Employing the designer William Morris as a source of inspiration, this project seeks to explore the call for nature and beauty as a part of our lives. Moreover, it interweaves the necessity for experience of the sensual world (the five senses) with the cerebral world (a requisite to igniting the internal imagination)—a concept embodied in the form of the book. It advocates a redefining of the book as an imagination sculpture (the external and the internal) reflecting this new definition.

This thesis is a testimony of thoughts and ideas that have been circulating in my studio for the past few years, in their current form. It is also an experiment in writing an autobiographical piece of prose. It was written parallel to, and after, making the film Double Take with Perrin Turner. The film is an exploration of a number of relationships, related and sometimes haunted by one another. I wish for this text to operate not only as an after-the-fact recollection of thoughts, but also in relation to what will follow it – similarly to the way a trailer operates in relation to a movie. This is an extract and a prologue rather than conclusion or resolution.

Opinions about Linguistics and Phonetics extrapolated to think about art and object-making, followed by an exposition of titles of recent work, including discussions about: stunting in All Star Cheerleading, rainbows, offset halo patterns, the common corn disease Crazy Top, failure, humility and the profound.

Many urban pet care and boarding facilities tend to rest on the outskirts of the community, in quasi-industrial and commercial areas. Far from the homes of the people who would use their services, the locations of these facilities are inconvenient for most. Students and the employed have trouble making time in their hectic schedules to give their pets the attention and activity they need to be healthy, and often, pets are left alone, sedentary, for a substantial portion of the day. But what if there was a pet care facility that was within walking distance from home that could provide pets what they were missing while teaching better care practices to pet owners? Located in Richmond’s Historic Fan District, the urban pet care center is surrounded mainly by residential housing, with some commercial spaces located nearby. The pet care center requires both indoor and outdoor spaces for the health and enjoyment of the animals that will be boarded. The challenge then is to find an area with an adjacent lot, as much of the Fan District is comprised of abutting row houses with minimal lawn area. The building is situated near busy thoroughfares used by the employed and students alike for optimal convenience. As part of the community of The Fan, the center will be open to anyone who wants to use the services offered, to people seeking knowledge on better care practices, and even to people who want to offer their affection and time to the pets. The center is meant to be an inviting place that is crisp and comfortable, much like the homes of the Fan District.

This thesis explores the integration of the built environment into an existing extrinsic experience. It considers how a place can become incorporated into a series of experiences in nature, while still maintaining it’s integrity as a singular space. It questions how the lines between nature and interior can be blurred, and how responses to essential existing conditions can provide a coalesced experience.

This is an adaptive reuse thesis project of an old warehouse on the south side of Richmond, Virginia. Through this project, the possibility of designing an art center to occupy the space is explored. This art center houses artist studios, gallery space as well as open studio space for art classes. The design concept establishes a building language and varies that language based on the space and its requirements. The final design also deals with the spaces in between, where one rule set meets another.

A park is a place of many uses. A place to: walk, sit, reflect, eat, play, gather, people-watch, work, re-energize. A park can be quiet, loud, busy, or slow, sometimes all at once. Parks bring together friends, family, and people who may not otherwise ever interact with each other. Everyone has their own place in a park. This park intertwines open, public space with intimate, private space throughout. The question of how to attain privacy within a potentially very bustling public space is examined in depth and carefully considered throughout this design process.

Hair is power, beauty and seduction: a reflection of ethnicity and religion, and even a canvas for self-expression. A key feature in defining identity and social status, it holds the essence of our individuality. However, once removed from its original and natural setting—the epidermis—hair is seen as waste, and often evokes disgust. The objective of this thesis is to explore human hair, which particularly in the Arabic-Islamic region, carries great significance and raises many religious, cultural, and gender issues. Through design, and informed by critical design theory, I explore how this corporeal material can be reused and re-presented as a means of interrogating the references, symbolism, and connotations of hair both in, and out of, its natural setting.

While some parts of identity remain constant throughout one’s life, many aspects of a person’s identity are subject to rapid and constant change and negotiation. Using theories regarding the role possessions play in the construction, reinforcement, and manifestation of a person’s identity, this thesis project explores the potential to facilitate meaningful insights and awareness into one’s own identity. This will be achieved by designing a reflexive journaling process. A qualitative evaluation of this prototype journal process used by a pilot group of young creative individuals will generate an assessment of the proposed process

The design of an experimental interdisciplinary design lab–MOB 2030–within a waterfront building in Richmond, Virginia, provides an opportunity for designers to find infinite inspirations. The tools of interior design are used to manipulate a wide range of functional and formal elements to define designers’ relationship to space, work and nature. The final project provides three studios, three galleries, rooftop and waterfront landscapes, and collaboration steps connect other spaces together.