Architecture Masters Theses

Architecture Masters Theses

 

RISD’s Master of Architecture program is one of the few in the US embedded in a college of art and design. Here, architecture is taught in a way that understands the practice of design and making as a thoughtful, reflective process that both engenders and draws from social, political, material, technological and cultural agendas. The program aims to empower students to exercise their creativity by understanding their role as cultural creators and equipping them to succeed in the client-based practice of architecture.

The degree project represents the culmination of each student’s interests relative to the curriculum. A seminar in the fall of the final year helps focus these interests into a plan of action. Working in small groups of five or six under the guidance of a single professor, students pursue individual projects throughout Wintersession and spring semester. Degree projects are expected to embody the architectural values that best characterize their authors as architects and are critiqued based on the success of translating these values into tangible objects.

Graduate Program Director: Hansy Better Barraza

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Theses from 2025

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Living Heritage, Aysenur Cetin

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SPACE, LIFE AND CAPITAL: THE METABOLIC RIFT, Zhongsu Cheng

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Soft Stickers, Alexandra L. Croft

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Built for Belonging: An Exploration of the Mutual Adoption Between Human and Home, Jillian Edwards

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the house at the end of time, Gyles Jose Antonio Ferrao

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Almost Architecture, Almost [ other ] : Examining Approximative Methods of Design Through the Lens of Hydrologic Structures, Pateton Gonzales

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A Weathering Narrative: Architecture as a Living Archive of Time and Change, Estephania Granados

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Prosthesis, Alexander A. Grosek

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What [Could] Happen[ed] in Oak Cliff: Reimagining Gentrification without Displacement, Samantha E. Hernandez

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The (Im)possibility of Existing (Conditions), Emily Hesse

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Time in Architecture, MInho Kwon

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Building From Found, Isabelle K. Troutman

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NEW WATER ORDER - THE LEAKY VESSEL, Anand Upadhayay

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bodies collapsing together... together as dust., Catherine J. Wang

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Eco-Posthumanism — A Utopian Transformation of Modernist Residence, Shuli Wu

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Delusional Motel: An Architecture Evoking Negative Symptoms and Disorders, Zesha Xie

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Objects Into Things: The Ordinary into Extraordinary, Michael K. Yirenkyi

Theses from 2024

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Reform Craft | Re-Form Clay, Katherine Badenhausen

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Narrative Structures, Theodore Badenhausen

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Room to Grieve: The Space of Solace in Public Life, Lauren Blonde

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Frontier: Land, Architecture, and Abstraction, Jacob Boatman

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Rhythm of Space, Brian Carrillo

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Searching for the Hyperobject: Crystals as Transscalar Vehicles, Jay Costello

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Unconditioning Air, Weijia Deng

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(Matter)ial Revolution, Aleza Epstein

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Building the Body, Jasmine Flowers

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House Calls, Gregory Goldstone

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Culinary community: Collaborative Relationship Building through Improvisational Fine Dining, Victoria Goodisman

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Textile Tectonics: Shaping Space Through Soft Studies, Lela Gunderson

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Hong Kong’s Architectural Resistance: Practice Through Research, Jingjing Huang

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“Modern Nomads”: Unfolding Domesticity, Yifan Hu

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Mind Follows Matter, Fiona Libby

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Curb Appeal, Eric Liu

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Dreampool, Xia Li

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Atelier Interloper, Isabel Jane Marvel

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Entre Manos Y Barro: Innovando Con Tradición, Jose Mata

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Patchwork: 76km between Juárez and El Paso, Naheyla Medina

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The Dollhouse, Kristina Miesel

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A Dispatch from the Site Office, Adrian Pelliccia

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Infinite Plane: Metaphysical Architecture + Digital Space, Isabella Ruggiero

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Icons of Solitude: Peace, Quiet, and the Urban Condition, Jack Schildge

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Beyond the Idle Machine: Spatio-Subjective Architecture, Andrew Schnurr

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snowstorm, Caleb Shafer

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Corner Revolution: Beyond “skynet”, Brightening Grey space and Building Security, Caimin Shen

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Living Surfaces, Ryan R. Sotelo

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THE RUNIS: HOW CAN SOCIAL REMIDATION AND ENVIRONMENTAL REMEIDATION BE LINKED THROGUH ARCHITECTURE?, Tayu Ting

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Entropic Accumulation, Abby Tuckett

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What does water want?, Julia Woznicki

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Design With Decay, Charlotte Wyman

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LifeLink, Yuan Yuan

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Architecture As A Carbon-Based Practice, Qixin Yu

Theses from 2023

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Ghost Hotel, George Acosta

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Cohabitation x Adaptation, 2100: A Climate Change Epoch, Kyle Andrews

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Reintroducing Hemp (rongony) in the Material Palette of Madagascar: A study on the potential of Hemp Clay components and its impact on social and ecological communities., Henintsoa Thierry Andrianambinina

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Norteada- En Busca De un Nuevo Norte. Cocoon Portals and the Negotiation of Space., Kimberly Ayala Najera

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Decolonial Perspective on Fashion and Sustainability, Haisum Basharat

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Psychochoreography, Nora Bayer

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Whale Fall·Building Fall, Jiayi Cai

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Means and Methods: Pedagogy and Proto-Architecture, Daniel Choconta

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The Miacomet Movement, Charles Duce

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Unpacked: Consumer Culture in Suburban Spaces, Jaime Dunlap

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you're making me sentimental, Chris Geng

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Myths, Legends, and Landscapes, Oromia Jula

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Old and New: Intervention in Space and Material, Yoonji Kang

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Urban Succession: an ecocentric urbanism, Anthony Kershaw

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An Architect's Toolkit for Color Theory, ella knight

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WAST3D POTENTIAL, Andrew Larsen

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Sustainable Seismic Architecture: Exploring the Synergy of Mortise-and-Tenon Joinery and Modern Timber Construction for Reducing Embodied Carbon, Cong Li

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Recipes for Building Relationships, Adriana Lintz

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Water Relations, Understanding Our Relationship to Water: Through Research, Diagrams, and Glass, Tian Li

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Exploring Permanent Temporariness: A Look into the Palestinian Experience through Refugee Camps, Tamara Malhas

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A Study of Dwelling, Julia McArthur

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Appropriate that Bridge: Appropriation as a way of Intervention, Haochen Meng

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Toronto Rewilded, Forrest Meyer

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Confronting and Caring for Spaces of Service, Tia Miller

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Reorientation, Soleil Nguyen

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The De-centering of Architecture, Uthman Olowa

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[De]Composition: Grounding Architecture, Skylar Perez

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Soft City: Reclaiming Urban Public Spaces for Play, Jennifer Pham

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We Have a (Home) - Co-operative Homes for Sunset Park, Lisa Qiu

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The Incremental Ecosystem: Hybridizing Self-Built + Conventional Processes as a Solution to Urban Expansion, Shayne Serrano

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Liberdade para quem? - Layered Histories, Vanessa Shimada

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Tracing as Process, Lesley Su

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The Design of Consequences, Yuqi Tang

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On the Edge of the "Er-Ocean" State, Mariesa Travers

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Beyond the White Box: Building Alternative Art Spaces for the Black Community, Elijah Trice

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Translational Placemaking: The Diasporic Archive, Alia Varawalla

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Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories of Water and Earth, Alexis Violet

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Ritual as Design Gesture: Reimagining the Spring Festival in Downtown Providence, wenjie wang

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Spatial Reveries, Alexander Wenstrup

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Public-ish, Aliah Werth

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Phantom Spaces, Craytonia Williams II

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Navigating Contextualism: An architectural and urban design study at the intersection of climate, culture, urban development, and globalization Case Study of Dire Dawa, Ruth Wondimu

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Green Paths - On the Space In-Between Buildings, Hongru Zhang

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Blowing Away, Ziyi Zhao

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Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites of Trauma, Abigail Zola

Theses from 2022

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Revisionist Zinealog : a coacted countercultural device, Madaleine Ackerman

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Reengineer value, Maxwell Altman

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Space in sound, Gidiony Rocha Alves

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Anybody home? Figural studies in architectural representation, David Auerbach