Research + Design Advanced Studio
Roxana Mora | Selected Works
Roxana is a fifth‑year architecture student at Cornell University whose work is driven by a deep interest in how people experience their environments, socially, culturally, and spatially. She studies urban patterns, community histories, and everyday behaviors to inform designs that are context‑responsive, equitable, and grounded in real human needs.
Her projects explore the intersection of architecture, social impact, and environmental responsibility, with a focus on creating spaces that support belonging and meaningful connection to place.
Through studio work, community‑based projects, and interdisciplinary research, Roxana has developed strong conceptual thinking, clear communication, and a rigorous design process. She is comfortable moving between analysis, iteration, and representation, and she thrives in collaborative environments where ideas are tested, challenged, and refined.
Software Fluencies: Rhino 7, Revit, AutoCAD, SketchUp, Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop), Enscape, V‑Ray, ArcGIS/QGIS, Microsoft Office Suite, Bluebeam Revu
Architecture Selected Works
This collection serves as an archive of selected studio projects, each engaging a distinct architectural type, scale, and line of inquiry. Together, these works reflect Roxana’s exploration of urban context, social dynamics, material systems, and spatial experience across her academic career. The projects demonstrate a rigorous design process grounded in research, analysis, and conceptual clarity, highlighting her ability to navigate diverse architectural challenges and translate studio investigations into thoughtful, real‑world design approaches.
Click the images to explore additional information on each project
1. Sow, Reap, Repeat
Sow, Reap, Repeat responds to its dense urban context by carving a passage through the site that reconnects surrounding streets and communities. This cut becomes a shared public spine, allowing the neighborhood to stitch itself back together through movement, visibility, and engagement.
2. Minimum Footprint
A minimum footprint strategy limits ground‑level disturbance and respects the surrounding urban fabric. By building upward rather than outward, the project creates efficient density with minimal site disruption
3. Living Thresholds
Living Thresholds explores the transitional spaces where private units meet shared circulation and community zones. These edges create moments of interaction while maintaining clarity between personal and collective life.
4. River Connect Center
The River Connect Center is a library on State Street in Ithaca, positioned along the main urban artery linking downtown to the city’s core routes. A small carved‑out cove invites people to step in and access knowledge right off the flow of the street.
5. The Harvest Hub
The Harvest Hub is a community‑centered food pantry designed to address Enfield’s ongoing food insecurity with dignity and accessibility. It pairs essential food distribution with spaces that teach practical growing skills, supporting long‑term resilience.
6. Bennett Line of Education
The Bennett Line of Education sits on Floyd Bennett Field in New York, rising as a unified platform that brings together the welcome center, athletic facilities, and the elementary, middle, and high schools along with on‑campus housing. Spanning the island’s main axis, it connects students to the surrounding aquatic environment while keeping the shoreline fully accessible.
7. CREW Collective
The Crew Collective is an adaptive‑reuse project on West Seneca Street in Ithaca that revitalizes the former printing building and reconnects it to its natural context. The result is a year‑round destination where lodging and adventure come together to support community, exploration, and shared experience.
8. Nurturing Roots
The project sits in downtown Binghamton, introducing much‑needed gathering space through a mixed‑use building that also provides housing for emerging professionals. A community floor activates the street with shared workspaces, vendor areas, and creative zones that bring new energy into the urban core.
8. Nur
Research Selected Works
This section highlights the research phases that support a variety of Roxana’s projects, focusing on the early investigations that guide her design process. These studies include site observations, precedent analysis, contextual mapping, and explorations of social, environmental, or programmatic conditions. Each research thread helps establish a foundation for design by clarifying constraints, revealing opportunities, and shaping the conceptual direction of the work. Together, these materials show how thoughtful preliminary research strengthens Roxana’s ability to approach each project with clarity, intention, and contextual awareness.
1. Quantifying The Farm
Quantifying the Farm is a research study that evaluates farm systems using metrics beyond revenue to understand what makes them truly effective. Through three case studies: rural, urban, and mixed‑use, it builds a comparative archive that translates farm performance into measurable data.
2. Floyd Bennett: Site Overview
The Floyd Bennett Site Overview is a research investigation into how the island’s conditions and built additions have evolved over time, tracing each layer in relation to its historical moment. By identifying patterns across these shifts, the study begins to outline how the island might continue to transform in the future.
3. Exhaling Thoughts
Exhaling Thoughts is a speculative response to the growing normalization of THC‑based therapy, using architectural interfaces to question how care, reflection, and guided release might be spatially supported. It proposes a walk‑through environment that externalizes inner states, turning the act of processing emotion into an intentional, structured experience.
4. Rest in the Desert
Rest in the Desert examines emerging models of self‑sufficient living communities, drawing from New Alchemy’s research into closed‑loop, resilient habitats. It uses the biodome as a speculative tool to imagine how these systems could be sustained within an extreme desert environment and adapted to its shifting ecological conditions.
Model images
Sketch and Hand Drawings
This section features a selection of sketches and hand drawings that capture Roxana’s early design thinking and exploratory process. These drawings range from quick spatial studies to more detailed observations, helping to clarify form, proportion, and conceptual direction before moving into digital development. Through hand drawing, she investigates ideas with immediacy and intuition, using linework to test relationships, understand context, and ground each project in a clear visual foundation.
Mural Artwork
This section highlights Roxana’s involvement with community‑based mural work in collaboration with Ithaca Murals and local arts initiatives. These projects reflect her interest in public art as a tool for storytelling, visibility, and collective identity. Through design development, on‑site collaboration, and hands‑on painting, she engages with community voices and local histories to help shape vibrant, accessible public spaces. The work demonstrates her commitment to creative engagement beyond traditional architectural practice, emphasizing art’s role in fostering connection and belonging within the built environment.