Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2024

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Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2024

https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/campusexhibitions_graduatethesisexhibitions_gradthesis2024/1042/thumbnail.jp

Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2024

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Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2024

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Graduate Thesis Exhibition 2024

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Oral Storytelling Session for Wendigo

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Session 6 | Motion Capture for the Storytelling Performance

Presentation for the Motion Capture and Orature course offered during the 2024 Wintersession.https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/fav_movementlab_fellowships_2023-24_melisa_achoko_allela_motioncapturefororature_coursematerials/1007/thumbnail.jp

Billie\u27s Reflections

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Half Dawn

By presenting these words on paper, I have given entry into a microcosm of recent research, questions, and creative explorations. There is potential for disconnection when trying to turn your head inside out and present it in a way that feels beautiful for other people. I’m trusting the moments of authenticity I’ve found in my wandering. Segue. Relationship. Gesture. Illusion. My musings all stem from notions of temporality. Time dances on the farthest ends of both immensity and desolation. I’ve spent stretches of time asking the people, texts, and experiments around me to define time in a way that I can understand, and stand with. Half Dawn explores what it means to be a maker informed by the world in/outside of you

What does water want?

This thesis begins with an exploration of our relationship with water at multiple scales, from microscopic study of desert moss to macroscopic research of freshwater resources. It evolves to embody a methodology of holistic, bioregional design that interweaves systems of ecology, economy, material landscape, and reconsideration of temporality in our built environment. This project also explores how that methodology may adapt between the Global North and the Global South. No new plastic has been used in the process of this thesis. Material innovation using hemp hurd guides the exploration of how biomimetic principles can be achieved not only through form and design, but also through material choice. The outcome is a series of prototype facade samples designed to slow, distribute, collect, and protect water in its various forms. By understanding the nuances of hydrological cycles and bioregional disparities, our interventions can be designed to adapt and harmonize with the natural ebbs and flows of water availability. This thesis advocates for a shift in how we conceptualize the relationship between water and the built environment, and how that shift impacts our material landscape. By integrating previous research on multi-scalar and multi-functional water capture methods of Desert Moss, this thesis asks a key question for us to consider amidst an ongoing climate crisis: What does water want