market from community to education; lets Live, Share, and Grow within our city.
The open air market will become a place for local vendors to sell an assortment of products along with fresh produce grown in the farm tower and direct vicinity of San Diego's urban center. The market will become a specimen of culture that dramatically contrasts the a-typical American means of consumption and commerce, an apparatus enriched with a sense of local, and a place for the community to gather.
This is not the a-typical depictions as a “social group in direct proximity” but rather a creature, a new specimen of social intervention. It is more than a building or a pavilion; it is a direct injection of activity to an urban void. It will lure out the children who hide indoors under the thumb of technology, the nine to fivers stuck in a Monday through Friday rut, and even the retired twiddling their thumbs. It will operate to the demands of the populace, adapting to new ideas of commerce, social productivity, food exchange, cultural absorption, alternative resources, and habitation. It’s called community lets mingle.
1x20 Exhibition forAIA Indianapolis. Site: 244 E. 10th Street Indianapolis, Indiana
Casablanca is a young and dynamic city in Morocco with a population estimated at approximately 4 million habitants. A market square is a public open area where market stalls are traditionally set out for trading, commonly on particular days. It is usually situated in the center of the town, surrounded by buildings and streets. This open air market will be permanent and challenge conventional markets. It will become a place for local growers to sell an assortment of products along with fresh produce grown directly above the public space, dramatically contrasting the a-typical means of food growth and consumption, enriched with a sense of local, a sense of connection and a new place for the community to engage.
The farming space is divided into a series of cubes to accommodate a variety of growing conditions and contextually complement the gritty pixelation of the city. Through the buildings ecology of production and distribution, a variance of densities brings together different social and cultural groups to create new urban experiences that formalize and dissipate within the constant flux of city life.
The project embraces collective agriculture, air pollutant purification, grey water reuse, and solar energy. At night UV lights, charged from the amount of solar exposure during the day will keep the market well lit and provide 24 hour growing efficiencies. This project is a model for a new breed of building type fostering enlightened city dwellers; conscious of where their food comes from, and nomadic workers; those who move throughout the city tending to their food production needs, ultimately facilitating an enhanced production and intelligent consumption model for living.
The current South Embarcadero site in San Diego, California offers opportunity for a connection between the social and physical fabric of the city. Located between a strand of developer based enhancements on the North Embarcadero and a barrier of tourist devices to the south the site demands a bold, engaging plan beyond the interest of the developer and the tourist. It should not be what one would consider an icon, but rather a locale for the people of the city that disseminates the current barriers creating a convergence of culture, interaction, and engagement through the fracturing and overlapping of four simple concepts. It's time to live, learn, play and enjoy San Diego's waterfront.
The footprint of the roads are greatly decreased by locating main traffic underground and celebrating the environment above. Our fossil fuels are soon to be be at their lowest levels and automobile transportation will be overturned by the pedestrian realm and public transportation.
In Collaboration with Jonathon Weber - Matt Woltering - Douglas Mayfield
London farm tower rests on the south bank of the Thames River overlooking Potter’s Field. Like a tree the tower collects rainwater and solar energy to maintain survival. Wind is harvested through vertical axis turbines that align the perimeter structure. The residential programmed floors take advantage of cross ventilation through the use of operable windows and louvers while the hydroponic floors are a continual hydronic system recycling the humid green house air content by collecting condensated water on the inside of the ETFE pillows and letting gravity bring the water down through the hydroponic racks.
Each farming level contains an open steel grating allowing the tower to function as a cooling stack between the residential and agricultural program. At night the tower will glow as a beacon of new life, ironic to the historical burial grounds of Potter’s Field, creating a new opportunity for social sustainability, utilizing uv lighting to maintain 24/7 growing efficiencies.
With one million cubic feet of growable volume the tower can produce an average of 36.6 lbs of a wide variety of fruit and vegetable type per 100 sq ft to annually produce 1.5 million lbs of fresh fruit and vegetables, ultimately feeding 20% of the city of London.
The primary purpose of 3 block is to hold a group of modules within a fluid ribbon of vertical community for 360 students at NewSchool of Architecture and Design. The vertical sprawl of greenscape is a continuation of the balboa to bay park that runs along park blvd. dividing the NewSchool campus. Through a division of city, home, and community a new realm of San Diego is created.
Whether its tight rope walking the twin towers or using Renzo Piano’s louvered New York Times Building as a ladder, people around the world see buildings as urban terrain, wanting to feel like a kid once more with imaginative ambitions afloat on the playground. With 3 block these treasured experiences are made real again, a vertical hiking path integrated into the buildings southern exposure, enables the adventurous to finally use the cityscape as their playground. With various green spaces and local shrubbery the walkways become a shading device to reduce the high-rises overall solar gain, plus the exploration of the building can be turned into an entire fun filled day.
Starting with an early cup of joe at the corner coffee shop, an open day can get on its way with shopping for supplies at the brick base, offering various retail, then onto the fourth floor to pick up a delicious lunch to go from an exquisite café, moving on to a scenic picnic landing to enjoy your lunch, halfway up the building, your journey is not yet complete. With a brief session of your newest novel in one of the midrise lounges, your 3 block hike can commence and get strenuously steep with the last intense stretch of walkways, but then finally, you’ve made it to the top, one of the highest points in San Diego with panoramic views of the city, you can end your day relaxing at the sky top bar and restaurant, sipping on your favorite brew. This is your block, 3 block.
The primary purpose of The Yard is to harness the rich history and unique experience held at Alcatraz Island, ultimately creating a smooth flow that easily transitions throughout a visitor’s inquisitive arrival to their satisfied departure.
Over 1.4 million people visit the Rock each year to see the infamous hole, take in stunning views of the San Francisco bay area, and to see the home of the world’s most legendary prisoners. Rising from the terrain of the island, a series of spaces are fashioned in a logical continuous form to create an informative hub that addresses the complexities of visiting the site.
Once you arrive at the docks you are guided up a serene path that plugs directly into your first destination where you can wait for guided tours or mosey through the gallery and grab a bite to eat at Al ‘Scarface’ Capone’s cafe . The Yard invites visitors to learn about the diverse history of the prison and to discover the many rare flowers and plants, marine wildlife, and thousands of birds that call Alcatraz home.
The materiality of The Yard reflects the hard exterior of the existing prison and surrounding buildings of the 19th century. Rising to various heights the new visitor’s center connects to the assortment of existing paths spread across the island. Welcome to Alcatraz, this is The Yard, discover the rock.
The purpose of Take Flight at Landmark Aviation, located on the northern edge of Lindbergh Field in San Diego, California, is to address the challenge of creating a public attraction out of a private terminal. Take flight will foster a seamless blend of public and private realms creating an enriched environment bringing the local community, privileged jet owners, and avionic enthusiasts together as one to celebrate the experience of flight and the history of avionics in San Diego.
Through a simple ramp a transitional gesture in form is made, blurring the segregation of public and private. A vertical patterning of structure repeated horizontally evokes a sense of movement that slowly inclines, reminiscent of an airplane taking off and rising towards the clouds. As a private jet terminal, Take Flight provides luxury and efficiency in travel. With multiple lounge areas feathered with lush palms travelers can relax for a brief moment, secluded from the public environment.Yet, a visual connection can be made potentially inducing a temptation to pop out of their ‘private bubble’ and engage with the community.
As a public attraction, visitors can experience their own moment of flight in their journey to the elevated museum slowly inclining the transitional ramp rising to the sky, to eventually overlook the airport, San Diego Harbor, and downtown. After checking the sights visitors enter the museum, descending through a rich avionic history of San Diego and the inspiring life of Charles Lindbergh, to eventually arrive at the public lobby.
Several amenities are offered here, with a tasty food court, Spirit of St. Louis Café overlooking the tarmac, various retail, leasable office space, executive conference rooms with hourly time slots, and a welcoming coffee shop. The facility intends to spark a new interest in the revamping of the five points district bringing new public green spaces and engaging the surrounding communities. This is the new Landmark, Take Flight with us.
By fostering and celebrating not-doing, not-having, stopping, and wholeness, the new Re-Ligare Facility in downtown San Diego’s east village embraces the urban fabric and reapplies its rigid pattern to a simple and pure volume.
With the use of steel, the volume is to be elevated above the street level, floating in a sense of tranquility that transitions the institute within a public realm. In the rearrangement of fifteen foot by fifteen foot cells, margins of program are slightly overlapped with open air green space to create multiple instances of connectivity and interaction among different programmatic elements, while still maintaining a sense of interdependency.
The building is to become a sanctuary for “finding, studying, enjoying, and developing being.” It will provide an urban retreat from illness that promotes healthy living, and cultivates a re-connection for individuals and collective bodies. From a simple meditation space to an open air garden, with steel construction, the building is provided with a great quality of elegance that highlights a phenomenological presence at all levels and scales.
The high yield strength of the buildings steel construction allows for longer spans with smaller members; opening floor plans to spacious layouts, and supports heavier loads; enabling large gardens and soothing bodies of water to be dispersed throughout various levels. Multiple gardens with a wide variety of tastes are placed throughout the rooftop levels soaking up the southern Californian sun.
With multiple fruits and vegetables, Re-Ligare produce can be harvested and ripened on site, ultimately to be shared with the public at the organic juice bar and café, to promote a healthier sense of living and share the affirmation, appreciation and support of all life. This is Re-Ligare, let’s begin being and become re-connected with ourselves others and nature.
The primary purpose of Modulus 54 is to harness a group of 54 rooms, creating a small community that becomes a unique piece of larger Miami. Modulus is a number by which a logarithm to one base is multiplied to give the corresponding logarithm to another base. Through the multiplicity of one module a larger realm is achieved.
As a hotel it can be an experience of relaxation or indulgence. The Sky Bar offers a taste of Miami nightlife while the private poolside cabanas allow for a brief moment of pure bliss away from the urban hustle and bustle of Miami.
The hotel sits within a distinct context: the city of Miami is conditioned by the warm Atlantic Ocean and lush tropical landscape, a rich history in art deco, newer monolithic high-rises, a culture of glistening lifestyles and flashy fast cars. Modulus 54 gently rises from the white sand beaches to crest at the rooftop bar, floating in clear blue skies, then comes back down toward the fabric of the city offering high end retail and exquisite dining. One arrives at the hotel from the city to an open plaza, stepping through a modest entrance to be delighted by a grand cathedral of hotel culture feathered with lush palms and a friendly atmosphere, demanding a second of admiration. Slowly, the dominance of the city and intimidation of the cathedral transforms into a comfortable setting with the soothing feeling of a simple clean space and a mesmerizing view. As the guest winds down, they have the option to forget their nine to five job in Chicago at the rooftop bar or bronze their pasty thighs while sipping on a cool Mai Tai by the pool.
The structure is conceived by a stack of modules contained within a metal paneled steel frame. The curved corners of each module are a restoration of Miami’s art deco history, and in a vertical stack a tropical interpretation of the trunk of a palm tree. The site work can be done while each module is prefabricated offsite, then when ready, trucked in and craned into place 54 times creating Modulus.
Swahili for life, Asha Center is designed for a small village just outside Karama, Rwanda. Its intent is to perform as a clinic for healthy living while meeting a certain level of sustainability. The center will provide a clean and healthy learning environment for an area that is not familiar with modern health practices. The facility offers a safe secure place for AIDS victims to be treated with clean water and will staff professional practitioners who have skillful knowledge in AIDS treatment.
The butterfly roof system will catch rainfall during rainy seasons and store water in a wall cistern for use during the dry seasons. There are cisterns in every building, as well as in the reception center for use by the community.
The center will become a beacon of health in a third world community offering fresh water from the marketplace cistern when available, fresh oranges, and the opportunity for curious locals to learn how to live better.
Walls outside of rooms with shade structures allow families to wait in privacy without standing in the walkway, while laundry sinks located outside of each building near the cisterns will provide convenient use for overnight patient’s families.
The San Ysidro Land Port of Entry is designed to be a port of destination accommodating travelers on foot, rail, bus, bicycle, automobile and freight. Each day 102,000 people cross through this port of entry between Mexico and the United States. The project is to improve operational efficiency, security and safety for cross-border travelers and federal agencies. The new crossing will service 48 lanes of traffic, each with two vertically stacked inspection booths and a new fast track inspection ticketing process.
A secure marketplace within a bi-national plaza will unite American retail development to the north to Mexican retail development to the south offering various shopping and traveling amenities.
The charged program of the complex is harnessed by a continuous structure wrapped in a steel mesh coated with titanium dioxide to collect carbon emissions catalyzed by UV light to produce a grey water solution, for a cleansed border exchange on all levels. Grey water will be recycled from various program and distributed through the TiO2 structure to the landscaping within the plazas, to naturally drain through the Tijuana River.