USC Architecture XpoInstructor: Ryan Tyler Martinez
In this section, we discussed “S – M – L – XL” as a framework for the thesis. We evaluated this through four topics: Problem (What), Context (Where), Technique (How), and Theory (Why). The aim of the thesis was to create a body of work that operated in parallel with traditional architectural contingencies such as […]
Piled Intersections of Infrastructure proposes a new architectural condition for contemporary transit infrastructure, replacing the modern logic of stacked floor plates with a piled arrangement of interlocking volumes. Rather than treating the station as a linear conduct of movement, the thesis understands it as a civic and tectonic condenser where mobility, housing, and collective space […]
A methodology for designing human experience informed by roller coaster design Contemporary retail architecture is often conceived as a neutral container that remains disconnected from the culture and intensity of the experiences it houses. This thesis challenges that model by proposing a methodology in which architecture is generated through the integration of movement and material […]
This thesis imagines a future in which data infrastructure is no longer centralized in remote or monumental facilities, but distributed across homes, neighborhoods, and communities. As Web3 technologies shift control of data from corporate platforms to individuals, architecture must adapt to support smaller-scale, locally owned, and domestically integrated computing systems. Rather than proposing vertical data […]
Choreographic Tectonics proposes architecture as a performed and time-based construct, where movement, not static form, generates space. This thesis treats program as pose, in which discrete programmatic volumes are arranged in states of balance, counterbalance, and lift, forming a choreographed system of forces. Drawing from dance notation, motion capture, and iterative 3D modeling, each program […]
Scale is not neutral – it’s the difference between a kitchen table and a city block, between a family and a target. This thesis frames the architectural scale through the lens of spiciness, where it crosses categories, resists definition and refuses erasure. Tracing defensive architecture from the intimate to the territorial for communities whose presence […]
This thesis positions context as a primary driver of architectural design. Located in Hell’s Kitchen, New York City, the project draws extensively from its urban and neighborhood conditions. New York City’s culture, density, and environment inform the program and user experience. The design emerges from a layering of contextual influences, allowing these conditions to guide […]
Matthew Brandon Mejia | Ryan Tyler Martinez The contemporary house operates as an idealized exterior image, appearing stable, symmetrical, and culturally coded as a site of domestic harmony. Yet interior life is fragmented. Multiple interior worlds coexist within a single structure, shaped by different occupants, relationships, and emotional conditions. This thesis reexamines the archetypal one-story […]
This thesis investigates the interior as an architectural lens mediating between body and landscape, articulated through the blue zone: a spatial gradient where interior and exterior conditions overlap. Through the orchestration of apertures, thresholds, and atmospheres, it positions the interior not as a subordinate enclosure but as a primary site of architectural meaning. Framed views, […]
architecture Jenn Burke Ryan Tyler Martinez This thesis reimagines the architectural form through the mechanics of the pop-up book – a medium where movement, narrative and geometry converge to reveal unexpected transformations. Through iterative experiments in paper architecture and kinetic structure, the research investigates how architectural representation might unfold as an event rather than exist […]