The Interior Architecture department at the Rhode Island School of Design is experiencing a shortage of space with which to accommodate their students. The department currently resides on the top floor of RISD’s CIT building. This project is a proposal to add a rooftop addition to the building which will act as a departmental extension. The two main goals in designing this addition are: 1. The addition must be able to be constructed within a relatively short period of time. 2. The addition should cause minimal disturbance to the existing building. Just as a parasite is able to feed off of it’s host without causing it harm, this rooftop “parasite” must sit delicately and non-obtrusively on top of the building.

The insertions into the existing 6th floor are kept at a minimum, and the addition is designed for lightness and simplicity of structure. To ensure a quick assembly, the parasite is designed to be built in modular pieces off site, which can then be shipped to the building and assembled in 16 steps.

With a desire to keep the structural components exposed as a way to further express the architectural form, it was decided to give them a character which would add to the already animalistic qualities of the addition. The structural members take on anthropomorphic features inspired by such natural forms as dinosaur and bird’s legs.