Selection of thesis topic, definition of method of approach, and preparation of thesis proposal. Independent study supplemented by individual conference with faculty.

Selection of thesis topic, definition of method of approach, and preparation of thesis proposal. Independent study supplemented by individual conference with faculty.

Explores the theory and criticism of intersections between art, culture, and technology in relation to contemporary artistic practice, critical design, and media. Students consider methods of investigation, documentation, and display and explore modes of communication across disciplines. Students develop projects in which they organize research methods and goals, engage in production, cultivate a context for their practice, and explore how to compellingly communicate, display, and document their work. Regular presentation and peer-critique sessions, as well as reviews involving ACT faculty and fellows, and external guest reviewers provide students with ample feedback as their projects develop.

Aids students in the selection of a thesis topic, development of an approach method, preparation of a proposal that includes an outline for their thesis. Explores artistic practice as a method of critical inquiry and knowledge production/dissemination. Students examine artist writings and consider academic formats and standards. Regular group meetings, including peer reviews, are supplemented by independent study and individual conferences with faculty. 

Master/Piece Wordshop is an exploration of 3 pioneering and creative practices that are considered influential in contemporary architecture, and are crucial in shaping the landscape of architectural thinking today. The discussion will revolve around some key works of these practices and the processes and thinking methods that have shaped their projects. We will then study the impact of these chains of thought and focus on constructive ideas that will be discussed with the masters who will join the class to culminate the analysis and conversation.

Note: Students interested must have participated in a climate corps workshop (4.183 or 4.184 ) or internship (MITOS Summer cohort ‘24 or PKG Climate IAP ‘25) or by permission of the instructor. 

Description

Part of a multi-partner, multi-year collaboration, the workshop operates as a corps where students (graduates or undergraduates) work on tangible projects that advance campus, local city or neighborhood climate or climate justice plans and goals. Working individually or in teams, students drive projects, which build on the MIT Office of Sustainability strategic approach to the campus as a test bed and ongoing partnerships with community-based organizations or city agencies in Boston and Cambridge. Ongoing themes we have been exploring include:

• Extreme heat
• Circularity and designing out waste
• Community farms
• Equitable career paths
• Climate and resiliency hubs.

Students develop a project plan with the partner and support of the instructor, setting personal learning goals to deepen their understanding of their chosen theme, their skills and practical experience in project development and implementation. Students learn from each other through weekly reflections and discussion of intersecting dimensions of design and impact: climate, community and careers. 

In order to hit the ground running, students should email the instructor a description of what they would like to work on and why. 

Partners and collaborators: MITOS; PKG; Urban Risk Lab; DesignX; SA+P; Eastie Farm Climate Corps; PowerCorpsBOS; MIT Facilities; City of Cambridge. 

Note on units: Students taking the course for 3 units will propose projects that can be completed during weekly class time, with targeted research and meetings outside of class. Students taking the course for 9 units will undertake projects involving more extensive outside research, partner engagement.

This course examines the challenges faced by the oasis agro-ecosystems, focusing on Tunisia's Nefzawa region as a case study and delves into the historical, environmental, and socio-economic factors at play in the region. By reviewing the literature, analyzing climate projections, and utilizing Earth observation data, students will learn about the unsustainable use of natural resources, worsened by climate change and land/water dispossession processes.

The course will highlight pathways to resilience and alternative economic models centered on “commons” and “oasis connectivity.” We will identify ways to integrate/combine traditional low-tech commoning practices with modern technology to enhance community resilience and promote biodiversity, while seeking innovative approaches that go beyond simply preserving environmental and agricultural heritage.

Students will participate in scenario-building exercises for the Nefzawa oases, drawing insights applicable to broader urban areas across the Arab world, many of which are projected to become uninhabitable by the end of the century. The course will emphasize social and climate justice as essential components of sustainable futures, positioning design as a tool for societal transformation and collective action.

In this interdisciplinary setting, that bridges humanities and STEM fields, students will critically assess the balance between innovation and remembrance in design. They will explore how these unique eco-social landscapes can inform broader decolonial frameworks in architecture, urban planning, and design, addressing urgent challenges like climate change, resource scarcity, and socio-economic inequality. In this studio, we will delve into the dual narratives of the heavenly aspects and imaginaries of oases while confronting the harsh realities of plunder, drought, and ecological destruction.

According to some scientists we are at the beginning of the ‘sixth extinction process.’ No-one seems to really care too much. After all what are we to do. One of the problems is that it seems to be easier to imagine the cosmos - and for some even God - than it is to imagine the nature and history of our species despite the thousands years of pontificating on the subject. We seem to have something missing in our cognitive bandwidth. But we all know what is coming. “She went for a Walk on the Beach and found a Rare “Doomsday Fish’” was a recent headline in the New York Times. Our end is now everyday news. The seminar/workshop will research the problem, myth, and the very probable reality of human extinction. Students will be expected to develop a project that explores these conditions, whether on a real or fictive site or as an exhibition.

1/23/25 - Schedule change to T 10-1

Weekly class attendance and site visits are mandatory for this course. Weekend volunteer days with the Common Good Co-Operatives will provide hands-on opportunities for engaging the values of commoning, placemaking and placekeeping, and co-design and community participation.

This class represents the beginning of joint commitment with a community partner to develop a feasible plan for transforming a real-world site. Common Good Co-Operatives currently occupies seven parcels of land (0.5 acres) in the heart of Dorchester. Five of the seven land parcels that constitute the site of the Farm are owned by the City of Boston and are currently in agreement with Common Good Co-Operatives to be used as an agricultural site. In order to combat increasing development pressures, Common Good Co-Operatives want to solidify and increase its infrastructural capacity to facilitate community-based programming and economic development for the neighborhood. Working with Common Good Co-Operatives, this course will engage Architecture and Planning students to envision and plan expansive possibilities for the farm as a comprehensive farming system that can support, among others, essential workforce development and readiness programs, small-business incubation, co-op services, and community empowerment.

At the end of the first semester of work, students will produce a comprehensive document (diagrams of processes, design principles, historical analysis, architectural drawings and diagrams) that outlines the possibilities and opportunities on this site. Non-design students will produce as a final assignment a guide for non-profits on the history of zoning in Boston and how to navigate a zoning change for common use. Students will present to the City of Boston a plan for rezoning, establishing land tenure, and possibilities for Common Good.

Undergraduates welcome.

Clients, funding, consultants, contracts–architects are enmeshed in financial mechanisms that forever remind us of our direct reliance on local and global economies. Money talks and architecture follows: our work articulating the interests of those served while fluctuating with the rapidity of the market. And while this relationship may be fixed, perhaps we can find ways to resist its normative logics, which exacerbate social inequalities and consolidate power in the hands of the few and the privileged. This workshop will explore alternative economies and financial arrangements to find ways to re-code capitalism’s tendencies, desires, and outcomes. We’ll draw from a range of writing–from queer theory to post-colonial studies to literary criticism–to undo dominant financial orientations.

We will ask whether in addition to designing architecture, we can also design the market that demands architecture–to produce economic scenarios under which we might build. Each week we will pair readings in economic anthropology (studying how economies are shaped by behavior, cultural values, and social relationships), texts from other disciplines, and case-studies to invent atypical demand-chains, work against models of optimal performance, and instrumentalize culture to undercut efficiency. We will look at how we might produce clients, programs, and actor networks rather than responding to the whims of the market. We will consider how we might think of economic arrangements as tools for designers.

Each week, students are asked to produce a written response to the reading and to help guide discussion, researching and exploring examples and references to ground our work. The task is to produce a collective and cumulative body of knowledge. Together, we will read, write, and compile a compendium of research for a publication on the topic. Students are encouraged to find broad reaching examples–from the domestication of post-war military technology to the proliferation of sharing economies to recent trends in reuse and the circulation of materials and everything in between. We will focus on buildings, materials, and products, largely drawn from North America in the 20th and 21st centuries but may also look further afield. The course will focus on real examples of immaterial and material phenomena, inventing new languages and representational strategies along the way.

Undergraduates welcome.