Architecture Research Works

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http://hdl.handle.net/1903/1608

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Browsing Architecture Research Works by Subject "Architecture"

Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    AgroEcology Innovation District: Desiging Agricultural Urbanism at the University of Maryland
    (2022-06-03) Ezban, Michael
    ARCH 407 is a 6-credit graduate design studio taught by Michael Ezban, RA, ASLA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture in Spring 2022. The studio challenged students to design the AgroEcology Innovation District (AID), a proposed new development initiative at the UMD North Campus that seeks to create and amplify new spatial relationships between agriculture and public space, human and nonhuman ecologies, and campus and urban development. AID radically reconfigures North Campus through the design of three zones: the Urban Corridor Agriculture Zone; the Campus Agriculture Zone; and Campus Cohabitation Zone. This design exercise is an exploration in “agricultural urbanism,” or urbanism in which agriculture, buildings, and infrastructure are developed in tandem, in contrast to “urban agriculture,” where agriculture is proposed for derelict areas of pre-existing urbanism. Student design strategies for the AID draw heavily from nine historical and contemporary case studies of Agricultural Urbanism projects by a range of designers.
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    Diagramming Multispecies Cohabitation
    (2022-06-10) Ezban, Michael
    This 3-credit course, taught by Michael Ezban, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture in Spring 2021, focused on the construction of analytical diagrams and animations that describe multispecies architecture—buildings intended for mutualistic cohabitation by both humans and nonhuman animals. Designing multispecies architecture is an act of inclusivity; it challenges latent and overt anthropocentric biases that exist in the design disciplines, and requires that architects seek and explore more-than-human perspectives and needs. The drawings produced by the students in this course describe entanglements between humans and nonhuman animals that shape, and are shaped by, architecture: koi ponds that provide a residence with evaporative cooling; a museum with corridors scaled to humans and elephants; stables where horses and humans can mingle on a planted roof; and more. This course asks students to attune to the functional and aesthetic decisions made by architects who have attempted to satisfy the needs of “clients” beyond the human.
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    Facade as Avian Habitat: Designing Multispecies Cohabitation at the University of Maryland
    (2022-06-21) Ezban, Michael
    Students in this studio were challenged to redesign the existing south-facing brick facade of the School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation building at the University of Maryland, College Park, using an aesthetically appealing new brick bond that functions as viable habitat for small birds of various species. Students also proposed ways of altering the existing glazing at the building to make it bird-safe. Pattern-making using brick bonds is a venerable architectural tradition, and the projections and recesses formed through brick rotation and spacing can be more than ornamental—they can create the ledges and nooks that birds can occupy to perch and roost. In this studio, students explored various methods of designing brick bonding, including both conventional modeling and parametric modeling, to create sophisticated and beautiful brick bonds that attract and house birds. The facades are intended to integrate with the building’s entry courtyard landscape to foster a more biodiverse public space for humans and nonhuman animals. They are also meant to demonstrate an approach to facade design that is inclusive and respectful of multiple species. ARCH 408 is a 6-credit design studio that is focused designing relations between human and nonhuman animals. The course was taught by Michael Ezban, RA, ASLA, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture. The work in this studio report covers a 3-week assignment—an introductory design project within the larger 9-week course.
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    Livestock Teaching Pavilion at the UMD Campus Farm: Design for the Farm of the Future
    (2022-05-29) Ezban, Michael
    PROJECT DESCRIPTION: In Spring 2022, nine architecture graduate students were challenged to design a new Livestock Teaching Pavilion for the University of Maryland Campus Farm. The work was undertaken as a 6-week project assignment in ARCH 407, taught by Michael Ezban, Clinical Assistant Professor of Architecture. The design of the Livestock Teaching Pavilion is guided by three tenets. The architecture 1) enables diverse opportunities for experiential learning; 2) fosters various agro-ecologies and multi-species interrelationships; and 3) achieves sustainability by employing historical wisdom and contemporary technologies. Alongside building design, students also visited and documented the Campus Farm, developed program analysis, explored relevant case studies, and analyzed a range of potential structural and building systems.