CultureHouse

Design Manager | 2021-2022
An urban design non-profit with a mission to improve livability in local communities by transforming underutilized spaces into vibrant social infrastructure.

At CultureHouse, a "culture house" is a free to enter, pop-up community space—part public living room, part indoor park, part third place. It is a place for the local community to gather, connect and share. Alongside pop-ups, the work expanded into public placemaking installations, using tactical urbanism to activate underused spaces and foster community ties.  

As Design Manager at CultureHouse, I led and managed the design/build phase of projects from early concept through on-site installation. Below is a selection of those projects.

To learn more about CultureHouse visit here.

CultureHouse Salem

In partnership with the City of Salem, we transformed Salem’s historic Old Town Hall building into a vibrant, connected, and accessible destination that supported local creatives. In the three months that CultureHouse Salem was open visitors enjoyed being able to walk into the building and experience the history, architecture, community, and arts and culture that Salem has to offer.

To learn more about CultureHouse Salem visit here.

DEsign Development
Community engagement meeting with residents of Salem where I led a co-design activity.

Union Square Station

In partnership with USQ, we transformed a temporary walkway and the surrounding construction zones into a vibrant, colorful portal for visitors to go to/from a newly opened Union Square station. Through infographics on the scrim, exhibition panels in the walkway, and a giant word search and corresponding map in an empty lot, visitors can learn a bit more about Union Square along the way.

To learn more about Union Square Station visit here.

DEsign Development
Conceptual photoshop mock up

What the Fluff Festival

For Somerville's 16th annual Fluff Festival—a madcap street festival celebration the invention of Marshmallow Fluff in Union Square, CultureHouse partnered with Union Square Main Streets to transform an empty plaza into a Flufftastic Fluff-topia.

DEsign Development
Conceptual photoshop render
I fabricated all the environmental set peices myself

Boston Public Library Free WiFi Zones

With the Boston Public Library and City of Boston, we developed a scalable and modular pergola design with a custom canopy and installed at both the Brighton and Codman Square Branch library locations. In the winter, we gave refreshes across the total 8 different library WiFi Zone locations in the Greater Boston area.

To learn more about the BPL's Free WiFi Zone initiative visit here.

Codman Square Branch
Installing the pergola structure at the Codman Square branch location
Brighton Branch
Concept render for Brighton Branch location
Concept render for Codman Square Branch location
East Boston Branch
Eagleston Branch
Grove Hall Branch
Hyde Park Branch
Mattapan Branch
Roxbury Branch

Harvard Square Public Patio Proposal

Not all projects make it. This was a proposal for an outdoor public patio that would span across 4 street parking spaces in Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA. I developed a modular, costumizable kit of parts system that change depending on location.

The Local Proposal

Following one of CultureHouse's pop-up projects, a local business owner was inspired to start new non-profit arm of their own that incorporated some of the lessons learned from the project. To help get their new venture off the ground, I developed these conceptual renderings for their vision of a new permanent community space in Peabody MA, called The Local.

Creative Brand Direction

A catch all section for everything else I did at CultureHouse; from designing and fabricating community engagement tools, designing and building out the CultureHouse HQ space, designing merchandise and collateral, and to creating and managing social media content.

Community engagement tools in action!
Modular see-saw concept rendering
See-saw prototype, I wasn't able to finish the project before I left CultureHouse :(
CultureHouse Handbook mockup design
Postcards merch designs
Enamel pin merch design
End of year wrap video for socials
CultureHouse HQ Window Display
More Like This
Coming Soon
Museum & Exhibits
Exhibit Design
DEsigning For Belonging
Product Design