ARCH 432 - FALL 2025
Theseus: Designing for Reassembly
The Ship of Theseus is a philosophical paradox that questions whether an object remains the same if all its components are replaced over time. Originating from Greek mythology, it tells the story of Theseus, whose ship was preserved by replacing decayed parts. This studio will explore the possibility for designing buildings that persist through maintenance and modification.
A building’s life cycle includes design, construction, operation and demolition. The distinctions between these phases is blurry, however, as buildings are always being repaired and modified to suit the changing needs of people who use them. And building or renovating almost always involves demolition. This studio will ask students to collapse all these phases into one continuous process of change over time, designing and reassembling the building to adapt and persist.
Current building practices will aid us in this approach. With the decline in skilled labor and more stringent safety and energy codes, buildings have increasingly become assemblies of off-the-shelf products instead of the products of skilled craft they once were. This studio will accept this reality as an opportunity, not a crisis, as theorized by Rem Koolhaas, Lacaton & Vassal, and the folks behind the “Design for Disassembly” movement. What unexplored opportunities for design exist when we embrace an architecture of components? How can buildings be more sustainable and resilient when change is built into their design?