Ukhamba
Completed 2023
Completed 2023
Named after a type of African woven-wood basket, Ukhamba is a ten-foot-tall circular structure with four arched entrances, built of curved wooden elements stacked in horizontal layers. Its construction invites visitors to walk inside and congregate but allows the surrounding plaza and urban landscape to remain visible through the structure. Inspired by Barnes’ time working abroad in South Africa, as well as in Miami, Ukhamba not only responds to Miami’s sub-tropical climate but also unites architectural elements typical of diasporic communities of African and Caribbean origin. It comprises a pavilion that appears part basket, part traditional breeze wall.
Client: MOAD
Fabrication: ALTBLD LLC
Photography: Zack Balber
Client: MOAD
Fabrication: ALTBLD LLC
Photography: Zack Balber
Filed under:
Installation
Installation
Griot
Completed 2023
Completed 2023
Can architecture be the keeper of stories? What happens
when architecture speaks its truth? For the 18th International
Architecture Exhibition of the Biennale of Venice we submit Griot, which speculates
missing legacies prevalent in foundational architectural cannon. A Griot,
historically, is a West African storyteller. In this proposal, physical objects
and drawings will supply histories of architecture, identity, colonization, and
the cultural influences of the African Diaspora.
Griot demands a reorientation of foundational principles, providing the opportunity to imagine a new future. One that positions Africa and its descendants as a force to be acknowledged and revered.
Client: Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
Collaborators: Quarra Stone LLC
Photography: Claudia Rossini
Griot demands a reorientation of foundational principles, providing the opportunity to imagine a new future. One that positions Africa and its descendants as a force to be acknowledged and revered.
Client: Venice Architecture Biennale 2023
Collaborators: Quarra Stone LLC
Photography: Claudia Rossini
Filed under:
Installation, Furniture
Installation, Furniture
ROCK | ROLL
Completed 2022
Completed 2022
Rock
& Roll is a celebration of Miami, intended to honor and inspire the amazing
people who shape our city’s culture and spirit.
This proposal operates at three unique scales: the smallest engages the neighborhood trees as miniature steel drums create music dispersed throughout the area—they’re both functional and elegant.
Increasing in scale, the Rockers are whimsical objects scattered along Paseo Ponti. Each Rocker is approximately 7 feet tall and interactive. The Furry Rocker is composed of resilient, brightly colored foam that allows visitors to push, pull and hug. This Rocker is inspired by the large and beautiful feathered hair-dresses common in Carnival processions. This Rocker is inspired by the many floats that participants ride in the Carnival parade.
The largest, most prominent—and unabashedly joyful piece is an unfolded Disco Ball. Inspired by the ever present Music Truck, this installation—titled The Roll in Rock & Roll—is a large sculpture that illuminates at night and plays music.
Client: Miami Design District
Collaborators: ANAVA, Malloy James, Gabriel Soomar
Fabrication: ALTBLD LLC
Photography: Kris Tamburello
This proposal operates at three unique scales: the smallest engages the neighborhood trees as miniature steel drums create music dispersed throughout the area—they’re both functional and elegant.
Increasing in scale, the Rockers are whimsical objects scattered along Paseo Ponti. Each Rocker is approximately 7 feet tall and interactive. The Furry Rocker is composed of resilient, brightly colored foam that allows visitors to push, pull and hug. This Rocker is inspired by the large and beautiful feathered hair-dresses common in Carnival processions. This Rocker is inspired by the many floats that participants ride in the Carnival parade.
The largest, most prominent—and unabashedly joyful piece is an unfolded Disco Ball. Inspired by the ever present Music Truck, this installation—titled The Roll in Rock & Roll—is a large sculpture that illuminates at night and plays music.
Client: Miami Design District
Collaborators: ANAVA, Malloy James, Gabriel Soomar
Fabrication: ALTBLD LLC
Photography: Kris Tamburello
Filed under:
Installation, Furniture
Installation, Furniture
Intersect
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
-Intersect- is
a playscape that invites visitors to engage with the city as a theatre. Its
name is generated by three 9m diameter circles that converge to create a large
landscape. At the center of those three points is a hulking, wooden,
superstructure that is 4.6m tall and 9m wide and designed as a continuous loop.
This play pavilion, with the assistance of each land circle, creates a zone of
occupation for individuals which reference different components of a theatre.
The first zone is the Stage, where solar powered lights are fixed to the underside of the structure to be used both during the day and at night. There is additional modular seating that is generated by the arc of the ground circle. The second zone is the Seating, where 5 circular silhouettes are suspend from the superstructure for both youth and adults. These swings facilitate fun for all age groups. The third and final zone is the Curtain, composed of thin, brightly colored threads intended for people to run through.
-Intersect- is placed on Daniel Trevijano Gran Via, at the actual crossing of major sidewalks to reinforce the idea of the city as a theatre to be celebrated. This proposal welcomes users of all ages because the city is a show for everyone to view.
Client: Concentrico Festival
Collaborators: MAS Context
Fabricatos: Concentrico Festrival
Photography: Josema Cutillas, Javier Anton
The first zone is the Stage, where solar powered lights are fixed to the underside of the structure to be used both during the day and at night. There is additional modular seating that is generated by the arc of the ground circle. The second zone is the Seating, where 5 circular silhouettes are suspend from the superstructure for both youth and adults. These swings facilitate fun for all age groups. The third and final zone is the Curtain, composed of thin, brightly colored threads intended for people to run through.
-Intersect- is placed on Daniel Trevijano Gran Via, at the actual crossing of major sidewalks to reinforce the idea of the city as a theatre to be celebrated. This proposal welcomes users of all ages because the city is a show for everyone to view.
Client: Concentrico Festival
Collaborators: MAS Context
Fabricatos: Concentrico Festrival
Photography: Josema Cutillas, Javier Anton
Filed under:
Installation, Furniture
Installation, Furniture
ON/
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
ON/ is an immersive installation that synergizes Lexus’ core
values of craftsmanship and human centered design. Inspired by the clean
geometries of LF-Z Electrified Concept car, a full sized wire frame silhouette
of the vehicle is suspended from the ceiling. Embedded with LED lights, the car
highlights critical design elements. Surrounding the perimeter of the wireframe
installation is bespoke furniture and two electrified swings.
Client: Lexus
Collaborators: RAD Lab
Fabrication: Matchless Build, High Order
Photography: Steve Benisty
Client: Lexus
Collaborators: RAD Lab
Fabrication: Matchless Build, High Order
Photography: Steve Benisty
Filed under:
Installation, Furniture
Installation, Furniture
Wear this robe, let it comfort you
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
Wear
this robe, let it comfort you, is a display of intricate clothes that
explore themes of domesticity, vulnerability and extravagance. Garments are
suspended in the storefront as if hung from a laundry line. Color palettes are
derived from common household items in the Black home and patterns are inspired
by collective activities. Gather in front of the window as if watching linen
sway from the porch.
Client: Oolite Arts
Photography: Pedro Wazzan
Client: Oolite Arts
Photography: Pedro Wazzan
Filed under:
Installation
Installation
You Can Always Come Home
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
You Can Always Come Home is a short film directed by Juan Matos and commissioned by the 2021 Architectural League Prize. The film explores the domestic realm through the eyes of young children in Miami.
Narrated with poetry by Arsimmer McCoy and Reginald O’Neal, the film highlights the joy, ritual, family, love, celebration,a nd culture that ismade in the home through Black spatial occupation of the kitchen and front porch.
Directed & Edited by: Juan Matos
Produced by: Monica Sorelle
Executive Producer: Germane Barnes
Click here to view film
Narrated with poetry by Arsimmer McCoy and Reginald O’Neal, the film highlights the joy, ritual, family, love, celebration,a nd culture that ismade in the home through Black spatial occupation of the kitchen and front porch.
Directed & Edited by: Juan Matos
Produced by: Monica Sorelle
Executive Producer: Germane Barnes
Click here to view film
Filed under:
Film
Film
A Spectrum of Blackness
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
A Spectrum of Blackness is an acknowledgment of the broad possibilities of
origin, and therefore of cultural influence, present in this distinctively Black
city. This project aims to mine oral histories of Miami’s most prominent Black
ethnicities and, through the use of multi-dimensional digital and analog collage
processes, (de-) and reconstruct their suppressed narratives.
Blackness constructed Miami’s physical and cultural landscapes.
Client: Museum of Modern Art, NY
Photography: Naho Kubota
Client: Museum of Modern Art, NY
Photography: Naho Kubota
Filed under:
Installation
Installation
Block Party
Completed 2021
Completed 2021
This installation is born
from Chicago’s rich history of annual block parties that provide necessary
resources to vulnerable and engaged residents, particularly on the South and
West Sides. These gatherings are self-funded, self-organized, and self-policed.
They are an example of the many acts of civic responsibility that occur
routinely in disenfranchised neighborhoods when residents take matters into
their own hands. A certifiable act of celebratory vigilantism, the block party
does not obey traffic regulations, it does not obey permit jurisdiction, and it
most certainly does not obey traditional urban principles. These
characteristics of community and accountability inspired the Studio’s project
in the North Lawndale community.
Client: Chicago Architecture Biennial
Collaborators: Shawhin Roudbari, Iker Gil, WACA, Open Architecture Chicago, Freedom House
Fabrication: BKE Designs
Photography: MAW Photos
Client: Chicago Architecture Biennial
Collaborators: Shawhin Roudbari, Iker Gil, WACA, Open Architecture Chicago, Freedom House
Fabrication: BKE Designs
Photography: MAW Photos
Filed under:
Installation, Architecture
Installation, Architecture
Uneasy Lies the Head that Wears a Crown
Completed 2020
Completed 2020
Uneasy
lies the head that wears a crown is a referendum on Black hair and Black architecture.
One
of the most important features of the porch, are the porch chairs. Often
innocuous this project aims to highlight the chair as a critical element. Fabricated
from metal, wood, and rope, the materials of the chair mimic the materials used
to construct South Florida Shotgun vernacular of wood framed construction with
sheet metal roofing. The slanted metal frame is similar to the slanted gable
roof one would find atop the cottage. The milled wooden back post works as
interior framing and is derived from combs used to style Black hair. Black hair
that is often policed and frowned upon instead of celebrated as it should. The
crowns of the back support are inspired by the crowns donned by Black people
across the diaspora. From Sunday Service hats to Bahamian Junkanoo Band cosplay
to the legendary afro-pick, each chair promotes black identity. The seating apparatus
design references braiding techniques often found in the Black community. Multi-colored
rope is braided and weaved in different patterns that amplify the creativity that
is found in Black hairstyles.
Filed under:
Installation, Furniture
Installation, Furniture