Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc)
Pratt Institute
Tulane University
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New York Institute of Technology (NYIT)
refining thesis topic. please critique/ help!
hello world!
i would be really grateful if anyone could help me out in suggestion/critiques/ideas....
anyway here goes,
thesis idea #1
the autonomous house has been around since the 1980's and has been so much more refined since the idea first hatched. however, in my opinion the term autonomous house here means that the house is independent only on the technical part of it, meaning energy, water supply, waste management...
for food supplies, the most that the house can supply is to plant hydroponic plants. my idea is to design a house/system that is entirely independent in both ways, to be able to supply energy+ water+food to the house and the people who live in it * with live stocks and such*.
but this doesn't mean that everyone will be living with a cow/chickens or something.. instead of relying on a huge farm to supply livestock, or a plantation for veggies and things, the idea is to allow all people to at least plant/ own a live stock that would be sufficient for their consumption/or for barter system where they could exchange the items that they have.
for now we're relying on farmers and planters and people who rear live stocks to provide huge amount of food stock, and also transportation to transport them here *import/export*, we're relying on so many people just to get food on the table. what if one day disaster struck and all supplies got shut down, and everybody is on their own?
the idea is to allow homes where it supplies food to it's dwellers too, or probably divided to sections where people get to choose what they want to plant/rear? for live stocks they don't have to slaughter it by themselves, but more to sending it to the butcher for them to do so, and all they have to do is raise them up.
it's more to the line where i come to think of how people are generally loosing touch on how food comes from, and stops seeing it as one of the most important thing *apart from clean water* , and take it for granted. and also i'm picturing this as something we should be prepared before disaster/whatever bad strikes and people are already prepared to go through it...
do comment!
thanks!
This is very vague right now, maybe you could be a little more specific? Right now all I'm getting from this is that you want to design a house/living situation in which people can provide for themselves (i.e. farm).
I'm a little worried this isn't very deep; it's an interesting, extremely broad question, but the solution is limited; the fact that you already have arrived at a solution is troubling as well. A good thesis should bring about more questions than answers; you're entering the process with an end already in mind, which will inherently produce a much weaker thesis. Think of it as a process of discovery; this is what differentiates it from a typical studio project with a 'type' that you must design with specific program.
Try to produce a more specific question to the problem of food supply. Think about how you're also addressing this issue architecturally; your writing above suggests little involvement of design, building, or anything else architectural.. it seems more oriented on how people live. You've picked something you're interested in; now dive deeper, read relevant material, and try to raise some more questions.
Local foods, have local problems. They also easily escape oversight and inspection, in essence a black market for food. That could make a very interesting project.
The legitimate and the illegitimate farm. The public and private consumption of food and the Frankenstein they produce when private risk becomes public risk along with a seasoning of public loss.
There are pros and cons for both. If you need some depth, and perhaps you do, head over to the agriculture department and ask for some feedback. I assure you that there will be some definite opinions.
edible house! or house that traps edible children! or both, like that hansel and gretel house!
ok feel free to ignore..
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