The cube spoke to me. It said, “I feel stuck in this form. I want to be reborn, spread my wings and be free. Can you help me?” I answered, “Of course, but you have to tell me what you want to be.” So it told me, and I obliged.
scroll down to read the MODEL CITIZEN Manifesto
Humans are 99.9% genetically identical, sharing the same DNA. It is this .1% that makes each of us have our unique physical traits.
“In minor ways we differ, in major we’re the same.”
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
These are two lines from Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Human Family’.
It is these simple words that are the inspiration for a family I’ve been creating I call MODEL CITIZENS. They were born in 2015, with the ascendance of Donald Trump. I felt a disturbance in the fabric of society brewing; threads of progress towards a more perfect union unraveling.
MODEL CITIZENS are my antidote to this disturbance that inhabits my psyche with the rise of hate of the other promulgated by and acted upon by the highest levels of our government, a world where only white Christians are at the top of the heap. And at the governments side stands the excesses of capitalism and corporations that are willing partners. It’s not hyperbolic to see the similarities to the rise of Nazi fascism. Fascism relies on authoritarianism, the play that is happening right before our eyes in our time.
MODEL CITIZENS represent the ideals of an upgrade in humanity, where to be a good citizen occupies the highest of ideals, where we teach our children civics, which instead of everything being about “me”, they learn that alongside individualism, is a responsibility to the other, caring for one another, respecting our differences, contributing to the communities we live in, engaging in democracy, being good Samaritans, caring for the environment so that future generations may have a chance of having a livable planet. Have I forgotten something? Perhaps you can finish this list.
Each MODEL CITIZEN is a unique persona but within that uniqueness is a common structure. It’s the differences that make us beautiful. Think of a world without the beautiful spectrum of humanity, a world with a single language, a single culture, a single art form, a single religion, a single skin tone. It’s a dystopian thought experiment.
At first MODEL CITIZENS were two dimensional, inhabiting artworks created in photoshop. It was not until I transformed them into three dimensions that they became full-fledged personas. In 2015, I used Think[box] at Case Western Reserve University to 3d print my first two. But I didn’t go further because traveling and being there for extended periods of time made it inaccessible to me. It would not be until I began reconnecting with my roots as an architect with my Art-itectures a couple of years ago that I would revisit them, this time with new programs, MOI and Blender. With their architectonic forms, it occurred to me that they were Art-itectures too. And then, in the fall of 2025, with the acquisition of a 3d printer, like a phoenix rising from the ashes they were reborn into physical sculptures to be experienced as I intended them, like an architects models of buildings.
MODEL CITIZENS are fun. They are childlike. They are joyful. They are happy. They march to the drum of a better humanity.
scroll down below narrative to see more images
Humans are 99.9% genetically identical, sharing the same DNA. It is this .1% that makes each of us have our unique physical traits.
“In minor ways we differ, in major we’re the same.”
“We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
These are two lines from Maya Angelou’s poem ‘Human Family’.
It is these simple words that are the inspiration for a family I’ve been creating I call MODEL CITIZENS. They were born in 2015, with the ascendance of Donald Trump. I felt a disturbance in the fabric of society brewing; threads of progress towards a more perfect union unraveling.
MODEL CITIZENS are my antidote to this disturbance that inhabits my psyche with the rise of hate of the other promulgated by and acted upon by the highest levels of our government, a world where only white Christians are at the top of the heap. And at the governments side stands the excesses of capitalism and corporations that are willing partners. It’s not hyperbolic to see the similarities to the rise of Nazi fascism. Fascism relies on authoritarianism, the play that is happening right before our eyes in our time.
MODEL CITIZENS represent the ideals of an upgrade in humanity, where to be a good citizen occupies the highest of ideals, where we teach our children civics, which instead of everything being about “me”, they learn that alongside individualism, is a responsibility to the other, caring for one another, respecting our differences, contributing to the communities we live in, engaging in democracy, being good Samaritans, caring for the environment so that future generations may have a chance of having a livable planet. Have I forgotten something? Perhaps you can finish this list.
Each MODEL CITIZEN is a unique persona but within that uniqueness is a common structure. It’s the differences that make us beautiful. Think of a world without the beautiful spectrum of humanity, a world with a single language, a single culture, a single art form, a single religion, a single skin tone. It’s a dystopian thought experiment.
At first MODEL CITIZENS were two dimensional, inhabiting artworks created in photoshop. It was not until I transformed them into three dimensions that they became full-fledged personas. In 2015, I used Think[box] at Case Western Reserve University to 3d print my first two. But I didn’t go further because traveling and being there for extended periods of time made it inaccessible to me. It would not be until I began reconnecting with my roots as an architect with my Art-itectures a couple of years ago that I would revisit them, this time with new programs, MOI and Blender. With their architectonic forms, it occurred to me that they were Art-itectures too. And then, in the fall of 2025, with the acquisition of a 3d printer, like a phoenix rising from the ashes they were reborn into physical sculptures to be experienced as I intended them, like an architects models of buildings.
MODEL CITIZENS are fun. They are childlike. They are joyful. They are happy. They march to the drum of a better humanity.
scroll down below narrative to see more images
EIDOS TOWER is Art-itecture.
Eidos is the Greek term used by Plato and Aristotle, signifying the “form,” “shape,” “essence,” or “true nature” of a thing.
Designing this tower was inspired by Brancusi’s monumental Endless Column, one of an ensemble of 3 sculptures (1937-1938) for his World War I memorial in Târgu-Jiu, Romania. In one of my architecture studio classes at Pratt, my professor Hanford Yang, encouraged me to tap into relationships outside of core architectural theory, particularly the visual arts by visiting the great art institutions that New York City had to offer. He said that we had a privilege to be able to study architecture in such a laboratory of art and architecture as New York. I got student passes for the Met, Moma and the Whitney and visited them often. This exposure helped me explore a more emotional aspect of form making. Architecture was more than the function of a building. You could also tell a story and evoke spiritual engagement. I saw sculptures of Brancusi at Moma at one of these visits. I didn’t know anything about him or his work before this. I went to the library to learn more about him and that is where I saw his endless column, a construct of stacked rhomboidal shaped modules of cast iron coated with brass and zinc and structurally supported by a steel inner spine. I have a spine disease and in my early 20s my spine which had progressively began to curve starting in adolescence was causing me pain and looking back in hindsight the proud straightness and spine like quality of the endless column was perhaps why it so resonated with me.
In my interpretation I have inverted the rhomboid. A rhombus, split into two folded triangles is the master module that forms the tower. Four of these modules combined together form a level. Mirroring one of these levels forms 4 inverted rhomboids, that is, instead of projecting out like in Brancusi’s column, the rhomboids recess inwards. The cavity voids at the center of these stackings are filled with octahedrons, reminiscent of the modular form in Brancusi’s column. In a sense, the tower is a vessel encasing Brancusi’s column.
The tower has 13 levels. Why 13? First, I like that it is a prime number. Second, it is the age in Judaism that signifies maturity. Third, in Hinduism, the 13th of each month is an auspicious day, the most fruitful of the month. Put together, for me, the number 13 represents strength and as Vitruvius said, architecture must have Firmness, Commodity and Delight.
A deeper reading of the tower ties into my personal interpretation of Brancusi’s endless column. Why did he call it endless when it obviously isn’t? I think with the stacking of the rhomboidal module, mathematically, this geometry could be stacked infinitum. It’s up to us to imagine completing it, soaring to the heavens, a place where the soldiers who sacrificed their lives now occupy.
Eidos Tower also has a counter narrative. Yes, its geometric module could mathematically be theoretically infinitely stacked and endless, but it would be hubris to do so as we are mere mortals with limits, not gods, an important lesson we learned when Icarus tested the limits of hubris and we all know the outcome.
Connecting levels together
Two levels (on left), Pinnacle (on right) and Octohedron (at center)
Eidos tower is modular tectonic structure. Pictured is the master module. Imagine a rhombus and then imagine it folded on itself. The recessed pockets accept connectors allowing the parts to be connected together by friction.
These are the parts at the top that forms the towers pinnacle.
