rIYADH US EMBASSY
LOCATION: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
CLIENT: United States Department of State, Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations
SITE AREA: 27.5 acres / 11.13 hectares
SIZE: 69,900 ft² / 6,494 m²
DESIGN: 2020 - 2022
CONSTRUCTION: 2023 - 2027
TYPE: Governmental
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: Model setup, BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing set up, drawing management, interoperability, staff training, model health and cleanup
Design (description provided by Morphosis)
Today, Saudi Arabia is preparing for a sustainable, prosperous future, with transformation across broad sectors from infrastructure, education, and technology to tourism, sports, and entertainment under the country’s Vision 2030 initiative. Catalyzed by this momentum, the United States and Saudi Arabia are expanding upon eight decades of partnership to drive research and development that will enhance sustainability in the Kingdom and around the world in the decades ahead. At this pivotal moment in Saudi Arabia’s history, the United States is revitalizing its diplomatic buildings across the country. The new US Embassy in Riyadh represents an opportunity to highlight our shared ideals while providing enhanced facilities for embassy staff and their families and improved services to the thousands of US citizens residing in Saudi Arabia, and the millions of travelers who journey between our nations each year. The values and energy of this moment shape the design of the new embassy campus, located on a new site in the Diplomatic Quarter in Riyadh next to the dramatic landscape of Wadi Hanifa. With particular attention to supporting the family-oriented nature of the post, the team aligned its approach with OBO goals to create secure, resilient, and sustainable facilities that reflect American values and the best in American architecture, design, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture, and construction execution. The new Embassy’s design engages with Riyadh’s unique natural setting, cultural heritage, and climate to create a public symbol of our countries’ mutual respect, enduring partnership and optimism for the future.
crow museum, ut dallas
LOCATION: 800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, USA
CLIENT: The University of Texas at Dallas
SITE AREA: 2.1 acres / 0.85 hectares
SIZE: 56,600 ft² / 5,258 m²
PROGRAM: Lobby, Interior and Exterior Event Spaces, Galleries, Library and Reading Room, Seminar Rooms, Conservation Lab, Art Storage, Offices, Loading Dock
DESIGN: 2021 - 2022
CONSTRUCTION: 2022 - 2024
TYPES: Educational, Cultural
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: Model setup, BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing set up, drawing managment, interoperability, BIM 360 management, staff training, model health and cleanup
The Crow Museum of Asian Art (description provided by Morphosis)
The Crow Museum of Asian Art is the first cultural building to be completed in the O'Donnel Athenæum, a new arts and cultural district at the University of Texas at Dallas. The two-story 68,000-square-foot museum building, which includes 12,000 square feet of contiguous outdoor space for programs and events, is home to the Crow Asian Art collection and other key art and artifact collections comprising 16,000 SF of flexible gallery space, as well as the Brettell Reading Room, event spaces, a state-of-the-art conservation lab, seminar rooms, collection storage, offices, and an object study room.
The massing of the building is cleft into two wings by a sunlit lobby and atrium space running the length of the building from north to south, separating larger galleries to the east from a floating bar of galleries overhanging the plaza to the west. The atrium space is spanned by second story bridges, revealing multi-level movement through the building to visitors looking in from the plaza.
In the design of the galleries, to the museum director and curators requested the option to display certain historical works in similar natural-lighting conditions as those experienced by their artists and creators. As such, key galleries are designed for the possibility of exhibiting works in naturally lit conditions: narrow windows permit soft northern light into select areas; lightwells bathe galleries with diffuse natural light; and floor-to-ceiling glazing at the end of the bar galleries provides dramatic views to the art from the plaza. On the ground floor, the lobby, event spaces, and small shop and cafeonto the plaza. On the northern façade, the Brettell Reading Room and Seminar Room open onto covered exterior spaces and the Brettell garden, providing an inviting space for small gatherings, seminars, and individual study.
honors college at usf
LOCATION: 4202 E Fowler Ave, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
CLIENT: University of South Florida
SITE AREA: 3.2 acres / 1.29 hectares
SIZE: 86,845 ft² / 8,068 m²
PROGRAM: Classrooms, Study Areas, Faculty/Advisor/Administrative/Scholarship Offices, Event Space, Computer Lab, Performance and Creative Spaces, Café, Art and Food Studio
DESIGN: 2018 - 2020
CONSTRUCTION: 2020 - 2023
TYPE: Educational
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing managment, BIM 360 management, staff training, model health and cleanup
Judy Genshaft Honors College at USF (description provided by Morphosis)
The new Judy Genshaft Honors College building represents a significant milestone in furthering the University of South Florida’s growth as a leading national research institution. Established in 2002, the Honors College attracts highly competitive students with diverse backgrounds and fields of study. The honors program was previously dispersed amongst various buildings throughout campus, none of which were specifically designed for the college's unique needs. This new facility brings the Honors College scholars, advisors, faculty, administrators, and visitors together into a center that fosters interdisciplinary creativity and conversation across the arts, sciences, and humanities.
The building’s design supports the multiplicity of studies and interests of the Honors Program through an array of scholastic and social spaces, which include a culinary workshop, food studio, music lab, art studio, seminar room, and multiple event settings. High-performance materials and ‘sandbox’ style learning facilities provide flexible areas that adapt to discoveries and discussions across disciplines.
The central atrium is lined with an abundance of gathering enclaves that encourage collaboration and interaction among scholars, faculty, and visitors. Defined by a network of wooden lattices and suspended study pods, the atrium becomes a communal ‘beehive’ of activity at the heart of the Honors College.
To accommodate the variety of events hosted by the college throughout the year, the building incorporates diverse meeting and event spaces on the first and second floors. The ground floor event space, accessible from the Sessums Pedestrian Mall, opens into a multi-purpose lobby that can accommodate large-scale events such as graduations, convocations, job fairs, and banquets. On the second floor, an external covered terrace wraps along the west elevation, providing outdoor congregation and relaxation areas with views overlooking the existing Quad to the south. The area connects to an outdoor amphitheater in the northwest corner of the building, which overlooks an outdoor classroom. The building’s south end features a café open to the public and campus communities, with views of the neighboring Muma College of Business.
orange county museum of art
LOCATION: 3333 Avenue of the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA, USA
CLIENT: Orange County Museum of Art
SITE AREA: 1.69 acres / 0.68 hectares
SIZE: 53,000 ft² / 4,924 m²
PROGRAM: Museum including exhibition galleries, multi-purpose education hall, roof terrace, event spaces, museum store, café, administrative and support spaces
DESIGN: 2015 - 2019
CONSTRUCTION: 2019 - 2022
TYPE: Cultural
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing set up, drawing management, interoperability, BIM 360 management, staff training, model health and cleanup
OCMA (description provided by Morphosis)
With flexible exhibition galleries, dedicated space for educational programming, and areas for public gathering, the new building provides expanded access to the museum’s permanent collection, which comprises important works of modern and contemporary art from Southern California and the Pacific Rim, and to its world-class special exhibition program.
The overall design of the building addresses the need for museum space to be both flexible and functional as well as inviting and memorable. The main floor is dedicated to reconfigurable open-span exhibition space, complemented by mezzanine, black-box, and jewel-box galleries that can accommodate temporary and permanent collection exhibitions spanning a variety of scales and mediums. The upper level includes administrative areas. A spacious roof terrace, equivalent in size to 70 percent of the building’s footprint, serves as an extension of the galleries with open-air spaces that can be configured for installations, a sculpture garden, outdoor film screenings, or events. A sculptural wing hovers over the lobby atrium and creates a prominent location for the educational hall, an inspiring, artful, and dynamic architectural space illuminated by a full-height window overlooking the terrace.
A grand outdoor public stair curves toward the museum’s entry, creating dialogue with Connector, the monumental sculpture by Richard Serra at the heart of Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Linking the museum to the arts complex’s Argyros Plaza and adjacent performing arts venues, the stair will become an inviting gathering space for pedestrians and visitors, much like the Metropolitan Museum of Art steps in New York City or the Spanish Steps in Rome. A high-performance façade of light-colored, undulating bands of glazed terracotta paneling creates a distinctive character for the building, playing off the forms and language of neighboring works of architecture.
This design strategy choreographs a rich and diverse visitor experience, from approach and entry, to procession through the galleries, and finally, an invitation to linger on the steps, in the café, or in the museum store. By creating a gradient of architectural intensity, from complex forms at the museum’s entry to rectilinear and flexible forms within the galleries, the building is both memorable and striking, while serving primarily as a supportive stage for art. Its strong relationship between indoor and outdoor space encourages visitors to immerse themselves in the celebrated climate of southern California, where light, air, and space have influenced generations of artists.
korean american national museum
LOCATION: Los Angeles, California, United States
CLIENT: Korean American National Museum
SITE AREA: 0.6 acres / 0.24 hectares
SIZE: 49,500 ft² / 4,599 m²
PROGRAM: Gallery, Store/Café, Multi-purpose Event Space, Archive, Offices, Education, Parking
DESIGN: 2019 - 2020
CONSTRUCTION: 2020 - 2022
TYPE: Cultural
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing managment, interoperability, staff training, model health and cleanup
Korean American National Museum (description provided by Morphosis)
The new home for the Korean American National Museum supports the institution’s mission to preserve, study and present Korean American cultural heritage, from the legacy of the first Korean immigrants into the United States to the broad contributions of Korean Americans today and into the future. The design of the building reflects this mission through landscape elements, spatial organization, and architectural forms that symbolize and explore the Korean American experience.
As nature is a perennial, unifying theme of Korean art and culture, we focused on the narrative opportunities of landscape to define the design of the museum. As we did so, we were inspired by Korean American architect Eulho Suh’s concept of ‘displaced memory’ and its embodiment in space: our design is an allegorical migration of the Korean landscape and expression of its contribution to the quintessential American ethnic quilt, with traditional Korean plants intermixed and interplanted among California native flora. As the land is grafted and stitched onto the American soil, it takes the form of contained landscape, which in turn holds the museum space within.
Beneath the allegorical landscape, the museum follows the classic courtyard plan of the traditional Korean Hanok, circling a central open space with a fluid, interconnected ring of galleries, meeting rooms, and offices. The exterior is an abstracted solid concrete edge, with no indication of any scalar elements to further frame the landscape. The design links traditional architectural symbology with significant architectural components: the museum’s exterior wall is embossed with a pattern that has protected the royal palaces, and its interiors defined by a sculptural ceiling-scape evoking the vaulted ceiling of a Hanok.
The site anchors a prominent corner of 6th Street and Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles' Koreatown; the design acknowledges this intersection by establishing the museum’s entry at the corner. By disengaging from the Cartesian direction of the city blocks, the new orientation signifies the autonomy of the displaced landscape and begins a more dynamic centrifugal experience that culminates in a dramatic triple-height gallery. This non-Cartesian gallery is composed of two intersecting volumes, further referencing the continuing duality of our existence: Korea and America, past and future, and the state of current Korea. The gallery’s form is geared toward an immersive digital experience that will propel this museum’s curatorial mission deep into the 21st century.
lululemon store support centre
LOCATION: 1980 Foley Street, Vancouver, BC V5T 1E1, Canada
CLIENT: lululemon
SITE AREA: 2.6 acres / 1.05 hectares
SIZE: 574,122 ft² / 53,338 m²
PROGRAM: Office workplace, Mixed-use retail
DESIGN: 2018 - 2020
CONSTRUCTION: 2020 - 2024
TYPES: Commercial, Office
MY RESPONSIBILITIES: Model setup, BIM Management, element and family modeling, drawing set up, drawing managment, interoperability, BIM 360 management, staff training, model health and cleanup