Thursday, September 10, 2015 2:00 pm
-
2:00 pm
EDT (GMT -04:00)
Of the thesis entitled: Synanthropic Suburbia
Abstract:
Animals
are invading
the
city.
Coyotes
are
sighted
on
downtown
streets
with
greater frequency,
raccoons
notoriously
forage
through
greenbins
as
their
primary source
of
food,
and
all
forms
of
animals
inhabit
the
surfaces,
edges
and cavities
of
the
built
environment.
Once
wild
animals are
now
adapting
to
the urban
ecosystem
and
a
new
human
animal
relationship
is
emerging.
Between
the domestic
and
the
wild
are
the
synanthropic
species,
defined
as
animals
who benefit
from
living
in
close
proximity
to
humans
yet,
remain
beyond
their control.
Since
these
animals are
neither
beloved
pets,
nor
wild
beasts, synanthropes
are
often
deemed
pests.
However,
they
are
the
urban
mediate, capable
of
living
alongside
the
pervasive
human
population
by
adapting
to anthropogenic
behaviours
and
environments.
As
the
conceptual
division
between city
and nature
dissolves,
architecture
is
called
upon
to
negotiate
the
physical boundary
between
human
and
synanthropic
animal. Synanthropic
Suburbia therefore
reimagines
human
animal interactions,
using
architecture
to
structure
hybrid
relationships
that positively
contribute
to
the
urban ecosystem.
The thesis is positioned within a landscape of rapid ecological transformation – the suburbs – and engages the space of greatest tension between human and animal – the domestic territory of the house. The objective is to investigate the interrelationship between scales of design and ecological impact. How can the multiplications of small scale, architectural interventions influence large scale territorial systems and patterns? Synanthropic Suburbia seeks to answer this question through a series of telescoping design experiments that position six animal species as active players by engaging their habitat requirements, biological behaviours, and seasonal patterns. Three architectural prosthetics re-imagine conventional building components into hybrid systems that augment the single family home and define the physical interface between human and non-human species. The multiplication of the prosthetic systems engages the broader biological requirements of a species and integrates the spatial development patters to define new synanthropic suburban typologies. These syn-urban building blocks are then proliferated across the territorial scale to create a robust, novel ecosystem that is capable of supporting a diversity and density of human and non-human species. The design process seeks to unpack the interconnectivity between complex socio-ecological systems through the multiscale design of the suburban biome.
In the current context of global urbanization and socio-ecological change, Synanthropic Suburbia takes the opportunity to restructure human biological and cultural relationships with non-human species. Animals are now equal citizens with the agency to contribute to the dynamic processes of production, consumption and inhabitation of the syn-urban biome. Synanthropic architecture blurs the spatial definition between human and non-human to maximize the mutual benefits of cohabitation. Eventually human perceptions could shift and more hybrid conditions of human-animal living could emerge, yet, one question will always remain, how close is too close?
The thesis is positioned within a landscape of rapid ecological transformation – the suburbs – and engages the space of greatest tension between human and animal – the domestic territory of the house. The objective is to investigate the interrelationship between scales of design and ecological impact. How can the multiplications of small scale, architectural interventions influence large scale territorial systems and patterns? Synanthropic Suburbia seeks to answer this question through a series of telescoping design experiments that position six animal species as active players by engaging their habitat requirements, biological behaviours, and seasonal patterns. Three architectural prosthetics re-imagine conventional building components into hybrid systems that augment the single family home and define the physical interface between human and non-human species. The multiplication of the prosthetic systems engages the broader biological requirements of a species and integrates the spatial development patters to define new synanthropic suburban typologies. These syn-urban building blocks are then proliferated across the territorial scale to create a robust, novel ecosystem that is capable of supporting a diversity and density of human and non-human species. The design process seeks to unpack the interconnectivity between complex socio-ecological systems through the multiscale design of the suburban biome.
In the current context of global urbanization and socio-ecological change, Synanthropic Suburbia takes the opportunity to restructure human biological and cultural relationships with non-human species. Animals are now equal citizens with the agency to contribute to the dynamic processes of production, consumption and inhabitation of the syn-urban biome. Synanthropic architecture blurs the spatial definition between human and non-human to maximize the mutual benefits of cohabitation. Eventually human perceptions could shift and more hybrid conditions of human-animal living could emerge, yet, one question will always remain, how close is too close?
The examining committee is as follows:
Supervisor:
Committee Members:
Lola Sheppard, University of Waterloo
Matthew Spremulli, University
of
Waterloo
Robert Corry, University of Guelph
External Reader:
Joyce Hwang, University at Buffalo
The
committee
has
been
approved
as
authorized
by
the
Graduate
Studies
Committee.
The
Defence
Examination
will
take
place:
Thursday
September 10,
2015
2:00PM
ARC
Loft
A
copy
of
the
thesis
is
available
for
perusal
in
ARC
2106A.