Capstone Year
Vaulted Café Study, 2025. Using a kit-of-parts approach and selecting a site on the hillside next to the Carl S. English Jr. Botanical Garden, overlooking the Chittenden Locks, I explored the possibility of a below-grade vaulted café tucked beneath an existing concrete lookout. Drawing directly from my 3D reconstruction of the Beaux-Arts lockhouses, I repurposed architectural elements to develop a postmodern interpretation of their form and detailing. The design aimed to hide the café discreetly among the surrounding historic structures while introducing subtle amenities like seating, food, and drink into the public garden context. Although I ultimately moved in a different direction for my capstone, this study helped shape the early spatial and material concepts that carried through to the final project.