This elegant and modern Japanese Hibachi res-

taurant is a beautiful mix of Old World Japan and modern

Tokyo. The structure is planned from the ancient writing

and symbol for Zen. The site is located in Kent, Ohio, on

the northeast corner of State Route 59 and Rhodes Road.

There are plenty of stereotypical Chinese restaurants, but

they don’t off er the experience of fi ne dining or entertain-

ment. The city would benefi t from additional fi ne dining

restaurants as well. The families living in Kent are limited

in their choices of family restaurants because of the many

college oriented restaurants. The parking I designed al-

lowed me to create an exterior space not required by the

program. I created a Zen walkway and garden. The walk-

way begins with a stone path leading from the outdoor

patio space of the restaurant to the Zen garden hidden

behind natural trees that existed on the site. Zen is har-

mony and balance. Hibachi restaurants strive for a balance

between entertainment, culinary skill, and quality of food;

a balance that every fi ne dining experience should have.

The Mansfi eld urbanization project was an 11 week long design problem

split into three phases: urban layout, town center design and the design of a civic

center. The design movement that became our studio’s guideline is new urbanism.

New urbanism is a movement that bases off a grid and includes boulevards with

alleys. The last phases (phases 2 and 3) of the Mansfi eld design is designing the

town center and civic center. A major design criteria to designing the civic center

was fi nding an architect that inspired us and study their architecture vocabulary to

design the center. I took this a couple steps further: I included this vocabulary into

the town center and part of the whole urban design. From the “city’s wings” to the

Calatravian civic center to the circular grid, this urban landscape becomes a blos-

soming development of beauty.

The Crawford-Hall Renovation was a full basement renovation from

water damage. The basement was gutted to studs and remodeled into a theater/

bar room, guest bedroom, scrap booking nook and bathroom. The existing work

room stayed the way it was with only some minor waterproofi ng/sealing done to

it. I was the designer and contractor on this job. I did everything from design-

ing the spaces to building the pilasters in the theater room. I even built the scrap

booking desk for the nook. The basement needed a huge upgrade into the present

and this design brings beauty, technology and sophistication to an area that didn’t

have any of it before.

The Ramos Deck project was a design proposal for the Ramos family. The

design included a new deck with a storm door installation from the breakfast nook.

A large patio design will be put in that will wrap around the house towards the drive-

way to the side entrance of the house and have a raised platform for a future ga-

zebo. I worked with Manfrass Architects and Planners on the project for design and

structural consultation.

The deck will have two levels. The fi rst level is an eight foot by eight foot

platform that the family will enter onto from the breakfast nook. The family needed

a more convenient way of getting to their backyard and soon to be deck, so a new

storm door will be installed on the west side of the house in the breakfast nook area

off the kitchen. The lower deck is a 16’ x 16’ platform that steps down from the fi rst

level. It steps down seven inches for a code required elevation change. The north-

west corner of the deck has steps leading down the ground. The site has a gradual

decline from the house to the back of the yard, which adds an extra step onto the

stairs leading off the deck.

The family loves the design and currently is trying to procure the fi nancial

stability in order to start construction.

The Penfi eld project is a sustainable design solution that involved two major

complications on one site. The fi rst is a fl oodplain; most of the site is actually located

in a fl oodplain so building anything on it has to be very particular in order to not con-

taminate natural environments. The second is a historical house. Frank Lloyd Wright

had designed a house for the Penfi eld family. This action was very inspirational to

the sustainability aspect of the design. The project lasted for the better part of a se-

mester. This project was a team eff ort. My partner and I managed to handle the site

with a great level of sustainable design. Methods like rip rap, terracing and increased

vegetation are all highly useful ways of dealing with our fl oodplain issue. There are

three basic zones to our design: river and fl oodplain, Penfi eld house and the Penfi eld

design school. The highlight of the design is the Penfi eld School for Sustainable De-

sign. The school is a small private establishment devoted to training a select number

of students in sustainable architecture. The Penfi eld project incorporates education,

community and privacy with sustainable practices in order to create a much more

unifi ed and healthy world without taking away the luxuries we have all come to ex-

pect.

Nike Chry-sol-is, or the Nike Headquarters for Innovative Design, in Baltimore utilizes

innovative sustainable systems and cutting-edge design to lead Baltimore into a new era of

architecture. This 14 story offi ce building uses green roof technology, hydronic heating and

cooling systems, rain water catchment systems and photo-voltaic panels to, in time, create a

building that is completely self-suffi cient.

The building is broken into two towers. Tower A, the tallest tower, and tower B, the

smaller tower. The towers are designed to naturally shade from southern light and allow as

much northern light into the spaces as possible. The fi rst and second fl oors of Chry-sol-is are

retail stores for Nike allowing the higher fl oors to be used as offi ce space. The bay off ers won-

derful views for the building; as well as looking down the boulevard.

The photo-voltaic system used on the sides of the building is a designed system that

will absorb sunlight to make energy in the daytime and use that energy to play moving pic-

tures, movies or shows at night time for the community. The Nike Headquarters for Innovative

Design in Baltimore is a structure that pushes boundaries and commands a higher class of

architecture; pushing Baltimore towards a new form of design.