Resiliency: Designing for Change - Lynn: Home

Resiliency: Designing for Change | ARC1003/3308 - D | Tyler Hinckley & Arlen Stawasz

Course Description: 
Resilience is defined as the ability of something to spring back into shape, or redefine its elasticity after a major transformation or event. So, how can the idea of resilience apply to the built environment? How can planning and design decisions impact the way a community responds to a natural disaster or sea level rise? How can buildings contribute to a more resilient society? This studio will seek to address these questions at multiple scales (macro to micro) and from various points of view (social, environmental/ecological, economic). To do so the studio will consider the city of Lynn, Massachusetts as a case study, focusing on applying resilient strategies to the redevelopment of the city’s underutilized waterfront – an area threatened dramatically by sea level rise. After researching and analyzing the environmental and socio-economic conditions of the area, students will test the potential for resilient design by focusing on a particular building type.

The semester will be broken into two sections – Site Analysis (6 weeks), Programming, Concept Design, and Design Development (10 weeks). Emphasis will be placed on the process of design through the use of multiple methods of representation and study. Students will be expected to explore varied design techniques (physical modeling, virtual modeling, hardlined drawings, and sketches), and will be required to work at multiple scales. - Arlen & Tyler