The posters and cover pages presented here by fifth-year students are condensed, graphic synopses of four-week research projects on a single word with deep, complex implications for architecture.  Each self-selected team of students pursued a series of intense rapid-research exercises as steps toward the production of a Subject Abstract and as the initial preparatory phase of their thesis investigations. The subjects are assigned randomly, and the complete Subject Abstracts are collected in an “atlas” as a resource for all students to consult for information, as examples of graphic means of presentation, to fuel potential areas of investigation, and as a demonstration of ways to analyse, investigate and curate research material. The aim is to develop and advance investigative and design skills, acumen and approaches that will be of use in the Thesis Project and beyond.

Mark Linder, Thesis Director