Brownie Neighborhood Park

This project in Austin, Texas transforms a vacant 7-acre tract into an intergenerational recreational destination, designed in collaboration with local residents. It connects to educational facilities, creates a buffer to the light industrial zone to the east, and bridges to the Rundberg neighborhood, one of Austin’s most diverse areas, to the west. 

Between these surrounding areas, the Brownie Neighborhood Park was designed around a recreational loop and strip that support regenerative landscapes, recreational facilities, and habitats,   including an outdoor learning laboratory for the local school. The design of Brownie Park allows for phased implementation, ensuring that environments can adapt as the neighborhood evolves.

Latin American Urban Design Lab

The Latin American Urban Design Lab is an applied research initiative that promotes the role of design for solving problems linked to rapid urbanization in the Latin global south and along the US-Mexico border. It is supported by the Texas Tech University College of Architecture. 

The LAUD-LAB is structured around research clusters in the areas of urban resilience, housing, and infrastructure; and sponsored research studios in Brazil (2018), Ecuador (2019), and Mexico (2020).

 

Mapping Housing Densification and the spread of COVID – 19 in Heliópolis

During the global coronavirus pandemic, we mapped the relationship between housing density and COVID-19 spread in the Heliópolis favela.

This map is one of several tools that the community organization UNAS (Union of Núcleos and Associations of São João Climaco) has used to fight exposure and alleviate the hardships that disproportionately afflict low-income neighborhoods like Heliópolis.

This study guided a recent graduate studio that resulted in proposals for sensitive densification in Heliópolis.