Hack / Renovate/ Reuse
Since the advent of human evolution we as a species have made technological innovation our primary survival technique. Over the last one hundred thousand years humans have used technology to exploit and over come almost every aspect of the natural world, we have become a species of inventors and makers. The making of complex tools can be traced back to the first forms of ritual and could have led to the development of language as a means of managing the manufacture of tools over complex supply lines in early human history.[1] This development of technology gave birth to civilizations, cultures and cities.
In the last two hundred years the fabrication of tools has evolved into a massive manufacturing industry that puts the user at odds with the maker. This conflict has led to capitalism, globalization and a civilization based on an unsustainable cycle of mass production, consumption, planned obsolescence and mass disposal, where we continue to convert precious natural resources into refuse. This self-destructing cycle has also led to a number of distressing socio-economic situations including the growing wealth gap, the deskilling of workers world wide, increasing proletarianization, as well as a global state of unhappiness and ignorance.[2]
The thesis explores the design, and manufacture of complex tools within our contemporary civilization. These tools range from industrial buildings through to robotics and computer programming. However, the thesis will examine these tools through the lens of the current global Do-It-Yourself movement, a movement based in the ideas of reskilling, collaboration, re-use, renovation, invention and repair, in order to frame open-source practices and collective invention as a conduit toward individual autonomy.
The thesis will then extend the lessons of the desktop DIY movement towards an open source architecture and urbanism. Where the residents are in charge and capable of making the places where they live. This extension will allow the thesis to re-examine the role of the architect as facilitator, mediator, coordinator and teacher within the emerging open source culture. In this culture, the maker is also the user and the collective becomes the inventor and benefactor.
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