Architecture Commons^™

Developing Mexico: History, Architecture, Photography, And Esther Born’S The New Architecture In Mexico, Tyler Considine

Theses and Dissertations

Esther Born’s The New Architecture in Mexico (1937) presents the first survey of Mexican modern architecture and documents early works by Luis Barragán, Juan O’Gorman, among other Mexican modernists. This thesis examines Born’s architectural photography alongside that of Lola Álvarez Bravo, Guillermo Kahlo, and other photographers and within discourses of modernity, history, and representation.

Micro-Metropolis: Space, Work, And Waste In The Maquettes Of Constant And Bodys Isek Kingelez, Shoshanah B. Rosen

Theses and Dissertations

Constant Nieuwenhuys and Bodys Isek Kingelez both create futuristic utopias in the form of architectural maquettes. This comparative study explores each artist’s reverence for technology, global connectivity, and new forms of economic production. It argues that these utopias represent desires endemic to late modernity and capitalism, including consumption, nomadism, automation.

The Adobe Frontier, Christopher J. Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

The Adobe Frontier is a documentary film about Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello—together known as “Studio Rael San Fratello” —and their work connecting contemporary technology with the legacy of pottery making and adobe architecture in the Southwest United States.

Making Connections In The Evolution Of Panamanian Architecture, Cheriyah Wilmot

Publications and Research

Panama is an isthmus in Central America that has been influenced by a multitude of cultures ever since its Spanish colonization. This diversity is reflected in its architectural forms. The modern form seen in Panamanian architecture will be investigated to find its historical roots. Common themes were extracted that link to the past vernacular: Indigenous and Colonial. Building case studies will be looked at to develop an architectural vocabulary that summarizes recurring architectural elements

The Object Memory Palace, Amra Causevic

Theses and Dissertations

I am interested in orchestrating instances of potentiality or concrete possibilities that proposes the futurity of play through means of touch, activation, assembly, and interaction within art spaces. The installation mentioned is composed of found objects and repurposed materials that address themes of place, memory, object-ness, and the archive, through gestural means of poetics and map making. It is an invitation to create new logics and find moments of empathy, connectivity, and hopes for a collective.

Excavating A Future Vision Past: Mike Davis’ City Of Quartz, William Blick

Publications and Research

When Mike Davis published City of Quartz in 1990, his work was widely praised by many and dismissed as liberalist hysteria by others. The reflections it contains on architectural design as a reflection of sociopolitical tumult still strike chords today. This article sets out a reexamination of the text through hindsight, using contemporary and subsequent reviews to consider how the book was relevant at the time of its publication, how it may be relevant today and how it has had a profound impact on sociological and cultural studies.

Mapping Urban Performance Culture: A Common Ground For Architecture And Theater, Ting Chin, Christopher B. Swift

Publications and Research

Our co-taught course focuses on theater history, with an emphasis on performance architecture. Assignments are designed to illuminate the ways in which architectural design and technology inform performance practices and audience reception. The pivotal assignment for exploring interdisciplinarity is a three-week module on mapping historical theaters in New York City. Open-source Global Information Systems (GIS) software serves as a common mechanism for students to situate theatrical productions in the context of the built urban environment, deepening their understanding of the social, economic, and artistic forces that contributed to performance culture. Mapping is a shared pedagogy for analyzing and presenting research …

Mapping In The Humanities: Gis Lessons For Poets, Historians, And Scientists, Emily W. Fairey

Open Educational Resources

User-friendly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the common thread of this collection of presentations, and activities with full lesson plans. The first section of the site contains an overview of cartography, the art of creating maps, and then looks at historical mapping platforms like Hypercities and Donald Rumsey Historical Mapping Project. In the next section Google Earth Desktop Pro is introduced, with lessons and activities on the basics of GE such as pins, paths, and kml files, as well as a more complex activity on "georeferencing" an historic map over Google Earth imagery. The final section deals with ARCGIS Online …

Defense In Desolation, Dounia Bendris

Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses different forms of defense strategies in architecture throughout history as well as how a building’s function morphs over time in relation to the political and social climate that surrounds it. Both of these concepts provide a framework for understanding my thesis drawing, “Defense in Desolation,” which uses bunkers in abandonment as a reference to the psychological impact of architecture outside of functionality.

Solar Responsive Façade In An Urban Environment, Cheriyah Wilmot

Publications and Research

Due to the high energy consumption in cities like New York, I am designing a shading system to be retrofitted on an existing façade that responds to external thermal conditions. I’ve conceptualized the functions of the shading system to either block/allow sunlight and analyzed its effectiveness in terms of energy use and illuminance in comparison to the modeled office space. Materials will be explored as well as how it’ll function in the future.

Constraint And Control, Patricia Ayres

Theses and Dissertations

I have long considered themes of the body. Drawing on my knowledge as a fashion designer, I bring materials and hardware from the fashion industry into my artwork transforming and rendering them non-functional. My sculptures relate to stories of isolation, separation, and confinement. The following pages will analyze how the United States penal system controls, constrains and restricts the body through physical and psychological wounds. Furthermore, they will examine how the Catholic Church controls people’s minds and behavior through a ritualistic belief system.

The Investigation Of The French Curve, Cheriyah Wilmot

Publications and Research

The creation of irregular curves has evolved from employing splines to computer aided design (CAD); with French Curves being an integral part of this evolution. Such curvilinear irregularity can be seen in the curve of the auditorium at the new academic building. This project investigates the origins of the French Curve, in terms of its history, usage, and mathematical components. For centuries, French curves were used to accurately create portions of ellipticals and other curves in schematic drawings. The commonly used Burmester set contains an amalgamation of mathematical equations where the point of inflection is not symmetrical. These are derived …

Techne Issue 05, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

INTRODUCTION: TING CHIN, MICHAEL DUDDY, AND JASON MONTGOMERY

As the Department of Architectural Technology at the New York City College of Technology embarks on its path to achieve accreditation by the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) for a Bachelor of Architecture, this issue of TECHNE- decidedly focused on architectural education. Over the last two years through countless discussions within our department and college, and with architecture faculty from other universities and currently practicing architects, we have been questioning the value, purpose, and means of an architectural education. As educators in architecture we are responsible for exposing students to a multifaceted …

Syllabus, Assignments, & Selected Handouts (Fiqws-Writing / Architecture), Tim Dalton

Open Educational Resources

This syllabus and its related course materials draw on readings, videos, and multimodal texts to teach rhetoric and argumentation to first-year writers through a varied exploration of questions of design, aesthetics, and access.

Note: This course was paired with a course in the architecture program.

Profanation, Tsahi Zac H. Hacmon

Theses and Dissertations

This paper attempts to provoke an Israeli American dialogue that comes through profanity of conventional architecture. I am creating this dialogue by displaying two main subjects in proximity to each other: border architecture from Israel and institutional architecture or non-places in New York.

Squatters, Shanties, And Technocratic Professionals: Urban Migration And Housing Shortages In Twentieth-Century Chile, Nathan C. Norris

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the struggles of squatters and slum dwellers for housing prior to the 1973 coup in Santiago de Chile, Valparaíso, and surrounding areas, with a focus on the Frei era of the late 1960s. The work argues that severe urban overcrowding generated advocacy for housing during the rise of progressive and leftist politics in Chile. It also explores the dynamics of efforts to promote housing through the lens of the work of professionals in the fields of architecture and urban planning. It argues that Chilean professionals adopted modernist principals in the fields of architecture and planning when promoting …

Purism And The Object-Type: Tradition And Modernity, Art And Society, Jamie Morra

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the Purist object-type as a formal and social tool in interwar Paris. It’s establishment, definition, and use is analyzed through the work and writings of Amédée Ozenfant, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret and Fernand Léger, via painting as the primary practice, and its further conceptual applications in architecture and film.

"A Vigorous Propaganda": The Peace Conferences Of 1899 And 1907, The Peace Palace, And Internationalism Through Design At The Hague, 1899–1920, Daniel Pecoraro

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uncovers the history of the Peace Palace and The Hague’s role in the early days of the internationalist movement. In the process of localizing the early twentieth century history of The Hague, this thesis examines the development of international imagery and culture through design. The Peace Palace as we know it today was ultimately a result of tensions between internationalist ideas (cooperation, arbitration, modernity) and the pride of Old World nationalism. The final design by Louis Cordonnier and J. A. G. Van der Steur repudiates the feeling of modernity surrounding the idea of peace through arbitration. It is …

Introduction To Architecture, Arch 1101, Course Outline, Michael Duddy

Open Educational Resources

The Introduction to Architecture provides a foundation for students entering the BArch / BTech program to develop a “visual literacy” of the built environment. Using New York City as a living laboratory, students explore concepts of design, composition, and construction in the context of the city through their direct experience of buildings. By practicing the basic skills of drafting, sketching, and reading about buildings, and with the opportunity to present their understandings to others through written assignments and verbal presentations, students will develop methods of representing and presenting architecture verbally and graphically.

Techne Issue 04, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

Introduction: Etymologically the word architect is derived from the Greek word arkhitekton meaning “chief builder” (arkhi-, chief + tekton, builder). Originally, architects were primarily builders or artisans. Since that time architects have moved increasingly further away from the act of building. However, recent technological advances in such fields as digital fabrication, custom prototyping, and materials science are drawing architects back to the craft of making. This issue of TECHNE focuses on the relevance of building, making, and fabricating in architectural pedagogy and practice, and presents essays, conceptual proposals, and projects that address this topic. We consider why it is important …

Techne Issue 03, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

The third issue of TECHNE, an annual publication of student work from the Department of Architecture at the New York City College of Technology. Edited by faculty members Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, and Jason Montgomery, this issue includes contributions from Ramsey Dabby, Ramis Rawnak, Ken Grace, Carlos Villella, Shi Long Yang, Percia Gomez, Jill Bouratoglou, Lia Dikigoropoulou, Francisco Morales, Farhana Rahman, Jianfeng Yao, Ana Perez, Peter Zaharatos, Jenne Li, Janil Castillo, Glenny Desena, Elizabeth Parks, Eileen Gray, Mohamed Yakoob, Mario Estrada, Isaias Garcia, Erjan Kadrakunov, Farhana Rahmancenter, Alfonso Severino, Loukia Tsafoulia, Mimu Sakuma, Asli N. Oney, Tatiana Zh, Esteban Beita, …

Techne Issue 02, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

The second issue of TECHNE, an annual publication of student work from the Department of Architecture at the New York City College of Technology. Edited by faculty members Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, and Jason Montgomery, this issue includes contributions from Danny Batista, Jason Sai Hung, Heidi Cherubin, Michelle Yang, Laura Calle, Carlos Jacome, Carolina Walters, Hito Rodriguez, Carlin Baez, Brendan Sigvardsson Cooney, Mimu Sakuma, Anton Sukaj, Marie Baretsky, Tatiana Zheludkova, Moises Reyes, Brendan Edwards, Desiree Andrade, Felipe Arellano, Shadeen Dixon, Tam Huiying, Melissa Benitez, Carlos Jacome, Kilton Shehu, Daniel Mego, Marie Baretsky, Jin Chen, Heraldi Sadmojo, Luiza De Souza, Kate …

Techne Issue 01, Ting Chin, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

The first issue of TECHNE, an annual publication of student work from the Department of Architecture at the New York City College of Technology. Edited by faculty members Ting Chin and Jason Montgomery, this issue includes contributions from Dean Kevin Hom, Shelley E. Smith, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Wendel Edwards, Claudia Hernandez-Feiks, Tim Maldonado, Harold Morales, Anthony Clemente, Patricia Paredes, Gareth Enahoro, Janil Castillo, Lia Dikigoropoulou, Andrea Garrido, Mario Alulema, Tasnuva Ahmed, Jasmine Cato, Marco Dwyer, Elvis Williams, Jean Louis Steevenson, James Rigley, Laura Calle, Moshin Alam, Carlos Mo Wu, Alondra Ramos, Tomasz Piasecki, Ekaterina Sanko, Diego Vega, Tim Maldonado, …

What Studios Do, Eliot Bates

Publications and Research

This essay is focused around a seemingly simple question – what do recording studios do? First, a clarification. I am not primarily asking “what are studios” or “what do people do in studios,” two comparatively straightforward questions that are tangentially addressed in academic and trade writing. Rather, I wish to consider some of the ways in which the studio itself shapes the kinds of social and musical performances and interactions that transpire within. I contend that studios must be understood simultaneously as acoustic environments, as meeting places, as container technologies, as a system of constraints on vision, sound and mobility, …

Planning And Design Workbook For Community Participation, Bernard P. Spring, Carmi Bee, Lance Jay Brown, Gordon Gebert, Charles Zucker

Publications and Research

The Planning and Design Workbook for Community Participation is an in depth manual for the design of communities and multiple dwelling unit housing in the urban context. It was originally written to help nonprofessionals participate in the design of their communities and housing and has since become a valuable tool for practicing design professionals. It has for parts. PART I: Planning and Design Aids includes Using the Workbook, Selecting a Site, Economics, Glossary, References. PART II: Community Design Guidelines includes a list of sample issues (questions), alternative answers (policies), and results (consequences) of the choices made when designing a community; …