MArch II 2018 Graduate Thesis Exhibition: Towards a New[Hypo]thesis

Tue, Sep 11, 6:30pm - Fri, Sep 28, 2018 6:30pm

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Body Form: Wrapping Lines to Surface to Poché

Body Form: Wrapping Lines to Surface to Poché

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OilScapes: Re-Mapping the Power Politics

OilScapes: Re-Mapping the Power Politics

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Hybrid Systems: Technology, Rituals and Domestic Objects

Hybrid Systems: Technology, Rituals and Domestic Objects

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Making Sense(s): Building a Material Pedagogy

Making Sense(s): Building a Material Pedagogy

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The Architecture of [Objects] of Architecture: Material Indexes, Cultural Icons and the Mechanisms of Signification

The Architecture of [Objects] of Architecture: Material Indexes, Cultural Icons and the Mechanisms of Signification

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Virtual Tectonics: Re-Reading the Ordinary

Virtual Tectonics: Re-Reading the Ordinary

This exhibition presents the work of the 2017-2018 Master of Architecture II Graduate Design Studio, focusing on Thesis projects but presenting a selection of work from the entire academic year of the graduate program.  

HYPOTHESIS: 1350–1400: Middle English, Latin

I.      A stated proposition assumed as a premise in an argument
II.     A proposition laid down or stated as a theme to be discussed or proved
III.    A proposition to be proved or one advanced without proof
IV.    A dissertation embodying results of original research and especially substantiating a specific view
V.    A statement or theory that is put forward as a premise to be developed through a proposal/design

Graduate thesis provides a unique opportunity to test new architectural paradigms that are unique to an individual’s own interests in architecture, as rooted within a larger question in architecture today. Within the formulation of a key argument, each student was asked to invent [verbal and visual] evidence with hopes of radically augmenting novel architectural realities through the lens of a ‘hypothesis’ as an investigative design proposition. The unique culmination of this year’s projects aims to test the conceptual underpinnings of key subject areas through a sequence of deeply varied themes that challenge the future of architectural discourse and the world we inhabit in the form of a critical question. The process of discovery and translation from research to the visualization of a proposed argument [and back and forth] became an essential conceptual framework, stimulating each project’s contextual groundwork. The projects were activated by an ‘animate’ method of thinking where the translational process of ‘research as design’ was challenged to capture time and reveal the essence of each thesis argument as an iterative time-lapse within a novel spatial trajectory. This animate reveal inspired novel methods of representation as a sequence of infused matrices, tying together variant conceptual, structural, material and aesthetic goals of each hypothesis.

Thesis topics include: Virtual Tectonics: Re-Reading the Ordinary; Hybrid Systems: Technology, Rituals and Domesticity; OilScapes: Re-Mapping the Power Politics; The Architecture of [Objects] of Architecture: Material Indexes, Cultural Icons and the Mechanisms of Signification; Fluid Infrastructure: Envisioning Mechanisms of De-Centralized Transportation; Mapping Resiliency: Flooded New York; Body Form: Wrapping Lines to Surface to Poché; City Theater: Towards a New Urbanism; Making Sense(s): Building a Novel Material Pedagogy.

Opening Reception: Tuesday 11 September 6:30-8:30pm 
Gallery Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 12-7pm 

This exhibition is free and open to the public.

View the full Fall 2018 Lectures and Events List.

Located in the Arthur A. Houghton Jr. Gallery, 7 East 7th Street, 2nd Floor, between Third and Fourth Avenues

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.