The Meat We Live In: Conversions in Architecture, Reality and Adaptive Re-Use
This third-year undergradaute design studio explored the blurred boundaries between digital and physical materiality through the lens of adaptive reuse. Students investigated how contemporary approaches to material resourcefulness can redefine sustainable design paradigms while examining the interconnected relationship between physical "meatspace" and virtual communities.
Drawing inspiration from interface design and working with generative AI tools, students designed a mixed-reality community arts center through adaptive reuse of the former Texas French Bread building in Austin—a beloved local café that burned down in 2022. The brief required students to incorporate existing building remains on site as part of their material palette, alongside reused materials from nearby demolished structures.
The project emphasized material circularity, with all physical models constructed from recycled materials to actively engage with Austin's circular economy. Students developed fluency in digital fabrication methods while exploring how feedback loops between reality and representation influence contemporary architectural practice, ultimately creating designs that integrated physical construction with virtual interfaces.
DESIGN V - THIRD-YEAR UNDERGRADAUTE STUDIO
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE
FALL 2024
Students:
Victoria Aboytes, Riley Avery, Laine Berg, Rebecca Galvan, Peter Hebda, Yareli Hernandez, Jonathan Kim, Shannon Lee, Christopher Ortiz, Said Ortiz, Aayushi Rajput, Kailey Tsikis, Aniston White, Fenghui Ashley Xu