Cooper Union New York, NY 2015
This thesis explores the idea that the human body can be sustained through a composition of functioning organisms. The function of the human body can be promoted through other life forms- as a practice in sustenance, prevention, and education. This remedial program seeks to allow for a construct that will facilitate this notion. An architectural ecology built through a series of parts to form a single symbiotic structure. Using a single working body as a point of departure- this ecological machine will use all of its components to function as its own living body.
This thesis aims to implement botanical methodologies in healing and provide a rehabilitation for [those affected by] any type of ailment. The fertile ground provides plant based material to consume as well as intermediary spaces between the ground and the architecture with which to meander. Moments of permeability become the architecture of inhabiting the landscape.
By studying the material needed to create and sustain a fertile ground this methodology is implemented to sustain a symbiotic ecology. The act of maintaining live material will allow for the education of a remedial structure and an education on preventative and medical plant material. This will function as an accessible resource for the body.
Cooper Union New York, NY 2014
This institute seeks to inform an approach of integrative medicine through plants, space, and the body. The program allows those who seek healing an integrative series of events toward wellness and awareness of the body. The institute functions as a place for treatment and as a laboratory. A series of crops and plants are cultivated for healing purposes and research. This will allow for the development of treatment at the institute and as a form of education.
Dis-ease, disease, lack of ease: any condition that causes pain, dysfunction, distress, social trouble, to the person afflicted.
Dis-ease affects the body physically and emotionally- contracting and living with disease alters the perspective on life and expression. The process toward healing addresses the physical and psychological aspects of an affected person through the consumption of high mineral and enzyme dense plants, sunlight, movement, pure water, and clean air.
The Neolithic Revolution in 10,000 BC marks the earliest documented agricultural practice- it was through paintings, pot sherds, and earth formations that it was discovered.
Through looking at Pre-Columbian cultures structured around an agricultural practice I have come to study the relationship between a people and their necessity for sustenance. This all relates back to the body, regeneration of the body, healing of the body, and ritual.
São Paulo, Santos, Brazil
Terra preta de índio - black earth of the Indian or Amazonian dark earth exists in Brazil this soil is said to preserve pot sherds and pre-Columbian remains because of its high carbon content.
It has the ability to perpetually regenerate itself and is very valuable to the cultivation of agriculture in that it maintains its nutrient density to support high concentrations of organic material.
This spiritual connection to the pre-columbian agricultural practice is an important aspect in the idea of regeneration and healing. This allows the Institute to commemorate the practices and contributions of the Ancient peoples.
Cooper Union New York, NY 2014
Sited on the VA Medical Center in the Bronx a new form of infrastructure was imposed to allow for an invitation to the neighboring communities to gather and be a part of such a large mass in their city. A medicinal garden was designed on the plot of land that was the 500 sq ft parking lot. The transformation pushed the parking lot below ground becoming a garage with direct access to the hospital. While above a lively botanical garden swept from the 500sq ft plot permeating the roof of the east and west wings of the hospital. This idea was meant to bring life back into the hospital and encourage patients and neighboring communities to spend more time outside learning about beneficial herbs and enjoying the beautiful varieties of plant life.
Cooper Union New York, NY 2013
Sited in Hunter’s Point Queens at the waters edge with the East River separating Queens and Manhattan. The lot was an empty 400 sf surrounded by grass and facing piers over the water. The neighboring community itself is under development and could benefit from an institution that would bring the community access to the waters edge.
The proposed parti is a Library within a location that would benefit from an institution emphasizing on educational plant material. The size of the site allowed for a plan that would integrate the flux nature of growing plants and the stillness of a quiet place to read. The constructed architecture presents the experience of the natural conditions themselves while inhabiting the content within the stacks themselves. A constructed topography provided for views of the water and allowed the built site to function as a landscape. Two systems were imposed to create intersecting logics- enclosure and transparency. A glass wall created an enclosure while maintaining the feeling of being in nature and outside. This logic resulted in spaces that provided varying degrees of shelter and enclosure while still emphasizing the landscape. The tensile roof structure constructed varying degrees of permeability allowing for light to pass through heavily where less material had gathered and less so where the material had built up. This allows for a variety of shaded and well lit spaces. The stacks themselves were designed through fluid forms that would contour enough for a body to be nestled in for a quiet reading enclave. Some stacks were designed for moments where they are open enough to scan the titles with your eyes.
Utuado, Puerto Rico and Cooper Union New York, NY 2014
In Collaboration with Sam Friedberg.
Agriculture in Puerto Rico: Physical, Spiritual, Phenomenal
The Neolithic Revolution presents the earliest evidence of civilization: through agriculture, societies were formed. Ancient paintings depicting the domestication of live stock and grain, tools carved from stone, vessels, and built structures date back to 10,000 BCE. These handmade objects communicated a collective human need- an exchange between technological advances, spiritual practices, and ultimately, nourishment. Civilization began because of agricultural practice.
We wanted to bring to light an ancient civilization that existed across the Caribbean. This underexposed group of people are called the Tainos. The Taino civilization developed a complex agricultural practice dating back to 1000 AD. With the arrival of Columbus in 1492 the Tainos were captured and taken as prisoners. By 1548, the majority of the population of the Tainos were either killed by infectious disease to which they had no immunity or were captured by the Spanish colonists. There remained less than 500 indigenous people by 1549.
To expose this civilization that contributed greatly to agricultural advances and land use in the Carribean, we visited Puerto Rico — which had one of the densest Taino populations of all the islands. We traced the agricultural practices starting from the ancient Taino civilization, through the Spanish conquest, to present day agrarian institutions. We started to link how agriculture on this island has been shaped over time and through Taino presence.
We began by traveling to the mountains of Utuado in central Puerto Rico. This is where much of the agriculture on the island exists today. We stayed on a small independent farm about 2km away from the protected Taino site Parque Ceremonial Indigena de Caguana. Staying in such close proximity to the Tainos site, we were experiencing the land that they lived in. We learned which fruits and vegetables grow best in that altitude and conditions. The most common crops include: papaya, banana, coconut, coffee, limes, star fruit, mamey, yucca, and cacao. Through researching the Taino sites we discovered their petroglyphs and plazas that marked the way they used their land for agriculture, assembly, celestial worship, and a ball game that they called batey. Through these objects we were able to understand the way the land was used to properly provide food for their tribe and leave behind enough information to pass on the methods to future inhabitants.
Moving forward, we visited farms and coffee plantations that were started after the Spanish conquest.There we learned about the methods and mechanisms that they developed to better use the land. At the Hacienda Buena Vista, a working restoration of the first hydraulic turbine in Puerto Rico uses a nearby river to power their mills. At the small family run plantation Café Gran Batey, an understanding of the local conditions allows them to grow multiple crops that benefit each other.
Through our travel through the mountains between ancient protected sites looking at artifacts, objects, and invented mechanisms to experiencing present day practices the linage remains clear. The contemporary farms and agricultural cultivators sit on the very land where the Tainos began their practice and life, and these present day Puerto Rican campesinos continue the tradition of growing the very same crops.
