Archinect - Features

SCI-Arc Graduate Responds to Pandemic by Exploring the Idea of ‘Openness in a Contemporary Urban Setting’ Using Downtown LA

2021-11-23T13:32:00-05:00

The pandemic has influenced students in more ways than one, further questioning their views on the state of architecture today. For this iteration of Archinect's Thesis Review series, SCI-Arc graduate Abdullah Tahseen (M.Arch) explores the opportunities of "openness in a contemporary urban setting."

In his thesis project, An Act of Opening, Tahseen uses Downtown Los Angeles as a backdrop to explore the question: "How can architecture establish openness by encouraging environments that cultivate creativity, human engagement, and collaboration through the design of captivating and inventive spaces?" During this interview, Tahseen explains how his thesis was inspired by the transformation of workspaces during the pandemic. He also shares his thoughts on the topic of "thesis" itself and how he feels about the industry today.

Tulane Graduate Explores the Future of Chicago’s Post-industrial Riverfronts by ‘Re-investing in Productivity’

2021-11-10T13:45:00-05:00

Thesis projects provide architecture students with a gateway into further exploring, questioning, and postulating design solutions. According to Tulane School of Architecture M.Arch graduate Evan Warder, thesis not only serves as a "one-dimensional" variable within an architecture education. It also serves as a "feedback loop on its contribution to the field and the outside world."

With this in mind, Warder decided to use his thesis as an avenue to explore architecture and its interplay between the disciplines of aquatic biology, landscape architecture, urban planning, and social work. In his thesis project, "The Post-Industrial Chicago River: A Social, Productive, and Ecological Urban Structure," Warder uses the Chicago River as a place to explore future infrastructures within industrial areas. He shares: "Chicago presents the opportunity to create a comprehensive solution through reinvestment in productivity, which provides jobs and needed food through high-density vertical farmi...

Unpacking Politics and the 'Apparatus of Power' Through Architecture and Film with SCI-Arc Graduate Julia McConnell

2021-11-02T08:37:00-04:00

Architectural representation in film and television often provides highly impressionable results. Beyond a story's narrative, architecture can be used as a secondary 'character' to help create a sense of place, tone, and facilitate visual association for the viewer and the story's setting. Julia McConnell, a recent M.Arch graduate from SCI-Arc, used her interests in film to further explore questions relating to representation, ethics, and aesthetics.

In her thesis project, "Pledge of Allegiance," McConnell explained that her thesis research requires "architects flatten the ontological plane and view individual instances of a particular type for their particularity. Thus, establishing that we may be able to differently value what architecture inherently contains: a myriad of views, positions, and possibilities."

Architecture thesis acts as a catalyst that allows young designers to explore their interests while expanding their perspectives and architectural thinking. Continuing with ...

SCI-Arc Graduate and 2021 Gehry Prize Winner Proposes New Perspectives Between City Structures and Augmented Reality Holograms

2021-10-13T09:00:00-04:00

Continuing with Archinect's commitment to highlighting students and their academic work, we connected with SCI-Arc M.Arch II graduate Burak Celik. As the 2021 Gehry Prize Winner for best thesis, Celik talks to us about his project "Super•positioning." He uses Los Angeles as a backdrop for exploring architecture and its relationship between digital and analog, reality and speculation, and how the use of superpositioning allowed him to question other architectural perspectives. The word superposition is defined as "the placement of one thing above or on top of another" and "the combination of two distinct physical phenomena of the same type (such as spin or wavelength) so that they coexist as part of the same event." Celik uses this as the basis for thesis exploration.

"Today's digital culture would be embraced by architects not only as a means of software and tools but also as a complete architectural experience by the viewer," Celik explains and continues by sharing: "Through superp...

Woodbury M.Arch Student Highlights Armenian Culture by Using Architecture as a 'Tool to Reconstitute, Protect and Expose' Its History

2021-08-30T13:57:00-04:00

Continuing with Archinect's ongoing Thesis Review series, connecting with recent graduates allows us to amplify student voices as they share their experiences and final thesis projects. For this iteration of Archinect's 2021 Thesis Review, we connected with M.Arch student Maneh Tahmasian. A recent graduate of Woodbury School of Architecture, Tahmasian's thesis project "Through Thick and Thin" propels architecture's cultural and historical implications by highlighting the importance of recognizing "the old" to inform "the new" in Armenia.

She explains, "'Through thick and thin' is looking at the spatial aspect of the dome as a historical and cultural element of Armenian architecture. It does not describe the dome as it is, or have been understood, but as it could be reconstituting the matter into something: more powerful." Together we discuss the architectural and cultural themes found in her thesis. She unpacks the importance of heritage and how it can be used to challenge architect...

Tulane School of Architecture Graduates Reference Haiti's 2010 Earthquake to Address The Importance of Essential Infrastructure Design For Disaster Relief

2021-08-18T09:00:00-04:00

On August 15th, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. With news still unfolding, at the time of publication, over 1,400 people have been confirmed dead and over 6,000 injured. However, this isn't the first time a massive earthquake destroyed homes and impacted lives within the region. For this iteration of Archinect's Summer 2021 Thesis Review, we connected with B.Arch students Jorge Blandin & Joanne Engelhard. The duo from Tulane School of Architecture used their thesis project "A Developing Framework - Rethinking the Displacement Housing Crisis in Developing Countries" to explore how to approach essential infrastructure and affordable housing after a natural disaster like the 2010 earthquake in Haiti.

Blandin and Engelhard's thesis project question the excessiveness within architecture and the disparity between accessible and functional architecture that also fosters community development and equity. The duo explains, "The 2010 earthquake in Haiti damaged and destroyed 295,000...

Woodbury Graduate Addresses the Importance of Water Infrastructure for California Droughts in Their Thesis WATER INFRA-CULTURE

2021-08-04T17:42:00-04:00

The Summer of 2021 has proven to be another challenging season. However, during this time, architecture students have continued to persevere. By adjusting, exploring, prototyping, and expanding their architectural perspectives, students have used the events taking place in their daily lives to push and challenge the issues facing the industry today. To learn more about these students and the work produced, we continue with our ever-so-popular Archinect Thesis Review series.

We begin our Summer 2021 iteration by connecting with Woodbury School of Architecture B.Arch graduate Khun Hein where he discusses his thesis, WATER INFRA-CULTURE. "Droughts are a significant concern in the present and future, which is exacerbated by ongoing climate change," shares Hein. "Extracting underground water from aquifers in desert conditions is necessary for humans to adapt to the changes we are experiencing in our climate [...] My thesis raises ethical questions and challenges our assumptions about it...