ARC 5340 Graduate Design 7 | ARC 6356 Graduate Design 10

Marilys Nepomechie

This vertical studio develops projects to occupy the liminal space between land and water that defines the polder landscape of the Netherlands. Analogous landscapes increasingly occupy fragile coastal urban areas around the globe. Drawing upon the collective expertise of a nation long invested in finding avenues for resilience in the most precarious of environmental circumstances, students develop projects with a range of programs for the port cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam. Using these Dutch cities as our classroom, the studio, in conjunction with the accompanying electives explore the design of innovative living and working environments within fragile human and natural worlds.

ARC 5933_Special Topics Seminar:

Dutch Housing: Designing Social Resilience on Land and on Water

Marilys Nepomechie

The legacies and design strategies that have produced Dutch social housing since the early part of the 19^th century are explored in this seminar. Under an impressive range of environmental challenges, the Dutch have realized a remarkable array of innovative, high quality social housing. Over a century old, the planning and financial policies that have created this housing stock –and the urban and environmental infrastructures that support it– deserve attention. In this seminar, students document and analyze residential projects visited during our travel program, to produce a catalogue of Dutch social housing typologies.

ARC 5935_Special Topics Seminar:

Building with Water:

Case Studies in Dutch Urbanization, Land Creation, Infrastructure + Landscape

Marilys Nepomechie

Holland has long maintained a precarious détente with water. Located below the level of the North Sea, in a coastal estuary of the Rhine River, the nation’s response to the threat of flooding defies expectations. Among the most densely populated nations in Europe, architecture critic Hans Ibelings terms it “…the most thoroughly studied, planned, and designed country on Earth.” The interrelation among all elements of the designed and built environment –and the impact of these upon the social and cultural contexts of the nation– is unique. By creating maps to record the dynamic layers of the Dutch landscape, students document Holland’s contested, continuously negotiated relationship with water.

ARC 5340 Graduate Design 7 | ARC 6356 Graduate Design 10

Marilys Nepomechie

Architecture, Technology and the City: Sustainability, Urban Infrastructure + Public Space

In London and Berlin students visit a broad array of exemplary projects that have set new world-wide standards for design practice –in architecture, landscape architecture, civil engineering, industrial and graphic design. Students develop two short, but related projects, one situated in London, the other in Berlin. Each addresses a range of emerging technologies and environmental and infrastructures, and the roles they play in the creation of architecture and urban space. Activities abroad support graduate student research on urbanism, climate resilience and sustainability.

ARC 5933_Special Topics Seminar:

London | Berlin: Projective Visualization

Eric Peterson

London is updating a detailed strategy for defense against anticipated changes to sea level. Berlin is implementing increasingly sophisticated urban strategies for the development of sustainable infrastructure, and energy independence. The ability to understand a wide array of data resources and adaptive/ defensive strategies is similarly essential in order to visualize and communicate their short, medium, and long-term implementation. Students will employ urban planning, geography, topography, and sea level rise data to create accurate and compelling visual representations of projected climate-induced changes in London and Berlin, including strategies of defense, retreat, and adaptation.