Material Innovation in Precast Concrete

Estelle Yoon (MArch I ’20)

The project proposes a design innovation in the fabrication process of precast concrete components and an amplification of their aesthetic and atmospheric quality. It takes advantage of the high level of precision in manufacturing and ease of reproduction inherent in the pre-fabrication process as opposed to on-site casting, and suggests an alternative material effect to a more normative impression of cold and gray presence of exposed concrete.

When poured into a mold at different times, separate layers of concrete mix are registered within a single part, allowing for distinct colors or textures of mix to remain visible. This method had already been discovered and employed by many architects including Studio Gang, ESTUDIO Tatiana Bilbao. and Peter Zumthor, but solely for in-situ concrete or rammed earth, limiting the striation to be relatively large in scale and horizontal, as the pouring process depends completely upon gravity.

By displacing the process from on-site casting to prefab, the striation technique could be conducted in a highly controlled environment. The prototypes of the project are casted in several different angles with layers of distinctly pigmented mixes. When erected in their intended position, the reading of the layers of the precast components are liberated from the orientation of gravity, suggesting an unanticipated visual effect. The use of texture and color for each concrete layer could be extensively used in exposed parts of the prefab elements for both interior and exterior, ranging from columns to walls and facade.

Emptiful: Changing the paradigm in a post-oil landscape

Aiysha Alsane (MLA I AP ’19)

Through common language, we describe the desert as empty space: a void without substance due to loss.  Across several languages, “desert” is associated with feelings of abandonment, scarcity, and death. Characterized in this manner, the desert is rendered to a worthless and uninhabitable state. This thesis concerns itself with the desert’s fullness, from its material and ecological being to its social and cultural agency.

The static nature of conventional drawings does little to depict the desert’s transient properties and the multiplicity of ways that it supports occupation. The project redraws the arid desert of Kuwait depicting its innate qualities to redefine its perceived value. Since life in the desert relies on the precious existence of water, the selected sites are within an ephemeral watershed. These sites are of burned oil fields from the First Gulf War and their intersection with Kuwait Oil Company’s “released lands.” Those lands were a symbol of wealth due to petroleum, an inextricable part of this desert’s geology. Then, they became a symbol of destruction and loss. Today, petroleum exploration has seized and the land released for development. Using methods to capture, amplify, and extend a new fullness, the design intervention repopulates this desert in a catalytic manner. Reacting to a unique geological composition steeped in a history of emptiness and fullness, the project draws on novel ecosystems to introduce controlled plant succession and the consequent flora and fauna ensued to repopulate these barren lands. All the while, the resulting ecosystem reveals this desert’s innate fullness.

Urban Politics, Planning, and Development (at HKS)

In the face of failures and dysfunction at the national level, there is growing excitement about the welfare- and democracy-enhancing potential of cities. Yet, not all cities are able to realize their promise as engines of economic growth and human development. Why some fail, while others succeed depends crucially on the politics and governance practices that shape cities and metropolitan regions. Understanding the politics of urban planning and development is therefore fundamental to unlocking the potential of our cities to boost the wealth, health, and well-being of citizens and communities. This course focuses on urban politics in the United States and Europe. Key topics include U.S. and European urban politics viewed in the large, and more specifically the politics of land-use, economic development, housing, water, policing, and transit. Cross-cutting themes include: the role of business and non-profits in local governance; citizen participation and urban social movements; the importance of race, ethnicity, and class in shaping group conflict and co-operation at the local level; as well as the costs and benefits of local government fragmentation. The course involves in-class exercises, group work, and simulations, as well as guest lectures. Most class sessions build off single-city case studies, including written and multi-media cases on Stuttgart, New Orleans, Atlanta, Naples, Seattle, New York, Portland, Chicago, Detroit, London, Boston, and Copenhagen.

The course purposes are twofold: (1) to enhance your sophistication in thinking about and analyzing the factors and conditions that shape political and planning processes at the urban level and what their consequences are; and (2) to hone your skills in thinking strategically about how to exercise influence in and on these decision processes.

Note: Shopping Day Schedule for SES-5201/SUP-601 at HKS: Friday, January 24th from 11:45-1:00 pm in Wex332.

Ecosystem restoration

Given the current speed of habitat and species loss caused by human development, the restoration of degraded ecosystem is one of the greatest challenges humankind is facing. For this reason, the United Nations declared 2021-2030 as the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. This global effort will need from experts on ecosystem science, management and design to have a deep understanding of how ecosystems recover from human disturbance and how we can use this knowledge to increase the currently limited performance of restoration practice. This course is particularly suited for students with interests in nature conservation, the natural component of landscape architecture, or ecosystem management in a broad sense. In this course, we will create a multidirectional learning environment where we all will learn from the others to address real world restoration cases in all kinds of habitats, from forests to marine ecosystems. Students will have a particular real case assignment where the student will dig to the deepest possible level to increase biodiversity and ecosystem functionality through an understanding of the complexity that structures ecosystems. We will have key inputs from guest lectures coming from restoration companies with many years of experience restoring ecosystems worldwide. They will help us find targeted tools to support and design ecosystems both in urban and natural environments. We will increase our understanding of what nature is for humans and the Earth system and will increase our connection to it through field trips. In the fields trip, we will explore ecosystem complexity in New England’s recovering forests (like the Harvard Forest) and discuss with mangers the keys for restoration success and failure on the ground. Evaluations will be made through a combination of assignments, essays, and discussion participation. Basic previous knowledge on ecology is required. This course will arm students with one of the most important tools to work with and for nature in the coming decades.

Book Project Number Zero

1. Architecture is inseparable from bookmaking. Ever since Sebastiano Serlio discovered the potentials of the printing press, no cultural project in the field of architecture has escaped publishing and so thematising a possible reading of buildings—regardless of present or past, big or small, real or invented.

2. Even in the context of the extreme wealth of media available today, books are still the main instrument of architectural propaganda. The internet did not kill the architecture book. More likely, the internet increased the book’s value for an architect’s career.

3. Books are projects, as well as buildings. Books are imagined, sketched, designed and executed.  

4. Students will develop a project for a book on architecture. The choice of topic is open, as well as the format.

5. The final output of the seminar is a “book” that will include a written introduction, an index, an atlas of images, and a graphic design scheme. 

6. The imaginary book may be projected and assembled as long-form or short-form, text-based, image-based or composite. Students may realize their book using different media, but the final deliverable should be “book-alike” and printed.

7. Usually, when authors write a book, they A) first write the index and introduction, B) then write the actual book, C) then re-write the introduction. The seminar will stop at point A.

8. Instructors will present two case studies on bookmaking in fine detail. Pier Paolo Tamburelli will discuss his ongoing project of a (long-form) book on Bramante; Thomas Kelley will present his recent (short-form) treatise on vision. The seminar will consist of lectures, discussions with external guests, and a final review of the individual book projects.

9. And while the seminar will afford multiple strategies for ideating architecture through the medium of a book, each project will question how the essence of communication in architecture is informed, for better and for worse, by how a book (or any publication) relates to building.

Notes on schedule: 

Thomas Kelley will be in residence on January 30-31, February 6-7, 20-21, March 26-27, April 23-24, and for the Final Exam in May.

Pier Paolo Tamburelli will be in residence on January 30-31, February 27-28, April 9-10, and for the Final Exam in May.

 

 

 

Affordable and Mixed-Income Housing Development, Finance, and Management

Explores issues relating to the development, financing, and management of housing affordable to low and moderate income households. Examines community-based development corporations, public housing authorities, housing finance agencies, private developers, and financial intermediaries. Identifies, defines, and analyzes development cost, financing, operating, rental assistance, tax credit, entitlement, and project-generated cross income subsidy vehicles. Assesses alternative debt and equity funding sources for both rental and for-sale mixed-income housing and addresses the now common practice of aggregating multiple subsidies into a single financial package. Reviews other aspects of the affordable housing development process, including assembling and managing the development team, preparing feasibility studies, controlling sites, gaining community support, securing subsidies, establishing design objectives, coordinating the design and construction process, selecting residents or homeowners, providing supportive services, and managing the completed asset. Historically, almost all students in this course have participated in the Affordable Housing Development Competition (AHDC) sponsored by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston and others. As part of this competition, teams of multidisciplinary graduate students primarily from Harvard and MIT prepare detailed affordable housing proposals working with real sponsors on real sites in the Greater Boston area. These AHDC proposals serve as the final project for this course. The course includes lectures, cases, exercises, site visits, guest lectures, and student presentations. No prior real estate development or finance experience is expected or required.

Also offered by Harvard Kennedy School as SUP-666

 

Jointly Offered Course: HKS SUP-666

Note: Shopping Day Schedule for SES-5490/SUP-666 at HKS: Thursday, January 23rd from 1:15-2:30 pm in Littauer 230. There will be 2 sessions: 1:15 -1:45 pm and 2:00-2:30 pm.

Public health in an era of epidemics: from the camp to the building

We shouldn’t conceive anymore architecture projects and urban planning interventions that disregard their impact on public health. The way we design buildings, neighborhoods, and cities impact the health outcomes of the population. Urban development is at the core of new epidemics and pandemics, and the growth of urban settlements (including refugees) will likely increase the health gap between people of different socioeconomic status.

We will review existing studies and empirical evidence at the nexus of these fields, and through a scale approach (BUILDING-NEIGHBORHOOD-CITY-GLOBAL), we will study and evaluate different interventions, aiming to dismiss myths and reinforce those initiatives that can potentially improve population health. 

The goal of the course is to build awareness of the importance of incorporating robust public health facts and considerations in the early stages of an architectural or urban design project, but also to equip students with the skills needed to:
• Identify health issues that can potentially be tackled through design interventions
• Use robust evidence (through epidemiological studies) to propose and defend health-oriented solutions in design projects 
• Examine, asses, and design interventions taking into consideration a wide variety of aspects of public health
• Develop health-related interventions in complex public health settings (epidemics, refugees, etc.)

Course format: Interactive and dynamic classes with invited public health experts and presentations by the instructor (topic introduction), students (topic discussion), and a semester-long team exercise.

Developing for Social Impact

How can real estate development advance social purpose while accounting for development feasibility?   

With increasing urgency, those involved in shaping the built world are converging in their desire to harness real estate development for positive social impact.  Community development corporations and other mission-focused non-profits are increasingly entrepreneurial, as the philanthropists and public agencies that support them expect them to be.  Governments increasingly leverage surplus land and deploy development exactions and incentives to shape private investment to serve social policy goals.
 
To fulfill rising expectations to be responsible civic actors, real estate developers have become de facto city-builders, seeking ways to achieve social impact, from housing affordability and climate resilience to food security and job preparedness that goes beyond their project boundaries. Yet there is no established method to reconcile social impact with financial feasibility. 

To address this vexing gap, the course will serve as a social impact development workshop, with two interwoven strands. Through research assignments and class discussion in corporate social responsibility, social impact investing, risk management, enterprise philanthropy and equitable planning, we will work to devise a model for incorporating social impact into market-oriented real estate development. 

We will also apply this model to active Boston development sites. With its strong development climate, sophisticated development community and high public aspirations for development, Boston is an excellent—and easily visited—social impact development laboratory. Real estate developers will visit the class to present projects that seek to align financial and social returns, and will be available outside of class to guide student explorations. 

For their term project, student teams will set financial and social return objectives for a Boston development site of their choosing and propose a method for harmonizing them.  For their mid-term and final reviews, they will make an investment pitch for their case study site to a panel of social impact investors. 

Artificial Intelligence in Contemporary Design Practice

Unprecedented issues, such as climate change, challenge the standard hyper-specialized approach to problem-solving. Within this context, there is a need for professions able to creatively bring together skills from various disciplines and imagine solutions to tackle such crises.

According to the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco, architects are “the last humanists” because they are trained in comprehensive, interdisciplinary, problem-solving methodologies. This applies broadly to other design disciplines, such as landscape architects, who occupy a unique place in society, enabling them to undertake leadership positions in the future, both within and outside of traditional design practice boundaries. In order for this to happen, design tools must support and enhance the design workflow. This seminar will look at one such tool, Artificial Intelligence (AI), from the point of view of the practitioner, or in software development jargon, the user.

As a research field, Artificial Intelligence originated after World War II to convert machine learning for ballistic and aircraft trajectory prediction into civil use technologies. Traditionally pursued as an academic theoretical effort, AI is now gaining widespread attention due to the enhanced computational capability of commercial computers, and the emergence of pervasive sensing supported by Internet of Things devices and high-speed Internet connections. AI, in its various forms, is becoming increasingly more embedded in the design practice through digital design tools.
This innovative technology is fascinating and stimulating. However, the application of AI to the “humanistic” design process poses epistemological questions that are at the core of this seminar. Understanding, even if at a non-specialist level, the functioning of such tools is key to enabling creative and innovative applications.

During the first module “Foundations” students will become familiar with the concepts of complex systems, ecology, mediality, network analysis, and AI, through a series of curated readings and interdisciplinary guest lectures in the fields of mathematics and philosophy. During the second module “Applications and Interfaces” the students will explore innovative applications of AI and their interfaces through a series of interdisciplinary guest lectures in the fields of computational creativity and generative design. 

During the semester, each student will develop a personal research project agreed upon with the instructor. The research will be presented in the context of these two modules and formatted as an academic article for final submission.

There are no prerequisites and the seminar is open to all GSD and MIT students. 

A SELF-INTERSECTED WRAP AROUND COIL

Mingxuan Qin (MAUD ’20), Jichao Sun (MAUD ’20) and Jiayi Wang (MAUD ’20)

This project is a form exploration through mathematical functions. Using periodic function, with “sin” and “cos”, we “write” a wrap around coil as prototype. This coil origins from one 2-dimensional strip, which transform into a 3-dimensional cylinder-like volume. By adjusting the vertical gap on each period and making the coil swing horizontally periodically, self-intersections appear. These intersections give the form a special structural character, which makes the coil able to support itself. Eventually, a 2D stripe becomes random stacked volumes, aesthetically.  The width of the strip is set to be increasing from the bottom to the top, which makes it closer to human scale at the bottom and larger at the top to fit the visual perspective.

The structure is tested through the physical model. The “walls” are composed of museum boards on exterior and plexi in the middle, which are bolted together. Three types of joints are applied. First, at the exterior corners. An “L”-shape metal plate is inserted into the middle of the “walls” on each side and bolted together. Some of the interior cross-intersections are also joined together in the same way. Others are free standing notches that are not fixed to adapt the whole structure to the shear forces. This project explores both the aesthetic and structural character and their relationships to a certain form.