Case Study: House N – Sou Fujimoto Text Assignment: The Shape of Energy – Sean Lally (photo)   Architecture, in all of its many abstract definitions, is being pushed to a fusion with nature. From some perspectives, such as that of Sou Fujimoto and Sean Lally, architecture ought to be defined by natural elements. The case study of Foujimoto’s House N uses a shell strategy to illustrate a concept of incremental spatial mediation without the use of distinct boundaries; this way, the outdoors feels like the indoors and vice versa. By the inclusion of trees in it’s outermost shell, House N speaks to topics of atmospheric, disturbed, and intangible relations. Similarly, Lally’s interpretation of Architecture’s current status and its future, is highly reliant on atmospheric and intangible relational logics in Advanced Architecture. Material energies, the sensational environment that surrounds us, are proposed as a new typology to follow the static mediation used in Architecture today. The shapes of these ever-changing habitats become a job for the architect to define and design custom to the particular properties of the environment. The idea is that society becomes inexplicably aware of material energies’ ability to activate a feeling of space, as well as transform to adapt to change. Critically thinking, both of these methods seem conceptually competent. With Architecture’s acceptance of rapidly advancing digital technologies, as well as environmental impact, new boundary defining mechanisms appear inevitable. However, both Foujimoto’s and Lally’s concepts distance themselves from issues of security and stability. The role of an architect is certainly changing, but does that exclude the duties of providing such comforts to habitable spaces, especially residential? In the future, I may be interested in mimicking the inherent successes of natural systems in Architecture. I question strategies of inclusion, forcing nature into the bounds that are today still necessary in Architecture, or wrapping architecture around the freedom that is synonymous with Nature. In this race to design the true “future” of architecture, I hope to develop research that helps to narrow down the contenders to those that are sensible in respect to economical, social, and environmental impact.