The following are sample images, plans, sections, perspectives from my thesis project at the Academy of Art University completed August of 2011.  The Project is a vertical reflection of the urban landscape, taking the programmatic situations and relationships that exist on the horizontal urban scale and translating them vertically to create a singular multi-use structure that becomes more than a building, but a vertical community.  The programs, through their physical placement work on a more conceptual level to reflect the layering that exists in what I refer to as the American Situation-layers that cloud, mask, or otherwise define social irresponsibility behind more easily digestible industry terminology i.e. sustainability, green, diversity, progression, or what have you.  The building serves as a physical reflection of the tensions that exist as a result of the American preoccupation with status and glamor, pinpoint precise examples extracted directly from the city in which it is located.