Interior Architecture Graduate Studio 4: Autonomous Intelligent Transportation System

AIADO 6120 001
Faculty: Neil Frankel, FAIA, FIIDA

The allure of mobile, portable architecture is worldwide and centuries old. It began with the desert tents of the Bedouin and exists today in the sleek capsules of outer-space transportation. It’s part of humankind’s foundation to be nomadic. Throughout history, in order to survive, we have found it necessary to live our lives on the move.  

Mobile architecture is more than just an ephemeral solution for a temporary problem, or a natural disaster. It is a building genre that is aligned with humanity’s definitive character as mobile beings. Mobile architecture fulfills our basic social and emotional need for a sense of place and community. 

The traditional building forms that have always informed our understanding of the meaning of architecture: to provide shelter or mirror cultural and societal endeavors, still apply to mobile architecture, tents, lightweight structural frames and wheeled and inflatable structure figure greatly into this realm.

The possibilities of new technology are also shaping the development of this work. Pneumatic, tensile and kinetic structures provide the opportunity for the new dedicated architectural form.

Today, creating a readily multipliable form of brand identity ranks high on the list of the client’s goals and their desire for effective messaging. Contemporary issues of urban sprawl, environmental concerns, speed of communication and effectiveness of high-performance work ground the subject of the semester’s design studio.