USC Architecture XpoInstructor: Doris Sung
Since the Industrial Revolution, the gold standard for engineered products has been defined by high precision, high quality, and innovation—aspects inherent in exactitude. The pursuit of “German Engineering” has shaped what we value and expect in products such as smartphones, automobiles, and buildings. We expect them to work perfectly, instantly, and indefinitely. If they fail […]
This thesis proposes that the boundary between private dwelling and public life is a site of exchange, warmth, and collective belonging. Through the architectural act of stitching, the project intertwines the public and private realm, dismantling thresholds to invite inhabitation, encounter, and interdependence. What if the space between a front door and a sidewalk became […]
The fundamental flaw of traditional spatial definition is its reliance on the rigid physical boundary. This paradigm traps architecture in a binary state of "here" or "there", entirely neglecting the liminal state. Therefore, this thesis translates the concept of liminality into a tangible, built reality. This is achieved by blurring hard edges visually through optical […]
Architecture schools scaffold cognition through critique and reflection, but primarily from the professor's perspective, which can produce rigid patterns as students mimic while retaining a stake of agency. Architects have always had tools that store geometry but never tools that study the mind making it. Luminous Matter is one's own recursive, interactive AI design persona […]
Designing Space Through the Logic of Food Noelle Osborne Architecture can be designed and understood through culinary language, translating food-based actions into spatial systems that shape human experience. Architecture is often communicated through bland terminology, creating a dull experience. However, this project questions how architecture can shift to use more appetizing terminology that satisfies the […]
Austin Nguyen – Doris Sung Oftentimes we design to prioritize programs, but how would architecture look if we design to prioritize circulation? What does efficient and comfortable circulation look like, to the masses and the individual? Designing circulation isn't all that simple, as many factors influence the decisions people make when selecting a path of […]
Architectural function is driven by the formation of surfaces. This merging of science and art to design spaces evokes feelings and facilitates specific purposes. Architects commonly refer to this as form vs function. These surfaces impact the ways people interact with each other. Vertical surfaces create divides, barriers, and containment. Horizontal surfaces connect, transport, and […]
Spatial logic allows humans to mentally visualize three dimensionally what is represented two dimensionally. Objects and their representations can be misaligned through means of projection or perceptive errors related to optical illusions or lack of depth perception cues. Three dimensional forms produce two dimensional reproductions not solely through representation, but in the creation of shadows. […]
In a world obsessed with productivity, our surroundings have grown sterile, impersonal, and unbearably boring. As such, we rely on shallow dopamine hits from technology that has quickly festered into a dependence and addiction. By transforming moments of boredom into moments of fun, we can begin to rekindle our relationship with the built environment. In […]
Summary: Architecture typically treats the physical exhaust of human activity as unwanted waste requiring mechanical extraction. This project flips that paradigm. Through a series of localized architectural inventions, pure form and ingrained material intelligence are deployed to passively intercept these unmanaged secondary outputs. The intuitive acts of everyday habitation become passive engines. Without superimposed technology, […]