carapace pavilion

The Carapace Pavilion is a built project in Joshua Tree National Park, conceived as a prototype for a new restroom typology intended for deployment across the park. Beyond its programmatic role, the pavilion serves as a material and structural prototype, testing Ultra‑High‑Performance Concrete (UHPC) as a true structural shell rather than a façade treatment. As one of the first non‑restroom architectural structures ever approved for construction in a U.S. national park—and a multi‑award‑winning project—it represents a rare opportunity to pursue architectural innovation within a highly protected landscape.

The form is an anticlastic shell composed of five panels cast from a single mold. A graduate student on the team developed a Grasshopper script as part of his thesis, enabling the geometry to oscillate between anticlastic and synclastic configurations; we later expanded the script to modulate aperture sizes and overall proportions.

The base geometry consists of three circles aligned at their center points—the two outer circles fixed in size, and the central circle intentionally variable, producing a subtly mutable morphology. Structural studies established a minimum UHPC thickness of 2.5 inches, allowing the panels to remain exceptionally thin at their centers while thickening to roughly 6 inches at the edges. The panels are joined using JVI’s X‑connectors, with each half cast into adjacent panels and welded together during installation, creating
a continuous, almost monolithic carapace. The pavilion’s UHPC shell integrates two forms of subtractive articulation—incised carvings along the walls and a calibrated field of apertures across the roof—each developed in close collaboration with structural engineers to serve both performance and expression. The carvings operate as excisions that stiffen the shell while lending it a crafted, almost striated character, making the tectonic rationale of the pavilion subtly legible.

My role focused on the pavilion’s visual identity and representational language. I developed the project graphics, designed the team patch worn on‑site, created the aperture pattern, defined the curvature of the overhang, selected the UHPC color, and established the layout and graphic style for the project book. Along with another student, I co‑led the Media Team, shaping the project’s broader visual and narrative ethos.