--- title: Architect Defends 149 Page 52438 Word Dissertation Without Punctuation description: A University of British Columbia Phd candidate and architect successfully defended a 149-page 5,2438-word dissertation without punctuation canonical: https://time.com/3852886/ubc-architecture-phd-dissertation-no-punctuation/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-05-09T18:48:22.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:34.552Z og:title: Why an Architect Wrote a 52,438-Word Dissertation With No Punctuation og:description: Examiners at the University of British Columbia accepted it unanimously og:url: https://time.com/3852886/ubc-architecture-phd-dissertation-no-punctuation/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why an Architect Wrote a 52,438-Word Dissertation With No Punctuation twitter:description: Examiners at the University of British Columbia accepted it unanimously twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Why an Architect Wrote a 52,438-Word Dissertation With No Punctuation > Sponsored content. 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Waxman Staff Writer May 9, 2015 6:48 PM UTC An architect pursuing a doctorate at the University of British Columbia [wrote his 149-page, 52,438-word dissertation without any periods or commas](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/ubc-student-writes-52438-word-architecture-dissertation-with-no-punctuation-not-everyone-loved-it). Patrick Stewart, 61, who belongs to the Nisga’a, a group of indigenous people in British Columbia, told Canada’s [_National Post_](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/ubc-student-writes-52438-word-architecture-dissertation-with-no-punctuation-not-everyone-loved-it)that his dissertation, entitled “Indigenous Architecture through Indigenous Knowledge,” was designed to raise awareness about “the blind acceptance of English language conventions in academia” and to make a statement about “aboriginal culture, colonialism.” And he claimed there is “nothing in the (UBC dissertation) rules about formats or punctuation.” When he defended his punctuation-free dissertation, the examiners accepted it unanimously. Read an excerpt from the giant run-on sentence on the [_National Post_‘s website](http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/ubc-student-writes-52438-word-architecture-dissertation-with-no-punctuation-not-everyone-loved-it). ### See Life Inside Facebook's Headquarters  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME  Martin Schoeller For TIME ## Transcript [00:00] There it is, showing on the left, on your right, ladies [00:02] and gentlemen, the magnificent Triptych. $ 80 million, [00:05] $ 80 million. November 12th was Christie's annual fall [00:09] sale of contemporary and modern art. It turned out to [00:11] be a record- breaker overall, and it also set a world [00:14] auction record for a single work of art. Any time [00:17] someone pays $ 142. 4 million for a [00:22] few square feet of canvas and paint, it's, it, it attracts [00:25] attention. Most of these paintings will now disappear [00:29] into private collections. They may occasionally be lent [00:31] to public institutions, but more likely we, we won't see [00:35] them again for many years. [ MUSIC ] [00:40] You see, painting has now become, or all art has now [00:44] become, completely a game by which man distracts [00:49] himself. Bacon, when he died in 1992, his reputation [00:52] as one of the great artists of the 20th century was [00:54] already secure. And this a Bacon from 1969. It's from [00:57] a period when he was at the height of his powers. It's [01:01] a good painting. It doesn't make sense that it's [01:04] $ 142. 4 million. That speaks more to the conditions [01:06] of the market. One night after the Christie's auction, [01:10] on November 13th, Sotheby's had its annual fall [01:14] contemporary and modern art sale, and the Warhol [01:17] painting called Silver Car Crash ( Double Disaster ) sold [01:21] for 104. 5 million. There are Warhols and there [01:25] are Warhols. From 61 to say, 71, you know, that's [01:29] the stuff. And there isn't that much of it left in private [01:31] hands that can still circulate through the market. [01:34] [ MUSIC ] You can certainly [01:38] talk about the public benefit of making these things [01:41] available to the public. Museums, in a market as crazy [01:44] as this one, have for years already been completely cut [01:48] out of the possibility of buying modern and [01:50] contemporary art. They can depend on gifts. And they [01:53] often get them. But, as far as buying goes, it's just not [01:57] something they can do any longer. I think most people [02:00] reading about auction prices think, the way they often [02:02] feel when they read about the prices being paid for [02:04] professional football players and professional baseball [02:06] players. Wow, could this possibly be worth that? [02:09] Couldn't there be a better way to spend this money? [02:12] One reason why so much valuable work came to [02:15] market this fall, is that some big collectors may be [02:18] concluding that this is the best time to cash in. We [02:22] won't know until the big sales of next year. They will [02:25] continue buying and selling until it proves to be a [02:27] bubble, and if so, it will pop. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3852886/ubc-architecture-phd-dissertation-no-punctuation/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3852886/ubc-architecture-phd-dissertation-no-punctuation/"},"headline":"Why an Architect Wrote a 52,438-Word Dissertation With No Punctuation","datePublished":"2015-05-09T18:48:22.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:34.552Z","description":"Examiners at the University of British Columbia accepted it unanimously","url":"https://time.com/3852886/ubc-architecture-phd-dissertation-no-punctuation/","keywords":["Newsfeed","society"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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