Franklin Fine Arts Well-Being Campus Project
Chicago, Illinois
2021- PRESENT
ALT ARCHITECTURE + RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Role
Design Assistant / Research + Programming
In response to the profound impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, ALT Architecture partnered with Franklin Fine Arts to design a 25,000 SF Well-Being Campus addition dedicated to healing, experiential learning, and community rebuilding. The project reimagines the school environment as a restorative and inclusive space where education and emotional recovery intersect.
We worked directly with 180 students (grades 4–8), 6 teachers, and the school administration. The design process began with collaborative workshops exploring how the community experienced collective trauma and isolation. Students shared stories of loss, resilience, and hope, which became the foundation for the project’s spatial program and design intent.
The resulting proposal integrates new fine arts classrooms, a commemorative space, atelier studios, a black box theater, gardens, a well-being pavilion, a transformed library, and dedicated wellness classrooms. These designs each nurture emotional health, creativity, and connection.
My role involved assisting Principal Paul Alt in campus visits and participatory design sessions with students and faculty. I contributed to synthesizing feedback into spatial programming and concept diagrams that informed future campus expansion. This work focused on aligning architectural strategies with emotional and social needs, emphasizing restorative design principles, user-driven planning, and environments that support healing through art, nature, and community.
SacroSpace
Chicago, Illinois
2022 - PRESENT
ALT ARCHITECTURE + RESEARCH ASSOCIATES
Role
Visualization + Environmental Media Design
SacroSpace is a digital healing environment designed to make mental wellness accessible to all. The project’s mission is to create an integrative and personalized virtual healing ecosystem. This is a space that supports individuals and their social networks in the recovery of mind, body, and spirit.
More than one billion people worldwide lack access to adequate mental health care. SacroSpace addresses this global inequity by merging evidence-based therapeutic research with immersive architectural visualization. The platform offers guided digital journeys that reduce stress, enhance well-being, and build emotional connection through spatial experience.
The project reimagines architecture as a medium for healing beyond the physical world, crafting environments that respond to trauma, anxiety, and isolation through sensory design. Each digital space uses light, texture, and sound to evoke calm and reflection, allowing users to temporarily step outside their reality and reconnect with their inner balance.
My role focused on transforming conceptual architectural models into immersive video experiences that communicate the emotional power of space. I focused on curating detailed environments for specific mental health needs, integrating real paintings, ambient soundscapes, and music to heighten empathy and realism. These videos serve as both design visualization and therapeutic tools. The platform offered an entry point into healing for individuals unable to physically access restorative environments.