Browse Exhibits (15 total)
Suzhou: Water and Architecture
Suzhou, a city in China’s Jiangsu province, is home to one of the oldest known canal systems, the Grand Canal, dating back to 500 BC. This makes the Yangtze River the city's primary structuring force, as it cuts through its streets and neighborhoods. Suzhou: Water and Architecture explores how water and stone form the rhythm of the city's ancient and modern identity. Visitors to this online exhibition will be guided through a visual tour of Suzhou’s built environment and learn about its unique development.
Drawing on a linear sequence of historic and contemporary built forms, public and domestic dwellings will be the main points of interest in the gallery pages. More specifically, the focus will be on canals, gardens, bridges, and similar structures. These ancient, sceneric sites are often overlooked globally despite their highly praised aesthetics and rich history. Hence why viewers are welcomed to browser freely through Suzhou's harmonious blend of waterscapes and human ingenuity. All of which has been detailed in a immersive experience made accessible through interactive maps and poetic storytelling.
Political Influence In Architecture
Political influence is derived of the utilization of the people. Their exploitative actions govern the mass through distinct forms of governments. Each approach establish an idea of a perfect idealized world, reflecting upon the visual theme of their distinction. Materialized in propaganda posters, uniforms and especially architecture. Each style is curated intentionally to evoke a response, one may see this in politically charged grandiose buildings ultimately forcing the viewer to feel small and insignificant upon entering.
Each political distinction utilizes architecture uniquely, each with an intended desired response. This -- upon deconstructing the ideals of these figures -- allows for a detailed look into architectural forms, morphology, and function. Including infamous governmental and political buildings overtime exploring their history, peak, and downfall. Establishing their visual impact not only as detached viewer but a victim of their time. Finally comparing the buildings against each other viewing the successes and failures. Governments covered but limited to: Communism, Fascism,
Story of Style (A Richardsonian Romanesque tale)
This exhibit tells the story of an architectural style in the early United States. More specifically the style of Richardsonian Romanesque. This stems from my studies of particularly uncanny American architecture this semester, but even more specifically of my building upload of the Ness County bank building. To put simply, Richardsonian Romanesque is a strong, unique style, and given how that’s been the theme for this semester when it came to my studies in architecture, the Ness county bank building became a prime candidate for this genre. It struck me, with how visually, it appeared incredibly fantastical and somewhat like a medieval structure you would find in fantasy or adventure fiction. With that, it existing in what would be considered out of its time, I thought was remarkable. However, with the lack of research I was able to find on the building, it prompted my frustration which ultimately gave way to my curiosity for the style. Something so grand, so unique, with that little research in this example, I wanted to know more. So I entertained this curiosity as I delve into the style and how it came to be. Here, we’ll look at the results of my findings, with examples of buildings that show the architectural movement in the midwest (and beyond!) to its full capacity, its continuation into the late 19th century, and ultimately attempt to better understand the style of that somewhat perceived mysterious bank.
A Structural Rebirth
A Structural Rebirth invites visitors into a world where architecture sheds its fixed identity and embraces new purpose on an urban scale. Centered on adaptive reuse, the exhibition highlights the transformation of large public and commercial spaces vast malls, expansive warehouses, and monumental buildings originally designed for high-capacity activity. Through these examples, the exhibition reveals how oversized, often underutilized structures can be reimagined into vibrant civic assets.
As visitors move through the exhibition, they encounter projects that illustrate the revival of these massive architectural shells. Vacant malls reemerge as mixed-use cultural hubs, obsolete warehouses transform into dynamic public venues, and large-scale civic structures are retooled to meet contemporary social and environmental needs. Together, these cases demonstrate how big spaces once defined by retail, storage, or institutional efficiency can be thoughtfully adapted into places of collective engagement.
The narrative emphasizes the critical balance between preservation and reinvention. Rather than stripping these large structures of their industrial or commercial pasts, the exhibition shows how their inherent spatial qualities long spans, towering volumes, open floor plates can harmonize with innovative interventions. New circulation systems, expressive structural additions, and imaginative interior reconfigurations allow original character and modern function to coexist, creating spaces that remain grounded in context while embracing new identities.
By the exhibition’s end, visitors are invited to reconsider the potential lifespan and impact of large architectural spaces. A Structural Rebirth positions malls, warehouses, and other big structures not as obsolete relics but as adaptable frameworks with enduring value. It encourages audiences to see adaptive reuse as a sustainable, forward-thinking practice one that leverages the spatial generosity of these large buildings to shape more resilient and inclusive urban futures.
Spolia: Byzantine and Ottoman Architecture in Istanbul
Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul; a city known by many names, the famed New Rome has bridged the east and west for over a millennium. With one half of the city in Europe, and the other half in Asia, a multitude of cultural influences can be seen within its walls–especially in its unique architecture. In this exhibit, we will explore a selection of churches, mosques, and cisterns that have borne witness to the rise and fall of empires, and how adaptive reuse has given these structures new life.
Buildings in modern Cairo Egypt
Abstract
This exhibition explores the buildings of Cairo and the transformations it has undergone through modernization, by looking at how different types of buildings fit into ever-changing planning policies. This exhibition examines how the look of buildings in modern Cairo reflects the city's social and economic development. Through this exhibition, it will untangle the evolution of Cairo’s built environment from about the late 1800s up until today and see how all those big changes, like modernization, urban planning, politics, and population growth that ended up changing the face of the city. With the changes of plan designs inspired by European city planning ideas it influenced the change in the city's landscape. European planning significantly changed modern Cairo, especially Downtown Cairo, by adding broad, European-style streets and a grid layout similar to that of Paris. Reforms in Cairo have resulted in important changes in buildings due to both updating and preserving them. The buildings in modern Cairo reveals the change of modern city living in the area.
Why Aquariums?
Why aquariums? Most often when we think of architecture we think of the structures made for human use. Thoughts of the pyramids to the eiffel towers may come to mind or maybe even your local grocery store or your own home. But even though most pieces of architecture are built with humans in mind, there are others that focus on placating those of different species. In this exhibit we will explore the various aquariums across the United States that have been created or adapted to accommodate species of the aquatic variety. From iconic structures of conservation to controversial theme parks, I plan to explore why people feel compelled to build these structures. As well as the forms they may take to fit thier functionality. From the national aquarium in Baltimore to the Tennessee aquarium. What drives humans to build these places of education and entertainment? I will explore this question, from the desire to connect the public to the aquatic world, to serve as a place for wildlife rehabilitation, or for the amusement of the masses. Let's explore the question Why Aquariums ?
Georgian Gardens
Nature is one of the most important parts in human lives, reminding people of all the beauty there is in the world. Through carefully designed gardens, people have molded nature into different artistic styles that coincide with certain styles and ideals. These gardens have evolved over time, changing some style aspects that are dependent on the time period, social status, and culture. There is one garden style in particular that blends natural elements with architectural designs to create a space that is lively, social, and attention drawing. This style is Georgian. There are many various aspects that are incorporated into this garden style, like the emphasis on movement, symbolic meanings, and structures.
Georgian gardens liked to incorporate various aspects into its space, including the subtle combination of architecture and nature into one serene environment. The main focus of this style would be how it could transform nature into a social area, perfect for hosting a variety of activities throughout the seasons. These social interactions were held throughout the entire garden, making sure the pathways, bridges, and grottos were all as aesthetically romantic as its manicured lawns, various flowers and serpentine lakes.
Much of the aesthetic in Georgian gardens heavily relies on the different types of architectural design, including features like temples, ruins, statues, follies, and grottos. Attached to these structures are various symbolic meanings. The temples were often used as a place of reflection, rather than worship, as the statues brought back art and literature into daily lives. It is the sight of these buildings, with all of its symbolic meaning, paired with the beauty of nature that brings out much of the picturesque ideal that the Georgian style of gardens loved so much.
This exhibit will be reflecting on the various architectural aspects of Georgian gardens that were common during its popularity.
Otherworldly - Traces of Religion in Contemporary Asia
Exploration and explanation are fundamental aspects of human nature. Answers to the unknown are constantly sought, with religion being one of the many ways to find such answers. Across the Silk Roads, religion was shared, with Buddhist and Islamic belief systems expanding eastwards, shaping cultures.
Otherworldly - Traces of Religion in Contemporary Asia focuses on religion within the continent in a primarily contemporary timeline. The exhibition explores three major Asian faiths of the modern day: Hinduism, Islam, and Buddhism, and their cultural remnants–pagodas, lotuses, mandalas, etc.--in various structures on the continent. It aims to contextualize the echoes of religion in a secular space.
The exhibition consists of 6 buildings, which emanate religious structures or principles but are largely secular in function–public parks, commercial buildings, etc–with an additional 6 to build a foundation for viewing religious iconography. It examines the architectural precedents set by religion in the present day. Religious practices and symbolism, though often invisible to the eye in a bustling city, remain tied to the culture and the architecture built from said culture. Otherwordly - Traces of Religion in Contemporary Asia displays the abilities of architects in grounding the worldly with the extension of religious principles.