[PROPOSITIONS] ARCH 562 + MUD 722

This studio is constructed to foreground the issue of materiality in architecture. Employing a "bottom up" design methodology, students begin the semester by conducting research and investigations on a subject material (of their choosing), exploring its spatial, structural and tectonic potential and apply their knowledge toward the development of a small funeral chapel and cemetery for the unclaimed on a site in Chicago.

The project is situated amidst a contemporary urban social context in which more and more people find themselves living on the streets due to a breakdown of the urban social structures that keep people connected to their families, neighbors and community. The studio investigates the causes by which certain members of society become marginalized to the point where they disappear while still alive, and students explore how design can address issues of identity, ritual and remembrance for those that have been forgotten by society.