The thirteen counties of Central Florida, working together as a super-region, is looking to catalyze economic development and make the region a world class destination. With momentum toward high-speed rail linking the metropolitan centers of Tampa and Orlando, our team proposed an economic strategy of smart growth and development centered around a fully transit-oriented network and cost-saving environmental conservation over the next forty years.
The East Village of San Diego is a declining warehouse district with new redevelopment opportunities but challenged with active fault lines. “La Moda Fresca” transforms the site into a vision of fresh food and fresh ideas. The centerpiece is “Eat Street,” a pedestrian promenade of restaurants and street food that is a flexible, multi-function space celebrating food culture. It integrates local artist colonies, a growing student population, a community garden, and introduces an innovative food waste recycling program. Working in an interdisciplinary team of five graduate students, this proposal was selected as one of four finalists in this industry-wide recognized competition.
Redevelopment along Philadelphia’s “hidden river” is focused on retaining Philadelphia’s brain capital: graduates of its stellar educational institutions, who have been leaving the city for work elsewhere. At the Grays Ferry site, which has been so cut off from the rest of the city by poor infrastructure decisions that it has been nicknamed the Forgotten Bottom, renewal is catalyzed by university expansion, highway removal, freight line reconfiguration, and the development of a technology campus.
Redevelopment proposal utilizing form-based strategies for infilling a suburb of the New York City metropolitan area, to improve the urban fabric and allow for smart economic growth. These maps show the existing buildings and parking and how streets can be improved by removing, replacing and reconfiguring parking lots, adding streetscaping and sidewalks, and by building up to the front setback lines.
Cacique Gardens is a new, hypothetical 200-acre mixed-use development. Working with a partner, we developed a pattern book for housing, retail and street typologies that would fit into its regional context.
As the primary architect for Peet's Coffee & Tea, Crome Architecture designed and produced construction documents for many stores throughout the United States. In addition, we helped design new store types such as a new "prototype" store in Emeryville, CA and "kiosks" for supermarkets, airports and subway stations.
This restaurant, whose first location was in San Jose, CA, sought to open a second location in Redwood City. I designed the schematic plan which was ultimately chosen by the client, so I became the project manager responsible for drafting, design development and construction documents for agency approval. I also created the 3D interior views for presentation to the client.
Designed with Marin County’s stringent green building guidelines in mind, this new single-family home also integrates innovative techniques to address the lot’s challenging steep slope. The house disturbs the landscape as little as possible by limiting unecessary cutting into the hill and avoids felling healthy trees.
This is a new house commissioned by a developer to maximize square footage and have instant curb appeal for the housing market. Individual responsibilities included drafting of schematic floorplans, elevations, and creating an exterior 3D model.
Restoration Hardware sought to update its look and feel for their stores, both in exterior and interior design. Led by principals at Crome Architecture, our team helped develop the schematics for a number of new stores including this location in Calgary. Individual duties included drafting of schematic floorplans, details, elevations, and constructing 3D models of the space which were later sketched over and colored by hand.
An older ranch-style single family house in Marin County, whose owners sought to remodel and expand to maximize the amount of allowed square footage on their property. The plan was designed based on several interviews with the family to determine their needs, and rooms were laid out paying careful attention to efficient circulation.
A startup idea between friends, similar to restaurant review sites, but rating individual food products and dishes rather than establishments.
Wedding site for a friend. Given a general color scheme and reference images of the desired style, we came up with this modern take on a traditional idea. The bride loved the design so much, it was adopted for the invitations, programs, and even the slideshow during the ceremony. view site »
Church website, designed to reflect the creative nature of its community and developed by its own members. I was responsible for designing graphics and user interface, working with a programmer and church staff.
Photography portfolio website, designed to pull images from my account on Flickr, using its developer API. Superceded by new professional site entitled Lou Huang Photography.
A web-based personal address book application written in PHP and MySQL, designed with a flexible data model in mind, which other alternatives were lacking. After several years of private development, it was released as open source. view site »
Panorama is the journal for the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of City and Regional Planning, published once a year to showcase the best in student research and studio work. For the first time in Panorama’s history, in 2009 the department increased the journal’s staff from two to six editors, dramatically increasing the quality of the publication. In 2010, I led the design team and helped establish the journal's editorial voice, raising the bar once again for excellence in both writing and design.
Photography website, featuring a portfolio and blog, developed for my own freelance photography business. view site »
Work in progress!