Thesis - Redefining Plaza: train station as catalyst for the public realm

This thesis critiqued both the urban plaza and the mall plaza as two models of public space that coexist in the city of Caguas, Puerto Rico, that neither support each other to form compelling spaces for the public realm nor negate each other as completely out dated. Therefore, with the advent of train infrastructure taking place in the metropolitan area of the Island, new possibilities of public space emerge by hybridizing program components that cater to the local dweller as well as to the metropolitan visitor to create a continuous public landscape near the core of the traditional city center.

ARC 407 - Library in Piazza Ghiberti

A Library that creates different scales of monumentality and intimacy by simulating the condition of layering in the buildings and the extension of the internal courtyards into Piazza Ghiberti. A main “bridge” stitches the library with La Scuola d’Architettura dell’Universita di Firenze.

ARC 308 - Islamic Architecture Institute

Light, views, and interiority; all characteristics of Islamic Architecture. The Islamic Architecture Institute responds to a city of public gathering spaces by placing its major program pieces - studios and lecture hall - in the center and allowing the two double-skin facades to bring light in and portray the views of the city.