Set in a historic church in Philadelphia’s Italian Market neighborhood, The Living Mosaic is a gathering place designed to reflect the energy, diversity, and culture of its community. This project explores how creative interior environments can support meaningful connection by integrating food, drink, and play into everyday life. Community kitchens, a coffee-to-wine bar, workshops, and active zones foster joy and a deep sense of belonging. Vertical gardens, an outdoor wine garden, community garden beds, and a neighboring pocket park blend nature into the experience. The design encourages lingering, learning, and spontaneous interaction across generations and backgrounds. In contrast to the fast pace and isolation of urban life, The Living Mosaic creates an inclusive, welcoming environment where people feel supported and connected to something greater. It is a celebration of everyday moments, neighborhood rhythms, and the simple joy of being together.

Many unhoused individuals avoid traditional shelters due to overcrowding and institutional designs that overlook their emotional and psychological needs. In cities, the limited availability of supportive environments further reinforces cycles of isolation and invisibility. This thesis examines how interior architecture can serve as a transformative tool,creating spaces that restore dignity, safety, and belonging.Focusing specifically on shelters for women and single mothers, it explores how design can foster emotional healing and stability. By incorporating calming, nature-inspired palettes, soft textures, residential-scale furnishings, and spatial layouts that promote autonomy and privacy, the built environment can begin to undo the sense of exposure and powerlessness many residents feel. These design choices provide a  setting for recovery, reflection, and growth. In creating spaces that prioritize safety both physically and psychologically, the project also emphasizes features such as clearly defined personal zones, secure entryways, warm lighting, and communal areas that encourage voluntary interaction rather than forced proximity. Through such details, the shelter becomes more than a temporary refuge;it becomes a space of dignity and hope, where women can begin to feel safe, seen, and supported in rebuilding their lives.

As individuals increasingly seek culturally immersive and emotionally resonant experiences, this project explores how interior environments can celebrate identity without resorting to literal or stereotypical representation. Conceived as a contemporary oasis, the design offers a curated journey within a hospitality setting inspired by Middle Eastern culture – one that invites pause, reflection, and discovery. Rather than mimicking tradition, it evokes cultural memory through sensory storytelling, material richness, and spatial sequencing. The goal is to create an atmosphere that is both approachable and transportive, appealing to a broad audience, including those unable to experience such cultures firsthand. By navigating the space between authenticity and entertainment, the project proposes a design framework that honors cultural depth while prioritizing enjoyment, accessibility, and emotional impact.

Black oppression is spatial, as it has always involved exposing us to harmful environments or denying us spaces for healing. To express ourselves, to take up space, and to move freely—to be, in whatever way we choose—is to resist that oppression. In response, Black leaders throughout history have created meaningful spaces that sustain our communities. These spaces often subvert traditional architectural limits, instead pursuing healing, liberation, and joy through their own design logic.

Sound and movement are central to these spaces, giving them vibrancy and expanding their meaning beyond their structural limits. In pursuit of Black joy, this project examines the sounds, motions, and creativity that shape Black spaces, and re-imagines them as architectural elements. In doing so, it transforms the built environment for our community's benefit.

The digital nomad lifestyle, blending remote work with extensive travel, has grown exponentially over the past decade. While it offers unmatched freedom and flexibility, finding suitable infrastructure—like co-working spaces, Airbnb, and wellness-oriented environments—often requires significant time and effort. These elements are rarely integrated or located conveniently together, creating friction in an otherwise fluid lifestyle. Existing setups tend to prioritize function over experience, limiting opportunities for deeper connection with the space and its surroundings. By incorporating natural elements, engaging the senses, and allowing for individual customization, we can transform temporary spaces into immersive environments that support focus while inviting exploration. The concept of meandering—wandering through spaces that spark curiosity and reflection—can be embedded in design to enrich daily routines. Through biophilic design, sensory richness, and a reflection of local authenticity, we can create cohesive, inspiring spaces that not only meet the practical needs of nomads but also elevate their journey.

Art is both an individual and social practice. Individual, in that privacy allows the artist to reflect, focus, and experiment freely. Social, in that shared spaces like galleries, studios, and performance venues facilitate interaction and connection. A balance of these two environmental conditions is the crux of optimizing creative flow. Artists will always create despite limitations; however, this thesis examines how refining access to live-work space can benefit artists and musicians, with a focus on integrating communal areas to foster stronger connections with neighbors, and flexible private studio spaces that prioritize artists’ individual needs. Through considered porosity of views and customizable furniture kits, the design strategy aims to create thresholds that encourage informal exchange and lateral learning—where ideas are shared across disciplines and experience levels. These design decisions promote a culture of collaboration and a sense of belonging, establishing the foundation for a vibrant and connected creative community

This thesis proposes a new model for affordable housing that supports long-term financial growth by allowing residents to pay reduced rent while advancing their careers. The design prioritizes economic mobility, giving tenants the time and space to focus on professional development and save money—ultimately enabling them to leave the housing program with higher incomes than when they entered. The project is built on three key principles: first, that people should be able to prosper financially without leaving their home communities; second, that affordable housing must provide comfortable, spacious living units to support resident wellbeing and foster community; and third, that amenities should not be viewed as luxuries, but as essential responses to resident needs. Amenity spaces are intentionally integrated throughout the design to offer meaningful support and enhance quality of life. This model reimagines affordability as a foundation for upward mobility, not just as a measure of cost.

Addiction is not merely a personal struggle; it is shaped by environmental and social forces that often lead to isolation and weakened community connections. In recovery, fostering social relationships is crucial, as shared experiences encourage openness and lasting bonds. Digital communities also play a vital role, enabling individuals to build meaningful connections across distances while expanding support networks and perspectives. This thesis introduces a new model for addiction recovery centered on community, connection, and healing. By integrating inpatient and outpatient care, it fosters stability and continuity, helping individuals build lasting relationships while easing transitions between structured support and independent living. By integrating technology and thoughtful design elements—fostering familiarity, safety, and a sense of control—this model creates environments that feel hopeful and empowering, reshaping recovery spaces into places of growth and optimism.

This thesis investigates the role of interior design as a spatial storyteller, focusing on how environments shape perception, identity, and power dynamics. Drawing on examples from set design, entertainment architecture, and prison systems, it explores how design can both invite and restrict human experience. Central to this investigation is the Panopticon and its evolution from a tool of psychological control to a pervasive force in today’s digital surveillance culture. Using Eastern State Penitentiary as my intended site, the project proposes a conceptual reimagining of the prison as a participatory nightclub experience. Here, surveillance is transformed into play, encouraging guests to explore the tension between autonomy and observation. By reframing a site of isolation through the lens of collective nostalgia, evoking the intimacy and energy of house parties, the design challenges institutional narratives of control instead offering a space for reconnection, identity reclamation, and sensory liberation.  

Children's hospice care is dedicated to providing compassionate and comprehensive support to children facing life-limiting illnesses with a prognosis of six months or less. This thesis proposes a groundbreaking design concept for children's hospice care, prioritizing individualized care and emotional support through the integration of nature, flexible spaces, vibrant aesthetics, and holistic sensory elements. By creating a sanctuary where children can rediscover the joys of childhood, even in the face of serious illness, the design aims to nurture the well-being of every child while providing unwavering support to families and caregivers. The proposed concept seeks to transform hospice care into a place of joy, comfort, and positive memories for both children and their families, emphasizing holistic sensory wellness, community engagement, and compassionate design principles.

Exploring the relationship between humans and the environment by combining reflective materials and immersive design. This project focuses on how architectural/interior designs use reflective surfaces to transform spaces and explores the growing prominence of reflection in the human experience.  These surfaces' symbolic and illusionary aspects blur the traditional boundaries between internal and external characteristics. It can bridge the gap between the occupants and the surrounding space and is a spatial phenomenon that allows people to observe themselves in their surroundings. Moreover, reflective materials in interior spaces create engaging and immersive user experiences by taking advantage of our embodied cognition. These materials aid in the physical body’s complete immersion in its environment. By designing intuitive interfaces responsive to our physical experiences, we can create more dynamic spaces that reflect our embodied experiences. 

Consumerism is not only devastating our natural resources, but it also diminishes individual well-being. Rather than enhancing well-being, the expanding populations of high consumption societies are likely to have adverse effects. Even when we buy the things we really wanted, we start to want more. Fulfilling our desires never seems to satisfy us; we continually seek more happiness. Mindfulness is strongly and positively connected to higher happiness. In the context of consumption, mindfulness leads to consumer mindfulness. shopping is an activity that involves a range of practices such as experiencing public spaces, “hanging out,” and wandering around. As such, it can be understood as a leisure activity in its own right that does not necessarily involve the actual purchase of goods. I will explore various aspects related to habits, consumerism, sustainability, and the concept of a futuristic shopping experience that goes beyond traditional retail spaces, to provide education and encourage thoughtful consumption.

Individuals experiencing homelessness exist in a dichotomy that is enforced by stereotypes and manifests in a limited scope of services, even in major metropolitan cities like Philadelphia. Homeless vs. Housed – it is a distinction that dictates the types of environments people can, or should, inhabit. For individuals experiencing homelessness, shelter is not the only solution. Spaces for the in-between, that are designed for a population in transition in order to help them heal, establish stability, and create networks within their communities, are missing. This project aims to bridge this gap through the design of an interconnected network of third spaces designed to support and empower individuals experiencing homelessness at three scales: individual, group, and community. Spaces that treat all people with dignity and respect, meeting people where they are currently instead of waiting for them to navigate crises alone, is an essential first step to fostering stronger, healthier, and more inclusive communities for all. 

Metropolitan life imposes psychological and health pressures on its residents. Unavoidable crowds, narrow spaces, the pace of life, and air and visual pollution cause a remarkable decline in people's satisfaction and well-being. With rapid urbanization, city dwellers have lost touch with nature. Urban buildings are sealed against the outdoors, resulting in closed internal spaces devoid of quality air, natural light, and green spaces, which all negatively impact human behavior and welfare. Improvement efforts involve creating opportunities for escape and establishing a relationship between humans, nature, and interior spaces in urban landscapes. Incorporating natural ventilation, passive shading, programmatic orientation, shading devices, and features like an evaporative pool and green elements aims to design captivating interiors that encourage reevaluating the connection between urban living and the environment. This thesis seeks to create compelling environments that promote ecological sustainability, support the biophilia hypothesis, and offer social opportunities in urban settings. The ultimate goal is to design livable places that enhance well-being, foster a harmonious coexistence between humans and their urban surroundings, and promote a sustainable and fulfilling urban lifestyle.

Clinical healthcare settings now place an emphasis on restorative and healing environments as a desired mode to curative care. This can be achieved through the incorporation of three foundational principles which promote healing within curative environments. The three foundational principles to achieve this include human connection to nature, place identity, and user-controlled experience. To successfully create curative and healing environments that help supplement conventional approaches to medicine, healing, and human well-being, is the direction I have explored in my Interior Design thesis. My thesis aims to define the opportunities behind creating a patient centric and patient controlled environment that promotes holistic approaches to medicine by bridging the gap between conventional medicine and alternative therapies. This investigation seeks to promote a curated and self-guided journey for both the patient and their support teams while carefully considering the treatment paths that each patient experiences. It is my goal to embrace the human connection to nature and the utilization of patient-controlled experiences to create a positive journey to healing.

Historic places are visual narratives with natural scenic appeal. Art plays an integral role in highlighting such places that define cultural and social values. This applies to installation art that emerged from integrating the notions of space-making and storytelling to spark curiosity, intrigue, and public engagement. My thesis project focuses on methods of developing an immersive experience where inhabitants are compelled to lose their sense of self and become utterly involved with a constructed cosmology of visual stories. The site selected for the project is the historic city of Al-'Ula in Saudi Arabia known for its complex tapestry of archaeological formation, and offers a great potential of hosting an inhabitable art installation. By allowing a subtle invasion of the place’s history through a modern lens, I believe that a strong sense of place can emerge and a form of imagination will meet reality.

As society gradually emerges into a post-pandemic world, the significance of third places and their absence within communities has become increasingly evident. These spaces, separate from the first place of home and the second place of work, play a vital role in providing sociability and a sense of security for individuals seeking respite from their daily routines. The demand for spaces that cater to creative professionals or foster simple hobbies has risen, as they have been proven to have positive impacts on people's overall well-being. Moving forward, how can we adapt cities and bring back the valued third places that may have closed during the pandemic? Can this be achieved through the inclusion of accessible creative spaces, such as rehearsal studios or music rooms? Or is there a way to bridge the gap between creatives and the surrounding community through residency programs that provide safe environments to foster collaboration and mutual growth? Conceptualizing these spaces and implementing them on various scales throughout the city, showcasing the diversity from towering skyscrapers to initiate rowhomes, can help reflect on the distinct characteristics and needs of different neighborhoods within the urban landscape. By embracing these approaches, cities can revitalize third places, promote community connections, and nurture a thriving creative ecosystem that benefits individuals and the city as a whole.

Empathy is the action of understanding and being aware of others' experiences. The word empathy directly translates from German as "in feeling." This definition of empathy is the process of projecting into another person to understand them fully. This is the starting point for empathetic design. Empathetic design is a design strategy that aims to understand the lives and experiences of users through immersion and then apply that understanding of the user throughout the design process.

This thesis employs empathetic design practices and strategies for well-being by focusing on spaces that enhance feelings of connection, comfort, and belonging. The Nest is a community center for mothers that utilizes these concepts. It is a nurturing environment for mothers that aims to bring mothers together in a healing environment that gives them space to focus on their well-being.

Throughout our lifetime we encounter and participate in a variety of different communities. As children, we often formed our relationships through where we lived and went to school. Young adults, in their choices about college and early career, often for the first time are faced with questions about how to find meaningful communities. These choices are challenging, especially if they involve moving to a new city, working remotely, or otherwise stepping out of familiar situations. I am interested in bridging the connection to community between childhood and adulthood. Roger Hart said, “When children have the freedom in space and time to play with one another, they find ways to pass on their culture to peers through games, song, and dance, but also to transform it…Play with peers is extremely important to social, moral and emotional development. In free play, children learn to understand others and to develop skills of cooperation, sharing and caring.” This suggests that play is an important component in building community even as we grow older. My thesis aims to reimagine the meaning of play in a community that values hybrid work, through the exploration and implementation of third places inspired by the culture in Philadelphia, for Generation Z within a vertical community. The spaces strive to support the new and unique lifestyle while considering how it might be facilitated to aid young people in learning the interactions that shape community.

At some point in our lives we have all experienced a live performance in some capacity, whether this means musical or theatrical. The thing that we don’t always notice is what made a performance memorable besides the artists. This tends to be because most people only take notice to the visuals of the interior, but not always do they notice how the acoustics of the space have been curated because the results do not take on a physical form. My thesis will be concentrated on how to curate an acoustically focused space through sound manipulation and materiality, while working in conjunction with the concept of immersive experiences of the interior and how the building itself can be an aspect of the overall performance.