Fall 2025 Interior Architecture Design Studio

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This project transforms a neglected downtown Providence structure inhabited by AVIS Car Insurance Company into a vertically sequenced architectural journey, moving from compression to release through the material and atmospheric progression of salt, crystal, and light.

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Visitors enter at the basement level, where a dark, compressed chamber establishes a condition of sensory withdrawal. A thin veil of salt-crystal light punctures the shadowed space, introducing light as the primary architectural material. This luminous plane cuts through the weight of the existing masonry shell, signaling the beginning of an upward transition.

Ascending to the first floor, the space unfolds into a series of folding crystal walls—alternating between thin and thick sections—whose layered translucency filters daylight with varying degrees of opacity. These partitions subtly guide circulation while suspending occupants in a calm, slowed atmosphere, blurring the boundary between enclosure and passage.

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At the core of the building, the sequence opens into a double-height gallery anchored by a monumental crystal sculpture. Light refracts through the crystalline mass, scattering across surfaces and dissolving spatial edges. This level marks a moment of vertical release, as if emerging from geological depth into a luminous clearing.

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The journey culminates at the uppermost level, where a cluster of intimate salt-bath chambers provides spaces of repose. Soft light descends from operable roof apertures, activating the salt and stone surfaces and reinforcing a tactile, bodily experience. The architecture encourages stillness—slow breathing, grounding, and lingering—through material presence rather than ornament.

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Mass, translucency, and light work together to reframe the existing structure as a cleansing, crystalline sanctuary embedded within the dense fabric of downtown Providence.