Category: ARCH 502A: Mary Casper

Social media consumption, advertisement, and creation have become increasingly normal parts of society. As the world becomes more dependent on social media for news, cultural exchange, and commerce, a new form of labor has emerged: digital content creation. Learning from the digital interfaces we use, the psychology of social media use, and the history of workplace production how does social media production materialize into an architecture; and how do the social hierarchies that exist online translate in this new physical space?

Our team thinks that the best way to reduce the consumption of clothing is to change the public’s perception of the things they wear and how they go about buying things. There is beauty that is inherent in the objects we use everyday. Everything we use has a story. Design exists to be interacted with regardless of the user’s awareness. It is our mission to inform the consumer of this inherent beauty. We simply take this beauty and translate it to the consumer in a digestable way.

With switch of our attitude towards digital realm in the social context of post-Covid19 along with the boom of artificial intelligence platforms, the project envisions a space where every activity is virtually possible through the course of life. Still, many believe that the nostalgia for the sentiments of analog evoke will linger and discuss the potential danger that the virtual world will bring to the humanity and reminisce the desirable, authentic outcome.

In this, my final semester, I explore an alternative methodology for practicing architecture and design. I began by acknowledging that current architectural education and practices remain strictly within regulated parameters. This “square” thinking limits the possibilities of design. The question then arises: What if there was a method of practicing architecture that was not self-stabilizing or that did not (need to) address all problems of a design prior to engaging in the design process, thereby making the design process more of an ad hoc approach that begs interaction, play, and exploration on the part of both the architect and the user?

Architecture for the U-Knit-verse is a system is for those that want to take control of their spaces and begin to construct interior architecture by themselves. It employs knitting as a building method and yarn as the material. The system uses a 6’x 6’ grid frame and can be expanded in any such iteration of that metric. The Elements must then be arranged and assembled. Once knit, the rooms are clipped into the structure and its time to move in!

Spatial organization has repeatedly been used as a tool to control marginalized bodies, specifically Latinx immigrants, in order to fulfill a political agenda in the United States. Controlled levels of invisibility, hyper-visibility, and impermanence have been used to police movements of undocumented populations. Migrant spaces in general are rendered invisible, creating an unethical and dehumanizing condition that strips people of their identity. The manipulation of these spaces endangers Latinx immigrants and advocates for the unethical control of migrant bodies. By shifting to an inclusive democratic design and prioritizing autonomy of bodies and human experience, migrants can take control of the spaces they occupy, both in the physical and intangible realm of design.

La organización espacial se ha utilizado repetidamente como una herramienta para controlar cuerpos marginados, específicamente inmigrantes Latinos, para cumplir con una agenda política en los Estados Unidos. Se han utilizado niveles controlados de invisibilidad, hipervisibilidad e impermanencia para vigilar los movimientos de las poblaciones indocumentadas. Los espacios de migrantes en general se vuelven invisibles, creando una condición poco ética y deshumanizadora que despoja a las personas de su identidad. La manipulación de estos espacios pone en peligro a los inmigrantes Latinos y aboga por el control poco ético de los cuerpos de los migrantes. Al pasar a un diseño democrático e inclusivo y priorizar la autonomía de los cuerpos migrantes y la experiencia humana, los inmigrantes pueden tomar el control de los espacios que ocupan, tanto en el ámbito físico como en el intangible del diseño.