Reynold Diaz

Rohit Bhalwankar

Nima Farzane

Man, the ultimate subject of cities is involved in creation and evaluation of environment. However the process of recreation of environment has been reduced to dealing with densities, allocations of space, fulfillment of regulations. Therefore the spirit of cities is lost in the process. It is crucial to find some path back to the situation when ‘city’ meant something vibrating life. It might be impossible to find sign of reversal to the general trend of development and growth of cities, but there might be some solution for regeneration and emergence of new urban life. This project is aiming to propose a new method to reparameterize urban environment.

Wassida Watanakulchai

Shifting Territory is an architectural thesis by Wassida Watanakulchai at Pratt Institute. The project deals with social culture and technology in a future scenario where global warming and sea level rise have damaged the cultural heritage of many cities around the world.

This situation is particularly evident in Bangkok, Thailand. Early settlements developed around the banks of the country’s major river, Chao Phraya, back when it was used as the region’s primary mode of transportation. The communities in these low-lying areas are increasingly susceptible to heavy rains, rising tides, and changing sea levels.

In order to maintain these communities and foster the inner city, Shifting Territory articulates a response to changing boundaries, behaviors, and spatial functions to address the increasing threat of rising currents. The thesis works to preserve the sites of cultural heritage by manipulating the coastal community landscape.

Nisha Bhat

In this extremely hyper connected world, near future advances in technology can be incorporated to nurture a positive sense of collaboration between different ethnicities in globalised cities.This is an attempt to conceptualize a modular hybrid ecology and a reactive environment that would provide an intersection between the virtual and the physical at a localized level.This environment would act as a socio- cultural stimulator, which would in turn be connected to many such environments throughout the city - forming a virtual network and a city activator.

Fang Gao

TJ Lozada

Tony Martin

Orkun Beydagi

Enhanchements in information technologies and its relation with social structure, network formations and archiving starts to change the way people use the city. Being in a particular ‘place’ is a negotiable manner according to the future of the information technologies. Location and place are seperated and local information is gained from the aggregeration of events in a particular location. Formations of city elements are evolving in this social progress, however in order to support new social dynamics and give an acceleration to the evolution of city elements, city needs hybrid solutions. Being temporary will be a key situation as information flow increases the archival process and taxonomy will more tied to certain location and time. This temporary circumstance will lead to a situation of structures adopting themselves as intelligent entities that supports the information generation in certain location and time.

Chris Dorsey

Over the last decades we have seen significant progression in technology.  This proliferation and progression has led to a shift from the mechanical paradigm, to the electronic paradigm and ultimately a change in the way we perceive the world around us.  Technologies such as the cell phone, particularly the iphone, Google Earth, online social networks, and app based platforms are just a few among many that challenge the way we have been, and shape the way we will, experience the environment and interact with each other. This technology and its consequential advance towards hyper-connectivity changes our socio-cultural structure and thus our perception of the world.  As technology advances a question arises.  What is this ‘new world’ and how can architects begin to design for it?

Aalhad Pande

Shalini Satish

Shwetha Kulkarni

Sidika Merchant

James Ward

In order for this new age of responsible architecture to emerge, advances in engineering and technology. Though we do have the existing prototypes or alternatives to energy production for the wealthy. The real products for regular consumers will not be readily available until production is ramped up in large quantities such that the prices will fall and the next generation of integrated building can come forth, in more specifically built products, as well as more efficient products. 

Digital design techniques today are changing the way architecture is perceived from a system of basic shelter, to an integrated series of emergent properties that can be responsible for a number of methodologies to symbiotically exist. Meaning that this new architecture should first actively participate in social energy creation. As well as addressing the need for shelter as well as using the innovative integrated technology to assist in the fabrication of complex but purposeful space. In doing these two things the pure design aesthetic should evoke a strong response by those who experience it as one should be made aware of a purpose of this place, and it should be evident that its purpose is good.

The concept of futuring requires an in-depth study of the past to determine the trends of the future. In doing so one must take into consideration those who have also projected visions of the future; more specifically the future as portrayed in film. 

Four films were chosen for this study, Blader Runner 1982, The 5th Element 1997, Minority Report 2002, and WALL.E 2008. These films were chosen because of their post apocalyptic context in which the Earth has undergone a significant socio-technological change as response to a change in social norms, and global environment. 

With the facts we know now about what could possibly be in store for the future of the planet, is beneficial to explore the various scenarios of cinematography as respects to the social interactions and the environments in which they take place. Ironically the premise for most of the selected films come from the futurist writings of Philip K. Dick; who explored sociological, political and metaphysical themes in his novels that were heavily influenced by police states or monopolistic corporations, both strikingly similar to the condition that is becoming more prevalent in reality today.

Annamaria Kasimati

Daniel Cheng

Daniel Vianna

Heeyeon So

Marit Jensen