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.