ABSTRACT
The role of the architect is often relegated to producing scale representations of architectural intent: drawings. The architect is not conventionally involved in material extraction, transportation, supply chain hand-offs, nor the means and methods of construction. These responsibilities fall outside the scope of the architect. And yet, the history of architecture is enriched by examples when these contingencies overlap in intelligent ways. This article explores one such example from the past: the Moai of Rapa Nui. It asks what possibilities emerge when the architect steps outside the contemporary confines of its own discipline to embrace an alternative role. It describes an experimental architecture studio titled “Megalithic Architecture” whereby students design, construct, and perform a megalithic act of transporting and placing a colossal stone. In an era when the building industry is struggling to reconcile its complacency in issues such as climate change, social justice, and decolonization, it must also challenge how its self-determined confines limit the architect's capacity to address big-picture problems. By resetting the disciplinary boundaries, this article proposes a method for educating future architects to think beyond inherited practices and the constructs that confine the field of architecture today.
