Michael Shamiyeh
Exploring Architectural Thinking
On the basis of my previous education, training and practical experience I arrived at the realization that the core competencies that previously constituted essential elements of an architect’s legitimacy—that which entitles the profession to credit, confidence and esteem in the eyes of society such as mastery of aesthetics and engineering—are no longer necessarily attributed exclusively to the architects’ sphere of expertise. Hence, it seems that the architectural profession becomes progressively irrelevant. On the contrary I suspect that architecture harbors incredible potential that—were we architects to utilize it to a greater extent than we have heretofore—would possibly allow architects to play a much more active role in what goes on in society as a whole. For this reason, the aim of the thesis is to investigate architecture as an intellectual modus operandi, as a mode of conjectural thinking that is fundamentally concerned with learning and the search for emergent opportunities to initiate novel forms, rather than with investigating extant forms and its optimization.

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