Revisions, revisions, revisions...

Here's a revised abstract. 'Revised' is used loosely, because it has already changed a bit since this was written. It is the most recent description, written for a Midterm Review we had last Friday:

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Architecture’s Grand Tourism:
The Redefinition of Locality in a Global Discourse

Thesis Abstract:

In recent years, societies have been homogenized from trends toward globalization. The discipline of architecture is inextricably linked to these trends. In the global condition, architects operate as metaphorical tourists, traveling to new countries with each project. Often, architects often have little knowledge of the locality in which they operate. When top architects operate in this manner, they produce a false identity for these localities. Today, there is a reaction against the assumption that globalization is a positive and inevitable trend. A new model of operation will be needed for the discipline of architecture.

This project takes a context which has a direct confrontational relationship between global and local and addresses this relationship through architecture. Specifically, this project seeks to empower the local in this relationship. How can localities, which have in recent architectural history been subordinated or ‘exoticized’, re-assert agency in the architectural process? Addressing new possibilities for the relationship of global and local through the lens of tourism can become a model for the future of practice.

The critical project is located in the new nation-state of The Republic of Kosovo. Kosovo has a complex relationship to the global. In recognizing that this global connection is essential to Kosovo, the new country needs to use this international presence to address the redefinition of global-local and satisfy its own pressing need to establish the legitimacy of its new government. The project will be designed for two separate programs removed from each other in time: a world expo and national capital complex. The international presence will provide a network of structures for an international expo introducing Kosovo to the world order through tourism. This global act is inherently subverted: a rule-set for design and construction of the expo will ensure that the architecture is intended for the local program of the capital complex. Although the global is exploited for the gain of the locality, the uneasy alliance between the two programs will necessitate a redefinition of both.