William Anderson

Advisor: Brian T. Rex

A minimalist black-and-white image of an abstract wooden sculpture. Smooth, intertwined branches create a flowing, organic form. The mood is calm and reflective.
Pencil drawing of a tree trunk with detailed bark and branches on a grid. Left features wooden models on legs, resembling tree structures, taped photos.
Thesis Panel
Intricate pencil drawing of a cut tree showing growth rings. Features branches and diagrams with geometric lines, conveying a scientific study of nature.
On the interpretation of a tree’s physical characteristics; intuitive dendro-observation.
Close-up of intertwined, smooth wooden branches in natural tones on a gray background, showcasing craftsmanship and organic elegance.
On joints as ontological field, relative to assembly.
Architectural drawing showing trees integrated into a building with diagrams illustrating airflow and roots. The tone is innovative and thoughtful.
Orientation
Technical drawing of wood joinery displays intersecting beams with precision. Detailed lines highlight construction techniques and geometric alignment.
On the reduction of wildness; last calls.
Abstract sketch of geometric lines and grids depicting the American Elm and Native Elm Bark Beetle, with bold red squares and dynamic motion.
Urban conditions of tree growth.
Wooden sculpture of intertwined branches and a log on a light gray background. The natural textures and shapes evoke a sense of balance and harmony.
Sculpture.

On Grane, continuing elsewhere

Conventions and specifications within the timber industry strip trees of their wildness, reducing animate beings to inert, standardized material. The processes of renaming and dimensioning trees into wood weaken the structural, temporal, and ontological characteristics that inform their architectural potential. Working in dialogue with non-linear tree forms creates opportunities for architectures that are co-authored by the tree’s material logic, their environmental governance, and the interpretative agency of the designer.

This thesis proposes a design methodology that operates within translational slippages between two-dimensional drawing and material reality, releasing authorial control to cultivate dialogue with material bodies. This methodology is framed by a triptych of critical writing, drawing, and making, where moments of resistance are traced as sites of serendipitous movement and inquiry—not flaw.

The relational grotesque of tree morphology can be speculatively read through rings, grain, growth bias, density, and decay. These patterns of adaptation act as temporal registers, through which the tree’s didactic form reciprocates dialogue and authorship.

Wildness as a condition of authorship is mediated through a critical examination of technology and tooling, considered as interfaces between human and tree. This dialogue negotiates care and efficiency, translating them into a holistic technological language that honours the eco-relational intelligence of trees, while questioning the necessity of prescriptive certainty. Ontological meaning forms the basis of craft value; whereas artful craft participates in the profundity of matter, it similarly situates the human as relationally valuable.

This methodology frames site as a condition of examination rather than a locus for intervention. Both urban and remote settings are mapped through comparative ecological, infrastructural, and spatial systems that govern the growth morphology of trees. Resisting architectural prescription, this thesis work is intentionally unsited, situating architectural value within the relational essence of trees. Inevitable collapse: within the reduced dimensionality of a book, this thesis positions process as architectural artifact. Contemplating numerous technological, environmental, and theoretical groundings situate the fragmenting framework of slippages that exist, like trees, within an entangled system of relation.