This page previews the final document of my MED thesis entitled “Continuous Extremes: Architecture of Uncertainty in Poland, 1945—” which explores questions of form, space, and architectural practice in the years immediately following the Second World War. This project has evolved from an interest in relationships between destruction and reconstruction into a series of biographical accounts that interrogate conceptions of architecture as object, practice, and profession.
The general sense of uncertainty that has surrounded the coronavirus pandemic undoubtedly contributed to this project’s preoccupation with architecture that takes shape in the midst of extreme conditions. In a way, it was a generative aspect of the project as it unfolded. My advisers, advice-givers, and other interlocutors, however, provided constant encouragement and support. In this regard, I would especially like to thank my adviser, Professor Eeva-Liisa Pelkonen, the MED chair, Professor Keller Easterling, members of the MED faculty committee, and my fellow students in the MED program. Thank you as well to my thesis reader, Professor Marci Shore, for your regular insights and help, and to graphic designer Immanuel Yang in Yale School of Art, with whom I have collaborated on the final document.