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Rendering inside the subway car: red and yellow seats, poles, and a mannequin in the menswear look.

Third Rail

  • Exhibition Design (DEA/FSAD 1140)
  • HEB T70 Exhibition Space, Cornell University
  • Spring 2025

Collaborators: Mia Pacelli

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Third Rail is a streetwear collection for socially conscious NYC teens of all genders, working to lower middle-class, and trend-savvy, blending bold style with sustainable values. By repurposing secondhand materials, we keep fashion affordable while empowering youth to express individuality through upcycled, one-of-a-kind pieces. Inspired by early 2000s revival and DIY culture, Third Rail reflects a generation that values creativity, inclusivity, and environmental awareness.

To show the collection, the HEB T70 exhibition space becomes a New York subway platform: a full-size train car sits on the tracks under a graffiti mural, and visitors walk along the tiled platform past mannequins dressed in the line. The project moved from concept sketches and a mood board to garment flats and 3D models, then to a measured floor plan, sections and elevations in Revit, and finally to rendered views of the finished space.

Concept

Mood board: subway cars and platforms, graffiti lettering, street signs for Broadway and 5th Avenue, an I love NY logo, sneakers, a skateboard and New York street style.
Mood board
Hand sketches of the exhibition room: an axonometric with a subway car, graffiti wall, platform sign and the third rail, and two plan versions with mannequins, an NYC trash can, a street sign and track lines on the floor.
Early exhibition sketches

The Clothing Line

Technical flats of the menswear look: a cropped sweatshirt with a lightning bolt on the back, cargo pants and work boots, front and back. Technical flats of the womenswear look: a cropped baby-doll top, flared jeans, a small shoulder bag and sneakers, front and back.
3D model of the menswear look from the front: grey sweatshirt with a chest pocket, black cargo pants and tan boots. 3D model of the menswear look from the back, with a black lightning bolt on the sweatshirt. 3D model of the womenswear look from the front: white top, light-wash flared jeans and sneakers. 3D model of the womenswear look from the back.

Exhibition Space

Dimensioned floor plan of the exhibition room: a tiled platform along the top and the subway car along the bottom, about 45 feet long. Axonometric view of the room with the subway car, platform, bench and graffiti wall. Elevation of the platform wall: white station tile with a maroon band, a lamp post, a framed subway map and a bench. Long elevation of the subway car's side, with a Third Rail graffiti mural and a bench along the platform.

Renders

Rendering of the platform: the front of the subway car with its route 3 sign, a graffiti mural, and a mannequin on a bench under bright station lights.
Rendering of the platform looking along the open subway car, with a mannequin in the doorway. Rendering of the platform beside the car's graffiti mural, with a mannequin in the womenswear look.