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Everything You Need to Know About College Fairs

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Planning for the future can feel intimidating. For high school and college students, the fall semester is filled with anticipation for the future. You may find yourself overwhelmed or need help figuring out where to begin. If you’re looking for a place to get started, college fairs are just what you’re looking for!

College fairs are an opportunity for high school students and their families to learn more about different schools. These fairs are also valuable resources for undergraduate students who are interested in graduate or doctorate programs. During college fairs, representatives from various colleges and universities across the country (or even on a global scale) come together to promote their programs. 

Each school has a booth where students and their families will be greeted by staff. The booths can feature a variety of resources ranging from school merchandise to informational pamphlets. Some schools may even allow students to apply on the spot!

(Image Credit: Michigan Association of College Admission Counseling)

College fairs may be organized by your school, local community centers, or even large national associations. Hosted by the National Association for College Admission Counseling (NACAC), the National College Fairs Program organizes free virtual and in-person college fairs that are open to the public. According to their website, NACAC College Fairs attract representatives from 175 to 400 institutions. 

You can also find college fairs that are organized based on different majors and fields of study. For students interested in pursuing architecture or design, there are plenty of options for major-specific college fairs. The Center for Architecture hosts an annual Architecture and Design College Fair with representatives from over 30 schools. Another approach would be to see if a local university is hosting a regional design fair. Several universities host design fairs, including Temple University, Iowa State University, and the University of Minnesota, to name a few.

You could also attend an informational session for a program that you’re already interested in. These sessions usually include a presentation that provides an overview of the program, degree opportunities, available majors, and more. 

Feeling unprepared? It’s okay to feel nervous when preparing to speak to college officials. We recommend coming ready with a list of schools that you’re interested in learning more about. This will allow you to have an idea of specific questions you’d like to ask that are related to your major and other interests. You can also click here to read the full list of questions from College Board. For students interested in pursuing architecture or design, it is recommended to bring your portfolio to show schools a sample of your work. This may be an opportunity to receive direct feedback before formally submitting artwork in a college application. 

Remember, it’s always a good idea to put your best foot forward when meeting with representatives from colleges and universities. Be yourself and take the steps you need to come prepared. If you’re on the lookout for upcoming college fairs, visit Study Architecture’s Events Page to stay tuned on the latest opportunities!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part IX

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The projects featured in Part IX of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase explore architecture’s role in supporting public health and wellness. 

By addressing disparities in public health frameworks, the presented thesis work includes design interventions ranging from a mental health wellness resort for veterans to safe spaces for those addicted to opioids. With each design, there is an opportunity for rehabilitation, advocacy, and human-centered experiences.

Return to Base: How Can Architecture Help Veterans Suffering from PTSD Reintegrate into Society through Therapy, Community and Routines by Leimar P. Acevedo-Santana, B. Arch ‘24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

It is estimated that 30% of personnel deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan require some sort of mental health treatment; however, only half of them receive any. Many times, those who need treatment do not seek it due to stigma, accessibility issues like travel time, or because the facilities are oftentimes “not appealing or attractive”. By providing a place to tackle and heal mental health issues that is not a hospital or anything similar, the proposal hopes to attract and help those who need the help.

VISTA, Veteran’s Inn for Serenity, Tranquility & Ascendance, is a hotel located at the Ramey Base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. The proposal seeks to help veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) reintegrate into society by helping, not only with the psychological treatment they may need but also helping them transition into life as a civilian, by teaching them different social and life skills. The hotel, or “wellness resort”, offers wellness amenities to attract veterans, classrooms to teach veterans different social and life skills, and psychological and medical facilities at a smaller scale to offer treatment. Taking advantage of the topography onsite, the medical facilities are located at a semi-underground level which is only accessible from Hook Road, allowing those seeking treatment to arrive at a more private level rather than being “exposed” by arriving at the main lobby. By providing these medical services at a “hidden” level, the proposal, at first glance, appears to be an ordinary wellness resort. The proposal is located in a “guest community” in Ramey Base, allowing the hotel to not require any type of barrier and serve as a connector between the community, the new park, and the beach nearby.

Instagram: @lacevedosantana

Heart House by Graziella Pilkington, M. Arch ’24
Boston Architectural College | Advisor: Russel Feldman, AIA

Thesis Statement:

This thesis explores how architecture can promote healing within inner-city populations affected by opioid addiction and homelessness. It investigates design interventions that alleviate social and health disparities, foster rehabilitation, and cultivate a sense of belonging and support.

Abstract:

Currently, our Nation is grappling with an epidemic—opioid abuse. This epidemic is by definition localized, and it often escapes our collective awareness. Yet, for individuals and communities whose lives are deeply entwined in the vicious cycle of addiction, it can feel as though they have nowhere to turn. 

Architecture can serve as a powerful tool for cities to support people in overcoming addiction. Real change requires accessible, practical, and stigma-free resources and support.

This project provides a safe space where clients can access help when they are ready, on their terms, and use substances safely along the way to recovery.

Dignity is a sense of pride in oneself; self-respect.

How can architecture make someone feel this pride in themselves?

This building gives people the opportunity to feel worthy—worthy to walk into a beautiful building that is for them.

Self-worth is the first step in recovery.

Site:

Located on Atkinson Street in Boston, Massachusetts, the site is a former industrial zone known as “Methadone Mile” or “Recovery Road.” This area is increasingly associated with homelessness, drug use, violence, crime, sex trafficking, and unsanitary conditions.

Program:

Heart House is designed to serve up to 250 clients per day, consistent with neighborhood needs according to the Mass/Cass Dashboard (2023).

The building features two main zones: the substance zone for safe self-administration and the recovery zone for rehabilitation resources. These zones do not intersect to prevent triggering clients in recovery. Staff travel between the substance and recovery zones. Secure outdoor space, which is lacking in the neighborhood, separates clients from the noise and distraction of the street, while providing a sense of nature in the city. The entry sequence safeguards clients’ privacy with a single secure entrance reducing stigma.

Heart House, the area’s pioneering drug consumption center, offers vital recovery services and prioritizes a dignified experience—an unprecedented offering for this demographic.

This project received an M. Arch Thesis Nomination for Commends

ReFive – Rehabilitative Architecture: Individualized Treatment by Sebastián A. Colón-López, B. Arch ‘24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

The “ReFive – Rehabilitative Architecture: Individualized Treatment” research offers a critique of Puerto Rico Law 67, which allows involuntary treatment of patients with drug addictions. This analysis underscores deficiencies in the island’s traditional methods, often based on religious beliefs and the use of inadequate facilities that were previously used for other purposes, rather than developing specialized spaces. The research highlights the need to adopt evidence-based treatments.

The conclusions of this research led to the creation of new infrastructures dedicated exclusively to rehabilitation, with environments that promote the recovery and well-being of patients. The project consists of five independent treatment phases and, therefore, five built volumes: detoxification (clinics), dishabituation (therapy), rehabilitation (education), reinsertion (temporary housing), and tracking (administration). These five phases are linearly arranged on-site to provide patients with a healing journey and, at the same time, assist in their orientation from arrival in critical conditions to reintegrating into society. Each phase is designed to meet the specific needs of patients at different stages of their recovery. Spaces include partially open areas with views to the outside, natural light, ventilation, and therapeutic gardens. These elements are essential for creating an environment that facilitates physical and mental recovery and promotes a sense of well-being among patients.

The project is located in Santurce, Puerto Rico because one of the main objectives is to reintegrate patients into society. Locating the building in a densified urban district provides better job opportunities and greater proximity to essential services, thus facilitating reintegration.

ReFive addresses ineffective and outdated methods in the treatment of substance use disorders in Puerto Rico through an innovative, evidence-based model. By critiquing current practices, it identifies shortcomings and presents a plan to transform the mental health care system to be centered on the patients and their specific needs.

This project was nominated for the Medal for Excellence in Design, Francisco Luis Porrata-Doria.

Instagram: @_sebaandrecl

Architecture as a Form of Care: A Transdisciplinary Approach to the Integration of Human-centric Design in Grady Memorial Hospital’s Emergency Department by Sara Clement, B. Arch ’24
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Pegah Zamani

In what ways can the design of the built environment enhance spatial efficiency without compromising the spatial experience of its diverse occupants? This transdisciplinary research focuses on the possibilities of designing optimized built environments while advancing their inhabitants’ well-being. The study centers on a pivotal spatial setting: healthcare emergency facilities with a particular emphasis on Grady Memorial Hospital, a safety net hospital serving uninsured patients from marginalized communities. In the context of emergency care delivery, as a case, this thesis highlights the potential oversight of human-centered experience within the internalized and efficiency-driven nature of emergency departments (EDs) that impact inhabitants, especially in moments of extreme stress. I analyze visible and invisible, clinical and environmental factors. along with human-centered design interventions associated with efficient space planning that fosters connection between clinicians, patients, and visitors.

The research employs a multifaceted transdisciplinary methodology, incorporating an extensive literature review and case studies to identify innovative practices that improve the overall experience for aII stakeholders. The research utilizes evidence-based design as a catalyst to formulate a set of parameters for developing design strategies that aid in the patient’s healing process while responding to the needs of a diverse range of users as well as future needs. The research addresses the complexities of optimizing occupants’ well-being through design across a variety of built environment settings from the waiting area to the clinical spaces. By examining these critical spaces the goal is to identify ways in which designers can spearhead creating more effective sustainable, equitable, and healthier environments for diverse populations.

This project was awarded Second Place in the KSU Architecture Thesis Competition, 2024

Centro de Salud Universitario by Jesús Gerardo Orduña Hurtado, B. Arch ’24
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Eduardo Herrera & Jorge Javier

The project for the University Health Centre and the IMSS Family Medical Unit is born through different strategies that allow the land to be used to accommodate the diverse architectural programme. Formally, the building seeks to adapt to the geometry of the site through a grid that helps to modulate the floor plan. 

The initial volume is fragmented into five blocks with curved corners and one central space to divide the different areas. The three interior courtyards help to generate voids that allow natural lighting and ventilation of the spaces. They also function as large terraces and open spaces that allow the user a direct connection with the natural landscape. The curved edges of the blocks make the building less aggressive despite its height, generating interesting views on all facades and orientations. 

The curved spaces were used to generate four vertical circulation cores. These consist of a double spiral staircase, with the lift hub in the centre. In this way, the stairs become a geometrically attractive and not only functional space.

Instagram: @jgoh_arq, @arqwave, @arquitectura_anahuac

Architectural Decisions, Mental Health Outcomes by Naeemah Merchant, M. Arch ’24
Morgan State University | Advisor: Coleman A. Jordan

Introduction:

The Mental Maze Museum project investigates how space design influences psychological well-being. Rooted in the premise that spaces can significantly affect a person’s psychology, this project aims to demonstrate that intentional design can enhance mental health outcomes. The central research question is: What is psychology’s role in placemaking, and how can it improve mental health?

Research Objectives:

This project will explore how different sensory experiences within a space impact psychological states and contribute to mental well-being. The Mental Maze Museum will act as a live laboratory, focusing on the effects of touch, smell, sound, and sight on the brain’s perception of space and resulting emotional experiences.

Methodology:

Touch: The museum will feature various textures, weights, densities, and temperatures to study the impact of physical sensations on room perception and psychological state.

Smell: By incorporating distinct scents, the project will examine how olfactory stimuli capture and evoke memories, influencing emotional experiences.

Sound: Different acoustic properties will be used to explore how sound creates a three-dimensional atmosphere and its impact on mental health.

Sight: Visual stimuli will be employed to create new experiences, balancing the sense of freedom provided by open spaces with their potential to become overwhelming due to noise.

Expected Outcomes:

The Mental Maze Museum aims to provide insights into how intentional design can improve mental health. By understanding the brain’s analysis of space through sensory experiences, the project will offer evidence-based guidelines for creating therapeutic environments. These findings can inform architecture, urban planning, and mental health care, fostering spaces that promote psychological well-being.

Conclusion:

The project emphasizes the significant impact of space design on mental health. By exploring the relationship between psychology and placemaking, the Mental Maze Museum will contribute to the development of environments that support and enhance mental well-being.

This project received the Best Thesis Project for 2024 award. 

Instagram: @studiocaje

Nueva Reforma – Healthcare Design in Latin America by Madelene Dailey, M. Arch ’24
University of Southern California | Advisor: Andy Ku

Widespread displacement and the inadequate distribution of resources caused by civil wars, social strife, and climate change are ongoing threats to the livelihoods of Latin America’s most vulnerable communities. The expansion of urban centers in Latin America has placed socioeconomic pressures on rural residents, forcing them to seek new resources and opportunities outside their native regions. As one of the most populous urban centers in Latin America, Guatemala also has one of the highest emigration rates in the region. The World Bank Group identified that U.S.-Guatemalan migrants have nearly tripled in the last two decades largely due to emigration from rural areas.

Roughly half of the country’s population lives in poverty and requires humanitarian aid, with numbers projected to increase by the end of 2024. Humanitarian efforts and research in response to this crisis are underway, but funding is limited, and aid is often unable to reach the areas that need it most. However, grassroots rural civic planning initiatives are facilitating opportunities that recenter investment in their communities. Merging culturally thoughtful practices with community-driven interdisciplinary approaches to sustainable rural planning, this project aims to investigate how architecture can be leveraged as a tool to support inclusive rural development frameworks that allow impacted communities to self-navigate crisis response efforts and achieve long-term stability through public healthcare design.

This project received the following awards and recognition:

2023 USC Gusendheit Fellowship Award

2024 USC Research Symposium – 1st place

2024 Distinction in Directed Design Research, USC School of Architecture

2024 Alpha Rho Chi Award, USC School of Architecture

2024 Award for Selected Professions Research, American Association of University Women

Instagram: @maddeedailey, @uscarchitecture

Seattle Health District: Providence Pavilion at Cherry Hill by John Edward Carlisle, M. Arch ’24
University of Miami | Advisors: Joanna Lombard, Veruska Vasconez & Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk

The role of Providence-Swedish in the First Hill and Cherry Hill neighborhoods represents a unique history as well as distinctive architectural, urban, and social characteristics. As the hospitals and academic institutions in these neighborhoods implement change, the present condition is poised between the past and the future.  This offers a timely opportunity to imagine how each institution might draw on its own identity and aspirations to contribute to healthy urbanism as well as coalesce into a vibrant health district.  

Each team explored the historic and current conditions of the neighborhoods as well as the Major Institution Master Plans (MIMP) approved by the City of Seattle for the academic and healthcare institutions within a ½ mile radius of one another. Each group then defined its primary objectives and developed a proposal for a Seattle Health District Masterplan that would provide key elements for neighborhood health and wellness—mixed use, connectivity, and greenness—and express both unique institutional and neighborhood character as well as distinctive identity as a Seattle destination Health District. 

Each team member then developed a proposal for a project within their master plan. Carlisle’s proposal for the Providence Pavilion at Cherry Hill seeks to reestablish the prominence of the historic Providence Hospital (1911) through a new campus plan and to provide an imageable Health District destination through the addition of a new central gallery that supports a series of Medical Specialty Pavilions, gardens and plazas.

This project won the Urban Design Studio Award, Spring 2024

Adaptive PlugScapes: Rethinking Prisons as a Reformative Journey by Yasmine Tabet, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy

The evolution of punishment typologies from ancient civilizations to modern times has 

seen a profound shift in ideologies and spatial translations. Historically, punishments were often embodied in public spectacles, with tools like the guillotine and the rack transforming public spaces into stages for retribution and deterrence. However, contemporary corrections systems have moved towards incarceration and rehabilitation, aiming to reform offenders.

This thesis proposal delves into this historical trajectory, examining how spatial elements were designed to reinforce punitive ideologies. It highlights the persistence of existing typologies, though with some improvements, and underscores the need to transcend these traditional models.

To create a new typology aligned with contemporary theories of rehabilitation, the study draws inspiration from innovative design explorations. Case studies and emerging scientific trends, such as the Risk-Needs-Responsivity model and restorative justice, were used to conduct the study. By synthesizing these precedents and integrating emerging scientific trends, this proposal aims to forge a novel typology that reimagines the spatial dimensions of punishment. It envisions a future where architecture is harnessed as a tool for effective rehabilitation, fostering a more humane and socially beneficial corrections system.

This project was nominated for the Areen Projects Award for Excellence in Architecture

Instagram: @ard_aub

Infrastructures of Collective Care by Jessica Wong, M. Arch ’24
University of Pennsylvania | Advisors: Eduardo Rega Calvo & Rashida Ng

The concept of care is one explored by political theorist Joan Tronto, who writes about its potential to cultivate social cohesion and collective consciousness in urban environments. Tronto defines care as “a species activity that includes everything that we do to maintain, continue, and repair our ‘world’ so that we can live in it as well as possible.” Within this conceptual framework, five aspects of care can be identified: caring about, caring for, caregiving, care receiving, and caring with. Through these principles of care, this thesis explores ways to disrupt the ongoing structural violence and impositions faced by communities of color due to unjust and ignorant policies and urban development. The project also aims to shift the perception of care beyond domestic and traditional caregiving notions to promote the development of collective community infrastructures that are formed in solidarity with community input and existing development ambitions and visions for Philadelphia’s Chinatown.

As a result, a larger network of care interventions is identified and interpreted through a series of nodes seeking to amplify the already present social, economic, and cultural assets in Chinatown. The network consists of both future sites and existing resources that rely on adjacencies in the urban fabric of the neighborhood in the justification of their programming.

The overarching ambitions of Infrastructures of Collective Care aim to paint a holistic story of a community’s history of struggle, relentless perseverance, and future scenarios for community growth through a narrative and graphic novel-based approach. The graphic novel is a speculative document comprised of urban design strategies that represent the intersection of a yearlong process of research, analysis, and community engagement. Architectural and landscaping interventions reveal themselves in the graphic novel in hopes of projecting alternative Chinatown futures capable of resisting future institutional pressures of carelessness.

Instagram: @weitzman_arch

Designing for Well-Being: Preventive Architecture against Stress and Anxiety by Odalys Brugman-Santiago, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

According to specialists, in recent years there has been a notable increase in young adults suffering from diseases that generally used to occur in people over 45 years of age. Studies report that the appearance of many of these at an early age is due not only to genetic factors but also to the constant stress and anxiety that people experience in their daily lives. Although statistics show that women suffer the most from anxiety disorders, very few seek treatment compared to men. Of those who do attend, more than 70% report not having children or dependent children, which is why it is concluded that this is an important factor when deciding to take care of their mental and emotional health.

The proposal for the Arasibo Resort & Wellness Center seeks to create a welcoming space where women and children can come to receive services to take care of their mental and emotional health in order to prevent the development or exacerbation of diseases due to constant exposure to situations of stress and anxiety. Its strategic location near the northern coast of Puerto Rico, specifically in the municipality of Arecibo, provides the user with pleasant views of the sea and other natural environments from any of the spaces. In addition, the project provides areas of encounter with nature for both outpatients and inpatients.

The main spatial programs in this project are: mental health service areas, a child daycare center, hotel-type rooms for inpatient treatment, an art and recreation area, commercial spaces for rent, a pharmacy, cafeteria, restaurant, and spa, among others. Every design decision is mainly based on strategies resulting from extensive research. For this, the following theories were cautiously studied: Psychosocial Stress, Chronic Stress, Neuroarchitecture, Architecture through the Senses and Phenomenology of Architecture.

Instagram: @obrvg

Reforming Re-entry: Creating Healing Transition Spaces For The Formerly Incarcerated by Leonard Jefferson, B. Arch ’24
Auburn University | Advisor: David Shanks

This thesis proposal seeks to address the issue of life post-incarceration for former prisoners. After their release, these individuals inevitably cross paths with the many barriers to reentry into society. One reason these barriers exist is due to the time spent within the American prison system itself. In general, this system is built to dehumanize the incarcerated by stripping them of their freedoms. Prisoners are consistently exposed to psychologically traumatizing environments, leaving a negative impact on their mental fortitude. Once released, ex-prisoners face the second barrier of stigmatization from society. Prejudged due to their criminal background, they often have trouble finding stable housing and jobs due to a lack of trust. Based on this realization, the following design proposal creates a transition space that combines housing, education, and employment opportunities under one roof. There are two primary ideals tested in this proposal: (1) Providing opportunities on multiple scales for residents to choose the level of privacy they desire; and (2) embracing the interpersonal contact theory, by creating ample space where residents can interact more often with the public. All in all, if we aim to help the formerly incarcerated, we must provide an architectural typology equipped with the fundamental resources they need to better themselves and fulfill their desire for a second chance.

Instagram: @leo.dj_, @davidrshanks

Stay tuned for Part X!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VIII

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Part VIII of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase features student work that incorporates the needs and experiences of marginalized groups. Each project provides design solutions to create safer, accessible, and empowering conditions for women, immigrants, racial minorities, the unhoused, and the queer community. Scroll down to browse the award-winning student work!

Architecture & Gender: Women in Río Piedras by Denelys Olivo-Nieves, M. Arch ‘24
University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Omayra Rivera Crespo, Jose R. Coleman-Davis, Maria Helena Luengo & Blanquita Calzada

The development of urban projects in Puerto Rico, particularly in the Río Piedras community, reveals a disconnection of the needs and experiences of women. The research focuses on how the lack of inclusion of the gender perspective in architectural design has led to the creation of environments that do not adequately consider these needs. It proposes the conscious incorporation of women’s experiences in the design process, highlighting the importance of recognizing the differences in experiences between men and women while studying their routines and habits in an urban setting. The research identifies common challenges faced by women in the built environment, such as the lack of connecting spaces in their daily routes, affecting their well-being in urban areas. Based on interviews and the formulation of urban connectivity, concrete actions are suggested to create safer and more accessible spaces.

International examples of policies that promote the consideration of women in urban design serve as references to further support the importance of women’s spaces. Inclusive and women-centered projects can inspire significant improvements in architectural development towards a more inclusive and sustainable future. In summary, the research highlights how the inclusion of the gender perspective in urban design not only improves the quality of life for women but also enriches the urban experience for the entire community, promoting more equitable, inclusive, and socially connected cities. The project encompasses all the research on women in Río Piedras and their needs as members of a community and urban area to develop a project that meets the criteria for them to thrive. It was designed in a woman-empowered and commercially owned area to connect to the existing activity of Río Piedras, ensuring that women are considered an integral part of the design.

Instagram: @picheanina, @uprarchitecture

Fractal Forma by Phoebe Lam & Julia Cheung, M. Arch ’24
University of Pennsylvania | Advisor: Simon Kim

The creation of Fractal Forma is kindled by the underrepresented females in the architecture industry. Our structure draws inspiration from the groundbreaking work of female architects whose contributions have often been overshadowed by their male counterparts. By bringing their designs out of the shadows and into the spotlight, we aim to shed light on the diversity and innovation within architecture, while honoring the often-unrecognized talents of minority architects. Through this pavilion, we strive to create a space where their legacies are celebrated and their stories are told, fostering inclusivity and representation within the architectural community.

In architecture, opportunities and recognition are unevenly distributed. Some architects gain access to prestigious projects and resources, while others face barriers due to race, gender, socioeconomic status, and location, hindering their advancement.

Architects have the power to bridge divides, challenge norms, and create spaces that foster unity and understanding. By embracing diversity, equity, and inclusion in their practice, architects can begin to mend the fractures within their profession and contribute to a more cohesive and equitable society. Collaboration across disciplines, active engagement with marginalized communities, and a commitment to ethical and socially responsible design are important steps towards achieving this goal.

Instagram: @phoebel.arch, @_juliaarch

Arrival Village by Jarin Hoque, B. Arch ‘24
University of Waterloo | Advisor: Adrian Blackwell

As one of the most populated, diverse cities in Canada, Brampton has faced a rapid shift in population due to the pull factors presented by Canada’s Immigration Policies, resulting in increasing demands for housing. As an essential location for hosting immigrants and racialized minorities in Canada, Brampton must pertain to its residents and newcomers. Arrival Village is based on the book Arrival City by Doug Saunders, formulating a community in which residents are provided with education, resources, [and] flexible living options, in order to step towards a sustainable social and economic life. Made from cross-laminated timber, the transitional home seeks to provide a social and economic entry mechanism for the diverse communities that continue to immigrate, as well as current citizens who require housing facilities while transitioning towards long-term housing.

With a shared-ownership governance structure with affordable rates, residents are given the opportunity to learn, grow and transition into a new place. Facilities include rooftop greenhouses, counselling, therapy, job training, a community kitchen and a lounge that acts as a community-oriented learning center for newcomers who are learning English through gardening, cooking and classes. The programs and services are a collaboration with the nearby church, in which connections to volunteers for their community outreach programs exist. This residence provides opportunities for long-lasting stability to form a thriving community, in an environmentally friendly manner.

This project won the OAA Exceptional Leadership Through Design Excellence Prize: Equity, Diversity & Inclusion and Truth & Reconciliation ’23

Instagram: @jarin.hoque

QUEER(+AR) Fostering Healthy Queer Communities Through Augmented-Reality-Infused Hybridized Event Spaces by James Brosius, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

In the aftermath of the 2020 pandemic, the dynamics of queer space have undergone a profound shift, with conventional physical queer spaces shifting to digital forums. This transition, exacerbated by anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and rising heteronormative ideals of the United States suburban landscape, has compelled the queer community to embrace an almost exclusively online presence. This shift has left an outstanding amount of the community in the dark with very minimal physical space left to exist as their true self, begging to return to some form of anchored physicality for connection. To comprehend and contextualize this discussion of queer space’s current issue, drawing reference to the idea of “event-spaces,” (Bernard Tschumi, 1994-2010) helps to understand this shift in the nature of queer space. Event space ideals help navigate the conversation around the challenges and opportunities presented by this new paradigm, emphasizing the adoption of event spaces as queer spaces going forward.

The transition to online platforms appears as a reaction in accordance with event-space concepts – as queer space can happen anywhere now instead of holding noteworthy scenes for assemblage. This shift has simultaneously challenged the sense of community and connection, specifically in the suburban context. Due to this shift, these specific queer communities have been left in a state of isolation and uncertainty. Being online completely challenges community mental health, well-being, and identity, especially when constant discrimination forces a community to reside there (Abreu, R. L., et al., 2023)(Graham, M., et al., 2023).

As both dwindled physical and fully digital environments have shown to not keep queer communities together without issue, this investigation proposes the idea of hybridized environments to ignite a new form of connection to make up for the downfalls of each respectively. Recognizing the historical proclivity for the queer community to adopt new technologies for refuge in hostile environments such as heteronormative suburbia, hybridized environments aided by new and emerging tech aligns well with the nature of evolving queer space, with the potential of founding healthy queer communities in the long run (Miles, 2018)(Human Rights Campaign, 2023). To investigate this concern, this thesis will test the implementation of augmented reality in existing fully-physical spaces that used to be queer as an ingredient in the manifestation of post-Covid queer space, acting as a promising avenue for insight into how to re-ignite queer connections and community.

Instagram: @jb_arch_design, @scott_shall

HomeWith by Grant Wolfe & Caleb Dreibelbis, B. Arch ’24
University of Nebraska – Lincoln | Advisor: Zeb Lund

Shadowed by negative connotations throughout the years, the homeless population in Lincoln has been shunned into the darker recesses of our community to face complex and often severe issues on their own. It is often associated with negative stereotypes that perpetuate the cycle of poverty and social exclusion. To combat these stereotypes, we need to look at new and innovative ways to tackle the issue of those facing homelessness. One such way is to use architecture in a non-traditional permanent transitional housing program. 

The program would provide permanent transitional housing designed to be more than just a place to sleep. The housing would be designed with the needs of homeless individuals and families in mind, with features such as communal living spaces, workshops, gardens, and places for social interaction. This would help to create a sense of community and belonging, which is essential to overcoming the negative stereotypes associated with those experiencing homelessness. 

To accomplish this feat there had to be a lot of calculated decisions and attention to the smallest of details to make sure the space was created with the people experiencing homelessness in mind. Organic massing plays a large role in our exterior providing maximum natural sunlight into key spaces while organizing the design in a path-finding mindset to add to the meditative requirements needed for trauma-informed design. The curvature experienced on the interior and exterior looks to minimize the triggers that are often associated with harsh interactions of the built environment. 

Stay tuned for Part IX!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VII

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Welcome to Part VII of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase! Today’s featured projects highlight spaces that serve their local communities. The student work below functions as more than just community centers, but as cultural and educational hubs as well. Each design presents an opportunity to transform communities by supporting the local economy, enhancing sustainability, creating an enriching environment, and more!

Tarboro Road Community Center by Maggie Kroening,  B. Arch ‘24
NC State University | Advisor: Doug Pierson

Tarboro Road Community Center

Anchors: Connecting Community to Landscape

Architecture has the power to include or exclude, establish connections, foster pride, and generate emotion. In turn, when considering public projects, architects have the choice to design for all, promoting a more equitable built environment. This philosophy is exemplified in my design for Tarboro Road Community Center, called “Anchors,” bridging design aspects of both landscape and architecture.  

This informed my project parti: landscape as anchors of gathering. After delineating existing trees on site, the program is placed at the least intrusive spaces, preserving the canopy. Overall, the enclosure is created for the program, and mass is subtracted to reveal entry, instilling a beacon and public park for the community. This site resides in the historically underserved community of East Raleigh. Thus, my project, “Anchors” needed to function larger than a community center, acting as a social nexus as the region urbanizes.

The design maximizes green space by elevating private program spaces to the second floor. This dedicates the entire ground plane to community use, featuring a plaza, recreation, seating, landscape gathering, an enclosed café, lobby, and gymnasium. By creating an urban plaza and elevating private amenities to the second floor, the entire ground plane functions as a public space for the community.  

In designing a space for a community, it is important to reflect on memories of what makes a space meaningful, which are often rooted in nature.  At Tarboro Road Community Center, nature is not just integrated, but celebrated. The landscape incorporates elements that evoke memories of meaningful outdoor experiences. The terraced seating also overlooks the recreation court, allowing viewership during games.  A naturalized playspace not only offers children a safe environment but also incorporates bioswales for sustainable runoff filtration, reinforcing the center’s commitment to ecological celebration.

The Tarboro Road Community Center exemplifies the integration of architecture and landscape, where the natural environment and community needs converge. By preserving the historic trees and maximizing public green space, the center not only honors the past but also prepares for the future as East Raleigh evolves.  

This project won the 2024 AIA Triangle Student Design Award

Instagram: @maggie.k, @podarchitecturedesign, @ncstatedesign

Aguirre Cultural and Visitor Center: The Revitalization of Abandoned Industrial Areas in the Communities by Sebastián R. Medina-Colón, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres & Juan C. Santiago-Colón

The project is located in the Aguirre community in Salinas, Puerto Rico, and focuses on the former Aguirre Sugar Mill, situated near the coast and the community. This sugar mill was an economic pillar of the southern region in Puerto Rico since its establishment in the late 19th century. It spurred an economic boom centered on sugar production, becoming one of the largest and most productive facilities in the Caribbean. However, over time, the sugar industry faced economic challenges, and the sugar mill closed its operations in the 1990s. This closure caused several problems in the community, including the loss of jobs, population, commercial areas, and hospitals, leaving a forgotten and ruined community.

As a solution to this problem, the architectural proposal focuses on highlighting the area’s cultural, historical, and economic aspects. The main programs include a cultural and community center with recreational spaces, auditoriums for various local activities, a community market, and exhibition spaces with educational facilities to stimulate artistic and cultural interest in the area. Additionally, a visitor center is implemented to promote the local economy, which includes a virtual and interactive exhibition to present the history of the place and the processes used during that time, as well as commercial spaces, restaurants, and more.

The project advocates for returning the waterfront to the community by removing visual barriers and obstacles that currently restrict access to the coast. The intervention involves using part of the existing structures to preserve the sense of place, while new interventions are carried out in the deteriorated areas, fostering a strong urban node that highlights the cultural, economic, historical, and artistic activities of the place. The project focuses on three buildings selected for preservation. Two of them, formerly two-level warehouses, are proposed as the building for art and culture, oriented towards the community, and the community building facing the sea. The third and largest building of the sugar mill is designated for a commercial and exhibition space.

Instagram: @sebastianmedinacolon

Centro Juvenil Reginal, De Fomento Educativo y Cultural by Salma Orozco Orozco, B. Arch ‘24
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Alfonso Galván & Jorge Javier

The project aims to create an innovative youth centre that will become the heart of the social and cultural life of Cadereyta de Montes, radiating its influence to neighbouring states. This space will be designed so that young people can explore and enhance their talents and skills in both the educational and cultural spheres. In addition to fostering individual development, it will seek to promote positive values and community integration, strengthening ties between the inhabitants of the area and reducing violence rates. 

The project also contemplates the revitalisation of urban spaces in Cadereyta de Montes, turning the youth centre into a tourist reference point in the region. It will seek to stimulate urban activity in the city, generating economic and cultural opportunities for its inhabitants. In short, the youth centre aspires to be much more than a meeting place for young people; it will be an engine of social and urban transformation in the entire community.

Instagram: @orsa.mx, @salma_orozco123, @arqwave, @arquitectura_anahuac

HYOO•GUH by Cristian Salvador Díaz Castillo & Lian Alejandro de la Puente Pozada, B. Arch ’24
Tecnológico de Monterrey | Advisors: María Guadalupe Peñuñuri Soto, Jocelyn Erandi Reyes Nieto, Luis Antonio Valle Cordero & Marco Tulio Muñoz Lopez

Hyoo Guh is an architectural project strategically located in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, inspired by the Danish philosophy of “hygge,” which promotes the enjoyment of life’s simple pleasures. On a site of almost 30,000m², 11 towers will be built, including 4 mixed-use towers and 6 residential towers, generating a population density of 600 inhabitants. However, the project aims to attract all people who seek to celebrate life and generate community through architecture. Promoting this, Hyoo Guh’s main attraction is a central library, which along with the overall project, seeks to create an inclusive ecosystem for all, especially for children, in a way that promotes education and cultural development in an accessible and stimulating way for all ages.

The Danish philosophy of “hygge”, which focuses on warmth, intimacy, and the enjoyment of simple, cozy moments, has guided every aspect of Hyoo Guh. This approach is reflected in every detail of the design, creating an environment that invites relaxation and shared enjoyment, where users not only want to be, but to live, and spend most of their time. 

In addition, Hyoo Guh offers three different paths, each one of a distance under 600 meters, and marked with a different color that defines a different route, adapted to different users, these paths are intended to allow users to explore and experience the project in unique ways. Completing all three tours once adds up to one mile of distance, enriching the visitor’s experience.

The vision for Hyoo Guh is to become a landmark in the city, a place where people will go not only for necessity but for the pleasure of enjoying a welcoming and enriching environment.

Finally, Hyoo Guh aims to set a new standard for community and wellness in Hermosillo, creating an environment where every person feels not only welcome but deeply connected and enriched. Its library will not only be a center of knowledge, but a place where community flourishes, inspiring everyone to live with gratitude and full enjoyment.

Instagram: @teccampusson, @tecdemonterrey, @eaad.tec, @yochi_02

Wine, Water and Architecture: A Multiscale Approach to Terroir Expression by Carmen Al Chahal, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisors: Sandra Frem & Makram El Kadi

Focusing on Anjar within the expansive 215,000 sqm plot of the Bekaa Valley, this thesis seeks to demonstrate that architecture, when thoughtfully integrated into the wine-making process, has the potential to materialize and strengthen the links between terroir and wine production at multiple scales. By addressing water-sensitive processes responding to the challenges, fostering wineries as cultural hubs for local communities, and drawing inspiration from the site’s nature and potential, architecture can play a pivotal role in enhancing the sustainability, connectivity, and cultural richness of the wine industry.

Instagram: @ard_aub

Stay tuned for Part VIII!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part VI

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In Part VI of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase, we take a look at projects that address various agricultural concepts. For these projects, agriculture is much more than just farmland. From agrotourism and community-centered food banks to using Twitch streaming to cultivate a transparent farming process, viewers are encouraged to expand their thinking about what agriculture encompasses. Scroll down to browse the award-winning projects!

Seed to Seed by Elyssa Hines, Bachelor of Science in Architecture ‘24
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Zahra Safaverdi

Within Garden City, Kansas, industrial agriculture is the bones of the community: the land is dedicated to farming and much of the population works directly with industrial agriculture. While sustaining human life, this drains Garden City’s ecosystem. To name a few examples, the watershed is shrinking, soil health is decreasing, and the better part of four years has been spent in drought. Legislation to allow for positive environmental action is unclear, misleading, or both, resulting in no progress. This creates a need for a place-based community resource such as Seed to Seed.

Seed to Seed is a live-work research institute that explores the life process of crops in the arid grassland with the intention of redesigning the farming process. It merges typical laboratory work with collaboration in other fields and in-situ work with the farmers who will implement the community’s findings. Within the spirit of collaboration and transparency, researchers will use the streaming services Twitch and Nebula to live stream their work within the lab and create curated content to share with researchers globally. Seed to Seed weaves seamlessly between the need for transparency regarding agricultural practices in Garden City and the larger system of sharing knowledge globally, not only through digital practices, but also with academic, industry, and government partners at a variety of scales.

The institute is designed around the circulation of inhabitants physically and digitally. Physical reality is organized around inhabitants’ interactions and deliberation between public and private. Digital reality is designed through what is visible to the streaming services and curated content. The curated content’s audience is Nebula, and they interact with Seed to Seed through 360° cameras. These cameras are within spaces the in-person public cannot access, but the digital audience has a full view of these spaces. Twitch content is streamed using immobile cameras in public spaces that constantly have people moving through them, becoming dynamic through what is within the camera frame. All cameras ensure that the inner workings of Seed to Seed are transparent to all audiences, encouraging everyone to work towards a reimagined farming process.

This project was featured in Washington University in St. Louis’s Year End Show.

Instagram: @elyssa.lyssa.lys

Suspending Urban Farm by Kai Chen & Qiuxiao Tang, M. Arch ’24
University of Pennsylvania | Advisor: Simon Kim

“Suspending” is emblematic of the project’s essence—representing the delicate balance between innovation and tradition, the elevation of community aspirations, and the support extended to those in need. It encapsulates the project’s endeavor to uplift and sustain. Both metaphorically and literally, as it seeks to suspend not just the structures of agriculture and art within its bounds, but also the collective hopes and dreams of a diverse community. The aim is to ensure they are nurtured and allowed to thrive amidst the urban expanse of New York.

In this studio, we propose to design a vertical farm to grow and equitably distribute fresh food to those in need, while also serving as a cultural promotion platform. It will not only cultivate and provide culturally varied foods but also host performances and productions from diverse nationalities, addressing food security and celebrating global cultural heritage. Efforts to combat food insecurity will be enhanced by a diverse fair-pay workforce aiding any group in need, overcoming language barriers, and ensuring accessible, culturally relevant food. Situated in Seneca Village, this project pays tribute to its historical roots, provides a haven for the needy, promotes cultural diversity, and bolsters the tourism economy, aligning with New York’s commitment to equity and inclusivity.

Instagram: @yohey.kim, @kaichen.architecture, @qiuxiaot

Revitalizing an Industry: Jute and Communal Empowerment, Bangladesh by Iana Ishrat, B.S. Architecture ‘24
University of Virginia | Advisors: Peter Waldman & WG Clark

The fibrous plant jute has an important history in Bangladesh. The once-thriving industry has seen closure and difficulties in recent years. But the high demand for plastic alternatives has rekindled interest in the natural fiber that plastic helped replace. 

This project uses architecture and design to revitalize an abandoned jute mill to establish a place of living-working space that can help the surrounding communities. Inspired by the communal traditions around rice cultivation, the project reimagines the arduous process of jute milling as a communal activity to create spaces that can inspire community and traditions around the production of jute products. 

The expansive and repetitive colonial-era factory invokes ideas of mass production. These structures are broken up strategically with alleys and courtyards to allow spaces that reflect a more human-scale work environment. 

The construction consists of two key parts. The first is a visitor center that can help educate the population about the important history of jute and its potential in the future. The second is the renovation of the factory and the construction of the central communal workspace. This area includes a mosque, library, office spaces, Bath house, indoor-outdoor workspaces and courtyard with a water-pool. The Mosque at the center of the site helps establish the factory as a central hub for the surrounding prominently Muslim population.

A small brick kiln is also established on site. This will provide material for the renovation and construction of the factory. With time, parts of the farmland surrounding the factory will be used for other crops like rice and vegetables to provide food for the workers. Some of this land will also be distributed among workers. They can utilize the brick from the kiln for any construction needs in their new communities. This initiative will help foster a sense of ownership and community building among the workforce.

Overall, the project seeks to revitalize the legacy of jute while empowering the local communities who play a vital role in its revival.

This project received the 2024 Exceptional Thesis Project accolade at the University of Virginia.

Instagram: @yana_ishrat, @aschool_uva

The Seed: A New Farming System that Bridges Urban and Rural Areas by Ziheng Li, M. Arch ’24
SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design)| Advisors: Andrea Bertassi, Aaron Wilner & David Gobel

The project is set in a broad expanse of land in Chengdu, a city characterized by its basin topography and predominantly cloudy weather. Addressing the challenges of rural depopulation, declining farmland, and the appeal of urban migration, the goal of this thesis is to create a new type of farming system that incorporates both traditional and modern farming techniques while also adding additional characteristics to help farmers gain revenue and close the urban-rural divide, preserving cultural heritage while enhancing sustainability. The design integrates residential modules with farming units, creating a cohesive and interactive community space that fosters rural culture within an urban context and contributes to urban food production. This system can grow and expand between urban and rural areas.

Instagram: @henoao_li, @andre_bertassi

A Framework for Regeneration by Lyric Barnik, Bachelor of Architectural Studies ’24
University of Waterloo | Advisor: Jaliya Fonseka

The Cambridge Food Bank is a 1,500sm food bank that integrates social services, food processing facilities, and community spaces. It is in Cambridge, Ontario with a continental climate that is relatively cold and temperate, with significant precipitation. The site, a contaminated brownfield with light-industrial infrastructure, was given to the Food Bank as a potential location for their new facilities. The proposed design explores a compact envelope, incorporating a pre-existing warehouse building and readapting the site into a communal greenspace. The design explores the regenerative multiplicity of food housed within a robust architectural framework.

The food bank sits at this unique intersection of food and community, partaking in duties of both production and social enrichment. The question underpinning this project begins by asking: How can the act of food heal us? How can the act of eating, making, shaping, growing, studying, and sharing food help to regenerate the body, community and land? The act of food is multi-faceted and its modes of expression are in constant flux. Thus, the proposed food bank looks at creating a set of infrastructures that can nurture this regeneration in whatever form it takes in the future.

The architectural manifestation of these guiding principles relies upon a reciprocal exchange between landscape, building and community. The site is divided using the physical and social forces of the site and a matrix of programs are formed, with the food bank radiating from the center of the grid. With a regenerative and circular landscape strategy in mind, the proposed programs study how new energy can be collected, old energy can be reused and long-term growth can be accommodated. In addition to traditional plot urban farming, alternative agricultural systems like a permaculture food forest, a livestock farm and a bio-filtration pond are proposed. The architectural concept proposes a compact square enclosure structured with a robust mass timber column grid, decoupled from the wall assembly. Four porches are created, establishing an interstitial zone between outside and inside as a lightweight shading canopy. A regular saw-tooth structure rests upon the timber frame, spanning across the entire building providing solar energy, collecting rainwater, and dispensing soft daylighting year-round. The spacious grid allows for programmatic flexibility, placing activities with a public appeal along the perimeter to best use the porches.

This project won the Soprema Award. 

Instagram: @lyriclmiracl

Centro de Agroturismo by Montserrat Sánchez Villaseñor, B. Arch ’24
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Patricia Cutiño & Jorge Javier

The focus of the Agrotourism Centre is primarily on the cultivation of wheat as a raw material. Integrating the whole process, from the sowing and harvesting of the wheat to the production of high-quality flour and the elaboration of artisan bread. The latter, characterised by its unique particularities rooted in the local culture, with the aim of becoming a true emblem that identifies and distinguishes Tejocote. 

A crucial element of this project is the integration of tourism in each of the production stages. The aim is to generate controlled and sustainable tourism in a decisive and strategic manner. The primary objective is that the main beneficiaries will be the inhabitants of Tejocote, who will experience a significant boost to their local economy thanks to the economic spillover from this agrotourism model. 

This centre not only offers an authentic and educational experience for visitors, but also contributes to the economic development and strengthening of the cultural identity of Tejocote.

Instagram: @arqwave, @arquitectura_anahuac

Red Mountain Pavilion by Daniel Icaza Milson, M.Arch ’24
University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: Nichole Wiedemann

With support of El Camino Real de los Tejas National Historic Trail Association, Tonkawa Tribe and Blackland Collaborative, this studio focused on Milam County, Texas, which straddles the Blackland Prairie and Post Oak Savanah traversed by three rivers –Brazos River ((Río de los Brazos de Dios), Little River and San Gabriel River– flowing to the Gulf of Mexico. In addition to the Camino Real, the area is punctuated by settlements including the Rancheria Grande, Spanish Missions and Freedom Colonies. The area is a place of convergence, connecting diverse peoples (and places) for over 10,000 years.

The Brazos River and its tributaries define the undulating, verdant landscape that surrounds Red Mountain, a sacred mountain for the Tonkawa tribe. These lands are still plentiful today – supporting the farms and ranches of Milam County. Embracing the economy and ubiquity of prefabricated metal structures, the Red Mountain Pavilion is arranged so that the visitor is reoriented from the restored Blackland Prairie and Little River toward Red Mountain, the origin of the Tonkawa. The building is staggered so that the landscape completes the experience of the visitors.

Instagram: @nicholewiedemann, @dash.ing.dash

Aloha Permaliving: Bridging People, Flora and Fauna by Chris Caracena, B. Arch ’24
Cal Poly University – Pomona | Advisor: Pablo La Roche

This permaliving project in Hilo, Hawaii, promotes sustainable and symbiotic agricultural living in the  Hilo Community, by integrating agricultural practices that coexist with the local flora, fauna and residents, the project creates an environment where ecological balance and human well-being go hand in hand addressing food security issues in Hawaii. This affordable housing project creates a sustainable and interconnected ecosystem that thrives on agricultural abundance and collective well-being. 

Instagram: @pmlaroche

Beetecture: Connection between Bees and Architecture by Yaimi L. Cartagena-Santiago, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Throughout history, architecture has primarily focused on solving problems related to humans; however, humans consistently overlook the fact that they are part of a much larger world than themselves. In the current context, there is a steady increase in bee mortality worldwide. Various media outlets have attempted to draw attention to this issue, but the efforts of environmentalists, journalists, and a political minority have not generated a strong enough impact to effectively address this phenomenon. The purpose of the APIC (Apiculture Production and Investigative Center) project is to develop an architectural proposal that addresses the challenges faced by apiculture, focusing primarily on the devaluation of this practice and its impact on the scarcity of agricultural production.

The project’s location is the municipality of Hatillo, in the north coast of Puerto Rico. Currently, there is the Puerto Rico Institute of Beekeeping Education, Research, and Development (Hatillo School of Beekeeping), which offers theoretical and practical courses in beekeeping management. The place in turn offers a balance between tropical and subtropical climates, allowing for versatile beekeeping and the possibility of collecting beehive products for much of the year.

The APIC project, as a proposal, is based on the integration of various architectural programs. The main objective of the project is to bring together in a single facility all the activities related to beekeeping, which are currently very fragmented. This installation offers the opportunity to address the challenge of reconnecting architecture with nature. The project aims to maintain the bee population through responsible beekeeping practices, monitor and safeguard the pollination service for multi-floral agriculture, limit damage caused by pests and diseases to ensure bee safety, provide accessibility to the public encourage community sensitivity, and guarantee and promote the future of the local beekeeping industry. Social programs that can be developed within the facilities are proposed to integrate society into the beekeeping culture. The programs are classified into four general zones: beekeeping education, beekeeping production, apitourism, and apitherapy. In conclusion, this project represents a commitment to sustainability, biodiversity, and environmental consciousness while emphasizing the vital importance of bees in our delicate ecological balance.

Instagram: @yaimilizz

Río Verde & Parques del Río Verde Corridor by Hector Michael Miranda Sanchez, M. Arch ’24
University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Omayra Rivera Crespo & Jose R Coleman-Davis

The sustainable Río Verde project consists of three buildings and a floating greenhouse interconnected through an agora and bridges, with a prominent focus on mixed-use. Most of its space program was determined based on the needs of the community. For instance, the Zoology department at UPRRP required a herbarium, laboratory, and storage space. Similarly, the Río Piedras community needed a place to promote their farmers’ market (agromercado). These spaces were provided, connecting the entire community system while preserving existing green systems. On the other hand, this project also introduces new urban and social public spaces. Additionally, the site borders two green areas: the University of Puerto Rico and the Plaza de la Convalecencia. As a result, the ecological corridor Parques del Río Verde is proposed, integrating directly with the proposed building. Its purpose is to implement a new green system in the urban area of Río Piedras, improving environmental conditions in a highly urbanized and paved city while serving as a bridge between other existing green systems. Furthermore, Río Verde and its corridor aim to promote biodiversity, sustainable and resilient elements, and integration with community agriculture, cultural and economic activities, visual landscapes, and the pre-existing urban fabric of Río Piedras. Ultimately, this project aspires to be an exemplary reference in sustainability, offering a solution within the green construction industry to address the current environmental crisis and mitigate accumulated impacts over the years in Río Piedras, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Instagram: @mike_mird, @uprarchitecture

Stay tuned for Part VII!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part V

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Welcome to Part V of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase! In today’s installment, materiality plays a pivotal role in the functionality of buildings, designs, and various architectural processes. 

Cork, acrylic, steel, concrete, wood, timber, and wires – for many, they may seem like mere materials for building. However, the projects below invite viewers to think about these materials through a different lens. 

From rethinking raw material standardization to highlighting the benefits of mass timber, viewers are encouraged to think deeply about sustainable production and opportunities for innovation. Other projects focus on the use of cork as a sound-insulative and the integration of natural materials such as clay and man-made elements such as steel. 

L-Shape Modular Cork Shelving System by Suna Choi & Sara Mohamed, B. Arch ‘24
American University of Sharjah | Advisor: Tania Ursomarzo

This installation is designed to create a double-functional partition that provides sound insulation and serves as a shelving system. It will be installed between the open studio spaces in our architecture, art, and design college building (CAAD) to reduce noise while offering students a place to store their items. Additionally, it serves as an aesthetic decoration for the space.

We chose cork as the main material due to its excellent sound-insulative qualities. Plywood was initially selected as the secondary material to create the shelving planes; however, we later decided to use only cork to fulfill both sound insulation and shelving purposes. Cork is not only sound-insulative but also biodegradable and aesthetically pleasing with its natural color.

The L-shaped modules, consisting of three rectangular patterns, are strategically stacked to form a shelving system that can be used on all sides. To connect the cork L-shaped modules together, we experimented with different materials such as thin plywood and acrylic to create simple connectors. After multiple iterations, we chose acrylic for its transparency, which would not distract from the natural aesthetic of the cork, unlike plywood.

Finally, we painted the top view of the model (the shelving surfaces) using primary colors: red, yellow, and blue, inspired by Mondrian’s compositions.

Instagram: @suliman.studio, @suna.choi_i, @triptychnyc

MODULAR CORK ACOUSTIC INSULATION AND FURNITURE SYSTEM by Rabab Al-Ali & Razan Almajid, B. Arch ’24
American University of Sharjah | Advisor: Tania Ursomarzo

In approaching this project, our primary objective was to address the disruptive noise levels at the College of Architecture, Art, and Design (CAAD), where our site will be located. These noise levels are highly distracting for both students and visitors, necessitating an effective solution to enhance the acoustic environment. Our considerations for the site location are based on the noise levels. We identified the two loudest areas as the spaces between studios and the main entrance. These areas are particularly disruptive during pinups and reviews, necessitating a strategic approach to mitigate the noise and improve the overall environment.

Our aim is to design a flexible, easily movable, and rebuildable structure, ensuring multi-functionality. We sought to develop a solution that could be effortlessly relocated and reassembled multiple times, providing adaptability and improved acoustic management throughout the space. An additional benefit of our modular design is its versatility; the modules can be easily reconfigured into different types of furniture, demonstrating their efficiency and practicality.

We have selected cork as the primary material for our project due to its numerous advantages. Firstly, cork possesses excellent sound absorption properties, effectively addressing our main noise concern by significantly reducing noise levels and minimizing sound transmission between spaces. Secondly, its lightweight yet durable nature facilitates the easy construction, deconstruction, and relocation of our structure. Lastly, cork is a natural and sustainable material, harvested from the bark of cork oak trees without causing harm, making it an environmentally friendly choice.

Instagram: @ralali.arch, @rnm.arch, @triptychnyc

Wheel House by Tilden Reid Puckett, B.S. Architecture ‘24
University of Virginia | Advisor: Peter Waldman

I designed the Wheel House after experiencing land and water I know to be beautiful. Its sleek, sailboat-inspired lines and lotus flower aesthetics evoke a sense of tranquility and orthogonal organic beauty. The building’s foundation integrates seamlessly with the dam’s robust concrete structures, enhancing the synergy between natural and man-made elements. Inside, large windows and open spaces ensure an abundance of natural light, crafting an atmosphere reminiscent of being on an open ocean or beneath a cascading waterfall. Every detail, from the material strategy of utilizing the natural erosion of corten steel to the proportional light/heaviness that attributes to its vertical and horizontal harmony. 

The design draws inspiration from the works of renowned architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright, known for his integration of structures with their natural surroundings; Tadao Ando, whose use of concrete and light creates spaces that are both minimalist and profoundly serene; and Peter Waldman, my studio professor of whom’s work intelligently collages materials into profound sculptures of place. With its placement, the Wheel House defines the nature around it. Built on a steep slope, its terracing and retaining walls allow it to seamlessly rest under, on, and above its environment. This project reimagines the home and presents a more careful architectural attention to beauty and art. I believe that when one looks at this structure, they can start to imagine the coarse roar of the water falling down the dam and feel the rippling wind stream across the reservoir. I designed the Wheel House to express further land and water I know to be beautiful. 

This project won the Duncan J. McCrea Memorial Award.

Instagram: @tilden.reid, @aschool_uva

Epiphytic-Retrofitting: Wooden Structures to Top Out Unfinished Constructions on the Galapagos by Paula Cano-Vergara, M. Arch ’24
University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: David Heymann

Epiphytic-Retrofitting: Wooden Structures to Top Out Unfinished Construction on the Galapagos Research explores potential applications of lightweight timber members to envision design possibilities that might lead to more environmentally responsive architecture, endemic to the Galapagos Island in Ecuador. 

The study focuses on ten wood species, both endemic and introduced—Avocado, Bamboo, Black Carob, Cascarilla Cinchona, Guava, Galapagos Guava, Machinel, Mahogany, Matazarno, and Spanish Cedar—to explore how timber can replace conventional construction methods and address rapid urbanization and the prevalence of unfinished concrete structures.

The title emphasizes two concepts: “Epiphytic,” referring to plants that use other vegetation for physical support rather than nutrients, and “Retrofitting,” a sustainable method for vertical growth and densification. The project aims to protect the fragile ecosystem by reducing the exploitation of natural resources and restoring endemic vegetation. The proposed vertical expansion utilizes lightweight timber from six selected species to complete unfinished buildings, up to 5 floors total.

The structural capacity of each species is determined by grain structure, categorized into three main types: 1) Curvy and wavy, 2) Irregular, and 3) Straight grain. Structural elements are designed based on standard branch and trunk diameters and lengths, with Mahogany and Matazarno ideal for joints, Spanish Cedar and Guava for primary and secondary elements, and Avocado and Carob for cladding and decking planks. The proposal also includes three vertical growth strategies that prioritize efficiency by branching to the nearest points from the top element to the next floor, based on [the types of] tree branching: Dichotomous, Monopodial, and Sympodial. Additionally, trusses integrate the vertical elements and transfer loads to concrete frames ranging from 3x3m to 9x15m.

Despite common perceptions of timber as an unsafe and inferior material compared to its competitors, this research advocates for its potential in developing safe, low-carbon buildings. Timber supports better forest management, curbs deforestation, and promotes the use of locally-sourced materials. Additionally, the research serves to protect and contribute data records of remote geographies like the Galapagos Island, the “living museum and showcase of evolution.”

This thesis was selected for the Innovation and Material category, Fall 2024.

Instagram: @utsoa

De-Framing the Built Environment by Drew Dunphy, M. Arch ’24
University of Miami School of Architecture | Advisors: Christopher Meyer & Joachim Perez

To design is to challenge what has come before to create something new. In today’s modern era of architecture, there has been an explosion of new programs and materials that facilitate the design process and have increased the production rate exponentially. In doing so, the profession has accepted standard practices as rules and allowed material use and industry to become rigid.

Challenging what makes architecture function as a profession is not easy, but it is necessary to continue driving innovation. Using mass timber as a case study, De-Framing the Built Environment looks holistically at manufacturing, architecture, and construction to break down what is immediately accepted as best practice. 

De-Framing the Built Environment breaks the process by which design goes from raw materials to an inhabitable space into three focus areas. Starting with the manufacturing process, it challenges the current centralized system of material sourcing and calls for a regionalist approach that emphasizes sustainable sourcing. From there, it stresses the importance of integrated design that reorients the cost from strictly economic to include ecological and temporal design costs. Finally, De-Framing the Built Environment rejects the accepted lifespan of a building by focusing on architecture that is easy to assemble, inhabit, and disassemble with a low margin of wasted material. 

Design, by its very nature, should be synonymous with innovation. While this thesis focuses on mass timber, questioning the process by which raw materials are transformed into space is a universal principle that must be applied across disciplines and building practices. You, as architects, designers, and construction professionals, are integral to this change.

This project was awarded an Honorable Mention by the University of Miami School of Architecture Faculty Award for Outstanding Thesis Work in the Master of Architecture Program. 

Instagram: @dunphy_27, @LU_lab_miami, @ateliermey 

Turning Tree Forks into Structures: An Experimental Analysis of a Minimally Processed Material Within the Age of Standardization by Zachary Chartrand, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Since the Industrial Revolution, the building industry has dedicated enormous energy to developing processes that can take raw, idiosyncratic materials and produce highly controlled, specifiable products. This has served the building industry well for years. Material standardization allows for standardized structural details and procedures that can be easily followed by the common builder, [allowing them] to produce structures that can be analyzed and designed based on the uniform properties of the building product. Unfortunately, this process rejects those materials that do not meet the uniformity required, regardless of their unique structural potential.

Recent advancements in digital analysis allow for the ability to identify unique qualities within raw materials. Advancements in computational technology allow for the optimization of a structural design to accommodate for these idiosyncratic properties. The development of a platform, involving digital analysis and computational design, would make this method of design available to the common builder and architect. The development of a process, using common construction techniques, would allow the common builder to build structures using these idiosyncratic pieces. The development of this platform for design, and system of construction, would demonstrate that advancements in technology can initiate a movement towards more sustainable architecture by reducing the amount of processing necessary to use raw materials in a structural capacity.

This will be studied by obtaining an inventory of tree forks and scanning them into a digital inventory. A script will then be developed that optimizes fork fitment to different assembly logics for shell structures. Next, a joinery system and system of construction will be developed that processes the forks based on data outputs from the script. Success will be measured in joint precision and structural rigidity.

This thesis won the 2024 CoAD Deans Award. 

Instagram: @scott_shall

Moore Square Indie Music Center by Daniel Knorr, Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture ’24
NC State University | Advisor: Zach Hoffman

Moore Square Indie Music Center gives a home to the indie musicians of Raleigh, fulfilling their three core needs: practicing, recording, and performing. The center contains practice and recording room clusters in addition to a main performance venue space. The center embodies the spirit of the indie music community through the use of rhythm and movement and a familiar gritty materiality that alludes to the idea of “garage” or “basement” bands. 

Interstitial spaces generate chance encounters between musicians and fans. This not only strengthens the indie music community, but more importantly, allows musicians to engage and grow their fan base.

The Stitch / Chance Encounters

The most important elements of the Center are the interstitial spaces that occur between major programmatic elements. These spaces act as an environment where chance encounters can happen between musicians and fans. This is especially important for indie music, a culture that thrives on strong interpersonal connections, and a strong dedicated fanbase. 

The entire Center is split down the middle, with the left theater half belonging to the community, and the right practice and recording half belonging to the musicians. The atrium space, “the stitch,” bridges the two halves of the Center together.

Materiality

The idea of a garage band has pervaded indie music culture since its inception. To capture this spirit, the Center uses materials such as cast-in-place concrete and raw metal, alluding to the origins of indie music. On the other hand, wood is used in the interiors of the practice studios to create a homey atmosphere, alluding to the idea of a sole musician practicing in their bedroom.

Texture and material are also used to signify the function of the spaces within the Center. The interiors of both the theater and the studios have highly textured acoustic paneling systems, whereas their exteriors are seamless and perfect. The exterior wood cladding of the theater serves to create an inviting presence that guides visitors into the theater. On the other hand, the monolithic concrete used in the exterior of the studios creates a fortress-like feeling, “protecting” the musicians inside.

This project won the ​​2024 AIA Triangle Student Design Award.

Instagram: @daniel.knorrr 

The Clay Huts and Metal Shed by Shixian Zhang & Ruozhao Cui, B. Arch ’24
Cal Poly University – Pomona | Advisor: Claudia Wainer

The Clay Huts and Metal Shed is a community-oriented ceramic arts and design center located in Elysian Valley. It is positioned with its north side facing the LA River and the future Taylor Yard development, and its south side overlooking the Lewis MacAdams Riverfront Park. The rich history of Elysian Valley, marked by a blend of manufacturing facilities, single-family homes, and a flourishing artist community, forms a distinctive backdrop for this project. The design merges existing industrial elements with new, organically inspired clay volume, aiming to create not just an artistic space for ceramic artists but also a vibrant community hub for the Elysian Valley neighborhood. 

This project involves the adaptive reuse of an existing industrial building, which serves as a shell for the newly proposed clay volumes. The design strategy begins by categorizing program spaces into enclosed and loose types. Each clay volume, distinct in its form, encompasses a variety of enclosed functions. The interstitial spaces between these volumes, designated as loose programs fostering interaction and community engagement. Additionally, the design incorporates two sculptural gardens within these volumes. The clay huts deform the metal shed perimeter and break down the scale of the building, making it more approachable and relatable to the community.   

The material palette is a harmonious blend of clay and steel, symbolizing the integration of traditional craftsmanship with industrial production. The clay walls, constructed of rammed earth, feature a scalloped facade that lends a tactile, organic feel to the design. The primary structure utilizes the existing metal framework, altered and updated to support the new programmatic volumes. This interplay of materials is a defining characteristic of the design, with some areas showcasing an overlap of clay and steel through openings, while in others, the metal shell stops short, allowing the clay volumes to peek through. 

The juxtaposition of the clay huts against the metal shed highlights the contrast between stereotomic and tectonic, creating varied transitions in different spaces. For instance, upon approaching the building, one can see both the clay and corrugated metal cladding simultaneously. Entering the building through the open programs, visitors experience the interplay of the metal shed, steel structure, and clay huts. Once inside a clay volume, the surroundings are entirely enveloped by clay finish, offering a distinct spatial experience.

Instagram: @claudwain

Debunking the Myths of Wood: Mass Timber Contemporary Architecture to the Rescue of Cultural Heritage by Neftalí X. Luciano-Castillo, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga & Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

Wooden architectural heritage represents an invaluable asset in the cultural and historical narrative of Puerto Rico. With its unique characteristics, craftsmanship and carpentry of a bygone era, it stands out from other architectural styles. Moreover, wooden heritage serves as a catalyst for reevaluating our approaches to designing and constructing buildings. As society gravitates towards sustainable practices, the resurgence of wood as a primary construction material offers a promising opportunity. This resurgence not only revitalizes historical structures but also enables a harmonious coexistence between traditional wooden architecture and contemporary design. However, this traditional architecture is often misjudged and misunderstood due to the poor knowledge and involvement of people in their culture, and the lack of legislations in favor of heritage preservation. Due to these and other external threats, these structures have begun to disappear from our urban fabric, leaving not only a void in space, but also in our culture and identity.

As a response to these factors, the proposal seeks to promote the preservation of wooden architectural heritage through community engagement, tourism, education, testing and manufacturing, in a design that serves as a living laboratory that combines historic structures with mass timber construction. The synergy between historic preservation and the incorporation of contemporary architecture signifies a unique chance to embrace the past while paving the way for a more sustainable future. The project’s location is the Central Aguirre Historic District in Salinas, Puerto Rico, an old sugar cane company town that houses a collection of historic wooden structures. The design is organized into three main volumes: a restored and repurposed historic building that houses museum spaces; a second volume that contains a manufacturing laboratory; and a taller volume that functions as a school of wooden architecture design and conservation. The main goal of this project is to serve as a catalyst for the preservation and restoration of historic wooden structures in Aguirre and all around Puerto Rico.

Instagram: @neftalixavier

Harmonic Convergence by Nicholas Owens, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Masataka Yoshikawa

This project explores spatial and structural design, inspired by the concept of a ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ and music. The initial phase focused on finding objects and integrating music, using guitar strings and thick wire to symbolize sheet music, representing order in chaos.

In the representation phase, the project incorporated methodologies from Neil Denari and Borges. The transition to 2D representation utilized Maya to create music stand models linked by chains, with six layers of wire illustrating chaos and order visually.

During development, Rhino was used for initial designs and Zbrush for refinement, creating a wire mesh structure. This phase emphasized materiality and spatial dynamics, resulting in a unique architectural design facilitating gallery spaces and visitor pathways.

The final phase integrated the structure with its landscape, showcasing LED wires and spatial potential. Interior renders highlighted the gallery space’s unique characteristics, creating a quasi-moiré effect with overlapping glass structures. The project envisioned future enhancements, including wire animation to visualize music flow, enhancing the visitor experience and reflecting the project’s foundation in music and organized chaos.

Overall, the project is a sophisticated blend of design, representation, and development, creating an innovative space that intertwines musical and structural elements to find order in chaos.

Instagram: @owensarchitecturaldesign, @masataka.yoshikawa

Stay tuned for Part VI!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part IV

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Infrastructure is the central theme covered in Part IV of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase. Defined as “the facilities and systems that serve a community,” infrastructure can range from public transportation to roadways.

Today’s featured projects look at existing infrastructure and use design solutions to improve conditions. Examples include creating opportunities for connection between surrounding areas, reimaging exclusionary foundations to support upward mobility, developing comprehensive building codes, and promoting sustainability.

Suburbia As the Anti-Society: Why We Need a Suburban Architectural Rebellion by Megan Kaminski, M. Arch ‘24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

There needs to be a Suburban Rebellion in architecture. Suburbs were originally built for a white middle class and continue to be built for a white middle class, even as suburbs begin to change and evolve socioeconomically. The conditions of which are a prevailing continuation of a dependency on automobiles, zoning, and infrastructure that becomes dangerous limitations as the flow of suburban sprawl moves income and investment farther and farther away, causing an equal sprawl of suburban decay in its wake.

Existing suburbs should be reimagined by reusing decaying or underused conditions by the community, in spite of harmful regulations that have been institutionalized since the 1950s, to rewrite them.

To investigate this, I propose to design a methodology for how future suburbs can be designed by people/the community as well as detailing how existing conditions can be reused in order to achieve this.

Instagram: @scott_shall

Post-Infrastructure: Structure as Site by Hilal Kobrosly, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisors: Carla Aramouny & Sinan Hassan

The concept behind this project is an exploration of how infrastructure, in this case, the columns of the Mdayrej bridge, can undergo a profound transformation, transcending their utilitarian purpose to become integral elements in a new architectural narrative. By interweaving a performance hall and a hotel into the existing columns, this endeavor challenges conventional notions of these structures as purely functional, highlighting their potential as generators of space and meaning.

The project’s design engages with the history of architectural evolution, drawing inspiration from the Cordoba Mosque’s expansion stages. Much like how the mosque’s structure evolved over time while maintaining its essence, this project seeks to evolve the bridge’s columns, blurring the lines between pre-existing and newly constructed elements. This approach introduces a sense of continuity and harmony to the site, where the boundaries between old and new become indistinct.

As one enters the parking area, the experience unfolds progressively. The scale shift from the vast field of columns to the more confined performance hall is reminiscent of a journey through architectural time and space. It is as if one is moving through layers of history and design, gradually immersing themselves in the evolving narrative of the project.

In the context of the performance hall, the design draws inspiration from ancient Greek theaters, where integration with the natural landscape was paramount. Here, the topography lines of the site plan effortlessly lead to a niche beneath the eastern columns of the bridge, forming a natural amphitheater. 

The roof overhead serves as the only enclosure needed, allowing the audience to connect intimately with both the landscape and the columns. In this setting, the columns cease to be mere structural elements; they become performers themselves, adding a dynamic dimension to the grand hall’s ambiance.

Moving on to the hotel, it occupies a floating strip, gracefully positioned above the performance hall’s roof. Along the western columns of the bridge, the project’s field condition undergoes a transformation. 

The columns, now experienced at a more intimate scale, transcend their load-bearing role to become intricate surfaces. This shift in perspective challenges preconceived notions about the relationship between structure and space, highlighting how architecture can breathe new life into utilitarian elements.

Instagram: @ard_aub

Turnpike Beef by Ray Wincko, M. Arch ‘24
University of Florida | Advisors: Charlie Hailey & Bradley Walters

Turnpike Beef is a design project that synthesizes the inherent relationships amongst underlying infrastructural systems, the subliminal qualities of the banal, and a bucolic Floridian landscape. Florida is notorious for fantastical manufactured environments like the neon nightmares of Miami or the fabricated magical kingdoms of Orlando. Turnpike Beef suggests that the systems of infrastructure that stitch these urban centers hold a more accurate perspective of what this landscape beholds. Arguably the most overlooked component of infrastructure that, in its absence and introduction, has contributed to the development of Florida is the fence.

Through the analysis and invigoration of the fence, Turnpike Beef aims to envision how “fence” as an architectural tool can catalyze and shift the manner in which citizens perceive and interact with infrastructure, banal space, and the in-between of the Florida landscape. Once the idea of the fence surpasses its normally understood role of line and boundary, it acquires a greater set of roles as a spatial mediator, raconteur, and witness to the environment. The fence is most often interacted with while traversing between destinations at high speeds which demands a regional scale of response. Along with a regional response, a more impactful aspect of infrastructural interaction is that in a time of intimate and reflective pause or rather, rest.

In search of tying narrative and conditional threads between infrastructural landscape and seemingly regular program, this study proposes a set of interventions that utilize the “fence” as a tool for synthesizing and charging spatial, political, and cultural relationships. The intervention, programmatically, is a reinterpretation of a contemporary staple of American travel, the rest stop. A  generally disregarded, temporal experience along our routes, the rest stops of Florida’s state highway system are designed to operate as efficient exchanges of north and south-bound travelers with little regard for its infrastructural context or the often-enriched historical landscape that surrounds them. Through ceremonial defecation, boiled peanuts, trucker showers, and billboard propaganda, this project connects the individual with infrastructural traces and the forgotten celebration of the subsided program.

Instagram: @charlie.hailey, @r_winky

Central EJE de Movilidad Turística Tequisquiapan by Axel Josua Nogales Bernal, B. Arch ’24
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisor: Jorge Javier

This project was born as an integral mobility strategy for the state of Querétaro, as well as from the need to connect the city of Tequisquiapan with the rest of the magical towns in the region.

The proposal is inserted in the periphery of the urban area, in order to integrate different local transports and make it easier to move around.

The building, a structural integration of uniform columns that link the large concrete roof through subtle arches, divides the public part from the private part, expanding the uses, in order to have internal plazas and open spaces and thus achieve a great amplitude for the transit and boarding of the bus users.

This project won the 2024 AIA Triangle Student Design Award.

Instagram: @axelnogales, @ajnb_arq, @arqwave, @arquitectura_anahuac

Exclusionary Infrastructure & Displacement: A Study on Architectural Mobility by Elisa Castañeda & Luke Murray, B. Arch ’24
Mississippi State University | Advisors: Jassen Callender, David Perkes, Mark Vaughan & Aaron White

Jackson, Mississippi, is a unique place, the capital of the most low-income state in the Nation, the Blackest major city in the United States per capita, and a city whose history is translated through its infrastructure and built landscape. While the implementation of policies and regulations are directly in view as forms of disenfranchisement in marginalized communities, public infrastructure, urban planning, and the built environment are not often recognized as forms of regulation. The placement of highways, railroads, walls, and more, have had profound effects on the organization of different racial demographic groups within the city of Jackson – these patterns are still pervasive today.

The above implicates exclusionary infrastructure, defined here as the placement and construction of built works that hinder accessibility between communities, resulting in systemic disinvestment and social plight. 

This proposal aims to examine how these factors – and their historical, social, and political contexts – have resulted in inequity at multiple scales. And furthermore, leverage that research to better understand how architecture can be a form of liberation rather than control in a city and a state that fails to reconcile under the weight of its own history.

What follows, is our research and conclusions on how architectural design skills can be used to illustrate how we might begin to break down exclusionary infrastructure and create collective autonomies over spaces that may seem divisive. To argue that physical divides can become points for connection. 

Through this analysis, we were able to identify what public infrastructure in the built environment had the most negative impacts within the Jackson community. Out of this came the Illinois Central Railroad as the site for a theoretical design intervention. In many instances, the track represents a literal earthen wall through the city that separates lower-income black communities from more fluent white-centric communities. The mission of the design intervention is to provide spaces to connect, while also contributing to social mobility among local stakeholders. This brought about a new re-imagining and reinvention of how we perceive train tracks as an occupyable space. One with broad reach and the ability to adjust to changing needs, both in programming and location.

This project won the CDFL Capstone Studio Travel Award.

Instagram: @elisa_castaneda, @chimichurrimurray, @jassencallender

Emerging Connections: Renetworking Formal and Informal Public Space by Hoi Ting Chan & Nicole Giella, M. Arch ’24
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Marcella Del Signore & Evan Shieh

“Emerging Connections: Renetworking Formal and Informal Public Space” focuses on adaptive reuse to revitalize mono-use infrastructure and reclaim underutilized public spaces in São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro. The project aims to enhance the local social infrastructure by extending its reach and promoting both formal and informal community interactions. A detailed analysis of the neighborhood’s existing connectivity and functional drivers informed the creation of a spatial matrix that seamlessly integrates current conditions with new opportunities for social engagement. In line with Rio’s goal of zero transport emissions by 2050, the design prioritizes pedestrian-friendly environments, reducing dependence on private vehicles.

The chosen site is characterized by intersecting boundaries, including a canal, a ground highway, an elevated highway, and the adjacent underutilized land. The intervention is executed in three phases: Phase One transforms ground-level highway lanes next to the canal into a pedestrian-friendly urban park, making the canal a central public space. Phase Two introduces a new community center on the adjacent underutilized land, enhancing local social infrastructure. Phase Three converts the elevated highway into a dynamic network for social exchange, with spaces dedicated to educational activities and formal gatherings.

Nodes play a critical role in the design, shaping areas for both formal and informal social activities. At the highway level, formal nodes, including a library, café, and lecture hall, are accessed through various paths to provide distinct user experiences. On the ground level, informal nodes are strategically placed around and above the canal, integrated with pedestrian pathways. Informal nodes accommodate street vendors, crucial to Rio’s vibrant social fabric, offering adaptable spaces that support formal events and accommodate temporary uses.

Resiliency measures include expanding the canal’s edges to prevent flooding and incorporating green infrastructure to improve air quality and address climate change. These interventions make São Cristóvão’s limited green space, previously dominated by a single park, more accessible. By focusing on implementing these strategies at the city’s boundary intersections, the project enables multi-directional and multi-level growth, enhancing public social interactions, and elevating the quality of life for Rio’s residents.

Instagram: @ngiella_, @virginiacht, @marcelladelsi, @ev07

Beyond Disaster Relief by Jean-Paul Abi Awad, M. Arch ’24
Boston Architectural College | Advisors: Ian F. Taberner, AIA & Asli Baran

This thesis explores how architects respond to disasters by designing urban spaces and architecture. The thesis has two perspectives: the immediate response to crises, which involves the design of temporary shelters and essential infrastructure, and future-proofing designs to prepare for potential crises by incorporating resilience, flexibility, and adaptability. 

The thesis aims to demonstrate architecture’s role in responding to and mitigating the effects of crises and how designers can create more resilient and adaptive spaces for the future.

The project aims to create a center to study and address the root causes of crises, develop comprehensive building codes and regulations, and conduct research. The project will engage with various stakeholders to promote collaboration and coordination in addressing crises and will be a hub for knowledge sharing and collaboration in the region.

This project received the M. Arch Thesis Commends.

Connecting Assets: towards an integrated city by foot. by Shreya Sanghvi & Tanaya Gawade, MS. Architecture in Urban Design ’24
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Jeannette Sordi & Jeffrey Raven

The São Cristóvão neighbourhood, often seen as an isolated island due to its perceived disconnection from surrounding areas, is on the brink of transformation. Our vision is to redefine this area, overcoming its barriers and enhancing connectivity to key landmarks like the market, bio park, and harbour. This initiative presents a unique opportunity for São Cristóvão to become a beacon of sustainable urban development, influencing the design of city blocks, open spaces, transit systems, and bicycle networks, thus revitalizing the entire region. Central to this strategy is the implementation of a major pedestrian-friendly system. Dismantling the invisible barriers that fragment the neighbourhood requires establishing a porous pedestrian network. This network will enable the seamless movement of people and facilities, fostering integration and accessibility throughout the area. By prioritizing walkable infrastructure, such as lively streets, plazas, neighbourhood parks, and green spaces, we can ensure safe and convenient passage between the neighbourhood and the harbour.

Moreover, innovative elements like elevated walkways and bridges will provide new dimensions of connectivity, further integrating São Cristóvão with its surroundings. The inclusion of blue and green infrastructure is pivotal, as it not only enhances connectivity but also addresses pressing climate issues. Green corridors and water management systems will create a resilient and inviting environment for residents and commuters alike.

Our strategy aims to breathe new life into São Cristóvão, making it a model of urban revitalization. By prioritizing pedestrian mobility and sustainability, we can transform this neighbourhood into a vibrant, interconnected community. This approach will not only improve the quality of life for current residents but also attract new visitors and businesses, driving economic growth and fostering a sense of community pride. Together, we can turn São Cristóvão into a thriving urban oasis, leading the way in sustainable urban development.

This project won the Black Spectacles, Spectacular Studio Awards, 2024

Instagram: @_shreya_sanghvi, @tana_yeahhh, @jeffrey.raven, @jeannettesordi

TerraCrux by Joseph Kim, B. Arch ’24
University of Southern California | Advisor: Eric Haas

The ceaseless interplay between human and natural forces focuses on the errors of our inventions and reminds us of nature’s everlasting presence. However, our efforts have left divisions in its realm, forcing the equilibrium to kneel to our errors. As our infrastructure falters, we will ensure that natural pathways resurface, interweaving with the very essence of our dominion. With the passage of time, aided by us, nature will thread through our past errors, restoring balance through its own fruition. Within the I-5 and CA-14 corridors, an error reveals an opportunity. This space will not only establish a new pathway but also create a sanctuary for wildlife.

Tapestry of tomorrow: weaving culture, commerce and community by Anushka Naik & Manogna Sai Padi, Ms. Architecture in Urban Design ’24
New York Institute of Technology | Advisors: Jeannette Sordi & Jeffrey Raven

In the bustling heart of Rio de Janeiro lies São Cristóvão, an industrial zone awaiting transformation into a sustainable, mixed-use area by 2050 through our visionary project, “TAPESTRY OF TOMORROW”. This endeavor aims to seamlessly integrate industrial and residential spaces, enhancing accessibility, connectivity, and harmony within the community.

Our approach prioritizes sustainability, considering the long-term impacts on environmental conservation, economic prosperity, social equity, and urban well-being. To realize our vision, we meticulously analyze the site, dividing it into a grid to address challenges such as flooding, waste management, and heat stress. This granular examination allows us to tailor solutions that ensure neighborhood resilience and sustainability. Our design serves as a versatile blueprint, capable of adapting to diverse urban problems in São Cristóvão and beyond. By understanding each location’s unique characteristics and issues, our strategies can be scaled and transferred, contributing to broader sustainable urban development initiatives.

It emphasizes green infrastructure, renewable energy sources, and mixed-use development to create a resilient urban environment. Incorporating elements like green roofs, rain gardens, and permeable pavements enables effective stormwater management and reduces urban heat island effects. The utilization of solar and wind power, coupled with energy-efficient building systems, underscores our commitment to sustainability. Additionally, our project fosters community engagement and economic growth through carefully designed public spaces and innovation hubs.

Furthermore, “TAPESTRY OF TOMORROW” celebrates São Cristóvão’s rich cultural heritage, blending history with modernity. By preserving the area’s cultural identity while embracing innovative design and technology, we aim to create a vibrant neighborhood that honors its past and embraces a sustainable future. This project epitomizes a holistic approach to urban revitalization, weaving a tapestry of sustainable, innovative, and culturally vibrant communities for generations to come.

Instagram: @anushkanaik12, @manogna_s_padi, @jeffrey.raven, @jeannettesordi

Stay tuned for Part V!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part III

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Welcome to Part III of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase! Today’s installment answers the question: “How can architecture serve as an avenue to celebrate and preserve cultural heritage and history?”

The award-winning student work below highlights various ways to honor history and culture. Innovative methods include using indigenous construction to promote ecotourism, illuminating transient Holocaust sites using artifacts and survivor testimonials, multi-modal exhibitions, and more. These projects also include diverse subject matters ranging from an exploration of the history of Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival to analyzing North and South Native American artifacts.

The Making of Mas’: Archiving Toronto’s Caribana by Jasmine Sykes, M. Arch ‘24
University of Toronto | Advisor: Jeannie Kim

Toronto’s Caribbean Carnival, originally known as Caribana, is an event that transforms architecture and urban experience through communication, performance, and social exchange. Originally a one-off parade for Expo ’67, Caribana has become North America’s largest cultural festival. Caribana’s impact extends beyond Toronto, with a geographic, economic, and spatial impact that is global in scale. The festival’s growth has prompted a shift in its traditions, raising concerns about its distancing from Caribbean roots. These concerns are reflected in the lack of an archive documenting Caribana’s history. This thesis advocates for the preservation and understanding of Caribana’s cultural and spatial legacy in Toronto.

Instagram: @jasmine_sykes

A Journey from Ancient Roots to Modern Revelations: Designing a Coptic Orthodox Museum & Cultural Sanctuary in the heart of Washington DC by Yostina Yacoub, M. Arch ’24
Temple University | Advisor: Prof. Sally Harrison

This thesis explores the reinterpretation of traditional Coptic architecture within the context of a contemporary museum, memorial, and community hub in the heart of Washington DC. The project aims to bridge the knowledge gap between Pharaonic Egypt and modern-day Egypt, illustrating the cultural, religious, and political shifts that have shaped the nation while narrating the story of the Copts, the indigenous people of Egypt.

Furthermore, it aims to honor the 21st-century Coptic martyrs and shed light on global Coptic persecution, serving as an educational platform for both the Coptic Diaspora and the general public, highlighting the Coptic Orthodox community’s history, faith, art, architectural heritage, and contributions.

Instagram: @yostinay

Nayala: Cultivating Architectural Memory and Identity by Ryan Saidi, M. Arch ‘24
The Catholic University of America | Advisor: Ana Maria Roman Andrino

This thesis unveils earthen chambers of memory, reflection, and hope, shaping the city’s trajectory towards renewal. In Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, co­lonialism led to architectural amnesia, obscuring precolonial heritage. The city now seeks a revival, a vibrant hub of memory to reclaim lost architec­tural forms for a sustainable future. Nayala emerges as this sanctuary, bridging buried traditions with emerging dreams. 

This thesis was one of three to be placed on the University’s final Super Jury.

The Museum Remembering North and South Native Americans by Kelly Locklear, Bachelor of Environmental Design in Architecture ’24
NC State University | Advisor: Patricia Morgado

The Museum Remembering North and South Native Americans is located in the small town of Pembroke, NC, land of the Lumbee Tribe. The Museum holds a collection of Native American artifacts from both North and South America gathered from the Smithsonian Museum. Two artifacts are of particular interest: 

– A Dugout Canoe: made by the Lumbee tribe. The entire community comes together to carve the canoe from a burnt tree. My people used canoes such as this to travel the Lumber River and to hunt fish. 

– A Totem: made by the Tlingit Kiks.ádi Clan in southeast Alaska, used as a symbol to commemorate those lost in the 1804 Battle of Sitka. 

It was important to approach the design taking into consideration the meaning of these artifacts as well as the best conditions to view and interact with them. 

For Native American cultures, earth and sky are sacred. There are main two elements: 1) mass, representing the earth from which spaces, niches, and openings to view the artifacts are carved, and 2) plane, representing the sky, used to bound the space and transform light. To externalize the spiritual qualities of the sky to this culture, the interior of space is oriented along the astronomical north. The roof is split; one part retains the orientation of the town’s grid (N-S) while the other aligns with the astronomical north. 

As the visitor approaches the entrance from the town, they are offered views into the museum through openings on the east façade. Visitors enter the museum through a vertical slit in the mass and step on a floating platform. Upon entering, they abandon the orientation of the town grid to experience the spiritual orientation of Native Americans. They are offered a view of the main pieces of the collection, the Totem and the Dugout Canoe, but cannot access them until they enter below. The path leads visitors to the final space, one of reflection of the Native American cultures and from where they can have a full view of the Totem as well as of the Lumber River where dugout canoes have been used for centuries.

This project won the 2024 AIA Triangle Student Design Award.

Instagram: @locklear.design, @patriciamorgadomaurtua

Spirit of Place through Material and Cultural Lifecycles in Ghardaïa by Sarah El Ouazzani, M. Arch ’24
McGill University | Advisor: Alan Dunyo Avorgbedor

Among dunes and oases, the vast desert spans 33% of the Earth’s surface. Within this expanse lies Ghardaïa—a city where architecture unfolds in harmony with the unhurried rhythm of the Algerian Sahara in North Africa, embodying the essence of slow architecture through its lifecycle properties. Here, the rhythms of nature and culture shape the spirit of the built environment, ensuring that architectural design blends harmoniously with its surroundings and nurtures a sustainable ethos benefitting both the community and the landscape.

The Mozabite community thrives through an architectural approach rooted in eco-centric principles, where the lifecycle properties of local materials and cultural practices seamlessly intertwine amidst Ghardaïa’s landscape. Influenced by this unique ecological environment, its architectural essence produces a unique phenomenological dimension. It fosters a distinctive cultural atmosphere that profoundly influences both the body and the mind, shaping communal existence and creating an authentic local spirit of place.

This project seeks to reclaim cultural and sustainable landscapes, transcending conceptual design to express the unique relationship between material lifecycles, culture, and embodiment in Ghardaïa. Through a multi-modal exhibitionary approach, this project curates embodied culture, crafts, and material lifecycles of the Ghardaïa natural and built environment alongside original audiovisual documentation and situated experience within an immersive installation. 

In The Forest, Don’t Touch Anything by Sarah Turkenicz, MLA ’24
University of Toronto | Advisor: Liat Margolis

This thesis is about the transient history of Jews who sought refuge in the forests across Eastern Europe during the Holocaust. Unlike urban post-Holocaust sites, this history lacks enduring, tangible infrastructure and artifacts. In the forest, concealment was paramount, and any disruption of the natural environment posed an existential threat. Embedded within an evolving landscape, the remnants that do exist today are undocumented, unprotected and disappearing. Through conducting primary research of physical remnants and oral testimonials of the last living survivors, this thesis illuminates the transient nature of Holocaust sites, reshaping our perception of them not as mere collections of features, but recognizing them as landscapes.

This project won the Daniels Faculty Graduation Award – Heather M. Reisman Gold Medal in Design. The Gold Medal is awarded to the graduating student demonstrating exceptional achievement in design in architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design. It was also, submitted to the 2024 ASLA student awards.

Instagram: @uoftdaniels

Notes on a Conjectural Form* by Peihao Jin & Zamen Lin, B. Arch ’24
Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI_Arc) | Advisor: Russell N. Thomsen

History, as we know it, is only one of many facts. Our thesis perceives history as non-linear, where there is no singular cause and effect, but a field of multiple possible interpretations. Each site therefore exists not purely in its present moment but contains an accumulation of its histories, a compounding of its past, present and future. Histories, not history. Absences, not just presence. The site of Estonia’s Tartu Cultural Center today exists as petrified pieces of something old and a living piece of something Other. Akin to a palimpsest, it comprises the memories of what once existed but also the embalming of the living present. 

Our thesis proposes selecting, reading, interpreting, integrating and mediating traces embedded beyond existing contextual conditions. Aspects of excavated histories are conflated and manipulated to form a complex ecology of systems, suggesting possibilities for organization, form and tectonics. Steering clear from the literal reconstruction of history, the registration of selected histories produces a series of local reactions that inflect and deform the whole. Histories registered here are not of symbolic significance but one of multiple non-sign readings, where the sign and signified no longer exist in one-to-one relationships. This heterogeneity enables the architecture to enter into multiple relationships that refuse to settle into fixed nor stable hierarchies; an uneasy whole.

*The suggestion or reconstruction of a reading of a text not present in the original source

Instagram: @rntarch, @peihao_jin, @zamenlmh

Reviving the Lao Vernacular: Preserving Culture through Floating Communities by Juliana Viengxay, B. Arch ’24
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: M. Saleh Uddin

The goal of this project is to strengthen a community through a series of cultural activities coexisting with nature with treehouses, houseboats, and a community center through ecotourism in Laos. There has always been floating communities on land and water due to the amount of rainfall and monsoons from May to October. With a strong focus on elements such as material, form, and structure while preserving the local culture. [This project aims] to improve the economic well-being of the indigenous people while fostering symbiotic links between visitors and the land while educating tourists about the culture.

Analyzing the indigenous way of construction to understand the complexities of Laos architecture. The proposal to utilize the ease of construction is heavily emphasized with a series of connections of tied bamboo, and steel nodes. The proposal combines increased efficiency, and maintaining cultural authenticity. Research methods to support the objectives of this project is through site analysis, existing case studies, and design testing to make proper design decisions.  

The project promotes skill-sharing with weaving classes and the development of craft markets and supports the existing floating market to strengthen community engagement with Lao culture. This innovative ecotourism project embraces immersive experiences and ecological methods in an effort to rebuild indigenous communities understanding their way of living. The idea behind the project is to design treehouses that in the forests and boathouses that are rooted in rivers while increasing engagement.

This project won First Place in the KSU Architecture Thesis Competition in 2024. 

Mercado Urbano, Tierra y Raíz by Andrea Lomelí Ruiz, B. Arch ’24
Universidad Anáhuac Querétaro | Advisors: Alfonso Galván & Jorge Javier

This architectural project aims to redefine not only the physical landscape but also the very fabric of the community. This integral market is presented as a beacon that illuminates the possibilities of empowering and renewing the social and solidarity economy in this remote environment. 

Based on the tradition, identity, character and history rooted in every corner of Cadereyta, this project emerges as an architectural manifestation that seeks to re-establish harmony with the territory and connect with the rich history that defines this locality. 

Awareness, respect for the environment and history are the foundations that enable this market to become a visible and locatable symbol, an urban node that links service properties through interaction. 

This integrated market is not only a transaction centre; it is an architectural response to the importance of local consumption and its benefits. It is a reminder that to truly get to know a city, one must explore its markets, understand the stories that weave through its aisles and connect with the people who pass through them. 

At its core, this project seeks to restore the population’s connection to its origins, re-establishing harmony with the territory and connecting with the rich history of Cadereyta de Montes and reconnecting with its roots.

Instagram: @andrea.lomelir, @arqwave, @arquitectura_anahuac

Stay tuned for Part IV!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part II

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In Part II of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase, we take a look at projects that focus on education. From supporting the social integration of neurodivergent students to designing a Makerspace for a university, the featured student work addresses education in various capacities.  

Today’s installment includes proposals to build schools and increase the accessibility of education in underserved communities, designs for South Korean Hagwons, and more!

Sustainable School in Bangladesh by Cesar Augusto Borges dos Santos, B.Sc in Architecture ’24
University of District of Columbia | Advisor: Dr. Golnar Ahmadi

Elin Nordegren once said, “Education is one thing no one can take away from you.” This powerful statement underscores the importance of establishing an elementary school in Modhubagh, a densely populated and predominantly low-income area in Dhaka. Currently, the absence of a local elementary school forces children to embark on long and arduous journeys to reach distant educational institutions. This situation not only hinders their academic progress but also exacerbates the cycle of poverty that grips the community.

According to UNICEF, only 19% of children aged 3-5 in Bangladesh attend an early childhood education program. This alarming statistic highlights the urgent need for more accessible educational facilities. By constructing a new elementary school in Modhubagh, we can ensure that children have better access to quality education, thereby laying a strong foundation for their future.

The proposed school will serve as a beacon of hope, providing a safe and nurturing environment for the children of Modhubagh. It will offer a comprehensive curriculum designed to foster cognitive, social, and emotional development. Moreover, the establishment of this school will create job opportunities for local residents, further uplifting the community.

In summary, building an elementary school in Modhubagh is a transformative step towards breaking the cycle of poverty and empowering the next generation. This project is not just about constructing a building; it is about building a brighter future for the children and the community as a whole.

Instagram: @Golnarahmadi

SNAPD by Baraa Abdolkarim, Yusuf Abdul-Rakib, Lauren Cepeda, Alondra Egure, Angel Estrada, Aneida Flores, Luis Flores, Marianne Friedel, Lorena Gonzalez, Brianna Guerra, Douglas Long, Isabel Vera Lopez, Simran Maredia, Kawa Ojo, Bylasan Shalabi, Jesus Sifuentes & Kyndal Thompson, B. Arch ’24
The University of Texas at San Antonio | Advisor: Armando Araiza

The project was designed for the entrance of the new Makerspace in the newly finished Science and Engineering Building at the UTSA Main Campus. The design allows students from all majors to showcase projects made in the Makerspace as well as welcome students to work on new projects. The studio explored the concept of folding, while transforming 2-dimensional surfaces into 3-dimensional volumes. The volumes organically flow throughout the Makerspace Lobby, displaying the concept of growth and transformation. Color and lights were incorporated into the design in order to illuminate the project and make it feel like an immersive and interactive experience for those entering the Makerspace Lobby.

Field Station: A Land Based Elementary School by Huê Bùi, M. Arch ‘24
University of California, Berkeley | Advisors: Neyran Turan (Primary Advisor) & Liz Gálvez

Field Station proposes a land-based elementary school as a response to the growing disconnect between people and land in industrializing rural Vietnam.

Land is big and school is small. Field Station is situated in Bac Giang, Vietnam, and centered around the lychee tree, the region’s key agricultural export. The school is located on an existing field to foster direct, place-based knowledge. The school is realized as a trail, integrating local land maintenance practices into both its pedagogy and architecture.

In the flat topography of the site, lychee trees are grown on mounds to help the roots stay above flood level and protect them from weeds. Field Station comprises interventions around these lychee mounds, organized like an almanac that suggests how architecture can adapt seasonally to facilitate different programs and spatial organizations during different planting stages throughout the year. The scroll drawing experiments with depicting both time and space in a two-dimensional medium. Read from right to left, the drawing aims to depict Field Station at four points of activation: Spring school during flower development, Summer school during harvest, Autumn school during ground preparation, and Winter school during canopy development. 

Land time is long and school time is short. Yet both are cyclical, rooted in repetition and resulting in growth. Field Station explores time across scales: the time of a human, a tree, a school year, an annual crop; the time of growth and decay. Using primarily bamboo and lychee bi-products (branches, leaves, fruits), the interventions aim to promote regenerative agriculture through various composting strategies, proposing the restoration of land depleted by mono-crop as an essential component of land education.

Instagram: @nemestudio, @office.for.example, @ucberkeleyarch

Social Ribbon by Brandon Rosas, Eddie Lam & Huiying Tan, M. Arch ’24
University at Buffalo | Advisor: Jin Young Song

The competitive college entrance process in South Korea has led to the proliferation of Hagwons, after-school private learning institutions. We also observe an emerging trend of commercialized “Study Cafes” in most Hagwon districts. A Study Cafe is a hybrid space between a cafe and a reading room in a library. This project explores a novel integration of Study Cafes into a “vertical school,” maximizing the performance of the cafe space in the context of classroom spaces in Hagwons.

The Study Cafe spaces are all connected as a flow of socialization, like a ribbon. The “social ribbon” is a new vertical school typology featuring vertical and diagonal circulation to encourage social interaction, relaxation, and other diverse activities. This ribbon transforms the Hagwon spaces, creating versatile, programmatic areas that blend the boundaries between levels, including Study Cafes, mini libraries, lounges, and galleries. Accessible from the ground to all levels, the ribbon offers students the freedom to engage in collaborative or private activities, easing the stress of their daily routines. The verticality is designed to provide efficient and diverse behaviors, not only as places but also as means of circulation.

Additionally, the ribbon incorporates a series of angled and protruding balconies that provide outdoor space and shade, enhancing the building’s performance. This design gesture is highlighted on the north façade, serving as a prominent feature that activates both the building’s interior and exterior.

Instagram: @ubuffaloarchplan

Hagwon On The Move by Toni Vargas, Omar Ibrahim & Staci Tubiolo, M. Arch ’24
University at Buffalo | Advisor: Jin Young Song

Hagwon On The Move proposes a transformative intervention in the heart of South Korea’s Hagwon (private institutions) culture. We understand that young students have the most interactive, meaningful, and enjoyable social activities ‘before and after’ classes. While the current Hagwon culture focuses on efficient learning, the architecture lacks the sense of a ‘place’ to linger. We aim to extend this particular ‘before and after’ class time as much as possible. Through an extended walking experience within the building, the project redefines the traditional private cram school experience, creating a vibrant, inclusive learning environment for students of all ages.

The building emphasizes the social and physical benefits of walking, inviting users to explore its 7-story structure via a moderate 1:25 continuous ramp. While the north-facing side of the building is reserved for efficient learning spaces, the south-facing side is highly dynamic, accommodating various programs including flexible studying spaces, a library, and activity lounges.

Ascending to the open roof, users are treated to engaging views across the building through a central atrium, transforming the walking experience into a spectacle. The constant change in the angle at which the floor slabs meet the façade introduces double-height balcony spaces, reconnecting users with nature. This shifting, angular design is clad in terracotta panels that mirror the fluidity of the ramp behind and provide shade and thermal comfort. Additionally, terracotta baguettes extend underneath the panels to provide extra shading where needed.

Hagwon on the Move offers students the opportunity to engage with their peers and surroundings in a dynamic setting that contrasts with traditional education spaces. Embracing innovation and community, the project is poised to re-evaluate the learning experience in vertical spaces.

Instagram: @ubuffaloarchplan

Down Syndrome: A Path to Independence by Luis D. Maldonado-Albertorio, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres, Juan C. Santiago-Colón & Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga

Down Syndrome is a condition observed in different parts of the world, and people with this condition are often perceived as incapable of doing what a neurotypical person would do. However, in many cases, these individuals do not achieve independence because appropriate approaches for their integration into society are not adopted. There is a mistaken belief that a simple program will solve their problems. People with Down Syndrome may have intellectual disabilities, motor difficulties, and some distinctive features in their bodies, but this does not mean they cannot improve and advance toward a successful life. It is crucial to work with them from an early age to achieve great results in adulthood.

The project proposes an idea where architecture performs a central role in creating a space specifically designed for people with Down Syndrome to learn and progress towards an independent life.

The architectural proposal is located in Puerto Rico, in the city of Ponce, at a site that is currently an incomplete and abandoned sports complex. This represents an opportunity not only to improve and develop a master plan for the complex but also to implement an educational proposal for children with Down Syndrome. Being located in an existing sports area, the project will help improve the users’ motor skills and allow for the “Special Olympics” to take place for this community, fostering an exchange of experiences and learning between neurotypical individuals and children with Down Syndrome.

From an architectural perspective, the idea is to implement ludic areas that will make learning efficient and enjoyable, helping to improve both mental and motor aspects. Additionally, various programs specifically designed for these users are implemented, such as the simulation of a home, located in volumes of geometric shapes. These colorful geometric shapes aim to help the users clearly identify different spaces.

Instagram: @daniel_albertorio30

Architecture for Autism Spectrum Disorder: In Search of Social Integration for People with ASD by Jorelma Alfaro-Padilla, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico |Advisors: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres, Juan C. Santiago-Colón & Manuel De Lemos-Zuazaga

Over the years, statistical studies have demonstrated the exponential increase in diagnoses and prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) globally. This is a lifelong condition implying that each diagnosed individual receives personalized treatment, and it is primarily characterized by its impact on individuals’ communication skills. With the growth of this community, the need for spaces that foster the social integration of the autistic community with the neurotypical population has become more apparent. Although the autistic community must be fully attended to, early diagnosis and care allow for the identification of strategies and the insertion of individuals with the condition into environments that enable full development adjusted to their abilities. In this context, architecture becomes a tool for designing spaces that meet the needs of autistic users, such as through the use of sensory design theory, allowing for spaces that promote the social integration of these users.

This architectural proposal is located in the town of Caguas, Puerto Rico, on a lot adjacent to a cluster of existing schools. The proposal comprises a set of structures subdivided according to their use: education, treatment, and integration; leading to the creation of five structures: an amphitheater, a treatment center, a K-12 school, a gymnasium, and a school of fine arts. The placement of these structures seeks the social integration of the autistic community through the creation of a connecting axis that facilitates the creation of spaces for interaction between school communities through urban spaces, as well as the interaction of neurotypical and autistic school communities in the fine arts program. As part of the educational program, the implementation of retreat spaces in classrooms for autistic students was considered, so that in the event of overstimulation or lack of stimuli, they can take a moment to recompose themselves and use a space that, in addition to being designed for their needs, becomes an element for the façade design of the K-12 school. Additionally, the structures feature sensory gardens which, together with the vegetation, provide an outdoor retreat space and an area for social interaction. Architecture, in these respects, becomes a mediator for the social integration of autistic users, enabling interactions among users.

Instagram: @jorelma_a

Stay tuned for Part III!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part I

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Welcome to the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase!

Over the summer, we called on architecture school faculty from across the globe to nominate graduating students whose work exemplifies excellence in architectural education. The submitted work reflects the various skills and concepts taught in architecture schools while inspiring future architecture students. With the Fall semester in full swing, we are excited to share these outstanding projects with you over the next few months.

These projects will focus on topics ranging from climate change and revitalization to public health and housing. Tune in every Tuesday and Thursday for a new installment focused on a specific topic.

Today’s showcase features projects that are centered around technology. As the world continues to make technological advances, architecture must adapt. Technology can benefit architecture in many ways, as demonstrated by the projects below. From AI and VR to robotics and other digital tools, these projects highlight opportunities to utilize technology as an avenue for innovation and construction.

Nexus by Angela Hanna, M. Arch ’24
Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK) | Advisor: Louis Hachem

In the dynamic landscape of modern education, “NEXUS” underscores USEK’s unwavering commitment to excellence in education, envisioning a state-of-the-art, smart headquarters that serves as a global hub of interconnected learning.

The Faculty of Robotics and AI represents technological advancements. The iconic dome houses the main auditorium for global educational events, and the surrounding ring encapsulates research laboratories. Innovative features such as dynamic partitions and a revolving stage enhance flexibility, while holographic technology dissolves physical boundaries, fostering a network of knowledge exchange. Sustainability is a cornerstone of the Nexus, employing passive and active methods to reduce energy consumption. Welcome to Nexus, where Architecture, AI and Nature align.

Instagram: @angela.h_, @usekschoolofarchitecture

Architronics: Utilizing Virtual Reality in Architectural Pedagogy by Dean Lambros, B. Arch ’24
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Robin Puttock

This research is about integrating the recent advancements in VR technology as a way to ‘playtest’ and design in architectural pedagogy. To better gauge the interest in VR and prove the need for VR integration, surveys were conducted among students and faculty within KSU’s College of Architecture and Construction Management (CACM).

A ‘site analysis’ was then conducted within surrounding firms in the greater Atlanta area, leading to precedent studies of local firms that use VR in their practice. By utilizing the firms’ advancements, this shed new light on how VR could be implemented into architectural pedagogy, and why it hasn’t been incorporated into the curriculum yet.

This then led to an analysis of four architectural metrics: light, form, tectonics, and program. Each of these metrics were analyzed in VR through case studies that best exemplify their features. Doing so allowed for a more immersive and concise design approach, which explored new ways to collaborate and critique, and help obtain a better sense of scale within each space.

To compare the architectural design process between traditional pedagogy and VR-tailored pedagogy, a research study was performed on a test group of 14 first-year students implemented in the spring semester 2024 accelerated program. They performed a small-scale design project where half utilized VR-centric design and the other half utilized traditional design. The students were critiqued based on the four metrics previously analyzed by qualified jurors, which revealed that the VR design group outperformed the traditional group by 20%, as well as getting twice as high of a score in the ‘program’ metric.

This research, performed within KSU’s College of Architecture and Construction Management, was utilized to propose a 2nd-year Studio course centered around these findings. This comparative analysis on VR pedagogy versus traditional design justifies the need to move towards a more immersive construction industry.

This project was recognized as a Thesis Competition Finalist.

Instagram: @robinzputtock,

Building Trust: Maintenance and Care for Autonomous Vehicles by Dear Liu, James Vadasz & Catherine Yu, BS (Bachelor of Science in Architecture) ‘24
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Constance Vale

This multi-modal transit hub proposes a new AV transportation and maintenance center for people to learn about and experience the latest technology. To further publicize the use of AV, our building deliberately displays the acts of maintenance through material choices, apertures, and curated spatial sequences. As a result, we imagine the building welcoming anyone passing by as a place of efficiency, comfort, and wonder. 

Our design focuses on aperture and pushes it to the extreme. What if the ground floor was a multitude of portals that led one to their desired stops and lifted the building up? How can the mere use of a singular element not only segment spaces both above and below but also provide the necessary structural support for the building? 

This project was collected for the Washington University in St. Louis Student Work Publication, Approach.

Instagram: @dearliuweihang, @de_architects_, @jamesvadasz2, @catherineyu.qh, @constancevale, @washu.architecture

CITY IN POCKET, Level up TODAY! by Rachana Charate, M. Arch (Urban Design) ’24
R V College of Architecture | Advisors: Anup Naik & U. S. Maiya

This exploratory thesis looks at creating a people- and market-friendly urban environment by synthesizing AI computational analysis and generation to increase the efficiency and quality of architecture and urban design.

Cities are complex environments in which multiple factors play a role in shaping a liveable neighbourhood. The cities consist of many distinct data sets and stakeholders. The city development process is single-handed and static. The crafting and timely updating of zoning regulations represent a constant challenge for municipal governments, more so when said regulations attempt to guarantee that goals of liveable parameters are met and an equitable urban experience is ensured. Traditional standards and practices for a city continue to function and evolve, largely based on historical patterns and outdated workflows and are no longer adequate.

The current process for the design of an urban realm typically involves a team of architects, designers and planners that conceive a handful of schemes based on zoning requirements manually or with the help of CAD software. They may intend for the plan to achieve a set of performance goals (sociability, economic, environmental, etc.), but quantitative analysis is rarely conducted early and consistently through the design process. This makes it difficult to understand the full range of approaches that are possible on a site and the relative performance of each scheme. In order to best accommodate rapid urbanization while making cities more liveable, and equitable, designers must utilize quantitative tools to make informed decisions about their designs. Computational analysis and generative design techniques have been successfully used at the building scale to test numerous designs and quantify their performance, but are challenging to apply at the urban scale due to increased computational expense, difficulty in limiting inputs, and more stakeholders involved in the process. The purpose of this project is to introduce a methodology for AI generative models, capable of evaluating performance goals based on the information available at each step of the development and communicating the impacts on those goals of any decisions regarding land use, density and form, etc.

The City in Pocket proposes AI computational and generation, where the real and virtual are constructed as part of the same urban fabric, which will allow a re-thinking of long-established fundamental architecture and urban design values. It will contain an ever-accumulating amount of content, expanding infinitely, layer on layer. New media and the network-facilitated distribution will turn more people into both consumers and creators. While individuals may create and publish content, multi-authored channels will be created. The tool space is location-based, users can create 2D and 3D geo-tagged maps, reports, photographs, paths, zones, spatial data and recommendations, giving order and meaning to the city. An open framework of AI will allow anybody to freely contribute to the city and will breach the gaps between different areas, departments, expertise, and the general public and increase efficiency and quality.

Instagram: @_charate_, @usmaiya.design

Bespoke Moon by Austin White, B. Arch ’24
Kennesaw State University | Advisor: Jeffrey Collins

Welcome to Bespoke Moon, the next high-tech, component-based system that allows architects and designers to fully immerse themselves in design once again.

Designers grow up nurturing a passion for design, then eventually attend school to hone their skills. However, bringing these designs to life in the built environment involves a lot of tedious work and time to ensure safety, structural integrity, and compliance with codes. With that in mind, I aim to transform our traditional processes.

Bespoke Moon’s component-based system utilizes 3D-printed, prefabricated steel components that lock, seal, stack, and interlock in a unique way, allowing them to connect with one another and incorporate structure. These connections enable the components to withstand all weather and climate conditions in the future, potentially an extraterrestrial environment, reflecting an industrial outer-space aesthetic.

This high-tech component system is powered by Bespoke Moon’s new AI, which assists in generating these components, allowing architects and designers to focus solely on design. Moreover, the components generated from other designs provide an opportunity to create a library of Bespoke Moon components. This enables reuse in various ways in new designs across a variety of scales. The ultimate goal of this high-tech, component-based system is to allow architects and designers to dive back into design, as they were taught and born to do, by integrating artificial intelligence to revolutionize conventional construction and design processes in modern architecture.

This project was awarded third place in the KSU Architecture Thesis Competition 2024.

Operative Approaches: Potential in Limits in Design Process by Chantal Shahmooradian, M. Arch ’24
Toronto Metropolitan University | Advisors: Carlo Parente (Supervisor), Kate Myers (Second Reader) & John Cirka (Program Representative)

In the realm of architecture, limits are often perceived as obstacles, however, this research reimagines them as powerful catalysts for creativity. By embracing constraints and leveraging operative approaches– with structured systems revealing a comprehensive array of possibilities within project limitations– architects can unlock new depths of innovation within the design process. This research explores the transformative potential of working within limits, through the use of a variety of tools such as drawing, digital media, AI, and physical models to illustrate how constraints can inspire inventive solutions.

The thesis advocates for a holistic view of design tools, not merely as means of production but as active agents in the creative process. It demonstrates how models and drawing techniques can shape design outcomes from the earliest stages, fostering a dynamic and iterative approach. Through the use of exercises that implement transforming physical models, with chosen limits, the study underscores the critical role of limits in defining problem spaces and guiding the creative journey.

A key focus is the distinction between given constraints and those chosen by designers, showcasing the architect’s skill in navigating these boundaries. The research highlights heuristic reasoning’s impact on design decisions, balancing the benefits of guided problem-solving with an awareness of cognitive biases. Visual explorations with the use of dynamic physical models with limits demonstrate the potential of these approaches as key pedagogical tools which can enhance the way designers and architects approach design problems, fostering innovative design thinking strategies.

Operative approaches are explored through physical models inspired by 3D puzzles, which serve as inspiration for problem-solving methodologies within defined limits in the design research. These models reveal the rich spatial possibilities that emerge within set constraints, offering new avenues for creative exploration that exist within the limits.

By showcasing a series of innovative design solutions derived from these explorations, the thesis illustrates how constraints can be harnessed as opportunities rather than hindrances. This approach not only enhances architectural creativity but also provides meaningful insights and outcomes, demonstrating the profound potential of limits in the design process.

Instagram: @chantal_shah, @dastorontomet, @tmu_archgrad

Cadences of Being: Architecture for the Living by Anna Kosichenko, M. Arch ’24
Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University)| Advisors: Paul Floerke (Supervisor) | Stanislav Jurcovic (Second Reader) | Carlo Parente (Program Rep)

Architecture is an artifact frozen in time, a physical ‘time stamp’ – an object that reflects its environment and values. While such physical ‘time stamps’ define our relationship with mortality, it begs the question: “What is the future role of burial architecture in the realm of living?”

‘Funeral Machine’ is a conceptual representation of current outdated, mechanized and costly burial practices are centred on the efficiency of the process rather than the experience of users, facilitating further physical and metaphysical disconnect between life and death.

New technologies for sustainable dying provide an opportunity to reform the ritual of mourning and use the built form to redefine culture’s relationship with mortality and grief. The proposal provides a space for grieving in a city, crafting architecture that values human-centred experience and shines a light on death as part of life.

Instagram: @enot_sosna5, @tmu_archgrad

The Architecture Factory by Steven Fallon, M. Arch ’24
Boston Architectural College | Advisor: Sam Landay, AIA

The Architecture Factory contemplates craftsmanship in the context of contemporary architecture and re-imagines the role of the Architect in a new age of digital design and construction. Standing amidst the global housing and climate crises, the project asks how we can utilize robotics to not only advance construction and design efficiency but also enter a new age of design that is built upon excellence in the craft of building.  

The ideas of this thesis are represented through the design of a factory on the site of a previous machine shop on the waterfront of East Boston, Massachusetts. Inside, a new studio space takes hold, where architecture comes to life in the form of physical construction, a craft that is taught and learned, experimented with, and refined. No longer would architecture be represented just by drawings, but by physical and material representations of the designer’s imagination, built directly in the studio. Wielding the powers of the robot and computer to their advantage, here, the robot becomes a prosthetic arm and extension of the architect, while the architecture transcends from concepts and representations into physical, tangible creations.

The project first delves into the fabrication and construction methods of our future homes. It then examines the design and construction of the factory itself, considering the human interaction with the building process and asking how we can bring light to the processes that build the world around us. Robots construct their own factory and provide humans the space to observe the performance of construction from a distance. Architects serve as maestros of a robotic symphony, guiding these machines and orchestrating a performance of precision and efficiency-driven construction, resulting in an architecture that is founded in the fundamental elements of architecture – material, craft, and construction.

This project was awarded Commendations: Master of Theis Excellence – Architecture. 

Instagram: @stevenfallon7

Stay tuned for Part II!