ARC3016Y S
Instructor: Carol Moukheiber
Meeting Section: L0113
Tuesday, 2:00pm - 6:00pm; Friday, 2:00pm - 6:00pm

With issues of climate change, social inequality, and the waning of democracy at the forefront of our contemporary condition, fundamental questions regarding the role of architecture emerge. The studio posits the explicit adaptation to indeterminacy as a critical and durable mediating strategy. The aim of the studio is to unpack qualities and practices for durability by closely examining opportunities along the building’s lifecycle: from resource extraction, to social performance, and reuse. The studio will look at experimental precedents, materials, and techniques, passive and active environmental strategies, and flexible structural systems, towards more ecologically and socially engaged structures.

The studio will take Beirut/Lebanon as a prototype site, an epicenter of environmental, social, and economic precariousness. The intention of the studio is to harness Beirut/Lebanon’s complex context as an active agent in the production of novel typologies. Due to the intensity and condensation of issues, the city/country can be seen as a pressure cooker necessitating strange typological manifestations, or little monsters, ugly ducklings, and mutants capable of radical adaptation to indeterminacy. Those expressions in turn have applications and relevance beyond Beirut.

On October 17, 2019, a spontaneous revolution erupted across several cities in Lebanon. It is estimated that a quarter to half the population (1.5-2M people) took to the streets demanding the resignation of the entire government. No sectarian leader was spared. On October 29, the prime minister resigned. As of November 13, the demonstrations, citizen teach-ins, and grassroots networking are ongoing. The intention of the studio is to travel to Beirut during reading week and meet with activists, experts, artists, designers, and academics. If the planned trip proves to be unfeasible, we will adapt.