Posts

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XIV

/in , /by

Architecture plays a large role in the restoration and preservation of buildings. The projects featured in Part XIV of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase focus on revitalizing spaces. 

Today, we look at various sites, including areas impacted by natural disasters, former industrial zones, federal buildings, and more. Each project blends old and new, demonstrating the ability to recover and reclaim using architecture and design.

Reclaiming Antakya: Post Disaster Community Recovery for Resilient Futures by Zeynep Dila Demircan, M. Arch ‘24
University of Maryland | Advisor: Ken Filler

The earthquakes that struck Southwestern Turkey and Northern Syria in February 2023 caused extensive damage, ranking among Turkey’s worst disasters in its history. The city of Antakya, especially, suffered severe destruction in its center, resulting in significant losses of lives, culture, and history.

This thesis presents a comprehensive plan to recover and reclaim Antakya’s center, enhancing community resilience through proactive design strategies. It focuses on a specific urban block, a key commercial, residential, and administrative hub across the Asi River and the historical district. The proposal outlines a multi-phased approach to transform this urban block, starting from the post-disaster period and concluding with its complete redevelopment. The phases include recovery, reclamation, reconstruction, and reconnection.

For the recovery phase, temporary shelter and gathering spaces are provided for residents within the grove area existing on the site, while efforts to engage stakeholders in the recovery process begin. Reclamation involves reforming the cleared area based on existing and new street systems, integrating new public streets and courtyards that make up the green infrastructure. Reconstruction involves rebuilding the site in smaller blocks, starting from the middle section and expanding to the upper and lower sections. The reconnection phase focuses on finalizing building blocks and reintegrating them into the larger context. 

This includes the creation of a new urban plaza and the introduction of programs aimed at fostering cultural and social resilience, as well as commemorating the earthquake through a memorial space within a community center. The proposal introduces two main building types: The Block, a mixed-use structure with a courtyard for residents, and The Hub, a community center featuring public spaces, a museum, gathering areas, and studios for local crafts practices.

In essence, this thesis aims to not only reconstruct Antakya’s physical infrastructure but also to cultivate resilient communities through place-making strategies. It endeavors to revitalize cultural and social life while fostering trust and collaboration, ultimately laying the groundwork for a robust and resilient future.

This project won the UMD Architecture Thesis – Director’s Award and the ARCC 2023-2024 King Student Medal for Excellence in Architectural + Environmental Design Research.

The Topographical Reactivation by Yanbo Zhu, M. Arch ’24
University of Waterloo | Advisors: Mohamad Araji & Shiyu Wei

Community Center Design at Kitchener

This design features three keywords: nature, history, and topography.

  1. NATURE: The site is located in the center of Kitchener, with the expansive Victoria Park to the south. However, due to roadways and parking areas interrupting the flow, it’s challenging for this landscape to permeate the site effectively. Simultaneously, with a site area of 15,000 square meters and a required building area of only 1,500 square meters according to the project brief, the strategy involves integrating small-scale structures with the landscape to address the issue of the site’s excessive scale.
  2. HISTORY: Within the site, there is an abandoned Charles bus terminal, with its main hall building well-preserved, but the historical elements of its platforms, bus lanes, and connecting corridors are poorly maintained. In the design, preserving the original waiting hall while removing other elements yet continuing its multi-linear spatial configuration is a critical historical stance.
  3. TOPOGRAPHY: On the eastern side of the site, there is an elevation difference of nearly four meters. In the design, a planted roof is utilized to seamlessly connect, allowing individuals to enter the building from the roof. Simultaneously, the height difference is employed to create outdoor stepped activity areas or sloped gardens. Additionally, to respect historical architecture, a partial sunken approach is employed in spaces like the art gallery and lecture hall, forming various topographical experiences.

This project won the Edward Allen BTES Award and the Second Prize SOPREMA Award. 

Instagram: @yanbo_zhu

Amending the Capitol by Garrett Krueger, M. Arch ‘24
Virginia Tech | Advisors: Susan Piedmont-Palladino, Paul Emmons & Scott Archer

The United States Capitol Building has long been an iconic symbol of the American government and democracy worldwide. Despite this, the United States has had many major events since 1892, and the Capitol has not had any representation of those events.

One example of stalled symbols of change is the number of representatives in the House. Since 1913, the House of Representatives in Congress has had 435 representatives, despite the population more than tripling since then. Many have had the idea to increase this number and expand the House. This idea gives an opportunity to design a new, larger chamber for the House to meet in. This thesis proposes a new chamber to redefine the architecture of the Capitol Building and symbolize the century of history that has yet to be represented in the Capitol.

The idea of making a new expansion to the iconic Capitol Building comes with challenges. This thesis was done amid historic turmoil and record lows in productivity in the House. This thesis also begs the question of whether the building that Congress meets in can be part of the solution. The House Chamber, when completed, had no electric lighting, let alone C-SPAN cameras and smartphones in every lawmaker’s pocket. This new extension aims to provide Congress with a workplace designed to address the difficulties it faces in keeping itself in order. As a whole, this thesis is about the idea of representing change. The nature of a democratic government is one of changing ideas and laws, and this project seeks to have the Capitol Building embody that aspect. Thomas Jefferson himself is known for saying rejecting change is like “requiring a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when he was a boy.” Congress needs a new coat. 

This project won the WAAC Crystal Award. 

Instagram: @vt_waac

Life, Death, and the Eternal Recurrence of Architecture by Geri Roa Kim & Kelvin Hu, B. Arch ’24
Pratt Institute | Advisors: Adam Elstein, Frank Gesualdi & Ashley Simone

Life, Death, and the Eternal Recurrence of Architecture proposes building anew as a form of preservation. Situated along the Arakawa River Island in Tokyo, this project is a story of a building that has grown over time since 1946. The building undergoes successive replication and revision every few years, each edition is built next to its predecessor, eventually becoming an endless, linear, horizontal skyscraper that constantly reinvents itself through time. 

This architectural approach, rooted in preservation, provides a tangible way to experience changes that normally unfold over centuries. Architecture, then, becomes a device to register time.

This project won the Best Degree Project of 2023/2024.

Instagram: @g.eroaii, @kelv.hu

Unbound Beirut: Reimagining Boundaries & Transforming Realities by Sima Fayad, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Makram Al Kadi

This architectural thesis culminates in transforming Beirut’s iconic dome, The Egg, located in Solidere, into a multifaceted public space. It seamlessly integrates medical, educational, and cultural uses through a harmonious fusion of virtual and physical elements. This design transcends Solidere’s boundaries, fostering interaction among diverse user groups within a dynamic environment. Symbolizing Beirut’s resilience and revival, The Egg blends history with a vibrant future, redefining spatial inhabitation by bridging physical and virtual realms.

At its core, this thesis explores the intersection of physical and virtual spaces, emphasizing the enduring significance of tangible structures while delving into the growing realm of digital environments. It investigates how architects can utilize digital technology to craft emotionally and socially resonant spaces that transcend traditional boundaries. Envisioning a future where architecture integrates seamlessly with digital elements, the study challenges architects to reimagine spatial design.

The introduction lays the foundation by recognizing the pivotal role of physical spaces in our spatial understanding, positioning the thesis at the confluence of the tangible and intangible. As digital technologies increasingly influence our physical reality, this thesis calls on architects to incorporate digital elements such as virtual reality and internet connectivity into their designs. It highlights how these once futuristic concepts are now essential tools for creating visually striking, functional, and socially impactful architectural spaces. 

The thesis examines the redevelopment of Beirut’s downtown area, specifically focusing on The Egg, a striking dome in the Solidere district. This site symbolizes Beirut’s resilience and revival post-war, embodying the city’s enduring spirit while highlighting the economic barriers that modern urban landscapes can create. The Egg stands as a testament to Beirut’s cultural heritage, illustrating how architecture can blend the past with a vibrant future, bridging physical and virtual realms to redefine our concept of inhabiting space.

Instagram: @ard_aub

PENINSULAR PAPER CO. by Chase Dietrich, B.S. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Masataka Yoshikawa

The project, PENINSULAR PAPER CO., began with an in-depth site analysis. The design was initially inspired by the natural gathering spots surrounding the existing building. This project aims to renovate and expand the existing structure, guided by the logic of these natural gathering points and the acute angles they form. The contemporary vision for the building’s renovation leverages these convergent points, ensuring the new design seamlessly integrates with the environment while enhancing functionality and aesthetic appeal. By focusing on these natural elements, the project promises a harmonious blend of old and new, creating a revitalized space that respects its historical context and serves modern needs.

This project won the Lawrence Technological University Chair’s Award.

Instagram: @chase.a.dietrich, @masataka.yoshikawa

Steamtown Revival by Mason Ramsey, James Gentilesco & Dalton Metzger, B. Arch ’24
Marywood University | Advisors: Jodi La Coe & James Eckler

The Joseph Biden Presidential Library uses various design concepts to best represent our president’s values. Green walls, aquaponics, water reuse, and bioswales all work together to visually demonstrate President Biden’s environmental priorities. These are new concepts for the proposed site in Scranton, Pennsylvania, currently occupied by the Steamtown Mall, a development that only hurt the economy and environment of the city, as Jane Jacobs argued. The entire site is to be replaced with biking and walking trails to best integrate the cityscape with nature. Inside this presidential library, one may visit Biden’s museum collection, browse through his personal selection of books, and even request access to presidential archives in this new landmark in a regrowing city.

Instagram: @ramsey_architecture, @gentilesco_architecture, @jodilacoe

“Navigating Uncertainty” in Lebanon by Karly Abou Dib, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisors: Trevor Ryan Patt & Rana Haddad

“Navigating Uncertainty” embarks on a detailed exploration of oil terminals, delving into their structural intricacies and temporal dimensions. By examining the historical significance, contemporary functionalities, and future uncertainties of these terminals, the study unfolds a narrative that seeks to craft a transformative blueprint for their decommissioning and sustainable future.

At the heart of this exploration is the concept of transforming challenges into opportunities for innovation through human collaboration. The uncertainty surrounding oil terminals is reimagined as a productive force, driving the evolution of a resilient and environmentally conscious infrastructure. The study proposes a shift from impermeable industrial containers to porous courtyards or “voids” that invite nature to reclaim and transform these spaces. This transformation symbolizes a transition from industrial to ecological, where past structures are enveloped by greenery and become communal spaces that foster biodiversity and community interaction.

Strategically designed “solids” are introduced within these voids, serving as eco-friendly program holders that benefit the environment. These solids house activities such as labs and workshops, green markets, and human energy-powered gyms, directly engage with and enhance their natural surroundings. The design and proportion of these solids vary based on their environmental impact, with programs that have a significant positive effect on nature occupying more prominent spaces.

The interface between the new solids and the voids is filled with community engagement opportunities and pathways that foster educational and cultural experiences. Visitors navigate through these transformed spaces, engaging with layers of information and activity that promote a deeper understanding of sustainability and its impact. This dynamic environment educates and inspires, cultivating a greener mindset among its visitors.

The project transforms an industrial site into a vibrant green space through the development of a porous wetland. This wetland enhances social well-being, supports biodiversity, and aids in natural water treatment and flood mitigation. It serves as an educational hub promoting environmental sustainability and highlights the role of wetlands in urban ecosystems. By integrating water into the site, the wetland mitigates flood risks and improves urban microclimates, showcasing how industrial areas can be reclaimed by nature

Instagram: @ard_aub

Global Educational Center for IT Specialists and Migrants in Istanbul by Anatolii Savoskin, Diploma in Strategic Interior Design / Private Master Degree ’24
IE University | Advisor: Elvira Munoz

For my graduate project, I tackled the challenges faced by skilled migrants, drawing from my own experience and that of friends worldwide. Using design tools, I aimed to provide solutions by identifying a real client in crisis and repurposing an underused building. Researching the client’s needs and challenges was pivotal in shaping our design strategy. We chose a historic building in central European Istanbul, strategically located near public amenities and transportation hubs to cater to our target audience: migrants with IT backgrounds. Detailed user mapping helped to understand their expectations and needs. My design concept focused on four key elements: an Al educational center, a rebranding campaign for Blackberry, integration of multicultural design elements reflecting migrants’ cultures, and a transition from classical to modern styles throughout the building’s floors.
Instagram: @iearchdesign, @anatolii_savoskin

Extending The Patchwork | The Pier by Jillian Sproul & Olivia Nunn, M. Arch ’24
Toronto Metropolitan University | Advisors: Joey Giaimo & Julia Jamrozik

Located in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, a tourist beach town, the project proposes an extension of the current pier providing opportunities for vendor expansion. The new pier proposal is achieved through the implementation of subtractive and additive heritage strategies. It provides locals with the agency to expand their business onto the structural modules that will aggregate as needed based on future growth, extending the existing vendor and architectural patchwork. The existing main pavilion has been opened up as a midpoint for resting and [eating]. The newly designed end pavilion embraces the past entertainment values of the site, showcasing live performances and expansive views out to the water. The form of the performance structure is shifted to align with the main street of the town, inviting visitors to adventure through the entirety of the pier, especially during sunset, when sun rays reflect off of the metallic panels. The two-storey performance pavilion is accessible with the feature ramp leading tourists on a journey separated from the busy vendor stalls. The total pier addition allows the current architectural and vendor patchwork to be valued as a key component to the pier’s long-standing success since 1899.

The physical model utilizes three types of wood to visualize the architectural patchwork of the current pier and the proposed extension. The burnt maple represents existing components of the pier, while the cherry represents existing components that have undergone renovations. This is contrasted with the basswood that represents the proposed patchwork extension.

Instagram: @jilliansproul, @olivianunn14

Reshaping Red Hook: Creative Placemaking and Connective Infrastructure. by Matthew Tepper, B.S. Architecture ’24
University of Virginia | Advisor: Mona El Khafif

From a manufacturing and transporting port to a refined and vibrant community hub, the masterplan analyzes the demand to unify the Red Hook, Brooklyn neighborhood to its adjacent post-industrialized, underutilized waterfront. It looks at a series of 19th-century waterfront warehouses as a symbolic reference to its connection with shipping and connectivity within the New York Harbor and a dilapidated water’s edge to activate opportunities for public engagement and hospitable, engaging programming. 

Red Hook, named by the Dutch in the 17th century, references its red clay soil and brick construction methods, as well as its jutting peninsula forming into the Upper New York Bay. In the late 19th century, Red Hook was the busiest freight port in the world, serving as the center of the city’s cotton trade. Later on, with the rise of Robert Moses, the Gowanus Expressway and the Brooklyn–Battery Tunnel were built in the 1940s, followed by the first federally funded public housing projects in New York City. While Red Hook’s socioeconomic status declined due to a decline in maritime trade and employment access, its economic outlook is rising again as new businesses, artists, and artisans are beginning to bring vitality.

The program explores indoor, outdoor, and interstitial moments as means for a creative ecosystem, expanding a sense of connectivity through the Cobble Hill Tunnel within neighborhood bounds. The Cobble Hill Tunnel, the oldest tunnel in New York City, was rediscovered in the 1990s after being inactive for over 120 years in Downtown Brooklyn. It was imagined to stretch to Red Hook but was never fulfilled. In reimagining the existing lack of public infrastructure within Red Hook, this physical and symbolic representation would allow for connectivity across Red Hook while recognizing the neighborhood’s rich history. 

Forming an experiential approach to this connectivity aims to foster and maintain local, community-driven growth. The proposal intends to re-establish the water’s edge with a realignment of the existing Red Hook gridded organization and shift vehicular traffic to prioritize pedestrian experiences and modes of public transportation. To enable economic incentives for development, existing two-story warehouse buildings will expand upon their mass-timber structure as an extension of contemporary mass-timber building codes to provide a relationship between working and living environments. The existing parking lot will transform into Red Hook’s public square to support local artists, and a central amphitheater will serve as the concluding nexus of the tunnel. These transversal relationships can ensure dialogue between above- and below-ground environments as a new typology for untapped programming and real estate investment.

Instagram: @mattportfolio, @aschool_uva

Fluid Landscape: A Speculation on Edge by Marla Stephens, M. Arch ’24
University of Florida | Advisors: Charlie Hailey & Jeff Carney

Architecture for a Fluid Landscape: A Speculation on Edge, addresses the ephemeral nature of dwelling on Florida’s coastal edge. This project aims to unearth Florida’s fluid strata to resurface a forgotten timeline of architectural ruins and stories lost at sea and to reinterpret future coastal habitation for an accreting landscape. Using Wilbur-by-the-Sea and Cape Canaveral, Florida as stations for witnessing and recording the evolution of an edge, this project will begin to negotiate the nature of impermanence and symbiosis of architecture along the shore. 

As time passes, layers of stories, artifacts, ecologies, and technologies are embedded within the anthropogenic landscape. Is time as fluid as the littoral edge? Is there a way to work between the layers, to establish a permanent marker of change, to record the unfolding of time on an uncertain edge? Time moves quicker and shorter here, each day is a different coast. On the edge, change is felt at a more alarming rate. Here we bear witness to the ecological impact we have made; impacts which are felt slowly, suddenly, or all at once. Can architecture make us notice more? Notice the imprint of a seashell along the shore, and the fluttering of the saturated sand made by a sand flea hiding beneath the surface; to the detrimental effects of toxic runoff which tarnishes the shore with a nauseating green film, and the infrastructural damage inflicted by hurricanes and rising tides. We must notice more, to slow down time once again and decelerate our current path towards exponential degradation, to restore Mother Nature’s natural procession.

This project will collect and unearth objects and stories found along the fluid landscape while using the Florida Houses of Refuge as a generative part for testing markers on the coast. The Houses of Refuge were ten stations along the east coast of Florida constructed for the sole purpose of saving the lives of shipwrecked persons, yet they evolved into much more. This project uses the forgotten coast of Chester Shoal as a proving ground for ever-evolving iterations of stations that witness the transformations of an ephemeral landscape.

Instagram: @charlie.hailey, @marla.stephens

Conservatory of Theater: A Spot Light in the User by John M. Campis-Bobe, B. Arch ’24
Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico | Advisor: Pedro A. Rosario-Torres

The decline of performing arts in contemporary culture can be attributed to a lack of cultural identity. Historically, theater served as a platform for societal reflection and discussion of political and sociocultural issues. Today, this art form has lost its prominence in many countries, necessitating a revival to inspire a new generation. To address this, the project employs the concept of a perfect prism to contrast its surroundings, highlighting the performance space as a vital expression of cultural identity.

Located in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, near the urban train’s last station, the project identifies existing entities and highlights those proposed for improvement. By linking the urban core, it establishes a new theatrical district with an axis running from the town hall through Marti Street to the Theater Conservatory. The conservatory’s design incorporates six strategies from modern theater culture, seamlessly integrated into the urban context, emphasizing both external and internal engagement. Its purpose is to create a series of encounters between performances and spectators, inviting exploration and contemplation throughout the city. For example, urban niches carve fenestration within each façade, showcasing rehearsal rooms, foyers, and terraces to residents and visitors passing by. The black box theater is cantilevered from the building façade, marking the culmination of the theatrical district axis. Inside, there are adaptable spaces for various scenarios that aren’t restricted by a fixed arrangement. This expands on the versatility to reconfigure to the constant changes in our contemporary culture. To improve the user experience and accessibility, an elevated urban plaza is created, bridging the conservatory with the surrounding urban fabric and inviting community interaction. Due to the tropical climate, sustainable features include natural ventilation on all floors, permeable pavement, solar panels, and an underground cistern for water storage.

The final model reveals the axis that unifies the new theatrical district and an alternative route from the train station, designed to enhance pedestrian access. By integrating urban connectivity, cultural engagement, and sustainable design elements, the conservatory sets a new standard for functionality and environmental stewardship, marking a transformative icon for new cultural expression. 


Instagram: @johncampiss

Archi-eulogy: Negotiating Ruination in the Urban Void by Glory Nasr, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Sinan Hassan

In a dense alleyway of a residential suburb of Beirut, Lebanon, lies a neighbourhood-sized construction site, halted at the excavation stage. Where once stood the Laziza Factory, the first brewery in the Levant that was demolished in 2017, remains a 20-meter-deep manufactured chasm, vestiges of the unfinished construction of a high-end, Starchitect-made residential project. The chasm resembles a tomb with no capstone, a tomb for the demolished brewery and the immaterialized lofts, but more importantly for the notion of architecture as a practice above the human realms of economic crisis. The result is an absurd condition caught between architecture, geology, and ruin. 

With this urban condition as the site of the project, Archi-eulogy stands as a manifesto 

critiquing the method with which we build, developing an architecture that is inherently one of nonarchitecture. Building on the image of the site as an urban tomb, Archi-Eulogy proposes the acceptance of death through a lowering of a literal and metaphorical capstone onto the construction site over a 100-year cycle, corresponding to the average lifespan of a building. The capstone houses an art gallery and archival space, preserving the memory of the original brewery. Each height above the street level corresponds to a year, creating a geological stratification of the building height. As the capstone descends 0.5 cm a week 

for a century, matter accumulates and decumulates in the pit. The pit houses a parking space on the upper two floors, while the bottom three floors are left as public space for the residents of the neighbourhood. Once the capstone closes and the excavation is remediated, the project enters its second phase, becoming a curated ruin-scape, allowing for informal uses of the public park. Finally, hundreds of years into the future, archaeologists descend into the pit through its towers, exhuming the archaeological body buried in the tomb. By literally and metaphorically closing the urban tomb, the project aims to remediate the violence the unfinished construction inflicted on the neighborhood. 

This project was the 2nd Prize Winner of the Areen Projects Award for Excellence in Architecture and won the Dean’s Award for Creative Achievement.

Instagram: @ard_aub

Stay tuned for Part XV!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XIII

/in , /by

Public spaces take the spotlight in Part XIII of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase. The featured projects include recreation centers, parks, memorials, performance spaces, multi-faith facilities, city centers, and more!

Each student’s design was crafted with community needs at the top of mind. They utilize strategies ranging from reducing height in response to residential locations and combatting hostile architecture. They are also intentional about the use of materials with mediums such as wood, steel, and glass playing a role in curating the visitor experience. Each project aims to promote equity, education, belonging, socialization, and connectedness within their communities.

Scroll down to view these inclusive, accessible, and vibrant public spaces!

Tarboro Road Recreation Education Center by Lucas Stott, B. Arch ‘24
North Carolina State University | Advisor: Marshall Purnell

Compelled to provide vital community forums, recreation, and green spaces to East Raleigh, the 30,000-square-foot Recreation Education Center (R.E.C.) has created a gathering location for residents while linking local neighborhoods to Raleigh on a broader scale.

E. Edenton St. and New Bern Avenue have become defining features of East Raleigh, bringing in a surge of traffic from Downtown Raleigh. This results in a corridor of commercial properties and roadways that divide low-income neighborhoods. R.E.C. uses its visibility of these high-traffic roads to revitalize the region.

R.E.C.’s L-shape shields the neighborhood, opening towards the local community and protecting it from the intruding larger-scale city. Two diaphanous frames visible from the intersection attract new visitors intriguing fresh faces that would otherwise never visit the region. The existing historical educational building, converted into a 200-seat event hall, encourages public forums and community-building, breaking down barriers that traditionally separated East Raleigh from the rest of the city. 

Commercial spaces and community resources are organized separately into two elevated frames, with an atrium acting as the convergence point and entry. The first frame, a 24-foot deep truss, suspends across the landscape, revealing the commercial gymnasium and activity spaces it protects. Ramps down to the gym address difficult topography to reduce the R.E.C.’s height in response to its residential context. The second frame floating over the atrium provides vital educational resources to the underprivileged community, fostering skill development to improve employment chances in a rapidly transforming economic landscape. Curved aluminum panels coating the floating frames are perforated with a pattern that interacts with light and shadow, creating a unique experience. 

The north end of the site is grafted into the neighborhood’s skin. The form tilts open to reveal an outdoor space optimized to bring in local pedestrian traffic, encouraging residents to treat it as their backyard. Enclosed between the building and forested paths on the north side, a large open court becomes an important anchor on the site, freely defined by community-organized events and activities.

This project won a 2024 AIA Triangle Student Design Award.

A Hostile City, Inequitable Privatization of Public Spaces by Bailey Berdan, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

Hostile architecture is a term used to describe design strategies that are intended to deter certain groups of people or behaviors in public spaces. While bench dividers and ground spikes are widely recognized examples of hostile architecture, their impact goes beyond these small-scale designs. Hostile architecture is pervasive in areas such as policy, law, and privatization, and it can have serious negative consequences on a community’s economy, walkability, and overall environment. 

To address this issue, one potential solution is parasitic architecture, which is a practice that is not commonly used but is often employed as a response to dysfunctional conditions. Parasitic architecture involves the creation of structures that are attached to or embedded within existing buildings or infrastructure, utilizing underutilized or overlooked spaces. This approach has the potential to combat hostile architecture and empower communities to reclaim their right to public spaces. 

By repurposing underused spaces, parasitic architecture has the potential to increase the availability of public spaces, reduce the costs of new construction, and foster a sense of community ownership and engagement. Additionally, these structures can be designed to be flexible and adaptable, allowing them to evolve and respond to changing community needs over time. Overall, parasitic architecture represents a promising approach to combat hostile architecture and create more inclusive, accessible, and vibrant public spaces. By empowering communities to collaborate and take ownership of their public spaces, parasitic architecture has the potential to create more livable, sustainable, and equitable cities.

This project was a finalist for the ARCC King Student Medal Award.

Instagram: @__b.berdan__, @scott_shall

Counter [con]text by Zeina Medlej, B. Arch ‘24
American University of Beirut | Advisors: Rana Haddad & Dr. Howayda Al-Harithy

This thesis investigates how tactical public space interventions within Beirut’s neoliberal landscape can create heterotopic spaces that counteract dominant urban narratives. The study is grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Michel de Certeau, David Harvey, Henri Lefebvre, and Michel Foucault, focusing on how architectural constructs can reflect and engage with diverse social narratives beyond the homogenized, capitalist-driven designs.

The central question guiding this research is: How can tactical public space interventions within Beirut’s neoliberal landscape create heterotopic spaces that counteract dominant urban narratives?

The research is structured into two phases:

Phase 1: Initial disruption through punctual tactics. This phase involves programmatic interventions at 18 strategically chosen sites around Beirut. Each site is selected to reflect and challenge various neoliberal rationalities, aiming to create a series of small-scale disruptions that collectively unsettle the status quo and open up possibilities for transformation.

Phase 2: Tactical integration for large-scale disruption. This phase focuses on a single, impactful site—Martyrs’ Square—to implement a significant tactical intervention. The intervention transforms Martyrs’ Square into a multifunctional, dynamic urban space that serves as a cultural hub and community center. By integrating historical, cultural, and social elements, this transformation challenges and redefines the socio-spatial narratives of Beirut. The thesis proposes a heterotopic constellation of spaces that operate outside conventional time-space frameworks, fostering inclusivity, resilience, and public engagement. By opposing the dominant urban narrative, these tactical interventions aim to contribute to the creation of a more diverse and inclusive urban environment in Beirut.

Through this research, the thesis aims to demonstrate how tactical interventions can serve as powerful tools for social critique and urban transformation, ultimately fostering spaces that are not only physically distinctive but also socially transformative.

Instagram: @ard_aub

Urban Legacy –  Preserving Cultural Continuity in Land Scarce Singapore by Denzyl Zhang, M. Arch ’24
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) | Advisors: Andrea Bertassi, Aaron Wilner & David Gobel

This thesis looks at how memorial spaces might be integrated into urban parks, with an emphasis on the Sanctuary of Passage, a prototype for ecological and culturally sensitive memorial architecture in Singapore’s Ang Mo Kio-Bishan Park. The design tackles the issues of urban congestion and the displacement of customary burial grounds caused by the urgent requirement for living space in increasingly urbanizing regions. The thesis suggests a paradigm in which memorial spaces coexist alongside recreational places while also improving the ecological and social fabric of urban surroundings. The Sanctuary of Passage is based on the idea of a journey through sorrow, expressed by a series of ascending spaces that represent the phases of bereavement. 

Each level of the construction provides a unique experience with nature and architecture, allowing for a gradual shift from grieving to recollection and healing. The proposal draws on the natural dichotomies of visibility and obscurity, enclosure and exposure, and nature and architecture to create a dynamic place that respects and reacts to Singapore’s unique cultural traditions around death. 

The thesis concludes with a design that reimagines the function of memorial spaces in urban environments, arguing that they may be effortlessly incorporated into the city’s landscape, acting as crucial public places that provide consolation and connectedness. By doing so, it establishes a precedent for future developments across the globe, implying that combining urban growth with memorialization techniques may produce places that commemorate the past while also benefitting the present and future.

This project won the AIA Savannah Thesis Honor Award.

Instagram: @denzyl.zhang, @andre_bertassi

The Intragames: Shaping the Olympics for Local Publics by Weilin Berkey & Valentine Batteur, B. Arch ’24
Pratt Institute | Advisors: Evan Tribus, Cathryn Dwyre & Alex-Pierre de Looz

The nonprofit known as the International Olympic Committee can influence real-world social conditions through its corporate and financial power, thus making the [Olympic] Games a potential catalyst for new participatory publics. However, historically, the Olympic Games have struggled to benefit the host city beyond economics. Based on our research of previous Olympic Villages in recent years, they fail to acknowledge and engage with local programs and architecture, which we identify as the vernacular of the host city. 

Ironically, the goal of the Olympic Games is to embrace different cultures and to promote collectivity. Our research shows that, in fact, it produces negative effects on the host city by standardizing the way it deploys new venues and temporary housing. World-scale events like the Olympics often ignore local communities for profit. How might distributed hybrid vernacular venues amend the relationship between corporate goals and local needs to create new participatory publics within resident neighborhoods?

The Intragames hypothesizes that the use of vernacular typologies in combination with public spaces, will encourage locals to participate in collectivity sponsored by the Olympics. Currently, the upcoming Los Angeles 2028 Olympic plan focuses on improving existing infrastructure but neglects the potential connectivity among/between distributed venues. Layered with the existing competitive events, we want to incorporate new recreational and leisure Olympic events that the local fans can participate in along the LA River. Experimenting with combinations of vernacular typologies and Olympic programs is critical to our distributed venues’ longevity and future use. Additionally, having a deep understanding of the vernacular landscape will allow us to revitalize the forgotten concrete banks of the LA River and its connection to the city. 

This formula for designing new public venues will allow local spaces to be integral to urban-scale events. These additional programs will surpass the short timeframe of the Olympics, leaving new integrated publics along the river and changing the lasting impact of the games.

This project won The Best Degree Project of 2024, Undergraduate Architecture at Pratt Institute. 

Instagram: @wberkarch, @v.b._design, @pressg5, @pneumacat, @delicatemunch

The Spaces In-Between: The Making of an Urban Network by Dana Kanaan, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Dr. Howayda Al Harithy

In Beirut’s urban environment, the absence of and the treatment of public spaces has led to the weakening of community ties, fragmentation of communities, and urban isolation. This is exacerbated by rigid boundaries that separate districts and hinder social interaction, as public spaces are crucial for community cohesion. Moreover, there is an abundance of interstitial and in-between spaces that are underutilized and leftover. The rigid boundaries that separate districts and neighborhoods, whether physical or mental, combined with the neglect of these leftover spaces contribute to the fragmentation of urban communities and hinder social interaction. This is because social interaction occurs in the public realm. Thus, this fragmentation in the public sphere exacerbates the weakening of community ties and urban isolation.

Interstitial spaces in between buildings, especially those that act as ruptures in the urban fabric, can be activated and used as an opportunity for a network of connectivity. These interstitial areas can be activated through methods such as layering, dissolution, dissociation, and blurring. The objective of creating a blurred space is to foster social interaction, which emerges during periods of liminality and ambiguity. Therefore, a network of private spaces is created in the absence of public spaces utilizing interstitial and in-between spaces. 

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

Instagram: @ard_aub

Urban Projections by Tessa Laplante & Julia Nahley, M. Arch ’24
The University of Texas at Austin | Advisor: Matt Fajkus

“Urban Projections” addresses the notion of a cultural landmark in the context of an evolving city. With the massive amount of development happening at such a rapid pace in Austin, it raises the question of how the city will maintain and continue to define its own cultural identity. In order to maintain it, [this] design includes a film museum, while live performance spaces continue to define the city’s culture. A key intention for the site is to encourage circulation through the urban block towards nearby greenspaces including Republic Park and Shoal Creek. The heart of the block is defined by an elevated and rotated performance space, which sculpts the public plaza beneath. A film museum wraps around the block at the third level, serving as a plinth that begins and ends at Republic Park. Liminal spaces are emphasized in the project, with vertical circulation and intermission spaces celebrated and shared between programs.

The notion of projection is repeated at all scales of the project, reflected in the projection of the building’s structure onto the exterior facades. A steel mesh acts as a surface for the projection, as well as a thermal barrier to filter light and movement between interior and exterior spaces. A steel frame with CLT cores and floors is utilized as a replacement for concrete in conjunction with steel trusses that support the cantilevered theater spaces and wrap the upper levels. As visitors process from the main lobby into the more private spaces, they experience a sequence of atmospheres generated by different relationships between wood and steel. Specifically, in spaces where the program is flexible, the relationship between materials is clear, with transparent glass exposing the building’s primary steel members and CLT floors. In contrast, the interiors of the theaters are entirely wood to encourage concentration for the experience. 

This gradient of privacy through materiality reflects the project’s overarching intention to blur the boundaries between programs without compromising the essence and needs of the programs themselves. In an effort to establish a cultural landmark, liminal spaces are celebrated to encourage new relationships within the site, rendering them just as important as the more defined programs. These shared moments exist as a stage for the city to maintain and continue to define its cultural identity.

Instagram: @tessamarie108, @julia_nahley, @mf.architecture

Expo 2025 by Trever Bellew, B.Sc in Architecture ’24
University of District of Columbia | Advisor: Golnar Ahmadi

For the spring semester of 2023, students were required to design a pavilion for the 2025 World Expo that will take place in Osaka, Japan. The World Expo is a global event that showcases the best in technology, sustainability, and architectural design. With the theme “Designing Future Society for Our Lives,” the Expo aims to present innovative solutions and ideas that positively impact human lives. It focuses on sub-themes such as saving lives, connecting lives, and empowering lives, highlighting the Expo’s commitment to addressing global challenges and creating a better future.

Being originally from Brazil, I challenged myself to create the Brazilian pavilion. [This design drew] inspiration from Burle Marx, a plastic artist, and architect who designed the most iconic boardwalk located in Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I crafted an organic shell that encompasses the entire pavilion program. The project’s aim was to create an immersive experience that transports visitors to a jungle-like setting while educating them on various topics related to mental and physical health through the exhibit rooms. 

Instagram: @Golnarahmadi

Shopping Shells to City Cells by Ruyue Qi, B. Arch ’24
Rhode Island School of Design | Advisors: Junko Yamamoto & Leeland McPhail

Shopping malls, spanning an area equivalent to 33+ Manhattans, are key symbols of consumerism. Built for short-term savings, these malls often become abandoned due to high maintenance costs and the rise of e-commerce. In the United States, out of an estimated 1,150 malls, it is forecasted that only about 150 may remain operational by 2032. Despite numerous closures, new mall construction continues as developers aim to attract shoppers with the Next Big Thing. Abandoned shopping malls (large size, connected layout, huge parking, enclosed structure, and strategic positioning) have the potential to be transformed into compact cities to nurture a future that is both eco-efficient and interconnected. 

Large abandoned shopping malls are large enough to become diverse and mixed-used neighborhoods. They can provide housing units with fixed infrastructure cores and flexible layouts, depending on the climate and needs. Additionally, abandoned malls could evolve into walkable neighborhoods connected by escalators and platforms. Existing escalators can create a unique urban environment where residents can easily navigate between different areas. Transforming vast parking lots into parks, gardens, and farms could enhance connectivity to nature and mitigate the urban heat island effect. Enclosed shopping malls depend solely on mechanical systems to provide a controlled climate inside, introducing natural ventilation could significantly lower their carbon footprint. By strategically repurposing abandoned shopping malls, we can revitalize neighboring areas by enhancing community involvement, boosting the local economy, and creating new communal spaces and facilities.

This project was a Thesis Award Nominee. 

Instagram: @julyqi_, @junkoyamamoto_

Beating Heart: A Joe Biden Presidential Center by Nick Biser, Aidan Knupsky & Kaiden Estep, B. Arch ’24
Marywood University | Advisors: Jodi La Coe & James Eckler

Located in the heart of Scranton, Pennsylvania, Beating Heart is a Presidential Center for Joe Biden housing his presidential archives, a museum, and a new gathering space for the community. Taking a symbolic approach to the design, the building is split between a massive tension cable glass facade and a tall stone building. These two different approaches are brought together by an all-encompassing canopy. This symbolic design follows President Biden’s aim to unite individuals, no matter how different they may seem on the outside. The organic shape of both the canopy and facade represents the changing nature of the American spirit and people. Instead of a traditional Presidential Library, Beating Heart conveys more of Biden’s wishes and beliefs. 

At the center of the building is a massive cylindrical Heart of America – a brilliant spiral stair clad in Cor-ten steel that stands in contrast to the rest of the building. The Heart extends over 120’ high, going past the roof for all of Scranton to see. The entirety of the first floor diverts from the typical museum program of a Presidential Library. The front half is surrounded by seemingly endlessly tall glass that surrounds the occupant in an indoor/outdoor space. This winter garden preserves native vegetation and reclaims what was once a desolate parking lot into a reborn green space. The glass facade supported by thin tension cables creates a visually seamless transition between the reworked streetscape and the interior. 

In coordination with the winter garden is a Living Learning Lab serving as a space for the Scranton Community to learn more about the vegetation in the winter garden as well as ecological conservation techniques. Lastly, the first floor hosts a large, double-height Community Room, which features a large learning stair for the community to gather and discuss current events and issues. The museum section occupies the upper stories having the occupant flow in and out of the central Heart. The exhibits rotate around two symmetrical interior atriums allowing clear visibility and transparency throughout the museum. The active rooftop provides a space to fully view the Electric City of Scranton. 

This project won a 2024 MUSOA Studio Award.

Instagram: @nick_biser, @biser_architecture_and_designs, @aidanknup07, @kaiden_estep, @jodilacoe

Regarding the Commons: Addressing the current social and economic power dynamics as they manifest in the public realm by Magdaline Kuhns, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Scott Shall

In the United States, “the Commons” has historically been a contested issue. The definition of the Commons began in Medieval Europe regarding areas of unrestricted resources of food and materials; in modern times, this definition has expanded to include digital commons, urban space, health access, and the ability to practice culture (IASC, 2023). Before the birth of the Nation, Native peoples viewed the land as a common resource, unable to be owned. European ideals introduced the idea of ownership and commodification to this hemisphere of the globe, and with it, a limiting bounding of space.

There are many factors at war with each other when determining what “public” actually means. Is safety more important than freedom, and when regarding safety, whose safety is being addressed? What role do capital and ownership have in the creation of boundaries between public and private? What “buy-in” should be required for an individual to take part in the public realm? As Li et al. describe in their work about publicness, “Space can gain its publicness through…’ purposeful occupation’.” (“Defining the ideal public space…”) The rights of all individuals to use public spaces for these purposes have been long-contested, making it a crucial conversation to be considered in the modern production of architecture and urban areas.

This work aims to fill a void many have observed in the modern manifestation of public space. People’s lived experiences in the city do not always reflect the supposed publicness of the space, but through intentional acts of occupation, a new version of the Commons might be fully realized. The architectural solution to this issue will include the physical and digital utilities commonly required by nomadic people groups – the group that needs the Commons most – available without restriction.

Instagram: @ace_kuhns, @scott_shall

Manus Mouvere by Dillon Alexander Brown, M. Arch ’24
Pennsylvania State University | Advisor: DK Osseo-Asare

This project seeks to explore ineffable ideas in a physical space: designing a multi-faith facility in a multi-faith society. Based in Central Park, New York City, this building facilitates five distinct religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. These five were selected from the census data of New York City. 

In preparation for the design, interviews were conducted at a temple with a religious leader for each religion, coinciding with a tour. Additional interviews with fellow students occurred to gain a more rounded understanding of each faith, their temple needs, and what could possibly lie for the future of the religion. With this information, five temples were designed within a single building and connected by a neutral secular space. 

Additionally, to explore the form of space the use of watercolor and pigment theory was used to see how different colors blended, or didn’t blend. This was done to explore how the culture of one faith may physically reside with another faith. The intuition gained from this exercise granted knowledge of how an idea may become overwhelmed and how much contrast is physically needed to keep a faith true to its own idea.

The exterior of the temples are angled to face their respective religious customary directions, but also act as geometry that encourages visitors to sit and face each other, a gesture to encourage dialogue. The building is designed to cross-pollinate understanding and promote tolerance between its visitors. It is representative of the existing religious landscape of New York City, and America as a whole.

This project won the ​​2024 Jawaid Haider Award.

Stay tuned for Part XIV!

2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase - Part XI

/in , /by

Architecture and design can serve as avenues for storytelling. Part XI of the 2024 Study Architecture Student Showcase includes designs that express emotions, experiences, and concepts. From garments and cinema to a building that serves as the main character – each project tells a story.

The presented narratives convey the experiences of displacement, highlight marginalized voices, share themes of life, and detail the connections between time and the built environment.

No Place Like (No) Home: Architecture and Displacement through Storytelling by Meena Chowdhury, M. Arch ‘24
University of British Columbia | Advisor: Rana Abughannam

This thesis explored my mother’s story of displacement in an attempt to show that reconstructing architectural representation can help showcase underrepresented stories. While hearing my mother’s story, I realized that she had an interesting relationship with architecture and time. She was forcefully moved from place to place without ever knowing what was going to happen next, and she would always make changes to her space in order to adapt to her needs. The current way to represent architecture cannot capture this complex relationship between space and time. Architects need to develop new ways of representing the spaces that refugees live in and that highlight these temporal aspects.

I created a garment that incorporates elements of my mother’s story as a refugee as she verbally reported them to me, as well as visual representations of multiple places where she lived as a refugee. Using the fabric allowed me to experiment with this notion of time. When the garment folds, rotates or transitions, it recontextualizes the drawings on the garment. The garment transitions to different articles of clothing based on my mother’s transition to different locations. It helps show that, for a lot of people who are displaced, architecture is not anchored by site. Most people who are displaced do not know the context of the location they are currently in, and that is what happened to my mom. She didn’t go through the locations, rather the locations went through her. This garment rethinks architectural representation, as self is the site. Hopefully, this creation will open new doors on how to think about representation in architecture.

This project won the Abraham Rogatnick Book Prize.

Instagram: @chowdhury.projects, @ubcsala

When Words Become Worlds by Catherine Chattergoon & Angelina Widjaja, B. Arch ’24
Pratt Institute | Advisors: Cathryn Dwyre, Evan Tribus & Pierre Alexandre de Looz

“When Words Become Worlds” is a project that speaks to the potential for us to bring our interior lives into public space and center marginalized people and voices in shaping new futures, realities, and worlds through storytelling and language. We see a framework of learning and unlearning as the ways we reconnect to and understand our diasporic identities, ancestral knowledges, and (mother)land(s). Through this framework, public space becomes a living archive, both a place and a process that allows us to record ourselves and create spaces that are receptive to change, constructed from new forms of building and community, and begin to move us toward transformative possibilities for the future.

The capitalist society that we live in is embedded in privatization and reflects the vision and voice of those who are already in a position of power and privilege. Infecting our public spaces and educational institutions, the pervasiveness of privatization forces us to consume and conform to top-down knowledge and “truths,” becoming an obstacle to self-expression, creativity, and, ultimately, our ability to shape our own worlds. Given that the built environment has historically maintained privilege by censoring, surveilling, and policing to perpetuate the immobilization of the oppressed, how can storytelling and language become means through which people access design and architecture to transform their own environments and create a future shaped by love and community?

Our project is cyclical and intergenerational. It is a space to gather, to be entangled with the land and with each other, and to learn about ourselves and the world within our world and with others. It is a space to learn and unlearn, to touch and be touched, to perform and to listen, to be dirty and to be wet, to engrave and endure, and to be free and to love, to build upon and honor our untold histories. This project is a model and manifestation for the creation of public space and the built environment to be shaped by community members and collective values, where design becomes the means for people to have agency in making change.

This project won the Top Honors: 2023/2024 Degree Project Award.

Instagram: @angie.9800, @angiegmbr, @cchatter13, @pneumastudio, @pneumacat

joy! [as an act of resistance] by Harrison Lane, M. Arch ‘24
Carleton University | Advisor: Piper Bernbaum

The concept of joy, the feeling of joy and the experiences of it are something I am deeply interested in and I have this feeling that you all might be, too. I also have this feeling that as we are wading through it all [the wake of the pandemic, major social injustices, the world is on fire, my dog peed on the carpet, am I killing all the bees by not having wildflower gardens? Oh no, is there lactose in this?], it has become difficult to remain, or even want to be joy-full. Joy, fun, play, or even laughter are almost punk rock in their defiance of the weight of all other issues we collectively and individually shoulder. For thousands of years, joy has been dissected and interpreted, it has even had its existence denied, but joy is kind of like a morphing confusing cryptid, impossible to pin down and where every time you think you’ve really got a handle on it and attempt to capture its likeness, only a blurry photo akin to Sasquatch remains. 

So, my leather jacket-metal stud-teenage angst-loud music-sweeping bangs-esque response to this feeling is as such: What does joy look like while it resists? When it defies convention, plays with archetypes, and has fun with an idea? So I tried to answer that. I interpreted theories of joy as furniture, and made sure to feel joy as I built them. And then built a curriculum with the joy of learning and teaching at its core. 

My thesis is a reflection through a series of pointed questions about what joy truly and deeply means. It also examines joy through the conduit of resistance to show how it can manifest as furniture, a pedagogy, or maybe even a way of life. I wanted the culmination of my architectural education to be fun, to offer insights into big questions about seemingly simple things, and most of all, I wanted anyone who stumbles across it later to be so deeply moved that they have no choice but to inject joy as vigorously and recklessly into all that they do, just as I have.

Instagram: @hdslane, @piperb, @carleton_architecture

METAMORPHOSIS by Shaikha Al-Khazim, M. Arch ’24
Lawrence Technological University | Advisor: Masataka Yoshikawa

In selecting “The Epic of Gilgamesh” for this piece, I was drawn to its exploration of fundamental life themes, including mortality, friendship, and the intricate dynamics of the human-divine relationship. The narrative unfolds as a man ventures beyond the confines of his town in pursuit of profound insights into life and the inevitability of mortality. Throughout his odyssey, he grapples with a spectrum of emotions, ranging from the depths of loss and grief to the heights of happiness and victory.

Upon his return to the town, a transformative metamorphosis has occurred within him. The beliefs that once anchored him have undergone a profound shift. In essence, the epic serves as a poignant reflection on the inherent human struggle with mortality, underscoring the pivotal role of companionship in fostering personal growth and prompting contemplation on the nuanced boundaries that exist between mortals and the divine.

In translating these themes into visual art, I opted for abstract shapes to symbolize the complexity of emotions encountered throughout the journey. The careful selection of colors serves to visually articulate the intricate interplay between these nuanced emotions, thereby encapsulating the rich essence of Gilgamesh’s narrative.

This project received the Lawrence Technological University Dean’s Award.

Instagram: @shaikha.alkhazim, @masataka.yoshikawa

Other Time Land by Leming (Michael) Jin, B.S in Architecture ’24
Washington University in St. Louis | Advisor: Zahra Safaverdi

The project “Other Time Land” unfolds in a remote Texhoma crop circle, housing seven characters in a microcosm detached from conventional time and space. Their lives center on agricultural and architectural production, intertwined with individual roles and diverse perceptions. Through the contextual model, the narrative explores collective understanding amid subjective interpretations. It delves into the complexities of human existence, navigating the realms of history, culture, and the meaning of collective life. Over three distinct eras, from functionality to formalism and nostalgia, the project reflects on human interaction with the environment, culminating in a monument to the enduring struggle between humanity and nature.

This project was featured in the YES Show at Washington University in St. Louis.

Prosthetic Mountain by David Paraschiv & Oriol Grana Garriga, B. Arch ’24
Pratt Institute | Advisors: Jonathan Scelsa & Jason Vigneri-Beane

Meet Trevor, the Olympic infrastructure that knows he won’t always be the star. Unlike the previous models of Olympic development, which attempted to redefine the city but ended up only reusing existing infrastructure, Trevor performs an architectural photobomb. Through association with the Hollywood sign, he casts himself as a character into LA’s catalog of landmarks. Trevor is many things: mascot, stadium, tower, mountain, monument, icon, landmark, camera, torch, cat, bat, owl, spider, octopus, and monster. As Trevor’s tensile tent shifts to shade one of three events on the mountain, pistons morph his tent body into the mascot for that event.

        Over a century ago, Mt. Lee’s peak was shaved off to construct Los Angeles’ first television broadcast tower. We propose to restore the peak with this prosthetic infrastructure. As a prosthetic, Trevor not only restores the peak but also serves as an opportunity to create a landscape that accommodates both non-standard bodies and wildlife. For this reason, Trevor has been designed with the Paralympics having priority over the standard event. Access is not just enabled but maximized through funiculars, gondolas, ramps, elevators, and cherry pickers. These infrastructural elements become the very means of Trevor’s ultimate performance, his retirement. Sports courts are released and sent rolling down the funicular tracks, eventually becoming public infrastructure for the neighborhoods below. During this act of pulling, Trevor’s skin is torn open, allowing the elements into the stadium. At this point, Trevor’s hyper-artificial hot pink and electric yellow skin begins to reveal its true nature, with its dust-collecting tendrils starting to build material on the surface. As the seasons pass, this material is fertilized by the fauna of Mt. Lee’s subnature, eventually camouflaging the structure with the mountain. In this act, Trevor becomes a new kind of monument, one that isn’t afraid to embrace fragility as a means of new life.

This project received Degree Project Top Honors, the Michael Hollander Drawing Award (section), and the ModelMaker Prize Second Place.

Instagram: @otterfruit, @ori6g, @oparchland, @jcvb_split

Narrative Architecture: Framing a Fleeting World by Sam Sabzevari, M. Arch ’24
Toronto Metropolitan University | Advisor: Marco L. Polo

Narrative-making is the human ability to imagine, modify, and question myths, dreams, and desires; evolving cyclical journeys of challenging the present to draw a future. For a fleeting world, every creative production of an era responds to its grand narrative until it escalates to a time where the exchange of ideas moves faster than those who produce them. Landing on the age of the circuit, this thesis looks at a narrative shaped around incalculable reproductions mediating the world of human performative modes of operation and the algorithmic atmosphere of digital exchange. The Caravanserai, introduced as a narrative architecture typology from the age of the wheel, forms the architectural basis of a contemporary reading that can be applied to the age of the circuit. Established on experimental prompts of developing a narrative architecture, the new reading of the environment is described as a vessel among a place of exchange, a home, and an archive meant to be interpreted as open threads of making spatial scenarios. Appearing in sequences of experimental investigations on architectural scenarios throughout this document, prompts of a narrative architecture are explored and as an outcome of overlaying prompts of narrative architecture, Poetics of the Digital proposes a series of architectural prepositions that can become tools of architectural storytelling. Giving overall clues of what each tool can be, the verbal references to prepositions open them up to interpretations and form a new system of interpreting any space to any story. But how can a system break down its logic and genetically evolve into another story? The answer remains in human interpretation. 

The thesis ends with a gamified version of the poetics of the Digital, offered as abstract pieces of architectural storytelling to players of the game. Every person reads and interprets in their own way, shaping their world of understanding. Translating the game outcomes into drawings shows how each has already begun to become another story. This is the essence of the postmodern fleeting world, contemporary narratives coming from any place by anyone, about anything, all at the same time. 

Instagram: @sami_sabz, @dastorontomet

NOSTALGHIA DRIVE-IN: RESURRECTING MEMORIES by Elvis Castaneda, Jesus Nava & Opec Hynds, B. Arch ’24
Arizona State University | Advisor: Julia Lopez

Our journey into the heart of Andrei Tarkovsky’s “Nostalghia” has been transformative, resonating deeply with its exploration of nostalgia, isolation, and spiritual yearning. Through meticulous analysis of Tarkovsky’s cinematography, set design, and narrative techniques, we have unearthed profound inspiration for our architectural endeavor.

Tarkovsky’s masterful use of camera movements—his sweeping panoramas capturing the vast Italian landscapes and intimate interiors bathed in soft light—has guided our design philosophy. Just as Tarkovsky’s camera delicately navigates the emotional terrain of his characters, our architectural concept embraces the poetic essence of “Nostalghia.”

The film’s portrayal of dilapidated structures amidst timeless landscapes has become the cornerstone of our vision for revitalization. By reimagining a historic drive-in theater, we honor its cultural legacy while invigorating it as a vibrant community hub. Inspired by Tarkovsky’s subdued color palettes and symbolic imagery, our choice of materials and spatial compositions embodies a narrative that resonates with both the past and the future.

Our project is more than mere architectural intervention; it is a testament to the enduring power of storytelling through built environments. It seeks to foster not only physical renewal but also a profound sense of connection, belonging, and renewal among community members. Like Gorchakov in Tarkovsky’s narrative, we embark on a journey of exploration and discovery, guided by the spirit of nostalgia and the quest for meaning in a fragmented world.

In embracing “Nostalghia” as our muse, we endeavor to create spaces that transcend functionality, resonating deeply with the human condition and offering a sanctuary for reflection and contemplation. This is not just architecture; it is a testament to the timeless dialogue between cinema and built form, where each brick and beam tells a story of longing and hope.

This project won the TDS Design Excellence award.

Instagram: @ec.garcia6, @_opec_

The Production of Time: An Architectural Time Machine by Naim Zgheib, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisor: Sinan Hassan

How can one design an architectural time machine or one that deliberately produces time in its multiplicity?

  1. What are the dimensions of time as related to a built construct and their implications on the latter?
  2. How can one quantify, represent, visualize, and design the time-space?
  3. What architectural elements, languages and/or tectonics could best serve this discourse?

This architectural research delves into the captivating relationship between time and architecture. Drawing from theories such as Einstein’s relativity and Rovelli’s “The Order of Time”, it aims to explore the intricate connections between time and the built environment.

The study begins by investigating various theories of time, from ancient philosophies to contemporary scientific understandings, establishing a comprehensive foundation. By examining time as both a subjective experience and a measurable entity, this project seeks to merge the abstract and tangible. The research explores the application of phase space equations and algorithms in architectural design (which represent dynamic systems mathematically). By analyzing the temporal dynamics of spaces, it seeks novel temporal experiences within the built environment. The 8-dimensional phase space becomes the new representation of time in architecture.

The intent is to hypothesize an architecture that deliberately produces time to achieve ultimate timefulness, thus timelessness, engulfing the entire phase space. The design phase serves as the practical manifestation of the research, proposing architectural interventions that embody the theories, equations, and concepts explored. Through innovative design strategies, such as temporal layering and dynamic spatial configurations, this project seeks to redefine the relationship between architecture and time.

“The Production of Time” aims to build on the architectural implications of time, inspiring architects to reconsider the temporal dimensions of their creations deliberately and intentionally. In this eternal dance between architecture and time, let us leave an indelible mark upon the world—a beacon of our profound understanding of the temporal, and our unwavering dedication to the art of sculpting time as matter.

This project was the 3rd Place Winner of the Areen Projects Award for Excellence in Architecture. 

Instagram: @ard_aub

{in}Visible Maintenance by Daniel Wong, M. Arch ’24
University of Toronto | Advisor: Carol Moukheiber

Nothing lasts nor endures; instead, trends come and quickly fall into obsolescence. We pursue objects that offer immediate satisfaction, producing more and more to fuel a system that trends toward overconsumption and boredom. {in}Visible Maintenance provides an alternative vision somewhere in between the speculative, the surreal, and the plausible—a resistance to our valuation of existing buildings. Drawing is used to unravel the everyday maintenance, cleaning, and repair of buildings, highlighting their palimpsest history of time, age, and care work.

{in}Visible Maintenance poses the question: What if the durability of a building could be chronographed as a fundamental element of everyday design? Imagine a shift where we prioritize celebrating the natural process of decay, favouring robustness and heightened flexibility over the current economic model of superficial environmental posturing.

Through a speculative collection of drawings, a series of building parts, components, and systems—when assembled—creates a radical eclecticism around the buildings we maintain. These drawings are bound to the imaginary and convey a polemic reality based on the everyday, memory, age, place, change, and the virtues we associate with the buildings we inhabit. The shifting drawings and methods of representation are used to reframe, shift, and provoke a new paradigm and aesthetic that celebrates and accepts our existing aging built environment. Finding pleasure and discovery through the dilapidated, the strange, and the ordinary.

Instagram: @Danielw.dwg, @uoftdaniels

An Architectural Bargain: Games of Requit by Daniela Liang, B. Arch ’24
University of Southern California | Advisor: Eric Haas

The incorporation of intentional error is not novel. From the works of Borromini to those of MVRDV, linear perspective and visual perception of form and geometry have become tools for manipulating perceived reality. The intentional design of error, or the trick, is a productive language for exercising viewer agency. By creating an opportunity for the viewer to engage in an investigative experience, the trick becomes a game-like negotiation of reality within architecture. 

The result of these visual tricks creates privileged views and abstract reality where the uncovering of truth becomes enriching to the viewer’s understanding of the architecture. The project is the analysis of how these architectural deceptions can create different states of immersion between the viewer and the design. A game-like experience is proposed by the various ways “error” can be used as productive confrontation. Four self-contained sites of “error” immersion are created, displaying different applications of design deception: encounter, investigation, absorption, and co-existence. 

This project won the Raymond S. Kennedy Creative Innovation Award – Methodology

Instagram: @dandeliang

Front Veiled, Back Revealed by Sacha Azzi, B. Arch ’24
American University of Beirut | Advisors: Rana Haddad & Makram El Kadi

The architecture of this project stands as a demonstrative device of activism and empowerment. It is an architecture that is temporary yet timeless, standing tall around a social plaza of one of Beirut’s last agricultural gardens in the area of Mar Mikhael. This new typology creates a new ecosystem in a circular motion, a loop for change that aims to install an agency of political culture through the built form, a design for activists, an architecture of expression, a space of experimentation and a culture of democracy.

It is an incubator space that serves as both an incubator and an expression.

By integrating activism principles into its core the architecture evolves into an entity that educates, motivates and mobilizes individuals. It fosters conversations, encourages community involvement and raises awareness while serving as a supporter and facilitator of endeavors. The design features spatial arrangements and material selections, meticulously chosen to mirror and advance movements through methods of inclusivity efforts or by providing areas for protests and gatherings. This innovative architectural approach not only provides spaces for activists but also actively participates in activism through its design and purpose. It aims to challenge norms that incite thoughts and influence actions turning the built environment into a force for change. The structure serves as a tool that engages with people and the environment embodying activism motivating change and supporting change. This new approach highlights how buildings can play a role in advocating for social justice, equality and environmental conservation by enhancing the influence of activism, through their presence.

Within this thesis’s extensive and thorough research, we can conclude that architecture can serve as an agency for political culture, both programmatically and spatially. Firstly, by blending different users on site, and secondly, by standing as temporary architecture—a harmless yet powerful loop of change, with buildings shaped by their users and reshaped by these buildings again—a completion of form and function.

Instagram: @ard_aub

Stay tuned for Part XII!