how can an architectural thesis help to overcome the plight of humankind

7/24/2019 How Can an Architectural Thesis Help to Overcome the Plight of Humankind

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How can an architectural thesis help to overcome the

plight of humankind? What types of thesis topics could

be used as remedy for social problems?

I get this kind of question around thesis time every year. So I guess I must write thisdown now. Hope my explanation is a good starting point.

I liked the point about reducing the plight of mankind. Though it sounds very ambitious,frankly that is where all such work need to first aspire for. Then let nature whittle itdown as needed. In that process of whittling your work will be placed at the right level ofusefulness and value in this world.

So go ahead and wish to make great changes in the world. on!t get dissuaded by those

who tell you, you are being too ambitious. If you keep that spirit and determination andallow the whittling to happen, your work will reach its natural destination.

"any youngsters are frightened on how they would be perceived when they proposesomething ambitious. ifferentiate between your own self and your work. #our workshould aspire for greater heights. $hether you are perceived as being boastful or proudor whatever by others should not concern you.

Some are hassled by the whittling %critiquing& that happens. So they select very 'safe'thesis topics. (or example in some colleges students would shirk from those buildingtypologies and areas of knowledge which the professors of the department are known tobe involved. That is foolish. )ne would be wasting this precious opportunity if one wouldbe wanting to please some superficial perceived attitude of others. "ore on this at theend.

So what is a thesis?

* thesis is sometimes taken to be the short form of hypothesis.

* hypothesis is something that is not yet proved. However humankind!s progress requirevarious hypothesis to be put forward. Some of them may be discarded. That means somecan get whittled away completely.

The correct way to put forward a hypothesis is to recognise three parts in it.

(irst is the problem that you are trying to solve, why it is important and why it wouldmake a difference. *lso make summary statements such as 'this way of designing wouldsolve it' or 'if we do this a, betc. and then do this design in this manner then it wouldameliorate the problems I had identified' etc

The second part is very important+ in this section you need to describe the tests that canprove or disprove your hypothesis and how do we know if our approach would yield the


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results we claimed it can. So in this section you would make statements such as 'I claimthat issues due to overcrowding in aranasi could be reduced by suchxyz strategies.$hy I claim that is that I did some -pqr tests and could see similar results.' )r ' here aresome social experiments that were conducted in an unbiased manner and here are theirresults which tells me that this approach can yield results'.

This second part is what is often missing in various thesis that I have seen. eople /ustclaim some positive points of their thesis without convincing anyone why their basic

foundational premises are correct.

In this section it is also important to point out where the approach you aretaking will NOT yield results. Karl Popper had told that only if a theory isfalsifiable can it be valid. If we claim that what we are out to do will solvethe problems A the time in A situations would be very hard to accept.Knowing where it won!t work is a sign of maturity.

The third part is where you actually do the design and showcase iterations of the designstoo. How you moved from one design cycle to the next one and refined your work is veryuseful.

Then stand back for the whittling that is bound to happen. $e need to place our work infront of our peers and elders in the field. "ake sure that it is critiqued by many so thatyou can reduce personal biases and idiosyncrasies of your /urors.

The above sequence is based on my understanding of the 'scientific method'. In any

hypothesis perusal it is important that the testing criteria are known to the

researcher beforedoing the experiment. 0lse how will we know of the experiment haspassed or failed1

2egarding your point about how to select a thesis topic %social or otherwise& ... $ell thatis something I refuse to comment on. I strongly believe that thesis time in architecture iswhen the student gets that chance to introspect and come up with original work. #ouneed to reflect quietly on all that you learned previously and ask yourself where is it that

#)3 want to contribute. 4ot ape someone else. 5ut contribute.

6ife will take you on a whirlwind tour very soon. I did my thesis back in IIT in 789: and789;. I still fondly remember the meditative mode I got into. It set the pace for the rest

of my life. Spurred me on. I am convinced that what you do in your thesis along with thehow and the why will leave a lasting effect. on!t waste time asking others opinions onwhat your topic should be. #ou already know it deep inside but you may not haveverbalised it. Think deeply within yourself and you can eliminate the ones which havenarrow focus and let the one that can serve as much of humanity as possible win.

6ots of magnificent work has happened during thesis time. "any important works inthis world came up because of students thinking deeply and working sincerely for theirthesis.


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*ll the best.

how can an architectural thesis help to overcome the plight of humankind

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