Urban Weave is a hybrid community center and residential development located just outside downtown Oakland. Emerging from the layered urban texture of its site, the project is deeply rooted in the social and spatial fabric of a diverse neighborhood where people of different racial and cultural backgrounds live side by side.

The design integrates 50 residential units with a variety of public functions, blurring the boundary between civic infrastructure and everyday living. This dual role creates opportunities for organic community interaction while addressing the practical need for housing in an area experiencing both social complexity and economic pressure.

One of the project’s core challenges is its location within a neighborhood with a relatively high crime rate. In response, the design emphasizes the creation of open yet secure public spaces. Strategies include clear sightlines, multi-layered circulation paths, active edges, and elevated floor plates that provide both permeability and a sense of safety. Public plazas, terraces, and a rooftop garden offer inclusive and accessible areas that promote gathering, visibility, and trust.

The architectural form draws inspiration from the urban grain of the site. Rather than imposing a singular iconic gesture, the design reflects the rhythm and variation of the surrounding city blocks. The geometry is bold yet restrained—recognizable without being dominant. This approach allows the building to assert a civic presence while remaining in harmony with its context.

While the project responds to physical and social conditions, it also carries symbolic weight. Titled Urban Weave, the project explores how architecture can serve as a medium of advocacy. It reflects on how spatial design can contribute to civic dialogue, empowerment, and collective memory. Influenced by the cultural energy surrounding movements like Black Lives Matter, the project engages with the idea of form as a kind of quiet resistance, visible, grounded, and resonant without overt monumentality.

Ultimately, Urban Weave is more than a building—it is a framework for community resilience. By stitching together living, gathering, and movement, the project aims to strengthen neighborhood bonds, create safer environments, and provide a platform for visibility and voice. Its architecture grows from its context, respects its people, and aspires to reflect the layered complexity of the community it serves.