Design for speculation : volatile, temporal, in-transit

The thesis project is a reaction to the alarming rate of building and development depreciation caused by foreign investment in the Middle Eastern city of Dubai. The intervention looks at how architects, developers, and planners can counteract this phenomenon by designing for speculation in order to mitigate future crises or successes. Understanding the economic terms of "creative destruction" and "planning obsolescence" are imperative to help structure such a proposal Though such terms were attributed to industrial products such as cars and electronics, they are today applicable in the context of Dubai and similar cities worldwide. Architecture and real estate products have become victim to this capitalist phenomenon. The project is framed as an architectural reaction to the world's increasing capability to make and accumulate in conjunction with a growing desire to be transient and global. Has architecture become a mere toy product which can be changed around as it become obsolete? Rather than be destroyed, how can architecture morph and be updated into something new? Architects are not in complete control of consumer wants and needs; these, too, continue to change at a dynamic pace. I argue that a synchronized system that can reflect flexibility is integral in order to maintain equilibrium in the urban economic model today The project design is an infrastructure capable of harnessing capital inflow and outflow while withstanding volatility, temporality and a population in-transit Dubai is the core case-study and the thesis explores how such a generic system can adapt to cities such as Miami, New York City and Juba.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2016

Author dc:creator

• Abou Dib, Marwan Joseph

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Anton Garcia Abril and Albert Saiz.

• Architecture.
• Center for Real Estate. Program in Real Estate Development.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/103455

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/103455