ASO Studio: From City to Forest - from one body to a billion
Inside to outside and across a range of scales, the studio will collect data—empirically, experientially and theoretically—to generate propositions for guiding billions of birds safely around cities and buildings. Through an understanding of complex systems, designs will be data-driven and will explore how humans could adapt to live within the natural world without conflict.
Twin Stuppas, Butler County, PA
ASOS Catalog Course Description
The studio features a comprehensive, long-term project that spans the entire duration of the course. This project involves rigorous data collection and the innovative translation of this data into a form that allows it to convey meanings and insights beyond its raw numbers. Students learn to harness data to tell compelling stories, reveal hidden patterns and drive actionable insights that can influence architectural and ecological practices. This sustained endeavor emphasizes the integration of scientific rigor with creative interpretation, aiming to produce outcomes that are both informative and transformative.
There are also three shorter, equally rigorous projects, each designed to explore different scales of interaction between architecture and avian ecology. These projects vary in scope from the micro to the macro, ensuring that complexity and depth are maintained across all levels. Each project challenges students to think critically about the impact of design decisions on bird populations and to develop innovative solutions that promote coexistence and sustainability. Through these varied exercises, students refine their ability to navigate and manipulate complex systems, fostering a holistic understanding of the interconnectedness between human habitats and the natural world.
The studio is co-taught by Mary-Lou Arscott and avian conservation biologist Nick G. Liadis.