“School of the Eternal Blue Sky” was an entry into the Cool School Design Competition in Mongolia. The primary design criterion included utilizing readily available materials, celebrating Mongolia’s cultural heritage through colors and fabrics, incorporating passive heating, lighting, and soundproofing techniques, and creating a playful learning environment.

Southern and Western faces maximize winter and afternoon solar gain to promote passive heating in Mongolia’s cold climate. Materials such as CMU and corrugated metal were selected based on their local availability.

The L-Shaped layout allows for both separate and interactive usage with interaction occurring primarily at the center.

The movable barrier between the multi-purpose room and corridor creates flexibility for smaller class activity or larger community activity.

The entire South and West exterior wall system acts as a trombe wall, a passive heating system that utilizes dark, massive elements to slowly release heat into the adjacent room. As the sun heats the masonry wall, which then heats the air trapped in between the masonry and the glass, the heat rises and is then pulled into the room through the use of ceiling fans. Once the air cools, vents at the bottom of the wall allow the air to recirculate. Rollable Cashmere tapestries in front of the wall can be lowered at night to keep heat from escaping through the glass.

Southern and Western openings maximize winter and afternoon daylight. Tall clerestories on the north and south allow diffused daylight into the space. The light shelf on the South acts to reflect light into the space where it bounces into the space off of the reflective surface of the metal decking.

Hanging cashmere tapestries throughout the primary spaces decrease unwanted reverberation by softening interior surfaces.

The storefront in front of the CMU structure creates a trombe wall by trapping air inside the cavity formed between the two. An element of play is introduced through the colored aluminum boxes slotted throughout the facade.

The proposed annex for the existing school is situated so that the classrooms are located along the southern face to maximize southern exposure. The building’s modular extruded shape provides an efficient and economical solution to the school’s growing needs.

The suspended ceiling was designed so that the linear lights and divider walls slotted in between the wood. The point of sale counter was dropped below a void in the ceiling to imply a sense of it having been extracted from the ceiling above.

To aid the process of wayfinding, I helped draw customer’s eyes toward the pharmacy pickup line by suspending six planes of whitewashed cedar wood in the air, beginning in the entry vestibule, continuing through the primary space, and then cascading down behind the client counter in the back.

The client’s bold orange and black colors were used throughout the building to emphasize branding. New curtain wall openings were saw cut into the existing masonry to create well lit office space along the entire wall

I aided in the development of the design for the entry and front facade through material placement, proportions, and proposing design moves such as placing the logo on the back wall.

The use of maple wood was used in the entry vestibule, point of sale, and shoe wall to visually reference the flooring in a basketball court.

As one of the lead designers and project managers for this Studio H Design residence, I worked from design through completion to create a clean, modern, cubist form with a minimal material palette, efficient and logical floor plan, and a distinct yet subdued exterior form.

The logical rhythms and punctuations of this design’s simple yet dynamic massing create both a sculptural yet ergonomic home.

The logical rhythms and punctuations of this design’s simple yet dynamic massing create both a sculptural yet ergonomic home.

The cantilevered steel canopy with its warm wood pallet provides unencumbered space on the patio while remaining visually cohesive with the rest of the home’s material layout.