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thesis topic...... need help
so for my thesis I decide to go for, transforming substandard living to revitalize the area and encourage sound growth. I like in pakistan.... in my city there is a piece of land illegally occupied by lower governemnt workers. my plan is to establish housing community for them a low cost sustainable method.
but projects like carr square village imn 1942 a low rise community for people.
my instuctors are like that its really boring and there is a lot of work already done and failed too.... :-/ should i cange my topic or just go with it ?
I am a very inexperienced designer, but as a recent graduate from a master's program, I would like to share my thoughts (even though I only have an undergrad theses lol). What makes a thesis a thesis, in other words a project a project, not a mere design problem/solution, is in my opinion needs to root from some other kind of problem or interest. The reason you're facing this obstacle is probably because you already have a clear answer in your mind (which is very generic and boring for me as well to be honest). Now, your take on the housing issue seems too superficial; ah there's a housing problem, so let's provide nicer housing.
I know nothing about Pakistan, but I'm quite sure that there are complicated layers of social/political/economic/historical issues behind the illegal squatters in your city. Try to do an in-depth research about the issues I mentioned above (and more) and try to develop an argument based on your research. Look into zoning, government policies, ongoing development projects nearby, land ownership, city structure, and etc. as well. Imagine that you're a professor and you need to write an interesting syllabus for your next studio course. What would you make your students do?
Maybe you're right in the end--a possible solution would be a new housing community. If you do a solid research, however, you might discover new things. Maybe housing is only a part of what you want to implement in the city. What are you going to do with the current residents? Any solution for their relocation issues? How will you fund your project? Is this going to be a rights issue? There are a million questions to be asked, and you need to figure out which are more important for you and try to construct your own problem that's interesting to you. Thesis is not a problem/solution challenge. It's more about the process that leads to a specific solution and the argument behind the solution. Hope it helps.
I read around here just recently that a Thesis is defined differently elsewhere outside the US. I think I read that “over-there” Thesis’ were more problem-solution. I reviewed a portfolio recently by a Slovak student and her Thesis was a drawn project not a essay.
Thesis has many context and meaning. Outside architecture, thesis tends to imply a long written dissertation/thesis where you write something on the order of 50-100 or more pages.
Especially in a research oriented program.
While in architecture school, it maybe more a "terminal project" then a "thesis" in the traditional academic parlance of the word. While architecture is more design oriented and less research paper oriented, it is not unusual for design school oriented programs to have more of a project then a paper.
In foreign schools, it kind of depends. Some are design oriented. Some are otherwise.
Here in the U.S., it kind of varies from school to school as well as whether or not the program is undergrad, Masters or Doctoral. In many institutions, graduate school expects more written / research component and documents it then an undergrad level.
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