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ETD Abstract Container

Abstract Header

Machining the American West

Alaniz, Alan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491226275334587

Abstract Details

2017, MARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture.
Interpreting architecture through a machinic lens reveals its capacity for opening new frames of reference from our existing environment – constructing conceptions of place, culture and identity out of empty space. Within this framework, architecture ceases to simply be a product of actions and desires but instead is regarded as an active contributor to our understanding of our surroundings and ultimately ourselves. The architectural and mechanical elements presented in this thesis, set forth new forms of engagement between disparate bodies and ideas. Through this process, entire histories are disassembled and reassembled, to reveal their inner workings and construct new assemblages of thought and space. This thesis utilizes Levi-Strauss’ bricolage concepts alongside Deleuze and Guattari’s assemblage theory to create a unified methodological lens, capable of evaluating and constructing our prior understanding of history and our relationships to it. Ultimately, these frameworks expand to create a comprehensive concept effective in the use of architectural design. This project addresses the American West as both site and idea. Employing a design process imbued with the methodology of bricolage reveals the engrained heterogeneous composition of a space steeped in national myth, but continually in flux. In order to explicate the multidimensionality of the West this project utilizes the design of three individual, autonomous machines and a central “hive” structure, which functions as a depository for the information collected by these creations. Methodologically, these machines and architecture are designed through a process of bricolage, but more specifically kitbashing, which is a practice whereby commercial model components are altered and combined to create new formations, disassociated from their original intent. This process highlights the potential for designing with “whatever is at hand,” and making do the available material or instruments. The architecture presented in this thesis mirrors the combinatory nature of the American West through a process of enframing bricolaged histories through the lens bricolaged machines. By interpreting architecture through this framework, this thesis begins to approach works based on their inter-relational properties and their potential for bridging new connections between bodies, things, the spaces they inhabit, and the social organizations that order them.
Aarati Kanekar, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Elizabeth Riorden, M.Arch. (Committee Member)
60 p.
Architecture
American West; Deleuze; Machine

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Alaniz, A. (2017). Machining the American West [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491226275334587

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Alaniz, Alan. Machining the American West. 2017. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491226275334587.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Alaniz, Alan. "Machining the American West." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1491226275334587

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

ucin1491226275334587
148
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Cincinnati and OhioLINK.