PALE BLUE DOT: AR8101 Studio in Critical Practice_F2021

PALE BLUE DOT AR 8101: STUDIO IN CRITICAL PRACTICE

Copyright © The Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University Toronto, Canada

ISBN 978-1-77417-037-3 (PRINT)

AR 8101: Studio in Critical Practice / Fall 2021 Master of Architecture Program / DAS

ISBN 978-1-77417-036-6 (EBOOK, PDF)

325 Church Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Paleconcerned.BlueDot

All photographs, drawings and figures are courtesy of students and contributers unless otherwise noted. Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copyright. Reproduction without written permission of the publishers is forbidden. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent volumes. The editors have made every effort to see that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinions or statements appear in this publication, and assume no liability for the accuracy of completeness of the text, or its fitness for any particular subject. The opinions herein are the responsibility of the contributers

416 979 5000

Revisited. Voyager 1. NASA/JPL-Caltech, 2020. Front cover.

Brought to you by M.Arch Students of AR8101, Fall 2021.

Master of Architecture Program

M5B 2K3

Department of Architectural Science

RYERSON UNIVERSITY

PALE BLUE DOT AR 8101: STUDIO IN CRITICAL PRACTICE The Department of Architectural Science, Ryerson University Toronto, Canada

6 | AR8101

Stephen Won Il Chun

Arsalan Hosseini Ashkan Rafiey Danny Jeoung Elaheh Teimouri Gabriel Garofalo Jerry Jae Wook Kim Jeannette Wehbeh Kristen Tsoukas Jasmin Minji Kim Monika Mitic Murray YsabelYaraStephenTetyanaTejinderTedTaylorRitaPatriciaParthTobiNicoleNicholasDalySavageLiOluwatobiOmisorePrajapatiDiazBasultoRuotaoWangMarshallBulaclacBabbarGradyukWonIlChunRagabArboleda

Prof. Dr. Paul Floerke

STUDENTS

PALE BLUE DOT | 7

Prof. Carlo Parente

Sally Jia Huang Rita Ruotao Wang

FACULTYPARTICIPANTS

EDITORIAL TEAM

This very impressive document represents the work of two dozen Master of Architecture students carried out under the direction of Dr. Paul Floerke and Professor Carlo Parente over the course of a twelve-week semester in Fall 2021. The studio, which bore the title Pale Blue Dot – inspired by the famous photograph taken of Earth in 1990 by the Voyager 1 space probe from a distance of 6 billion kilometres – invited students to explore the role of architecture in addressing some of our planet’s current challenges: the climate emergency, mass migration, food insecurity, and unequal access to and distribution of resources, among others.

FORWARD

8 | AR8101

Over the years, the studio has evolved to include an ongoing relationship with the Venice Biennale of Architecture and the Chicago Architecture Biennial, exposing students to some of the world’s most innovative architectural thinkers and practitioners addressing an increasingly complex web of issues. This has helped reinforce the increasingly important role played by research in the larger endeavour of architecture to offer its unique disciplinary perspective to an evolving process that is multidisciplinary, discursive, synthetic and agile. This focus on research, and the emphasis placed on design as a research method in its own right, has continued to form the basis of the AR8101 studio, regardless of the particular focus taken in any given year.

In this studio, students consider the role of the architect and architectural practice from a variety of perspectives, including those of observer, critic and designer, explore the response of architecture to a range of current and anticipated significant disruptions, and the role of architecture as a potential agent of change.

In this, the 2021 edition of the AR8101 Studio in Critical Practice continued a tradition established in 2007, when we launched our Master of Architecture program. Along with our current Department Chair Dr. Mark Gorgolewski, I had the privilege of leading that first studio, and we established the framework that has continued to inform the studio over its 15-year span to date: challenge students to undertake intensive research-driven theoretical and design explorations, and to consider themes and issues that reside outside the confines of conventional architectural discourse to include a broader cultural, social, technological and political context.

The recent disruption presented by the COVID pandemic has only served to focus and reinvigorate this pedagogical approach. Adapting to a radically shifting context that has shaken our assumptions about architectural typology, public space, urban models and social relations, the current generation of students is rapidly shedding received architectural wisdom to explore new possibilities emerging from the ashes of the old. A century ago, the cataclysm of the First World War, followed by the devastation of the influenza pandemic that claimed tens of millions of lives and the widespread incidence of tuberculosis and other diseases, propelled architecture into a revolutionary phase that forged new conceptions of space, construction, hygiene, materiality and technology that defined the Modern movement. Plus ça change; we find ourselves again in a time of great uncertainty, with a range of crises – climatic, medical, political, economic – demanding that we reimagine our world and how architecture can help shape it.

PALE BLUE DOT | 9

Congratulations to the students of the Fall 2021, 15th edition of AR8101 Studio in Critical Practice, and to the instructors who supported and guided their explorations of how architecture can engage with the daunting challenges that we increasingly face, and that will define the professional lives of this emerging generation of architects.

1 Carl Sagan, in Pale Blue Dot (Random House USA Inc, 1997). p. 6-7.

Marco L. Polo, OAA, FRAIC Professor and Associate Chair Graduate Program, Architecture

“Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.”1

The projects documented in the pages that follow represent a series of propositions engaging with this question. There is a notable difference in attitude, however, when compared with the totalizing utopian visions proffered by our predecessors of the past century. These current projects, without exception, eschew the bombastic futurism of the early modernists, demonstrating instead a high degree of maturity and humility in their approach, and professionalism in their execution and representation. That earlier generation, besotted with enthusiasm for technological advances, did not have the benefit of the humbling perspective offered by seeing their home planet as a tiny, vulnerable blue speck suspended in the vastness of space. Musing on the Voyager photograph of Earth mentioned above, the astronomer Carl Sagan wrote, in his book Pale Blue Dot:

Tommy ThompsonTorontoPark,

10 | AR8101

pages outline the three phases of the studio with selected projects demonstrating diverse techniques and outcomes. Phase 1 illustrates the varied research undertaken through ethnographic drawing and diagraming, each project capturing a resonating prompt from The Uninhabitable Earth, Life After Warming. Phase two continues the Phase 1 research through a material investigation culminating in an evocative maquette that becomes the basis for a proposal. The final Phase 3 proposal revisits the previous phases incorporating viewpoints and delving deeper into the positions that have been formed to arrive at a final project response.

Pale Blue Dot is a first-year graduate Studio in Critical Practice in the Department of Architectural Science at Ryerson University, where students develop a critical approach to architecture. Examined through three areas of engagement: sustainability, the impacts of new technologies, and responses to local and global conditions, students consider the role of the architect and architectural practice in society from a variety of perspectives, including those of observer, critic and designer, and explore the role of architecture as a potential agent of change.

summarizes the environmental challenges through four themes; Cascades, Elements of Chaos, The Climate Kaleidoscope and The Anthropic Principle

Theissues.following

CONTEXT

In addition to conditions caused by the climate crisis, students were asked to draw upon the issues that the global pandemic has created or exposed. David Wallace-Wells’ book The Uninhabitable Earth, Life After Warming, was used as a primer. Wallace-Wells

For the 2021 fall semester, the focus of the studio was on how the social and political disruptions of the past two years coupled with the realities and immediacies of climate change have caused us to re-evaluate our world, the built environment and the systems that drive our social, cultural and political apparatus. As we respond to these systems, our role as designers of the built world may not always be obvious, but we will inevitably be asked to take part in devising solutions to our most pressing challenges. To do so, architects cannot be mere technicians but must be capable of critical thinking, synthesizing complicated ideas, and collaborating with a wide range of people. We must do more and lead the way forward.

PALE BLUE DOT | 11

With this context in mind, this studio asked students to engage in rigorous research and analysis and rethink the role of architects, architecture, urban design, and design in general. Students were encouraged to look beyond architecture’s conventional methods and practices and solve challenging problems in ways that exceed normative practice.

This studio is seen as a first step in developing an approach to design as a discursive and iterative inquiry rather than as a finite solution addressing a specific set of predetermined parameters. Projects were conceived as iterative and open-ended; students initially defined their projects and sites through a process of rigorous inquiry- identifying, researching, defining, and articulating their projects in response to a set of criteria relating to a theoretical position. Students were discouraged from approaching the work in a conventional linear sequence (i.e., research – analysis – synthesis – design proposition – conclusion) but rather encouraged to engage the process iteratively. Drawing and model building as strategies to engage critical thinking were underscored - creating thought frameworks that supplemented traditional research as a mechanism to arrive at a critical position and design intervention. Sites were chosen worldwide with varying projects that engaged: resiliency, the impacts of change, and responses to local and global cultural

12 | AR8101

HOW WILL WE LIVE TOGETHER? 26

MACQUETTE EXERCISE 36

Yara Ragab, Monika Mitic

ANTITHESIS OF ANTHROPOCENTRISM IN POST-INDUSTRIAL DETROIT 28

KAZI, MARIA 24

Murray Daly, Tejinder Babbar

Rita Ruotao Wang, Nicole Li

ADAPTATION 44 Taylor Marshall

AMBIGUOUS ARTEFACTS 50

TABLE OF RESEARCHCONTENTSANDANALYSIS 14

HOME TO HOME | TAXONOMY OF ZONES FOR CLIMATE CHANGE REFUGEES 22

BREAKING POINT 46 Jasmin Minji Kim

Jerry Jae Wook Kim

THE AVAILABILITY AND THE RESIDUE 48 Kristen Tsoukas

Tobi Oluwatobi Omisore

Danny Jeoung, Nicholas Savage

Jeannette Wehbeh, Jasmin Minji Kim, Taylor Marshall

ADAPTING TO CHAOS 18

Ysabel Arboleda, Ted Bulaclac

HUMAN CONNECTION TO FOOD 30

EXCESS AND DENSITY OF NEGATIVE SPACE 42 Ysabel Arboleda

CON · TAIN · MENT 52

ADAPTATION IN THE FLUX OF CHAOS 90 Jeannette Wehbeh, Jasmin Minji Kim, Taylor Marshall

INTEGRATION BLOCK 54

Tejinder Babbar

PALE BLUE DOT | 13

Rita Ruotao Wong

THE URBAN RESISTOR 76

Gabe Garofolo, Stephen Chun

SUBURBIA UNDER PRESSURE: REIMAGING SOCIAL CONTRACTS 64 Kristin Tsoukas, Elena Teimouri, Patricia Diaz

Rita Ruotao Wang, Nicole Li

WATER AS AN AGENT OF SPACE 57 Tetyana Gradyuk

MECHANISM OF DECAY 55

DESIGN INTERVENTION 60

LIBERALIZED AND RESTRICTED FORMS 56 Patricia Diaz Basulto

POST-ANTHROPOLIS: REIMAGINING THE POST-INDUSTRIAL CITY 102

HOME TO HOME - TRANSITIONAL HOME FOR REFUGEES 114 Yara Ragab, Monika Mitic

REFLECTIONS 122

14 | AR8101

p1 research and analysis

PROJECT PHASE 1

“The truth is actually much scarier. That is, the end of normal; never normal again. We have already exited the state of environmental conditions that allowed the human animal to evolve in the first place, in an unsure and unplanned bet on just what that animal can endure. The climate system that raised us, and raised everything we now know as human culture and civilization, is now, like a parent, dead.” 2

2 David Wallace-Wells, in The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming (New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2019), p. 24

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 15

- The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming David Wallace-Wells

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS

The inception of this studio is a rigorous research and analysis of the students’ chosen context. Using The Uninhabitable Earth as a primer to drive this operation, students were to identify and explain problems and opportunities based on their chosen site’s general context, physical and cultural data, case studies relevant to the context, and propose appropriate responses which respond to the themes of the Venice Biennale and the Chicago Biennial.

INDUSTRIALIZATION+URBANIZATION INSECTSLIVESTOCK 1800 WORLD WAR & II 1914 -1945 RISE OF FAST FOOD 1960 CURRENT 2021 RESOURCE SCARCITY 2121 New Home Expectations Transition: The Making of ‘Home’ “The U.N. projections are bleaker: 200 million climate refugees by 2050 Two hundred million was the entire world population at the peak of the Roman Empire, you can imagine every single person alive and living anywhere on the planet at that time dispossessed of their home and turned outward to wander through hostile territories in search of a new one.” Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2019.Yara Ragab and Monika Mitic England Wage: Qatar Wage: TorontoCrescentScarboroughTown Philippines 1960196519701975198019851990199520002005201020152020 +3,592 +2,451 +1,310 +169 -972 -2,113 -3,254 YearGDP/capita ($1000usd) Net Migration (1000ppl.)PHBD Philippine UAE United Arab Emriates United Kingdom U.K lls labour shortage with promise of migrant citizenship-161,800$120$1,980 -84,850 -3,045,000$210$34,300 15,290 QAT QAT Citizenship not possible Qatar Kazi migrates Scarborough, Canada, works warehouse for food importer $14,120 +859,200$16,590 Volunteers local migrant resettlemt ce-3,054,000$40,380 +859,200 Maria born Ilocos Norte, northern province the Philippines, to family -42,6,560$421 -849,800$1062 Maria moves to Dubai to be an architectural designer nancially support her kids -1,244,000$1,173+1,129,00060$34,9 Maria trains caregiver so she can migrate to Canada -804,600$2,617+1,128,000$47,590 Maria completes her EXAC and her hours to become liscened architect $44,320 The Abandoned Canadian Linseed Oil Mill Factory in Parkdale Abandoned lot in Parkdale, by the C.P.R railway tracks PARKDALE NEIGHBOURHOOD 43° 38’ 25.63” N 79° 26’ 12.23” W AnalysisandCollectionInformation/DataResearch:PreliminaryWATERWITHINTERCONNECTED TORONTO, KANPUR, MAKOKO, 16 | AR8101 1 74 10 2 8563 9

Parth Prajapati, Tobi Omisore, Tetyana Gradyuk

Yara Ragab, Monika Mitic

Jeannette Wehbeh, Jasmin Minji Kim, Taylor Marshall

Nicole Li, Rita Wang

LEGEND

2. HOME TO HOME | TAXONOMY OF ZONES FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES.

Stephen Chun, Gabriel Garofalo

8. THE URBAN RESISTOR.

Patricia Diaz, Elena Teimouri, Kristen Tsoukas

Danny Jeoung, Nicholas Savage

10. INTERCONNECTED WITH WATER.

1. ADAPTING TO CHAOS.

6. HUMAN CONNECTION TO FOOD.

5. HOW WILL WE LIVE TOGETHER?

3. KAZI, MARIA.

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 17

4. ANTITHESIS OF ANTHROPOCENTRISM IN POST-INDUSTRIAL DETROIT.

Ted Bulaclac, Ysabel Arboleda

Tejinder Babbar, Murray Daly

9. UNBALANCED DISTRIBUTION OF TORONTO NEIGHBOURHOODS IN RELATION TO GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE.

Ashkan Rafiey, Arsalan Hosseini, Jerry Kim

7. SUBURBIA UNDER PRESSURE.

“The oceans would eventually swell two hundred feet higher, flooding what are now two-thirds of the world’s major cities; hardly any land on the planet would be capable of efficiently producing any of the food we now eat; forests would be roiled by rolling storms of fire, and coasts would be punished by more and more intense hurricanes; the suffocating hood of tropical disease would reach northward to enclose parts of what we now call the Arctic; probably about a third of the planet would be made unlivable by direct heat; and what are today literally unprecedented and intolerable droughts and heat waves would be the quotidian condition of whatever human life was able to endure.”

18 | AR8101

- D. Wallace Wells, p. 20.

Flooding, wildfires, inhumane heat, air pollution, and dying oceans; the impact of climate change will not spare any aspect of life as we know it. By combining these different factors, we gain a holistic picture of how climate change will alter the shape of the Earth as we know it by 2100. At this point in the trajectory of the world’s demise, adaptation is our only option. Wallace-Wells notes in his writing that even if we immediately stop all human actions negatively affecting our Earth, the temperature of the globe would continue to rise at least by two degrees.

JEANNETTE WEHBEH, JASMIN MINJI KIM TAYLOR MARSHALL ADAPTING TO CHAOS

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 19

How can architecture leave the notion of resiliency and recovery of the lifestyle we are used to, but instead, adapt to the inevitable environmental chaos we have created for ourselves?

20 | AR8101

The Venice Biennale provides a quote that can point us in the right direction with an architectural viewpoint:

“We continue to inhabit houses and cities built on outmoded ideas of a good life. The architectural resilience of these spaces may have adjusted to our changing needs over time, but by now, they have reached the limits of their elasticity.”

Only a third of the world will be deemed habitable, with those choosing to flee struggling to secure the few resources that are left. Although we will be experiencing similar climate catastrophes around the globe, each region will have their adaptation methods dependent on location, culture, and willingness of the people to leave their homes. Some will adapt to the rising sea levels and create new life on the water, and others will have to flee to higher ground and rebuild their homes. If inground temperatures are too hot, we may have to adapt similarly to Coober Petty and live underground like the animals trying to adapt to our changing world. Other cities not as affected by floods, like Toronto, will have to adapt to a rise in population and decreasing air quality as people flee from around the world to a new place they can call home.

- Biennale Architettura, 2021

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 21

A refugee’s journey is lengthy with many stops; several never end up reaching their final destination. ‘Home to Home - Transitional Zones for Climate Refugees’ delves into the taxonomy of zones a refugee may encounter and questions if architecture can improve the living conditions, which in turn would allow the displaced to feel placed. The time frame spent in these transitional zones before reaching the final destination varies from person to person. It is not a linear path but rather a circular one as refugees are sent back to previous transitional zones, if not their home countries. A typical migration route starts from Tunisia and Libya and heads to Southern Europe to countries like Italy through boat smugglers.

HOME TO HOME | TAXONOMY OF ZONES FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES

“(...) more than 140 million people in just three regions of the world will become climate migrants by 2050.”

Climate change is an increasing reason for creating displaced people all around the world. Not only does it make weather unpredictable, but it can also be an indirect cause of conflict and poverty. In the book The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells mentions that “more than 140 million people in just three regions of the world will become climate migrants by 2050”. Generally, the African continent experiences the ramifications of climate change with an increase in drought, food insecurity, and water scarcity. These living conditions and lack of essential resources steer people away from their home countries in search of a better life abroad, which in most cases is forced migration and seen as a last resort.

- D. Wallace Wells, p.134.

YARA RAGAB, MONIKA MITIC

What is home in a world so interconnected with constant movement? How do we understand the concept of a home? Traditionally, it is the space we’ve spent most of our time growing up, and it is the space that defines our culture and traditions and the space where memories are created. However, people typically don’t stay in the same “home”; circumstances and experiences force people to relocate into a new, very different space. Regardless, humans continuously could adapt to their environment and make new homes for themselves. ‘Home to Home’ explores the displacement of climate migrants in North Africa that seek refuge in European nations.

22 | AR8101

Home to Home | Taxonomy of Zones for Climate Refugees

Left

Home Yara Ragab and Monika Mitic

Typologies of transitional zones, in this case, are usually unorganized settlements by a port, detention centres as authorities are not ready to deal with the vast number of refugees, followed by camps set up for longer durations of stay. This situation questions the topic raised by the Venice Biennale “How Will We Live Together?”. Is there a process of making these zones more livable and more home-like? What defines the feeling of home? Is it culture? Tradition? Religion? Family? What is the role of architecture in making these territorial boundaries experienced by refugees less fearful and more comforting? How can these spaces be more flexible? ‘Home to Home’ aims to investigate these questions and move towards reimagining these settlements to generate safer and more stable environments with access to resources for refugees.

of Left Behind New Home Expectations

Transition: What’s Given

Transition: The Making of ‘Home’

“The U.N. projections are bleaker: 200 million climate refugees by 2050. Two hundred million was the entire world population at the peak of the Roman Empire, if you can imagine every single person alive and living anywhere on the planet at that time dispossessed of their home and turned outward to wander through hostile territories in search of a new one.” Wallace-Wells, David. The Uninhabitable Earth: Life after Warming. New York: Tim Duggan Books, 2019.

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 23

DANNY JEOUNG, NICHOLAS SAVAGE

- D. Wallace Wells, p.133

Two information methods helped in assembling each protagonist’s story. Maria’s migration path was informed by several interviews conducted with Canadian-Filipino architects who had to figure out ways to maneuver through migration processes before finally settling in Toronto. Kazu’s story was compiled by collecting significant historical moments that were catalysts for mass out-migration from Bangladesh. The stories of Maria and Kazu are told with a sense of optimism regarding their success in settling in Canada and achieving financial stability. This direction was decided on to communicate the productive economic impact migrants can have on a host country. Canada relies heavily on immigrants to contribute to its economy by creating new entrepreneurs, jobs, and labourers. However, If we view the presented stories critically, Canada’s shameless practice of admitting only economically beneficial migrants would call Theattention.twostories told and the data from the countries reported are but a minute isolated snapshot of a vast network of global migratory patterns. Regardless of the reasons for migration, whether it be political, financial, or environmental, at one point or another, we realize that migration and the economy are always interrelated.

losing a sense of humanity when discussing the mass movement of populations, we created two protagonists telling a story of migration from each individual’s perspective. Maria is from the Philippines and Kazu from Bangladesh. The two countries were picked from the top five countries expected to have the most outbound migration due to economic and environmental reasons. Behind the stories is the presence of net migration and GDP/Capita data depicted as waves that influence the decisions of our protagonists. The connection between the two data categories is, as GDP/Capita (an expression of an individual’s earning potential in a country) fluctuates, net migration will fluctuate in response.

24 | AR8101

The presented ethnographic drawing is an attempt to visualize the macroeconomic forces that influence the mass migration of populations behind the personal financial decisions that individuals have to make when Cognisantmigrating.ofnot

“The wheels of all communities are greased by abundance, baked by deprivation, they stall and crack. The paths are familiar ones, even to those who have only ever known affluence, their lives creamily frictionless but stimulated by entertainment tracing the arc of social decline: market breakdowns, price gouging, the hoarding of goods and services by the well-off and the well-armed, the retreat of law enforcement into selfenrichment, and the disappearance of any expectation of justice making survival suddenly a matter of entrepreneurial skill.”

KAZI, MARIA

$10.47/week$13.96/weekEngland$3.49/weekWage: Cost of $55.56/week$70.71/weekQatarRemittance:Living:$15.15/weekWage: Cost of Remittance:Living: $287.50/week$187.50/weekToronto$475/weekWage: Cost of Remittance:Living: Wage:Scarborough$418.91/week$125.60/week$293.31/weekCost of Remittance+Saving:Living:1-2% pro $3,860/weekmargin Crescent TownSalary:TorontoCostEarnings:ofBusiness:$75,000/year Wage:Philippines$9.88/week$16.41/weekCost of Living: 196019651970197519801985199019952000200520102015202067.4 56.2 44.9 33.7 22.5 11.2 0 +3,592 +2,451 +1,310 +169 -972 -2,113 -3,254 YearGDP/capita ($1000usd) Net Migration (1000ppl.)UAEQATPHCADBDAbbreviationsBangladeshCanadaPhilippineQatarUnitedArab Emriates UK United Kingdom Kazi’s Maria’sTimelineTimeline Kazi’s dad leaves Bangladesh to work in England at a textile factory U.K lls labour shortage with promise of migrant citizenship-161,800$120$1,980 -84,850 BDUK UK BD Kazi is recruited to work in Qatar during oil boom -3,045,000$210$34,300 15,290 BDBDQAT QAT Citizenship is not possible in Qatar so Kazi migrates to Scarborough, Canada, works at warehouse for food importer In three years he will become a ‘Landed Citizen’ and sponsor his family+5,750$14,120 +859,200 CAD CADQAT$16,590 QAT Kazi opens a South Asian grocery in Crescent Town Volunteers at local migrant resettlemt o ce-3,054,000$40,380 +859,200 CAD CAD BD Maria is born in Ilocos Norte, a northern province in the Philippines, to a family ofPH-42,6,560PH$421 Maria works at an architecture rm in Manila after graduating Mapua Institute of TechnologyPH-849,800PH$1062 Maria moves to Dubai to be an architectural designer to nancially support her kidsPH-1,244,000PH$1,173UAE+1,129,000UAE60$34,9 Maria trains to be a caregiver so she can migrate to Canada She takes a position at a private home in TorontoPH-804,600PH$2,617CAN+1,128,000CAN$47,590 Maria completes her EXAC and fu lls her hours to become a liscened architectCAN$44,320 RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 25

have lots of open space, however there are rigid lines between what is public and what is private. This drawing suggests a redefinition of what is public and what is private, where property lines that are typically marked by fences are removed, and a corridor within the backyards of the suburban houses is formed, creating space for a Mexican

This inevitability provokes the question that is already so pertinent, how will we live together? Further more how will we accommodate the mass influx of people into the northern countries in a way that doesn’t contribute to the inputs of the climate crisis? Canada’s stance on immigration has historically been to let in small numbers of immigrants and then to disperse them throughout the country, often placing them in suburban areas that are in close proximity to economic centres while being cheaper than being directly in the city. Given Canada’s approach to immigration and the fact that there is more open space in suburban areas than within the cities, we are looking at how the suburbs could change to accommodate climate

Therefugees.suburbs

street within Markham, housing people from Paraiso, Mexico. How might these Mexicans cultivate the suburban landscape so their animals can graze and they can grow food? How will the suburban locals respond? Additionally, the public park has been taken over by the Uros people, who are indigenous to the lands of Peru and Bolivia around Lake Titicaca. These people are accustomed to building floating islands and structures out of Totora Reeds, a completely sustainable technology. How might they adapt to living in a new context that isn’t necessarily on the water? What can we learn from them in terms of decreasing our ecological footprints?

26 | AR8101

HOW WILL WE LIVE TOGETHER?

“What I call cascades, climate scientists call “systems crises.” These crises are what the American military means when it names climate change a “threat multiplier.” The multiplication, when it falls short of conflict, produces migration—that is, climate refugees. Since 2008, by one count, it has already produced 22 million of them.”

TEJINDER BABBAR, MURRAY DALY

- D. Wallace Wells, p.132

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 27

In a taxonomy exploration of abandoned structures, we can identify various building typologies left for ruins which resulted from complex social, cultural, political, and economic issues in the post-industrial city context of Detroit. Industrial buildings were abandoned due to the decline of the automotive manufacturing industry; institutional buildings were shut down due to shifting demographics and social causes; residential buildings were valueless and left behind as people moved out of the city. As the human population abandoned and left built contexts to ruins, it creates opportunities for us to reimagine and restructure the city to incorporate non-humans back into a symbiotic ecosystem.

D. Wallace Wells, p.157

Through this narrative, we questioned ‘Can we address the afterlives of built forms to be intentionally designed in response to this issue? How can we establish an ecological symbiosis between humans, non-humans, and built form? What does the space of the city look like when we are no longer in the centre?’ Our questions led us to explore the postindustrial city of Detroit, with its history of crises in the automobile industry, financial recession, and the abandonment of the city. Is Detroit an epiphany about economic globalization and the structural failure of the industrial metropolis?

Embedded in our current lifestyle is the deep-rooted mindset of human supremacy and anthropocentric thinking. This mentality has become intrinsic to our way of life through resource exploitation, pollution, human greed, and neglect of the Earth and our own kind. Through many interconnected layers of complexities, we have allowed our actions to cause a mass extinction of non-human life and threaten ecological stability. Humans often consider themselves as the centre of the ecosystem, overlooking the fact that we are part of an entire network within the ecosystem, and our actions have detrimental impacts on the whole system.

28 | AR8101

NICOLE LI, RITA WANG

We began our investigation as a long-term, future scenario. As humans and non-human species shift and migrate due to climate emergencies, cities and built forms are abandoned. Historically, ruins were valued to glorify human civilization and to eternalize man-made buildings, as the Nazi German architecture envisioned by Speer. In the present day, ruins and abandoned buildings have become tourist attractions, known as ruin porn. This attitude towards abandoned built contexts is a selfish human-centred mindset.

Can we rehabilitate the abandoned spaces and ruins of Detroit to accommodate affected non-human species? Can we intentionally create biodiversity hotspots through interactions in built forms? In order to develop a capacity for architecture to adapt to nonhuman life, a reorientation of architectural thinking and worldview is imperative.

“There is anthropocentric thinking, by which we build our view of the universe outward from our own experience, a reflexive tendency that some especially ruthless environmentalists have derided as “human supremacy” and that surely shapes our ability to apprehend genuinely existential threats to the species—a shortcoming many climate scientists have mocked: “The planet will survive,” they say; “it’s the humans that may not.”-

ANTITHESIS OF ANTHROPOCENTRISM IN POST-INDUSTRIAL DETROIT

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 29

TEDfarming.BULACLAC,

30 | AR8101

- D. Wallace Wells, p. 60

With the 2013 United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization report detailing that insect consumption as a source of protein will hold major influence on the impending food distribution crisis, the need for insect farms becomes more apparent when placed in the context of environmentally impacted regions. In comparison with traditional cattle farming, raising crickets for the same amount of edible protein requires 12x less food, 2000x less water, and produces 100x less greenhouse gases emissions. Additionally, 200 calories of insects provide more nutritional value than beef or pork, averaging 63% more protein, carbs, fibre, healthy minerals, with less fat and sugar.

“China has invested in truly customized farming strategies to boost produc tivity and cut the use of greenhouse gase - producing fertilizer; in Britain, a “soil-free startup” announced its first harvest in 2018; in the United States, you already hear prospects for vertical farming, which saves farmland by stacking crops indoors; and lab-grown protein, which does the same by culturing meats inside test tubes.”

Major world events and the food trends that follow reflect the socio-economic climate and by extension the built form. Throughout history, we can clearly see the changing dynamics that food has had on communities. Factors such as the environments in which we eat our food, the systems in place that produce our food, and the way that we receive food determine how societies will live together in the scenario of a food crisis.

The unrelenting effects of extreme climate change, rampant urbanization, mass migration, and economic disorder presents a prominent necessity for an architectural typology that provides a solution for sustainable food and food production in impoverished areas. Preparing livestock for meat consumption demands extensive amounts of natural resources, contributes to 13% of the world’s carbon emissions, and imposes upon ecosystems in order to erect facilities that raise cattle and pigs. The large carbon footprint of these facilities highlight the unsustainability of the traditional animal based protein diet, especially in the future scenario of food crises.

HUMAN CONNECTION TO FOOD

YSABEL ARBOLEDA

Hence, in the expectation of a post-disaster future is there a way in which society can harvest alternative food sources? To meet subsequent concerns regarding increased population density, depletion of arable land, and a sensitive ozone layer while also satisfying the nutritional needs and demanding appetites of the people? One solution that presents itself is insect

RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 31

WORLD WAR I & II

IALADDRESS:

CODE 32 | AR8101

As climate change continues to progress, finding spaces to produce food will become an imminent challenge as many of our lands will no longer be available in the future. By layering the different natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes, rising sea level etc. onto a singular map, ideal locations that have the potential for food production have been identified. As one of the biggest cities in America, Chicago is one of these locations. The city’s existing infrastructure can be used as a foundation for the development of insect farming. Additionally, with it’s extensive alleyway network totalling more than 1,900 miles providing potential spaces for insect facilities that would produce food for consumption through creative and critical design thinking. Although Chicago will not be entirely untouched by natural disasters, it still presents itself as a favourable site that has the capability to provide spaces for such facilities. As more than half of the world’s population eat insects daily, it is time to establish facilities that encourage the western/ european world to eat insects as well.

MINISTRY FOOD RATIONBOOK GENERAL AME Scott Rager OD

INDUSTRIALIZATION+URBANIZATION

RISE OF FAST FOOD CURRENT RESOURCE SCARCITY RISE OF ENTOMOLOGY MINISTORY FOOD NUTRITIONCASE FAMILYHOUSEHOLD#509 751875-AQ 2121-2122 SURNAME: MIN INITIALS: Y.M ADDRESS: 613BangtanSt. FOODOFFICECODE RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS | 33

36 | AR8101 maquettep2

MAQUETTE | 37

PROJECT PHASE 2

“Architecture requires control, deep control, not merely of the idea, but also of the stuff we use to give form to the idea.” 3

Technology and materiality are integral to the design process, not just the way we make buildings work. Materials are the ultimate outward expression of an architectural idea or concept, and materiality can be a driver of design solutions. In this exercise, students were required to investigate material(s) and forms which will form part of the design process and inform the final project submission. The investigation is not usually associated with construction to learn from its physical properties, but rather relates to the themes investigated in the students’ research and analysis.

3 Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake, Refabricating Architecture (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2004).

- Refabricating Architecture, Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake.

MAQUETTE EXERCISE

38 | AR8101 10741 11852 12963

MAQUETTE | 39 22191613 23201714 24181521

40 | AR8101 LEGEND 1. (RE)ORDERDanny Jeoung 2. EXCESS AND DENSITY OF NEGATIVE SPACE Ysabel Arboleda 3. INTEGRATIONTejinderBLOCKBabbar 4. MECHANISM OF DECAY Rita Ruotao Wong 5. ATYPICALStephenBONDSWon Il Chun 6. CONVERGENCEJeannette Wehbeh 7. ADAPTATIONTaylor Marshall 8. THE POWER AND RESILIENCY OF PLANTS Nicole Li 9. BOUND Murray Daly 10. WARP AND NicholasWEFTSavage 11. UNDERGabrielPRESSUREGarofalo 12. BREAKINGJasminPOINTMinji Kim 13. BALANCE AND INTERLOCK Arsalan Hosseini 14. EXPLORATION OF SHAPES | THE ACT OF TAKING SHAPE Ted Bulaclac 15. NATURAL/SYNTHETIC COMPOSITE BUILDING MATERIAL Elaheh Teimouri 16. THE AVAILABILITY AND THE RESIDUE Kristen Tsoukas 17. STATES OF MonikaTENSIONMitic 18. LIBERALIZED AND RESTRICTED FORMS

Patricia

Diaz Basulto 19. DISPROPORTION & BALANCE Yara Ragab 20. DELICATEAshkanSITTINGRafiey 21. AMBIGUOUS ARTEFACTS Jerry Jae Wook Kim 22. CON · TAIN · MENT Tobi Oluwatobi Omisore 23. POROSITYParth Prajapati 24. WATER AS AN AGENT OF SPACE Tetyana Gradyuk

MAQUETTE | 41

Actions and Operations:

EXCESS AND DENSITY OF NEGATIVE SPACE

• Blocks may be sorted more aggressively because the elastic is not at breaking point, creating a variation of excess and dense spaces as visualized by the warped grid.

Grouping and inserting blocks of varying sizes into a grid system to visualize how the flexible framework deforms in response to different block formations. What are the blocks showing?

• Resolving the stress upon the elastic to avoid breaking point. Offering slackness in high tension areas through adjustment. What happens when you sort the blocks with consideration of pull tabs?

This maquette explores the characteristics that define the excess and density of negative space through stretching elastics employing block movement and insertion. Negative space is visualized through the elastic grid system. Block formations define the boundaries of spaces within the grid. The elastic tightens and loosens in high tension areas by rearranging these blocks, organizing negative space into designated areas of excess and density.

42 | AR8101

• Distort the elastic grid via insertion and movement, creating tension within dense and spacious areas. What is the act of tension doing?

Rules and Interrogation:

2. Stretch elastic around blocks.

4. Create tension and looseness within a flexible framework via blocks, visualizing how the perception of negative space is determined through built form configuration.

• Grouping and inserting blocks of varying sizes into a grid system to visualize how the flexible framework deforms in response to different block formations. What are the blocks showing?

1. Create an environment where the elastic grid is subdued to tension and looseness and stretched and condensed in different areas.

• Sorting the blocks into groups initiates a force upon the elastic that demands conformity to their •arrangement.Elasticinresponse is pulled taut or loose. What are the pull tabs showing?

3. Pull tabs alleviate extreme force upon elastic and allow more aggressive organization of blocks.

YSABEL ARBOLEDA

MAQUETTE | 43

44 | AR8101

TAYLOR MARSHALL ADAPTATION

are using the same materials, a completely new form has emerged from two adaptable objects that make little to no reference (besides the overall shape) to the function and condition of the original brick. What can be seen here is that the integration of the new form engulfs pieces of the old to make its final form; other elements alter the state of the unknown. Still, they can be removed with no change to the new, and other pieces fall away naturally and are not needed or affect the final adapted material form. Without the space to do so, this adaption is not possible.

Three steps to pure adaptation; Repair, substitute, and adaptation. Three steps from our familiar environment to an entirely new adaptable formal solution using the brick as the familiar model. Repairing what we know and recognize, even if those materials are no longer what they used to be, the function remains the same, but an additional source of the material may be needed as an aid to its material or physical change. Substitute what is broken/missing with something unique to retain the normal function of the whole but alter the way we view the object. We have to change the way we think along with the objects change. Here we realize the importance of the new material form that can make the whole recognizable, creating a new form separate from the brick. Finally, adapt to the naturally adapted objects, abandoning the familiar function of the original. The adapted materials guide the new form and material adaptation within the broken and missing spaces it leaves behind.

What has been learned is that we cannot adapt if there is no space to adjust. The broken brick put back together does not have room to adapt. It remains unchanged with repairs, broken pieces made whole again, but not entirely the same. The substituted brick put back into a familiar form desperately holds together what used to be a brick but leads to the idea that what is essential is not the brick adapting. Still, the other material adapting to and with the brick itself. The final two forms showcase a fluid adaption of the new material alongside the already adapted brick, organized in a fashion that refers back to its old shape (Rectangular) but with an entirely new outlook on ‘available spaces’. Here we see that although we

MAQUETTE | 45

AR8101 Studio in Critical Practice Part A: Maquette Jasmin (Minji) Kim 7

BREAKING POINT

and using different forces, each member develops a unique set of conditions; twisted, pulled, bent, formed bubbles, punctured, or broken. As a result of these new characteristics, the uniform acrylic tubes take on a new identity under the process of adaptation. This maquette further questions the notion of adaptive behaviours. How much can we influence and adapt to environments without reaching the “breaking point”?

46 | AR8101

With the overarching theme of adaptability, this maquette explores the “breaking point” of the given material and its natural tendencies under a set of new influences. When buildings reach the end of their life cycle and hit a “breaking point”, they are usually abandoned or demolished. However, some buildings find new life by retrofitting or changing use- adapting to the environmental flux. The Michigan Theatre in Detroit is an example of a building close to its limit but resurrected through programming modification. What was once a theatre was revived into a parking lot. Understanding this case study was essential to the initiation of the maquette. The primary material of exploration in this maquette is acrylic plastic. I applied a heat gun to acrylic tubes with various heat intensities for different durations of time. Using heat, the tubes are pulled, twisted, rolled, or hammered to create varying conditions. By applying both natural and manufactured forces, these influences alter the material’s original state. Through trial and error

JASMIN MINJI KIM

AR8101 Studio in Practice Part A: Maquette | Jasmin (Minji) Kim

MAQUETTE | 47

AR8101 Studio in Critical Practice | Part A: Maquette | Jasmin (Minji) Kim

Critical

In conclusion, these maquettes exemplified that there are limits to the availability of natural materials. These limits also extend to synthetics and the ability to control them. The final observation was that the residue left behind from the synthetics will always

This series of maquettes analyzes natural materials’ availability and the residue that synthetic materials leave behind. Beginning with the charette at Tommy Thompson Park, I found a rock (the natural) with a piece of plastic (the synthetic) lodged inside it. My maquettes re-stimulate this charette using several different methods. For the first three maquettes, aquatic rocks and candle wax were used. Wax was heated then poured inside the cavities of the rocks in the first maquette. In the second maquette, rocks were submerged in melted wax. Both pouring and submerging methods were used to create the third maquette. The stones and wax were reheated then removed to analyze the inside residue for this maquette. Plywood was carved to look like the rocks used in the three previous maquettes (at a much larger scale than the rocks), and wax was poured into them for the final maquette. Although not a perfect resimulation of the aquatic rocks and wax due to higher quality control, it was worthwhile to see at a larger scale. It was much easier observing relationships between the cavity and how the wax settled into them at this scale.

TSOUKAS

THE AVAILABILITY AND THE RESIDUE

KRISTENremain.

48 | AR8101

MAQUETTE | 49

Jerry (Jae Wook) Kim

-Ambiguoushttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambiguousabletobeunderstoodin

AMBIGUOUS ARTIFACTS

The selected artifacts have subtle traces of human processes that remain on a surface that has mostly become illegible by transformation from natural processes. The hints of controlled and abrupt changes to the form suggest human intervention on organic forms of no geometric definition, that which is a result of complex and seemingly random operations of natural forces. Examining the processes that create objects in ambiguous states reveals that any given phase in a transformative cycle, an objects shows varying amounts of human and natural processes it had experienced. Hence, ambiguous artifacts questions the boundary between conventional classification of ‘human’ and ‘natural’ in the physical environment, and opens possibilities of operating with a combination of human and natural processes to reach unique ambiguous conditions that had previously been difficult to recognize.

more than one way : having one possible meaning, doubtful or uncertain especially obscurity or indistinctness

ManifestoAmbiguous

artifacts found on Tommy Thompson Park characteristics of both human and natural processes that the object, making it difficult to classify the artifact either “human-made” or “natural”. The co-existence of of forces that operate very differently and the consequent uncertainty of an artifact’s identity is a key characteristic of ambiguity that is inquired in this maquette. The curation artifacts in separate boxes attempts to emphasize ambiguity minimizing any context, organizational strategy, and with adjacent objects.

JERRY JAE WOOK KIM

-Ambiguoushttps://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ambiguousabletobeunderstoodin

ManifestoAmbiguous

more than one way : having more than one possible meaning, doubtful or uncertain especially from obscurity or indistinctness

- suggests movement in two directions at once, and hence, a wavering or uncertainty.

- suggests movement in two directions at once, and hence, wavering or uncertainty.

50 | AR8101

“Ambiguous artifacts” found on Tommy Thompson Park embody characteristics that are formed by both human and natural processes, making it difficult to classify the artifact as either “human-made” or “natural”. The co-existence of two types of forces that operate very differently and the consequent uncertainty of an artifact’s identity is a crucial characteristic of ambiguity that is explored in this maquette. The curation of artifacts in separate boxes emphasizes ambiguity by minimizing context, organizational strategy, and associations with adjacent objects. The selected artifacts have subtle traces of human processes that remain on a surface that has become illegible by transformation from natural processes. The hints of controlled and abrupt changes to the form suggest human intervention on organic forms of no geometric definition, resulting from complex, seemingly random natural forces. Examining the processes that create objects in ambiguous states reveals that an object can show varying amounts of human and natural processes it has experienced at any given phase in a transformative cycle. Hence, ambiguous artifacts question the boundary between the conventional classification of ‘human’ and ‘natural’ in the physical environment-- Allowing for open possibilities of operating with a combination of human and natural processes to reach unique ambiguous conditions that were previously challenging to recognize.

The selected artifacts have subtle traces of human that remain on a surface that has mostly become illegible transformation from natural processes. The hints of controlled and abrupt changes to the form suggest human intervention organic forms of no geometric definition, that which is of complex and seemingly random operations of natural Examining the processes that create objects in ambiguous reveals that any given phase in a transformative cycle, objects shows varying amounts of human and natural processes it had experienced. Hence, ambiguous artifacts questions boundary between conventional classification of ‘human’ ‘natural’ in the physical environment, and opens possibilities of operating with a combination of human and natural to reach unique ambiguous conditions that had previously difficult to recognize.

AMBIGUOUS ARTIFACTS

artifacts found on Tommy Thompson Park embody characteristics of both human and natural processes that formed the object, making it difficult to classify the artifact as either “human-made” or “natural”. The co-existence of two types of forces that operate very differently and the consequent uncertainty of an artifact’s identity is a key characteristic of ambiguity that is inquired in this maquette. The curation of artifacts in separate boxes attempts to emphasize ambiguity by minimizing any context, organizational strategy, and associations with adjacent objects.

AMBIGUOUS ARTEFACTS

MAQUETTE | 51

Containers may be shells with an inner and a distinct outer form. The latter is occasionally impermeable, whereas rigid containers, on the other hand, might be porous, allowing for the passage of air. It is possible to confine and hide, load and unload, fill and empty a container. In addition to semi-open vessels and mostly closed boxes, soft containers such as bags and sacks may be used. They act as spaces of storage, consumption or display. One could classify a building and even city walls as containers.

CON TAIN ∙ MENT

∙

This maquette was an exploration of the act of containment. Techniques, practices, and aesthetics of containment are among the elementary interactions of humans and the environment. This approach may occur via the processes of gathering and collecting, transporting, storing, and conserving, as well as through creating or making accessible liquids or solids, the majority of which is water. Containment is, therefore, one of the essential requirements for the existence of things. Containers or vessels are not only things in and of themselves, but they may also provide a relatively stable state of of their contents throughout time and space.

52 | AR8101

TOBI OLUWATOBI OMISORE

MAQUETTE | 53

Making something new and unique through means of combination inherently reduces it to its basic units and approaches it differently. What comes next is not to compare it to what it was but to observe how it reacts in its new form. This maquette aims not to create something perfectly organized but how different components can be identified and reorganized to create something that works, fits, and challenges possible. This maquette is a puzzle with no solution. It is composed of three blocks: cement, acrylic and wood. Each set individually follows its own set of rules of construction based on the attributes of the material. The initial puzzle is to build within the individual set, to understand the tangible and intangible qualities of the block. Then the more challenging puzzle can begin, where one must create using all three groups, choosing what rules the blocks carry over and what rules are to be ignored/ broken. The assemblage of this puzzle is to challenge the role of the block and void and to intentionally place blocks based on shape, precision, and orientation. When all pieces are used and a free-standing structure is constructed, only then can the mosaic of blocks be understood as a whole. Furthermore, this maquette is an exercise of configuration and organization to create a new unique structure made of intentionally placed blocks of different materials.

54 | AR8101

TEJINDER BABBAR

ADAPTATION

In general, decay is typically viewed as destructive and reductive. The decay mechanism is a product of the impact of weather, chemistry, biology, and time on built forms with unpredictable, erratic results. The mechanism of decay is presented through an assemblage of superimposing layers. The assemblage serves as a physical model exploration that investigates decay as a constructive agent and how to represent the mechanism of decay through addition. The assemblage intends to be observed from multiple directions, showing various states of decay of different construction materials, creating a spectrum of decay that ranged from pristine to weathered, degraded, and void, all represented with plain, monochrome materials. Hence the underlying dynamic process of decay is accentuated with light and shadow. This assemblage views decay as a constructive agent that happens gradually over the years, with minimal energy input, but produces valuable output. This maquette exploration discovered that the superimposed layers create ‘glitches’ that may seem unworkable but provide new transformative and even regenerative opportunities. The lighted ‘ glitches ‘ signify future potential growth when the assemblage is illuminated with a consistent light source below. The collaged decay spectrum shows that most transformative potentials occur in the middle range, while the two ends appear almost monotonous. This finding provides a better understanding of the life cycles of various construction materials. Moreover, it prompts design strategies to maximize the transformative potentials of these decayed materials in the future.

RITA RUOTAO WANG

MECHANISM OF DECAY

MAQUETTE | 55

Daily, we perceive various forms with a certain degree of prototypicality. The similarity of these forms brings us comfort subconsciously, and as a result, we continue to design objects, buildings, vehicles, etc., that feels familiar to us. This phenomenon is especially evident in the context of a home. When people hear the word home, a bungalow, a two-storey house with a garage and backyard, or an apartment comes to mind. However, the concept of a home has been rapidly changing over time and continues to change. Factors such as, but not limited to, climate change, population growth, economies, and migration have shifted our way of thinking about housing. We must now investigate ways to evolve the design of a home into one that can adapt to the ever-changing family structure, environment, and society. It is critical to explore non-conventional ways of thinking about form and materials. The maquettes being presented were used as a tool to examine liberalized and restricted conditions through mechanisms of time, fabric, and patterns. They were created using 3D-printed moulds made from a water-soluble polymer (PVA). Candle wax was then poured into the mould, subsequently submerged into water until the PVA completely dissolved. Once the candle wax was detached, heat was applied to its rigid form to liberalize the wax in an uncontrolled way. The entire process revealed that no matter how much freedom is given to a material, it will never be infinitely liberalized. It will always be restricted by mechanisms of time, material, and

DIAZ BASULTO

56 | AR8101

LIBERALIZED AND RESTRICTED FORMS

PATRICIApatterns.

Through the creation of these carved spaces, there arise to be opportunities — how does material adaption re-define the availability of space? Water is understood to be a seemingly ubiquitous material, and it surrounds us. Yet our relationship with it fluctuates, as it will continue carving and pressing itself against the built world we have created for ourselves. As forces of trapped water press and adapt in an environment of limited space and construction, the shapes of adapted movement during adjustment are recorded in the hardened material. Through this process, the meeting points of fluid materials show how they are pushing against each other through a series of forces. The sequences of voids that appear are the remnants of the deformities carved out through this movement. In Ray Bradbury’s short story, “The Long Rain,” there is a struggle for sanity in an insane situation. In a world where the rain is relentless and never-ending, the inhabitants aren’t even given a moment of peace or calm. The consistent pushing and battering are exerting their force over the person. Over time, it will erode at the surface, whether that is a person’s sanity or the physicality of the landscape and the person’s tools. Reflecting on this notion of water as a spatial agent in the built world reveals that water will adapt and deform the environment. If you give it enough time, it will consume the landscape altogether, into something else entirely.

WATER AS AN AGENT OF SPACE

MAQUETTE | 57

TANYA GRADYUK

p3 design intervention

60 | AR8101

DESIGN PROJECTINTERVENTIONPHASE3

What will happen at two degrees, or three? Presumably, as climate change colonizes and darkens our lives and our world, it will do the same for our nonfiction, so much so that climate change may come to be regarded, at least by some, as the only truly serious subject.“

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 61

“Already, with the world just one degree warmer, wildfires and heat waves and hurricanes have inundated the news, and promise to cascade shortly through our stories and inner lives, making what may seem today a culture suffused with intuitions of doom look like a comparatively naive season…

- D. Wallace Wells, p. 143

In the final phase, building on the students’ research and maquette exercise, students were tasked to develop a preliminary design addressing one or more of the issues identified in their research. Having generated ideas for a design proposal, students were then asked to develop an intervention functionally and conceptually related to the proposal explored in earlier stages of the work. As students compose their interventions, they were encouraged to consider three primary areas of engagement: sustainability in all its facets; the impact of technologies; and response to local and global contexts.

45 YEAR PROJECTION LIVE Our special theme this week is “exotic asian fruit!” We’re selling live Chinese horntails.coconutLotsofprotein,lotsofflavour! + CONCLUSION Flux is chaos seeking for balance through adaptive methods Climate change and the layers of chaos will affect the world as we know it today very drastically. This is a known unknown and will happen regardless whenever we decide to act upon it. Most of the earth’s surface that humans inhibit are currently within the Goldilocks Zone of adaptability therefore we can still do something about it. Our approach to the inhabitable earth is simple but effective. The proposal is to adapt with what is already available and to build with what we know in order to live like we do for as long as we can. Our research towards the year 2100 and the layers of climate chaos we will face, in combination with conceptual theories on the idea of adaptation in the form of our maquettes, we have come to understand that there is no ‘single’ solution for adaptability for the evolving world or even single solutions to one specific place in the world. In order to adapt to our current and future evolving environment, a series of fluctuating initiatives which tackle issues at various scales is instrumental. It is instrumental not only to adapt to external change, but to adapt to our own previous adaptations. A pluralistic and flexible approach is key to a resilient society which prepares for the events to come. With this in mind, we believe adaptation is a gradual process overtime with interventions growing and withering naturally with its surroundings. Strategies can be proposed, but ultimately, the outcome cannot be controlled. Interventions which may work at one point within the Goldilocks Zone may not work at another, so the adaptation strategies must be fluid and themselves adaptable as a result. Whether that be building onto, reusing, building into, swapping out strategies, nothing can be or will be permanent. Translational adaptable strategies are needed as not only will strategies change, but there may be times of conflicting interventions of adaptability, where methods must combine with each other to provide solutions. Therefore, it is important to think holistically when intervening on built form, turning possible conflict into opportunity for natural evolution of adaptable Thesestrategies.nine adaptable strategies, applied to Fez, Morocco for this project, can translate and be applied to any other city experiencing the layers of chaos within the goldilocks zone. It is a framework in which to guide the evolution of architecture through these new challenges while maintaining tradition, meaning, and comfort. 2 54 8 9 10 163 7 62 | AR8101

Parth Prajapati, Tobi Omisore, Tetyana Gradyuk

1. SUBURBIA UNDER PRESSURE: REIMAGINING SOCIAL CONTRACTS

Nicole Li, Rita Wang

Monica Mitic, Yara Ragab

Tejinder Babbar, Murray Daly

Patricia Diaz, Elena Teimouri, Kristen Tsoukas

2. THE URBAN RESISTOR.

7.GROWING TOGETHER, BUILDING A SHARED RESILIENCE TO CLIMATE CHANGE Arsalan Hosseini, Jerry (Jae Wook) Kim, Ashkan Rafiey

Danny Jeoung, Nicholas Savage

10. THE LOST RIVER PROJECT

LEGEND DESIGN INTERVENTION | 63

6. THE JUNCTION TRIANGLE MASTERPLAN

8. HUMAN CONNECTION TO FOOD

3. ADAPTATION IN THE FLUX OF CHAOS

Stephen Chun, Gabriel Garofalo

4. POST-ANTHROPOLIS

5. HOME TO HOME | TRANSITIONAL HOME FOR REFUGEES

Jeannette Wehbeh, Jasmin Minji Kim, Taylor Marshall

9. THE FREE ZONE

Ted Bulaclac, Ysabel Arboleda

In Canada, housing is considered unaffordable when the cost of a home is more than 30% of a household’s before-tax income. In 2016, 44% of renters in Metro Vancouver and 37% in Surrey spent over 30% of their income on rent. In comparison, 25% of homeowners in Metro Vancouver and Surrey spent 30% or more of their household income on housing. In Surrey, 18% of all renter households (8,860 households) are living in overcrowded conditions, compared to 6% of owner households (6,685). Surrey has the highest percentage of renters living in crowded conditions of all municipalities in Metro Vancouver. Surrey’s overcrowding rate for renter households is higher than the Metro Vancouver rate of 12% (Statistics Canada, Census 2016).

64 | AR8101

SUBURBIA UNDER PRESSURE: REIMAGINING SOCIAL CONTRACTS

Surrey, the largest growing municipality in Metro Vancouver, is expecting an influx of immigrants from all over the world and population growth in the next 30 years. About 60% of these immigrants come as skilled workers searching for better economic outcomes and 5% come as refugees. Surrey receives more refugees than any other B.C municipality. However, they reported their housing search is challenging and complicated due to the province’s lack of affordable housing for larger families. In Canada, housing is considered unaffordable when the rent or mortgage is more than 30% of the households’ before-tax income. In Surrey, 25% of homeowners spend more than this 30% on housing, designating them as house poor. Unaffordability is also seen in the lack of space provided. 18% of renters in Surrey live

ELENA TEIMOURI, KRISTEN TSOUKAS PATRICIA DIAZ

in overcrowded, unsuitable conditions, resulting in the highest rate for Metro Vancouver.

In the previous research drawing, maquettes, and the interim proposal, we explored why the single-family household is an unfit housing typology for the future. Single-family homes have remained the same since their inception in the 1950s, contrasting to changing and evolving family structures. A recent study in the Metro Vancouver area showed that over 70 percent of participants favour rezoning single-family homes to a wider variety of housing (such as co-housing and other more affordable models).

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 65

66 | AR8101 FAMILY SIZES DWELLINGS BY 60, 000 50, 000 40, 000 30, 000 20, 000 10, 000 HOUSESOFNUMBER COUPLES42% FAMILY OF 3 23% FAMILY OF 4+ 35% FAMILY SIZES DWELLINGS 10,20,30,40,50,60,HOUSESOFNUMBER COUPLES42% FAMILY OF 3 23% FAMILY OF 4+ 35%

City Centre is Surrey’s fastest-growing region in Metro Vancouver, as the population grew 11% between 20112016. The City Centre region is one of Surrey’s most desirable areas to live in, while also containing the largest population of low-income residents compared to the other areas (Fleetwood, South Surrey, etc.).

METRO VANCOUVER

Surrey, the largest growing municipality in Metro Vancouver, is expecting an influx of immigrants from all over the world and population growth in the next 30 years. About 60% of these immigrants come as skilled workers searching for better economic outcomes and 5% come as refugees. Surrey receives more refugees than any other B.C municipality. However, they reported their housing search is challenging and complicated due to the province’s lack of affordable housing for larger families. In Canada, housing is considered unaffordable when the rent or mortgage is more than 30% of the households’ before-tax income. In Surrey, 25% of homeowners spend more than this 30% on housing, designating them as house poor. Unaffordability is also seen in the lack of space provided. 18% of renters in Surrey live in overcrowded, unsuitable conditions, resulting in the highest rate for Metro Vancouver.

Dwelling Buying vs.

SURRREY CITY CENTRE AND AFFORDABILITY

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 67 DWELLINGS BY BEDROOM ≤1 000000000000000000 2 3 ≤4 NUMBER OF BEDROOMS

In Canada, housing is considered of a household’s before-tax income. Surrey spent over 30% of their Vancouver and in Surrey spent rey, 18% of all renter households compared to 6% of owner households age of renters living in overcrowded Surrey’s overcrowding rate for 12% (Statistics Canada, Census City Centre is Surrey’s fastest growing 11% between 2011-2016. The live in while also containing the the other regions (Fleetwood,

$700,000$600,000$500,000$400,000$300,000$200,000South Housing

REPURPOSE

Population projections for 2050 expect the population to increase 66%. At the same time, wages have remained the same (the median income per person has been around $27k for the past ten years), and the cost of living is increasingly more exorbitant. These factors have pushed lawmakers to redraw zoning maps to accommodate more affordable housing that considers future density.

Reimagining Social Contracts is driven by the need to provide adaptive, flexible, and affordable spaces in an area rapidly changing from suburban to urban. As seen over time, the meaning of family is ever-evolving, and as a result, future dwellings should reflect this change. To reimagine the social con-tracts of dwelling, we need to think of urban living as a system instead of individualistic plots of private property.

68 | AR8101 INTERVENTIONS

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 69 MERGE ADD

SUBTRACT

For this proposal, a typical block was analyzed (that is zoned for a 20th-century idea of single-family housing) from Surrey’s City Centre. This typical block contains 18 houses, which would accommodate 75 people. In 30 years, it would need to accommodate 125 people (due to the 66% population increase, as previously mentioned). As a result, this proposal seeks to provide an affordable shared model of living that can easily sustain future densification and allow flexibility. The design emerged from a desire to respect the characteristics of the existing site while reimagining the way we dwell. The majority of the existing houses on-site were repurposed, and a structural 4x4m² grid system that houses modular building blocks was imposed onto them.

70 | AR8101 106 A AVE 105 A AVE STA132 ST133ST132

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 71

These modules re-negotiate our concept of domestic space into neutral, unassumed spaces, acting as canvases for the diverse members of each community. They break the walls of traditional homes through acts of repurposing, adding, subtracting or merging. They can house people and be used for commercial, institutional, or user desires. This model ultimately allows the users to determine what these spaces can become, self-sustaining each community. This vision must be adopted at a larger scale as the population, and the need for affordable, suitable housing continues to grow.

Level 1 Level 2 Level 3

76 | AR8101

By examining Parkdale as a unique example, we begin to ask questions; How can we give and take to achieve reconnection and form new connections? How will the existing framework react to a mass influx of people living and working in a denser environment? How can we proactively prepare urban areas to adapt to the cascading changes in urban living? By questioning the standard methods of urban development, we began to highlight the possible trajectory.

GABE GAROFOLO, STEPHEN WON IL CHUN

According to the latest estimates, Toronto’s population will rise from 2.99 million in 2020 to 3.95 million in 2046, adding 966,000 people. Parkdale, a neighbourhood in Toronto’s western district, is considered an “arrival community,” as it is a lower-income neighbourhood, with a current majority of low-density housing that newcomers find desirable to settle. Once a prime location for Toronto’s wealthiest individuals, Parkdale became divided as mass infrastructure projects segregated the neighbourhood. Train lines, industrial zones, major streets and highways isolate the neighbourhood from the city’s core to the waterfront.

THE URBAN RESISTOR

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 77

Gesture Operation

78 | AR8101

Actions / Gestures

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 79

80 | AR8101

Utilizingneighbourhood.thediscovered

free spaces creates a system of nodes and linkages to re-introduce the urban realm to the native domain. The design of nodes and connections is to be imagined as adaptable and resilient to ensure the system’s benefits endure the impacts of densification. The use of nodes and linkages allows for creating microclimates, where the experiential qualities of the spaces support the actors living within the densified context.

By leveraging the “free space” in a given context, an imposed system can be developed in an accessible and flexible manner. Uncovering the invisible elements within an urban context reveals new medians for connection. Discovering native ecologies, buried rivers, historic sites, and activity patterns of inhabitants develops an appendix of actors and objects within a

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 81 BIKESE-SCOOTERSSTATION SEA LEVEL 2100SEA LEVEL 2060SEA LEVEL // 2030

Water Features Walking Routes

Wildlife Crossing

Urban Parks

EnergyClimateProductionRefuge Safe

Air FloodFiltrationMitigation Electric RegerenatedInfrastructureLandscapesUrbanFarmingAcousticBuffer

Visualizing this “urban resistor” system within Parkdale begins to uncover the potential of reconnection. Parkdale offers ample free space to examine. The spaces can be moulded and manipulated in adaptable and resilient ways. An appendix of nodes within this neighbourhood provides anchor points to reconfigure connections. Through a collection of different urban interventions, such as land bridging the space above a railway, relationships are restored across divides, with minor disturbances to the existing systems. As the needs of Parkdale change and the requirement for expansion and contraction occur, the system will be able to provide actors access to these supportive microclimates continuously. These microclimates support humans and nature through connections and leisure and provide a system of positive production that leverages available spaces to become nodes of production and function.

82 | AR8101

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 83

JEANNETTE WEHBEH, JASMIN MINJI KIM, TAYLOR MARSHALL

will be deemed habitable, with those choosing to flee struggling to secure the few resources that are left. Although we will be experiencing similar climate catastrophes around the globe, each region will have its adaptation method dependent on location, culture, and willingness of people to leave their homes. Some will adapt to the rising sea levels and create new life on the water. Others will have to flee the rising waters for high ground and rebuild their cities. If in-ground temperatures are too hot, we may have to adapt like those do in Coober Petty and live underground like the animals who are trying to adapt to our changing world with us. Other cities not as affected by floods will have to adjust to the rise of population and decreasing air quality as people flee from around the world to a new place they can call home.

“We continue to inhabit houses and cities built on outmoded ideas of a good life. The architectural resilience of these spaces may have adjusted to our changing needs over time, but by now, they have reached the limits of their elasticity” (Biennale Architettura, 2021).

How can architecture adapt to the inevitable environmental chaos we have created for ourselves?

- D. Wallace Wells, p. 20

90 | AR8101

ADAPTATION IN THE FLUX OF CHAOS

The impact of climate change will not spare a single aspect of life as we know it on Earth. By combining all of these different factors, we gain a holistic picture of how climate change will alter the shape of the Earth by 2100. Adaptation is our only option at this point in the trajectory of the world’s demise. Wallace-Wells notes in his writing that even if we should immediately stop all human actions negatively affecting our Earth, the temperature of the globe will continue to rise at least two degrees Celsius. Only a third of the world

“The oceans would eventually swell two hundred feet higher, flooding what are now two-thirds of the world’s major cities; hardly any land on the planet would be capable of efficiently producing any of the food we now eat; forests would be roiled by rolling storms of fire, and coasts would be punished by more and more intense hurricanes; the suffocating hood of tropical disease would reach northward to enclose parts of what we now call the Arctic; probably about a third of the planet would be made unlivable by direct heat; and what are today literally unprecedented and intolerable droughts and heat waves would be the quotidian condition of whatever human life was able to endure.”

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 91 + CONCLUSION

92 | AR8101 CPointreakingBonvergenceSpatialAdaptation + GOLDILOCKS ZONE + NOTION OF RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION Ecological Resilience Adaptation within the Goldilocks Zone Engineered Resilience measure of how much disturbance a system can manage before system failure occurs measure of how much disturbance a system can manage before it shifts to another state The Goldilocks ZoneExisting Condition Point of No Return + NOTION OF RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION Threshold Threshold Threshold The System New System State Adaptation within Goldilocks Zone Resilience Figure (left) compiled from Gunderson and Holling (2002), Folke (2016), and Parsons et al. (2017). + NOTION OF RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION Threshold Threshold Threshold The System New System State Adaptation within Goldilocks Zone Resilience Figure (left) compiled from Gunderson and Holling (2002), Folke (2016), and Parsons et al. (2017).

1 3 4

Synthesizing our research and maquette findings, the above is a new adaptable map we have conceived of the Goldilocks Zones and deemed habitable lands. It is evident that the outlined areas above will be the most vulnerable to the elements of chaos and the greatest affected areas by the year 2100. Looking past this year, or perhaps even before, adaptability may be out of the question for these areas and an entirely new system may be introduced.

Limestone Quarries: Morocco traditionally uses limestone to construct exterior building envelopes. The advantage of these walls is that they allow them to breathe, which naturally keeps buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter. As more people flee coastal cities for inland cities like Fez, there will be an ever-increasing demand for housing within these already dense cityscapes. Modular building construction strategies can be adapted to allow for easy expansion while also considering the future of these buildings.

Mud Suitable for Adobe Bricks: Adobe bricks are a traditional construction material used for both the interior and exterior walls of buildings in Morocco that also act as an excellent thermal mass for maintaining interior temperatures in all seasons.

+ TAXONOMY OF BUILDINGS IN FEZ mosques riads (merchantfunduqsbuildings) (bathhammamshouses) fountainspublic tanneries (fortifiedkasrsvillages)palacesfountains fountains fountains gates (institutions)madrasas synagogues gathering public cultural economictourism&growthaccessible large medium small micro-climateprivate zawiyas arches thresholds stackedlevels cavernous water tubs zellij tiling tanningpools windowsgardenscourtyards doorways religious civic domestic + TAXONOMY OF EVOLVED BUILDING TYPOLOGIES mosques religious civic domestic gathering public cultural tourismaccessible large medium small micro-climateprivate fountainsgates courtyardsriadsgardenstanneriestanningpoolszellijfountainspublictiling(bathhammamshouses)cavernouswatertubs(merchantfunduqsbuildings)stackedlevels(institutions)madrasasfountainsarchesthresholdsfountainszawiyassynagogues doorwayswindows

Trees: Specifically Cedar, these trees play a fundamental role in the structure of traditional buildings in Morocco.

Observing the forecasted map of the world by 2100, applying all the possible layers of chaos, it was discovered that Morocco was one of the few countries simultaneously impacted by all elements of the chaos at varying degrees. For this reason, Morocco was selected within the global context as an area of interest for further study of adaptation within the Goldilocks Zone.

FEZ, LocatedMOROCCOinMorocco,

Fez is a city within the defined Goldilocks Zone and is the location of interest for the proposal of adaptation strategies. Fez is affected by numerous elements of chaos, including natural disasters, high land surface temperatures, wildfires, air pollution, and rising air temperatures. The city will also be dealing with an influx of migrants taking refuge from Rabat, Casablanca, and Marrakesh, areas outside the Goldilocks Zone.

MATERIAL STUDY

Sand:below:Fundamental ingredient in the mixture of many construction materials abroad. It is specifically related to Morocco. However, sand is essential in the making of ‘medluk’, a traditional paste applied to limestone or brick walls as an outer-wall finish.

94 | AR8101

Buildings in Fez typically vary between two and four storeys in height, usually employing clay bricks or limestone construction with a mu\edluk finish. Window and door openings are minimal in residential areas, utilizing wood lattice structures. Buildings and infrastructure in Morocco have traditionally been made using the natural materials listed

Limestone QuarriesTreesSand

Quarries (Other Than Limestone)

Mud Suitable for Adobe Bricks

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 95

Limestone has been traditionally used in Morocco for the construction of exterior building envelopes. The advantage of these wall is that they allow the walls to breathe, which naturally keeps buildings cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Abandoned or Vacant Infrastructure Materials can be salvaged from sites as they are abandoned by their old residents, and quarries can be converted into underground communities.

Abandoned or Vacant Quarries

Specifically Cedar, these trees play a fundamental role in the structure of traditional buildings in Morocco.

Fundamental ingredient in the mixture of many construction materials abroad. Specifically related to Morocco, however,, sand is essential in the making of ‘medluk’, a traditional paste applied to limestone or brick walls as an outer-wall finish.

Adobe bricks are a traditional construction material used for both the interior and exterior walls of buildings in Morocco that also act as a good thermal mass for maintaining interior temperatures in all seasons.

+ MATERIALS STUDY

As more people flee coastal cities for inland cities like Fez, there will be ever increasing demand for housing within these already dense Modularcityscapes.building construction strategies can be adapted to allow for easy expansion while also taking into account the future of these buildings.

city walls city gates(fortifiedkasrsvillages)palaces kasbahs (forts) micro-climate passive defensecontrol& enclosures military domestic military micro-climate passive control + kasbahsenclosurescitycitydefensewallsgates(forts)villages)(fortifiedkasrspalacescourtyardsriadsgardenswindowsdoorways

+ MATERIALS STUDY

9. Changing Building Typologies

9INTERVENTION 8INTERVENTION 7INTERVENTION 6INTERVENTION 2INTERVENTION 1INTERVENTION +

UTILIZING THE UNIQUE LANDSCAPE

5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape

Temperatures by 2050 will have risen by 2 degrees Celsius, and sea levels will have continued to rise, flooding most coastal cities. These water level 2 km STRATEGY 5: OVERVIEW

FORTS & CITY WALLS

FORTS & CITYEL-JDIDFESWALLS Temperatures by 2050 will have risen by 2 degrees celsius and sea levels will have continued to rise, flooding most coastal cities. These water level increases will also begin to result in the rising water levels of local water sources in other parts of Morocco, like bodies of water near Fez. These bodies of water can be used to harness sustainable sources of electricity and new sources of freshwater through Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. These bodies of water must also be maintained and protected from rising temperatures and evaporation through modular floating solar farms. 5INTERVENTION + INTERVENTION

Beginning in the last decade, crop failure was estimated to be 2.4x a decade with major cities such as Rabat and Casablanca starting to flood. With up to 50% loss of fish yields and freshwater availability and urban population of Africa tripling, the combination of these elements at play informed the beginnings of intervention strategies 5 and 6. Climate refugees migrate from coastal cities, such as Tangier and Casablanca, move into abandoned quarries around Fez to create informal settlements. Theses new habitations grow organically overtime - adjusting to the needs of the inhabitants. INTERVENTION STRATEGY 9: OVERVIEW

Beginning in the last decade, crop failure was estimated to be 2.4x a decade with major cities such as Rabat and Casablanca starting to flood. With up to 50% loss of fish yields and freshwater availability and urban population of Africa tripling, the combination of these elements at play informed the beginnings of intervention strategies 5 and 6. Climate refugees migrate from coastal cities, such as Tangier and Casablanca, move into abandoned quarries around Fez to create informal settlements. Theses new habitations grow organically overtime - adjusting to the needs of the inhabitants. INTERVENTION STRATEGY 5: OVERVIEW

2 km

The transformation of existing architecture into zones of both increased food production and quality air production and filtration. By closing in the existing courtyard Riads, and implementing new gardens, we hope to both mitigate food production as well as provide spaces where plants can aid to filter the air quality indoors. This air will be transferred to those underground living and circulation spaces. Many of the traditional buildings have key character defining features. In the Riads, center courtyard fountains are commonly the main feature. A proposal is to replace all of these existing features with new shading/evaporative green roof technologies inspired by the Xylem heat island cooling system. They would still house water at the base like the original fountains, but would also use this to help the plants on the top of the structure grow and disperse cool air and shade to its surrounding area. A way of working with and for the city using its current built form.

CITYFORTSLandscape&WALLS

CHANGING BUILDING TYPOLOGIES

4INTERVENTION3INTERVENTION 4. Embracing the Floods

The increase of heat waves up to 9x a decade and in 2100 lasting up to 26 days in length, along with increased crop failure, unsafe breathing air quality, and a total temperature rise of 3 degrees C, the entire city has had to adapt to these layers of chaos and as a result has changed entirely. The traditional architectural typologies, mold, shape, grow and conform to the dangerous and concerning climate conditions.

In the last decade, crop failure was estimated to be 2.4x a decade, with major cities like Rabat and Casablanca starting to flood. With up to 50% loss of fish yields and freshwater availability and urban population of Africa tripling, the combination of these elements at play informed the beginnings of intervention strategies 5 and 6. Climate refugees migrate from coastal cities, such as Tangier and Casablanca, move into abandoned quarries around Fez to create informal settlements. These new habitations grow organically over time -

2 km

EL-JDIDFES

EMBRACING THE FLOODS

96 | AR8101

5. Utilizing the Unique

5INTERVENTION +

FORTS & CITY WALLS EL-BALIFES

The increase of heatwaves up to 9x a decade and in 2100 lasting up to 26 days in length, along with increased crop failure, unsafe breathing air quality, and a total temperature rise of 3 degrees C, the entire city has had to adapt to these layers of chaos and as a result, has changed entirely. The traditional architectural typologies mould, shape, grow and conform to the dangerous and concerning climate conditions—transforming existing architecture into zones of increased food production and quality air production and filtration. By closing in the existing courtyard Riads and implementing new gardens, we hope to mitigate food production and provide spaces where plants can aid in filtering the air quality indoors. This air will be transferred to those underground living and circulation spaces. Many of the traditional buildings have essential character-defining features. In the Riads, center courtyard fountains are commonly the main feature. A proposal is to replace these features with new shading/evaporative green roof technologies inspired by the Xylem heat island cooling system. They would still house water at the base like the original fountains but would also use this to help the plants on the top of the structure grow and disperse cool air and shade to its surrounding area—a way of working with and for the city using its current built form.

1INTERVENTIONAs global communities around the world begin to face the reality of climate change and the impacts it will have within this century, cities like Fez in Morocco will prepare by implementing infrastructure to harvest green energy. The goal of this strategy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which are one of the largest contributors to climate change. Wind turbines specifically may be used in Morocco given the high wind levels in the geography. + INTERVENTION

3INTERVENTION 6INTERVENTION +

6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure

1INTERVENTION

global communities around the world begin to face the reality of climate change and the impacts it will have within this century, cities like Fez in Morocco will prepare by implementing infrastructure to harvest green energy. The goal of this strategy is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions which are one of the largest contributors to climate change. Wind turbines specifically 2 km FORTS & CITY

2 km

3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon

2 km

FORTS & CITY WALLS

FES EL-JDID

1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure

As

Old city walls and kasbahs (forts) located primarily in the north area of Fez are retrofitted into new habitations for migrants. Fortifications of Fez generally built in rammed earth using local materials (low cost and efficient) mud and soil are built on top of the existing buildings within the walls structure. Due to the lack of material availability, the new construction will also be made out of limestone following the construction methods discussed previously. The walls will become available for homes and public spaces evolving with the constantly growing population, as well as locations for further energy production to offset the decrease of hydro energy from the rivers and streams.

approximately 6m. The actual number may even be higher. Coastal cities like Rabat and Casablanca

RETHINKING EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE

2070 brings even more population growth, the government has spent billions of dollars on climate change efforts and disaster relief, and the city has to start using their existing infrastructure to mitigate costs, materials and energy. Coastal cities like Casablanca and Rabat are now officially flooded, the rivers and streams although have risen further have also seen a decrease in flow which means less energy production, and the material availability starts to decrease. In order to adapt to these changes the existing city infrastructure in Fez like the Old city walls are utilized as valuable urban structures to facilitate this growing population, adapt to the decrease in material availability and implement more energy production.

FORTS & CITY WALLS

AMPLIFY EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE

As global communities worldwide begin to face the reality of climate change and its impacts within this century, cities like Fez, Morocco will prepare by

FORTS & CITY WALLS

Old City walls and kasbahs (forts) located primarily in the north area of Fez are retrofitted into new habitations for migrants. Fortifications of Fez generally built with rammed Earth using local materials (low cost and efficient) mud and soil are built on top of the existing buildings within the walls structure. Due to the lack of material availability, the new construction will also be made of limestone following the traditional construction methods. The walls will become available for homes and public spaces, evolving with the constantly growing population and locations for further energy production to offset the decrease of hydro energy from the rivers and streams.

2070 brings even more population growth. The government has spent billions of dollars on climate change efforts and disaster relief. The city has to start using its existing infrastructure to mitigate costs, materials, and energy. Coastal cities like Casablanca and Rabat are now officially flooded. Although they have risen further, the rivers and streams have also seen a decrease in flow, which means less energy production, and the material availability decreases. The existing city infrastructure in Fez, like the Old City walls, are utilized as valuable urban structures to facilitate this growing population, adapt to the decrease in material availability and implement more

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 97

EL-JDIDFESWALLS STRATEGY 3: OVERVIEW

By 2040, it is anticipated that sea levels will rise by approximately 6m. The real number may even be higher. Coastal cities, like Rabat and Casablanca in Morocco will begin to flood and residents may begin to relocate further inland. As a result, new infrastructure will be needed in areas surrounding and leading to inland cities like Fez for the relocation of residents and building materials. At this stage, building materials and resources from now flooded cities will be relocated and stored inland for future reuse. STRUCTUREINFRA-MATERIALSTORAGE INTERVENTION STRATEGY 6: OVERVIEW

NEW

FORTS & CITY WALLS EL-BALIFES

These new underground tunnels would be networked throughout the city. They would be used as underground tunnels for traveling to different parts of the city without going out into the harsh climate conditions. We propose that these underground spaces could also be used for public and private living spaces. Existing homes in the city could dig further underground in order to reach cooler earth and provide more space for growing families and populations. The area surrounding Fez is a perfect location for underground living with no existing surface level disruptions. These underground spaces could take the form and structure of the existing, partially underground bath houses located in Fez and the surrounding area. It is a common architectural typology that already showcases some of these underground strategies. We can then keep with the traditional and familiar architectural typologies, but suggest an adaption of the use.

New streets are laid out to work within the existing framework and prepare for the city’s growth and whatever future interventions its peripheries will face.

To adapt, the border of Fez grows organically over time as the city densifies to accommodate for new infrastructure and population growth. Traditional building typologies are built outside the city walls, and materials transported from coastal towns and stored in the new material storage facilities are reused for this additional building construction.

2 km

8. Using Earth to Take Shelter

Using Earth to Take Shelter

Preparing for Population Growth

In the meantime, New streets are laid out to work within the existing framework, but also to prepare for the growth of the city and whatever future interventions its peripheries will face.

7. Preparing for Population Growth

Inoptions.themeantime,

With sea level rise of 50 meters and the flooding of coastal cities, permanent drought in some places of Morocco, and a continuous influx of people from cities like Casablanca and Rabat, the existing infrastructure can no longer accommodate the growing population. In order to adapt, the border of Fez grows organically over time as the city densifies to accommodate for new infrastructure and population growth. Traditional building typologies are built outside the city walls and materials that were transported from coastal cities and stored in the new material storage facilities are reused for this additional building construction.

However, materials are low in supply. The limestone will be used for this new construction, but as the city continues to grow and materials become more sparse, the city starts to look outwards for more habitation options.

With a large population increase, decreased air quality, decreasing availability of materials resources, rising temperatures and heat waves we are suggesting that communities start looking at ideas of underground living. The earth itself can provide both cooling, filtering and safer living conditions if implemented properly. Communities around the world are already implementing these types of strategies. One example is Copper Penny, Australia. Due to rising temperatures and poor air quality, they have taken life underground.

98 | AR8101 8INTERVENTION2INTERVENTION 1INTERVENTION + INTERVENTION STRATEGY 8: OVERVIEW

7INTERVENTION 6INTERVENTION + INTERVENTION STRATEGY 7: OVERVIEW

EL-JDIDFES

With a sea-level rise of 50 meters and the flooding of coastal cities, permanent drought in some areas of Morocco, and a continuous influx of people from cities like Casablanca and Rabat, the existing infrastructure can no longer accommodate the growing population.

EL-JDIDFES

FORTS & CITY WALLS EL-BALIFES

However, materials are low in supply. The limestone will be used for this new construction, but as the city continues to grow and materials become more sparse, the city starts to look outwards for more habitation

With a significant population increase, decreased air quality, reduced availability of materials resources, rising temperatures, and heatwaves, we suggest that communities start looking at ideas of underground living. The Earth can provide cooling, filtering, and safer living conditions if appropriately implemented. Communities around the world are already implementing these types of strategies. One example is Copper Penny, Australia. Due to rising temperatures and poor air quality, they have taken life underground. These new underground tunnels would be networked throughout the city. They would be used as underground tunnels for travelling to different parts of the city without going out into the harsh climate conditions. We propose that these underground spaces be used for public and private living spaces. Existing homes in the city could dig further underground to reach cooler earth and provide more space for growing families and populations. The area surrounding Fez is a perfect location for underground living with no existing surface-level disruptions. These underground spaces could form and structure the current, partially subterranean bathhouses in Fez and the surrounding area. We can then keep with the traditional and familiar architectural typologies but suggest adapting the use.

2 km

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 99 + SITE PLAN WITH ADAPTABLE INTERVENTIONS Intervention 3 Intervention 5 Intervention 6 Intervention 9 Intervention 7 Intervention 7 Intervention 6 Intervention 9 5m

+ INTERVENTION STRATEGY 2: OVERVIEW 2. Harness Power of the Climate 2INTERVENTION 1INTERVENTION 2 km FORTS & CITY WALLS By 2030, the ramifications of climate change will begin to noticeably increase. It is expected that global temperatures will increase by 1.5 degrees celsius at this point, resulting in increased heat waves and crop failures. With over half of the continent of Africa’s populations relocating to cities like Fez by 2030, it is vital at this point that these cities begin to implement passive systems and strategies in collaboration with their existing buildings and structures. These systems include, but are not limited to, green roofs, solar panels, shading devices and other systems that can be employed at the local level.

By 2030, the ramifications of climate change will begin to increase noticeably. It is expected that global temperatures will increase by 1.5 degrees Celsius at this point, resulting in increased heat waves and crop failures. With over half of the continent of Africa’s populations relocating to cities like Fez by 2030, it is vital at this point that these cities begin to implement passive systems and strategies in collaboration with their existing buildings and structures. These systems include but are not limited to green roofs, solar panels, shading devices and other systems that can be

HARNESS POWER OF THE CLIMATE

Flux is chaos-seeking balance through adaptive methods. Flux is chaos-seeking balance through adaptive processes. Our research towards the year 2100 and the layers of the climate chaos we will face, combined with conceptual theories on adaptation, shows no ‘single’ solution for adaptability for the evolving world or even a single solution to one specific place. To adapt to our current and future evolving environment, a series of fluctuating initiatives that tackle issues at various scales is instrumental. It is instrumental not only to adapt to external change but to adapt to our previous adaptations. A pluralistic and flexible approach is key to a resilient society that prepares for the events to come. With this in mind, we believe adaptation is a gradual process over time, with interventions growing and withering naturally with their surroundings. Strategies can be proposed, but ultimately, the outcome cannot be controlled. Interventions that may work at one point within

100 | AR8101 7INTERVENTION 5INTERVENTION 4INTERVENTION3INTERVENTION

the Goldilocks Zone may not work at another, so the adaptation strategies must be fluid and adaptable as a result. Whether that be building onto, reusing, building into, swapping out strategies, nothing can be or will be permanent. Translational flexible approaches are needed as processes change, but there may be conflicting interventions of adaptability, where methods must combine to provide solutions. Therefore, a holistic approach is essential when intervening on built form, turning possible conflict into an opportunity for the natural evolution of adaptable strategies. These nine strategies, applied to Fez, Morocco for this project, can translate and be applied to any other city experiencing the layers of chaos within the goldilocks zone. It is a framework to guide the evolution of architecture through these new challenges while maintaining tradition, meaning, and comfort.

+ SITE SECTION WITH ADAPTABLE INTERVENTIONS

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 101 9INTERVENTION 8INTERVENTION 6INTERVENTION 2INTERVENTION 1INTERVENTION + TIMELINE OVERVIEW OF ADAPTABLE INTERVENTIONS 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060 2070 2080 2090 2100 1. Lay out infrastructure to harvest green energy (i.e. solar, wind, hydro). 2. Introduce passive systems and strategies on top of existing building structures. 3. New facilitatesurroundinginfrastructureFeztothetransportationofand house recycled building materials shipped from coastal cities for later reuse. 4. Rising water levels at the coast lead to increasing water in the stream surrounding Fez. The water and current are harnessed to provide energy, and floating solar farms shade and keep the water cool. 5. Climate refugees migrate from coastal cities (such as Tangier and Casablanca) move into abandoned quarries around Fez to form informal settlements 6. Old city walls and kasbahs (forts) located primarily in the north area of Fez are retrofitted into new habitations for migrants. 7. Influx of people from other cities move to Fez in preparation for complete flooding of coastal cities. The border of Fez grows organically over time as the city densifies to accommodate for new infrastructure and population growth 8. passagewaysUndergroundand living spaces to connect buildings and provide additional controlledtemperaturespaces in homes. 9. Transform Riads into indoor gardens by closing off courtyard with a roof and planting gardens to increase food production and air quality in buildings. Replace traditional urban structures like fountains with cooling systems such as radiant evaporative green roofs (Xylem heat island cooling system). NINE STRATEGIES FOR ADAPTATION WITHIN THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies Amplify Existing Infrastructure Harness Power of the Climate Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies WITHIN THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE InfrastructuretheClimateAbandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies STRATEGIES FOR ADAPTATION WITHIN THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies + NINE STRATEGIES FOR ADAPTATION WITHIN THE GOLDILOCKS ZONE 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7. Preparing for Population Growth 8. Using Earth to Take Shelter 9. Changing Building Typologies 1. Amplify Existing Infrastructure 2. Harness Power of the Climate 3. Reuse, Don’t Abandon 4. Embracing the Floods 5. Utilizing the Unique Landscape 6. Rethinking Existing Infrastructure 7.9.8.PreparingUsingChanging

NICOLEworldwide.LI,RITARUOTAO WANG

REIMAGININGPOST-ANTHROPOLIS:THEPOST-INDUSTRIAL CITY

102 | AR8101Within

In the context of post-industrial cities, we can find opportunities to re-incorporate non-humans into a better relationship with humans and built formswhere our success is not based on the expense of nonhuman species. By redefining this framework and the relationship between humans, non-humans, and built structures, all parties can be considered equal actors and participants within a new city typology, which we call Post-AnthroPolis: a post-anthropocentric city.

This interactive manual presents a strategy for reimagining the post-industrial city that can be applied

the industrial city, modernity brought forth technological innovations that have benefited civilization and their built forms. This movement has led to a deep-rooted mindset of human supremacy and anthropocentric thinking embedded in our current lifestyle and how we build. Humans and built forms have developed a relationship that succeeds at the expense and detriment of non-human forms - which causes the mass extinction of non-human life and threatens ecological stability.

The rise and fall of the industrial city of Detroit are marked by three main factors of systematic collapse: Economic Recession, Social Fallout, and Population Decline. Today, the city of Detroit continues to exist in various states of decay, with pockets of abandonment throughout the city.

I - CITY CONTEXT

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 103

The vision for the projected outcome is a biodiverse network of microcosms within the city of Detroit. Over time, additional pockets of abandoned structures will be applied and transformed by the interventions. The adaptability, resilience, growth, and power of the nonhuman species will spread to create an interconnected network and environment that maintains a symbiotic relationship between humans, non-humans, and built form. The end goal will be a new city typology - which we call, Post-Anthropolis.

Today, the city of Detroit continues to exist in various states of decay, with pockets of abandonment throughout the city. Our investigation on the abandonment in post-industrial Detroit began with a taxonomy exploration.

Within this taxonomy exploration, we can identify various building typologies left for ruins which resulted from complex social, cultural, and economic issues in the post-industrial city context of Detroit. For example, Industrial buildings were abandoned

due to the decline of the automotive manufacturing industry; institutional buildings were shut down due to shifting demographics and social issues; residential buildings were valueless and left behind as people moved out of the city; and so on.

By looking at the city-wide context of Detroit, we can zoom into the pockets of ruins to identify specific abandoned buildings for potential biodiversity hotspots; these become opportunities for us to reimagine and restructure the city to incorporate non-humans back into a symbiotic ecosystem. We selected one site to represent each typology.

104 | AR8101II

- SITE SELECTION

III - EVALUATION + INTERVENTION

We’ve introduced evaluation criteria to determine the level of intervention needed for each abandoned structure and site. The categories will allow interventions to react and have a greater fluidity to respond to its context, thus allowing for a more extraordinary symbiotic relationship between the human, non-human, and built forms. The factors on the index card for each site are considered to evaluate or put value to each site.

The intervention is selected based on the evaluation of each abandoned site. Different interventions can be applied to various locations. In some cases, a combination of multiple interventions can be applied to one site, as each site is unique in its history, context, use, and potential adaptive capacity.

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 105

4. spreadSPREADout growth to reach other sites in the proximity.

trigger2.materials.TRIGGERexponential growth on site.

3. decomposeDECOMPOSEat the end of lifecycle, resulting uncontrolled growth and benefitting the surroundings.

106 | AR8101BELLE

ISLE NATURE ZOO -

control1.REGENERATECONTROLgrowth within ‘glitches‘ of decay, reinforce structure and create new structure with bio-fabricated

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 107

3. repurposeREPURPOSEinto different programs, such as maker’s space, galleries, research facilities for innovative materials...etc.

PACKARD AUTOMOBILE PLANT -

control1.REGENERATE+TRANSFORMCONTROLandintroducepockets of green space, creating habitats for non-human species.

108 | AR8101

2. rationalizeRATIONALIZEspatial organization for existing and new programs, allowing participatory experience to huamns, nurturing relationship with non-humans.

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 109

3. sustainSUSTAINthe market by integrating all stages to food production from growing to consuming, supporting local businesses and strengtheing the local economy.

-

2. rationalizeRATIONALIZEspatial organization for existing and new programs, allowing participatory experience to all stages of food production.

FARMER’S MARKET

restore1.STABILIZE+REGENERATERESTOREpreviousfunction by renovating the existing space and structure of the farmer’s market.

110 | AR8101CHENE-FERRY

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 111

-

restore1.STABILIZE+TRANSFORMRESTOREpreviousfunction by renovating the existing space and structure of the church.

community engagement through restoration and transformation, introducing more public spaces for community activities on site.

CHURCH AND SCHOOL

2. rationalizeRATIONALIZEspatial organization for existing programs and transform the existing school into a community encourage3.centre.ENCOURAGEmore

112 | AR8101ST.AGNES

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 113

Is there a process of making these zones more livable and more home-like? What defines the feeling of home? Is it culture? Tradition? Religion? Family? What is the role of architecture in making these territorial boundaries experienced by refugees less fearful and more comforting? How can these spaces be more flexible? ‘Home to Home’ aims to investigate these questions and move towards reimagining these settlements to generate safer and more stable environments with access to resources for refugees.

114 | AR8101MONICA

‘Home to Home – Transitional Zones for Climate Refugees’ delves into the taxonomy of zones a refugee may encounter and questions if architecture can improve the living conditions, which in turn would allow the displaced to feel ‘placed’. The time frame spent in these transitional zones before reaching the final destination varies from person to person. It is not a linear path but rather a circular one as refugees are sent back to previous transitional zones, if not their home countries. A typical migration route starts from Tunisia and Libya and heads to southern Europe to countries like Italy through boat smugglers. Typologies of transitional zones, in this case, are usually unorganized settlements by a port, detention centers as authorities are not ready to deal with the vast number of refugees, followed by camps set up for longer durations of stay. This sequence of arrival calls into question the topic raised by the Venice Biennale, “How will we live together?”

MITIC, YARA RAGAB

What is home in a world so interconnected with constant movement? How do we understand the concept of a home? Traditionally, it is the space we’ve spent most of our time in growing up. It is the space that defines our culture and traditions and the space where memories are created. However, people typically don’t stay in the same “home”. Circumstances and experiences force people to relocate into a new, very different space. Regardless, humans can continually adapt to their environment and make new homes for

HOME TO HOME | TRANSITIONAL HOME FOR REFUGEES

Climatethemselves.change is an increasing reason for the displacement of people worldwide. Not only does it make weather unpredictable, but it can also be an indirect cause of conflict and poverty. In the book The Uninhabitable Earth, David Wallace-Wells mentions that “more than 140 million people in just three regions of the world will become climate migrants by 2050”. Generally, the African continent experiences the ramifications of climate change with an increase in drought, food insecurity, and water scarcity. These living conditions and lack of essential resources steer people away from their home countries in search of a better life abroad, which in most cases is forced migration and seen as a last resort. ‘Home to Home’ explores the displacement of climate migrants in North Africa that seek refuge in European nations.

The journey of a refugee is lengthy, with many stops. Several never end up reaching their final destination.

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 115

116 | AR8101

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 117

118 | AR8101

DESIGN INTERVENTION | 119

The challenges of facilitating a studio that delved into the disruptions of our time during the COVID 19 Pandemic proved oddly useful. Operating in a hybrid fashion, with 24 students and two professors convening both remotely and in-person, our students directly experienced the agility required to operate within the moment and question the status quo. Students were not only observers, critics and designers; they were also participants embedded in the throes of change. Students focused on 10 research initiatives leading to 10 projects proposals punctuated by 24 individual maquettes in a phase to unfold and visualize unseen aspects and recalibrate chosen themes and positions.

Projects focused on a wide range of issues: mass migration, food insecurity, urban systems, affordable housing and the re-thinking of the suburbs, the reimagining of post-industrial cities through the lens of the Anthropocene, and adaptation—the holistic re-engagement of place and circumstance. Common themes emerged through this diverse collection of projects. All engaged in innovative approaches that challenged the role of architects, architecture, urban design, and design in general. The need for architecture to be more adaptive and resilient was a theme shared by all proposals. Projects posited that diversity – in terms of who we are and how we live – needs to translate into new modes of living, and that our environments must be more flexible and malleable in order to accept change over time.

Students’ sensitivity to conditions and processes affecting the way we will live strikingly enlightened the debate in the studio, enriching the learning and teaching environment for everyone, including instructors and guests participating in the final review of the students’ work.

The theme woven throughout the 2021 Studio in Critical Practice -- the project as well as the studio course experience itself – is adaptability. Adaptability means being able to think and act holistically, recognizing the symbiotic relationship between people and nature. Poignantly today; this may be seen as the new radical. Ultimately, the proposals presented were reflective and projective, challenging conventional ways of conceiving and making architecture and inhabiting our pale blue dot

Embracing design as research, students oscillated between traditional forms of research and the haptics of drawing and making as a way of thinking and exploring. Ethnographic drawings and other techniques allowed analysis to be measured as well as visualized and experienced in new ways. The investigation of material and form through maquettes helped focus and clarify positions. Though abstract, the models were operational and architecturally driven. Drawings and models allowed for new critical and meaningful perspectives, not only informing but strengthening students’ positions that led to final proposals.

122 | AR8101

REFLECTIONS: PALE BLUE DOT AR8101 STUDIO IN CRITICAL PRACTICE

PALE BLUE DOT | 123