Meet Me by the Arroyo?
...is a thesis reimagining urban development in Albuquerque through collaborative, place-based design rooted in reciprocity, gratitude, and environmental stewardship. Centering the city’s arroyos, often-overlooked desert lifelines, the project proposes a grassroots approach that challenges top-down planning by fostering symbiotic relationships between human and non-human ecologies.
It celebrates the joy of collaboration and congregation through embodied making and material reuse, reconnecting communities with site through shared knowledge and process.
At the heart of the project is the arroyo field notes—an “experiential archive” documenting books, artworks, essays, and design projects related to the arroyos. Alongside it is the arroyo cookbook, a collection of material “recipes” rooted in adobe construction and resource recovery from channelized arroyos. Together, they form a living platform for iterative design, where discarded materials become the building blocks of regeneration.
The Thesis book can be found here
To access and contribute to the project’s digital archive, click hereProject Type: Architecture Thesis
Date Completed: Spring 2024
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Advisor: Amelyn Ng
Recipient of the Undergraduate Thesis Award
Arroyo Field Note Entry by Jiyou KangArroyo Cookbook Intervention Entry #1 - A BirdhouseCollet Park Plan + Section - Year 2024Collet Park Perspective - Year 2024Collet Park Perspective - Year 2030Collet Park Plan + Section - Year 2030Prints in ExhibitionArroyo Cookbook Intervention Entry #3 - A BenchPlant BricksCollet Park Plan + Section - Year 2060Collet Park Perspective - Year 2060Collet Park Plan + Section - Year 2124Collet Park Perspective - Year 2124Arroyo Field Note Entry
Rocks in Wire Mesh “Bags” as Hanging Weights
The Arroyo CookbookThe Final Thesis Review Exhibition SetupRecipe SpreadArroyo Cookbook Intervention Entry #4 - A PavilionArroyo Cookbook Intervention Entry #5 - A WallArroyo Field Note Entry by Samuel Leung“
Plant Brick“
FootingsFootings Returning back to Where They Came From
Hardware to Prevent Bowing in the Two Pieces of Wood
Cabinet Knob as Beam Support
Monsoonal Calendar - Monoprint SeriesExploration in Wet vs. Dry #2
In Gratitude: thank you for supporting me in
this endeavor by lending me your
voice as well as an ear. This
project could not have existed
without you all.
Cheng Wei
Michael Holzrichter
Lily Gucfa
Samuel Leung
Jiyou Kang
Peiyu Hung
Richard Detry
Jadyn Gardner
Ryan Love
Kaci Jarry
Celeste Rudolfo
Ryan Sotelo
Amelyn Ng, Advisor
Debbie Chen, Secondary Advisor
Gabriel Feld, Mentor