Architecture Commons^™

Unearthed: Architect Invades Time Square With Soil, Megha Murali

Architecture Senior Theses

Rammed Earth has not yet been studied in terms of soil's inherent spatial qualities. This thesis aims to create a set of rules to follow when designing with Rammed Earth. Coupling physical testing and a series of interviews with experts, the rules are formed by manifesting natural qualities of soil as spatial manipulations. The outcome goal of this project is to broadcast soil as a material. Imagining a Rammed Earth intervention in today's world, the news about Rammed Earth would be spread as the headlining article in the New York Times. Aiming to educate a wide audience on Rammed Earth, …

For The Love Of Concrete: Embracing The Ugly Duckling, Not The Decorated Shed, Steven Carlson

Architecture Senior Theses

For the Love of Concrete is at its heart an homage to concrete, advocating beauty, versatility and durability; celebrating concrete's ability to create spatial experiences that are compelling, varied, acoustically attuned and thermally tempered. In the face of increasing superficiality, in architecture and the world at large, this thesis celebrates the authenticity and substantiality of concrete.

Iiid: A Detailed Look Into System Integration Of Material Types Through The Use Of 3d Printing, Johnathon E. Phillips

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis wishes to pursue the potential of 3D printing ornamented designs with the use of shale/clay powder. This material compound, through this research, had been shown to be compliable with 3D printing technology so that it can be sculpted by the tools of the architect into complex geometric “blocks.” These can then be printed and red allowing them to become the tectonic building bricks for a new way of building. Through researching this material, I will demonstrate the usefulness and possibilities of this time-tested substance in the creation of new architectural spaces.

Subtraction | Construction In Reverse, Sherina S. Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The life of a building does not begin at the creation of the new; it starts with the subtraction of the old. As the pace of technological development accelerates, buildings are erected and demolished at an unprecedented rate. Cities use their urban artifacts like skyscrapers, to portray economic and political prowess. For example, the ghost cities of China are relics of a burst financial bubble while Venezuelan ruling party elites name business towers after themselves as a show of power and prosperity. Many parts of the world today are now overbuilt with artifacts that decline into obsolescence. Demolition procedures erase …

Never-Land | A Parasitic And Accumulative Approach To Urbanization In China, Xiaoyan Dong

Architecture Senior Theses

Ever since 1960s, European situationist and Japanese metabolist architects constantly reject the uniformity and totalitarian of modern architecture/urban design, seeking parasitic and dynamic approaches to post-war urbanization. Projects such as the Plug-In City and the Tokyo Bay dream of alternative urban scenarios by reversing traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city, combining architecture, technology and society together. However, these megastructure projects not only neglect the existing urban context but also lack political and economic driving force. As a result, they are considered utopian by many contemporary critics.

Fifty years later in China, fast urbanization process creates problems for both …

The Burning Building | Fire As Place, Winnie Tu

Architecture Senior Theses

The importance of fire in human social evolution is widely acknowledged but the extent of its impact is not fully explored. Generally, it is connected to energy, light, purification, illumination, creation, destruction and metamorphosis. Fire’s paradoxical nature has built up many societies throughout human history and has been the primary social driver within communities. Due to technological advances, its energy has been transformed into a distant element which is being used discretely in industrial buildings, hidden under basements, or replaced by other forms of energy. Now, heat, energy, and light is readily available anywhere at any time, eliminating the biological …

Variable Tectonics: The Project Of The Jig, Steven O'Hara

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis is an investigation into how the means of fabrication and construction influence architectural design. This study intends to question existing relationships between design and making, by proposing that the designer approach the field of tectonics through the lens of the process of jigging. This paper will outline theoretical and practical foundations of such a study by (1) analyzing how the architect engages with construction by looking at the divisions and operations of professional practice of architecture. The analysis will continue by (2) defining the process of jigging, looking into where jigging sits in the practices of fabrication, and …