Circular Futures Lab

Projects

About

Research

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Climate Design
Warming Planet
Public Sediment
Emerji
Climate Kit

Materials
Eco Materials Library
Woven Hybrid

Active Mobility
San José Mobility Hub 
Austin Electric Drive
BART Mobility Hub
Solar Pump

San Fernando Mobility Hub
San José, CA


Design Consulting for:
San José Department of Transportation &
Metropolitan Transportation Commission

The Solar Mobility Hub design for San Fernando Street was commissioned through the City of San José Department of Transportation as part of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission's Regional Mobility Hub Program. Located between 6th and 7th Streets adjacent to San José State University, the project examines how solar-powered mobility infrastructure can support both transportation and everyday public life.

The proposal centers on a compact, off-grid solar structure designed to power essential mobility hub functions within the public right-of-way, including e-bike charging, pedestrian-scale lighting, USB charging, and real-time transit information. The design also incorporates shaded seating, wayfinding, and parklet elements that support multimodal transit users and strengthen connections between different modes of transportation.

Positioned alongside a bus boarding island and connected to bike share and scooter share services, the hub brings together multiple transportation modes within a small urban footprint. Developed as a pilot project, the Solar Mobility Hub investigates how off-grid solar infrastructure can support mobility services and public amenities without requiring new utility connections, reducing both costs and implementation timelines.

The project emerged through a collaborative design process involving public works staff, transit operators, underground utility teams, neighborhood stakeholders, and city agencies whose input informed the hub's location, programming, and integration into the surrounding streetscape.






























Emerji


emerji.org

Team


Beth Ferguson
Sara Dean
Bo Peng, student intern
EMERJI is a set of emoji for climate change and emergency response. The world is experiencing increased extreme weather and disaster as we feel the effects of climate change. Emerji helps us talk about these global threats and experiences through the language we use to talk about everything else ... emoji. Emerji uses emoji as a readily-accessible communication tool, popularizing disaster reporting through existing social media and texting platforms. Emerji is a free and open-source project. The Emerji set is currently available on the Apple App Store as a free sticker app. We are in communication with Unicode to adopt Emerji into their global emoticon character set. 




Installation at Observatory Gallery in the Exploratorium Museum, San Francisco, CA
Oliver Art Center Gallery,Oakland, CA

Exhibitions


Oliver Art Center Gallery,Oakland, CA, 2017
Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, UC Davis, 2017
Exploratorium, San Francisco, CA, 2018
Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain, 2022
Ars Electronica Festival, Linz, Austria, 2022

Media


Mary Halton, “Could an emoji save your life?,” BBC News, 2018
Anna Lisa Bonfranceschi, “Di quali altre emoji avremmo bisogno?” Wired Italy, 2018
Cosimi, Simone. “Un’emoji può salvarti la vita? La battaglia per quella sul terremoto,” La Repubblica, 2018
Cheney, Catherine. “What could emojis bring to disaster response?” Devex, 2017
Landes, Nora. “Why Emoji Matters,” Artsy, 2016
© Beth Ferguson, 2026