Thesis
Thesis. (L. - Gk.) L. thesis a thing laid down, a proposition
These diverse thesis projects culminate not only a year or more of research and analysis, creative-thought and labor-intensive design work, but also many years of challenging academic study. The thesis is neither a final exam nor just another studio project. Rather, it is a unique opportunity – perhaps a once-in-a-career opportunity– for aspiring architects to explore ideas, sites and programs of their own choosing, and to undertake that exploration substantially on their own terms. In doing so, each student formulates a thesis idea– the “thesis” of the thesis– and then develops and tests that idea through a self-managed design process. Students receive periodic, sometimes contradictory guidance from the thesis director and thesis committee members, as well as constructive advice along the way from guest critics with expertise in architecture and urban design, landscape design, and structural and mechanical engineering. But ultimately each student must weigh all the advice and assume full responsibility for his or her final design decisions. Thus the students are the unambiguous authors of these projects.
This School– both through its faculty and curriculum– is committed to pedagogical methods and principles that strive for and celebrate the indispensable, Vitruvian balance between often conflicting design motives: engaging in imaginative, aesthetic speculation and formal invention; responding logically and creatively to the specifics of site, context, culture and program; and appropriately utilizing construction technologies. Not surprisingly, Maryland’s thesis projects reflect this struggle for balance in both concept and concept/design development. Students generate ideas and then demonstrate the potential for implementing those ideas artfully through buildable form.
Professor Emeritus Karl Du Puy, AIA
Thesis Coordinator, December 2019
Theses:
Enlivening the Existence of the Weavers Who Weave for a Livelihood
Peace Building: Providing Opportunities for Resolution Through the Built Environment
Jakarta Underwater: Rising Seas as Opportunity
Oil to Island: Repurposing Southern California’s Offshore Drilling Platforms
HELTER SHELTER: Rethinking Natural Disaster Architecture as the Foundation not the Feature
Urban Beeing: Enhancing Urban Ecology through the Cross-Pollination of Architecture and Apiculture
St. Ann’s Collective: Stabilizing Families through Supportive Environments and Shared Spaces
The Concept School: School that Creates Connections
From Suburban to Sub-Urban: Re-envisioning the American Dream
Death in the Round: A Critique of Funeral Architecture & Burial Practices
Access to the City
Reviving the Heart of the City: Transforming Baltimore’s Oldest Market into the City’s First Food District
Connecting Crossroads: Designing an Equitable Future for Langley Park
Community Connections: Living Well Within Intergenerational Households
Social Enterprise Development: A Preventative Approach to Homelessness and Displacement in Point Breeze, Philadelphia
Faith and Place: A New Center for Interfaith Dialogue
Hoboken Exchange: Transforming a Gateway into an Experiential Destination for Consumers
MeadWorks: Hydrology, Ecology, Mead and Architecture