Architecture Commons^™

But Soft! Fabricating Adaptive Urbanism, Caroline Barrick, Arezo Hakemy, Sabrina Logroño

Architecture Senior Theses

We contend that a performative fabric that combines strategies of comfort and adaptation and deployed as large-scale soft architecture can challenge the approach to urban infrastructural issues currently only managed by hard architecture. We are investigating both soft and hard architecture through the human scale and experience, the urban scale, materiality, adaptability, and temporality. Soft architecture produces comfort and ergonomic design for both physical and mental benefit and affects the built environment through its tactile materiality, its ephemeral temporality, and its swift adaptability. Hard architecture resists environmental and human adaptation through its rigid materiality, its lasting temporality, and its reluctant …

Plastic Revolution: Reuse Of Marine Plastic Garbage, Jingshi Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, has been getting more and more attention recently. It is a gyre of marine debris particles in the north central Pacific Ocean, with an estimated size range from 700,000 square kilometers (about the size of Russia). In 1992, 28,000 rubber ducks were plunged into the ocean after a shipping crate was lost at sea on its way to the US from Hong Kong. Many years later, the rubber ducks have become a vital tool in our understanding of ocean currents, as well as teaching us about ocean pollution. …

A Material Affair: The Intimacy Between Materials And Affective Space, Rex Hughes, John Mikesh

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis argues that an architecture embracing innate material qualities, deployed for choreographed sensory experiences, will open a more intimate dialogue between humans and their environment. This thesis is rooted in the idea that the most powerful experiences are those that stimulate all the senses at once. This is illustrated by architect Lisa Heschong, who explains that fire fascinates humans because it glows, crackles, smells of smoke, and gives off heat. This intimate sensory experience provides an archetype for the way users may be seduced into engaging affective environments through haptic materials.

In an investigation of material qualities (density, hardness, …

Your Second Home: Re-Thinking Of Post-Disaster Housing, Evelyn Brooks

Architecture Senior Theses

Natural disasters such as tornadoes, wildfires, earthquakes, and hurricanes destroy our infrastructure, civic buildings, public amenities, and homes. These disasters create problems of homelessness, but they also create environments within the city that are unlivable due to a lack of electricity and potable water. People displaced by disasters often find themselves living in a government- or non-profit-run evacuation shelter, at the mercy of bureaucratic organizations for assistance to begin the recovery process. People forced to evacuate neighborhoods where they have perhaps been established for decades often also lose their ability to commute to work (if their employer still exists) as …

Learning From Wes Anderson: On Artificial Memory And Detail, Abigail Campion

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the reproduction of detail, through compression and misarticulation, an artificial memory of its reference. The project culminates on three films of Wes Anderson: The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. These specific films were chosen due to their cult following within the Anderson canon. Wes Anderson articulates his cinematic universes very meticulously. He uses unique methods to capture certain emotions in his films. A huge part of Anderson’s film worlds is his attention to detail. All parts of his films are deeply invested in maintaining the illusion of the film world he has …

Xiong'an,Minglu Wei Baita: Towards An Alternative Urbanism, Minglu Wei, Ying Zuo

Architecture Senior Theses

In 1978, with the onset of economic reform, the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) started to accelerate in China. Beyond the success of these mega-cities, if one starts to relate the history of SEZs to the political history of China, one may find that SEZs have always been utilized as a method for the leaders of CCP to manifest their authority and to fortify their achievements. Such state projects are inevitably founded on a paradoxical claim. While being announced as monumental undertakings capable of glorifying the country and benefiting people, they also demand sacrifices of citizens for a higher …

The Denuded Image: A Critique Of The After-Image, Danya Li

Architecture Senior Theses

The Denuded Image aims to create a conversation between a photograph and its viewer by adding back the third dimension. It is not a proposal of how architects should design space, but a model for observation and study of how to create new ways of seeing. The dioramas at 1:8, 1:4, and 1:2 scales expose the reality of the forced perspective and the denuded photograph's distorted characters. As scale increases, the observer is invited to engage with the in-visible parts of the image that differ in materiality. The final spectacle includes all models and their respective images, to expose the …

An Intelligent Smart City, Erik Sanchez

Architecture Senior Theses

How intelligent is the typical smart-city design approach? In an era when artificial intelligence and big data promise to improve urban life in unprecedented ways, are smart cities being imagined and designed in ways that are actually inspiring and truly innovative? This project examines the proposals and approaches of Sidewalk Labs’ designs for Quayside, located in Toronto Canada, and asks how intelligent, really, is the city the propose. Sidewalk Labs (the city-building subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company), in partnership with Waterfront Toronto (a government-appointed nonprofit development corporation), claims to be reimagining cities from the internet up.” But is their …

Re*Presenting Dharavi: Activism And Agency Of Architecture In Informal Settlements, Ahnaf Chowdhury, Anuradha Desai

Architecture Senior Theses

Plastic recycling is a critical informal economy in Dharavi, one of Asia's largest slums in the heart of Mumbai. Waste from dumping grounds is collected, sorted and prepared by recyclers who transform trash into a commodity to be sold back into the city. As part of top-down efforts to redevelop Dharavi's valuable land, the Mumbai government has tarnished the industry's image, labeling it as "polluting," and has increased the cost of utilities such as electricity in an effort to drive it out of the community. As it becomes more expensive for recyclers to operate, the labor unions that organize the …

The Disputed Territories: An Alternate History, Rasan Taher

Architecture Senior Theses

Architecture and the built environment are the mediums onto which political and physical events and forces are registered. This thesis explores the potential of Drones (UAVs) as a tool to launch a spatial investigation into disputed territories of the built environment. The objective of this specific work is to produce and represent spatiotemporal analysis and architectural evidence of the unlawful systematic destruction of Arab neighborhoods and villages in the disputed territories—here in relation to the continuous power shifts in the disputed internal boundaries between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi Federal Government in Iraq. The increasing availability and advancements …

On Nothing, Rutuja Ganoo

Architecture Senior Theses

In southeast Asian philosophy, artha, kama, dharma and moksha are said to be the four major goals in a Hindu's life. While artha (monetary) and karma (sensory) are physical and psychological, moksha is the ultimate destination. In this worldview, the soul goes through endless cycles o existence on various planes, until it grows spiritually; moksha is the release of the soul from the cycle of birth, life and death to the ultimate reunion with "god". The entity being released from this "binding," the soul, is said to work symbiotically with the human body to engage in worldly learning and experience. …

Sunset.Zip: A New Proposal In Architectural Reconstruction, Ethan Russell-Benoit, Wilson Slagle

Architecture Senior Theses

More often than not, architecture is in the background, rather than in the foreground. Architecture is a stage set for life, and much of it we only get to look at from the outside. Non-architects do not remember buildings by their plans, sections, and details - instead, people remember buildings by their plans, sections, and details - instead people remember fragments, pieces, and generalized characters. Architecture is compressed in our memory in ways that often differ substantially from reality. The automobile further exacerbates this phenomenon. The automotive tourist experiences the landscape in fleeting glimpses, and buildings are reduced to their …

Speculative Spoliation: Spolia As An Instrument Of Locus Making & Identity Mediation, Amelia Gan

Architecture Senior Theses

In this thesis, spolia is defined as the repurposing of found artifacts or material with ingrained place identities to new building matter in novel contexts. This includes architecture remnants or fragments from sites of historical ruins, urban derelicts and artifacts currently displayed in museums.

Architecture's impermanence results in demolishment, reconstruction, or exhibition of its fragments in museums or ruin parks. Attempts at preservation often only look at the surface-level significance of these artifacts without allowing for the addition of meanings over time. While displaying an artifact in a museum or turning ruins into tourist parks directly addresses the history of …

Emoji Disorder, Doria Miller, Irving Shen

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis posits with the contemporary context of a rising digital and visual dialect, the emoji, the elastic architectural design language has the capability to be updated. The duck, based on form, and the decorated shed, based on signage, are no longer adequate to project meaning on architecture. The emoji is neither purely symbol nor sign and thus it becomes a fusion of the two: a duckerated shed. By referencing a familiar language rather than canonical architectural precedents, those outside of the discipline can better relate to the buildings they inhabit.

Playingground: Towards A Seriously Playful Architecture, Anita Lamisi Karimu

Architecture Senior Theses

"playGround" is a study of the fundamental rules and organizational logics seen in popular board games and an exploration of their potential applications towards the manifestation of utopian ideals of the built. This thesis is interested in the restoration of user freedom in the built environment by reintroducing the concept of "play" as the fundamental principle of design, giving equal agency to all users in utilizing and modifying transitional and extended-use circulation space. Play in this thesis acts as the antithesis to the normative systems of order and regulation from which contemporary architecture is derived.

"playGround" posits that every ground …

Beyond Architecture: Architecture’S Alternative Role In Architecture Image, Zexi Tang

Architecture Senior Theses

Images/drawings of architecture primarily act as documentation of structures to help the audience (architects or clients) understand how architecture functions: the sense of space, physical relationship with the context, and circulation through different programs. Nevertheless, architectural images that focus not on functionally determine spaces but rather on an idea or provocation, also play a significant role in the representation of architecture. The role of architecture in these kinds of images can be beyond a shelter or accommodation. It can set up a stage to deliver messages; discuss historical, social, economic or political issues; or to express emotion or desire. Architects/artist …

An Argument For Ornament: Louder Than Status Quo, Marda Zenawi

Architecture Senior Theses

There is a pervasive silence in architecture today - one created by methodological monolingualism, the limits of core and shell logics, and the emphasis on marketable iconicity. Broad moves like curtain walls, fixtures like mullions, or comfort systems like air conditioning become an assumed part of the environment. This is problematic because these artifacts are heavy with ideology. Their ubiquitousness and the complacency in their use leave us with an increasingly seamless and self-similar global architecture, such that it becomes a dogmatically assumed part of the environment - such that we have no awareness of what we subscribe to by …

Paintings Without Frames: The Role Of Augmented Reality In Art Galleries, Laura Clark

Architecture Senior Theses

Art and architecture define one another; the way we can move through an art gallery is defined by the architectural space that has been created, but the actual direction of travel is dictated by the art itself.

This thesis questions both architecture's role in an art gallery and the role of technology, which is changing our perception of space. Augmented reality can be used within the art galleries as a way to provide context, to distort and add to the perception of artworks, as a means of way-finding, and as a tool to allow visitors to curate their own gallery …

Modern Chinese Architectural Restoration, Tengkui Xie

Architecture Senior Theses

All over the world, there are always buildings to be built and buildings that become old. Should buildings that catered to older needs but are now obsolete be torn down and replaced with new buildings or can we do something to balance the value of the present and the past? All buildings have historic and aesthetic values of their own times, so it is not wise to wipe them out of history completely. It would be better to preserve, restore and reuse them. Restoration has a long history in the West and since the beginning of the 20th century there …

Public Space With Character: A Late, Late, Entry- Chicago Library Competition, Kokeith Perry Ii

Architecture Senior Theses

The city of Chicago has a complex relationship with the aesthetics of civic monuments and infrastructures. The cities most canonical projects validate its apparent biases - an oscillation between iconic modern and postmodern figures proliferate the urban fabric. The dynamic between these two paradigms creates a complex relationship between architecture, urban space, and the public mirroring the cities longstanding and complex history of segregated urban space and peoples. This project draws precedent from the format of the 1980 Stanley Tigerman exhibition Late entries to the Chicago Tribune Tower Competition, a then radical competition set to reinvigorate the discipline the way …

Sinoconn: Merchandising Of Architecture And Rearmament Of Labor, Furui Sun

Architecture Senior Theses

The project is situated in the context of contemporary China, where tremendous production power and a huge labor force have been accumulated through decades of rapid economic growth. In recent years, China's persistent growth has begun to slow, which challenges the administration with an imminent socio-economic crisis and the potential for a massive scale of surplus capital and its consequences. This conflict emerges out of the complementary "inner connection...between the developments of capitalism and urbanization" identified by British-born Marxist scholar David Harvey. Such a problem and its resolution can be seen in France in the mid-19th century right after an …

Encapsulated Fantasy:A Dystopian Future Of Segregation By Technology, Shihua Xuan

Architecture Senior Theses

Objects...previously only available through interpersonal relationships, such as daily food and sexual partners, can now be obtained extremely easily with the help of fast food and sex industries without any troublesome interpersonal relationships. At this point, it can be said that our society has been constantly moving towards animalization... - Azuma Hiroki, the post-modernization of animalization: Japanese society in the eyes of the otaku

In an era of losing the grand narrative and the development of technology in Japan, many people no longer search for life's meaning, easily amazed by superficial products created by the capital market. Desire describes a …

Atmospheric Architecture: Virtual Possibility Of The Picturesque, Yuqi Jin

Architecture Senior Theses

In the 18th century theory of the “picturesque,” imagination substitutes reason. That strategy was profoundly captured in artists’ use of the Claude Glass as a device to distort natural scenes and reproduce reality. A later and more “unreal” variation of this imaginary occurs in picturesque landscape drawings. The result was a recasting of the perfection of nature as an aesthetic of nature. The picturesque thus enacted a transition from reality to virtuality, and that alteration was then reflected back onto reality.

Today’s “atmospheric” architecture pursues similar objectives by taking elements of nature, such as light and air, to produce a …

Falling Ground: Underground Osmosis, Byungryoung Lee

Architecture Senior Theses

Highly urbanized areas over the world must prepare for another huge population inflow. According to the UN, around 70 percent of the world population will likely live in urban areas by 2050. Big cities such as New York City, Tokyo, and London already face land scarcity and high property costs in their main urban regions.

This thesis explores a new underground typology, adapting into existing urban contexts as a potential solution for these growing issues. Existing infrastructure elements such as parks, subways, and water tanks or sewage systems, which are omnipresent in urban regions, become part of the underground space …

Blurring The Divide: Architecture That Encourages Socially Inclusive Urban Environments, Erin Benken

Architecture Senior Theses

Segregation in the United States has existed for many decades. As a result of social, economic, and political factors, community members of different races, ethnicities and social classes tend to congregate and live together in the segregated neighborhoods of America's cities. While social values now are more open to integration than they were a century ago, tradition, familiarity, and social ties keep this segregated distribution alive today. This thesis explores the topic of segregation in cities by asking, how do we create an architecture that breaks through social divides to create more socially inclusive urban environments?

Using Chicago as a …

Urban Rangers: The Scope Of Medellin Through Informal Waste Collection, Christina M. Rubino

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis critiques the city of Medellin through the scope of an informal waste collector. This research defines a waste collector as a person who resides within informal settlements and relies on disposed belongs of others as exchange for income. Their act of informal waste collection often occurs in residential communities. The subjects, informal waste collectors, are traced in their everyday routes and urban experiences; their actions, means, and methods are then quantified in order to determine an algorithm for an optimized collection technique and performance. This critique reveals the obstacles that waste collectors face in transportation and storage to …

Towards A Floating Urbanism: Adapting To Water As A New Ground, Chris Autera

Architecture Senior Theses

Climate change offers myriad challenges to society, including a rising sea level and increasingly intense storms. Resilience to climate change, particularly the reliance on hard barriers, only protects certain areas and raises the risk of catastrophic failure. More deeply, these approaches reflect an attempt to preserve society as it exists today, denying the reality that the multi-millennia process of climate change necessitates a more profound reevaluation of how society operates. Adaptation takes this need as a given, arguing for the retrofitting of infrastructure to regular inundation when possible and the abandonment of at-risk areas when not. However, these strategies are …

Growing Above The City: Application Of Open-Source Urban Agriculture System To Different Boroughs In Nyc, Jiyoon Bae

Architecture Senior Theses

The metropolitan area we live in faces the environmental as well as social issues such as air pollution, high density, or broken work-life balance, which cause our unhealthy lifestyle. New York City is one of the representative areas where faces social and environmental problems. At the same time, many of the social movements are uprising to overcome those issues. Urban agriculture is part of these movements to restore their healthy life, resisting against food discrimination, or educating the public about health and environmental significance. According to official reports, the number of urban farms reaches 550 through the entire city. However, …

The Postmoder Hermits, Xuechen Li

Architecture Senior Theses

Metropolitan cities to grow at unfathomable rates, forming a new scale of geography know as Megaregions. And as these settlements continue to develop with the principal focus on the consequences of economy and environment, the psychological, mental health of the inhabitants becomes neglected. Japan, the archetypal example of a highly developed country, despite its economic and technological advantages, has been plagued by social isolation, suicides, and mental health issues among its people. With 541,000 young Japanese labeled as hikikomori, a term describing young people who isolate themselves in their rooms for months or years at a time, their memories of …

2047 City: Hong Kong’S Identity In A Space Of Disappearance, Mike Liu, Raul Sadhwani

Architecture Senior Theses

Hong Kong has always been colonial; its existence is shaped from the confluence of East and West. After 158 years of British rule, Hong Kong's handover to the Chinese Government, catalyzed by the expiration of its 99-year lease of the New Territories, began in 1997 whereby the city operates under a "one-country-two-systems" policy. These events have created a culture and identity of disappearance as the people of Hong Kong have scrambled to define their identity due to the imminence of its disappearance, as discussed by Ackbar Abbas. This is exemplified in the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 when citizens, mainly students, …