The Manifesto for the Miscellaneous is my Master of Architecture thesis project, presented in April 2021 at the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design, University of Toronto. This work is a theoretical exploration of the act of ‘playing,’ where conventional rules and categories that govern human reasoning temporarily dissipate, giving rise to new creative possibilities. It comes as a response to my professional experience working as a 'serious' architect at a corporate architectural firm in Manhattan, NY, from 2006 to 2010. During this period, I felt constrained by the rigid, standardized frameworks and approaches that dominate the ‘real-world’ practice of architecture. To offset the alienating nature of my work-life routine, I spent nights in a coffee shop named Café Esperanto, which was open 24/7, surrounded by others who lived on the margins of society.

The film is a creative response to this period. It uses kinetic, time-based architectural representation as a means to challenge perceptions of reality. The narrative explores the invention of a remarkable machine—the ‘Mīscellāneus-Ex-Machina’—in the basement of Café Esperanto. Designed to transport its users across space-time, the machine’s journeys into alternate realities question the legitimacy of our confined spaces and the hegemony of social norms and structures. The Manifesto for the Miscellaneous is followed by a sequel movie titled "Heterotopia: An Epilogue."

Thesis advisor: Adrian Phiffer.