The Interloper

M.Arch Thesis, Spring 2024
Instructor: Neal Schwartz

Deforestation is a result of humanity’s growing population and expanding footprint. As our cities sprawl, ecosystems shrink, eventually fragmenting and becoming isolated habitat islands - making it difficult or impossible for wildlife to reach resources, potential mates, or migration routes. The result is a reduction in biodiversity and mass species extinction across the globe.

Architectural has an inherent ability to enclose or divide, and typically results in the “othering” of the natural world. The zone between human and animal territory is fraught with tension, sometimes resulting in property damage or violent conflict. This research focuses on synanthropic species (those that have adapted to the constructed environment), challenging the distinction between resident and interloper.

While many new architectural proposals attempt to provide environmental and ecological value, they often still fall short of providing space for wildlife equivalent to that which has been erased. It is important that we consider non-human agents in designing the urban environment - for their benefit as well as ours. By adopting new attitudes toward the needs of wildlife as well as our own, we might arrive at typologies that better serve our non-human neighbors. The aim of my thesis is to test possibilities for uncommon cohabitation, and to shift our mindset from apathy for the other to empathy for the collective. Situated in an urban park within the city of San Francisco, The Interloper is a structure designed with the potential for various forms of occupation, and raises the questions: who does space and place belong to? What is the difference between a nest and a cage? Who is the resident, and who is the inerloper?