Placemaking at Work
Our work occupies a significant portion of our lives—yet the spaces we work in are often designed as mere tools of efficiency rather than environments for flourishing. My research explores how architecture can transform the "workspace" into a meaningful "workplace."
Research Domains
PhD Dissertation
Placemaking at Work: Creating Meaningful and Sustainable Workplaces in the Age of Remote Work. A mixed-methods investigation across the U.S. and France examining how architects can design distributed workplace ecosystems grounded in place theory, equity, and sustainability.
Read ProposalHolistic Design
Architecture as a human experience: integrating body, mind, and environment through evidence-based design and the Building-Body Connection.
View DetailsThe Workplace
Tracing the evolution of workplace design from Taylorist assembly lines to hybrid "third places," and how placemaking transforms workspaces into meaningful environments.
View DetailsWellness Design
Intentional design strategies to enhance health, happiness, and human performance — moving beyond survival needs to address psychosocial well-being.
View DetailsThe Home Office
Analyzing the impact of the hybrid work shift on domestic life and individual well-being through the lens of architectural history and Environmental Psychology.
View DetailsSustainability
Making sustainability the default option through human-centered design and economic pragmatism, guided by the Brundtland framework.
View DetailsDesign-Build
Bridging the gap between design intent and constructed reality through hands-on fabrication, iterative prototyping, and experiential learning.
View DetailsSelected Publications
Research Agenda
My post-doctoral research agenda builds on the dissertation's core finding that placemaking is essential to meaningful work environments. Over the next five years, I plan to expand this inquiry across scales, geographies, and building types.
Dissertation Completion & First Publication
Complete the PhD dissertation on Placemaking at Work. Submit the first peer-reviewed article to the Journal of Architectural Education presenting the theoretical framework linking placemaking theory to contemporary workplace design.
Post-Occupancy Evaluation Study
Launch a multi-site post-occupancy evaluation (POE) comparing placemaking outcomes in hybrid workplaces across the U.S. and France, leveraging my bilingual and bicultural background to produce cross-cultural insights.
Grant-Funded Field Research
Apply for NSF and NEA funding to study how neighborhood-scale "third places" — co-working spaces, community libraries, hybrid cafes — support remote workers' sense of place and social well-being.
Design-Build Research Lab
Establish a university-based design-build research lab that prototypes wellness-centered workplace interventions at full scale, continuing the pedagogical model developed through NexusHaus and RISE.
Monograph & Policy Impact
Publish a monograph synthesizing the research program: Placemaking at Work: Designing Meaningful Environments for the Hybrid Era. Develop policy recommendations for municipal workplace design standards that center human well-being alongside environmental sustainability.