Architecture Commons^™

Surveillance, Spectacle, Michael Ma

Architecture Senior Theses

Perhaps the most scripted way of seeing is fully characterized by the field of cinema. The development of film grows out of moving images where experimentations with illustrations and multiple freeze frame photographs can be traced back to Eadward Muybridge, E.J. Marey, and Thomas Edison. Through the development of tropes and scopes, optical illusions are created and the eyes begin to see motion images. Cinema, a spectacular event, owes its origins to the evolution of these devices and photography. The other variation of these devices of spectacle are surveillance tools. These devices transform the audience from mere spectators to observers …

Leakiness: Literal And Phenomenal, Jesse Ganes

Architecture Senior Theses

By designing a series of house-like pavilions that leak (fluids and information) in specific ways, this thesis will develop an explicit lexicon for architects to employ in managing the ‘metadata’ that buildings perpetually emit. As a matter of design, these structures will operate on the leaked visible, non-visible, and absent metadata generated incidental to our occupation of buildings. The pavilions will ultimately probe similar sets of conditions, each conveying a radically different tone. Whether stopping or amplifying, scrambling or spoofing, deceiving or decoding, they seek to effect a measurable change on the metadata leaked from within. In order to objectively …

Compound City: Social, Economic, And Environmental Impact In The Production Of Generative Urban Space, Nathan Jones

Architecture Senior Theses

"Compound City" will focus on the implementation of an open source, social infrastructure, as a methodology in addressing the on-going urban crisis in Lagos. Dealing primarily with urban informality, Lagos will serve as a theoretical testbed, providing a natural precedent in which to test these ideas. How can open source technologies - softwares & hardwares - subvert or embrace existing infrastructures/processes as a means of alleviating inadequate living conditions? Identifying the coincidental pressures in Lagos will help establish project parameters, driving the development of design criteria to be addressed by the new, open source, platform.

The City Is My Church: Presence And Identity For The Small Urban Congregation, Andrew Scalisi

Architecture Senior Theses

The phenomenon of church renting has grown out of necessity for small urban congregations. Churches are holding worship services in public and private places with greater regularity than some might think. It is not uncommon today to see portable church signs outside of unconventional places on Sundays. In Manhattan in particular, there is a greater need for rentable space as many congregations are struggling to find a permanent home due to density, finances, availability and politics. Typically, congregations rent until they can attain a permanent facility or develop a congregation large enough to support one. However, exercising this option comes …

Knowledge Accident- Part 1, Alanna Rosenblatt

Architecture Senior Theses

The increasing un-sustainability of the built university and the rise of the apparent mass democratization or synchronization of higher education through the virtual Massive Open Online Course [MOOC] is occurring concurrently with the mutation of the historically grounded Accident into the Knowledge Accident. The standardization of higher education through the MOOC has created the conditions for the Knowledge Accident, the “integral accident”, of the built university. This is where we find the present state of the university, in a moment of crisis grounded in unconstrained "progress". The current form of the MOOC, begun in 2011, has expanded and evolved with …

Derelect Churchbells Ring In New Technology, Lauren Sloan

Architecture Senior Theses

In order to accommodate this, we should first test algae facades on pre-existing building shells. I have a specific interest in derelect churches in because they are plenitful and although not on historic lists, they can still be preserved through the revitalization process. All buildings cannot be saved for preservation sake, so these buildings can accomodate new programs for specific city and site needs. Injecting these new technologies into the buildings will produce a contradiction that emphasizes both the new and old architecture. The deeper meaning of this thesis embodies what the visual chroma effects of algae are on the …

Knowledge Accident- Part 2, Alanna Rosenblatt

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Transient Solutions: Responding And Adapting To Rapid Change Through Temporary Design- Part 2, Casie Kowalski

Architecture Senior Theses

PART 1: RAPID CHANGES

The American City is characterized by a history of industry, rapid growth and stagnant economy, and a quick adaptation to consumer culture. In cities once characterized by specific industries, they now attempt to cling to their cultural identity and the arts to preserve their image beyond their industry, readdressing and reinvigorating permanent cultural entities such as the library, museum, and theater. This reviving is done in variety of ways, all of which require heavy funding both privately and publicly and primarily result in interventions of permanence. [Chicago's Millennium Park, Cleveland funding waterfront activity, New York City …

China Rail-Borne, Daya Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The next stage of China’ growth and advancement rests on the assumption that its population will be more and more concentrated in cites since approximately 350 million farmers are expected to move towards the urban areas from 2005 to 2025. How to connect its population of more than 1 billion within those cites, and among them, is always an urgent issue for Chinese government to deal with. Railway is the most common mode for Chinese to travel around. However, the overcapacity has plagues China’s railway network for years, especially during the national holidays, such as Spring Festival. The emergence of …

Hacking Bioluminescence: A Living Laboratory In Puerto Mosquito, Blanca Roura

Architecture Senior Theses

Following a study of the chemistry and biology behind the process of bioluminescence and an understanding of the components of a bioluminescent bay, the project proposes a living laboratory in the Puerto Mosquito biolumi nescent bay for the appreciation of bioluminescence. activity will be recycled to become the imput for another. To prevent detrimental effects upon the ecology resulting from the anthropogenic presence, a feedback system that redirects waste and resources among the programmatic components is implemented. The waste from one “There are places in the world where diving into the water on a moonless night is like diving into …

Permeating The Void: Establishing A New Order Of Informality- Part 1, Lisa Kombakis

Architecture Senior Theses

WHAT IS TRANSIT, AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE URBAN INFORMAL? Transit, in an urban atmosphere, is a system used to mobilize mass amounts of population in the most efficient way possible. In terms of the urban informal, some of the transit elements used in a formal, static city are re-instated into the informal. Many times these elements (such as taxis, buses, motorcycles, cars and bicycles) are implemented in their hybridized form, creating new and localized forms of transport.Reconnecting and fostering the urban density are a few of the most important aspects that should be considered when exploring the urban informal’s …

Transient Solutions: Responding And Adapting To Rapid Change Through Temporary Design- Part 1, Casie Kowalski

Architecture Senior Theses

PART 1: RAPID CHANGES

The American City is characterized by a history of industry, rapid growth and stagnant economy, and a quick adaptation to consumer culture. In cities once characterized by specific industries, they now attempt to cling to their cultural identity and the arts to preserve their image beyond their industry, readdressing and reinvigorating permanent cultural entities such as the library, museum, and theater. This reviving is done in variety of ways, all of which require heavy funding both privately and publicly and primarily result in interventions of permanence. [Chicago's Millennium Park, Cleveland funding waterfront activity, New York City …

A Critique Of Chinese Education, Ying Chen

Architecture Senior Theses

The biggest problem of the state-controlled children’s education in the People’s Republic of China is that the system focuses more on the method of education rather than learning of children themselves. Thus the children lack of internal motivation to learn. Moreover, the typical education in China tend to isolate the students from the neighborhood, lacking a chance for students to really interact and experiement hands on with new knwoledge. However, this problem aspect can be overcame by learning from the western pedagogical strategies, such as the Montessori Education. For this educational approach, the primary goal is to stimulate children’s internal …

Charge. Point, Lauren Alessandra Wilson

Architecture Senior Theses

The goal of this thesis is to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, lower the carbon emission footprint, and ignite a paradigm shift towards clean energy usage. Architecture can play a role in increasing the accessibility of sustainable modes of transit by changing the way energy is produced and distributed throughout the city. Accepting both the reliance and privatization of the automobile as givens, this idea caters to a transitional stage of travel, shifting from internal combustion engine vehicles to electric powered vehicles. Current technological limitations are stunting the momentum of a sustainable transit phenomenon, i.e. EV battery charge time and …

Community Recentered, Elizabeth Arens

Architecture Senior Theses

Chicago, Illinois is a large city comprised of small neighborhoods. The City of Chicago is made up of 77 “Community Areas.” Many diverse neighborhoods are within each community area. Each neighborhood has its own identity that revolves around the churches, schools and community centers that serve the neighborhood. In each of these educational institutions, learning also exists on a larger social and cultural scale that is reflective of the distinct qualities of the neighborhood. The idea of a learning institution as the center of a neighborhood is formed at the time children first begin school. Much of their intellectual and …

Rebranding The Brooklyn Navy Yard: Market + Place, Lauren Buckheit

Architecture Senior Theses

Historically, market and place had continuity. Market was defined by place - a commercial program shaped by its surrounding social and cultural environment.1 Market was realized at the overlap of commerce and religion, markets and feasts; all were interrelated. However, as we switched to a consumption based economy the coherence between the two diminished. Markets no longer were shaped by the surrounding micro-cultures, but by temporal consumer trends. When assessing current branding strategies this separation between market and place is also apparent. In one instance, market branding includes creating corporate identities through product, image/semiotics, and built form. This brand identity …

The Immersive Spectacle: Performance And The Audience In Pop Music - Part 1, Emily Roupp

Architecture Senior Theses

THESIS STATEMENT: In a visually dominated culture, spaces of sound have the potential to produce an immersive audio-physical experience that facil~ates spatial awareness and challenges traditional listening experiences. The aural and spatial awareness is unquestionable. Although it is a primitive human refiex to direct visual focus to the original sound source, technological and architectural devices no longer require the sound source to be in the same space as the distributed sound Recording and distribution devices have deconstructed the relationship between sound and space. Technological innovations, especially speakers and digital screens, no longer require the listener to be in a single …

Epistemology: It’S Elementary! An Architectonically Constructivist Elementary School In Syracuse, Ny-- Part 1, Tyler Ferrusi

Architecture Senior Theses

The Constructivist framework is an epistemology which posits that “knowledge is a compilation of humanmade constructions”1 not the “neutral discovery of an objective truth.”2 As a fairly broad concept that theorizes how knowledge is acquired, constructivism illustrates our conception of what knowledge is. This the classical framework of infallible truth. Hence, the individual learner is responsible for actively building Constructivism, as theorized by educational philosophers like Dewey, Piaget, Lewin, and Kolb, is the its application is certainly not limited to designated learning environments. Thus, any environment can be a learning environment takes place within that environment. The multiplicity of environments …

Ciudad Disidente: Addressing Social And Infrastructural Deficiencies In Villa Salvador-- Part 1, Victoria Brewster

Architecture Senior Theses

Within the next twenty years, the Global South will account for 95% of urban growth, and nearly half of that will be within the informal sector.1 The population living within slums is expected to increase to two billion people by 2030, and if left unchecked, it may reach three billion by 2050.2 This extreme growth requires an URGENT response in order offset its adverse effects on the urban environment. Thus far, architects’ interventions in informal settlements have focused almost entirely on designing housing in order to improve the quality of life, and to meet the demands of the growing population. …

The Immersive Spectacle: Performance And The Audience In Pop Music - Part 3, Emily Roupp

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Immersive Spectacle: Performance And The Audience In Pop Music - Part 4, Emily Roupp

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Dubai: Re-Designing Labor Worker Communities, Can Cakmak

Architecture Senior Theses

In an effort to provide humane living conditions for immigrant workers in Dubai who are trapped in the flawed immigration system, I will design a ‘worker community ’ to replace the ‘ labor camps’ where workers live today. These communities will be tested at a variety of levels, from planning, infrastructure, modularity to materiality; and while certain elements such as planning will play a much more significant role than, for example, infrastructure, the goal will be to generate a worker community which will provide necessar y amenities and act as a temporar y city - immediately next to the construction …

Borderline- Part 5, Francis Mckloskey

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Immersive Spectacle: Performance And The Audience In Pop Music - Part 2, Emily Roupp

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Borderline- Part 2, Francis Mckloskey

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Unveiling The Rural Landscape, Carolina Jimenez

Architecture Senior Theses

Within the past 50 years, industrialized farming has transformed America’s rural and agricultural landscapes. These two landscapes have taken on increasingly divergent cultural representations in language, paintings and photography. Architectural interventions within the rural landscape can act as a device to reveal these differences. In this way I am engaging in four interrelated discourses.

Defining the Rural | Linguistic, Painting, Photographic Representations In order to define the rural landscape, it is essential to understand the way it has been constructed by cultural representations in language, painting and photography. Images of nature mediate that which is outside of us, translating environment …

Thick Images: Rendering Digital Dimensions- Part 2, Jeff Nedelka

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Thick Images: Rendering Digital Dimensions- Part 1, Jeff Nedelka

Architecture Senior Theses

Thick Images is an investigation into the creation, perception, and possibilities of digital architectural representation. Rethinking the relationship between rendering and building, among other design possibilities, Thick images considers the qualities and characteristics both inherent to and demanded of the digital, and suggests new ways of reading and deploying common, contemporary image making tools.

Thick Images: Rendering Digital Dimensions- Part 3, Jeff Nedelka

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

The Urban Evolution: Stiching Mumbai's Eastern Waterfront With The Incremental Symbiosis- Part 2, Betsy Daniel

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.