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2020 Student Thesis Showcase - Part I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Advisor: Ryan Tyler Martinez Featured on Archinect

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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Explore Thesis projects from the Class of 2021

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

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

Post -arium Arditha Auriyane Advisor: Mariana Ibanez

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

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

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

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

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

Gardens of Resistance Nynika Jhaveri Advisor: Azra Aksamija

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

The Factory of Coexistence Melika Konjicanin Advisor: Cristina Parreño Alonso

Screen Time Jeffrey Landman Advisor: Rania Ghosn

Architecture for Revision Emma Pfeiffer Advisor: Rosalyne Shieh

Thorough David Allen White Advisor: Mark Jarzombek

Spring 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Building / Unbuilding   Andrew Younker Advisor: Azra Akšamija

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

Master of Science in Architecture Studies (SMArchS)

SMArchS Architecture + Urbanism

Third Landscape Dries Carmeliet Advisor: Rania Ghosn

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

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

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

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

Made in Rural China Siyuan Sheng Advisor: Brent Ryan

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

SMArchS Architecture Design

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

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

SMArchS Building Technology

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

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

SMArchS Computation

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

The Untold Narratives Rania Sameh Kaadan Advisor: Terry Knight

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

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

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

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

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

SMArchS History, Theory & Criticism

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

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

SMArchS Aga Khan Program

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

Scripting Inclusion Amanda Merzaban Advisor: Renee Green

Master of Science in Building Technolgy (SMBT)

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

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

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

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

Bachelor of Science in Art and Design (BSAD)

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

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

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

Image Credits:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Published July 1, 2021

Vallerani Micro Water Harvesting

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Amy Whitesides and Kira Clingen , Faculty Advisors

Public Sediment for Alameda Creek

Resilient by Design was the Bay Area’s year-long collaborative design challenge for resilience to sea…

Ashland Forest Resiliency Project

The Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project is an ongoing collaboration since 2010 between the Lomakatsi…

TransMilenio and Bikeways

Enrique Peñalosa, was a two-term mayor of Bogotá. He served from 1998 to 2001 and…

Chagga Homegardens

Homegardens are subsistence gardens that provide a supplemental source of food and nutritional security in…

Pleistocene Park

At the end of the Pleistocene, the steppe ecosystem was dominant across the planet, with…

Copenhagen Cloudburst Plan

In 2011, Copenhagen was struck by a 1,000-year storm event, a Cloudburst, that flooded the…

Delhi Stepwell Restoration

Baolis, or stepwells, are underground reservoirs where water can be stored close to the groundwater…

Swansea Bay Lagoon

Swansea Bay was once home to a thriving oyster industry that employed 600 residents in…

2023 Peter Rice Prize: Sujie Park’s “Material Alchemy”

by Sujie Park (MArch I ’23) — Recipient of the Peter Rice Prize. The history…

Andrew Witt and Martin Bechthold , Faculty Advisors

Spring 2023

Student Work

2023 Digital Design Prize: Amelia Gan’s “Place-Time: From Waste to 3D CAD, or, Framework for geographical and temporally conscious design”

by Amelia Gan (MDes ’23) — Recipient of the Digital Design Prize. The dominance of…

Andrew Witt and Allen Sayegh , Faculty Advisors

2023 Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design: Randy Crandon and Maddie Farrer

Sidewalk Stuff: Adaptive Reuse Cohousing by Randy Crandon (MArch I ’25) and Maddie Farrer (MArch…

Jenny French , Instructor

2023 Urban Planning Thesis Prize: Michael Zajakowski Uhll’s “Our History is our Resource:” Historic Narrative as Urban Planning Strategy in Chicago’s Pullman Neighborhood

by Michael Zajakowski Uhll (MUP ’23) — Recipient of the Urban Planning Thesis Prize. How…

Rachel Meltzer , Faculty Advisor

2023 James Templeton Kelley Prize: Jacqueline Wong’s “An Intrinsic Model for a Non-Neutral Plural National School”

by Jacqueline Wong (MArch I ’23) — Recipient of the James Templeton Kelley Prize, Master…

Sergio Lopez-Pineiro, Faculty Advisor

2023 Urban Design Thesis Prize: Saad Boujane’s “Dwellings, Paths, Places: Configurative Habitat in Casablanca, Morocco “

by Saad Boujane (MAUD ’23) — Recipient of the Urban Design Thesis Prize. The Modernist…

Peter Rowe , Faculty Advisor

2023 Landscape Architecture AP Thesis Prize and 2023 Digital Design Prize: Sonia Sobrino Ralston’s “Uncommon Knowledge: Practices and Protocols for Environmental Information”

by Sonia Sobrino Ralston (MLA I AP ’23) — Recipient of the Landscape Architecture AP…

Rosalea Monacella , Faculty Advisor

2023 Design Studies Thesis Prize: Alaa Suliman Eltayeb Mohamed Hamid’s Ghostopia: Interrogating Colonial Legacies and A Manifesto for The Modernized Nile

by Alaa Suliman Eltayeb Mohamed Hamid (MDes ’23) — Recipient of the Design Studies Thesis…

Montserrat Bonvehi Rosich, Faculty Advisor

2023 Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize: Kevin Robishaw’s Manatees and Margaritas: Toward a Strange New Paradise

by Kevin Robishaw (MLA I ’23) — Recipient of the Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize.

Craig Douglas , Faculty Advisor

2023 Outstanding Design Engineering Project Award: Rebecca Brand and Caroline Fong’s Jua: Cultivating Digital Knowledge Networks for Smallholder Farmers

by Rebecca Brand (MDE ’23) and…

Jock Herron , Faculty Advisor

2023 James Templeton Kelley Prize: Deok Kyu Chung’s “Boundaries of Everyday: walls to voids, voids to solids, solids to walls”

by Deok Kyu Chung (MArch II ’23) — Recipient of the James Templeton Kelley Prize,…

Lyndon Neri and Rossana Hu, Faculty Advisors

2023 Landscape Architecture AP Thesis Prize: Celina Abba and Enrique Cavelier’s Plantation Futures: Foregrounding Lost Narratives

by Celina Abba (MLA I AP ’23) and Enrique…

2023 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, Honorable Mention: “Truly, Oregon! Empower Lloyd Center, Portland, OR”

by Heejin Park (MAUD ’23), Terry Kim (MUP ’23), Aelin Shaoyu Li (MDes ’24), Claire…

Richard Peiser , Instructor

2023 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, First Prize: “The Gansevoort: Design for Longevity”

by Xinxin Cheryl Lin (MArch II ’24), Vivian Cheng (MAUD ’23), and Pinyang Paul Chen…

Ben van Berkel and Dana Behrman, Instructors

2023 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, Second Prize: “Boyd Street Gateway”

by Maddie Farrer (MArch I ‘25), Madeleine Levin (MUP ‘23), and Arielle Rawlings (MUP ‘23)…

Edward Marchant, Instructor

Spring 2022

2022 Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize: Liwei Shen’s “The Echoes of Sky River – Two Pre-modern and Modern Atmospheric Assemblages”

by Liwei Shen (MLA I ’22) — Recipient of the Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize. The…

2022 James Templeton Kelley Prize: Remi McClain’s “There Goes the Neighborhood”

by Remi McClain (MArch II ’22) — Recipient of the James Templeton Kelley Prize, Master…

Mark Lee and Erika Naginski , Faculty Advisors

2022 James Templeton Kelley Prize: Isaac Henry Pollan’s “This Is Not A Firehouse”

by Isaac Henry Pollan (MArch I ’22) — Recipient of the James Templeton Kelley Prize,…

Sean Canty , Faculty Advisor

2022 Clifford Wong Prize in Housing Design: Brian Lee’s “People’s Park Complex: Repairing the Modern City”

by Brian Lee (MArch ’22) — Recipient of the 2021 Clifford Wong Prize in…

Grace La and Jenny French , Faculty Advisors

2022 Peter Rice Prize: Hangsoo Jeong’s “Upon Concrete: Retrofitting Architecture with Malleability”

by Hangsoo Jeong (MArch ’22) — Recipient of the Peter Rice Prize   Upon Concrete:…

Mark Lee, Faculty Advisor

2022 Digital Design Prize: George Guida’s “Multimodal Architecture: Applications of Language in a Machine Learning Aided Design Process”

by George Guida (MArch II ’22) — Recipient of the Digital Design Prize. This thesis…

Andrew Witt and Jose Luis Garcia del Castillo Lopez , Faculty Advisors

2022 Urban Design Thesis Prize: Rogelio Cadena’s “How Are ‘We’ Living? Reevaluating the Chicago Boulevard System”

by Rogelio Cadena (MAUD ’22) — Recipient of the Urban Design Thesis Prize. At its…

Stephen Gray , Faculty Advisor

2022 Design Studies Thesis Prize: Allison Hyatt’s “Priorities in Building Decarbonization: Accounting for total carbon and the time value of carbon in cost-benefit analyses of residential retrofits”

by Allison Hyatt (MDes ’22) — Recipient of the Design Studies Thesis Prize. Energy consumption…

Holly Samuelson , Faculty Advisor

2022 James Templeton Kelley Prize: Qin Ye Chen’s “Fluid Permanence – A Shotengai-Archive in Tokyo”

by Qin Ye Chen (MArch I ’22) — Recipient of the James Templeton Kelley Prize,…

Mohsen Mostafavi , Faculty Advisor

2022 Design Studies Thesis Prize: Nicole Piepenbrink’s “HERE LIES DARBY VASSALL: Rendering the obscured and concealed history of slavery at Christ Church Cambridge”

by Nicole Piepenbrink (MDes ’22) — Recipient of the Design Studies Thesis Prize. The material…

Susan Snyder, George Thomas and Krzysztof Wodiczko , Faculty Advisors

2022 Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize: Lucy Humphreys Chebot’s “Reciprocal Optimism: Projecting Terrestrial Analogues”

by Lucy Humphreys Chebot (MLA I ’22) — Recipient of the Landscape Architecture Thesis Prize.

Danielle Choi , Faculty Advisor

2022 Design Studies Thesis Prize: Anny Li’s “The World Was Their Garden: Plant introductions at the US Department of Agriculture, 1898–1984”

by Anny Li (MDes ’22) — Recipient of the Design Studies Thesis Prize. In 1898,…

Edward Eigen , Faculty Advisor

2022 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, First Prize: “Bracing Peter Bracy”

by Hana Cohn (MLA I ’24), Youngju Kim (MAUD ’23), Arami Matevosyan (MDes REBE ’22),…

Gina Ford and Rhiannon Sinclair, Instructors

2022 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, Second Prize: “Miami Gateway”

by Nicolas Carmona (MArch II ’22), George Guida (MArch II ’22), and Manu Moritz (MDes…

Elizabeth Whittaker and Corey Zehngebot, Instructors

2022 Plimpton-Poorvu Design Prize, Third Prize: “Urban Health Catalyst”

by Vicky Chen (MAUD/ MDes REBE ’22) and Xudong Zhu (MAUD ’22) — Recipients of…

2021 Architecture Faculty Design Award: Anna Kaertner’s “Equivocal Elevations”

by Anna Kaertner (MArch I ’21) — Recipient of the Architecture Faculty Design Award, Master…

Diane Davis Megan Panzano , Faculty Advisor

Spring 2021

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Student Work

Selected Student Work

Explore selected student work in architecture, landscape, visual studies, and urban design.

Take me to the Selected Student Work page

Studios & Courses

Browse a selection of undergraduate and graduate courses and studios to see student work collected during final reviews.

Take me to the Studios & Courses page

End-of-Year Show

A Daniels Faculty tradition, the End of Year Show showcases a wide range of student work from architecture, landscape architecture, forestry, urban design and visual studies.  

Learn more about the 2022/2023 End of Year Show .

In 2021, graduate and undergraduate students who completed thesis projects in architecture, landscape architecture and urban design were invited to upload their work to a virtual exhibition. Search the show by student name and program, or explore all projects through the home page. 

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Undergraduate Thesis

Thesis is a year-long endeavor at the Daniels Faculty. At the end of the third year in the undergraduate Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Studies program, students in the Specialist Streams are eligible to apply for thesis, which takes place during the fourth and final year of the program. Once selected, all BAAS thesis students take a Senior Research Seminar led by Daniels Faculty members who continue as advisors throughout the year. 

View samples of the richly diverse creative work of 2022–2023 thesis students.

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How to Choose an Undergraduate Architecture Thesis Topic

• Written by Suneet Zishan Langar
• Published on September 11, 2017

As architecture students head to their final year of BArch, half-crazy from years’ worth of scraped fingers, ghastly juries, sleepless nights, and a general lack of social life, they encounter the mighty problem of choosing a thesis topic. There are many subjects to choose from, but a personal interest in a particular subject is just one of the many factors that should influence this decision. Students need to ask themselves several other questions: Is the topic significant enough? Is it expansive enough? Is the project realistically doable?

The process can be daunting, for the decision has many consequences; sometimes, the choice of topic alone can mean the difference between the success and failure of a thesis. With so many factors to consider and deadlines closing in, students easily end up making decisions that they regret later. Here are eight tips to help you make an informed choice on the matter:

1. Dare to Be Un original

Thesis work at the undergraduate level strongly differs from that at the graduate or doctoral level, and it is important to understand the rationale behind its inclusion in the curriculum. Work at the graduate or doctoral level usually asks for the identification of a “gap in existing knowledge” about a subject and an original proposal to bridge that gap, but the expectations of an undergraduate student are less demanding. This means that you don’t necessarily have to go out of your way to be innovative at the undergraduate level. Choosing a simple unoriginal topic but executing it in a way that exhibits all the knowledge you’ve acquired in college will also do the trick.

2. Choose a Topic that Personally Interests You

With your peers picking varied topics and schedules, this year will be lonesome; the most you will have for company on an average day is a drawing board, your laptop, some books, and coffee. You will find yourself routinely getting distracted by Buzzfeed ’s latest video on Youtube or the cool new Drake track. Choosing a topic that you’re passionate about will make sure that you stay inspired and motivated to work, which should ultimately result in a great final project.

3. Set Your Scope Small

Many students give in to the natural temptation to do too much by picking topics or issues that are too expansive, and therefore almost impossible to execute in a short time-frame. A tip would be to start with the simplest version of a topic and add in extra complexity later if the circumstances allow it.

4. Recognize What You’re Good at

Every student possesses a unique set of skills and abilities which they’ve acquired through their experiences and by following their interests. No one is good at everything. An unbiased understanding of your creative and technical capacities and their limits thereof will allow you to choose a topic that best employs your expertise.

5. Is There Enough Existing Literature on the Topic?

A thesis project requires an enormous amount of reading and analysis before the beginning of the design process, and the primary source of reference information for an undergraduate student is usually existing studies or research. Hence, it makes sense to choose an area of study where a substantial amount of previous work exists. The availability of such work will enable you to analyze, compare, draw conclusions, and employ the knowledge gained to suggest an informed proposal.

6. Strike a Balance Between Art and Science

Architecture students dig themselves a grave when they begin to romanticize their thesis projects. It is hard to blame them, however, when you consider that the thesis project is viewed as the culmination of a multi-year program which is rooted as deeply in art and theory as it is in building technology. But it’s imperative to find a topic that is a balance of the two. A topic that seems too abstract might make it difficult for a jury to ascertain a student’s understanding of tangible issues.

7. What Do You Want to Do in the Future?

The thesis project is the single most important part of your portfolio as a fresh architecture graduate looking for a job in the industry or applying for a graduate program. The choice of topic will reflect your interest in or experience with a particular specialized subject. Hence, when choosing a thesis topic, you should try to align it with your plans for the near future.

8. Aim to Solve a Real World Problem

While there are many wide-ranging opinions about architecture’s ideal role in society, there is a general agreement that an architect’s work does influence how a society functions and evolves. In a world that is grappling with myriad serious issues like climate change, population growth, and an inequitable distribution of resources, it benefits young architecture students to acquaint themselves with the larger picture, and to choose a topic that at least aims to solve a current socio-environmental problem through a design intervention.

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10 Award-Winning Architecture Thesis Projects From Around The World

Neha Sharma

8 mins read

It is always interesting to see the architecture thesis projects students come up with every year. With each passing batch, there is more knowledge passed down and a better base to begin. The result is a rise in innovation and creativity by students, and overall a better mix!

Architecture thesis is an ordeal all students are intimidated by. From choosing an architecture thesis topic all the way to giving a great final thesis review , every step is equally challenging and important. It is that turn in an architecture student’s life that pushes them to churn out their best. Therefore, it is inevitable to come across some life-altering design solutions through architecture theses across the world.

To identify and appreciate these exceptional final projects by architecture students, many organisations across the world like Archistart, Council of Architecture, etcetera, award recognition for excellence in architecture thesis and also grant financial support for further research to the projects worthy of being realised.

Read through the list of 10 such award-winning architecture theses across the world with links to study them in detail!

1. ISTHME // Le CHAOS SENSIBLE - Dafni Filippa and Meriam Sehimi

ISTHME // Le Chaos Sensible - Architecture Thesis of the Year 2020 (Source: www.nonarchitecture.eu)

Starting from the most recent one, the award-winning thesis is a proposal of a mixed-use building in the capital city of Ghana, Africa, that aims to cater to a large spectrum of functions of the Ghanaian community, especially living, commercial, sports and leisure.

This culturally thoughtful architecture thesis project is an honest effort to celebrate the African spirit and empower the local community, which reflects in the ‘sensible chaos’ of the design.

2. INFRA-PAISAJE: New Landscape Architecture - Luis Bendezu

INFRA-PAISAJE: New Landscape Infrastructure for San Juan de Marcona - Special Mention: Architectural Thesis Award ATA 2018 (Source: www.archistart.net)

Landscape architecture manifests the connection between humans and nature. The landscape thesis project proposes a series of technical elements for the creation of a seamless landscape between the urbanised territory of San Juan de Marcona in Peru and the suburban parts, thus forming a cohesive townscape which converses with the coastline and brings active life to the otherwise desolate expanse of the region.

3. Water Exploratorium - Satyam Gyanchandani

Water Exploratorium - Ace of Space Design Awards: Outstanding Student Thesis Award (Source: www.architectandinteriorsindia.com)

Water is a life-giving resource and considered sacred across many cultures. To sustain life on earth, it is important to save and use it with utmost efficiency. The architecture thesis project showcases experiential design through and for water. It also tackles design challenges like infotainment by educating visitors on water conservation and creating a static built form for an element as fluid as water for a wholesome sensory experience.

Want to know how to come up with such fascinating thesis topics? Read: 7 Tips on Choosing the Perfect Architecture Thesis Topic For You

4. Architecture for Blind People - Mariagiorgia Pisano

Between Light and Shadow: Architecture for Blind People - 1st Place: Architectural Thesis Award 2017 (Source: www.archistart.net)

Inclusive design offers a wide-spread net of research opportunities and is gaining much-needed recognition today!

Design for people with disabilities is dealt with empathy in this architecture thesis project, where the focus is exploring innovative design solutions for the visually deprived and getting the design of rehabilitation centres as close as possible to meeting their needs.

5. Mosul Postwar Camp - Edoardo Daniele Stuggiu and Stefano Lombardi

Mosul Postwar Camp - 1st Place: Architectural Thesis Award ATA 2019 (Source: www.archistart.net)

War does permanent damage to a person’s mental health. The survivors experience trauma, loss and even destruction of self-identity. The architecture thesis project proposes a postwar camp at Mosul, Iraq, aiming to create a place where people of various backgrounds can peacefully coexist and build a community based on humanitarian values to prevent war in the future.

6. Consolation through Architecture - A New Journey through the Abandoned Landscapes of Varanasi - Navin Lucas Sebastian

Consolation Through Architecture - COA National Awards for Excellence in Architectural Thesis 2016 (Source: www.coa.gov.in)

The intangible aspects of design are tough to pinpoint but necessary for the essence and feel of it. This urban design thesis project shows light on architecture’s influence on one’s emotions with the holy city of Varanasi in India as the backdrop. With a focus on issues arising due to the city’s cremation grounds, the thesis explores innovative and sustainable solutions for the same.

7. Unfinished Tor Vergata Scenario - Carmelo Gagliano

Unfinished Tor Vergata Scenario - 1st Place: Architectural Thesis Award 2020 (Source: www.archistart.net)

When it comes to building projects, the trend of the ‘unfinished’ is something Italy has been increasingly seeing in the past few years. The most popular unfinished public work is Calatrava’s Olympic Stadium, which is the main object for reuse in the proposal of a science museum at Rome Tor Vergata.

This architecture thesis project explores the existing building trends of the region, aims to reinvent the iconic building and become a scientific attraction for tourists and locals.

8. Chachapoyas Peri-Urban Park - Nájat Jishar Fernández Díaz

Structures for Incidents in Nature: Chachapoyas Peri-Urban Park - Special Mention: Architectural Thesis Award ATA 2019 (Source: www.archistart.net)

Growing urban areas are a concern as they slowly consume the ecology surrounding them. Chachapoyas (forest of clouds) in Peru faces a similar problem from the expanding urban confinements which are slowly taking over the beautiful landscapes for which the place is particularly famous.

The project aims to mend the damage by connecting every speck of open land available in the region and converting it into a network of green corridors, making for an interesting urban planning thesis!

9. Garden of Reconciliation, Kashmir - Jay Shah

Garden of Reconciliation: Miniature Drawing - COA National Award in Excellence for Architectural Thesis 2018 (Source: www.uni.xyz)

Cultural and political unrest in a region has always been the glue for controversies, leading to public tip-toeing around such topics. This bold architecture thesis project looks at the conflicted region of Kashmir, to analyse its cultural, social and artistic practices and then come up with an architecture program best suited for the region. This is traversed in the form of a mixed-use landscape that aims to find a solution and is not the solution itself!

Such theses usually require intensive site studies. Read: Site Analysis Categories You Need to Cover For Your Architecture Thesis Project to know more.

10. Adaptive Reuse of STP Grain Silos - Alila Mhamed

Poudrière Community Hub - 2nd Place: Architectural Thesis Awards ATA 2020 (Source: www.archistart.net)

Adaptive reuse of spaces that have been uninhabited for a long time does true justice to the core values of architecture and design. This thesis project explores the creative redefinition of the old STP Grain silos complex, the first mill constructed as a part of the Poudrière industrial park in the present-day city of Sfax, Tuscany, Italy, by converting it into a mixed-use hub for art, commerce, trade, administration and collaboration.

Numerous amazing architecture thesis projects come to light every year and the list is not limited to this one! At the learning stages, people have the power to unleash their creativity without any limitations and such scenarios might just lead to the right solutions for the time and society we live in.

Giving your architecture thesis project? Check out our A-Z Architecture Thesis Guide!

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12 Websites That Can Aid Architectural Thesis Research

Writing the perfect thesis can be a daunting experience. While also juggling other deadlines, internships, projects and tests, final year architecture students are faced with the various challenges that thesis research brings in. Right from finalizing a suitable topic to identifying and analysing verified research data, the entire process is quite taxing on the mind and time-consuming. 

To make your journey a little simpler, here’s a compilation of ten websites that can aid your architectural thesis research:

1. Library Genesis

The holy grail of research papers, dissertations, scholarly articles, scientific projects, journals, books, paintings and magazines, Library Genesis is a must-visit website for thesis research. It provides access to documents that are otherwise paywalled or not digitized and enables users to download and/or upload data. The website provides a searchable database from publicly available resources and currently holds over three million files!

The website can be accessed at: http://libgen.li/

2. The Pudding

Students engaged in thesis research often face difficulties while attempting to obtain reliable data when it comes to area-wise population density. Especially in areas where documented information in the field is sparse, this website can be of great help. The Pudding is a project that utilizes satellite imagery, census data and volunteered geographic information to create near-accurate population density maps. The website not only lets the user explore current population trends but also lets one compare data collected over the years.

The website can be accessed at: https://pudding.cool/2018/10/city_3d/

3. Ventusky

Ventusky is a Czech based website that presents real-time meteorological data. It simplifies one’s research by offering various parameters of climatic information on a single platform, thereby cutting down multiple website visits and analysis time. It offers a range of forecast models including the ICON, GFS, GEM, HRRR and NBM and covers thirteen meteorological factors (Temperature, Precipitation, Radar, Satellite, Clouds, Wind Speed, Wind Gust, Air Pressure, Thunderstorms, Humidity, Waves, Snow Cover and Air Quality). It also lets the user access each of the parameters on eighteen different altitude levels.

The website can be accessed at: https://www.ventusky.com/

Another online library, JSTOR has an extensive collection of academic journals, articles, scientific publications, photographs and research papers. With a user-friendly interface and millions of rights-cleared sources, this website is a great companion for architecture students pursuing a thesis. This website also offers an advanced image searching option that can aid research.

The website can be accessed at: https://www.jstor.org/

5. The Courtauld Institute’s Conway Library

This website is a digital collection of architectural drawings, publications, photographs and cuttings from the Courtauld Institute of Art, based in London , United Kingdom. It offers thousands of digitized files from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and is a great resource for thesis research work.

The website can be accessed at: http://www.artandarchitecture.org.uk/

6. ArchDaily

ArchDaily is a household name for architecture students. Aside from news, competitions and reviews, the blog offers millions of detailed case studies on projects. Highlighting relevant specifications of architectural design with technical drawings and pictures, Archdaily can cover a major chunk of your preliminary studies! Additionally, it is one of the most visited architecture websites in the world and attracts over 160 million monthly users.

The website can be accessed at: https://www.archdaily.com/

7. Architect Magazine

This website rolls out hundreds of articles every day, describing the latest projects, technologies, products, events and building resources in the architecture industry. It covers multiple facets of the architectural community through insightful reviews by architects and journalists from across the world. Architect Magazine is a great tool to enhance thesis research by learning and discovering practices around the world. 

The website can be accessed at: https://www.architectmagazine.com/

8. Andrew Marsh: 3D Sun Path

Acquiring and plotting accurate sun paths can be a cumbersome process. Andrew Marsh’s Sun Path website simplifies this task by providing solar information according to the location’s geographic coordinates. The site not only maps the sun’s annual path in three dimensions , but it also lets the user observe the behaviour of light during different times of the day. The website also projects shadows of 3d buildings that can be modified by the user.

The website can be accessed at: http://andrewmarsh.com/apps/staging/sunpath3d.html

9. Harvard Digital Collection Library

Opening doors to an Ivy League library, Harvard’s Digital Collection Website is another online database with millions of digitized files. Users can search for information within a range of years with an advanced search option. Adding to the vast collection of text files, the digital library also provides maps, 3d material, audio and videos.

The website can be accessed at:  https://digitalcollections.library.harvard.edu/

10. Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD)

The Open Access Theses and Dissertations (OATD) website is a thesis exclusive online database. It offers a range of filters including university, country, language, department and degree that can be instrumental in simplifying thesis research. Indexing nearly 60 lakh publications from over 1100 universities, this non-profit website is one of the best open access dissertation databases on the internet. 

The website can be accessed at:  https://oatd.org/

11. Rethinking The Future

Rethinking The Future (RTF) is a digital platform that aims to inspire individuals to think, create and criticize. The team at RTF rolls out hosts of digital content that is instrumental in thesis research including design journals, courses, collated articles and projects.The website extends its presence on social media as well, with thought provoking articles and designs posted on a regular basis. 

The website can be accessed at:  https://www.re-thinkingthefuture.com/  

A Danish startup based in California , ISSUU is every creator’s go-to publishing platform. This website allows designers and enthusiasts to create and share their work with the world. Users can distribute, measure and monetize their content while also exploring other work in their niche.

The website can be accessed at:  https://issuu.com/

A third year undergrad, Srilalitha believes that the literary universe is a gateway to exploring art and architecture. She has a strong affinity towards music, athletics and photography and enjoys unraveling the similarities between her worlds over a cup of tea.

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ARCH 4998: Honors Thesis

Atlas of Erosive Potentialities: Maria Diavolova

Thesis advisor: daniel barber, associate professor of architecture, 1: london as found: erosive potentialities in london's built environment (greater london, 2019)  see more.

Designing Against Preventable Death: David Gordon

Thesis advisor: jacob brenner, assistant professor of medicine, 1: proposed paths for mobile units.   see more.

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Gallery of Selected Student Work

We are proud to showcase our students' work. For more information about the curriculum, please click on the Current Students link to the right. 

Fifth Year Gallery

In the  fifth year , students engage in faculty guided thesis projects, offering students an opportunity to synthesize their education and develop a deeper understanding of a particular area of interest. The year consists of three quarters of focused work, culminating in multiple exhibitions. 

Fourth Year Gallery

In the  fourth year many students study off campus or in one of the interdisciplinary studios that combines students from various departments within the CAED.

Third Year Gallery

The third year marks the culmination of the core studios and many students take two quarter-long integrative studios where practice, materials and systems are synthesized.  

Second Year Gallery

The second year runs in parallel with the Practice lectures and activities in the Fall and Winter and Environmental Control Systems courses in the Spring. Students progress from smaller building-in-the-landscape design projects in the fall to large, complex urban projects in the Spring quarter. 

First Year Gallery

The first year curriculum introduces Architecture and Architectural Engineering students to architecture through design projects at a range of scales.  

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SCI-Arc Student Investigates How Artificial Intelligence Can Assist in 3D Modeling

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Understanding a City’s Image: Exploring New York Through the Spatial Experiences and Perceptions of Its Users

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NYIT School of Architecture & Design's M.Arch Graduate Studio Explores 'Designing (Inter)Scalar Domains'

In August, we connected with Archinect School Partner NYIT to showcase the work of students from Marcella Del Signore 's (NYIT Associate Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Architecture, Urban and Regional Design) M.Arch studio ARCH 802 Design-Research Studio "Designing (Inter)Scalar Domains . The Signore-led studio focused on designing "(Inter)Scalar Domains" and asked students to "conduct critical precedent studies, iterative design explorations, and generating design strategies through tectonics and material implementation. Students will develop research and communication skills, critical thinking, and architectural ideas through various modes of representation."

Architecture Fellowships and Emerging Academics

Another exciting year for architecture fellowships as we highlight the work and fellowship appointments in 2023. April proved to be an especially important month for fellowships with the release of two Fellow Fellows interviews and a deeper look into the work of Exhibit Columbus ' University Design Research Fellows.

Architecture student Maya Matabwa named University of Illinois Chicago's Hartshorne and Plunkard Fellow

Kicking off fellowship announcements in 2023 was the appointment of University of Illinois Chicago M.Arch student Maya Matabwa as the second recipient of the Hartshorne Plunkard Fellowship in February. As part of the initiative, Matabwa will receive "financial support for up to three years, academic and professional mentoring, and a paid internship at HPA." Matabwa shared with UIC the importance of the fellowship, stating, "being here as a young, Black, Malawian woman is an honor, and I am thankful that I get to represent these different groups and contribute to diversifying the field."

Christina Chi Zhang named Harry der Boghosian Fellow for 2023-24 The annual appointment of Syracuse School of Architecture 's Harry der Boghosian Fellow was announced in April and awarded to Christina Chi Zhang. At the time of her selection as the 2023-24 fellow, Zhang was completing her final year as an M.Arch student at Yale School of Architecture . According to Zhang, she will use the fellowship "to explore the limits and implications of photography, cartography, drawing, and virtual reality." During her time at Syracuse, she will be teaching two professional elective studios focused on her research project, Scales of Healing in Post-Traumatic Landscapes. Zhang's work will investigate "the tools of representation used to document, analyze, and represent post-traumatic landscapes at different scales."

Exhibit Columbus’ University Design Research Fellows Showcase Proposals That Activate the 'Invisible Spaces' of Columbus, Indiana

Archinect had a chance to visit Columbus, Indiana, the home of an impactful design exhibition led by the Landmark Columbus Foundation, called Exhibit Columbus . This city-wide event activates the entire community through presentations, events, architecture tours, and, most importantly, site-specific installations that showcase the unique architecture of Columbus. As the town welcomed big-named architects, designers, and urban planners to participate in a two-year event cycle, the Foundation also recognized architecture academics and researchers by inviting them to engage with the community and respond to an open call that asks participants to highlight the area. This year, seven projects were presented and installed around Columbus by University Design Research Fellows .

Uncovering the Untold Histories of American Campus Expansions with Boghosian Fellow Leen Katrib

Last year, in May 2022, Archinect reported on the appointment of Leen Katrib as the 2021-22 Harry der Boghosian Fellow. Having completed her fellowship experience, Katrib spoke with Archinect about her experience at Syracuse University as an emerging architecture educator and researcher. Concluding her time as a der Boghosian Fellow, Katrib produced her fellowship exhibition titled LESS IS... During our conversation, we discussed the details of her academic journey, what led her to apply to become a fellow, and what she hopes to build after completing the fellowship.

To be determined, an exhibition by François Sabourin, the 2021–22 Schidlowski Emerging Faculty Fellow at Kent State University. Video courtesy of François Sabourin.

Exploring Architecture’s Uncertain Nature With Schidlowski Fellow François Sabourin

In April, we conducted another special Fellow Fellows interview with François Sabourin, the 2021–22 Schidlowski Emerging Faculty Fellow at Kent State University . Sabourin explored "architecture's relationship with uncertainty" through his final exhibition work, To be determined . Following his time teaching at Kent State, Sabourin shared that the nine-month fellowship "comes with a relatively set expectation of a final exhibition [...] I spent my year exploring the idea of flexibility in architecture, in large part because, as a concept, it's used both profusely and very loosely in architectural practice and discourse [...] This research led up to an exhibition in Kent State’s Armstrong Gallery. I built a set of robotic walls that could interact in scripted yet unpredictable ways with visitors."

NOMA announces its 2023 summer fellowship cohort by welcoming 13 architecture students and graduates

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Innovative Student Projects and Academic Research

University of Toronto researchers develop a fluid-based light filtering technology to help with heating, cooling and lighting in buildings

Exciting work from the University of Toronto showcased a new type of multilayered fluid window prototype that is "to be an effective tool in the push toward greater sustainability in the building industry." Researchers found much inspiration and design influence from animal biology, like the changing pigments of squid skin.

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Work from two faculty members from the University of Illinois Chicago’s College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts was a part of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale’s ‘Everlasting Plastics’ exhibit and the 2023 Chicago Architecture Biennial . Norman Teague's bespoke plastic fabrication installation was showcased in Venice, while Faheem Majeed served as the Chicago Biennale's art director.

Florida Atlantic University's Joseph Choma leads students to explore folded fiberglass structures

Director of Florida Atlantic University School of Architecture, Joseph Choma, shared another innovative studio project with Archinect, highlighting his research on folded architecture and fabrication. Choma's work continues to explore "design methods through complex geometric structures, materials, and experimental construction methods." For this latest research studio, students worked to develop and construct a foldable pop-up structure for Google.

University of Michigan researchers detail new 3D printed upcycled sawdust material for formwork

Contributions in 3D printing and materials science continue to grow as researchers from the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning ’s Digital Architecture Research & Technology (DART) Laboratory developed a more sustainable way of applying concrete casts using a "fully biodegradable BioMatters material made from sawdust."

A new Kharkiv School of Architecture student project delivers valuable design solutions for rebuilding schools in Ukraine

An inspiring student project led by the Kharkiv School of Architecture focused on "improving the educational experience of Ukrainian schoolchildren." Called the "First-Aid Spatial Kit" initiative, students were tasked to develop "copyable designs for various interventions (furniture, pavilions, play spaces, etc.), which, in turn, can be implemented using readily-available materials by affected school districts looking for 'self-help' solutions in rebuilding."

In UCLA's 'Fit for the Future' research studio, Julia Koerner and AUD students navigate the intersection of 3D printing, architecture, and climate change

Architect, educator, fashion innovator, and 3D printing expert Julia Koerner showcased the work of students in her research studio, Fit for the Future: 3D Printed Sustainable Building Skins. Over the course of the 2022-23 academic year, twelve students investigated emerging 3D printing technologies and questioned how this innovation, combined with sustainable building materials and methods, may create "risk-resilient architecture for the 21st century that mimics the natural world’s resilience, adaptability, and beauty."

University of Buffalo architecture students displayed 3D printed "Archi-texture" in special Hong Kong Design Centre exhibition

Graduate students from an architecture media seminar led by Gregory Serweta, Maia Peck, and Lukas Fetzko at the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Urban Planning explored the possibilities of 3D printed "Archi-texture" through a special exhibition showcasing folded paper apparel. Students were tasked with blending architecture and fashion by "working with 3D modeling software and a CNC milling machine to complete a process that helps them understand the relationship between two-dimensional planes and three-dimensional modeling, according to the professors."

Be sure to follow Archinect's special End of the Year coverage by following the tag 2023 Year In Review to stay up to date.

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2024 Britton Memorial Awards Competition

Syracuse University School of Architecture, Slocum Hall

Each year, graduating students completing Directed Research are eligible for awards: the Dean’s Citations for Excellence, Citations for Excellence and the  James A. Britton Memorial Award s , which acknowledge the accomplishments of graduate and undergraduate students in their final year.

Invited Guest Jurors TBD

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