Book Description

The publication captures the work done at the University of Cincinnati School of Architecture and Interior Design while showcasing student work, faculty research, co-op stories, study abroad programs, and snapshots from the many events happening at our school. ECHOS is a platform for simultaneous conversations with shared ethos at UC SAID. Various constellations begin to surface and map our diverse milieu of academic and social interactions that revolve around the following five main themes: anxiety, praxis, trope, chreod, and utopia. Introduced by a series of analytical diagrams which are paired up with essays by lead figures in the discipline, the themes expand on the issues of theoretical anxiety, architectural discourse, practice, typology, self-made analogies, ad hoc morphologies inherent to research, flux and reflux - that return each disruption to a steady trajectory - similar to the natural cycle of compression and release generated by our co-op program, and the fictitious, the ideal. Anxiety collects and synthesizes among multiple contradicting theories entertaining with equanimity various solutions to design problems. Praxis looks at outcomes - may those be physical, prototypical, digital or analog, multi-dimensional and multi-media, spoken, written or unwritten - as well as working methodologies that shape design thinking. Trope begins to map out trends, emergent ideologies, and previously non-denominational design expressions. Chreod documents and interprets field conditions, rule based processes, issues of transgressions, non-smooth and nomadic entities which cut across arbolic like divisions. Utopia, while suspending various otherwise necessary constraints, allows for a euphoric and optimistic view of the world, with the goal of envisioning daring possibilities otherwise unimaginable. Utopia, therefore, foreshadows all other themes.