Blurring Boundaries

Blurring Boundaries investigates the ability of architecture to serve as a platform for advocacy to inspire beneficial relationships within ecosystems. The project explores the environmental threats we face today, including habitat loss and pollution, which regularly go unnoticed or ignored by society due to boundaries that inhibit empathy. In attempt to blur these psychological and physical boundaries, an environmental intervention is designed that blends art and architecture into an installation that provokes the community. The installation leads the public to question the dynamics of “pollution” through existing waste cycles by representing the dispersal of human pollutants throughout the environment via species by providing birds with nesting materials. The project also explores the ability for architectural intervention to serve as an outlet for advocacy with a grassroots approach by allowing individuals to recreate their own nesting dispersal structures utilizing techniques learned from the installation. Additionally, the siting of these interventions considers the potential of environmentally sensitive sites, such as landfills, as opportunities for architectural intervention. Blurring Boundaries also demonstrates the importance of forming relationships in the design process as both a means of activism and a means of creating a sense of community. Overall, the methods explored in the design, execution, and expansion of the intervention demonstrate the power that architecture can have in activating society.

Grantor dc:publisher

State University of New York at Buffalo

Year dc:date.issued

2018

Author dc:creator

• Mordaunt, Rachel

Contributors dc:contributor

• Hwang, Joyce
• Architecture

• architecture
• environmental philosophy
• environmental education

Statement dc:rights

• Users of works found in University at Buffalo Institutional Repository (UBIR) are responsible for identifying and contacting the copyright owner for permission to reuse. University at Buffalo Libraries do not manage rights for copyright-protected works and cannot assist with permissions.
• Copyright retained by author.

Language dc:language

eng

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/10477/78083

OAI record oai:identifier

https://ubir.buffalo.edu/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=qdc&identifier=oai%3Aubir.buffalo.edu%3A10477%2F78083