Living Frameworks

Spaces that adapt, grow, and connect lives

Dorida Denas

My name is Dorida

An architectural designer graduated at NJIT driven by a passion for designing spaces that foster connection, care, and community. My work explores the intersection of storytelling, social impact, and environmental responsibility; from intergenerational learning hubs to sustainable housing and resilient institutions. I believe architecture should respond to people as much as place, creating experiences that are inclusive, adaptable, and meaningful.

My Portfolio

Beyond the Rowhouse

Beyond the Rowhouse reimagines residential life in Jersey City’s India Square, a neighborhood shaped by its South Asian community and the gradual adaptation of traditional rowhouses.
The project proposes a new housing model inspired by everyday spaces found in Indian architecture, such as shaded front platforms, verandas, and screened transitional spaces that encourage social interaction while providing privacy and protection from the climate. These elements are translated into porches, shared courtyards, flexible storefronts, and communal spaces, allowing the building to support both domestic and commercial life.

The result is housing that reflects the cultural identity of India Square while creating new opportunities for community, adaptability, and connection.

Threshold Hotel

This project is a boutique hotel along the High Line that explores the idea of threshold,
how spaces shift between public and private, and how the building relates to the city. The
design is organized as a series of layered spaces, starting with an open ground level, an
elevated terrace connected to the High Line, and more private hotel rooms above.
The massing is shaped through carving and orientation to bring in light, create views, and
break down the overall volume. The façade works as a filter, using vertical fins to control
daylight and create different interior atmospheres throughout the year. Overall, the
project tries to balance being part of the public city while still offering a more private,
controlled experience.

Terraced greenery fosters biophilic connections, while the top-level common area encourages social interaction among residents. The design responds to NYC’s zoning constraints with bold experimentation, merging adaptive reuse strategies and new typologies to revitalize post-industrial contexts.

Fragments Of Continuity

This project responds to the void left after the destruction of the Old Town Hall’s north wing in 1945. Instead of reconstructing the past, the proposal creates a contemporary continuation, one that restores the urban edge of the square while respecting the rhythms, proportions, and material presence of its historic surroundings

Context as Generator

By studying archival elevations and the façades around Old Town Square, several shared principles emerged: aligned cornices, consistent floor heights, masonry massing, and a strong vertical rhythm. These elements became the foundation for the new design, not as ornament, but as spatial and proportional cues.

Form from Memory

The geometry of the former block was traced from historical plans, abstracted, and broken into a family of volumes that recall the original footprint while creating new public courtyards and passages. The result reconnects the Town Hall complex with the medieval network of streets behind it.

The Hive: Senior Community Center

The Hive is a comprehensive senior center designed to foster intergenerational connection, wellness, and cultural continuity in the heart of Downtown Newark. Set near Saint Michael’s Medical Center and surrounded by institutions of art, education, and public health, the project addresses senior isolation, food insecurity, and the value of cross-generational exchange through architecture.

The design is inspired by the structure and symbolism of a beehive. A modular, collaborative system. This metaphor translates into three interconnected masses:

Central Hive: A culinary and social hub featuring teaching kitchens, communal dining, and rooftop gardens.

Cultural Commons: A storytelling and knowledge-sharing space with a library, recipe archive, and gallery.

Wellness Building: A health-focused wing offering therapy rooms, quiet lounges, exam rooms, and meditative terraces.

A green bridge terrace physically and symbolically links nourishment and wellness, forming an elevated garden route that flows between food labs and therapy spaces. Accessible planter-integrated railings, greenhouse pods, and shaded seating support therapeutic gardening and visual connection.

The project prioritizes universal design, daylight-rich interiors, and natural materials like clean brick, curtain walls, dark-tinted glass, and black aluminum. The building acts as a living ecosystem, productive, nurturing, and constantly in exchange, where elders and youth collaborate, teach, grow, and cook together.

Rooted in both community research and environmental empathy, The Hive reflects a new model for senior centers: not as care facilities, but as spaces of legacy, agency, and joy.

Tripoint Academy

Tripoint Academy is a high school designed to unite scientific inquiry, artistic expression, and environmental responsibility on the campus of Drew University in Madison, NJ. The building’s architecture responds directly to the university’s historic woodland setting and topography, incorporating layered levels that connect the athletic fields below to the academic quad above.

The massing is defined by three key programmatic volumes: science, art, and general education, which intersect to form communal spaces and anchor points. The design features a restrained material palette of dark-tinted glass, concrete, and metal railing, emphasizing clarity, structure, and transparency.

Circulation and daylight drive the internal logic of the building: generous corridors double as social and collaborative zones, while classrooms and labs open to natural light and framed campus views. Outdoor terraces and stepped platforms engage the landscape and extend learning spaces beyond the envelope.

Tripoint Academy envisions a school where creativity and critical thinking coexist in a flexible, integrated, and environmentally conscious architecture.

The Stacks at Degraw

Set in Brooklyn’s Gowanus neighborhood, this residential development reimagines urban living through stacked massing, curved forms, and integrated green terraces. The project bridges the site’s industrial past with a future-forward approach, offering a model for zoning-compliant multifamily housing that prioritizes community and sustainability.

Terraced greenery fosters biophilic connections, while the top-level common area encourages social interaction among residents. The design responds to NYC’s zoning constraints with bold experimentation, merging adaptive reuse strategies and new typologies to revitalize post-industrial contexts.

Bamboo Haven: Threads of Community

Bamboo Haven began as Screenscape, a concept for an adaptable parklet that balances social interaction with privacy through geometric screens and modular forms. Through iterative development, the design evolved into Bamboo Haven, a more fluid, organic pavilion inspired by the resilience and elegance of bamboo.

The final structure reimagines the parklet as a semi-enclosed social oasis in Newark’s urban fabric. Using modular bamboo-inspired ribs and suspended greenery, the pavilion creates opportunities for interaction, reflection, and community programming. The project integrates adaptable seating, playful elements for children, and inclusive design features that respond to sun, wind, and varying siting conditions.

The proposal includes full-scale fabrication planning, disassembly logistics, and detailed spatial drawings. Presented through physical models, sections, diagrams, and immersive renderings, the project reflects a holistic approach to materiality, sustainability, and urban activation.

A Walk Towards Healthy Lifestyle

This project proposes a transformative waterfront pavilion that promotes community wellness through movement, nutrition, and nature. The circular structure integrates offices, a food court, and a public rooftop garden into one continuous form that encourages walking and interaction across its levels.

Located at a coastal site, the design emphasizes sun orientation, natural ventilation, and greenery to create a vibrant, health-conscious environment. A curved ramp wraps around the building, offering accessible circulation and panoramic views. Inside, thoughtfully programmed spaces include workspaces, dining areas, and spaces for relaxation—all oriented toward supporting a holistic lifestyle.

Inspired by biomimicry and elevated garden structures, the building blends architecture and landscape to form an immersive and functional urban oasis.

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Welcome to my portfolio.
Here you’ll find a selection of my work.
Explore my projects to learn more about what I do.