IN_AROUND/BETWEEN is a design proposal for a three-story cultural center in Chicago—a civic landmark for American architecture, collective identity, and cultural plurality. Inspired by Chicago’s diverse cultures, the project advances the idea of collective identities: a transitional condition in which no single identity of a room dominates, but instead fuses, overlaps, and coexists within the whole. Spheres and popped colors act as spatial components of identity—distinct yet interdependent—organizing circulation, compressions, and encounters while expressing individuality within a shared system. Operating across interior movement and exterior form, these elements visualize coexistence rather than separation. At its core, the project challenges conventional notions of doors s, proposing a collective rhythmic system in which there is no separation and no boundaries.
nt—organizing circulation, compressions, and encounters while expressing individuality within a shared system. Operating across interior movement and exterior form, these elements visualize coexistence rather than separation. At its core, the project challenges conventional notions of doors s, proposing a collective rhythmic system in which there is no separation and no boundaries.
tive identities: a transitional condition in which no single identity of a room dominates, but instead fuses, overlaps, and coexists within the whole. Spheres and popped colors act as spatial components of identity—distinct yet interdependent—organizing circulation, compressions, and encounters while expressing individuality within a shared system. Operating across interior movement and exterior form, these elements visualize coexistence rather than separation. At its core, the project challenges conventional notions of doors s, proposing a collective rhythmic system in which there is no separation and no boundaries.
Internally, each sphere is strategically positioned at pivotal intersections between rooms, corridors, and entries, operating as moments of pause, overlap, and contemplation. The central atrium becomes the primary source of pop-colored light, anchoring the building while radiating color, orientation, and identity outward—shaping transitional sequences and spatial experiences across all levels of the interior.
Together, the collective identity unfolds through a choreographed sequence in which spheres and pop-colored light operate as a dual force, weaving rhythmic emotional and visual connections. Each room’s character is tuned through color intensity—from soft, neutral atmospheres in shared spaces to saturated hues in experimental areas—casting layered depth outward, where interior identities resonate across the facade and into the city.
The concept begins with the sphere as a spatial divider—sometimes obstructing, limiting, or partially guiding visibility and movement between rooms. Pop-colored light adheres to the sphere, activating its surface as a carrier of identity and atmosphere. As light wraps, cuts, and bleeds across edges, each sphere is chopped, scaled, and reoriented to manipulate interior programs and circulation, functioning as thresholds rather than fixed boundaries.
The concept begins with the sphere as a spatial divider—sometimes obstructing, limiting, or partially guiding visibility and movement between rooms. Pop-colored light adheres to the sphere, activating its surface as a carrier of identity and atmosphere. As light wraps, cuts, and bleeds across edges, each sphere is chopped, scaled, and reoriented to manipulate interior programs and circulation, functioning as thresholds rather than fixed boundaries.
The concept begins with the sphere as a spatial divider—sometimes obstructing, limiting, or partially guiding visibility and movement between rooms. Pop-colored light adheres to the sphere, activating its surface as a carrier of identity and atmosphere. As light wraps, cuts, and bleeds across edges, each sphere is chopped, scaled, and reoriented to manipulate interior programs and circulation, functioning as thresholds rather than fixed boundaries.
The concept begins with the sphere as a spatial divider—sometimes obstructing, limiting, or partially guiding visibility and movement between rooms. Pop-colored light adheres to the sphere, activating its surface as a carrier of identity and atmosphere. As light wraps, cuts, and bleeds across edges, each sphere is chopped, scaled, and reoriented to manipulate interior programs and circulation, functioning as thresholds rather than fixed boundaries.
