De Facto Providence:
Sites, Publics, and Assemblages
... an advanced option studio
Sites, Publics, and Assemblages
... an advanced option studio
Course: Advanced Option Studio
Site: Providence, RI
Date: 2025
School: Rhode Island School of Design
Site: Providence, RI
Date: 2025
School: Rhode Island School of Design
This studio asked students to extrapolate de facto systems in order to propose new architectural facts for the city of Providence.
De facto is a legal term for a set of prevalent practices that have not been formally recognized. These informal practices often come about by way of publics—or rather a collective body that chooses to forego standardization practices in favor of something more... informal. De facto architecture, therefore, can be understood as spatial assemblages that have achieved a dominant urban status by way of public persistence.
Approaching the city of Providence as an urban laboratory, students will identify sites within the “Knowledge District” for experimentation and propose architectural facts in order to produce de facto public spaces. Rather than focusing on a single typology, program or site, the studio will work collectively to address a range of public spaces, varying in scale, within Providence’s Knowledge District.
De facto is a legal term for a set of prevalent practices that have not been formally recognized. These informal practices often come about by way of publics—or rather a collective body that chooses to forego standardization practices in favor of something more... informal. De facto architecture, therefore, can be understood as spatial assemblages that have achieved a dominant urban status by way of public persistence.
Approaching the city of Providence as an urban laboratory, students will identify sites within the “Knowledge District” for experimentation and propose architectural facts in order to produce de facto public spaces. Rather than focusing on a single typology, program or site, the studio will work collectively to address a range of public spaces, varying in scale, within Providence’s Knowledge District.
