INFANTE
Prologue. Desires of the unbuilt environment
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_ a relic
Dissolving Temporalities.
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_ a microcosm
C.A.M.P.
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Sinuous Spawns.
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Vertical Expanse.
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Contents
_an intruder
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2018 - 2021
_an annex
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_ Grace infante
University of florida // University of Pennsyvania
_a node
Forces of Intersect.
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_a eulogy
Muri Dei Morti.
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Field Morphology.
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_a puzzle
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_a dream
Memory House.
+ Supplementary Works
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01 .
Phase II
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01 A_ Relic
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Phase I
A_relic.
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Dissolving Temporalities. _Formative Flows// Sediments, time, and immortal ruins.
_Infante
Fall _ 2021
University of Pennsylvania 501 | Fall 2021 Instructor | Laia Mogas- Soldevila Site | Fairmount Waterworks
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This museum extension dedicates itself to the art of sediments, the art of the earth. Inspired by the shapeshifting properties of sand and soil, this building exists in a perpetual state of transformation. The sedimentary flows of the site exist in conjunction with the dredging that is supposed to take place on the river every 5 years, from which the collected material is to be completely wasted and disregarded- this process has been delayed for over 20 years now. As a response to this circumstance, the building’s structure will perform a reinvention of that unglamorous cycle, taking gross and raw material and transforming it into a curious installation via a time-based design of two phases. The structure aims to transform this recurring process into something more spectacular. Phase I: 2021-2050 Every 5 years, the sludge is distributed into the museum walls through a conveyor filtration system, catering to a spectator’s perspective. In idle time, the mixture performs its spontaneous dance as it swirls and bubbles through the pools of containment which the building lies embedded between. This period of spectacle works in supplement to the land artists, pottery makers, and innovators that choose to embellish the exhibit’s ever-accumulating interior.
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Phase II: 2050 on From the surrounding sediments, this structure builds itself up layer by layer. As the material accumulates, the building’s temporal notions diminish, for one day it will perform by burying itself completely in the land from which it came. However, these fruitful ruins continue the cyclic process of sediment distribution, offering its lifetime of sedimentary resources to the public. We’ve often seen immortality portrayed as the preservation of a single image until the end of time. However, something that is immortal can be constantly undergoing change with change being the only constant. This structure will in turn, remain in existence as a disbanded relic, repurposed as a hub for land artists and researchers everywhere.
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Fall _ 2021 |
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01 A_ Relic |
_Infante
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Physical Chunk Model at 1/8”
Chunk Detail
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01 A_ Relic
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Fall _ 2021
Physical Chunk Model at 1/8”
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Interior programs
Interior movement
| Flow of human + Flow of Sediment
Containment pools
Sediment Carriers
Formative ground
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Fall _ 2021
01 A_ Relic |
_Infante
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Material Formation studies
| South view concept elevation
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02 .
A_microcosm.
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02 A_ Microcosm
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C.A.M.P
_Infante
Spring _ 2019
_The centripetal performance of city dynamics.
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University of florida Design 6 | Spring 2019 instructor | Stephen Belton Site | Charleston, NC
The Charleston Academy of Music Performance [CAMP] sits dramatically on the edge of King st facing Marion Square Park. This corner acts as an intense point of city dynamism with its diverse characters, programs, and scales. This corner was observed to be the hub of the centripetal forces in the city with the constant flowing of cars, people, directions, and points of arrival. All of this is what drives both the rhythm of the city and the building’s interior experience as a cultural vessel. As a music academy, the interiors strive to achieve a greater connection between audience + performer by breaking down the barriers that divide it. This building redefines “Spectacle” and “Performance” through scale and context. This is an urban container, absorbing the dynamics of the city and relying on scale dramatics. This is a microcosm.
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02 A_ Microcosm
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_Dichotomy of scale.
_Infante
Spring _ 2019
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I captured the elements that stood out to me while walking around the city and then collaged them into the urban collision that I felt occuring at the project’s site. This is a mapping of atmosphere paired with a mapping of axes. These representations of site demonstrate the duality of scale- The wild and intimate, the technical and broad.
| Bug models- PLA, bristol, spray paint
Bristol model 1/16”
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02 A_ Microcosm
| Spring _ 2019
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_ Prelude// the performance of pre-function.
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1. Public atrium entrance 2.Grand staircase to lvl 2 3. Student atrium entrance 4.Admin. offices 5. Student Lobby/ prefunction 6.Grand staircase to lvl.3 7. Student lawn 8. Faculty parking
The entire project’s circulation revolves around this theatre-atrium. This open public route replaces the traditional “foyer” and makes the use of pre-function space a grand performance. The flow of people becomes a spectacle as the students watch the public from above walking around the space and into the theatre. A constant dialogue rests within this void. Spaces like this maintain the separation of program while encouraging unity of experience.
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_Infante
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GROUND LVL
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| STUDENT CIRCULATION & THE PUBLIC VOID Student space Inner circulation MOMENTS OF INTERACTION WITH THE CITY
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Point of interaction (Glass) Direction of sight
LVL 01
LVL 02
1. Secondary performance space 2. Primary performance space 3. Performance spaces entry/ Atrium Lvl 2 4. School space 1st flr lobby 5-11. Classrooms 12. Storage
1-9. Classrooms 10.Study Cubicles 11. Private entrance to performance space 12. Ramp to 3rd flr 13. School Lvl 2 lobby 14. Ramp to student lounge/ cafe
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Spring _ 2019
02 A_ Microcosm |
_Infante
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| 1/16” model PLA + museum board
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03 .
An_intruder.
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03 An_ intruder
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Sinuous Spawns.
_Infante
Fall _ 2021
_Intrusive object// The Spawn.
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University of Pennsylvannia 501 | Fall 2021 Team | Rachel Seto, Jing Huang, Xiayu Zhao Instructor | Laia Mogas-Soldevila Site | Meyerson Hall, PA
Emerging from unknown origins, The Spawn is a curious life form in a perpetual state of expansion. Since materializing here on Weitzman grounds, it has spread at an exponential rate and shows no signs of stopping. Although the Spawn’s properties are alien to us, there are a few similarities that can be drawn to the behaviors of certain organisms on Earth. Reminiscent of cholla cactus skeletons, the main body is primarily texturized by a mesh of cells. Encompassed in a jacket of purple fur is the Spawn’s shell, which the main body expands and grows out of. The extremities of the body are tinged green- a visual representation of the growth that occurs at those points. The Spawn’s main method of expansion is similar to coral spawning, in which the host releases orb-like spores that are dispersed outwards from the body. These spores then attach themselves to a new surface and begin the cycle once again.
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Fall _ 2021
03 An_ intruder |
_Infante
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22 The spread.
| DNA// Main frame
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RNA// Sub frame
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MESH// Jacket weave
Spawn rule sets// Structure.
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Fall _ 2021
03 An_ intruder |
_Infante
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04 .
An_annex.
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04 An_ Annex
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The Vertical Expanse.
_ Infante + Luengo
Fall _ 2019
_On the edge.
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University of Florida Design 7 | Fall 2019 Partner | Sabrina Luengo Instructor | Judi Shade Monk Site | Museum Mile, NYC Work Production | Renders by Grace Infante Drawings by Sabrina Luengo Models by Collaboration Photo edits by Grace Infante
This project deals with the spatial relation to the edge and its extensions. This tower absorbs the urban context towards an upward expansion. The tower’s museum zone functions as an annex to both the Cooper Hewitt and the historial art distric that surrounds. With the additional programs of residence, hotel, amenities, office space, 2 public courtyards, and 2 lobbies, this fusion of programs at such a large scale makes a tower like this the ultimate brew of public + private. The tower’s museum is the anchor where dynamic pockets of public interaction rise into a residential experience. The building’s core and entry points were solidified in order to establish efficient circulation and program control- A shared ground plan with assigned entrances that lead to the corresponding spaces.
| Courtyard Space
Museum Approach
Museum space
Residence + Amenities
Hotel
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The courtyard annex
Fall _ 2019
04 An_ Annex
Central park reflection
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_ Infante + Luengo
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3D print + museum board iterations
_ Just plug it in. From the early stages of design, it was known that the bottom of the tower should be what anchors and guides it up - A base function [yellow] that transforms into a vertical function [white]. By categorizing the process models into these 2 qualities, different combinations of scale, operation, and program are tested. Placing the physical models into the 1/64” site like a puzzle allows the exploration of interesting tangents and formal interactions.
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Fall _ 2019
04 An_ Annex |
_ Infante + Luengo
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| Museum Atrium
Museum main entrance + approach
Translucent
Reflective
Structure
Composition
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05 . A_node.
| 05 A _ Node
Re-built object models
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Forces of intersect. _The joint in the city.
_ Infante
Spring _ 2019
University of florida Design 6 | Spring 2019 instructor | Stephen Belton Site | Gainesville, FL
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This project began by organizing the city’s geospatial qualities and discovering the overlapping of forces, nodes and limbs within. By being embedded directly into a corner in downtown GNV, the concept was for the intervention was to sit like a joint in the city, bringing together communities. For the workings of this, I looked at the assembly of old devices. Using the kitbashing method, outdated gadgets were then smashed into components to create a new structure out of the old and forgotten. Thus, the Re-built Object models explore sectional and programmatic qualities to produce the ultimate node in the city, physically and metaphorically, as the GNV Culture and Technology Center.
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The veiled view
_From sketch to formation. The sketches exploring the junctions of the city corner result in an explosive investigation of scale, dimension, and measure. This investigation is then translated into the [2] found object models, which were assembled in ways that represent the intersecting of street elevations adjacent to the corner.
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05 A _ Node
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Spring _ 2019
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The sectional opportunities of a dissective approach to model making.
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06 . A_Eulogy.
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06 A _Eeulogy
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Muri Dei Morti.
Spring _ 2020
_Journey through light. University of florida Design 8 | Spring 2020 Instructor | Lisa Huang + Peter Sprowls Site | Venetian Lagoon
Venezia: A million little islands risen and connected by the strings of fluid negative space between them. With these water flowing veins, Venice breathes. Thus, from the water, Muri Dei Morti is born. “Walls of the Dead” is a floating memorial to commemorate the life of a floating city. It is a permanent installation with a specific use during the Feista Dei Morti celebration. On this day The Tower of Light opens. The tower rises over the lagoon. Facing both the city and the cemetary, it gives visitors dead and alive a space to coexist.
_ Infante
This memorial bonds the two land masses of Venice and the Cemetery Island by interjecting the triangle formed by Venice’s transportation route. You are forced to experience the journey, whether it be in depth or in passing.
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The journey it takes to arrive and the journey you take through it is parallel to your interpretation of a life from beginning to end. This is a eulogy.
| Flow to Focal Point // Iterative sketching
_ Boundary intercept. Spatial iterations are formed through the interjection of the invisible edge of Venice’s vaporetto route to Cimitero Di San Michele. The goal was for the project to form an additional route through its floating walls. Themes of flow and focal point are explored.
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Spring _ 2020
06 A _Eeulogy |
_ Infante
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_The voyager. After arriving by vaporetto, you begin to walk through water and light into intimate moments of oneness. Next, you ascend the Tower of Light. Below the tower, a grassy yard is surrounded by the Venetian Lagoon allowing visitors to let go of the ashes of the deceased. This ends the journey in moments of appreciation and release before continuing on to San Michele.
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07 . A_puzzle.
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07 A _ Puzzle
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Field Morphology.
_ Infante
Fall _ 2018
_A glitch in the landscape.
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University of florida Design 5 | Fall 2018 Instructor | Michael Kuenstle Site | Fort Island Beach, FL
As the first exploration in upper division studio, this project plays on the deconstruction of program zones through the deconstruction of landscape and its contributing morphology. This is a properties study in the form of a puzzle. Located at the very tip of Fort Island Trail, the isolated site appears flat, barren, and uninspi ing at first glance – Just sand, water, and marsh. However, upon taking a closer look, the landscape’s hidden attributes are revealed. This seemingly lifeless terrain is actually a humble display of anomalies... There is a dialogue between the sand, the sea, and its inhabitants. Every mound, footprint, and puddle makes up a glitch in the landscape and what was once an unsullied plane is now corrupted by textures and reflections. However, these corruptions are not arbitrary, they organize in zones: A wetter zone, the drier zone, and a zone more altered than the rest. These shifting conditions of site become the design driver of a fragmented yet melding intervention - A pieced creation that joins and comes apart as a process of finding program.
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_ Collection of Intervention. Process work as studies of superimposition: A 2d mapping of the site as a structure is superimposed onto a 3d massing of the site. Then, this process of overlay and projection is translated into 2 physical constructs and 3 digitally collaged explorations.
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Collaged interventions
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07 A _ Puzzle
| _ Infante
Fall _ 2018
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_ Interlock // Moments of transition
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_ Anomaly fields. 5”x5” Sketchbook explorations: Disbanded markings are gathered together on a paper field to reveal a collision of texture and scheme. From a field of paper, markings are extruded from the page in the form of collage. A 2D surface of line and color become layered scraps of bristol. These scraps that were once nothing but remains of a previous idea are now assigned a new purpose- to be arranged back together. The anomalies of the seemingly flat and barren landscape is the inspiration for this exploration.
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07 A _ Puzzle |
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Fall _ 2018 |
_ Infante
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| Foam board puzzle carvings
Museum board, balsa wood, spray paint
_ An exploded assembly // The fabricated field.
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_ Facade porosity. The project’s facade is used as a transitional component through the idea of porosity - The properties of a porous landscape lead to the exploration of an absorbent design. The facade is the connecting piece of all the spaces while also functioning as a space itself. This building’s skin is a passageway that retains both space and the flow of inhabitants.The facade’s program of “experiencing transition” is just one example of this project’s ambition to morph landscape with structure.
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07 A _ Puzzle
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Fall _ 2018
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| 01 The Influx
02 Ebb and flow
03 Surge of transition
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08 . A_dream.
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08 A _ Dream
| The home as a capsule of memories via objects of significance.
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Memory House.
_ Infante
Spring _ 2020
_Home is where the mind is.
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UF Vicenza Institute of Architecture Design 8 | Spring 2020 Instructor | Lisa Huang + Peter Sprowls Site | Monte Baldo, Veneto
What defines a home? The home is a capsule. It is a storage container of objects that represent my memories, my dreams, my very being. My goal for this project was to redefine the meaning of “Home” through the relationships between objects, memories, and dreams. I’ve explored this idea using my own experiences as an example in order to formulate “the house of my dreams”. I look back on my dreams as if they were memories and when I look back on distant memories, I often question if it was a dream. So what is a dream if not a memory and what is a memory if not a dream? What makes the two distinguishable? For me, it’s the tangible- The objects that deep memories are tied to.
| Collaging in the 3D realm through object dismemberment
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INTERSECTION OF MOVEMENT
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08 A _ Dream
| MEMORY STORAGE PODS
| _ Infante
Spring _ 2020
ABUNDANCE OF ROUTINE
SPIRITUAL INDULGENCE
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Wall section from East side
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_Brush strokes of a pipe dream. This place does not exist. This project is a speculation that doesn’t belong in the tangible environment for it’s been conceived from intangible notions- A dream, a memory, the stroke of a paint brush.
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08 A _ Dream
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Spring _ 2020
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This idea of “site” began from the Monte Baldo mountain range in Veneto and the cable car that traverses. With vast overlooking views and themes of ascension, I came to ponder on the journey of the site and grand arrival with the cable car as a migrating capsule that becomes part of the home. Although this location served as inspiration, the project strives to capture the essence of “dream” and “memory” by placing my home on a site that exists only in the mind. With the dreamy qualities of a painting and the fantastical qulaities of a utopia, this view of Memory House portrays something familiar yet ethereal, a nostalgia of unknown origin.
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Analytical Sketching at Vicenza Instutute of Architecture.
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Supplementary works
| _Infante
2014-2018
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Samples of award winning art works from 2014-2018.
| Samples of the people, places, and things that have inspired me throughout my studies abroad.
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Imagininedg places