Governor’s Island, 2020-2022
The New York Virtual Volcano Observatory recreates the experience of exploring a volcano within NYC. NYVVO seeks to make the experience of exploration accessible to a broad audience, to engage visitors of all ages in the excitement of geology, and to share the surprisingly important role NYC has played in volcano science. We are a collaboration between NYC-based scientists and artists founded by Patrick Brooks and Ben Black. In collaboration with the founders, I designed and built an hemispherical projection installation to immerse visitors in footage of volcanic eruptions.
[View History] reveals the evolution of Wikipedia’s “Global Warming” article. The piece examines Wikipedia’s attempt to neutrally define a phenomenon that is continuously debated. The layered acrylic text piece exposes the chronological development of the content in the article, with the newest and most recently edited concepts appearing closest to the viewer. The books highlight three curated debates among editors of the article. Viewers are invited to examine the significance and power of editing this collaborative document, and to question how (or if) the evolution of the article leads to a neutral or truthful account.
[View History] is a collaborative project by Sib Bentefifa, Oliva Ching, Michale Hadley, Meghan Morris, Steph Shapiro, Brandon Williams and me, shown at the School of the Art Institute Gallery in 2014.
Rain Medium alters the interior environment according to exterior conditions. During agreeable weather, it hangs in a relaxed state. As barometric pressure drops, and inclement weather approaches, the piece expands and emits more light, creating a spatial gesture in response to an invisible phenomenon.
Rain Medium’s is made of umbrella parts, wire, wire rope, hardware, 3D printed plastic elements and silk. Its interactivity is controlled by custom software and electronics, programmed on Arduino with a barometric pressure sensor and a stepper motor.
In 2014-2015 The School of the Art Institute of Chicago ran a course in collaboration with the visiting professor Theaster Gates. The class worked with him on a design to convert a formerly abandoned substation in Chicago’s South side into a secular monastery and performance venue.
The work culminated with an on-site exhibition. The show represented our architectural design endeavors in the form of an exhibition of architectural drawings, diagrams, and a model; as well as a simulated their spatial effects with full-scale elements mock-ups. The objects, canopies, walkways, projections, lightboxes, seats, and sounds brought people into the space where they could experience the monastery.
As the Teaching Assistant of the course, I served as the installation manager for the final exhibition. Throughout the course I worked with Theaster Gates and his lead designer Mejay Gula; faculty Andrew Santa-Lucia and Mike Newman; and with students Alia Peragallo, Annie Latham Ball, Candace Williams, Emily Hoogesteger, Eugenia Macchia, Maggie Latham, Nathan Tedeschi, Noel Fetting-Smith, Sabrina Granado and Tianyuan Bai.
Ever since the civil engineering feat the reversed the flow of the Chicago River in 1900, the river has been part of the city’s wastewater infrastructure. It sweeps sewage away from city limits and away from Lake Michigan, Chicago’s drinking water source. Today, 70% of the Chicago River’s contents come from the city’s wastewater reclamation infrastructure. While facilities remove solids from the water and clarify it, they do not disinfect the water before depositing it into the river. When the system is overwhelmed by storm water, sewage overflow pipes send water directly into the river, before undergoing clarification.
Indicator Species is a proposal for a network of interactive objects that communicate the quality of the Chicago River water, and are powered by the decomposition of organic matter. The objects communicate the presence of fecal coliform bacteria in the river by changing form: relaxing into an open position when levels are low, and raising its fins into a protective dome when levels are high. It moves by harnessing the electricity produced by the metabolic activity of anaerobic bacteria it carries on board in microbial fuel cell chambers. Microbial fuel cells have applications in wastewater treatment applications as they reduce water clarification time by consuming organic particles in the water, while producing electricity that can be used by the system.
Indicator Species was presented in 2015 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago’s MFA show. The show included a prototype made of vacuum-formed abs plastic, acrylic gears, silicone fins and custom electronics and software programmed in Arduino, a microbial fuel cell operating an LED, a map of the Chicago River and renderings of the Indicator Species in the river.
SplitFrame is the result of a collaborative design/build project at Wesleyan University. The structure enables access to a bog owned by the Audubon Society. It is situated at the end of long weir, a vestige of the wildlife sanctuary’s former use as a commercial cranberry bog. The project was designed to minimize its impact on the site, both in construction and over the projected life of the structure.
SplitFrame was featured in Architectural Record, Dwell, and Landscape Architecture. It received the National AIA Small Projects Award of Merit in 2010 and the Association of Collegiate Design-Build Award in 2012. The project was led by professor Elijah Huge.
It is made of concrete diamond piers secured with steel pipes, aluminum, cypress, fiberglass reinforced resin grating.
