2024 Master’s Candidates

THESIS: “RETHINKING THE WORLD EXPO: New way to organize the World Expo”

ABSTRACT: Throughout history, Worlds Fairs have brought together nations to share accomplishments, tech-nological advances, industrial might, architectural ex-perimentation, and cultural identity. World’s Fair buildings are largely temporary structures, which often leave a significant carbon footprint and sites that are difficult to adapt after their use. Additionally, the current nature of World’s Fairs tends to favor specific countries through their pavilion sizes, dollars invested, and prominence within the broader master plan. More recently, fairs of this size tend to increasingly rely on private investors, pressuring the pavilions to act more as advertisements for specific companies or industries than as cultural representations of a given. This project tries to bring the world “architecturally” together and becomes a world Expo for all people through the design of an alternative World’s Fair. To more accurately represent the multiple cultures at the World’s Fair, I will: assess historical case studies to find successful examples; analyze the funding structures that further some agendas while minimizing others: analyze afterlife of previous world fairs; and spatially analyze World’s Fair sites

to understand how they spatially prioritize some countries and ultimately leave an unsustainable carbon footprint. As a design proposal, I intend to redefine the current trend of making monumental pavilions and plan to instead make sites more equitable for all countries and cultures involved. To do so, I will explore architectural systems that can be disassembled and reused on other sites, as well as try to create a new expo format in order to address the afterlife of the expo and its equitability.

THESIS: “SUBNATURAL ARCHITECTURE: Environmental Injustice in Detroit, MI”

ABSTRACT: This thesis study investigates the effects of living in toxic communities and the relationship between humans and the natural environment. The industrial revolution brought many new forms into urban/industrial cities. This thesis explores how architecture and urban design are complicated and can offer solutions to the ongoing legacy of pollution in industrial cities. How can architecture expose the lengths to which humans may have to go to survive such conditions? What does the integration of nature and architecture look like? How can architectural materials combat air immersions of smoke and smog? The goal of my research is not to solve the problem of air pollution but instead to show how we may have to make changes to architecture and lives if air quality continuously decreases. Also, the goal is to create a program that can be implemented in highly polluted areas that help combat air pollution. This topic takes us down a deep dive into how racial discrimination has affected housing and zoning. The racial

discrimination of redlining and clustering, made industrial factories cluster in certain neighborhoods which caused residents to gain health issues. How can communities use architecture to visualize invisible conditions of harm, such as pollution? Subnatures are environmentally degraded forms of nature that people don’t want to see such as mud dankness, smoke, dust, exhaust, gas, weeds, insects, and pigeons. Rather than positioning any solution as one that assumes or seeks to recreate an unadulterated natural environment, this project explores how architecture can respond to real, rather than ideal, forms of environment. Research for this thesis was collected from secondary qualitative and quantitative sources. Structured interviews were conducted with 5 residents.

THESIS: “DIS-OBSOLESCENCE: An Approach to Obsolete Industrial Sites within the Rust Belt”

ABSTRACT: The Rust Belt region of the United States, a once prosperous industrial epicenter for the world, suffered from rampant disinvestment, deindustrialization, and a shrinking population since its height in the postwar period. Given this, my thesis explores the viability to rehabilitate the numerous former industrial buildings throughout the region. Specifically, I will look to Toledo, OH and the Great Lakes Terminal Warehouse as a design case study built upon identified principles for redevelopment. While many redevelopment efforts are hampered by a lack of community and market demand along with bureaucratic procedures that require a site to be either fully occupied or fully vacant, my proposal offers a range of possibilities for postindustrial sites depending on specific conditions. While some sites may be fully viable for adaptive reuse, others present opportunities to retain meaning for surrounding communities through various uses beyond traditional market-based development practices or community based rehabilitation strategies. My thesis will explore these options in the context of the Great Lakes Terminal Warehouse, and project their possibilities on sites throughout the Rust Belt. To analyze these possibilities, I will create a framework for analysis that can be applied to a series of sites throughout the region that could be tailored to any given city, site, and building conditions. Additionally, I will explore the more ephemeral and material nature of these buildings as historical artifacts and

explore their possibility to convey larger narratives around local and regional identity, along with how the material and historical identity of buildings affects a consumer’s direct relationship with such facilities.

THESIS: “Cricket for the People: Designing Stadiums for the 21st Century Global Community”

ABSTRACT: Cricket is a popular sport that is played in many countries around the world. It is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players. Cricket has a significant cultural and social impact, particularly in countries where it is widely played. It is also a sport that promotes diversity and inclusivity, with players of different backgrounds and nationalities representing their teams. Cricket has a growing presence in the United States, with the sport being played at various levels nationwide. However, cricket has struggled to gain mainstream popularity in the United States, with many Americans unfamiliar with the sport and its rules. As the immigrant population grows in the US, those from the formerly colonized British diaspora in particular are helping the sport to grow in popularity. However, the dominance of US major league sports and the broader professional sports industry prevents a broader cultural representation in the US of those who play cricket. Historically, cricket allowed local populations to take the British imposition of colonial rule and adapt it into their own cultural practices. Similarly, my goal for this project is to find ways to effectively represent the numerous immigrant communities on my chosen site in

Dallas, Texas, while integrating with other local populations and sports culture. To do so, I will design a cricket stadium that is representative of these various groups. I will explore architectural languages of pre and postcolonial sports architecture, as well as the everyday immigrant experience, and their expressions of material culture in their neighborhoods.. Through a combination of architectural programs, events, and symbols, I plan to design a stadium that is reflective of a broader diaspora, while being responsive to other local conditions.

THESIS: “Designing a Space Between Public Realms and Healthcare Facilities”

ABSTRACT: In 2020, when COVID-19 hit worldwide, many nations ran out of capacity for hospitals, treatments, and facilities, forcing hospitals to expand their facilities beyond their traditional physical boundaries. Even with advanced technologies, supply chains, and economic resources, the question remains for US healthcare and its communities: are people prepared for the next pandemic? Historically, pandemics created similar conditions where overflow facilities and field hospitals were set up in iconic sites such as New York’s Central Park during the tuberculosis epidemic. This thesis explores this connection between public space, healthcare, and architecture’s role in crisis events. This thesis will explore the coexistence, revitalization, and regeneration of health facilities and public spaces. It studies the health and social risk factors based on the overlapping vulnerabilities of the high mortality rate, low community resilience, flood, rising sea levels, poverty, and the possibility of another pandemic. The thesis will research and apply the idea in Miami, Florida. Specifically, the thesis aims to study the current situation of existing healthcare facilities, how they responded to the last

pandemic and natural disasters, the flexibility of these facilities, and community resilience. Based on these prompts, I propose redesigning the existing facilities to expand their capacity to serve more patients and accommodate additional staff by extending it into a community facility and turning it into a satellite hospital in the case of the following health crisis. It is also essential for the facility to remain engaged with the community and continue to be involved in public activities, which is a primary concern of this thesis.