Aremi Montiel Torres

As the eldest daughter of an immigrant family, a Chicana, and soon-to-be first generation graduate of the BFA Interior Design program with a minor in Environmental Justice—I am passionate about social justice and sustainability, particularly how they intersect with architecture and urban planning. Growing up in the Mission District of San Francisco, notably the hub of Latin culture in the Bay Area, high-quality healthcare facilities and educational institutions were not readily accessible in my urban neighborhood. The need for creative and sustainable solutions within urbanism were recognizable at a young age, but the beautiful structures that exist throughout the city were just as apparent. Whenever I would get the chance to travel outside of my neighborhood, I would spend the whole drive looking out of the window to marvel at the gothic revival, mission revival, art deco, contemporary and all the modern buildings, to name a few, smushed into the small city. This early exposure to architecture inspires me to generate just as iconic structures that are human centered design, focused on enriching the quality of life for underrepresented communities. With my experience in interior home-staging, studio management, and graphic design, I am currently a project intern at Artik Art & Architecture. Aside from design, I do find myself spending my free time still immersed in the creative arts, whether that means painting, drawing, creating something three-dimensional, reading, watching a film or simply listening to music. I am an artist at heart, working towards using my skills to better the livelihood of others who grew up like me.

ASTEROIDEA

The concept is inspired by a micrograph sent to Nikon’s Photomicrography Competition. Captured by Dr. Laurent Formery at UC Berkeley, this is a 2-month old baby seastar. It is photographed using confocal imaging, fluorescent lighting, and image stacking. This particular species of starfish is a part of the Asterinidae family and falls under the class name Asteroidea. Each side was laser-cutted from lighting white cell-cast acrylic with 45% transparency—featuring hand-tied rose- gold aluminum wire, through small holes along the edges (wire varying from 18 to 24 gauges). The table lamp uses a 40W Edison LED light bulb at a temperature of 2700K, giving off soft white lighting.

Light Fixture

Tierra Mia Coffee

Tierra Mia Coffee is one of California’s leading providers for high quality craft coffee. Their mission is to provide the freshest and best coffee, beverages, and pastries in a setting that is comfortable, contemporary, and highly reflective of Latin American culture. They handcraft their beverages to feature latte art and work tirelessly to make their beverages taste as good as possible. Mostly based in Southern California, the only two shops that were in Northern California shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Therefore, this airstream aims to reintroduce their Latin-inspired beverages to the working class of the Bay Area, while also bringing home-away-from-home for local Latin folk, through coffee and pastries. Stationed at San Francisco’s Embarcadero Plaza, the airstream incorporates their signature look, embodying their known homie ambiance, which features vibrant colors, capturing the liveliness and culturally-embossed religious beliefs from México and South American countries.

Airstream

Tingari Plaza

This future plaza is named after the art made from the Australian Aboriginal group, which inspired the interior and landscape design—Tingari. Drawing from certain paintings from the group, with the elements we found, we wanted to make use of the curvilinear lines, dots, circles to bridge the surrounding community with the interior. Doing so by cohesively integrating organic designs into a modern space, creating different experiences with each of the zones shared between the main floor and mezzanine. Additionally, aiming to bring the outdoor experience inside.

Commercial Space

Spotify

Spotify is a digital music, podcast, and video service that gives you access to millions of songs and other content from creators all over the world. At Spotify, it is about staying relevant, human, and unified. Using skills of space planning and good material selections, I ensured all individual work and collaborative areas were made to feel comfortable while also encouraging productivity. The space was made to unlock the potential of human creativity.

Tenant Improvement