SCI-Arc Presents PLANET THESIS, a Public Symposium

PLANET THESIS is SCI-Arc’s annual Graduate Thesis symposium. It marks the landing of every graduate thesis on the territory of its realization. If spring thesis prep represents the research and planning of a mission, its eventual take off and departure to another part of the architecture discipline’s cosmos, and its finding an orbit and preparation of instruments of speculation, summer thesis begins with the first moment of unpacking the mission and getting to work. The instruments, vehicles, and protagonists of the thesis are in their situation and have an orientation: now the real speculative constructions can begin. This symposium launches the final phase of the thesis. It provides a crossover for the design advisors and History + Theory cultural agents who will be working together in summer 2021. Out of the variety of thesis projects in process at SCI-Arc, three broad territories of collective concern have been identified and serve to group student projects selected for their outstanding rigor and commitment to urgent issues in the discipline and in the world. In the company of invited guests, faculty, and students, PLANET THESIS will probe the thesis work being done at SCI-Arc, develop it through collective thinking, and respond to the question of what constitutes an architectural thesis here and now in the present moment of summer 2021.

Moderated By:
Kristy Balliet, John Cooper, and the avatar

Guest Speakers:
Michael Young, Cooper Union
Sylvia Lavin, Princeton University
Cyrus Penarroyo, University of Michigan

Graduate Programs Chair: Elena Manferdini
Graduate Thesis Coordinators: Kristy Balliet and John Cooper
Avatar by Lidija Kljakovic