2011-‐2012
Diploma 8
Eugene Han Outline and Structure 2011/12
Corporate Domain Diploma Unit 8 will continue its line of research into the role of the corporation as an integral and vital element in the development of the contemporary territorial condition with which architecture must now contend. The unit’s core investigation within the Corporate Domain will utilise reductive elements in architecture as a means to understand the prevalent yet seemingly contradictory tendency for the development of an excessively individualised architecture for an ever generic understanding of the corporation and the city. Corporate Complex As the basis for researching and further developing their understanding of the evolving roles of contemporary corporations in relation to the urban contexts with which they intervene and structure, students will be required to develop speculative proposals for a large-‐scale corporate complex. In keeping with the unit’s adoption of form as derived from organisational logic, the design of the contemporary corporate complex must consider both the dynamic nature of economies in the city, and much more importantly, must be able to address underlying static constructions that allow for the perceptible change of the built environment. Fundamental to the methodology taken by the unit, we will seek to understand the process of the architectural ‘object,’ as adopted from a computational definition. Rather than commence proposals on any given size-‐dependent scale, be it small-‐to-‐large or a more non-‐linear sequence, such an object-‐oriented approach necessitates a simultaneous and non-‐scalar implementation of a priori architectural attributes. Corporate Territory The unit will collectively study seminal works in mid-‐twentieth century Europe and the US, as well as current trends and observations contemporary evolutions are producing. Though current trends in expansion and global territorialisation are immediately understandable, projects must demand a deeper understanding of the layered organisations that must be developed in order for such intricate frameworks to exist, and the varied repercussions they incur on architecture. In order to demonstrate their thesis, students will elect their own site and corporation for the development of their yearlong project. The resultant proposals will demonstrate the success and failures of their established architectural elements as tested for a large scale corporate complex within a stated context. The value of projects will be based on both the credibility such speculations can produce, and much more importantly, on the fractional but precise elucidation of the role of the contemporary corporation within the city.