Spatial Design
Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial
A sacred space to mourn, heal and build community
The Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial is a public artwork that was revealed in 2015 for the centennial commemoration of the Armenian Genocide.
While attending ArtCenter College of Design, I was asked to join a small studio for the purpose of submitting designs to a public competition for an Armenian Genocide Memorial. After months of research and a vision from a daydream, I created the memorial and submitted my winning proposal. In this vision, I walked through the desert to a giant abstraction of the gallows that were used to publicly put leaders, artists and intellectuals to death at the onset of the genocide.
For the next two years while completing my bachelor’s degree, I worked intimately with the executive architects at Moule and Polyzoides, the Pasadena Armenian Genocide Memorial Committee, and Pasadena’s City Council to create and finalize every aspect of the design. In the next year leading up to the unveiling in April of 2015, I worked alongside and managed engineers and contractors to realize the work, as well as spoke publicly to raise funds and awareness for the project as well as an advocate for social justice.
I am honored to remain close to the Armenian community and participate annually in discussion panels, lectures, private fundraising events and remembrance ceremonies.
Flows Two Ways
Eight story sculptural facade on the Hudson River in New York City
Artist Stephen Glassman was commissioned by The Durst Organization to create an eight-story sculptural facade for The Helena across from Bjarke Ingels’ tetrahedron skyscraper, VIA 57 West in New York City. I worked directly with Stephen, interpreting his drawings into digital 3d models and renderings, as well as conducted site-specific and historical research to create the color palette and composition to achieve a dynamic sculptural impact. I also collaborated closely with the architects, engineers and project managers to achieve major benchmarks under a tight schedule to bring the project to completion.
Flows Two Ways, is a permanent installation that lives along the majestic Hudson River in New York City and serves as a stunning lobby artwork for the residents of VIA.
Yosemite National Park
Winning bid for concepts envisioning future dining experiences in one of the most beloved national parks
Working with a small team, I created visual and narrative concepts which re-imagined future dining experiences in Yosemite National Park. I created narrative copy, atmospheric image boards, and digital 3d models of the restaurant spaces to fully communicate the concepts for these spaces. Calling on site-specific historical research, user experience, and emerging technologies, dynamic environments were created to excite and inspire visitors for years to come.
The team’s collaborative efforts resulted in winning the bid for the client, Xanterra, securing a ten-year food and beverage contract for the company.
Stardust Tower
Shortlisted Proposal to re-imagine the future of mausoleums
In collaboration with colleague Mikey Nitro, I imagined a contemporary mausoleum that illustrates the infinite beyond and exemplifies a universal understanding that light represents the eternal life of the spirit. The space aims to unite people in their time of grief and encourage uplifting remembrance of their loved ones.
Stardust Tower is a modest skyscraper that can be integrated into any city’s bustling downtown or parkscape. This structure would consume less than a city block—instead of hundreds of acres of land historically consumed by cemeteries—and can accommodate exponentially more remains of family members and more visitors than traditional mausoleums.
The tower is an elementally sustainable structure which incorporates all power from photo-voltaic glass collection on the roof, and well as a living facade of greenery which completes the design over time.
Currently, mausoleums and cemeteries are visited during daylight hours and are closed at night, making it hard for most people who are busy at work during the day to visit their loved ones. As a solution, this structure begins to show its true beauty at dusk where the stars become their brightest and merge perfectly with the night sky. The tower will celebrate the lives that have been lived, and encourage the living to celebrate the vibrance of their own life.
The visitor experience includes the interactive Memory Museum where guests can use a touch screen to look up their loved one and large pictures and information is displayed as well as where to locate them in the constellation. Underground there is a permanent exhibition that explores the history of funereal practices, as well as a rotating contemporary exhibition space where artworks engaging in topics of grief, loss, and questions of the spirit realm can be experienced by visitors.
54 Jefferson
Shortlisted Proposal imagining a new life for an abandoned Natural History Museum in Grand Rapids, Michigan
In collaboration with colleague Mikey Nitro, we proposed a whimsically irreverent approach to classical music education. We felt that it is extremely important that we conjure creative ways to engage our next generations in active, complex, and imaginative activity.
Classical music has proven to have endless positive and accelerated outcomes, yet unfortunately parents often force their young ones into this world because of these results. Instead, this new, playful, museological experience aims to take the pressure off and let the extraordinary friendship of nature and music resound.
Utilizing the quirky resource of the existing taxidermy and creating warm spaces like The Study, children can feel at home in this unique collection of environments. Continuing the tradition of serving the public, the museum opens its arms once again to welcome the public free of charge. The space offers an assortment of affordable delights to support the museum, such as evening soirées for the adults, private and group music lessons, as well as recording sessions.
