December 12, 2025 - Surjan Super School Weekly Newsletter

SURJAN SUPER SCHOOL NEWSLETTER

WEEK OF DECEMBER 12, 2025

Theme: Radical Joy, Modular Systems, and The Chromatic City

School is in Session.

As we move deeper into December, the natural inclination of the architectural world is often to retreat into the cozy, the dark, and the enclosed. At Surjan Super School, we are doing the opposite.

This week’s curriculum is a counter-manifesto to the winter grey. We are exploring Radical Joy through structural rigor. We are asking: What happens when mass timber meets high-gloss polymers? What happens when the strict logic of modularity is disrupted by a fearless application of the CMYK color spectrum?

The projects on the boards this week explore the intersection of Neo-Metabolism and Play.

Here is what we are looking at this week:

1. The New Timber Tectonics

(Ref: The lattice structures and stilted platforms)

We are pushing the boundaries of what mass timber can communicate. Wood doesn't have to be solemn.

• The Soft Grid: We’ve been experimenting with radiused glulam connections (see the interlocking "waffle" structures). By rounding the corners of a deep coffered ceiling or a structural frame, we turn a rigid grid into a habitable lattice that feels almost biological.

• The Elevated Platform: Several studies this week focused on lifting the architecture off the ground plane. whether it’s the pink-clad "treehouse" on concrete stilts or the timber pavilion on thick legs, the goal is to leave the landscape underneath untouched and permeable.

2. Chromatic Metabolism

(Ref: The capsule towers, pipe structures, and shipping containers)

Drawing inspiration from the Japanese Metabolists of the 1960s, we are re-imagining the "capsule" for 2025.

• Tubular Living: The vertical aggregation of glossy, colorful pipes isn't just aesthetic—it’s a study in vertical density that refuses to be boring. We are looking at high-gloss finishes (pinks, yellows, citrons) that catch the urban light, turning the building facade into a shifting canvas.

• Container Evolution: We revisited the shipping container module but stripped away the grunge. By applying bright, matte block colors and cutting large, circular apertures, the industrial box becomes a playful, pop-art building block.

3. Objecthood & The Desert

(Ref: The yellow corrugated unit)

Sometimes, architecture needs to be a distinct object. Our study of the yellow corrugated capsule in the desert landscape explores the idea of the "Autonomous Artifact." It creates a stark, beautiful contrast—the warm, organic red earth versus the manufactured, perfect yellow machine. It represents a retro-futurism where technology and nature exist in a high-contrast standoff.

Technical Note: Procedural Color

For the students asking about our workflow: The vibrancy you see in this week's renders is not random. We are utilizing Python scripting within Rhino to procedurally assign material indices based on structural logic.

• Rule: Vertical elements receive primary colors; horizontal elements receive secondary tints.

• Result: The color emphasizes the load path. You can read the structure through the color.

Final Thought

Architecture is serious business, but it shouldn't be a joyless one. If a building can make you look up and smile, it has performed a function just as vital as keeping the rain out.

Go build something bright.

— Surjan Super School