Higher Education Work
SoA
Higher Education Work
SoA
Conceived as a folded, origami-like intervention, the UNLV School of Architecture expansion reimagines the threshold between street and campus as a dynamic civic and academic condenser. Angular planes of burnished metal and luminous composite surfaces shear past one another in a continuous act of tension and release, wrapping and reframing the existing building rather than merely attaching to it. The architecture is driven by motion, compression, and light, transforming the intersection of old and new into a highly charged zone of procession and encounter.
Civic Lantern
At the heart of the project, a new public core seats a student café, exhibition gallery, and a 200 seat lecture hall as a single continuous spatial sequence rather than isolated program elements. These volumes unfold from the street inward, creating a porous public forum where discourse, display, and learning intersect. Faceted exterior surfaces fracture the desert sky into shifting gradients of gold and silver, turning the building into a reflective daytime landmark and a glowing lantern at night. Landscape and architecture are fully interwoven through soft desert meadows, sloped plinths, and amphitheater like steps that support gathering, critique, and informal occupation.
Form as Doctrine
More than an addition, the project serves as a manifesto for progressive architectural thinking. It confronts the existing school through deliberate contrast rather than imitation, allowing tension between generations of architecture to generate synthesis. Advanced material expression, computational geometry, and contemporary construction logic operate not as stylistic devices, but as pedagogical instruments. The building itself becomes a teacher, embodying creative risk, spatial ambition, and the urgency of architectural experimentation.
“Less an addition than a catalytic event, this folded intervention transforms the UNLV School of Architecture into a living manifesto for contemporary design, where structure, surface, and movement converge into a charged civic and academic instrument.”
Kevin M. Welch, AIA
Architect + Founder | Arcturus
Conceived as a folded, origami-like intervention, the UNLV School of Architecture expansion reimagines the threshold between street and campus as a dynamic civic and academic condenser. Angular planes of burnished metal and luminous composite surfaces shear past one another in a continuous act of tension and release, wrapping and reframing the existing building rather than merely attaching to it. The architecture is driven by motion, compression, and light, transforming the intersection of old and new into a highly charged zone of procession and encounter.
Higher Education Work
SoA
Charged Threshold
Conceived as a folded, origami-like intervention, the UNLV School of Architecture expansion reimagines the threshold between street and campus as a dynamic civic and academic condenser. Angular planes of burnished metal and luminous composite surfaces shear past one another in a continuous act of tension and release, wrapping and reframing the existing building rather than merely attaching to it. The architecture is driven by motion, compression, and light, transforming the intersection of old and new into a highly charged zone of procession and encounter.
Civic Lantern
At the heart of the project, a new public core seats a student café, exhibition gallery, and a 200 seat lecture hall as a single continuous spatial sequence rather than isolated program elements. These volumes unfold from the street inward, creating a porous public forum where discourse, display, and learning intersect. Faceted exterior surfaces fracture the desert sky into shifting gradients of gold and silver, turning the building into a reflective daytime landmark and a glowing lantern at night. Landscape and architecture are fully interwoven through soft desert meadows, sloped plinths, and amphitheater like steps that support gathering, critique, and informal occupation.
Form as Doctrine
More than an addition, the project serves as a manifesto for progressive architectural thinking. It confronts the existing school through deliberate contrast rather than imitation, allowing tension between generations of architecture to generate synthesis. Advanced material expression, computational geometry, and contemporary construction logic operate not as stylistic devices, but as pedagogical instruments. The building itself becomes a teacher, embodying creative risk, spatial ambition, and the urgency of architectural experimentation.
“Less an addition than a catalytic event, this folded intervention transforms the UNLV School of Architecture into a living manifesto for contemporary design, where structure, surface, and movement converge into a charged civic and academic instrument.”
Kevin M. Welch, AIA
Architect + Founder | Arcturus
Civic Lantern
At the heart of the project, a new public core seats a student café, exhibition gallery, and a 200 seat lecture hall as a single continuous spatial sequence rather than isolated program elements. These volumes unfold from the street inward, creating a porous public forum where discourse, display, and learning intersect. Faceted exterior surfaces fracture the desert sky into shifting gradients of gold and silver, turning the building into a reflective daytime landmark and a glowing lantern at night. Landscape and architecture are fully interwoven through soft desert meadows, sloped plinths, and amphitheater like steps that support gathering, critique, and informal occupation.
Form as Doctrine
More than an addition, the project serves as a manifesto for progressive architectural thinking. It confronts the existing school through deliberate contrast rather than imitation, allowing tension between generations of architecture to generate synthesis. Advanced material expression, computational geometry, and contemporary construction logic operate not as stylistic devices, but as pedagogical instruments. The building itself becomes a teacher, embodying creative risk, spatial ambition, and the urgency of architectural experimentation.
“Less an addition than a catalytic event, this folded intervention transforms the UNLV School of Architecture into a living manifesto for contemporary design, where structure, surface, and movement converge into a charged civic and academic instrument.”
Kevin M. Welch, AIA
Architect + Founder | Arcturus
