Anticipatory Architecture

Abstract

Contemporary architects are often excluded from the project of the city. Handed a plot of land and predetermined boundary conditions, architects lack the agency to shape the future development of the city. However, before disciplinary specialization, architects have historically tackled more than the design of the object building. They possessed a broad skill set ranging from geographical to territorial organization. Today, sites in the American city are increasingly hybrid and leftover - between architecture, landscape, and infrastructure. There is a necessity to transform less than ideal existing conditions. This thesis explores an alternative process in which given conditions of the city can be revitalized through the framework of anticipation. An anticipatory architecture eagerly expects. When applied to an urban strategy, it prepares the land for what is to come while being malleable to accommodate change over time. Rather than the masterplan, ideas for development and event are conceived incrementally through a close reading of the as found.