Building Stories: Fall 2023 Visiting Critic Studio by Drawing Architecture Studio

By: Fei Wang, Associate Teaching Professor, China Architecture Program Director, M.S. Program Coordinator

Renting a house is typically the first thing people do when arriving in a new place. In U.S. cities, multifamily houses are a common residential form, resembling standalone houses but often converted from larger single-family homes. These houses have interiors more like standard apartments, divided into multiple units, and may include shared spaces like hallways, stairs, and even rooftop gardens, blending characteristics of public and private spaces.

Renting houses usually comes with strict contracts, limiting tenants from making structural changes. However, individuals strive to make their rented space feel like a “home” using non-permanent elements such as movable furniture and decor. These non-architectural elements truly define each person’s home, narrating their past, preferences, and habits, constructing narratives of daily life based on space.

The course focuses on a multifamily house in Syracuse that can accommodate four tenants. Students work in pairs and are provided with a real vacant land plot in the city. Design tasks include selecting four historical figures as tenants, dividing the space into four units and common areas, and designing interiors based on each tenant’s background. The final deliverables include a 1:50 scale model of the building facade and a Drawdel (3D drawing) depicting interior, partial facade, and outdoor cityscape, sized at 4’ x 4’.

The course emphasizes a narrative and sensory design approach, highlighting detailed observation, expressive detailing, multi-threaded storytelling, and collage. Unlike conceptual and rational design methods, this course starts with specific and mundane information, imagining how tenants live in the multifamily house and interact. The goal is not to create entirely new spatial forms but to reveal poetic moments in everyday spaces, emphasizing architects as observers and interpreters.

The designs from different student pairs include:

Secular Sanctum

Students: Aidan Turner & Jill Tescher

Tenants: Leonardo DaVinci, Salvador Dalí, Hakeem Olajuwon, John McCrae

With A Trace

Students: Akshara Raman & Charles Gebbia
Tenants: Marie Curie, Mae Jemison, Edgar Allan Poe, Vincent Van Gogh

Unveiling Hidden Rituals

Students: Eleanor Thurber & Jazlynn Wohlers
Tenants: J. R. R. Tolkien, Sixto Rodriguez, Mashama Bailey, Lee Bul

Casa del Meat Floss Cake

Students: Fangjian Song & Yanheng Zhu
Tenants: Lou Reed, Jiang Wen, HP Lovecraft, Kazuyo Sejima

Cabinet of Curiosities

Students: Pengfeiyu Chen & Ge Tong
Tenants: Freddie Mercury, Alphonse Mucha, Carl Gustav Jung, Lin Huiyin

Patterns of Death

Students: Rebecca Goetzke & Sophia Martino
Tenants: Amy Winehouse, Buddy Holly, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Prince

Mid-review guests:

Xinyu Chen, Mark Linder, Edgar Rodríguez, Christina Chi Zhang；

Final review guests:

Xinyu Chen, Chunlin He, Owen Nichols, Emily C.S. Pellicano, Edgar Rodríguez, Christina Chi Zhang

(Photography: Shengxuan (Hector) Yu)