Located in the exciting new neighborhood of Union Market, Morse Street is a 260 unit luxury apartment building. During the design phases of this project I oversaw the interior design of building amenity and common areas. The client’s target population for this building is empty nesters and professionals. Our team’s design proposal is based around a minimal, sophisticated palette. Geometric volumes of walnut and soft, dimensional fabric walls complement key common area and entertaining spaces in the building.
My work on this project was largely a way to introduce myself and my professional experience to the firm. I was able to use my strong communication skills to reach out to interior finishes community in Chicago and create new relationships between our firm and many of key contacts in our region. Research into new finishes and products was extensive for this project. The design process required talented organization on my par t to communicate our visual concepts to the client and achieve sign off.
By the end of the design phase we were able to maintain elements key to our design, on budget, by researching multiple materials and manufacturers throughout design.
Project Completed 2014
3D renderings created by ArchiBIM
450 K Street is a 13 story mixed use luxury apartment building in Washington, DC's Mount Vernon Triangle neighborhood. The building is comprised of 233 units ranging from studios to expansive 2 bedrooms. I completed design and construction of this building while at R2L:Architects. Major project responsibilities included facade design and detailing, unit layout and coordination across the Mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing design trades as well a 100% Construction Administration services during the construction period of the project until completion in 2014.
Professional Photography is courtesy of Kettler/R2L:Architects
Project Completed 2017
Located at the corner of 3rd and Poplar Streets, and fronting Charlotte’s new Romare Bearden Park in the rapidly growing Uptown neighborhood, 225 South Poplar’s curving thirty-three story residential tower will offer residents views of both the downtown skyline and the city’s recently completed minor league baseball stadium. Developed by Greystar, the building’s residential amenities will include a two-story rooftop club area with gracious entertainment rooms, a chef’s kitchen, fitness club, outdoor swimming pool, sundeck, fire pit, and extensive landscaping.
After completing work on 450 K Street I requested to work on Ascent Uptown Charlotte due to my relationship with the city. I used my experience with design and construction administration to lead the residential units from schematic design to completion of construction drawings for permit. There are 20 floors of residences. Coordinating the M, E and P disciplines across the units was paramount in my focus. I was able to utilize all of my experience with 450 K Street to head off potential construction issues in the design process.
R2L: Architects - Project Proposal
Washington, DC
3D rendering created by ArchiBIM
Mixed used residential proposal close to Union Station in Washington, DC. Building design centered on combining nature and vegetation with urban dwelling. Balconies have built in landscape planters and amenity areas focus on backdrops of vegetated courtyards. Proposal responsibilities included aid in facade design, presentation drawing preparation and renderings for 2D plans and elevations.
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
Client: NRP Group
The Scranton Peninsula project is a large complex of multiple residential buildings on a 7 acre site. The project contains 316 residential units ranging from 1 to 3 bedrooms. On the site there are two large apartment buildings and 3 townhome structures. The project also contains a two story concrete parking garage.
Due to the scale of this project drawing and document management was critical. Each building was permitted separately in order to meet the Owner’s construction phasing requirements. The project will be completed in Early 2025.
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan
Client: The Annex Group
The Union @ Ann Arbor is one of the largest affordable housing developments in Ann Arbor. Containing 250 units from 1 to 3 bedrooms. The building is composed of Type V wood construction for the residential wings and a Type I pre-cast concrete parking garage. With Ann Arbor’s current EV infrastructure requirement all 290 parking spaces for the development will need to be EV capable.
This project was to replace the loss of a home due to a recent tornado disaster. The owner’s original home was in a neighborhood that was built in the early 1960’s. I looked to mid century modern architecture as inspiration to rebuild in the style of the day that best celebrates that period.
The owners like the Japanese technique of burning cedar to make it weatherproof, the process is called Shou Sugi Ban. We are using this new cladding to bridge the existing mid century character of masonry to with the modern aesthetics of the cedar siding.
The design of the interior of their house is meant to meet the owner’s needs of living today and plan for the next 5-10 years. The owners are a professional chef and a professional trumpet player; who plays both for symphonies, recordings and educates younger musicians.
The main level of the home is set up to entertain, provide home office/ practice space and bedrooms for guests and future children. The lower level is designed for a large master suite but also an area for future cultivation of rare mushrooms and the utility of their home, such as their laundry and garage / utility areas. The owners will have a large outdoor space and have fallen in love with a Swedish style wood burning hot tub.
This project is a renovation and addition to a 1870’s farm house in the historic Logan Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC. The project received unanimous support from the local Advisory Neighborhood Commission, DC Board of Zoning Adjustment as well as the Historic Preservation Board. The proposal includes preserving the historic 1870’s farm house structure, and increasing the living area by providing a 3 story addition to the rear. The daylighting strategy at the ground floor rear addition provided an opportunity to create a unique indoor/outdoor environment for the client to entertain.
442 Square Feet
This design concept is for a tiny house in Detroit for Cass Community Social Services. The design provides a variety of living zones that could become more valuable depending on the time of day and season of year. The house provides a kitchen, dining area, living area, bedroom, bathroom, front porch and rear terrace.
Two people can gather comfortably on the front porch and say hello to neighbors and those passing by. The rear terrace would be a great outdoor living or dining area in warm weather, taking in the evening air. The grouped living, dining and kitchen areas provide a more expansive quality of life. A quiet zone for sleeping is created by separating the bedroom from the living areas.
The advantage of this housing scheme is that it provides more livable space to the resident by way of covered outdoor areas. Dynamic exterior devices add character to the simple modern design. Sliding wood screen panels at the rear terrace provide privacy and the ability to control daylight and heat gain. The sloping roof provides more volume for the living, dining and kitchen areas making the interior seem much larger and providing more daylight and views from the overhead transom windows. The rain chain close to the front porch would carry water form the roof to the ground providing an interesting architectural element to observe from the front porch during a summer storm.
R2L: Architects - Project Proposal
Boston North Station at TD Garden
3D renderings created by ArchiBIM
High rise mixed use project at Boston's North Station. Project proposal consisted of large anchor retail at the ground floor and an apartment tower with upscale amenity areas. Proposal responsibilities included retail/street front design, presentation drawing preparation and renderings for 2D plans and elevations.
R2L: Architects - Project Proposal
Philadelphia, PA
Historic Logan Square
3D renderings created by ArchiBIM
Highrise residential tower proposal along Philadelphia's historic Logan Square. Proposal focused on the relationship of the tower with the adjacent historic cathedral. Proposal responsibilities included aid in facade design, presentation drawing preparation and renderings for 2D plans and elevations.
R2L: Architects - Project Proposal
Washington, DC
3D renderings created by ArchiBIM.
This is a project proposal for a mixed-use development at the SW Waterfront Neighborhood of Washington, DC. The proposal includes two wings of condominiums, a hotel as well as an extended executive stay hotel. There is ground floor retail across a majority of the site. The building is located adjacent to a new park planned for the waterfront as well the Nationals baseball stadium. At the second floor is an outdoor courtyard with a fitness center and pool. The rooftops include expansive roof decks to provide fantastic views of Washington, DC.
Proposal responsibilities included facade design, site massing, unit layout, presentation drawing preparation and renderings for 2D plans and elevations.
This design proposal was for an existing covered courtyard space to serve the Marie Reed Community of Hope Health Clinic's Staff and Patients. The existing space was dark and uninviting. My design proposal was to use the shaded nature of the plaza to its benefit. What was seen as a dark, cold wasted area became the catalyst for a Japanese inspired zen and moss garden. At the time I was preparing to leave for my first trip to Japan and was excited about the new nature and landscape designs I would be exposed to. The calming textures and colors I saw of the traditional zen gardens I felt would fit well into this space and transform it. Interesting modern seating/planters from Landscape Forms were incorporated into the design as well as a newly created wood seating area. The newly created seating area would take advantage of the existing space taken up by the excessive stairway exiting the clinic. Custom metal planters, vibrant succulents and bamboo planting strips would create a visual anchor and screen privacy for the staff and patients.
R2L: Architects - Project Proposal
Washington, DC
This is a six-story, 28 unit apartment building proposal along the north end of the 14th street corridor in Washington, DC. 14th street has been a hot bed for development in the past years. This project plans to add to the quality of the urban neighborhood by providing ground floor retail, as well as a streetscape and facade that draws inspiration from the eclectic storefronts and masonry building tradition of the adjacent existing buildings. The rooftop includes an outdoor amenity space for the tenants as well as two penthouse units with private terraces. A green roof system is incorporated to manage storm water as well mitigate the urban heat island effect.
Proposal responsibilities included facade design, unit layout, presentation drawing preparation and renderings for 2D plans and elevations.
This zoning study was completed as a professional service to analyze the best use development potential for a plot of land in the fast growing Avondale neighborhood of Chicago. The owner had maintained a mechanics shop on this site for 40 years and was planning to retire in the near future. He hoped to sell the property for redevelopment but through the help of his realtor realized in order to get the best return for his property he would need to rezone it for one of the more dense residential development zoning districts. I performed rigorous zoning research to study what had been approved recently in the neighborhood by they very strict Neighborhood Association Boards and what the current Chicago zoning could allow.
In the end, we recommended the owner proceed with rezoning as RT-4, allowing up to 17 units, or RM 4.5, allowing up to 25 units. This was based on an increase in density we felt would fit the growing multi-family character of residential architecture in the neighborhood and the sensitivity of the Neighborhood Counsel members for growth that valued massing, green space and daylight strategies.
While working at Quinn Evans I had the opportunity to lead a partnership with Mission Throttle a social impact strategy firm in Detroit to aid a local non-profit organization to re-program and optimize their space use strategy. This volunteer opportunity allowed members of Quinn Evans to engage with the local non-profit, learn their needs and desires for a revitalized space as well as try and impart new revenue models that Mission Throttle had researched to allow financial autonomy from grant writing for the Detroit Hispanic Development Corporation (DHDC). Leading the architecture design of the project as well as the engagement with DHDC was a welcome opportunity to provide valuable architecture services to a client that could greatly benefit from the creative process.
The final design schemes for the DHDC were influenced by several common characteristics that came from the feedback from the DHDC staff on the design slam design proposals. Noise separation between programs seemed paramount, grouping louder activities with other loud activities and combining contemplative, focused spaces with one another. Since the educational, mentorship and advisory programs vary throughout the year it became quite clear that any design proposal would need to be flexible to meet the needs of the DHDC. The design team became fascinated with how dynamic the activity of building changes not only through the day, but throughout the week and year. Planning for this changing cycle of activities helped shaped the organization of some of the public spaces of the buildings as well as provide flexible classroom spaces and conferencing for the DHDC to meet the demands of the educational programming as well as staff needs.
This is an academic project that studied mixed use urban infill in Charlotte, North Carolina. This project began my interest in providing engaging and dynamic building facades. I learned how unit plan arrangement could lend itself to variation on the facade while maintaining uniformity in unit layout to decrease unnecessary complexity from too many unit layout types.
The US Custom House in Portland, Oregon, built in 1901, currently sits dormant on the North Park Blocks, as it has since 2004, after being vacated by the US Army Corp of Engineers. Several proposals for its re-use have been submitted to the government: the possibility of its metamorphosis into: a boutique hotel, an international school and finally the world headquarters for a Portland based national real estate management company have all failed to realize.
In analyzing the most appropriate use of the building, and recognizing that capital gain cannot solely drive the adaptive re-use of architecture, this thesis focuses on cultural memory. Cultural memory as a study of the past and the present situation of the US Custom House has bred a self-designed methodology composed of three elements: Archive, Communications, and Performances. This methodology created a body of knowledge of the building that had not previously existed, leading the building to manifest itself as a Center for Cultural Exchange.
To generate this exchange, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency of the federal government was identified as the agency to occupy the building, based on the original use by the US Customs Service. I.C.E. would be paired with a cooperation of Non Governmental Organizations in order to support a mutual goal of fair and amicable immigration practices.
The building as a Center for Cultural Exchange has come to house public programs that offer up to Portland the cultural richness that a diverse population manifests, gathering individuals to: share, learn from and teach customs from their own cultural back ground. Through main design principles informed by both internal and external conversations, as well as cultural memory, the architectural intervention of the US Custom House, once slated for federal “disposal,” has become a place where the immigration process of the United States celebrated through cultural diversity.
In graduate school my comprehensive design studio undertook the creation of a prototyping facility for an electric car manufacturer on the East Side of Portland, Oregon located on Burnside Street.
At the beginning of the project we were given 6 sites to choose from along the new Burnside/Couch couplet, our task was to identify the site, in response to zoning, and code requirements, that best fit our personal goals for the DCEC (Design Center for the Electric Car). Fascinated by the pattern of day/night use located next to existing retailers and restaurateurs I chose a partially empty site neighboring the historic arcades of Burnside street and the popular Bossanova concert venue. In order to speak to the language of the arcades, no longer permissible by building code, I chose to gray the line between site boundary and utilize building cantilevers to infer enclosure along the streetscape as well as identify group spaces of the design studios.
This work sample comprises various elements of the final document compilation, and identifies components of this unique design scheme.
