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2020 Student Thesis Showcase - Part I

Have you ever wondered what students design in architecture school? A few years ago, we started an Instagram account called IMADETHAT_ to curate student work from across North America. Now, we have nearly 3,000 projects featured for you to view. In this series, we are featuring thesis projects of recent graduates to give you a glimpse into what architecture students create while in school. Each week, for the rest of the summer, we will be curating five projects that highlight unique aspects of design. In this week’s group, the research ranges from urban scale designs focused on climate change to a proposal for a new type of collective housing and so much in between. Check back each week for new projects. 

In the meantime, Archinect has also created a series featuring the work of 2020 graduates in architecture and design programs. Check out the full list, here .

Redefining the Gradient by Kate Katz and Ryan Shaaban, Tulane University, M.Arch ‘20

Thesis Advisors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini / Course: 01-SP20-Thesis Studio

Sea level rise has become a major concern for coastal cities due to the economic and cultural importance tied to their proximity to water. These cities have sustained their livelihood in low-lying elevations through the process of filling, bridging, and raising land over coastal ecosystems, replacing their ecological value with infrastructures focused on defining the edge between city and nature. Hard infrastructures have been employed to maintain urban landscapes but have minimal capacity for both human and non-human engagement due to their monofunctional applications focused on separating conditions rather than integrating them. They produce short-term gains with long-term consequences, replacing and restricting ecosystems and acting as physical barriers in a context defined by seasonal transition. 

To address the issues of hard infrastructure and sea level rise, this thesis proposes an alternative design strategy that incorporates the dynamic water system into the urban grid network. San Francisco was chosen as the location of study as it is a peninsula where a majority of the predicted inundation occurs on the eastern bayside. In this estuary, there were over 500 acres of ecologically rich tidal marshlands that were filled in during the late 1800s. To protect these new lands, the Embarcadero Sea Wall was built in 1916 and is now in a state of neglect. The city has set aside $5 billion for repairs but, instead of pouring more money into a broken system, we propose an investment in new multi-functional ecologically-responsive strategies. 

As sea levels rise, the city will be inundated with water, creating the opportunity to develop a new circulation system that maintains accessibility throughout areas located in the flood zone. In this proposal, we’ve designed a connective network where instance moments become moments of pause and relief to enjoy the new cityscape in a dynamic maritime district. 

On the lower level, paths widen to become plazas while on the upper level, they become breakout destinations which can connect to certain occupiable rooftops that are given to the public realm. The bases of carved canals become seeding grounds for plants and aquatic life as the water level rises over time. Buildings can protect high-risk floors through floodproofing and structural encasement combined with adaptive floorplates to maintain the use of lower levels. The floating walkway is composed of modular units that are buoyant, allowing the pedestrian paths to conform and fluctuate with diurnal tidal changes. The composition of the units creates street furniture and apertures to engage with the ecologies below while enabling a once restricted landscape of wetlands to take place within the city. 

The new vision of the public realm in this waterfront district hopes to shine an optimistic light on how we can live with nature once again as we deal with the consequences of climate change.

Unearthing the Black Aesthetic by Demar Matthews, Woodbury University, M.Arch ‘20

Advisor: Ryan Tyler Martinez Featured on Archinect

“Unearthing The Black Aesthetic” highlights South Central Los Angeles’s (or Black Los Angeles’s) unique positioning as a dynamic hub of Black culture and creativity. South Central is the densest population of African Americans west of the Mississippi. While every historically Black neighborhood in Los Angeles has experienced displacement, the neighborhood of Watts was hit particularly hard. As more and more Black Angelenos are forced for one reason or another to relocate, we are losing our history and connection to Los Angeles.

As a way to fight this gentrification, we are developing an architectural language derived from Black culture. So many cultures have their own architectural styles based on values, goals, morals, and customs shared by their society. When these cultures have relocated to America, to keep their culture and values intact, they bought land and built in the image of their homelands. That is not true for Black people in America. In fact, until 1968, Black people had no rights to own property in Los Angeles. While others began a race to acquire land in 1492, building homes and communities in their image, we started running 476 years after the race began. What percentage of land was left for Blacks to acquire? How then can we advance the development of a Black aesthetic in architecture?

This project, most importantly, is a collaboration with the community that will be for us and by us. My goal is to take control of our image in architecture; to elevate, not denigrate, Black life and culture. Ultimately, we envision repeating this process in nine historically Black cities in America to develop an architectural language that will vary based on the history and specificities of Black culture in each area.

KILLING IT: The Life and Death of Great American Cities by Amanda Golemba, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, M.Arch ’20

Advisors: Nikole Bouchard, Jasmine Benyamin, and Erik Hancock / Independent Design Thesis

For decades, post-industrial cities throughout the United States have been quietly erased through self-imposed tabula rasa demolition. If considered at all, demolition is touted as the mechanism for removing unsightly blight, promoting safety, and discarding the obsolete and the unwanted. Once deemed unworthy, rarely does a building survive the threat of demolition. 

In the last decade, the City of Chicago has erased over 13,000 buildings with 225 in just the last four months. Not only does this mass erasure eradicate the material and the spatial, but it permanently wipes the remnants of human bodies, values, and history — a complete annulment of event, time, and memory. 

But why do we feel the need to erase in order to make progress?

Our current path has led to a built environment that is becoming more and more uniform and sterile. Much of America has become standardized, mixed-use developments; neighborhoods of cookie-cutter homes and the excessive use of synthetic, toxic building materials. A uniform world is a boring one that has little room for creativity, individuality, or authenticity.

This thesis, “KILLING IT,” is a design proposal for a traveling exhibition that seeks to change perceptions of the existing city fabric by visualizing patterns of erasure, questioning the resultant implications and effects of that erasure, and proposing an alternative fate. “KILLING IT” confronts the inherently violent aspects of architecture and explores that violence through the intentionally jarring, uncomfortable, and absurd analogy of murder. This analogy is a lens through which to trace the violent, intentional, and premature ending and sterilization of the existing built environment. After all, as Bernard Tschumi said, “To really appreciate architecture, you may even need to commit a murder.”1 But murder is not just about the events that take place within a building, it is also the material reality of the building itself. 

Over the life of a building, scarring, moments in time, and decay layer to create an inhabitable palimpsest of memory. This traveling exhibition is infused with the palimpsest concept by investigating strategies of layering, modularity, flexibility, transparency, and building remains, while layering them together to form a system that operates as an inhabitable core model collage. Each individual exhibition simultaneously memorializes the violence that happened at that particular site and implements murderous adaptive reuse strategies through collage and salvage material to expose what could have been.

If we continue down our current path, we will only continue to make the same mistakes and achieve the same monotonous, sterilizing results we currently see in every American city and suburb. We need to embrace a new path that values authenticity, celebrates the scars and traces of the past, and carries memories into the future. By reimaging what death can mean and addressing cycles of violence, “KILLING IT” proposes an optimistic vision for the future of American cities. 

• Tschumi, Bernard. “Questions of space: lectures on architecture” (ed. 1990)

A New Prototype for Collective Housing by Juan Acosta and Gable Bostic, University of Texas at Austin, M.Arch ‘20

Advisor: Martin Haettasch / Course: Integrative Design Studio Read more: https://soa.utexas.edu/work/new-prototype-collective-housing

Austin is a city that faces extreme housing pressures. This problem is framed almost exclusively in terms of supply and demand, and the related question of affordability. For architects, however, a more productive question is: Will this new quantity produce a new quality of housing? 

How do we live in the city, how do we create individual and collective identity through architecture, and what are the urban consequences? This studio investigates new urban housing types, smaller than an apartment block yet larger and denser than a detached house. Critically assessing existing typologies, we ask the question: How can the comforts of the individual house be reconfigured to form new types of residential urban fabric beyond the entropy of tract housing or the formulaic denominator of “mixed-use.” The nature of the integrative design studio allowed for the testing of material systems and construction techniques that have long had an important economic and ecological impact.

“A New Prototype for Collective Housing” addresses collectivity in both a formal and social sense, existing between the commercial and residential scales present in Austin’s St. John neighborhood as it straddles the I-35 corridor; a normative American condition. A diversity of programs, and multigenerational living, create an inherently diverse community. Additionally, a courtyard typology is used to negotiate the spectrum of private and shared space. Volumes, comprising multiple housing units ranging from studio apartments to four bedrooms, penetrate a commercial plinth that circulates both residents and mechanical systems. The use of heavy timber ensures an equitable use of resources while imbuing the project with a familiar material character.

ELSEWHERE, OR ELSE WHERE? by Brenda (Bz) Zhang, University of California at Berkeley, M.Arch ’20

Advisors: Andrew Atwood and Neyran Turan See more: https://www.brendazhang.com/#/elsewhere-or-else-where/

“ELSEWHERE, OR ELSE WHERE?” is an architectural fever dream about the San Francisco Bay Area. Beginning with the premise that two common ideas of Place—Home and Elsewhere—are no longer useful, the project wonders how disciplinary tools of architecture can be used to shape new stories about where we are.

For our purposes, “Home,” although primarily used to describe a place of domestic habitation, is also referring generally to a “familiar or usual setting,” as in home-base, home-court, home-page, and even home-button. As a counterpoint, Elsewhere shifts our attention “in or to another place,” away. This thesis is situated both in the literal spaces of Elsewhere and Home (landfills, houses, wilderness, base camps, wastelands, hometowns) and in their culturally constructed space (value-embedded narratives determining whether something belongs, and to whom). Since we construct both narratives through principles of exclusion, Elsewhere is a lot closer to Home than we say. These hybrid spaces—domestic and industrial, urban and hinterland, natural and built—are investigated as found conditions of the Anthropocene and potential sites for new understandings of Place.

Ultimately, this thesis attempts to challenge conventional notions of what architects could do with our existing skill sets, just by shifting our attention—Elsewhere. The sites shown here and the concerns they represent undeniably exist, but because of the ways Western architecture draws thick boundaries between and around them, they resist architectural focus—to our detriment.

In reworking the physical and cultural constructions of Homes and Elsewheres, architects are uniquely positioned to go beyond diagnostics in visualizing and designing how, where, and why we build. While this project looks specifically at two particular stories we tell about where we are, the overall objective is to provoke new approaches to how we construct Place—both physically and culturally—within or without our discipline.

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20 Types of Architecture thesis topics

An architectural thesis is perhaps the most confusing for a student because of the range of typologies of buildings that exist. It also seems intimidating to pick your site program and do all the groundwork on your own. While choosing an architectural thesis topic, it is best to pick something that aligns with your passion and interest as well as one that is feasible. Out of the large range of options, here are 20 architectural thesis topics .

1. Slum Redevelopment (Urban architecture)

Slums are one of the rising problems in cities where overcrowding is pertinent. To account for this problem would be one of great value to the city as well as the inhabitants of the slum. It provides them with better sanitation and well-being and satisfies their needs.

2. Maggie Center (Healthcare architecture)

This particular typology of buildings was coined by a cancer patient,  Margaret Keswick Jencks,   who believed that cancer-treatment centres’ environment could largely improve their health and wellbeing by better design. This led a large number of starchitects to participate and build renowned maggie centres.

3. Urban Sprawl Redesign (Urban design)

The widening of city boundaries to accommodate migrants and overcrowding of cities is very common as of late. To design for the constant urban sprawl would make the city life more convenient and efficient for all its users.

4. Redesigning Spaces Under Elevated Roads and Metros (Urban infrastructure)

A lot of space tends to become dead space under metros or elevated roads. To use these spaces more efficiently and engage them with the public would make it an exciting thesis topic.

5. Urban Parks (Urban landscape)

Urban parks are not only green hubs for the city, which promotes the well-being of the city on a larger level, but they also act as great places for the congregation and bring a community together.

6. Reusing Abandoned Buildings (Adaptive reuse)

All buildings after a point become outdated and old but, what about the current old and abandoned buildings? The best way to respond to these is not by demolishing them; given the amount of effort it takes to do so, but to enhance them by restoring and changing the building to current times.

7. Farming in Cities (Green urban spaces)

With climate change and population on the rise, there is statistical proof that one needs to start providing farming in cities as there is not sufficient fertile land to provide for all. Therefore, this makes a great thesis topic for students to explore.

8. Jails (Civil architecture)

To humanize the function of jails, to make it a place of change and rehabilitation, and break from the stereotypical way of looking at jails. A space that will help society look at prisoners as more than monsters that harm, and as fellow humans that are there to change for everyone’s betterment.

9. Police Academies (Civil architecture)

Academies that train people to be authoritative and protective require spaces for training mentally and physically; focussing on the complexity of the academy and focussing on the user to enhance their experience would work in everyone’s favour.

10. High Court (Civil architecture)

Courtrooms are more often than not looked at as spaces that people fear, given the longevity of court cases. It can be a strenuous space; therefore, understanding the user groups’ state of mind and the problems faced can be solved using good design. 

11. Disaster-resilient structures (Disaster-relief architecture)

Natural disasters are inevitable. Disaster-resilient structures are build suitably for the natural disasters of the region while also incorporating design into it, keeping in mind the climatic nature of the location.

12. Biophilic design (Nature-inspired architecture)

As humans, we have an innate love for nature, and the struggle between integrating nature and architecture is what biophilic design aims towards. To pick a topic where one would see minimal use of natural elements and incorporate biophilic design with it would be very beneficial.

13. Metro stations and Bus terminals (Transportation spaces)

Bus terminals and metro stations are highly functional spaces that often get crowded; and to account for the crowd and the problems that come with it, plus elevate the experience of waiting or moving, would contribute to making it a good thesis topic.

14. Airport design (Transportation spaces)

Airport designing is not very uncommon; however, it is a rather complex program to crack; thereby, choosing this topic provides you with the opportunity to make this space hassle-free and work out the most efficient way to make this conducive for all types of users.

15. Sports Complex (Community architecture)

If your passion lies in sports, this is a go-to option. Each sport is played differently, different materials are used, and the nature of the sport and its audience is rather complicated. However, to combine this and make it a cohesive environment for all kinds of users would make a good thesis topic.

16. Stadium (Community architecture)

Unlike a sports complex, one could also pick one sport and look at the finer details, create the setting, and experience for it; by designing it to curate a nice experience for the players, the public, and the management.

17. Waste-recycling center (Waste management)

Reducing waste is one of the most fundamental things we must do as humans. Spaces where recycling happens must be designed consciously. Just like any other space, it has been given importance over the years, and this would make a good thesis topic to provide the community with.

18. Crematorium (Public architecture)

Cremation of a loved one or anyone for that matter is always a rather painful process and a range of emotions is involved when it comes to this place. Keeping in mind the different types of people and emotions and making your thesis about this would mean to enhance this experience while still keeping the solemnity of it intact.

19. Museums (Community architecture)

Museums are spaces of learning, and the world has so much to offer that one could always come up with different typologies of museums and design according to the topic of one’s interest. Some of the examples would be cultural heritage, modern art, museum of senses, and many more.

20. Interpretation center (Community architecture)

An interpretation center is a type of museum located near a site of historical, cultural, or natural relevance that provides information about the place of interest through various mediums.

References:

• 2022. 68 Thesis topics in 5 minutes . [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NczdOK7oe98&ab_channel=BlessedArch> [Accessed 1 March 2022].
• Bdcnetwork.com. 2022. Biophilic design: What is it? Why it matters? And how do we use it? | Building Design + Construction . [online] Available at: <https://www.bdcnetwork.com/blog/biophilic-design-what-it-why-it-matters-and-how-do-we-use-it> [Accessed 1 March 2022].
• RTF | Rethinking The Future. 2022. 20 Thesis topics related to Sustainable Architecture – RTF | Rethinking The Future . [online] Available at: <https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/rtf-fresh-perspectives/a1348-20-thesis-topics-related-to-sustainable-architecture/> [Accessed 1 March 2022].
• Wdassociation.org. 2022. A List Of Impressive Thesis Topic Ideas In Architecture . [online] Available at: <https://www.wdassociation.org/a-list-of-impressive-thesis-topic-ideas-in-architecture.aspx> [Accessed 1 March 2022].

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Flora is a student of architecture, with a passion for psychology and philosophy. She loves merging her interests and drawing parallels to solve and understand design problems. As someone that values growth, she uses writing as a medium to share her learning and perspective.

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Explore Thesis projects from the Class of 2021

Review Book:  https://issuu.com/mitarchitecture/docs/20-01-05_marchthesisbookletsqsinglep  

Master of Architecture (M.Arch) Website:  https://www.mitmarchthesis.com/theses

Post -arium Arditha Auriyane Advisor: Mariana Ibanez

Priced Out of Paradise :  Reconsidering cooperatives in response to climate gentrification in Miami’s communities of color Adiel Alexis Benitez Advisor: Miho Mazereeuw

To Know is to Empower :  Chagos Institute of Environmental Humanities Chen Chu Advisor: Miho Mazereew

Reclaiming the Estranged :  Reimagining the Architecture of the Excess Sydney Cinalli Advisor: Brandon Clifford, Deborah Garcia

Ferrous Futures :  Scenario Planning for Global Steel Charlotte D'Acierno, Clarence Lee, Jaehun Woo Advisor: Mariana Ibanez

Seven Ways of Reading The House of the Seven Gables Isadora Dannin Advisor: Mark Jarzombek

Gardens of Resistance Nynika Jhaveri Advisor: Azra Aksamija

After Aura :  Authorship, Automation, Authenticity Kailin J. Jones Advisor: Azra Aksamija

The Factory of Coexistence Melika Konjicanin Advisor: Cristina Parreño Alonso

Screen Time Jeffrey Landman Advisor: Rania Ghosn

Architecture for Revision Emma Pfeiffer Advisor: Rosalyne Shieh

Thorough David Allen White Advisor: Mark Jarzombek

Spring 2021

Review Book:  https://issuu.com/mitarchitecture/docs/21-05-21_allthesisbookletpages

Master of Architecture (M.Arch) Website:  https://mit-march-sp21.com/

The Houseful(l)ness of Public Space Xio Alvarez (M.Arch & MCP) Advisor: Miho Mazereeuw, Larry Vale

Still Standing :  Cooperative strategies for the renovation of Soviet mass housing Ben Hoyle, Eytan Levi (M.Arch & MSRED) Advisor: Ana Miljački

Concetividad Alegal :  Remaking and Resilience in the bay of Havana        Lucas Igarzabal, Marissa Concetta Waddle Advisor: Hans Tursack

M.I.celium mexicanus :  Rejecting Modernity through Zapotec Futurism Lynced Torres Advisor: Sheila Kennedy View project site here!

Heirlooms :  In Search of the Fifth Ecology Erin Wong Advisor: Sheila Kennedy

Building / Unbuilding   Andrew Younker Advisor: Azra Akšamija

Space of Mind :  The Hidden Architecture in the Time of Pandemic Ziyu Xu Advisor: Axel Killian

Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS)

SMArchS Architecture + Urbanism

Third Landscape Dries Carmeliet Advisor: Rania Ghosn

Mediating Chana :  Seeding Synergies Between Doves and Development Eakapob Huangthanapan Advisor: Miho Mazereeuw

Mokumitsu Districts in Tokyo :  Urban Renewal by Housing Cooperatives against Disaster Risk Ryuhei Ichikura Advisor: Miho Mazereeuw

To Build Home and To Live In (U)Hygge Wuyahuang Li Advisor: Mark Jarzombek

Collecting Ideals :  Re-Envisioning Ejidos as Climate-Action Platforms Luis Alberto Meouchi Velez Advisor: Lorena Bello Gomez, Nicholas de Monchaux

Made in Rural China Siyuan Sheng Advisor: Brent Ryan

Generative Urban Design toward Thermal Synergy :  Inspire sustainable urban configuration under distributive heating & cooling schemes Qianqian Wan Advisor: Caitlin Mueller

SMArchS Architecture Design

Velvet Garage :  Narratives of an Education in Architecture Marianna Gonzalez-Cervantes Advisor: Liam O'Brien

Nightrise :  Through the Valley of Jabal ‘Amil’s Shadow Mohamad Nahleh Advisor: Sheila Kennedy

SMArchS Building Technology

Mass Balance :  Design Strategies for Lightweight, Thermally Massive Construction Systems Eduardo Gascón Alvarez Advisor: Caitlin Mueller

Evaluating Overheating Preventative Measures in Residential Buildings and Passive Survivability Yesufu Oladipo Advisor: Les Norford

SMArchS Computation

A Machine Learning Model for Understanding How Users Value Designs :  Applications for Designers and Consumers Jeremy Bilotti (SMArchS Computation & SM in CS) Advisor: Terry Knight

The Untold Narratives Rania Sameh Kaadan Advisor: Terry Knight

Sonic Others :  Metaphorical Sonification of Collective Events Wonki Kang Advisor: Axel Killian

Networking Knowledge and Experience :  An Instrumental System for the Personal Development of Individual Designers Bowen Lu Advisor: George Stiny

Sonic Urban Transformations :  A Computational Model to Study and Represent Temporal Changes in the Walking Experience Elina Oikonomaki Advisor: Terry Knight

Monstrous Space :  Architectural Production in an Age of Algorithms Alexandra Waller Advisor: Larry Sass

Investigating Design Intentions :  Use of Eye Tracking and Machine Leearning to Study Perception of Architecture Xiaoyun Zhang Advisor: Takehiko Nagakura

SMArchS History, Theory & Criticism

"A Great Civilizing Agent" :  Architecture at MIT, Drawing Education, and Boston's Cultural Elite, 1865-1881 Katherine Dubbs Advisor: Arindam Dutta

Surveilling Sin :  Locating Sodomy in the Early Modern Florentine Bathhouse Aidan Flynn Advisor: Kristel Smentek, Jodi Cranston

SMArchS Aga Khan Program

Fractured and Dissolved, Architecture Ablaze :  Towards an Understanding of Ayeneh-Kari in Iranian Palaces Reza Daftarian Advisor: Nasser Rabbat

Scripting Inclusion Amanda Merzaban Advisor: Renee Green

Master of Science in Building Technolgy (SMBT)

Using Urban Building Energy Modeling to Meet Carbon Emission Targets :  A Case Study of Oshkosh, Wisconsin Zachary Berzolla Advisor: Christoph Reinhart

Early Design Stage Building Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) of Cost & Carbon Impact :  A Seamless Addition to the Conceptual Design Process Jingyi Liu Advisor: Jeremy Gregory, Randy Kirchain, Les Norford

Machine Learning for Human Design :  Developing Next Generation Sketch-Based Tools Bryan Ong Wen Xi (SMBT & MEng in CEE) Advisor: Caitlin Mueller

On the Relationship Between Spatial-Temporal Outdoor Thermal Comfort Simulations and Bike Ridership Elizabeth Young Advisor: Christoph Reinhart

Bachelor of Science in Art and Design (BSAD)

Digital Narratives for Self-Therapy Rachel Seo Yeon Kwak Advisor: Lee Moreau

Digital Communities x Collaborative Storytelling Clare Liut (BSAD & SB in 2A) Advisor: Mikael Jakobsson

Concrete Alternatives for Large Scale Additive Manufacturing Chloe Nelson-Arzuaga Advisor: Skylar Tibbits

Image Credits:

01. Ferrous Futures. Courtesy of Charlotte D’Acierno, Clarence Lee and Jaehun Woo (MArch).

02. Space of Mind. Courtesy of Ziyu Xu (MArch).

03. Nightrise. Courtesy of Mohamad Nahleh (SMArchS Architecture Design)

04. Untold Narratives. Courtesy of Rania Kaadan (SMArchS Computation).

05. Mediating Chana. Courtesy of Eakapob Huangthanapan (SMArchS Urbanism).

06. To Build Home and To Live In (U)Hygge. Courtesy of Wuyahuang Li (SMArchS Urbanism).

07. Concetividad Alegal. Courtesy of Lucas Igarzabal and Marissa Concetta Waddle (MArch).

08. The Houseful(l)ness of Public Space. Courtesy of Xio Alvarez (MArch + MCP).

09. Mass Balance. Courtesy of Eduardo Gascón Alvarez (SMArchS Building Technology).

10. Early Design Stage Building Lifecycle Analysis (LCA) of Cost & Carbon Impact. Courtesy of Jingyi Liu (SMBT).

Published July 1, 2021

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Ten architecture thesis projects by students at Tulane University

Dezeen School Shows: a thesis proposing 3D-printed coastal interventions for the Antarctic Peninsula, which supports food networks for local animals is included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at Tulane University .

Also included is a thesis that explores the possibilities of putting pavements , front gardens and driveways to better architectural use and a project that examines the possibilities of reusing former tuna fisheries in Sicily .

• Tulane University

Institution: Tulane University School: Tulane School of Architecture Course: ARCH 5990/6990 – Thesis Studio Tutors: Iñaki Alday, Liz Camuti, Ammar Eloueini, Margarita Jover, Byron Mouton, Carol Reese and Cordula Roser Gray

School statement:

"The Tulane School of Architecture in New Orleans generates and applies knowledge that addresses urgent challenges of humankind.

"We do this by educating committed professionals to creatively manage complexity and transform the world through the practices of architecture, urbanism and preservation.

"The five-year Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) and the graduate Master of Architecture (MArch) prepare students with advanced skills in the areas of history, theory, representation and technology.

"Our extensive network of alumni lead successful careers in various fields related to the built environment and design.

"The thesis projects presented below address a clear subject matter, identify actionable methods for working, and generate knowledge relative to their findings that ultimately contribute to architectural discourse.

"In the fall 2022 semester, students conducted research and processed work that led to designing a project according to crucial principles and parameters embedded within the discipline of architecture.

"The outcome of these activities is an architectural thesis – a competent, complex design proposal that contributes meaningfully to current and historic discussions in architecture and society – and it is presented in the spring 2023 semester.

"Throughout the process, each student was guided by at least one faculty thesis director."

Out of Scale: Disrupting the Typology of the American Mall Standard of Walkability by Merrie Afseth and Connor Little

"In order to better integrate localised systems of metabolism within the built environment, our thesis proposes the readaptation of suburban American malls into solar energy hubs.

"A new model for redevelopment centres the production, distribution and storage of energy as the key driver for transformation.

"The introduction of autonomous solar energy infrastructure informs a field condition that serves to create a new landscape strategy.

"Through reframing the mall owner's role to that of an energy provider, we can envision a future where malls become attractive not only for their retail potential, but also their role in fostering community resilience."

Students: Merrie Afseth and Connor Little Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray, Ammar Eloueini, Margarita Jover and Liz Camuti Emails: merrieafseth2018[at]gmail.com and connorlittle0714[at]gmail.com

Living In Dead Spaces: Mitigating the Housing Crisis through the Means of Adaptive Reuse by Alyssa Barber and Olivia Georgakopoulos

"In the San Francisco Bay Area there is a lack of housing and developable space but an abundance of underutilised structures.

"We propose that abandoned religious buildings are transformed into new pieces of social infrastructure.

"At three scales of intervention, these models demonstrate how abandoned churches can be adapted depending on contextual and financial considerations as a means to mitigate the housing crisis.

"After conducting an analysis of abandoned buildings in the Bay Area, we found that churches were the most common typology with the most similarities, making them suitable to implement a housing model.

"All three interventions weave the new and the old in various ways to revitalise the original building with a new programme."

Students: Alyssa Barber and Olivia Georgakopoulos Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini Emails: alyssakbarber[at]gmail.com and ogeorgakopoulos[at]tulane.edu

Amending Dead Spaces: Community Vitalisation through the Public-Private Intermediary by Andreea Dan and Tess Temple

"This thesis explores new urbanism tactics through the revitalisation of a pre-existing low-rise community in South Los Angeles, investigating the topic of American suburban-urban domesticity as a whole and expand results to other areas that face these same problems of contemporary 'dead space'.

"The primary proposal is to occupy the current street – by eliminating the access of the car, a barrier between the front of homes is eliminated, leaving space for architectural intervention that engages residents and introduces new revenue into a historically neglected community.

"The thesis reconceptualises these 'dead spaces' that have often formed in single-family urban settings where the front yard, driveway, sidewalk and street lie.

"In the particular instance of the four-block site chosen for this thesis, a repeated urban seam is highly visible. It includes single-family residences aligned to face a low-traffic street, with underutilised and fenced-in front yards and sidewalks, as well as long driveways often extending to garages in the backyards."

Students: Andreea Dan and Tess Temple Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini Emails: adan[at]tulane.edu and ttemple[at]tulane.edu

Mapping Memory: Preserving and Restoring the Landscape of Sicily's Tuna Fisheries by Giuliana Vaccarino Gearty

"This thesis project examines the reuse of tuna fisheries in Sicily – many of these 17th to 19th century buildings, called 'tonnare', have been converted from abandoned factories into commercial centres, museums and resorts.

"Focusing on one case study, I offer an expansive, landscape- and community-oriented solution to reactivating Sicily's tonnare.

"Rather than transform the site into another luxury property, I advocate for reuse with an emphasis on history, the landscape and ecological regeneration.

"I propose preserving and reactivating the tonnare through minimal programming and expanding the site to accommodate additional uses.

"New paths connect beachgoers to the water and a small 'village' of rental apartments allows visitors to linger, and a phased planting strategy will repopulate the site with native vegetation."

Student: Giuliana Vaccarino Gearty Course: ARCH 6990 – Thesis Tutors: Carol Reese and Iñaki Alday Email: giuliana.vaccarino[at]gmail.com

Immaterial: New Sensations from Old Materials by Alex Langley and Sam Spencer

"The standardisation of building materials has caused them to become more ubiquitous and less precious than they once were – there is no formal difference between a new brick and an old one.

"Therefore, it is easy to imagine demolishing what remains of buildings in poor condition and putting new brick buildings in its place.

"But this formal assessment does not take into account immaterial qualities embedded in the materials. As waste from construction and demolition increases (and the abandonment of Baltimore's historic row houses increases) the need to rethink traditional views of waste becomes more urgent.

"Through radical material reuse, architecture has the ability to reposition perceptions of value, by bringing out latent immaterial qualities within used materials.

"The fate of construction materials has been erroneously tied to that of the building – we must sacrifice certain buildings in order to reuse their materials thereby preserving the immaterial qualities within the materials."

Students: Alex Langley and Sam Spencer Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini Emails: alangley[at]tulane.edu and samuelbspencer99[at]gmail.com

Symbiosis On 'Ice': A Replicable Model for Antarctic Preservation by Seth Laskin

"The Antarctic Peninsula, which extends from the continent towards South America, is one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth and is the most significant location for climate research in the world.

"The region has experienced significant sea ice loss in recent decades, which negatively affects the local species – as sea ice disappears, the delicate balance of the food chain is disrupted, leading to declines in animal populations and biodiversity.

"This thesis proposes 3D-printed coastal interventions that invigorate local food networks and become extensions of the natural landscape, while integrating into the context of environmental research in the region.

"This can be accomplished through the implementation of research pods that are equipped with 3D printing equipment. The result is a self-expanding network that highlights a symbiotic relationship between human and environment."

Student: Seth Laskin Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray [at] Ammar Eloueini Email: slaskin[at]tulane.edu

Beyond Retreat: Realigning the Welsch Coast for Resilient Inhabitation by Megan Spoor

"The Welsh village of Fairbourne is the first community in the UK to face decommissioning due to sea level rise.

"Outlined for Managed Realignment by the UK's Shoreline Management Plan, there remains no strategy for how, or where, the village relocates, coupled with a strong desire by those affected to remain in place.

"This creates an opportunity to establish new approaches to coastal occupation that have the capacity to operate in future conditions of uncertainty and support the continued habitation of Wales' coastline.

"'Beyond Retreat' presents an alternative settlement strategy for Fairbourne, that would enable the community to prepare for (and adapt to) the impacts of sea level rise, whilst minimising community displacement, restoring coastal ecosystems and regenerating local tourism."

Student: Megan Spoor Course: ARCH 6990 – Thesis Tutors: Iñaki Alday and Liz Camuti Emails: megan.spoor[at]gmail.com

Lived Cyberspace: A Rehabilitation Center for Digital Addiction by Tiger Thepkanjana

"Surveillance, voyeurism and exhibitionism has had a long history. Today, there is the addition of the media as the main means to which we consume information.

"From this condition, physical spaces have been collapsed into what is inside the screen, all other spaces left unimportant.

"We all are voluntarily submitting ourselves into a modern digital panopticon, limiting our perception of physical space to the four corners of the screen.

"This thesis investigates speculative means to reflect upon this current state of society, establishing changing relationships between architecture and technological advancements.

"By translating virtual spaces into architecture and the landscape, this thesis attempts to show – through an architectural narrative – how the media have affected our perception of physical spaces, along with dystopian methods to rehabilitate and remediate."

Student: Tiger Thepkanjana Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini Email: tigerttz2000[at]gmail.com

Small, Multifamily, Affordable: Affordable Fourplex Design and Development in New Orleans by Daniel Tighe

"New Orleans faces a critical shortage of affordable housing. To address it, the city updated the comprehensive zoning ordinance to allow fourplexes in historic residential districts where a maximum of two units were previously allowed.

"The only condition is that at least one of the four units must be rented at a rate affordable to a household making 70 per cent of the area's median income.

"While this change is significant, other barriers exist – one year after the zoning change, not a single fourplex was built. While market-rate production of fourplexes may not be feasible, non-profit entities may offer a solution.

"Due to Louisiana's unique land tax regulations a disproportionate amount of vacant land is owned by non-profit entities.

"This thesis explores opportunities for building affordable fourplexes on vacant land already owned by local nonprofits and faith-based institutions to address the shortage of affordable housing in New Orleans.

"The design proposal seeks to create a system for designing fourplexes that can easily be adapted to most standard lots in the city."

Student: Daniel Tighe Course: ARCH 6990 – Thesis Tutor: Byron Mouton Email: dtighe[at]tulane.edu

Industrial Interface: The Future of Infrastructure in the Fourth Industrial Revolution by Leah Bohatch and Camille Kreisel

"Wastewater treatment is currently an isolated system despite its importance in serving civilians, creating a linear relationship that wastes a limited resource while harming the health of its source: the body.

"A micro WWTP in Miami is proposed to run in a cycle of water treatment and reclamation that supports the heat-stricken city through the reprogramming of a cooling aquatic centre to act as an example for future plants.

"This new interface is represented in a ribboning red path of circulation that fluctuates between snaking around mechanical systems or inhabiting the mechanical space as a volume that enables the user to experience the treatment cycle.

"A plaza utilises a gradient strategy to enhance water runoff, merging the mechanical and landscape."

Students: Leah Bohatch and Camille Kreisel Course: ARCH 5990 – Thesis Tutors: Cordula Roser Gray and Ammar Eloueini Emails: lbohatch[at]tulane.edu and ckreisel[at]tulane.edu

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