Selected Works
2021–2025
Architecture · Harvard GSD · Boston
I believe the heart of design lies in the reconciliation of physical space with the human at every scale. My coursework has trained me to design everything from cutlery to chairs to scale models, but for these objects to truly serve people requires understanding how they live. Whether it is housing, a metro station, or a concert hall, every building is a product of the systems in which it interacts, from zoning laws and urban development to overarching political decisions. For me, this manifests as a desire to create inclusive community spaces, further informed by my experiences as a musician, which taught me the power of harmony in forging human connections.
Rhinoceros 3D · AutoCAD · Revit · SketchUp · Photoshop · Illustrator · Lightroom · Enscape
Model building · Welding / Metalwork · Woodwork · 3D printing · Hand drawing
Japanese (Fluent) · Mandarin (Basic) · Cantonese (Basic)
Violin · Photography · Archery · Swimming
The current composition of the Berklee College of Music is a smattering of adjacent buildings in the heart of Boston's Back Bay neighborhood, abutted by historical and cultural institutions like the Christian Science Center Plaza and Boston Symphony Hall. My proposal is a 200,000 sq ft campus hub to provide communal space where students and faculty can ground themselves and interact with donors, visitors, and family.
Berklee's identity as a leader in programs for jazz, songwriting, and music production calls for both performance and practice spaces that support both experimental and classical music. Through this project, I raise a new ground for Berklee to address the symptom of urban campuses and provide opportunities for natural student interaction.
The two towers are grounded by concrete cores while the performance hall, contained in a cloud-like mass of translucent glass, cantilevers over the street. The space beneath is carved out for gathering and touches the ground lightly at two points, framing the grand stair that rises from the street in a precise moment of contact with the city.
Brick grounds the campus building in the material language of Back Bay, while the system of curved glass panels wrapping the performance hall juxtaposes a floating volume against the kiln-fired walls. Large operable windows allow for cross-ventilation and allow practicing students to curate a personal environment within the order of an academic building.
At the ground level, a shared-public space extends directly from the street, operating as a threshold where concertgoers and passersby can gather beneath the lifted performance hall. Above, the raised ground forms a shared-private space primarily for students and faculty, supporting informal encounters within the daily rhythms of student life.
Located on the grounds of the Josef Albers Foundation in Bethany, Connecticut, Hozotsugi no Ie is an artist residency for woodworkers. The project's landscape developed from a fragment of Albers' 1933 piece, Zeltes (Tents). The residency's design revolves around a sharp 6-foot drop in elevation, a key landscape feature.
Inspired by Japanese woodworking traditions, Hozotsugi no Ie translates to "House of Mortises and Tenons," reflecting themes of interlock within the structure and its connection to the ground. Layers of privacy shape the placement of the gallery, woodshop, and living areas, exploring the dynamics of solitude and togetherness.
The figure is derived by flipping and duplicating a fragment of Albers' sculpture, Reverse and Repeat. Latticed screen walls bring soft light into the building — artist and viewer maintain a visual connection on their way to bedroom and gallery, respectively.
Cloud Circuit reimagines a 20,000 sq ft block in Boston's Fort Point as a civic plaza for performance and training. A center for circus acrobatics stands opposite another for dance; spanning between the buildings is an open-air pavilion sheltering a library, workshop space, a childcare center, offices, and a store.
These functions extend the program beyond training to support the daily life of artists and families and link into an adjacent parking lot reimagined as a public park of winding paths. Slightly puffed, cloudlike roofs recall Boston's low hills and contribute a soft silhouette to the skyline.
Apertures in the roof let large swathes of sunlight enter the plaza, creating pleasant areas to rest by the trees. A staircase spirals to the top of the pavilion so visitors can walk among the treetops. Slender columns drop down through terraced platforms mimicking the planted trees.
In Biscayne Bay of Miami, Florida, Reflection and Revelation is a spirit garden composed of the tower, Revelation, and its displaced shaft, Reflection. The journey through the towers embodies the human experience of grief as it shifts from a horizontal to a vertical plane.
Remembrance begins parallel to the vast ocean waters, until the tower pulls the gaze skyward. Revelation floats above, while Reflection offers solace and introspection deep in the ground. A single continuous stairwell connects shaft and tower, forming one body reflected and displaced in the waters, stretching between the skies and earth.
Glass niches offer a new lens through which the world is seen; each holds objects imbued with memories of loved ones. Stone walls spiral downward into the earth while glass niches extend to the sky with luminous transparency, attesting to the complexity of grief where introspection and revelation coexist.
Spejlhuset is a proposed 250 m² café on the banks of Lake Sortedams in Copenhagen, Denmark. Previously serving as city fortification, Lake Sortedams is one of three lakes that curve around the Copenhagen city center. A proposed boardwalk for the café extends the landscape from the road to the lake and forms a sound oasis for runners and trail-walkers.
Spejlhuset translates to "the mirror house" in Danish, referencing the clear reflection of the lake on the café's glass facade — a serene ribbon of light on the water's surface. The café design is developed around a space for people to socialize and enjoy the waterfront, with stepped seating creating variation in methods of engagement and perspectives of the lake view.
At night, the café comes to life as an attractive destination visible from kilometers away. A warm glow in the dark is a sight for sore eyes especially in the winter, when a night in Copenhagen lasts almost 17 hours.
In San Francisco, local and state laws are paving the way to allow for the construction of four-unit buildings in neighborhoods that have traditionally been developed by single-family homes. My role was to research and develop four-unit building prototypes in a compatible and contextual manner within the Sunset and Richmond neighborhoods.
Once implemented, prototypes would reduce the cost of building housing, demonstrate their feasibility, and streamline the city approval process. My work supports racial and social equity goals by enabling homeowners to better navigate the city's code requirements, reduce professional services fees, and support home redevelopment with additional income-producing units.
My proposal was approved by the SF Board of Supervisors in August 2022 to become an official program funded by the planning department. Modular patterns in various configurations maximize sunlight and air for each multi-family unit; prefabricated construction saves time and simplifies the building process.
At KPF, my main task was to 3D print facade panels and a site model at various scales. I adapted existing digital models developed by our team to suit the 3D printing fabrication process. My tasks required an operational understanding of Ultimaker S series printers to optimize their performance for our specific project requirements.
I experimented with various filament types to best represent our project and was responsible for determining the level of detail to represent at each scale. These models were presented at a major coordination meeting towards the end of my internship.
Specific details and location of the project subject to NDA.
Mizu no Kioku, or Memories of Water, is a sculptural work expressing the motif of the water of Lake Nakatsuna for the Northern Alpine Arts Festival held each year in Omachi, Japan. The 8-meter tall sculpture is composed of interlocking steel tubes that draw water up through the lake and let it fall through thin aluminum tubes.
Slits in the aluminum tubes cause singular beads of water to roll out at random and drip down the structure, faintly rippling the lake around the base of the sculpture. My role was to provide solutions that would allow the tubing structure to be self-supported at its base located within the lake and assist with on-site fabrication of the sculpture.
Photos courtesy of Kovaleva and Sato Architects.
Growing up, my daily utensils formed a unique set — wooden chopsticks, a metal fork, and a porcelain spoon — a tangible representation of the blend of Western and Asian culinary traditions in my household. These utensils symbolized the diverse ways that dishes were savored.
This project is my design of a cohesive set of utensils that celebrates the essence of Asian American life, blending various utensils from my childhood into a harmonious set. Through chopsticks, forks, and spoons, I aim to prompt users to ponder their perceptions of the "correct" way to eat and appreciate the beauty of savoring a diverse culinary heritage through contemporary design.
This chair combines mid-century modern aesthetics of thin tube metal and clean lines with intricate weaving, a dying art. In reverence of the ancient process of weaving, originating in East Asia, the chair is named Kago, which translates to basket in Japanese.
The chair is made of a 316 stainless steel solid rod frame directly woven upon with 3mm cane for the seat and back. The process to create the frame involved cutting, bending, welding, and polishing steel, and can support over 200 lb of weight. The cane is woven into three patterns, visible on the underside, top, and back pieces of the chair.
Using art to capture moments in time.
A huge thank you to my instructors and mentors for their advice, inspiration, and encouragement throughout my studies and professional experience.