The 2013 Fall M.Arch. Thesis focused on the theme "Institution Building." The 5 M.Arch. students presenting this fall were given the following brief:
"This fall's theme, INSTITUTION BUILDING, extends the activist attitude of “Call to Action,” but narrows the focus to the particular challenge of the institution. At this moment of economic instability, political upheaval, and technological transformation, many of our institutions are in crisis, increasingly irrelevant or already obsolete. This theme questions the boundaries of the discipline, claiming an urgent role for architecture not just in giving physical form to institutions, but also in the very conception of them. We’re asking the students to invent a new institution – designing its mission, its value system, its pedigree, its organizational structure, its funding mechanisms, its publicity strategies, etc., in addition to its spatial logic and formal expression. Architects can no longer afford to passively wait for projects to come to them, but must actively work to create the new institutions urgently needed in the world today."
Jury: Michelle Addington, Sylvia Lavin, Nicolai Ouroussoff, Joshua Prince-Ramus, Mark Wasiuta, and Mabel Wilson.
Fall 2013 M.Arch. Thesis PROJECTS
Ife Vanable, "Deep Segregation/Separation By Their Own Volition: The High-Rise Residential Tower & One Room School House In The Hood." Advisor: Alejandro Zaera-Polo.
Ju Young Yoon, "MEDIAGORA: Institution for Online Communities." Advisor: Mario Gandelsonas
Debbie Chen, "The Municipal C.H.U.W. (Center for Harvesting Utility from Waste): A New Resource Infrastructure for New York City." Advisor: Paul Lewis
Fei Wang, "Rural Agency: Re-envisioning Chinese Rural Development in the Age of the Digital Economy." Advisor: Axel Kilian
Dorit Aviv, "M.E.E.T - Middle East Energy Treaty: A Forum for Trade-based Diplomacy." Advisor: Stan Allen
