The Pools at Porta Maggiore

Year: 2022

Team: Luca Gillie, Jesse Lohman

An array of Marble blocks along an underdeveloped lot on the Aurelien Wall connects two parks and creates a new linear park and community center. The Marble blocks are carved below to create a series of pools, ranging from hot to cold, while overhead the uncarved portion of the blocks are filled with programs of focus. A cafe, meeting hall, library, and olympic swimming pool mirror the occupation below, a space of linear progression is paired with a series of isolated programs.

The poche of the carved blocks work as the structure, vertical circulation, fulfills programatic needs, and act as vertical chases for utilities. The underbelly of the carved portions of the blocks becomes a vertical threshold that reinforces the separation of what’s happening above and whats occuring below. Combining several bays or units, the programs above occupy several blocks each, and are connected in places to create larger spaces.

The pools intergrate with the processional nature of the ground plane and park, while the marble blocks overhead work vertically to create isolated destinations. The Aurelian Wall along one edge is both a historical backdrop for the marble and at the same time resembles the qualities of the new rough forms on the site. The carved nature of the forms also recalls and mirrors the worn nature of the wall and creates a common language between the two.

Rest Room

Year: 2022-2023

Team: Chris Jarrett, Jesse Lohman, Peter Wong

Japan is the birthplace of karoshi – “death from overwork” – a word invented in the 1970s to describe deaths caused by work-related stress and pressure. In Tokyo today, many workers take the last train home every night, leaving little time for rest and recuperation. The cost of unchecked corporate loyalty, punctuality, solidarity and discipline is undue amounts of personal stress, anxiety and depression. The work culture in Tokyo can be exhausting and unhealthy. Added to this is the addiction of digital devices.

REST ROOM seeks to alleviate worker stress by introducing a series of meditation spaces directly in the space of Tokyo’s growing corporate culture. As the number of glossy towers increase, from Marunouchi and Meguro to Shinagawa and Shibuya, so does the rise of corporate plazas. REST ROOM hovers above a sea of granite pavers, decorative plantings and infrastructural exhaust vents. Located in conjunction with the spaces of work are spaces of rest. REST ROOM serves as both animated public art and quiet private space for meditation. By day, metallic screens painted with playful mushrooms by artist Yayoi Kusama enliven the banal corporate plaza while concealing a warm soft interior made of sustainably grown mushrooms sculpted to support the body at rest. Surfaces emerge to sit, lie and lean. Sounds of the city are silenced. By night, LED lighting reveals the sculpted form inside. As work deadlines loom, room for mindful meditation can improve the mood and well-being of overworked employees, helping them to become happier and healthier while lowering Tokyo’s unspoken rate of karoshi.

Hidden Valley ADU

Year: 2022-2023

Team: Garrett De Mars, Jesse Lohman, Meg Mitchell

The Hidden Valley ADU is a prototype designed for the City of Charlotte as a pre-permitted Accesory Dwelling Unit. Designed to be easily adaptable and small in footprint, this 575sqft house can be built on a majority of sites within the Hidden Valley community, as a means of helping homeowners hold onto their properties and homes. Simultaneously prioritzing privacy and openness, the project can blend in to whatever surroundings for a relatively low price.