DORIAN CHEN

My thesis explores adaptive architecture as a response to seismic instability through the integration of technology and ecology. Grounded in my experience growing up in Taiwan, where earthquakes occur frequently and continuously reshape the landscape, the project questions how architecture can move beyond merely resisting seismic forces to adapt, stretch, and respond to them. Focusing on Hualien, one of Taiwan’s most seismically active regions, the design examines fault systems, seismic histories, and monitoring technologies as generators of architectural form. By reimagining seismometers and sensing infrastructure as spatial and structural anchors, the project proposes a tension-based adaptive system that responds to ground movement while supporting public programs such as post-disaster shelters, tectonic gardens, and earthquake research spaces. Rather than treating the ground as a fixed foundation, the thesis frames architecture as an evolving system that continuously negotiates with the forces beneath it.