Location: United States
Status: Speculative
Building Size: 800 Square Feet
Designed for the Judean hills of Israel, the concrete, black steel container-like form is a prototype for minimalist living. This prefabricated house is conceived as a primary residence for a couple. Views to the natural landscape are achieved by using full-height, operable glass panels in addition to windows configured for optimal daylight, ventilation and passive cooling.
Location: Judean Hills, Israel
Status: Design
Building Size: 864 SF
The Sword House is a re-imagined barn that nods to the local vernacular building typology. Intersected by the entry vestibule which splits the program, the garage and guest-suite become partially privatized from the living and family quarters. The house boasts a light-filled spacious interior with 5 bedrooms, 5.5 bathrooms, a double height great room and master suite, outdoor grill station, swimming pool and a pavilion.
Location: US
Status: Design
Building Size: 3000 SF
Located, within the village of Rhinebeck, NY, the Barn Synagogue blends with the local vernacular barn architecture while providing a spiritual home for the Rhinebeck Jewish Center. Nestled among locust trees and fern plants, bordered by the Rhinebeck woods, the 2,375 building footprint accommodates the center's various functions for prayer, educational group and individual lessons for adults and children, and social events and gatherings. The synagogue is the first of its kind to serve the local Dutchess Jewish Community.
Location: Rhinebeck, New York
Status: Completed
Building Size: 4,750 Square Feet
Within this speculative project, I aim to transform a vacant lot in the hasidic Jewish community of Crown heights, Brooklyn, into a subterranean vessel. Across the street, tucked into a nondescript, residential home, exists a ritual bath called a mikveh, which will be recalled by this new design that ultimately widens the scope of this spiritual experience. The proposed project, will act as fluid space, drawing one into the earth, like a child back to the to the womb, its spiritual Mecca.
The ground ‘above’ essentially remains with no built structures, as the entire program is below grade. Apertures--a ramp and stairs-- penetrate the earth, drawing the users and light below. The main exhibition space at the core is open to the sky with a mikveh at its center. The mikveh, which signifies cycles, purity, nature and infinity, is delineated by the 12 hebrew months rotating around its base, engraved in the floor, completing the cycle. Taking the formal characteristic of a mikveh, the vessel like structure is sunken into the earth. As one descends down the ramp from the city streets and into cavernous-like spaces, one gradually leaves the urban hum for this solid, earthen sanctuary beneath it.
Materially, the exposed concrete composed project, is a continuous thread from sidewalk through the entry sequence and down into the exhibition core, where one circulates the Spiritual Spring. The intended functions of the space are for women’s events, private educational tours or the component of a seminar. Specifically, the proposed project intends to target young adults and less observant individuals who visit the Crown heights community throughout the year and who may wish to learn more about the mikveh and its importance within Judaism.
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Status: Design
Building Size: N/A
Perched at the upper plateau of a sloped and wooded five acre site in Rhinebeck, NY, the Lia House is a fusion of the traditional local vernacular aesthetic and modern brutalist form. The program is defined by those forms and materials, with private spaces such as the bedrooms within the concrete structure, and the living, dining and kitchen contained within the barn structure. The building follows the topographical contours taking advantage of the site's plateau while opening itself to the mountain views.
The house consists of 5 bedrooms with ensuite bathrooms, a home office, a green house, an outdoor pool, a library with a fire place and multiple entry points to outdoor spaces for the family and guests to connect with nature.
Location: Rhinebeck, New York
Status: Design
Building Size: 4,700 SF
Conceived as a writer's retreat, the cabin is situated within the southern Adirondack mountains, adjacent a lake, and offers the occupant seclusion embedded within nature. The Ode House provides the ability for the user to live and work while being immersed in nature.
The structure's footprint of 640 square feet, with formal cabin-like characteristics, is split into multiple levels with the sleeping and day lounge area in the loft. The stairs, which protrude from the main charred-wooden clad structure, is defined in black steel, marking separation of program and form. The cabin maximizes square footage while keeping a sense of openness with strategically placed apertures inviting nature into the spaces.
Location: Sullivan County, New York
Status: Design
Building Size: 640 Square Feet.
Located on Bainbridge Island, in the Puget Sound, the Stack sits on the north-east edge of waterfront Park. Between the ferry terminal and private docks, the site is accessible along pedestrian pathways which run along the shoreline and through the park. The island’s population, numbering around 24,000, are environmentally conscious and active in their community developments. Given the site’s proximity to the town, the docks, and the shore, the proposed program facilitates the mix of residential and commercial while remaining a part of the walkable community.
The proposed 8,900 square foot developement hosts an office unit, and hostel accommodations in the bunk unit, for travelers to the island. The stacking of the unit blocks facilitates natural light, natural ventilation, and outdoor spaces while conforming to the site’s geometry and preserving the existing older trees. Sustainable features include: rain collection systems and rain-screens, green roofs and terraced green spaces, locally sourced and recycled materials, high thermal insulation, water efficient fixtures and advanced on demand water heaters
Location: Bainbridge, Washington
Status: Design
Building Size: 8,900 Square Feet
Collaboraters: David Baird, +ONE, Architect; Torrey Tracy.
With some of the harshest climatic conditions on the planet, Valley of Fire State Park, with its martian-like landscape, boasts a rich history of 3,000 year old Indian Petroglyphs and petrified logs. Located within the Mojave Desert and covering over 35,000 acres, the State Park provides panoramic vistas and is a popular destination for avid photographers, hikers and campers.
The proposed monument, on the hiking trail within Rainbow Vista, texturally and visually resembles the martian like landscape, exposing layers of colorful sands and earth tones. The vertical surfaces of the monument are engraved with historical data and site context offering visitors walking the trail a self guided educational experience about Rainbow Vista, with history dating back to the age of the dinosaurs.
The monument offers those visiting for a hike along the Rainbow Vista trail, an entry 'gate' with a moment of respite from the relentless desert sun.
Location: Valley of Fire, Nevada
Status: Design
Building Size: N/A
Situated within a clearing surrounded by various species of trees and plantings, the proposed shtiebel accentuates the bucolic character of the New York countryside setting with its expressive materiality and its formal structural composition. Both on the exterior structure and interior surfaces, the Shtiebel nods to its surroundings rooted in its place.
Location: Sullivan County, New York
Status: Design
Building Size: 600 Square Feet
With the main entrance on a residential street, the material combination of oxidized metal, brick, blue-stone and concrete hints at something more than an ordinary residence or place of prayer. Slivers of colored glass, representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel rise vertically from the main level toward the roof, as the ark clad with weathered metal, protrudes from the brick facade hinting to what lays within.
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Status: Design
Building Size: 3,800 Square Feet
The renovation project of a Brooklyn townhouse is a modern space where light, materiality, and circulation mingle creating a functionally minimalist environment. The interior spaces draw on the contrasts between white and brown hues, where reclaimed lumber beams salvaged from the old structure are used to create a palette for sequence, texture, room separation and connection.
Location: Brooklyn, New York
Status: Completed
Building Size: 3,000 Square Feet
Collaborators: Moshe Cohen, Contractor.
