year 2011
location Sacramento, CA
client Sac Catalyst Capitol Mall Competition (2nd place winner)
role Urban design, graphic production and layout
team Geoffrey Barton, Virginia Alexander, Darryl Jones

The Sac Catalyst Competition received almost 50 entries worldwide to re-envision the Capitol Mall corridor of downtown Sacramento, an eight block civic boulevard with a wide grassy median but not much pedestrian activity. Our proposal brings people back to the Mall with three principles in mind: to activate the edges of the mall, frame the view of the Capitol, and to direct visitors down a path from the river to the civic center. A sequence of different pedestrian zones create a procession of views and experiences from natural to higher order. Strategies to activate the space include removing a lane of traffic in each direction, removing curbs, encouraging food trucks and other periodic events, and infilling buildings to create a better street edge. As the city lacks funds to implement large projects, each component of the Promenade plan can be implemented separately until the final space is realized.

download competition boards [pdf]

year 2010
location Tampa-Orlando Super Region
client myregion.org
role Transportation planning, urban design, GIS mapping and analysis, publication production
team University of Pennsylvania

The thirteen counties of Central Florida, working together as a super-region, is looking to catalyze economic development and make the region a world class destination. With momentum toward high-speed rail linking the metropolitan centers of Tampa and Orlando, our team proposed an economic strategy of smart growth and development centered around a fully transit-oriented network and cost-saving environmental conservation over the next forty years.

View report

year 2010
location East Village District, San Diego, California
client ULI/Gerald D. Hines Student Urban Design Competition (finalist entry)
role Team leader
team Allen Penniman, Marie Park, Keyleigh Kern, Brian Lee

The East Village of San Diego is a declining warehouse district with new redevelopment opportunities but challenged with active fault lines. “La Moda Fresca” transforms the site into a vision of fresh food and fresh ideas. The centerpiece is “Eat Street,” a pedestrian promenade of restaurants and street food that is a flexible, multi-function space celebrating food culture. It integrates local artist colonies, a growing student population, a community garden, and introduces an innovative food waste recycling program. Working in an interdisciplinary team of five graduate students, this proposal was selected as one of four finalists in this industry-wide recognized competition.

download competition boards [pdf]

year 2009
location Philadelphia, PA
client University of Pennsylvania studio project

Redevelopment along Philadelphia’s “hidden river” is focused on retaining Philadelphia’s brain capital: graduates of its stellar educational institutions, who have been leaving the city for work elsewhere. At the Grays Ferry site, which has been so cut off from the rest of the city by poor infrastructure decisions that it has been nicknamed the Forgotten Bottom, renewal is catalyzed by university expansion, highway removal, freight line reconfiguration, and the development of a technology campus.

year 2009-2010
location East Orange, NJ
role Policy and memo writing, mapping and visualizations

year 2009-2010
location North Arlington, NJ
role Document writing, mapping and visualizations, community meetings
team Brown & Keener Urban Design

Redevelopment proposal utilizing form-based strategies for infilling a suburb of the New York City metropolitan area, to improve the urban fabric and allow for smart economic growth. These maps show the existing buildings and parking and how streets can be improved by removing, replacing and reconfiguring parking lots, adding streetscaping and sidewalks, and by building up to the front setback lines.

year 2009
location Kingston, Jamaica
client University of Pennyslvania class project

Cacique Gardens is a new, hypothetical 200-acre mixed-use development. Working with a partner, we developed a pattern book for housing, retail and street typologies that would fit into its regional context.

year 2009
location Philadelphia, PA
client North Kensington Community Development Corporation
team University of Pennsylvania

year 2004-2008
location Various locations, California
role schematic design, construction documents, project management
team Crome Architecture

As the primary architect for Peet's Coffee & Tea, Crome Architecture designed and produced construction documents for many stores throughout the United States. In addition, we helped design new store types such as a new "prototype" store in Emeryville, CA and "kiosks" for supermarkets, airports and subway stations.

year 2006
location Redwood City, CA
role Schematic design, project management
team Crome Architecture

This restaurant, whose first location was in San Jose, CA, sought to open a second location in Redwood City. I designed the schematic plan which was ultimately chosen by the client, so I became the project manager responsible for drafting, design development and construction documents for agency approval. I also created the 3D interior views for presentation to the client.

year 2006-2007
location Fairfax, CA
role Drafting, planning review preparation, 3-D modeling

Designed with Marin County’s stringent green building guidelines in mind, this new single-family home also integrates innovative techniques to address the lot’s challenging steep slope. The house disturbs the landscape as little as possible by limiting unecessary cutting into the hill and avoids felling healthy trees.

year 2006
location San Anselmo, CA
role Drafting, 3D modeling and rendering
team Crome Architecture

This is a new house commissioned by a developer to maximize square footage and have instant curb appeal for the housing market. Individual responsibilities included drafting of schematic floorplans, elevations, and creating an exterior 3D model.

year 2007-2008
location Calgary, Alberta
role Drafting, 3D modeing
team Crome Architecture

Restoration Hardware sought to update its look and feel for their stores, both in exterior and interior design. Led by principals at Crome Architecture, our team helped develop the schematics for a number of new stores including this location in Calgary. Individual duties included drafting of schematic floorplans, details, elevations, and constructing 3D models of the space which were later sketched over and colored by hand.

year 2004-2005
location Marin County, CA
role Schematic design and drafting
team Crome Architecture

An older ranch-style single family house in Marin County, whose owners sought to remodel and expand to maximize the amount of allowed square footage on their property. The plan was designed based on several interviews with the family to determine their needs, and rooms were laid out paying careful attention to efficient circulation.

year 2010
role Graphic and UI design

A startup idea between friends, similar to restaurant review sites, but rating individual food products and dishes rather than establishments.

year 2007
role Graphics and UI design, programming

Wedding site for a friend. Given a general color scheme and reference images of the desired style, we came up with this modern take on a traditional idea. The bride loved the design so much, it was adopted for the invitations, programs, and even the slideshow during the ceremony.

View site

year 2007-2008
role Graphic and UI design

Church website, designed to reflect the creative nature of its community and developed by its own members. I was responsible for designing graphics and user interface, working with a programmer and church staff.

year 2006-2008
role Graphic design, programming

Photography portfolio website, designed to pull images from my account on Flickr, using its developer API. Superceded by new professional site entitled Lou Huang Photography.

year 2002-2007
role Design, programming

A web-based personal address book application written in PHP and MySQL, designed with a flexible data model in mind, which other alternatives were lacking. After several years of private development, it was released as open source.

View site

year 2007
role Graphic design

year 2011

A graphic design exercise to create a single readable transit diagram of California's various light rail and commuter rail transit networks. Work in progress.

year 2008-2010
role Associate design editor (2008), Lead design editor (2009-2010)

Panorama is the journal for the University of Pennsylvania’s Department of City and Regional Planning, published once a year to showcase the best in student research and studio work. For the first time in Panorama’s history, in 2009 the department increased the journal’s staff from two to six editors, dramatically increasing the quality of the publication. In 2010, I led the design team and helped establish the journal's editorial voice, raising the bar once again for excellence in both writing and design.

year 2006-2008
role Graphic design, e-mail marketing

year 2005-current
role Graphic and UI design, programming, photography

Photography website, featuring a portfolio and blog, developed for my own freelance photography business.

View site

year 2000-2004
role designer (2000-2002), design editor (2003), managing editor (2004)