Little River Masterplans

Student: Marina Mikhaiel, Lauren Grzenda, Andres Barros, Walter Holgado, Diego Saenz, Austin Landrette, Kayla Cox, Kaitie Fuson

Professor: Jordan Trachtenberg

Using London and Berlin as the sites of our investigations and as our classrooms, we will visit a broad array of exemplary projects that have set new standards for design practice–not only in Europe, but also around the globe.

And in the research of a new masterplan in Little River, the studio will undertake two short, but related projects, one situated in London, the other in Berlin, and the final project applying the found research to Little River, Miami. Each will address a catalogue of emerging technologies, emerging environmental and social infrastructures, and the roles played by each of these elements in the creation of architecture and urban space over the past, present and future. Site documentation and analysis will take place during our visit to each city–and will be articulated through work in the accompanying seminars. Program for each of the studio projects will focus on the transformative power of infrastructure and on the four studio defining terms (Decoding the cities’ multi-layered fabric though-Tension, Intention, and Ideology).

Each project will respond to the broader themes of the study abroad investigations, while emerging from our specific discoveries and discussions in each city, for the benefit of our final investigation in Little River, Miami. Our activities abroad will support research on urbanism, the city as spectacle, and sustainability (environmental, social, economic). The studio will engage students through in-depth case studies of built projects; through the art and technology of film and videography; through emerging models of analysis and visualization, and through the design of infrastructure and public space.

All experiences and tools learned will later be applied to reshaping the future of Little River Masterplan.