In the US, people with intellectual and developmental disabilities(IDD) can develop rootedness through the public school system until their 22nd birthday. But after this date, support opportunities shift dramatically. Though Medicaid waivers support home and community based services(HCBS), many people in this position are met with limited options and a lost sense of place. With this problem at hand, what can designers do? Through analyzing past discrepancies and involving potential end users in the design process, this proposal for a mixed-use site in Raleigh, NC re-considers design standards and aims to embody a soulfulness that adults with IDD deserve.

Engagement in physical activity is essential for youth development. Physical activity can help foster overall well-being, social connection, academic success, and healthy lifestyle habits. Yet, the growing prevalence of technology use and the lack of readily available and accessible sports facilities limit active participation. Many traditional sports facilities prioritize physical performance alone, often overlooking the mental, emotional, and developmental needs of youth. This thesis proposes a new type of activity facility that intentionally integrates both physical and mental training to support holistic youth development. The facility is designed as a balanced, youth-centered environment that encourages movement, focus, confidence, and social connection.

Children and teens in foster care often experience trauma, emotional stress, and instability due to disrupted family relationships and repeated transitions between living environments. These experiences can affect emotional development, behavior, learning, and their sense of safety and belonging. While educational and community day centers provide important support services, many are not intentionally designed to address the psychological and sensory effects of trauma. This thesis explores how trauma-informed interior design can create calming, supportive, and emotionally responsive environments for children and teens in foster care. With a focus on color psychology and sensory design, the research examines how interior environments can help reduce stress, support emotional regulation, and promote comfort, stability, and well-being. Through literature review, precedent analysis, and evidence-based design research, this study proposes interior design strategies for trauma-informed day centers that enhance well-being through carefully considered color palettes, sensory balance, and supportive spatial experiences.

Cities are filled with buildings that carry dark histories: places shaped by conflict, exclusion, neglect, or other forms of social harm. These structures are often abandoned or demolished, generating waste and erasing the material traces that hold collective memory. This thesis explores how adaptive reuse can transform a building with a dark past into a community center; a place where community and creativity can help reinterpret the meanings embedded in the existing architecture. It examines how design can work with its remaining traces: materials, marks, atmospheres, and spatial conditions to shape new forms of public use. It explores how memory can remain visible but not dominant, creating a balance where the building’s past coexists with new opportunities for gathering, making, and living through shared experiences to rebuild the sense of community that was lost in history.

This thesis explores how restorative spaces can bring unity and encourage wellness in both local and temporary communities. By creating shared destinations along a local trail, wellness can be encouraged through outdoor activity and community interaction. This provides spaces where trail-goers and community members can find pause in between activity to take in the surrounding environment, bond with the people around them, and focus on well-being. Ultimately, this project will foster stronger community connections and promote healthy living, creating a positive impact on current and future generations.

Hurricane Katrina revealed how exposed New Orleans is to disasters and made it clear that climate events often affect marginalized neighborhoods like the Lower Ninth Ward the most. As storms become more intense and sea levels continue to rise, it is crucial to build stronger, more resilient communities. This project plans to open a center at Jackson Barracks that will offer resources, improve food access, provide education, create gathering spaces, and give ongoing support. By encouraging self-sufficiency and careful planning, the project aims to help the Lower Ninth Ward community prepare for future climate challenges and preserve its identity.

Community has always been at the heart of human life, yet today’s urban lifestyles and digital interactions have left many feeling isolated. Community has always been fundamental to human life. We’re not solitary creatures — from early civilizations, people have thrived in groups, surrounded by those they share a sense of connection and belonging with. But in today’s fast-paced world shaped by urbanization, gentrification, and the rise of virtual interaction, people have slowly drifted away from engaging with their communities in everyday life. As cities grow denser and multigenerational needs evolve, it’s become crucial to rethink how we design spaces that foster real human connection. People long for moments of warmth, belonging, and shared experience. Thoughtful design has the power to bridge this gap—to create spaces that invite conversation, togetherness, and simple joy. My thesis explores how thoughtful design can bridge generational gaps and combat loneliness—creating community spaces that spark conversation, togetherness, and a renewed sense of belonging in an increasingly disconnected world.

This thesis investigates how interior spaces can support transitions between activity and rest through materiality, light, and movement. It explores how sensory design and atmosphere can evoke emotion, encourage pause, and foster comfort and reflection. The design approach focuses on creating spaces that gently guide users through cycles of stimulation and restoration, promoting emotional grounding and well-being. Ultimately, the research demonstrates how thoughtfully designed interiors can shape human experience through atmosphere and spatial transitions.

In many contemporary housing models, people live inches apart yet worlds away. Buildings optimized for privacy and efficiency often leave little room for the overlaps that allow communities to grow. Modular Communities of Belonging asks how interior architecture might restore these lost moments; how flexible, modular systems can shape small-scale neighborhoods where connection feels natural, not forced. Inspired by theories of place identity, sensory experience, social infrastructure, and personal memories, this thesis explores interiors as spatial frameworks for belonging. It seeks to design adaptable, low-impact living environments where daily routines create opportunities for connection and mutual care. By reimagining how we share spaces, this project proposes modular interior ecologies that support community, resilience, and a deeper sense of home in a world where loneliness has quietly become the norm.

My Thesis aims to redefine the concept of assisted living by integrating long-term intergenerational living environments that foster connection, purpose, and community. This approach prioritizes spaces that enable older adults to age with dignity and autonomy while promoting meaningful interactions between generations. By merging care, community, and inclusivity, it enhances the well-being of all residents.These environments are designed to break down age-related segregation and encourage mutual support through shared spaces and activities. They leverage universal design principles and community-based resources to support diverse needs. Ultimately, the goal is to create vibrant, equitable living environments where aging is seen not as decline, but as a continued opportunity for growth, contribution, and belonging.

What are you drawn to in the city and why? This thesis applies an interiors lens to the built environment, bringing out qualities of place that foster belonging, create a comfortable and engaging atmosphere, and allow us to feel a sense of attachment. In particular, I am interested in spaces that serve as the backdrop to our everyday lives, whether we acknowledge them directly or not. Our experience walking from one place to another through the urban fabric is fluid, even between our typically defined borders of indoor and outdoor. Introducing interventions to sites around Philadelphia with existing atmospheric and social potential demonstrates how inherently simple elements can transform space into place. This thesis draws from theories of urban design, third place, place attachment, and atmosphere to explore what is extraordinary in the mundane.

This thesis explores the recent rise of American immigration to Mexico City. In response to shifting housing access and cultural displacement, this thesis proposes a transitional co-living space that supports both incoming American immigrants and Mexican locals through intentional community building. Drawing on J. Macgregor Wise’s concept of territorialization through habit, the project considers how built space can help new American immigrants establish routines, maintain identity, and develop a sense of belonging in a new cultural context. This space features rent-controlled units for locals and an American-style diner, designed to foster a shared experience, cultural exchange, and mutual respect. Food plays a central role as a familiar anchor and a tool for connection—bridging memory and place, and creating opportunities for interaction between residents and the wider community. Booths and Borders reimagines migration not as isolation, but as an opportunity to build lasting, place-based community.

As global travel experiences a resurgence, popular destinations increasingly face challenges from overcrowding, affecting both local communities and natural environments. This project proposes a sustainable hospitality model inspired by slow tourism, emphasizing thoughtful, sensory-rich experiences that reconnect guests to the landscape and local life. Northwestern Stables exemplifies this approach by prioritizing community-driven activities, environmentally conscious practices, and meaningful interactions. Through collaborative partnerships with local organizations and farms, the model fosters authentic connections and promotes responsible travel choices. The integration of wellness, local agriculture, and immersive workshops creates unique opportunities for visitors to pause, reflect, and engage more intentionally with their surroundings. By gently dispersing visitors into less-explored areas and involving community stakeholders directly in tourism initiatives, this approach transforms over-tourism’s challenges into opportunities. Ultimately, the project aims to benefit both guests and residents, enhancing quality of life, preserving local identity, and promoting environmental stewardship through conscious design.

As global travel experiences a resurgence, popular destinations increasingly face challenges from overcrowding, affecting both local communities and natural environments. This project proposes a sustainable hospitality model inspired by slow tourism, emphasizing thoughtful, sensory-rich experiences that reconnect guests to the landscape and local life. Northwestern Stables exemplifies this approach by prioritizing community-driven activities, environmentally conscious practices, and meaningful interactions. Through collaborative partnerships with local organizations and farms, the model fosters authentic connections and promotes responsible travel choices. The integration of wellness, local agriculture, and immersive workshops creates unique opportunities for visitors to pause, reflect, and engage more intentionally with their surroundings. By gently dispersing visitors into less-explored areas and involving community stakeholders directly in tourism initiatives, this approach transforms over-tourism’s challenges into opportunities. Ultimately, the project aims to benefit both guests and residents, enhancing quality of life, preserving local identity, and promoting environmental stewardship through conscious design.

Food brings people together—but the spaces where we gather to eat tell stories, too. This thesis explores the intersections of food, architecture, and sensory design, focusing on how dining environments can express regional identity and terroir. Terroir—often associated with wine—refers to the interplay of environment, tradition, and human craftsmanship that gives food and drink their distinctive character. It reflects how land, climate, and culture shape not only flavor but also the spaces in which food is prepared, shared, and celebrated. Drawing on research in foodways, regional architecture, and sensory experience, this project investigates the shared values of food and architecture—craft, materiality, and connection. It proposes that dining spaces should reflect terroir by embedding environmental and cultural narratives into their design. Through features such as sensory tasting rooms, edible gardens, and areas for preservation and production, the project envisions immersive environments that deepen our relationship to food and place—celebrating not only what we eat, but how, where, and with whom we gather.

Food brings people together—but the spaces where we gather to eat tell stories, too. This thesis explores the intersections of food, architecture, and sensory design, focusing on how dining environments can express regional identity and terroir. Terroir—often associated with wine—refers to the interplay of environment, tradition, and human craftsmanship that gives food and drink their distinctive character. It reflects how land, climate, and culture shape not only flavor but also the spaces in which food is prepared, shared, and celebrated. Drawing on research in foodways, regional architecture, and sensory experience, this project investigates the shared values of food and architecture—craft, materiality, and connection. It proposes that dining spaces should reflect terroir by embedding environmental and cultural narratives into their design. Through features such as sensory tasting rooms, edible gardens, and areas for preservation and production, the project envisions immersive environments that deepen our relationship to food and place—celebrating not only what we eat, but how, where, and with whom we gather.

While digital work culture can keep us tethered to enclosed indoor environments, working spaces emerge as a unique opportunity to reimagine the workplace experience. This thesis explores how indoor-outdoor architecture can be integrated into work environments to promote wellness, productivity, creativity, and foster a deeper connection to nature. By blending built environments with natural elements, the design aims to evoke the openness, calm, and restorative qualities we associate with the outdoors. Drawing on principles of nature-inspired design, this research investigates how elements such as daylight, greenery, water features, natural ventilation, and natural materials can shape more human-centered workspaces. The thesis proposes a coworking model that redefines the modern workplace—transforming it into a dynamic, inclusive, and rejuvenating ecosystem aligned with the evolving values of contemporary work life.

The dominant approach in contemporary design emphasizes standardization and efficiency. Sadly, this often overshadows or destroys the unique character and history of buildings. In contrast, this thesis proposes a design ethos that embraces the patina of wear and the feeling of material authenticity. Rather than erase imperfections or overwrite the past, it engages the tactile evidence of time: layers of paint, repairs and alterations made over time, strange patches and conjunctions of materials, and traces of age and use.  Intervention is not seen as a disruption, but as a continuation: a gesture in response to existing conditions. In particular, handmade materials carry the presence of their maker and enter into dialogue with the building’s embodied history, deepening the sense of place and presence. Tool marks, joints, brushstrokes - these become signs of life, not flaws to be corrected. By honoring these imprints—of both time and human labor—this thesis work resists the notion of a finished or perfected space. Instead, it celebrates the building as a living surface, continually shaped by time, use, and care.

In the face of escalating displacement, the global refugee population has surged from 117.3 million in 2023 to 122.6 million in 2024—a startling figure underscoring the urgent need for safe and inclusive environments. Refugees, particularly children, face profound psychological and emotional challenges as they navigate loss, uncertainty, and the demands of cultural integration. This thesis explores how thoughtful design can transform temporary shelters into spaces of healing, safety, and community, especially for displaced children. My thesis envisions environments that foster belonging, empowerment, and resilience through child-centered play areas, educational spaces, communal gardens, and cultural retail zones. By integrating sustainable materials, spaces for cultural expression, and opportunities for economic engagement, the aim is to create pathways toward hope and healing. This project investigates how architecture and interior design can support displaced communities, asking: How can design cultivate a sense of home and community for those who have lost both? And can these spaces serve as catalysts for healing and empowerment amid profound adversity?

Public interior space is crucial to the development and support of communities. It supports civic engagement by providing spaces for connection, activity, and reflection leading to deeper belonging to and stewardship of one’s community. In public space, the transitional non-programmed spaces can create greater opportunity for a wide range of uses and interaction between diverse users. However, public space is unequally invested in. Socio-economic status, as well as race and gender have a huge impact on how public spaces are shaped. Public space should be equally accessible and supportive for all communities. I began this project considering my own experience of public spaces, and how they supported or failed to support me and my community. I am interested in how public interiors can be repurposed to support connection and activity, creating space that is approachable, inclusive, and can be community defined, supporting democracy and the fabric of our cities.