Study Architecture 
ProPEL 
Author(s): Rana Abudayyeh
Building and construction are responsible for about 40% of carbon emissions globally. This sobering reality raises the question: do we need to build new? The reactivation of dormant existing structures was the main focus of an inter-disciplinary vertical design studio that included third-year Architecture and fourth-year Interior Architecture students. The studio addressed the synthesis and propagation of new strategies to revitalize decommissioned parts of our built environment generating speculative narratives for future cities in partnership with Gensler, one of the world-leading design practices. This collaboration demarked a unique overlap between pedagogy and practice, bringing real-world climate issues into academia for collective problem-solving. This partnership emerged from Gensler’s involvement in the shaping of existing and future cities. The firm is actively leveraging mobility through design to create multimodal, vibrant settings. Throughout the semester, students interacted with designers from Gensler to explore multimodal thinking, climate sensitivity, and the transformative impact of adaptive reuse in the urban environment. The partnership encouraged human-centric design sensibilities, cognizant that human experience is ultimately at the center of any design problem. Together, students and professionals pursued design solutions capable of adapting to a changing world and catering to future cities. Future cities rely on collaborative networks and shared platforms, asserting a more collective societal presence. This shift necessitates new multifunctional urban centers. As such, this collaborative studio engaged the design of multimodal transportation hubs grafted in the context of four inactive building types. The four-building typologies were the indoor mall, the office building, the parking structure, and the abandoned cultural icon. The selected buildings were sited in different cities. Each combination (city and building type) offered distinct challenges and opportunities for intervention within the urban fabric. Collectively, the four locations informed an agenda for resilient future cities, actively responding to the pressing realities of climate change while catering to shifting socio-economic parameters.
https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.Teach.2021.26
Volume Editors
Jonathan A. Scelsa & Jørgen Johan Tandberg
ISBN
978-1-944214-38-8
