ARCH 5110 Thesis Proseminar

Syllabus Fall 2010

Thursdays 4.00-6.00pm
Instructor: Ben Gilmartin
Course Description
Thesis Proseminar will include seminars and directed independent research leading to complete
development of the your Thesis program. The course will provide general instruction in the definition,
programming, and development of a Thesis project.
Research
The Thesis will be the culmination of your individual research in a design project. You will prepare for your
Thesis project by narrowly defining a question, developing a working knowledge of related research in your
field of interest, and producing an architectural hypothesis. The collected work of the Proseminar and will
provide the necessary material for your Thesis semesters design experimentation, testing, and critical
appraisal of your hypothesis. Your Thesis argument will ultimately draw a relation between the specific
resolution of an architectural proposition and a larger question within architectural discourse.
The Proseminar will set the stage for your Thesis project. The course will begin with a series of seminar
Frameworks and discussions instrumental in addressing issues of structured research and writing, uses /
misuses of theory, precedents, site concept and context, and critical programming. Guest speakers will from
time to time supplement development of special topics in design research and provide insight into the
special nature of practice within the New York context. Individual meetings and work sessions will be
scheduled throughout the term to review your independent topics and direct research. You will be
encouraged to explore New York Citys extensive resources and treat the city as a laboratory for design
experimentation and site analysis. Regular exercises in writing and documentary or speculative production
will progressively refine the specific focus of your Thesis topic in relation to your personal interests and
disciplinary dicourses of history, theory, and practice.
Course Requirements
You will be required attend all classes and participate in discussion weekly, complete regular written and
project exercises, make presentations of your individual research, and submit a final formatted Thesis
Dossier publication. Throughout the term, you will collect and edit your research, writings, and process
materials. At the end of the course, you will submit your Thesis Dossier incorporating written and graphic
material summarizing your research, presenting a concise statement of the Thesis question, identifying your
project site, and stating the program. You will complete the Proseminar with a clearly defined project
proposition and an organized collection of all materials required for the first design meeting with your Thesis
advisor.

Assignments

1 Statement of Intentions: Site, Precedent, Program, Typological / Methodological Interests
2 Frameworks 1-5: Five Writing and Photography Assignments
3 Engagements: Site Forensics Site Documentation / Analysis Presentation
4 Engagements: Field Studies Precedents Research Presentation
5 Engagements: Program Projections Presentation
6 Hypothesis: Thesis Proposal
7 Thesis Poster
8 Projective Diagramming Thesis Speculations
9 Thesis Dossier



Outline Schedule

1 September 3 / What is a Thesis?
Due: Statement of Intentions: Site, Precedent, Program, Typological/Methodological Interests
Assignment: Framework 1 Assignment and Readings - due 2/4

2 September 9 / Framework 1: The Urban Site
Due: Transgressing the Urban Site, Photography and Writing Assignment
Readings: Koolhaas, Debord, Wigley, Lerup, Sola-Morales Rubio, Levesque

3 September 16 / Framework 2: Landscape Urbanism and Ecology
Due: Landscape Urbanism and Ecology Projections, Photography and Writing Assignment
Readings: Mostafavi, Guattari, Corner, Wall

4 September 23 / Framework 3: Programming
Due: Programming Projections, Photography and Writing Assignment
Readings: Koolhaas, Tschumi, Wood / Andraos

5 September 30 / Framework 4: Structure and Surface
Due: Structure and Surface Projections, Photography and Writing Assignment
Readings: Balmond, Howeler, Moussavi, Kipnis

6 October 7 / Framework 5: Ephemerality: Effects, Atmospheres, Phenomena
Due: Ephemeral Projections, Photography and Writing Assignment
Lecture: Diller Scofidio +Renfro Technology and Materials Research
Readings: Somol and Whiting, Yoon, Lavin, Schafer

7 October 14 / Engagement: Independent Research and Review
Due: Site Forensics - Writings and Drawings on the Urban Site Presentation

8 October 21 / Engagement: Independent Research Review
Due: Field Studies - Precedents Research Presentation

9 October 28 / Engagement: Independent Research Review
Due: Program Projections - Writing and Diagramming on Program Presentation

10 November 4 / Engagement: Independent Research Review
Due: Hypothesis: Thesis Proposal

11 November 11 / Research Presentations
Due: Thesis Poster (Ithaca Submission Date to be Confirmed)

12 November 18 / Research Presentations
Due: Projective Diagramming Thesis Speculations Presentation

13 November 25 THANKGIVING BREAK

14 December 2 / Research Presentations
Due: Projective Diagramming Thesis Speculations Presentation
Thesis Dossier In-Class Review (Final Submission December 16)

Individual meetings will be held during class times from December 9 to December 16.






Course Readings

Framework 1: The Urban Site

Rem Koolhaas, Introduction, The Frontier in the Sky (Excerpt), Delirious New York (New York, Monacelli
Press, Reprint Dec.1994).
Guy Debord, Theory of the Derive, Situationist International Anthology, Ken Knabb Editor and Translator
(Berkeley: Bureau of Public Secrets, 1981).
Mark Wigley, Lost In Space, The Critical Landscape, Michael Speaks Editor (Rotterdam: 010 Publishers,
1996).
Lars Lerup, Stim and Dross: Rethinking the Metropolis, Assemblage #25 (The MIT Press, 1994).
Ignasi de Sola-Morales Rubio, Terrain Vague, Anyplace, Cynthia C. Davidson Editor (New York: The
Anyone Corporation, 1995).
Luc Levesque, Terrain Vague as Material, Paysages (Montreal: Newsletter of the Association des
architects paysagistes du Quebec, 2001).

Framework 2: Landscape Urbanism and Ecology

Felix Guattari, The Three Ecologies (Excerpt), The Three Ecologies (London: Athlone Press, 2000)
Mohsen Mostafavi, Landscapes of Urbanism; Landscape Urbanism: A Manual for the Machinic Landscape,
Mohsen Mostafavi and Ciro Najle Editors (London: AA Publications, 2003).
J ames Corner, Terra Fluxus, The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Charles Waldheim Editor (Princeton
Architectural Press, 2005).
Alex Wall, Programming the Urban Surface, Recovering Landscape: Essays on Contemporary Landscape
Architecture, J ames Corner Editor (Princeton Architectural Press, 1999).

Framework 3: Programming

Rem Koolhaas, Definitive Instability: The Downtown Athletic Club, Delirious New York (New York,
Monacelli Press, Reprint 1994).
Rem Koolhaas, Congestion Without Matter: Parc de la Villette, S,M,L,XL (New York, Monacelli, 1995).
Bernard Tschumi, Architecture and Limits, Spaces and Events, Architecture and Disjunction (Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 1996).
Dan Wood and Amale Andraos, Program Primer v1.0: A Manual for Architects, Praxis 8: Re:programming,
Ashley Schafer and Amanda Reeser Lawrence Editors (Praxis, 2006).

Framework 4: Structure and Surface

Cecil Balmond, Informal and Arnhem, Informal (Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2002).
Eric Howeler, Optimized Envelopes: Seattle Public Librarys Structural Skin, Praxis 6: New
Technologies://New Architectures (Praxis, 2004).
Farshid Moussavi, The Function of Ornament, The Function of Ornament, F Moussavi and M Kubo Editors
(Barcelona: Actar, 2006).
J eff Kipnis, The Cunning of Cosmetics, El Croquis 84 (1997).

Framework 5: Ephemerality: Effects, Moods, Atmospheres, Phenomena

R.E. Somol and Sarah Whiting, Notes Around the Doppler Effect and other Moods of Modernism,
Perspecta 33 (2002).
Sylvia Lavin, "What Color is it Now? Perspecta 35 (2004).
Meijin Yoon, Programming Scenarios: R&Sie, Praxis 8: Re:programming (Praxis, 2006)
Ashley Schafer, Designing Inefficiencies, Scanning : The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio, Aaron
Betsky Editor (New York : Whitney Museum of American Art : Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 2003),
92-102.