POETRY GARDEN
Angel Island, San Francisco Bay, CA
The site is a former immigration center located on Angel Island—an abandoned complex of historic buildings that now stands largely forgotten. Yet it sits along a stunning coastline, surrounded by remarkable natural scenery, carrying with it a heavy history that continues to resurface.
Traces of this history remain embedded in the old structures. People once carved poems and inscriptions into the walls, expressing the emotions of those who had crossed the ocean only to find themselves confined in a foreign land.
This project proposes the creation of a garden in front of the existing museum. While the museum draws visitors back into the faded past, the garden acts as a bridge—linking past and present, and connecting the vast ocean with the museum that tells the stories of those who once arrived from it.
hEALING GARDEN
San Francisco Fire Department, San Francisco, CA
In this chapter, the project focuses on 870 Bush Street in San Francisco, the historic residential building of the city’s fire chief. This residence has long served as the fire chief’s on-call home and workplace, carrying a long and meaningful history. Yet the garden in its backyard has remained largely unused.
Firefighters and their families deserve a place for reflection, remembrance, and emotional healing. Given its location and historical significance, this garden presents an ideal and perfect opportunity to create such a space.
This project was developed in direct collaboration with the San Francisco Fire Department. It went through interviews and internal review with department members, and even progressed to budget evaluation and early-stage planning. Unfortunately, due to the transition to a new fire chief in 2025, the project was ultimately paused. Nevertheless, we remain hopeful and committed to exploring opportunities for future collaboration with the department.
UNSANCTIONED SPACES
Crook Point Bascule Bridge, Providence, RI
Areas that are visibly carefully maintained, and those that are neglected are usually easy to distinguish. Yet in certain parts of the city, this boundary becomes blurred, forming a gray zone.
In these spaces, traces of formal regulation still remain, while signs of spontaneous, individual expression begin to emerge. The coexistence of order and informality creates a layered and ambiguous condition.
Such environments can be represented on the drawing table by capturing the overlap between nature and culture, as well as between the sanctioned and the unsanctioned spaces.
PIAZZA LIMONETTA
Piazza Di Via San Sebastiano, Candelo, Italy
The lens shifts to Italy. Here lies a neglected square—a fracture in the urban fabric. It is not perceived as an active public space, but rather as a marginal area lacking a clear social function or a clear urban identity.
This project explores tactical urbanism, introducing small, incremental interventions that do not disrupt the surrounding urban life but instead invite participation from local residents. Through these subtle, community-driven changes, the square has the potential to gradually re-emerge as one of the shared intersections of everyday life.
SPIRAL UPWARD
Not located in the real world
A spiraling architectural structure that ascends upward like a climbing vine winding around itself. Its form is inspired by natural growth patterns, translating the organic movement of plants into built space.
This type of geometry is particularly suitable for winding mountain paths, staircases, and vertical circulation systems in ascending buildings, where movement becomes a continuous spatial experience. It can also be designed as a standalone landmark or an observational structure, functioning as both an infrastructural element and a sculptural presence within the landscape.
LAND ART
Albany Bulb, Albany, CA
As long as you step on Albany bulb, you will find that a wonderful and unique journey has just begun. This was the story of an island which originally created for landfilling, then called off by the environmental protection organizations and became an abandoned open space. Human and nature have left countless footprints on this land in so many more years after its birth.
This small island is surrounded by water, and this water space is again surrounded by the larger Bay Area cities. The boundless ocean is on the other side of the cities. Volume and massive coexist and alternate here like light and shadow.
The design completely preserved the mystery and originality of nature here. What we have done is to embrace nature once more, just as we did thousands of years ago, with a higher wisdom.
