“Let the beauty of what you love be what you do.” 

​- Rumi

TEW PEDIATRIC DENTRISTRY

Tew Pediatric Dentistry is the client’s second practice. Finding that they needed more space to adequately serve their patients, they are moving from West Jordan to Bluffdale. In the process of this move, the client desired a more sleek, contemporary take on the tree and storybook theming of his previous practice. Using an existing set of construction documents to inform the design, multiple iterations of the plans were required to satisfy the client’s needs and wants. The overall mission is a healthy, safe, and elevated atmosphere appealing to children and adults alike; the result is a highly functional space that looks contemporary and playful. Elements and principles of design were carefully considered for each room and phase of the project. Finishes and furniture were all selected to be highly cleanable and convey elements of biophilia in the design. Pastel colors are used in tasteful ways to ease children in what is potentially a scary situation. Vertical, moving lines and the contrast of color as a patient walks from room to room simulates the feeling of a forest. The balanced use of patterned wallpaper, warm off-white spaces, and glossy-textured tiles brings about a sense of tasteful variety within a unified space. Oversize, leaf-pattern acoustic panels are the most direct nod to the beauty of trees, allowing overhead lights to dapple through to the floor. These elements produce a warm, invigorating, and functional result.

THE INDIGENOUS KITCHEN

The Indigenous Kitchen is a modern-style community outreach center aiming to showcase and teach the traditional foodways of the Indigenous groups of the southwestern United States. The design concept is inspired by the beautiful mesas and other rock formations of New Mexico, as well as the multi-story architecture of ancestral Puebloans. Tiered roofs, straight edges, and square windows engage and guide the eyes along the building. The intense heat and sunlight of the region were the main considerations in determining building orientation and lighting systems. Natural sunlight and adequate views are considered necessary for good mental health, so large curtain windows are oriented north for excellent views of the gardens and minimal heat. All exits possess a trellis overhang to block the intense western sun. Clerestory windows to the south let in beams of the strong southern sun to light the central areas of the building as well as the teaching kitchen. The interior of the building is to reflect local and traditional materials such as pine, wool, leather, and turquoise stones. It is also to encourage public engagement with the educational mission of the building by including a gallery of traditional native seeds and plants. Three main areas of the building reinforce the mission of The Indigenous Kitchen. The restaurant allows local Indigenous cooks to showcase the possibilities of cooking with Indigenous ingredients. The gallery provides the public with eye-catching displays of important edible Indigenous plants and ancestral foodways. The teaching kitchen provides the Indigenous community of Albuquerque with the appropriate environment for learning traditional cooking and foodways, free of charge. With its large show window, the exterior of the teaching kitchen also encourages guests to watch and reflect on the impact that learning how to work with Indigenous ingredients has on their community.

THE PLINY COLLECTION

Upon first hearing the prompts for the Janus et Cie design competition -- Play, Inclusion, and Environment/Contextualism -- the immediate thought was the importance of having movable pieces. These furniture pieces needed to be eye-catching and yet accessible and easy for people of all ages, so kids and adults, to move and experiment with. The second thought was that the furniture needs to be a set of objects that look like they belong together and add to the space. The quote by Aristotle, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, was what kick-started the idea that the human body is greater than the sum of its parts. The Pliny Furniture Collection is the result of the idea that humans, in both a community and individual context, need to be fully present. People are only benefitted when they are aware of their bodies in their present context. It didn’t need to be as literal as it was designed to be, but the final forms emphasize the joys of play and surprise. It’s a result that intends to make people stop and want to linger and figure out what they can do in this current space, in this current body, with these parts and pieces.