Course Syllabus

GSAPP                                                                          Columbia University

Advanced IV, Second Year                                                ARCHA4104                                                  

Spring 2024                                                                  M, Th 1:30-6:30pm

Critic: Rachely Rotem                                                   rr2306@columbia.edu

 

Designing with/for Uncertainty

Practice Makes Perfect, 2011. Shahzia Sikander

 

Introduction

 

This studio will study and experiment with utilizing uncertainty in social and environmental contexts as a generative design process. The students will study interdisciplinary processes that support a level of uncertainty within a complex and dynamic systems, to be further investigated in students’ proposals.

 

The students will design a non-singular space that contains habits and habitats in equal measure to support the community and propose a design that can accommodate uncertainty itself.

 

Conceptual Framework

 

The physicist Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle states that in the extra small scales of nature, there is a basic limit to knowing how particles will behave. In quantum physics, indeterminism is the most fundamental law of nature.

 

At the medium scale of things, in which we architects and engineers operate, humanity has long studied the “rules of the game.” We learn that classical physics is rooted in the notion of an ordered universe. We respond to issues of energy, mass, gravity, space, and time with great specificity and control of the built and natural environment.

 

Yet weather has always been a complex, uncontrollable system beyond human analysis. One small change can have a tremendous impact: a complex system like the weather is defined by the number of interdependent relationships within it. Uncertainty is proportional to the number of unknowns or variations and is always part of such systems due to their many possibilities and relationships. As such, complexity and uncertainty are interwoven.

 

Our brains often process uncertainty as a risk. A risk is the exposure to threats or opportunities as a result of the inherent uncertainty within a complex system. As climate becomes more extreme and uncertain, it is conceived of as a threat—which increases the level of anxiety around how we can successfully face the challenges that lie ahead.

 

On the other hand, there is novelty in complex systems. Eliminating uncertainty and working only with an “accurate” model ensures no surprises. And it precludes the innate sense of reward associated with the sense of revelation. This studio will study the spectrum of designing with and for uncertainty as a generative process.

 

Project Site

 

 

The planned projects are to be located on the Pleasure Beach peninsula, part of  the East End coastal neighborhood in Bridgeport, CT. Bridgeport, a former industrial hub, is a home for a more vulnerable population to the social-economic impacts of climate change.

 

Pleasure Beach, known for its once-thriving amusement park from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, became secluded following a bridge fire in 1996. For a prolonged period, it could only be reached by a lengthy shoreline walk or by private boats. During this period of abandonment, Pleasure Beach transformed into a refuge for endangered birds and plants. Reopened in 2014, it is now reachable by water taxi.

 

Pleasure Beach's separation from the East End neighborhood has continued to limit residents' access to the waterfront. This has led to reduced opportunities in local tourism, regional fishing, educational projects, resiliency preparations and connections with coastal ecosystems.

 

Our research on Pleasure Beach will delve into its natural and man-made infrastructures and their relationship with the East End neighborhood. Despite physical separation, their futures are intertwined. Pleasure Beach serves as a crucial natural buffer, mitigating tidal floods and storm damage in the East End residential areas. It offers potential for design adaptations to accommodate rising sea levels and changing storm patterns, further protecting the neighborhood.

 

Programming

 

Each student will re-imagine the concept of a nature observatory as a prompt for a multi specie collective and spaces of exchange. Defined not only as a place but also as an infrastructure. A place that is not self-contained but part of its surrounding environmental eco-system. It is a non-singular space that can contain both new habits and habitats in equal measure. Each student will spatially translate their proposal for a nature observatory into their thesis on designing with/for uncertainty.

 

Projects

 

Research as Design

 

• Project IA_ Designing with Uncertainty

Students will experiment with interdisciplinary processes that embed uncertainty. The experiment should be explored through physical model making. Outcome of the experiment will be developed to a single drawing that illustrate the dynamic quality of uncertainty.

 

Deliverables:

• Reading presentation
• Experiment with a process that utilize uncertainty with Physical models.
• Document methodologically the process of exploration.
• Develop a single drawing (24”X18”) that illustrate the dynamic quality of uncertainty in your experiment.

 

• Project IB- Designing for Uncertainty (Site Analysis)

Students will research and map uncertainty in a regional scale. Each group should research simultaneously two aspects of the site, one environmental and the other social/cultural to form a more nuanced understanding of the site. Each group will submit one drawing that illustrates a complex reading of the site and illustrate the dynamic qualities of uncertainties discovered.

 

Deliverables:

• One drawing (24”X18”) that illustrates a complex reading of the site and illustrate the dynamic qualities of uncertainties discovered. The drawing will be abundant with information and include min. two scales of observations and two modes of representation.

 

Design as Research

 

• Project II_ From concept to space making

Students will translate their conceptual arguments on designing with/for uncertainties into site strategies, space making, user engagements, programmatic needs, and environmental/social experiences, in a manner that creates a holistic and integrated design proposal. 

Deliverables:

• Assignment IA & IB helped form one cohesive thesis/argument on designing with/for uncertainty. The thesis will form your design proposal in project II to be presented in midterm review.
• Drawing types tailored to each project. Scale 1/32” & 1/16”(to include section, plan, multi-perspective drawing).
• Presentation will include research and design done thus far in the semester to include printed boards, digital presentation & physical models.

 

• Project III_ From a segment to a whole

Students will develop a large-scale physical model that engages with a segment of your design that includes structure and interior/ exterior strategies in one section model.

 

Deliverables:

• Large-scale physical model that engages with a segment of your design that includes both interior and exterior relationship in one section model. (including structure). Suggested scale 1/4”.

 

• Project IV_ From the whole to the segment

Student will re-engage in designing in the scale of the building and the urban context, while incorporating midterm’s feedback and development accomplished in project III.

 

Deliverables:

• An edited thesis on designing with/for uncertainty. From research to design proposal, to include printed boards, digital presentation & physical models.
• Drawing types tailored to each project. Varied from scale 1/32” to ¼”.”(to include diagrams, sections, site plan, floor plans, multi-perspective drawing).

 

How We Will Work

The studio will be conducted as an open workshop, in which collaboration between students is highly encouraged but not required. Expanding the boundaries of the architectural discipline will be integral to our studio methodology. Students’ work will be interdisciplinary in its nature, and will be influenced by the social sciences, arts, and sciences. Studio readings will similarly be drawn from various disciplines. Students will be expected to research, read selected readings, develop conceptual argument, and test multiple design options. 

 

Readings

 

Social and cultural contexts-

1. Dehaene, Michael. Vervloessem, Els. Vandeputte, Tom. Productive Uncertainty: Indeterminacy in Spatial Design, Planning and Management. Rotterdam, NAi Publishers. 2011
2. Bammer, Gabriele. Smithson, Michael. Uncertainty and Risk: Multidisciplinary Perspectives. London ; Sterling, VA : Earthscan, 2008.
3. Tsukamoto, Yoshiharu, and Momoyo Kaijima. Architectural Behaviorology, in Behaviorology. Atelier Bow-Wow. Rizzoli, 2010.
4. Flowers, Benjamin. Architecture in an age of uncertainty. Farnham, Surrey ; Burlington : Ashgate, 2014.
5. Farber A. Daniel. Probabilities Behaving Badly: Complexity Theory and Environmental Uncertainty. 37 U.C. Davis L. REV. 145, 2003
6. Dubin, Nina. Robert Des Ruins. Speculation in the markets for ruins. Cabinet Magazine. 2006
7. An artist, an astrophysicist and a psychoanalyst have dinner. Cabinet Magazine. 2003
8. Beck, Ulrich. Pioneer in Cosmopolitan Society and Risk Society. Springer. 2014

 

Environmental contexts-

9. Evernden, Neil. The Social Creation of Nature .Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press. 1992
10. Heschong, Lisa. Thermal Delight in Architecture. The MIT Press. 1979
11. Serlin, David. The Clean Room/Some Like it Cold. Engineering the “personal environment”. Cabinet Magazine. 2001
12. Murakami, Haruki. Super-Frog Saves Tokyo. Nhk Shuppan/Tsai Fong Books. 2002
13. Morton, Timothy. Hyperobjects: Philosophy and Ecology After the End of the World.

University of Minnesota Press. 2013  

14. Hoang, Phu. Can you Believe the Weather We’re Having? The Avery Review: Climates: Architecture and the Planetary Imaginary, edited by Graham James, 252–60. Baden: Lars Muller Publishers, 2016.
15. Roesler, Sascha. Kobi, Madlen. The Urban Microclimate as Artifact: Towards an Architectural Theory of Thermal Diversity. Birkhauser. 2018
16. Latour, Bruno. Down to Earth: Politics in the New Climatic Regime. Polity. 2018.
17. Benedito, Silvia. Atmosphere Anatomies: On Design, Weather, and Sensation. Lars Muller Publishers. 2020

Online resources-

18. http://oldpleasurebeachct.com/
19. https://www.bridgeportct.gov/sites/default/files/2023-04/08302005_Planning_East_End_NRZ_Plan.pdf
20. https://www.city-data.com/neighborhood/East-End-Bridgeport-CT.html
21. https://connecticuthistory.org/a-unique-island-attraction-in-bridgeport/
22. https://bportlibrary.org/hc/business-and-commerce/bridgeport-a-cityscape-made-by-the-great-war/
23. https://bportlibrary.org/hc/african-american-heritage/unhidden-public-policies-could-historic-redlining-be-the-reason-bridgeports-neighborhoods-remain-racially-divided/
24. https://www.wshu.org/connecticut-news/2023-08-03/bridgeport-neighborhood-group-helps-combat-urban-food-desert
25. https://eastendnrzmarket.org/about-us-2
26. https://bportlibrary.org/hc/neighborhood-east-end/mount-trashmore/
27. https://bportlibrary.org/hc/architecture/jose-derivera/
28. https://bportlibrary.org/hc/entertainment/the-legend-of-pleasure-beach/
29. https://msc.fema.gov/portal/home
30. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ct/bridgeport/east-end
31. https://wbae.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Resilient_Bridgeport_WBAE_Broadsheet01-1.pdf
32. https://patch.com/connecticut/bridgeport/remembering-pleasure-beach

 

Schedule

*Notifications of any changes will be made in advance.  

 

• Jan 18-21: Read initial readings as emailed by critic

 

Week 1 Research

• 01/22 M:                      First day of studio. Introduction and reading discussion.

Research Group project IA, IB (Room 409, Avery)

• 01/24 W:                      Making Studio Tutorial
• 01/25 TH: Studio Desk crits

 

Week 2 Research

• 01/29 M:                      Studio Desk crits
• 01/31 W:                      Lecture
• 02/01 TH: Site Visit- Full day

Week 3 Research

• 02/05 M:                      Studio/Alternative day to site visit if conditions not possible on Feb 1.
• 02/07 W:                      Lecture
• 02/08 TH: Studio

Week 4 Research/Design

• 02/12 M: Pinup (Room 409, Avery). Project IA & IB Due
• 02/14 W: Exchange workshop
• 02/15 TH: No studio session*

 

• 02/17 SA: *Make up studio session with instructor. (in person/zoom)

Week 5 Design

• 02/19 M: Pinup* (room 412, Avery)
• 02/21 W: No event
• 02/22 TH: Studio

Week 6 Representation

• 02/26 TH: Studio
• 02/28 W: No event
• 02/29 TH: Midterm Review (Ware Lounge, 600 Avery)

Week 7

• 03/04 M: Studio (Room 409, Avery)         
• 03/06 W: No event
• 03/07 TH: Studio

 

Week 8

• 03/11-15 Spring break

 

Week 9

• 03/18 M: Studio
• 03/20 W: Lecture
• 03/22 TH: Studio

Week 10

03/25 M:                       Pinup (Room 504, Avery)

03/27 W:                      Lecture

03/28 TH:                      Studio

 

Week 11

• 04/01 M: Studio

04/03 W:                      Lecture

04/04 TH:                      Studio

Week 12

04/8   M:                       Group Pinup (Room 504, Avery): Draft of final review-

Drawings

04/10 W:                      Exchange workshop

04/11 TH:                      Studio

 

Week 13

04/15   M:                     Individual pinup (Roome 504, Avery) : Draft of final review-

Presentation argument

04/17 W:                      No event

04/18 TH:                      Studio

 

Week 14

04/22 M:                       Final Review (Ware Lounge, 600 Avery)