An Architecture With Portals

Located in Jinbocho, Tokyo’s book district, this bookstore/sushi & saki bar explores an architectural dynamism that creates connections to other local buildings with different programs. Three nearby fighting halls become very crowded during special events. The D-units provide an escape from the chaos caring passengers over the crowded streets, directly through the portals into an environment of relaxation and tranquility.

Read or Die Studio

This studio centered on the anime series of the same name in which three sisters fight evil with the power to manipulate, animate, and control paper. The project was to design a device for one of the characters to use while visiting Jinbocho, the book district of Tokyo. Maggie is a bibliophile and a recluse, who likes to read in very small spaces despite her large size. My device is a cape jacket that can transform into a small tent for Maggie to read in, or a backpack for caring the books she purchases in Jinbocho.

Cape Tent montage:

The Making of Cape Tent:

BOOM! Woodshop on the Go

This project with Jrgang Chi, Jon Blistan, and others is a wood-shop for the school of architecture at Tamkang University (Taipei) where Jrgang is teaching this year. If all goes according to plan, a final version will be constructed next spring. Since the site is very small, our goal was to design a dynamic architecture that can operate under four conditions; WORK, THINK, LEARN, PLAY (thinking in verbs).

WORK: the "normal" wood-shop condition.

THINK: down time, break, sitting, reading, relaxing

LEARN: review time, students present their work, listen to others presenting, Professors critiqe

PLAY: party time, festival, end of the semester

Solar Shade Facade design

Mix CD for Dr. Erin

Gothic Bullfight

This is a group project from Spring 2008 with instructor Gabriel Esquivel. The initial criteria was to create an installation celebrating light. In addition, Prof. Esquivel encouraged us to investigate the idea of creating an emotional surface. This approach departs from the traditional architecture of thinking and process to an architecture of feeling. We began our research by looking at the gothic rose window for lighting effects and geometry, and the candle lit interior of the gothic church. We moved to incorporate the bullfight for ideas about color, motion, spectacle, ritual, and emotion.