This Master’s thesis enters the dialogue regarding the role of emergent systems in architectural research by seeking to to understand through application the role that self-organizing emergent growth systems can play in the advancement of architectural theory, and how these emergent systems can simultaneously inform and be the product of multiple design considerations, including the application of program, structure, distribution of space, and architectural effects.

The Urban Farm is a studio project whose response to the brief of creating a futuristic community-based utopia in Queens, New York is a sustainable and agrarian residential complex.

UPenn/Attractors is a studio project that explores the architectural opportunities inherent in the formal and organizational consequences of strange attractors .

Ramses Square, the epicenter of transportation interchange in Cairo, is the focus of an international design competition hosted by the Egyptian government to seek new solutions and opportunities for the overwhelming problems associated with the sprawling and non-cohesive hyperdensification of the city.

The Design Development Technical Studio calls for students to identify a schematic design initiated by a professional architecture firm for the purpose of better understanding and negotiating the design development phase of a major architectural project. In this case, the Hafjell Mountain Resort designed by the Bjarke Ingalls Group (BIG) was selected as the basis for our exploration.

This early studio focused on describing complex geometries, design through diagrammatic transformations and the exploration of intrinsic material characteristics.