Having previously designed two of their cultural outreach centers in Manhattan, Marble Fairbanks was asked by Tenrikyo to design this building for their religious ceremonies.

The spatial organization of the church centers on the Jodan – the stage for performances and the location of the shrines for offerings.  There is seating for 150 members in the worship hall, with the ability for that space to open to the outside for additional seating.  The religious service is followed by community dining, which takes place on the lower level. The dining hall looks out to an excavated garden along the north side of the building, with the Jodan floating above.  Other programs include office space, meeting rooms, a nursery, translation booths, and storage and preparation areas.

The exterior skin consists of cement board panels that alternate in tone to create a dynamic pattern on each elevation. A system of aluminum extrusions hold the panels in place as they wrap around the building in modules decreasing in size at 4-inch increments.

The proposal utilizes economy of manufacturing techniques as the basis for innovative design options, resulting in high quality living units and integrated public spaces for Pratt students.

The residence hall is organized to encourage socialization at multiple scales through strategically placed shared public areas.  The courtyard is an exterior extension of the student lounge and is activated by surrounding balconies and corridors; the corridors on each level are occasionally faceted to form small gathering areas; exterior balconies pair adjacent units together.  Scales of modularity in the living units and building components negotiate between the exterior public space and interior courtyard; the standard 14’ module of each unit is scaled down to organize windows along the street elevation while the courtyard elevation scales up the base module to group multiple units.  In addition to social considerations the design of the residence hall facility also utilizes green building systems including natural ventilation and light, radiant heating, and rainwater collection.

The founders of SPARK and their supporters believe that the exponentially increasing rates of energy and resource consumption leave the human population in a unique and challenging position: we must use our abilities to discover new ways of living through an integrated global ecology.  SPARK is a new resource for New York City, positioning itself at the cutting edge of the most innovative and progressive methods of environmental problem solving.  SPARK’s primary purpose is to display alternate energy opportunities, educate the public to these developments, and serve as a meeting place to further discussion and public awareness.

SPARK is an exhibition and learning center dedicated to the advancement of ecological consciousness through education, research, and experimentation.  Engaging a broad base of learners, researchers, and educators, SPARK will display alternate energy developments from major corporations and independent inventors, showcase new technologies, and create public programs (lectures, discussions, forums, newsletters, films, outreach programs) that forefront alternate energy sources and sustainable practices.  Merging educational and research components, expanding public awareness of our global ecology, and framing local issues in a global context, SPARK is charged with the responsibility of provoking positive change in the interrelationships of natural and social ecologies.

This project consisted of the transformation of existing offices and service spaces into reception, gallery, lounge, and meeting spaces while accommodating an enormous demand for storage. The open lounge can be used for informal discussions among Fellows of the Institute, by students waiting to meet with faculty, and for large screenings or other public events. The walls of the perimeter offices were transformed into a surface for display with an integrated custom display system. Materials were selected to take advantage of the multiple orientations of the building, allowing daylight to move into the central space through white and blue glass clerestories.

This project is both the complete renovation of, and addition to, a 1960s “Alexander House” in Palm Springs. The site is in Las Palmas, one block from a valley wall and within a small-scaled suburban development of modernist tract houses. The addition is a glass pavilion with large sliding glass panels screened with custom laser cut perforated aluminum panels – sliding screen panels to the west and fixed canopy screens to the east.

The entire landscape, including the swimming pool, is part of the overall transformation of the site into a series of expanded exterior living spaces. Perforated block walls, standard building material in this area, are used in both traditional ways to screen outdoor living spaces from the streets, and non-traditional ways as they continue as screen walls in the interior of the existing building. Original concrete floors are exposed and polished, with new concrete floors and cantilevered concrete decks at the kitchen / dining pavilion. The scope of work on the existing building includes new building systems, skylights, windows, roofing, and all interior finishes and fixtures. The new kitchen / dining pavilion is steel framed with concrete floor, glass sliding doors, and aluminum screens.