CMU BArch Thesis 2013-2014

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Site last updated 10.29.13

Curated by current thesis coordinator, Kai Gutschow

“Thesis: ‘As Necessary for the Health of the Institution as the Student’”

Bruce Abbey

In Thresholds 12 (Spring 1996).

Abbey was long the director of thesis at Syracuse, where thesis was required of every BArch graduate.

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"What is design research?"

Omer Akin

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"Thesis According to Me" Presentation

Omer Akin

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Parsons M.Arch Thesis Seminar, 1998

Amir Ameri

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“A Thesis Fable”

Amir Ameri

Published in The Value of Design. Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice (2009) as part of “The Future of the Architectural Thesis,” paper session at 2009 ACSA Meeting.

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“The Thesis, The Pendulum, and the Battlefield”

Amir Ameri

International Journal of Art and Design Education 32, no. 4 (2013, forthcoming).

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“The Profession and the Discipline of Architecture: Practice & Education”

Stanford Anderson

Chapter 14 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

Distinguishes between the profession and the discipline of architecture, often with different goals and domains of knowledge. Encourages schools to explore the overlap of both.

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“A project is a lifelong thing; if you see it, you will only see it at the end”

Pier Vittorio Aureli

Log 28 (Spring 2013).

Interview by Peter Eisenman. Aureli is an architect and theorist, currently teaching at the AA and visiting professor at Yale.

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"Solitude of the Project"

Pier Vittorio Aureli

Log 7 (Winter/Spring 2006).

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"Design Frameworks"

Brown, Brownell, et al.

Journal of Architectural Education vol. 67, no. 2 (October 2013).

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“Revisiting the Architectural Thesis: Five Myths”

Blaine Brownell

Architect Magazine blog.

Essay dispelling the five myths of the architectural thesis: the myth of linear process; the myth of complexity; the myth of the singular, synthetic solution; the myth of total originality; and the myth of playing it safe.

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Boston Architectural Center Thesis Handbook, 2011

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The Craft of Research, Third Edition

Wayne Booth, Greg Colomb, and Joseph Williams

Chicago, IL: Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing, 2008.

From the publisher, “The Craft of Research explains how to build an argument that motivates readers to accept a claim; how to anticipate the reservations of readers and to respond to them appropriately; and how to create introductions and conclusions that answer that most demanding question, ‘So what?’”

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Chapter 3, From Topics to Questions in The Craft of Research, Third Edition

Wayne Booth, Greg Colomb, and Joseph Williams

Chicago, IL: Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing, 2008.

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On the Foldability of Frames, 1981 dissertation at the ETH

Santiago Calatrava

See in Santiago Calatrava's Creative Process. Vol.1, Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre, eds. (Berlin: Birkhäuser, 1997).

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CMU Architecture Dissertations

A list of all PhD dissertations submitted to CMU School of Architecture; all can be downloaded.

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CMU School of Design Thesis Requirements

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McGill Design Research Methods, 2005

Michael Carroll, Robert Claiborne, Odile Henault, and Robert Mellin

Description of thesis prep process at McGill.

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“Translations Between Design Research and Scholarship”

Lily Chi

Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007): Design & Research.

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CMU Thesis Evaluation Matrix, Spring 2013

Dale Clifford

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CMU Thesis Prep Syllabus, Fall 2012

Dale Clifford

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CMU Thesis Syllabus, Spring 2013

Dale Clifford

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Cornell Architecture Thesis Requirements, 2007

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CMU Thesis Syllabus & Assignments, Spring 2008

Gerard Damiani and Howard Davies

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McGill Thesis Outline, 2007

Howard Davies

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Log 28: Stocktaking

ed. Cynthia Davidson with guest editors Peter Eisenman and Anthony Vidler

Spring 2013.

Includes important interviews with Pier Vittorio Aureli, Preston Scott Cohen, Elizabeth Diller, Jefrey Kipnis, Greg Lynn, Patrick Schumacher, Felicity Scott, Brett Steele, Bernard Tschumi, Sarah Whiting, and Alejandro Zaera-Polo.

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The end of thesis?

Tim Do (in response to discussion initiated by Sylvia Lavin)

Archinect blog from SCI-Arc, August 2008.

From the perspective of a graduate student at the end of his thesis semester, Lavin’s position on thesis and “either very poignant commentary on the current state of architecture and architecture education OR the most demoralizing pep-talk [the author has] ever been a part of.”

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“Introduction: Architectural Design as Research, Scholarship, and Inquiry”

George Dodds and Jori Erdman

Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007): Design & Research.

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Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1: Design & Research

ed. George Dodds and Jori Erdman

2007.

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"Research for design"

Peter Downton

In Design Research (2003).

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Drexel Architecture Thesis Requirements, 2013

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The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, 1963 dissertation at Cambridge

Peter Eisenman

Facsimile published in 2006.

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Projects & Practice

Peter Eisenman

Lecture on March 5, 2012. In SCI-Arc Media Archive.

Eisenman discusses the difference between “practice” and a “project,” which he defines as an architect-led attitude towards a design, more like a thesis than an ordinary commission.

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"Why Research-Oriented Design isn't Design-Oriented Research"

Daniel Fallman

In Journal on Knowledge, Technology, and Policy Special issue on Design Research, Vol. 20, No. 3., (2007).

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“Revisiting the Discipline of Architecture”

Thomas Fischer

Chapter 1 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

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How To Do a Master’s Project in Architecture, 2008/2009

Florida International University

Defining thesis and its requirements.

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“The Anti-Thesis Pedagogy”

Kenneth Frampton

In Thresholds 12 (Spring 1996).

Frampton feels a thesis is not appropriate for an MArch.

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“Design/Research: Notes on a Manifesto”

Helene Furjan

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

The pedagogical imperative of today is no longer critical theory, but research, in which interpretation gives way to experimentation.

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Reboot: Rethinking the Design Thesis at Penn State Stuckeman School of Architecture

Christine Gorby

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"Research as Design: Promising Strategies and Possible Futures"

Simon Grand

In Mapping Design Research Grand, Wolfgang eds., (2012).

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Architectural Research Methods, Second Edition

Linda Groat and David Wang

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2013.

From the publisher, “This book’s unique coverage of research methods is specifically targeted to help professional designers and researchers better conduct and understand research. [...] In all, the book covers seven types of research, including historical, qualitative, correlational, experimental, simulation, logical argumentation, and case studies and mixed methods.”

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“Does Design Equal Research?”

Linda Groat and David Wang

Chapter 2 in Groat and Wang, Architectural Research Methods (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley 2013).

Defines differences and similarities of “Design” and “Research,” both in academia, and in the profession.

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"Systems of Inquiry"

Linda Groat and David Wang

Chapter 3 in Groat and Wang, Architectural Research Methods (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley 2013).

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Purpose of Research in Architecture

Linda Groat and David Wang

From chapter 4 “What's Your Purpose? From Theory Building to Design Application,” in Groat and Wang, Architectural Research Methods (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley 2013).

Discusses how to frame research, including knowing the audience you want to reach, and knowing whether you are building a new theory, or applying an existing one in a different way.

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What is Architecture Research?

Linda Groat and David Wang

From chapter 1 “Scope of the Book” in Groat and Wang, Architectural Research Methods (Hoboken, NJ: Wiley 2013).

Chapter 1 outlines the book, including an important section on “Architectural Research” and strategies for how to start research work.

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“Design Thinking”

Imre Halasz

In Thresholds 12 (Spring 1996).

Halasz helped institutionalize MArch thesis at MIT.

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Harvard GSD Thesis Program

See especially section on Thesis Options and Requirements.

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“Monster@thesis.edu”

Andrew Herscher and Brendan Moran

Published in The Value of Design. Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice (2009) as part of “The Future of the Architectural Thesis,” paper session at 2009 ACSA Meeting.

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MIT’s Thresholds 12: What is a Thesis?

ed. Frank Hekel and Robert Clocker

Spring 1996.

See especially: Bruce Abbey, “Thesis: ‘As Necessary for the Health of the Institution as the Student’”; Kenneth Frampton, “The Anti-Thesis Pedagogy”; Imre Halasz, “Design Thinking”; Mark Jarzombek, “A Thesis”

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Harvard GSD Thesis Prep, 2009

Timothy Hyde

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“Turning the Black Box into a Great Gizmo”

Timothy Hyde

Published in The Value of Design. Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice (2009) as part of “The Future of the Architectural Thesis,” paper session at 2009 ACSA Meeting.
Later in Thresholds 38 (2010).

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Introduction to Future Practice: Conversations from the Edge of Architecture

Rory Hyde

New York: Routledge, 2012.

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“A Thesis”

Mark Jarzombek

In Thresholds 12 (Spring 1996).

Attempts to define what makes a good thesis.

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“The End of Design and the Architectural Final Project”

Michael Jemtrud

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

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“Design in Research”

Stephen Kieran

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

Abstract: To develop an ethical architecture that unifies the art of design with the science of performance, a research ethic is a necessary prerequisite.

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“Exodus, or the voluntary prisoners of architecture,” 1972 thesis at the AA

Rem Koolhaas

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Architectural Design Thesis in Karachi, Pakistan

Ravindar Kumar

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“‘Minding the Gap’ in Architectural Speculation”

Donald Kunze

Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007): Design & Research.

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MIT Thesis Prep, 2012

Joel Lamere

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“The Future of Thesis”

Nana Last and Thomas Mical

In The Value of Design. Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice (Washington, D.C.: ACSA Press, 2009).

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“Criticality”

Sylvia Lavin

In Crib Sheets. Notes on the Contemporary Architectural Conversation, ed. Sylia Lavin, Helene Furjan, with Penelope Dean (Los Angeles and New York: UCLA Dept. of Architecture & Monacelli Press, 2005).

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“Architecture is its own Discipline”

David Leatherbarrow

Chapter 5 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

In order to remain relevant, architecture must define its own discipline more clearly.

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“The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Use and Abuse of the Research Studio”

Ursula Emery McClure

Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007): Design & Research.

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Architecture School: Three Centuries of Educating Architects in North America

ed. Joan Ockman

Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2012.

From the publisher, “Architecture School opens with six chronological essays, each devoted to a major period of development: before 1860; 1860–1920; 1920–1940; 1940–1968; 1968–1990; and 1990 to the present. This overview is followed by a ‘lexicon’ containing shorter articles on more than two dozen topics that have figured centrally in architecture education’s history, from competitions and design pedagogy to research, structures, studio culture, and travel.”

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“The Thesis on the Table: Research, Pedagogy, and Identity”

Graham Owen

Published in The Value of Design. Design is at the Core of What we Teach and Practice (2009) as part of “The Future of the Architectural Thesis,” paper session at 2009 ACSA Meeting.

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Problem Seeking: An Architectural Programming Primer, Fifth Edition

W. M. Pena and Steven Parshall

Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012.

From the publisher, “Problem Seeking, Fifth Edition lays out a five-step procedure that teams can follow when programming any building or series of buildings, from a small house to a hospital complex.”

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inter·punct: para·meter

ed. Talia Perry et al.

Pittsburgh, PA: SoArch, Carnegie Mellon University, 2013.

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inter·punct: peda·gogy call for submissions

ed. Phillip Denny et al.

Pittsburgh, PA: SoArch, Carnegie Mellon University, 2013.

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“On the Practices of Representing and Knowing Architecture”

Andrezej Piotrowski

Chapter 3 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

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“Introduction”

Andrzej Piotrowski and Julia Williams Robinson

In Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

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The Discipline Of Architecture

ed. Andrzej Piotrowski and Julia Williams Robinson

Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001.

See especially: Anderson, “The Profession and the Discipline of Architecture: Practice & Education”; Leatherbarrow, “Architecture is its own Discipline”; Stanton, “Disciplining Knowledge: Architecture Between Cube & Frame”

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“Toward a Discipline-Dependent Scholarship”

Matt Powers

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

Explores relationship between design and research and scholarship. Argues against merging them, and that designers should define their work as separate but complementary from research.

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RPI Architecture Thesis Requirements

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“The Form and Structure of Architectural Knowledge: from Discipline to Architecture”

Julia Williams Robinson

Chapter 4 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

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Project

ed. Jonah Rowen et al.

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Excerpts from Project issues 1 & 2

ed. Jonah Rowen et al.

Pier Vittorio Aureli, Daniel Berlin, Andrew Zago, et al. in Project 1 & 2 (2012-3).

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CMU Thesis Prep Blog, 2009

Rami el Samahy

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CMU Thesis Prep Blog, 2010

Rami el Samahy

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“Disegno. On Drawing Out the Archi-texts”

Peter Schneider

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

Argues that thinking by drawing is the primary way that architects extend their understandings of architecure. Drawing is a unique moder of research, inquiry, and site for speculation.

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“Town Centre Layout and Development of the Community Centre,” 1950 thesis at Liverpool

James Stirling

With comments by Anthony Vidler.

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“Schumacher Slams British Architectural Education”

Patrik Schumacher

The Architectural Review online.

From the site: “Irony, allegory and dystopia − Patrik Schumacher sees no future for the type of hopelessly unrealistic education lauded by the British architectural establishment.”

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Thesis Prep Symposium VideoClips

SCI-Arc

Recorded from various discussions at SCI-Arc, in spring 2011 and 2012. To summarize: almost everyone is in support of thesis except Peter Eisenman.

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SPSU Architecture Thesis Requirements

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How Architects Write

Tom Spector and Rebecca Damron

New York, NY: Routledge, 2013.

See especially: “Theses”

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“How (and Why) Architects Write”

Tom Spector & Rebecca Damron

Chapter 1 in How Architects Write (New York, NY: Routledge, 2013).

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“Thesis”

Tom Spector & Rebecca Damron

Chapter 8 in How Architects Write (New York, NY: Routledge, 2013).

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“Disciplining Knowledge: Architecture Between Cube and Frame”

Michael Stanton

Chapter 2 in Piotrowski and Robinson, eds., The Discipline of Architecture (Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 2001).

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“The key project of the architectural school today is the making of audiences, not architects”

Brett Steele

Log 28 (Spring 2013).

Interview by Anthony Vidler. Steele is the Director of the AA School of Architecture and AA Publications.

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“Town Centre Layout and Development of the Community Centre,” 1950 thesis at Liverpool

James Stirling

With comments by Anthony Vidler.

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Syracuse University Architecture Thesis Projects

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“Has Theory Displaced History as a Generator of Ideas for Use in the Architectural Studio ...?”

Stanley Tigerman

Journal of Architectural Education 46, no.1 (September 1992): Design & Research.

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University of Queensland Architecture Thesis Requirements

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University of Washington Architecture Thesis Requirements, 2008

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“Is There Research in Studio?”

Kazys Varnelis

In Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007).

Surveys the development of the 'research studio' in architectural education and examines its relationship to research, scholarship, and criticism.

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“Taking Stock”

Anthony Vidler

Log 28 (Spring 2013).

Intro to an issue of Log that reexamines the state of the profession and of architectural education in 2013.

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“A New Paradigm for Design Studio Education”

Tsungjuang Wang

International Journal of Art & Design Education 29, no.2 (2010).

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“I am interested in a project of engaged autonomy”

Sarah Whiting

Log 28 (Spring 2013).

Interview by Peter Eisenman. Whiting is the William Ward Watkin Professor and Dean of the Rice School of Architecture, and practicing architect.

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“Prosthetic Theory: The Disciplining of Architecture”

Mark Wigley

Assemblage 16 (1991): Design & Research.

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"Introductions"

Kirk Wooller

20/20: Takes on Architectural Discourse. London: Architectural Association Publications. 2011.

Introductory statements by Wooller, and Brett Steele, Head of the AA School of Architecture.

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“The Way We Think about the Way We Think: Architecture as a Paradigm for Reconsidering Research”

B.D. Wortham

Journal of Architectural Education 61, no.1 (2007): Design & Research.

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