Thesis Concept Sketch #1

I am as yet undecided on the nature of my thesis project, and think it's difficult simply wading through the large knowledge bases and improvised sets we've accumulated through our time in studio to then settle and choose a focused area of thought to fully elaborate. I've chosen to start at least initially with words in the articulation of my ideas. Even the way I consider projects has abstracted in some cases or evolved to become more aware and inclusive of the critical qualities or characteristics exhibited in a space and readable as text. Lately I have been of the opinion that the city and the built environment exist partly as a celebration of life but also as systems of controlling the population, and permeate as the results of imperial or conquering forces throughout our culture, subject to our violent history. The coordination of these systems of life and the upturning of their monetary foundation through the global recession may be something we're witnessing.

Some of these controlling measures are in terms of surveillance or the manipulation of fear tied to a war-ridden or authoritatively uncertain state. Rural, empty contexts or those closer to nature are considered in some regard the escapist option in a world attempting to come together, but electronic connectivity changes the scale at which global life is to be considered and brings a realm of simultaneous events to a single virtual location. The materials under consideration are no longer physical in nature but are also ideological, spiritual, or subjective. The way we place ourselves within and define those boundaries since ancient times have served as cornerstones of the public realm and an open discourse gaurantees a healthy progression. The structures and hierarchies that oversaw the rule of kingdoms and civilizations were manifest and brought to a height in the creation of architecture for functional as well as symbolic purposes to further a particular idea or emerging concept. Today the demands of environmental protection and the growth of the sustainability movement worldwide, in some ways place the needs of the planet above those of the population, claiming ecological salvation as the primary impetus and charge to humankind in the 21st century. The overdependence on technology may have negatively affected our approach to systems thought, as the broad spectrum of experience is inevitably condensed to a prescriptive path. Cleaning up the damage caused in past years strikes to the core of questioning the way we live. After our enormous leaps in technological development, we are left with discovering an ecological responsibility to simultaneously generate and maintain.