Fall 2018, Arch 100C – NSFW: Non-Conforming Space

The definition and momentum of the workspace have received great attention in recent years, calling into question the sanctuary and guise of versatility, flexibility, and mobility. Oddly enough, the architectural tropes of the contemporary office are often in tension with, the spaces we acquire; the former: warehouses, manufacturing plants, data centers, federal banks, etc.; and our need to acquire them.

When paired with increasing pressures of automation, a growing attention to equitable and inclusive practices, the economy of alternative and co-working models, and the allure of full-vertical corporate structures, perhaps this is an opportune time to reconsider, not only, an architecture’s ability to accommodate and commodify (or be commodified), but an architecture’s narrative within its context, a narrative written by many (competing) voices—all aiming to use the same non-conforming space, all in a different way.

NSFW will consider the programmatic dimension of the following questions: What is co-existence? What forms of tension arise through co-existence? How are they made productive?