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Research

Afterhouse

Like too many Detroit houses irreparably damaged by disuse, vandalism and fire, the house at 3347 Burnside must come down. With support from the neighborhood, rather than razing it and leaving fallow land, we propose deconstructing the house and reusing the foundation to build a semi subterranean passive geothermal greenhouse. Precedents in contemporary Bolivia and […]

April 23, 2013 | Comments Off

Project Reach

Project Reach Can space, terrain and design facilitate the reduction of intergroup tensions and foster cross-community building? The Farm: Gaming Strategies for Empowering Marginalized Youth investigates this question. Launched as a design and research project, The Farm took off as a series of design workshops organized collaboratively with Project Reach, a New York City-based anti-dscrimination […]

January 13, 2013 | Comments Off

Morphfaux

Recovering Plaster as Architectural Substrate Morphfaux is an applied research project that revisits the virtually lost craft of plaster to explore its potential for producing innovative architectural elements through the use of contemporary digital technology. The research challenges the flatness of modern, standardized dry wall construction and explores plaster’s malleability as a material […]

February 13, 2012 | Comments Off

Spring Back

Digital Steam Bending In the mid-nineteenth century, at the same time that Great Lakes craftsmen utilized abundant regional lumber to construct bent-wood snowshoes and canoes, Michael Thonet was manufacturing his iconic Café Chair No. 14. Steam-bent construction was lightweight, rigid, and compact, making it ideal for mass production. But unlike many industrial processes, steam bending […]

archolab Architectural Research Collaborative

Research

Afterhouse

Project Reach

Morphfaux

Spring Back

Atlas of Love and Hate

NL Systems