02Academic research · Taubman College
Master of Architecture thesis
Water, extraction, and the ground
A study of California’s changing landscape through nine sectional drawings. The sequence moves from early settlement through mining, agriculture, and water infrastructure to a speculative future of ground collapse and architectural intervention.
- Type
- Master of Architecture thesis
- Institution
- University of Michigan · Taubman College
- Year
- 2023
- Status
- Academic work
Reading the ground
The drawings follow changes above and below the surface: waterways, cultivated land, wells, and the geological layers beneath them. Reading these changes together makes the effects of extraction visible across time.
A speculative response
The final chapters imagine ground collapse followed by a design proposal in 2045. Architectural spaces occupy the excavated terrain, bringing the project’s study of the ground into a proposal for inhabiting it.
Drawing sequence · 01–09
A landscape through time
From the 1500s to a speculative 2045. Select any drawing to explore it at a larger scale.
Chapter 02 · Gold Rush era · 1550–1850
Chapter 03 · Agricultural boom · 1850–1870
Chapter 04 · Rapid urban development · 1870–1900
Chapter 05 · Rapid urban development · 1900–1963
Chapter 06 · California Aqueduct · 1963–1968
Chapter 07 · Lost Hills, California · 2010–2022
Chapter 08 · Collapse · 2025–2045
Chapter 09 · Design proposal · 2045
