truth is what is v. truth is what was v. truth is that which will have been
hypothetical
built
truth is what is v. truth is what was v. truth is that which will have been
hypothetical
built
My overall rationale for pedagogy is built on the principles of equality, framed through my research as a discrete, yet closely aligned form of an inquiry. In the context of my teaching, design research is articulated in close empirical inquiry through the examination of a wide array of evidence—from political manifestos to health care protocols, economic or legal declarations to datasets, and other artifacts of the enabling infrastructures.
My teaching can take the form of a design theory seminar, a design studio, or an advanced representation seminar. Regardless of the form it takes, the focus is always on the rigorous formulation of problems and arguments, by framing broad issues of the world as architectural or design questions. Through this pedagogy, design is operative as a modality in which the project acquires a trajectory in the world, primarily through its cultural, socio-economic, and political contexts.
Periodically, I receive positive feedback from my students attesting to the safety and attractiveness of the learning environment in which students strive to participate because they can feel challenged without being intimidated by the complex theoretical texts or other performative aspects of the larger forum.
Surveillant City
Graduate Design III Studio Course Designed and Taught by Vahan Misakyan at the UMN School of Architecture, Fall 2018
Unboxing The Home
Project by Sam Brissett, Trevor Isaacson and Drew Smith
Surveillant City, Graduate Design III Studio by V. Misakyan. UMN School of Architecture, Fall 2018
Pained Processions
Project by Austin Young and Cozy Hannula
Compounding Anthroposphere
Graduate Design II Studio Course (occupying half of the semester) Designed and Taught by Vahan Misakyan at the UMN School of Architecture, Spring 2018
Islands in the Mist.
Project by Tyler Voight and Muna El-Taha
Compounding Anthroposphere, Graduate Design II Studio Course by V. Misakyan at the UMN School of Architecture, Spring 2018
Saharan Dream
Project by Drew Smith, Sam Brissett and Tyler Snell
Architecting Anthropoveillance
Advanced Representation Seminar Designed and Taught by Vahan Misakyan at the UMN School of Architecture, Fall 2019
Death. Data. Dollars
Project by Austin Young and Xin Sun
Architecting Anthropoveillance, Advanced Representation Seminar by V. Misakyan at the UMN School of Architecture, Fall 2019
Decentralized Identity
Project by Sam Brissett and Luke McCann
Master’s Final Project
(MFP)
Culmination of the MArch program at the University of Minnesota’s School of Architecture. Example of student work advised by Vahan Misakyan as an MFP Critic.
MFP studio work samples, Spring 2020
Manifest Metaphors
Indigenous Inversion by Hana Bushyhead
MFP studio work samples, advised by Vahan Misakyan as an MFP Critic. Spring 2020
Planetary Chronology
Project by Megan Lundquist and Mary Begley (planetarychronology.com)
Selected Courses
Taught by Vahan Misakyan
Architecting Anthropoveillance (Advanced Topics in Representation, Graduate Seminar)
Architectures of Reassurance: Between Emergency and Play (architecture as catalyst, school-wide workshop)
Master’s Final Project
> Fall 2019
Principles of Design Theory (Graduate Theory Seminar)
Surveillant City (Graduate Design III Studio)
> Spring 2019
Anthropoveillance Vol-S (Topics in Architecture, Undergraduate Seminar)
Master’s Final Project
> Fall 2018
Architecting Anthropoveillance (Advanced Topics in Representation, Graduate Seminar)
Surveillant City (Graduate Design III Studio)
> Spring 2018
Compounding Anthroposphere (Graduate Design II Studio)
Principles of Design Theory (Graduate Theory Seminar)
Global Cities Mumbai was a thesis studio that addressed questions about the local and global factors influencing the urbanization. This studio challenged the students to analyze, understand and manipulate the DNA of a global city while developing their projects.
The student projects collectively benefited from the studio's trip to India (Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Chandigarh), interviewing and participating in workshops with local architects, activists and experts of different fields. Research gathered during the studio's trip was incorporated into their projects.
Habitable bridges functioned as multi-programmed structures, hosting markets, homes and sometimes even chapels. Concentrations of economic or societal transactions closer/across the bridges catalyzed a range of program-occurrences densely packed on and around these bridges. The habitable bridge can reflect the complexities of dense urbanization, however, it was not often recognized as a typology of a building in its own right, in that, rarely there were made any attempts to rethink the habitable bridge as a spatial construct that is more than the sum of its constituent elements. Is it simply an infrastructure that is colonized by architectural programs found in our cities? in our time, what does it mean to think of a structure that fuses programs, such as habitation and transportation, while bridging across an obstacle connecting two or more directly unconnected places?
NYC having been defined densification, diversity, globalization, and unique ecology has become a unique location to investigate and develop this typology. The studio tested the habitable bridge as a physical connection with Manhattan—both on micro and macro scale—and addressed a range of sociopolitical and sociocultural issues, such as sustainability, segregation or emerging economies.
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