Post-Professional Master of Science, Advanced Architectural Design

Assignment 1:

The studio begins with a given resource: We will investigate three built structures in Ithaca (all of them marked for demolition within the next half year) as material sources for salvage and reuse. You will be working in groups of 12 to develop detailed qualitative and quantitative documentationof all elements, details, considerations and limitations of the given ‘urban mine’ in order to generate a realistic and specific catalogue of materials for the design process in Assignment 2. Your groups’ conversation and investigation on material qualities, embodied values and deconstruction technics will be supported by tutorials, a specific set of provided (experimental) tools as well as experts from the fields. Please be an active participant in this internal and external conversation.

Assignment 2:

For the Cornell Arts Quad, we will design a series of spatial follies(one per group), each addressing a specific, reversible construction detail made from reused materials. They stay within the volume of roughly a 20m3cube. The goal of these proposed installations is to move the discussion from unique design proposals to systemic reuse strategies –while promoting the feasibility, circularity, flexibility, aesthetics and spatial qualities of such proposals. The final design documentation will address the range of scales from the construction detail to the construction system. The Oxford Dictionary defines the term ‘folly’ as “a building constructed primarily for decoration, but suggesting through its appearance some other purpose, or of such extravagant appearance that it transcends the range of usual garden buildings.”[3]The brief of the studio refers to several aspects of this definition: Please design a structure of ‘extravagant appearance’ that ‘transcends the range of the usual ’architectural pavilion. The structure’s ‘other purpose’ is to validate and reference the systemic scale through its exemplary material use and assembly. Each folly will address a specific theme –a typology of a common construction detail –in several different techniques and material combinations. Following the logic of the folly, these details have to be specific and realistic, however will not be functional and –isolated from their usual context –should be understood, design and constructed as much for their spatial qualities (especially in combination with other isolated details) as for their systemic and transcendent message. 

All follies should be constructed using the developed material catalogue of Assignment 1 (across all 3 groups) and need to follow the principle of Design for Disassembly. As such, all structures need to be designed with accessible and reversible connection details that allow for the reuse and/ or recycling of all materials at the higher utility and value, separating the biological and technical metabolism. A certain level of realism on material specification and availability is expected while architectural concept and the vision of a paradigm shift may be equally important in the design development.