NEO-FOXCONN: Analysis and Redesign of Foxconn Campus

Abstract

Beginning with Obama’s “we can make change“ and Trump’s “make America great again”, the US has been attempting to reindustrialize by bringing the manufacturing industry back, especially from East Asian countries. Foxconn, the world's largest technology manufacturer, is expanding its factories in America. However, Foxconn’s East Asian mode will not disappear if transplanted without reconsideration. These problematic practices are not only the result of a cultural context; They are also the result of a complicit architecture.

Instead of Foxconn's labor-intensive "closed campus”, what kind of architecture would emerge if they built innovation-driven "open blocks" drawn from the American context? This thesis explores the uncomfortable territory between corporate production and architectural delight that resists the status quo of industry over humanity.

The approaches include studying the architectural typology of twelve typical Foxconn “campuses” across mainland China, analyzing the Longhua campus in Shenzhen and illustrating the narrative of individual labors, researching the evolution of collective housing from utopian socialists to present, and designing an experimental Neo-Foxconn project in South Boston.