Archinect - Features

Tulane Graduates Isabella Zannier and Ana Rebeca Chu Research the Shelter Typology to Create an "Architecture of Liberation"

2020-06-18T09:00:00-04:00

Isabella Zannier and Ana Rebeca Chu are both recent graduates at Tulane School of Architecture. Below the pair share some images of their final thesis project, titled Architecture of Liberation.

Archinect's Spotlight on 2020 Thesis Projects: 2020 has been an extraordinarily challenging year for architecture graduates. Students were displaced as schools shut down, academic communities had to adapt to a new virtual format, end-of-year celebrations were canceled or changed dramatically, and now these students are graduating into an extremely challenging employment market. To support the 2020 class we're launching a summer series of features highlighting the work of thesis students during this unique time of remote learning amid COVID-19. Be sure to follow our 2020 thesis tag to stay up to date as we release new project highlights.

A Cut Above the Streets: Robert M. Hayes, Co-Founder of Coalition for the Homeless, in Conversation with Lluís Alexandre Casanovas Blanco

2019-05-01T09:57:00-04:00

Expelled from domestic spaces through cuts to social subsidies, layoffs, and the speculative real estate policies of the 1970s, the population of homeless individuals in New York has ballooned with the perpetuation of income inequality and long-term lack of affordable housing in the city. Despite increasing numbers, this social crisis has become less and less visible throughout the last decades [1]. In February 2017, the Department of Homeless Services estimated that 3,892 individuals spent the night in New York City streets [2]. Although the accuracy of this estimate has been contested [3], a comparison to the number of individuals sleeping in one of the 236 facilities of the city’s shelter system—a total of 62,435 [4]—makes us reconsider the “exposure” of public space as the privileged site of contemporary homelessness, and turn instead to a different architectural device: that of the shelter.

paraSITE: the bandage over the nomadic wound

2016-05-27T11:04:00-04:00

Using the air discharged from publicly accessible HVAC units, artist Michael Rakowitz has created a series of inflatable temporary plastic shelters for the homeless he calls “paraSITE.” The work, which began in 1998 and was later added to the MoMA’s Architecture and Design online collection, is both a form of social protest and an ingenious, budget-conscious design (most units cost around $5 to construct).

Meow Parlour is a modern hangout for NYC's adoptable cats

2016-03-14T15:58:00-04:00

Looking out inquisitively onto a busy New York City avenue, a white and grey cat perches on a counter that is supported by a base that fittingly reads M E O W in bold. She soaks in warm light that beams through a floor-to-ceiling window, while dozens of other felines play and lounge throughout the rest of their 800sf domain. These cats are temporary residents at Meow Parlour, a modest venue that allows adoptable cats and city-goers a chance to interact within a comfortable – and refreshingly upbeat – environment.

Finding "Shelter" in Los Angeles' housing chaos

2015-09-08T12:00:00-04:00

With all the media attention on California’s drought, the “atoning L.A.” narrative has gotten pretty common. The city’s gluttonous lawns, sprawling infrastructures and indulgent residents – in short, its sinful stereotypes – have become untenable as the drought, a housing crisis and pressing sustainability measures come knocking at the city’s door.

Student Works: New Horizons Iceland Expedition

2013-02-04T14:01:00-05:00

In late November 2012, London's The Bartlett School of Architecture Unit 3 embarked on an expedition to Iceland.

Warmed by the Gulf Stream, endless geysers and caught between two major tectonic plates, this land of endless volcanic activity is also home to Europe's largest glacier.

Twelve 2nd and 3rd year students designed, built and tested a series of shelter/surveying devices to research and charted varied aspects of Iceland.