Architecture Commons^™

Dissolve Of Living Space: Living Space Under The Development Of Metaverse, Wenting Feng, Nuo Lyu

Architecture Thesis Prep

According to our vision, in the future, after the use of the metaverse becomes popular, we will spend a lot of time working, living and playing in the metaverse. The space needed in reality will be reduced by the use of the metaverse, and public buildings will be retained or not depending on the nature of the building. Because the focus of human life shifts from reality to the metaverse, energy and material consumption will also be reduced, and environmental problems can be properly alleviated. The nature in the real city will also be expanded by the reduction of the …

Mars 2100: A Microcosm Of Ecocentric Design, Andrea Hoe

Architecture Thesis Prep

In the dystopian future of 2100, Earth becomes a dying planet and humanity is forced to continue colonizing the solar system for survival. Mars develops as a colonized planet, exploited for its natural resources and potential. The hierarchical system of power seen constantly throughout Earth’s history was inescapable, and poor conditions turned to extremes. As billionaires take control of the space race, the capitalist system reflected in past company towns was implemented, making the moral questions and lines blurred.

When the system is eventually ruptured, ecosystemic living is proposed. Living is now centered around health and mindfulness, creating a system …

Immersive Inoculation: Testing If Architecture Can Become A Form Of Emotional Supplementation, Julia Kazubowsi, Chloe De Marco

Architecture Thesis Prep

The environments, objects, and spaces we encounter rub off on us, even if we don't notice. Like a human interaction, every inanimate encounter we have have with surrounding objects and architecture has a positive or negative affect on us.

We recognize that ordinary things have a surprising power to create extraordinary feelings and reactions. This thesis propose a visual medium that bridges the gap between us and the inanimate. Where we meet in the middle is an architectural experience that is emotionally charged, introducing specific emotions to the body. Just as movies, books, and happy pills elicit a response from …

Paradigm Of The Post Natural: Critiquing Capitalist Ideals Through Environmental Degradation, Andrea De Haro, Charlotte Bascombe

Architecture Thesis Prep

There is an unspoken value in the destructiveness caused by design that is exposed through the exploitation of natural resources. This thesis seeks to exemplify the aesthetic value inherent within these newly defined environments. Nature is a source for human consumption, and as such it has developed into a commodity. By now it should be made evident that humanity’s presence is everywhere. There is no ecosystem left unturned by human manipulation Iin this respect, nature is dead. Deforested sites of oil fracking leave mile long toxic ponds highlighting the destructive pursuits that capitalism creates. Chernobyl showcases how human errors in …

Assistive Intelligence: Replication And Mediation Of Modern, Madeline Alves, Kimberly Esquilin, Pramita Mital, Erin Zearfoss, Julia Kubowoski, Chloe Demarco

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project is an exploration of frames of reference that guide human authorship and how they influence machine output . “Reference frames are [used] to make predictions, create plans, and perform movements.” (Hawkins 131). We guided our exploration under the principle that if we control who authored the frames of reference that the AI receives, then that would influence the output of the machine. However, we began to question to what degree we need to control the machine in order to have a valuable output –is human-intelligent authorship necessary for machine intelligence to function productively, or is machine intelligence enough …

Eternal Imprint: Two Libraries Linked In Time, Jaifer Sultan

Architecture Thesis Prep

The thesis is an exploration of the symbolic relationship between Earth and the Moon through the conceptualization of two libraries, one on Earth and one on the Moon, are to be formally expressed through a mitosis-like interdependency, where both libraries are in constant architectural dialogue with each other despite their separation which occurred some time ago.

The thesis positions itself in the architectural discourse through the rigorous stud and analysis of the library typology throughout history, to both symbolize meaning and ritualize one's experience of acquiring knowledge. This understanding of the library typology will be tackled through the cataloging of …

Suppression | Liberation: Memorial To The Lgbtq + Holocaust Victims, Justin Difabritis

Architecture Thesis Prep

Architecture + poetry are powerful forms of creativity, both exemplifying beauty, symbolism, emotion, and experience through structure + form. This thesis is interested in poetic architecture and its ability to not only narrate, represent, symbolize, or express, but also eternalize, the story of groups, individuals, and events.

Through the analysis of, but not limited to, memorials, tombs, and monuments, a deeper architectural understanding will be offered, one of architecture’s ability to emotionally affect others as a means of remembrance.

This research will focus on the literal + symbolic narrative and experience of the LGBTQ+ victims of the holocaust, placing a …

Panopticon: A Privacy Revelation, Kexin Wang, Zhexu Yang

Architecture Thesis Prep

Our thesis project studies and analyzes the control of Surveillance Capitalism over people’s privacy, and how to make people realize the importance of privacy through the means of an architectural/design narrative. This concept comes from Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power, which explains how tech companies collect extra data, capture people’s behavioral surplus and sell them to third party customers, such as advertising companies, thus the predictions about people’s preferences accordingly. In this process, technology companies can make tremendous profit by stealing users’ personal information and then …

Tectonic Thresholds: Reclaiming Space Through Geomorphological Design, Amreeta Verma

Architecture Thesis Prep

This research posits that a revitalization of indigenous earth architecture practices in a contemporary context can mitigate the immense waste and embodied carbon in the construction industry. Earth materials are the focus of this research because they are locally sourced, abundantly available, and can be reused or returned to the natural environment, when utilized in a circular consumption cycle. Designing for reuse reduces the impact of construction waste on the burgeoning issue of environmental degradation and resource depletion.

The structural viability and environmental enclosure capabilities of soil throughout its lifecycle will be tested in different forms derived geomorphically from the …

The Ark: Sanctuary For Isfs, Zejun Sun, Wei Wei Li

Architecture Thesis Prep

The thesis is aiming to decrease the potential flooding damages to the ISFs, and a balance between the limited resources and high population density to relieve the flooding issues through the renovation and reconstruction of local churches in the Baseco Compound.

Flooding has become one of the most common and devastated issues in developing countries, and it is worsen by the housing crisis that lead to a formation of informal settlements with shoddy constructions and destabilized communities. What is an applicable approach to decrease the potential flooding damage to the ISFs? How to find a balance between the limited resources …

My Abject Body: Dissimulating & Disheveling Fleshy Matter, Taylor Hoople

Architecture Thesis Prep

Body (as subject) and space (as object) are polarized entities in modern discourse and design. The current epoch of hygiene, control, and mass-production/ consumption renders the body and the space(s) it inhabits as whole, discrete entities. In their totality, body and space are idealized opposites, failing to experience any messy overlaps or ambiguous in-betweenness. My feminine body is particularly subject to this dualism, being tightly bound to the legal and social patriarchal dominance over my body’s autonomy and appearance.

This thesis seeks to corrupt my hyper-aestheticized and policed body by making (with) abject( ion). Understood both as an ongoing condition …

The Influence Of The Natural Environment On Vernacular Architecture In China, Jiaman Weng

English Language Institute: Architecture Posters

There are many strange vernacular structures in China, China is a country with a vast territory, many ethnic groups and a long history。As a result, the number of styles and patterns of Chinese vernacular architecture is also very unusual in the history of world architecture. The appearance presented by these vernacular buildings is the result of the constant adaptation of the ancient Chinese to their natural environment through generations of improvement. They represent the wisdom of the ancient Chinese people. Among the factors that probably had the greatest influence on these buildings were climate and topography.

Shukhov’S Tower: Russia’S Eiffel Tower, Zhuoer Xu

English Language Institute: Architecture Posters

The structural and symbolic features of Shukhov Tower.

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, …

Maps!: Living With Ghosts, Ximeng Luo, Shihui Zhu

Architecture Senior Theses

The scene is set along Heilongjiang. The river feeds populations in the Russian Far East and Northeastern China, while simultaneously delineating the long and winding national border between contemporary Russia and China. The Chinese Northeast has been flattened and re-established as a cultural icon, yet when we peel off the pictures from streaming media, what kind of marks does the northeast- once called "the eldest son of the Republic" for its rapid industrial development in the last century- leave on the land? Infrastructure - such as collective farms in fields, tree farms in forests, road and electric towers- becomes a …

Vesseled Cultures; Figures Of Diasporic Comforts, Ying Na Li, Rachel Ly, Skylar Sun

Architecture Senior Theses

The Domestic sphere of the Chinese American home is a promising site where continuous identities and memories of routine name are at play. In the kitchen, engaging in rituals of food making - a natural home endeavor- fosters reconnection and reconciliation with a past identity long forgotten. Architectural extrapolation is then seen through means of practices like fermenting vegetables and observation of domestic rituals between the individuals and their surroundings - whether it be the orchestration of food (the process), the jar in which the vegetables and brine rest (the vessel), or the patterns of kitchen utilities being used (the …

Debrisia, Alice Rong, Jing Ying Chin, Tanya Tungkaserawong

Architecture Senior Theses

The project aims to explore the potential of enhancing vacant lots to the benefit of the community and achieve net zero waste by introducing a self-sustaining system. Debrisia acts as a prototype that addresses local needs and adapts to different scales of community. There are five networks supporting each other: energy, water, agriculture, livestock and recycling workshops. The locals will generate electricity collected by motion, manage the livestock, produce fertilizer for vegetation, and create products from their food waste. Emphasis is placed on participation from the residents, and such, the residents will get to receive back what they help produce …

Circuit City: From Wasteland To Iland, Tina Lim, Jiuye Yan

Architecture Senior Theses

The advent of hyper consumerism has led to the proliferation of electronic waste, or e-waste. Our constant cycle of demand, production, and disposal has had detrimental local impacts on developing countries. This thesis redefines Agdogbloshie's future after its demolition as the new testing ground for e-waste reuse, recycling and detoxification, utilizing plants with phytoremediation properties. As the desire for new products continues to grow, along with the rising of demand for sustainable energy equipment, the world needs to focus on utilizing all resources on hand. In the viable future where e-waste becomes the new gold, Agbogbloshie will transform from being …

Remembered Spaces: Reframing Architecture From Body To Building, Shaan Lyngdoh Lakshmanan

Architecture Senior Theses

Our bodies act as instruments to record sensations received from the world that surrounds us. The internal world we create is how we perceive, remember, and preserve the external world. The process is essential to the continual formation of ourselves.

This thesis aims to reframe the values we place on architectural representation, from the objective, novel, cartesian parameters of architecture to qualities of emotion and place. The device for this reframing is the remembered space, which is an architecture that exists in our memories. It is within the remembered space that we begin to understand how a space was inhabited.

Material Contentions; Negotiating The Image Of Civic Space, Emmei Gootnick, Coumba Kante

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis sounds the alarm on what protest has turned into today, and brings to light the misappropation of architectural objects in civic spaces. Through a meticulous collection and analysis of objects that have been appropriated for protest, we can establish the methods that led to appropriation in the first place , and subsequently re-appropriate in order to fabricate a new architectural environment. The fabrication of a new and morphed space can provide an environment where there is no need for physical extremes, instead providing a reconstructed atmosphere of contemporary protest that fosters true engagement, interaction, and expression.

Radicalization Of The Spectacle: Fostering Free Artistic Expression Through Architecture, Mackenzie Lubin

Architecture Senior Theses

My thesis, entitled Radicalization of the Spectacle, explores the intersection between the urban conditions of New York City, Times Square, and the notion of radicalization. The term ‘radicalization’ refers to an extreme change in worldly affairs. This term is critical in understanding my view of architecture, as it suggests architecture must formatively react to changes in culture, climate, politics, etc. Moreover, the term ‘radical’ is aggressively progressive and favors social reform performance, adding an urgency for new ideas to form. Secondly, the term ‘Spectacle’ refers to a visually and spatially arresting event that is dramatic in occurrence. The act of …

Composite Cohousing: Hacking Colonial Vernacular, Heather Skinner

Architecture Senior Theses

Martha’s Vineyard architecture can be traced back to its broader roots in New England vernacular. The cape cod, first period, Gothic, and Greek revival homes are not unique to the Island, yet the strict preservation has kept the formal and stylistic components intact. This hyper preservation the island has made it a catalog of sorts.

This thesis is structured into two parts the Code and the Hack. The code pertains to the documentation of existing conditions and the bylaws which preserve them. The code is defined as the laws, bylaws, and standards, both physical and rhetorical, put in place to …