Kent OHIO
Kent State University
Critic: Diane DAVIS-SIKORA

This Project speculates on the next generation of the highrise residence. Social, spatial and material implications of ‘verticalism’ were studied across a variety of scales, and within the context of a distinctive research agenda. Ideologies of skyscraper as advanced technological product, economic enterprise and cultural expression framed studio discussions and readings and served as backdrop to the design polemic.
In a future where resources have become so accessible, some of the most sought after and valuable currencies become those that are not easily manufactured, or harvested. Assets that are incredibly slippery and subjective such as atmosphere, and sense of community, and emotional connection.
The formal action of piling aggregate that act as containers of living directly go against typical standards in highrise design. By piling these unique aggregates it goes directly against standards such as floor efficiency, perfect light performance, simple circulation and floor plans, repetitive facades, etc.
As each aggregate begins its interaction with the pile it starts to lose orientation to the ground, leaning against the one to its left, that defines a unique vertical neighborhood, opposed to a very horizontal one that it sits on. They embrace the pockets of unused program allowing for unique growth that can occur by its residents.