Archinect - Features

Understanding a City’s Image: Exploring New York Through the Spatial Experiences and Perceptions of Its Users

2023-03-31T12:45:00-04:00

For our latest installment of the Thesis Review series, we connected with New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) M.Arch graduate Jay Patel to discuss his project, Urbanary — Enjoy the City While Moving.

Patel explained that his work reflects the perception of urban spaces. He uses the city of New York as a reference to investigate "how a human-oriented city image is formed with people’s perceptions to design and define future cities and spaces." Patel's thesis project aims to explore a concept that "emphasizes how each urban location has a distinctive character that has been shaped by human interaction."

In our interview, he discussed his motivations for exploring the topic of architectural perception, urban usability, how Kevin Lynch's work influenced his research approach, and he shared his own path toward licensure in both India and the U.S.

It’s Time To Consider the Refugee Camp as a City — And Here’s Why

2022-12-09T09:00:00-05:00

With the horizon of increased global instability closer than ever, whereby the scales of political balance can be so quickly tipped and toppled, questions relating to the rights of displaced peoples in refugee camps are both pertinent and vital. Yet, since refugee camps are becoming increasingly ‘urban’ in terms of scale, population density, social processes, and physical manifestation through schools, clinics, roads, and infrastructure, the questions surrounding refugee camp design and camp dwellers’ rights inherently become architectural and urban matters.

Screen/Print #56: Diana Balmori is interviewed by MAS Context about Bilbao's Abandoibarra Master Plan

2017-05-19T12:11:00-04:00

The story of Bilbao—and its Architectural Wonder™—has been told to the point of cliché. Yet in MAS Context's BILBAO issue, the familiar trope is given new life and depth as a series of architects, designers, and denizens of the city explain how they helped to transform this Spanish industrial town into a case study for holistic, rejuvenating design. In this excerpt from the issue for Screen/Print, Iker Gil interviews the late, great Diana Balmori about her firm's work on the Abandoibarra master plan.