URBAN OPAL

Urban Opal

Louisiana Tech University / Master / Critic: Damon Caldwell

Individual Project / Summer 2023 -Spring 2024

Urban Opal is an ambitious project where a designer pursuing timeless and tranquil quality intersects with the timely program of fashion design. Instead of forcibly blending these two aspects, the project respects their differences by allowing them to coexist as contrasting forms in the project.

The base plinth embeds in the ground and rises from the landscape, providing exterior amenities and public-oriented programs such as the fashion runways, auditorium, and archival gallery. Clad in timeless limestone and concrete, this base form establishes a timeless foundation for the fashion institution.

Floating above the plinth is a contemporary glass volume, housing studios, classrooms, and fabrication facilities. This volume is enveloped by a faceted translucent drapery of perforated metal; a timely expression of change, challenge, and boldness. Carving up through the middle of the volume is a dramatic atrium ascending from plinth to sky. Within this, the community staircase serves as a space that permeates both timeless and timely qualities, offering fashion design students insights into both timeless and timely aspects of design.

The four-quarter master’s project began with creating a personal manifesto without prior knowledge of the site and program. It required delivering detailed building drawings that meet the standards of the design development phase, emphasizing the practical aspects of architecture while staying true to one’s manifesto. This experience allowed me to integrate an architectural designer’s philosophy with the specific requirements of both the building program and the site. It also deepened my focus on the practical considerations essential for construction, enhancing my comprehension of spatial dynamics and detailed construction needs. Regular meetings with the project’s coordinator professor and consultants in facade, structure, and HVAC systems provided valuable firsthand insight into the collaborative nature of architecture.

Urban Opal was honored with the 2024 LTU (Louisiana Tech University) Graduate School Project of the Year award.