What Do Buildings Do All Day?

Abstract

Architectural practice is serious stuff. This thesis challenges the conventions that limit creativity by poking fun at architectural sincerity. Non-architectural ways and things inspire contrarian inventions within fictional and nonfiction case studies. The design process itself is questioned. Explorations embrace ordinariness by paying more attention to the everyday. The results describe creative techniques prioritizing logic over expectations, function over aesthetics, and people over form. In a profession where imitation and familiarity are valued more than irreverence, this thesis defines a new model of critical practice that can subversively change architecture from the inside.