The popularization of building information modeling, or BIM, has relocated the architect’s everyday labor from the drafting table and construction site to the keyboard and monitor. Although design now exists almost exclusively within software, digital modeling still has its physical effects. As Amelyn Ng discusses in “7D Vision,” BIM has become “a new locus of power and prophecy…How that power is enacted becomes just as much a question of politics as it is of visuality.” Digital design has direct correlation with very physical construction supply chains, hiring processes and building maintenance.
Read MoreAn Addendum to Superstudio's "Twelve Cautionary Tales for Christmas"
In the ‘60s and ‘70s in Florence, one group of six young architects abstained from architecture to reveal its contaminations. We share Superstudio’s interest in challenging uncontested notions of what is considered natural, normal, given. For Superstudio this meant exaggerating, making ugly and aggravating in order to expose capitalist ideals behind collective conceptions. For us this requires introspection and agitation of our own ideals in order to bring to light the problems with the contemporary condition.
Read MoreAs Found
A digital era parody of Alison and Peter Smithson’s ‘as found,’ selective accident is explored through a literal translation of “picking up, turning over, putting with.” As found objects are selected within the context of BIM, choosing highly mundane and recognizable objects built into the software. The concepts of selective accident and ‘as found,’ although typically regarded as autonomous, are still highly curated despite defining a designed process rather than an end result. This provocation questions the difference between the result of a designed process and a mere pile of junk.
Read MoreUrban Leakage
An initial urban strategy for International Boulevard in Oakland, CA
Read MoreKenya Studio
Process of designing a school for girls in Kenya
Read MoreRoots in Haiti
Roots Home & Abroad, a student service organization founded by myself and five other students at the University of Maryland School of Architecture, has now started a topical studio in order to design an evolving community center in Léogâne, Haiti.
Read MoreThermal (Dis)comfort in Architecture
Due to variations in body type, experiences and culture, every person has a different definition of comfort. Yet, standards such as ASHRAE 55 continue to be written based on static, linear models, regarding occupants as receptors of their environments instead of active participants in it.[1]These standards are also based upon gender-biased data, often leaving women to live and work in environments designed for their male counterparts. A 2015 study published by Nature Climate Changestated that “buildings should ‘reduce gender-discriminating bias in thermal comfort’ because setting temperatures at slightly warmer levels can help combat global warming”[2]during summer months.Not only is thermal comfort an issue of inclusivity and equality, but also of energy usage and sustainability. It is the responsibilityof thermal comfort standards to share accountability for promoting sustainable buildings during a time of increasing pollution and rates of climate change.[3]Emphasis on thermal comfort has a growing importance in architecture through its potential significant impact on productivity, attendance, equality and sustainability.
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