Thesis thoughts

Here are some notes from an initial conversation with Nezar about thesis.

Focus your effort into an idea or proposition that will give you joy. You must have passion for it.

Thesis is a proposition with many qualifiers and variables with three main parts:

Underlying assumptions: that which you don’t have to prove

Hypothesis: potential answers to a problem you define
This is never a question, but to propose a response
Descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory

Paradigm: what is essential to the argument, the basis on which your argument rests
Those involved in the discussion must agree on the paradigm, it sets the base on which you control the conversation

Example:
“Low rise low income housing with adequately surveyed space operates better than the same kind of housing with high rises.”

Underlying Assumption: Defensible Space
Hypothesis: The surrounding height of a public space impacts the actions of people within it
Paradigm: Physical Determinism

Thesis will not prove anything. It is a framework that is set up to help others assess its success or failure.

How can a design be proven?
When you build it, people get it
Building does what you said it would do
The experience is enjoyable and it accomplishes number 1 and 2

Don’t solve an unsolvable problem. The solutions can actually change the paradigm. However, the paradigm can change without you knowing it.

Know exactly what you want to achieve.
Know exactly what you are proposing to change.

Your statement should be solid and to the point (less than 50 words). The statement cannot be challenged. This is your chance to control the conversation and set the ground rules. If others miss the point, remind them and bring them back.

The paradigm must be shared with others
The proposition must be solid.

You have the opportunity to embed the norms in the discussion and give you something solid to stand on.

In the case of Good City Form by Kevin Lynch, he asks the question: What makes a good city?
He offers a couple of normative examples:
Vitality
Sense
Fit
Access
Control
Justice
Efficiency
.

Each of these offers a normative model by which the city can be evaluated. The question is not about the characteristics that make a city good, but about how those can be measured and qualified.

nezar's suggested readings

all -

courtesy of luke, i've scanned the readings that nezar distributed last week at his first informal thesis prep seminar. bibliography is as follows - MLA purists are forewarned. since blogger.com doesn't support PDFs, go here to download the scans:

https://webfiles.berkeley.edu/cmd/shared/

1. Abbey, Bruce. Thesis: “As Necessary for the Health of the Institution as the Student"

2. Hackeh-Fischer, David. Chapter 1, Fallacies of Question-Framing from Historians’ Fallacies: Toward a Logic of Historical Thought, 1970.

3. Jarzombek, Mark. A Thesis.

4. Mack, Mark and AlSayyad, Nezar. History as a Design Mode: The New Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Journal of Architectural Education 44/2 (February 1991)

5. Roy, Ananya. Chapter 11, Transnational Trespassings: The Geopolitics of Urban Informality from AlSayyad, Nezar and Roy, Ananya. Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives from the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia. Lexington Books, 2004.

6. Scott Brown, Denise. On Formal Analysis as Design Research. Journal of Architectural Education, 1978, p. 8-11

Contemporary discourse

There is a great article by Ashley Schafer (chair of Architecture Dept. at Ohio State) in Perspecta 38 : "Theory After (After-Theory)" pp. 109 -125 that examines the relationship between theory and practice, specifically in our contemporary predicament.

and kudos to you guys for starting this blog. best of luck with thesis.

Measuring buildings with a camera and software (Field work 2)

This is a nice update of some old-fashioned tricks that many of you may appreciate knowing about: HOW TO MEASURE ANYTHING WITH A CAMERA AND SOFTWARE .

and more

Our own library's "Preparing for thesis research" guide page:
http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/ENVI/thesis.html

And more from our very own school...What happened after 2004?
http://www2.arch.ced.berkeley.edu/ced_people/gallery/student/2004thesis/


SCI-Arc has this little bit up on the web about their thesis program:
http://www.sciarc.edu/course.php?id=61&category2=0

Search the slow and flash-y Columbia GSAPP website, and you can find something about thesis there:
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=59905
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=44658
http://www.arch.columbia.edu/index.php?pageData=40834

Why stop there? An incomplete set of core readings at UCLA, which may or may not be relevant to their alt-thesis (a research studio):
Greg Lynn - Animate Form
Greg Lynn - Folds, Bodies, and Blobs
Sanford Kwinter - "Landscapes of Change: Boccioni's Stati d'animo as a General Theory of Models" from Assemblage
Mood River catalogue - from exhibition curated by Jeffrey Kipnis
Stan Allen - Points and Lines, especially "Field Conditions"
Manuel DeLanda - A Thousand Years of Non-Linear History
Rem Koolhaas - Delirious New York
Marshall McLuhan - Understanding Media, especially "Media Hot and Cold"
Mark Wigley - Architecture of Deconstruction
Colin Rowe & Robert Slutsky - "Transparency: Literal and Phenomenal" in Mathematics and the Ideal Villa
Rosalind Krauss - "Sculpture in the Expanded Field" in The Anti-Aesthetic book (also Baudrillard's "Ecstasy of Communication")
Jeffrey Kipnis - "The Cunning of Cosmetics" in El Croquis 84 (Herzog and deMeuron)
Sylvia Lavin - "Temporary Contemporary" in Perspecta 34

thesis pre-prep @GSD

Courtesy of this year's Maybeck Professor, Jeannette Kuo, see the 2002 GSD pre-prep readings suggested by GSD professor Sarah Whiting.
--posted as a jpg image--

Field work

I am wrapping up my Fulbright year in Japan, so the thing that is foremost on my mind is field work. Later on I would like to offer some written resources, but here I want to say a few brief words about engaging with the physical artifacts of architecture, interviewing, and other activities you will do this summer.

I find that even though you could line up any research proposal I have written and find it a neat match for the outcomes, the truth is that the manner in which the research unfolds is always a surprise. I thought this book was going to be broad and thus not as deep as my first. The truth is that it has unrolled as a narrower, deeper text, demanding that I take on historical roof styles and structural character, contemporary ship-building practices in building structures, religion, aerchaeology, abstract art, and much more. A eclectic list. And, whether your ultimate result is a book or a building, you want it to come together in a clear way. (Remember, those of you who are interested in academe or something other than designing - even activites like being the technical or detailing person in an office, having a big role in the business or programming side, etc - may want to do a written thesis rather than a design thesis. This is a rare opportunity Berkeley offers, and one too few students recognize the potential for.)

As I develop an understand of a building, I read all I can get a hold of that has any plausible relation to it, interview the architect repeatedly (and whoever else seems to be suitable), and spend time with the building, not once but repeatedly. I would strongly recommend that you do the same for design projects by:

- Consuming an extensive pile of related readings on your topic.
Take notes - because good ideas can fade with time. I use 3x5 cards and a big box with dividers. I sketch on them, etc. Organization helps make sure you can easily revisit ideas.

- If you have a client, or know of people knowledgable on the key points of your project, try to interview them. Make a list of questions that you consider relevant before going, tape it, and turn the interview into notes as quickly as you can. Human resources are an important part of good research, because you get the points specific to your interests very efficiently.

- Commune with the site. Spend a lot of time there. Use photography, sketching, pacing, and other ways of seeing the site at a deep level. Go back often, to see the site at different times of day, in different lights, etc. If you have good written resources on the site (on its history, for example), take the book or notes along and read while there, pinpointing physical elements.

- If possible, bring someone with that will also look at the site and have discussions with you; talking with my husband, who is also shooting with me, is an important part of my process. While on the site, talk to folks who want to share their thoughts on it. Listen.

If you are doing a design project for your thesis, you may also want to find some precedents that you can study closely in a similar way. I find it very helpful to compare and contrast structures. Here are things that might be helpful:

- How does each precedent communicate? Does it communicate differently to people with different knowledge?
- How does each precedent relate to its site? I am looking at several buildings, for example, that are nestled into the ground, which is not a typical Japanese gesture - so what they do and why they do it are helpful to consider.
- What materials are used? How hard are they to get, to build with, etc.? How do the parts relate? Is it a Semperian or Corbusier separation of parts? How are corners, bases, etc. handled and what is intended in these gestures?
- How is light handled? Is decay present? Is the interior in nature or isolated from it?
- How do the precedents relate to each other? Are there some commonalities that seem to make sense for you, too? Or perhaps they all seem to ignore a strategy or character you are sure should exist?

I could go on, but have another interview tonight, so will wrap this up. Just a few last points:
1) Do not get tired of the big idea mid-point. You will get more from sticking with it and enriching it than you will by fighting it.
2) Work every day. Let your project possess you.

More on field work related references soon~

a few sources from andy shanken

Here are a number of things I might study in preparation for studio.
1. I would learn one of the classical forms of sonnet and write one. It provides a rigorous structure within which one can be infinitely creative. The applications to architecture should be evident.
2. Kevin Lynch, Image of the City. A classic, which provides both a way of seeing the city and something rather easy to argue against.
3. Alan Colquhoun, Essays in Architectural Criticism, especially "The Modern Movement in Architecture," and "Symbolic and Literal Aspects of Technology" (since we are currently in a mood of technophilia).
4. Adrian Forty, Words and Buildings. This is a smart book, although it is frankly Anglocentric, which means that there is room to apply his approach to whatever local rhetorical environment you might like.
5. Reyner Banham, "A Black Box" and "1960-Stocktaking," in Banham, A Critic Writes. Or anything by him, b/c he's one of the most insightful critics.
6. John Summerson. Perhaps the most fluid architectural historian. Try "The Case for a Theory of 'Modern Architecture," in Unromantic Castle or The Classical Language of Architecture, which is formalist and thus a good way of seeing the formalist sympathies of the present moment.
7. The campus guide to Berkeley. Every architect should know her local environment and look at it.

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Looking forward to more posts!
Post anything....thoughts, a few book titles, links, scanned articles, questions, etc.

More readings...human factors, mapping, city planning

Here are some of my thoughts on readings:

Donald A. Norman: The Design of Everyday Things
Well written book on human factors. It should be a must read for every design student.

Renee Chow: Suburban Space
I'm not kissing butt, I enjoyed this book, it's provocative (and nice straight-forward prose). In essence it's a book about designing buildings that have longevity. Also enjoyed the Habraken book.

Jane Jacobs: Death and Life of Great American Cities
Even though it's 40 years old, much of what she writes about is still current, though there have been some cultural shifts over time (for example, no one I know allows their children play in the city streets anymore). Very casual chatty writing style.

Edward R. Tufte: Envisioning Information, Visual Explanations, Visual Display of Quantitaive Information, Beautiful Evidence
Any of these books are great for those of you interested in diagrams and mapping. Hell, you don't even have to read them, just look at the bloody pictures, they're beautiful!

Peronally, I didn't like Atlas of Novel Tectonics. I thought it was rather obvious and simplistic.