Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 196-201). / Design is a system of relationships in flux. Practitioners at Arup, a global design consultancy, negotiate a place for themselves within this system by using simulations to mediate their professional relationships. Simulations are spaces of exchange; they bridge between the technical domains of practitioners at Arup and the particular needs of their clients. Over the past sixty years, Arup has expanded into new domains of work by creating simulations to suit new audiences: architects, regulators, curators, developers, and insurers. For practitioners at Arup, simulations are pliable media for exploration, communication and professional positioning. My study of simulation at Arup builds on a history of scholarship by writers like Lewis Mumford, Sherry Turkle, and Peter Galison, who examine how cultures define themselves through the technologies they use and the way they use them. My contribution to this discourse is to show how designers use simulations to establish the professional relationships and the conceptual distinctions that define their work. Through selected scenarios from the project history of Arup, this dissertation describes how simulations are used, not only to describe designs, but to construct conceptual distinctions, between the prescriptive knowledge of regulators and the performance-based knowledge of simulations; between the intent of form envisioned by architects, and its performance, articulated by engineers at Arup; and between the identity of the scientist and that of the designer, both strategically embraced by practitioners at Arup. / (cont.) These conceptual juxtapositions and others underlie efforts by practitioners at Arup to make a place for themselves in design. My dissertation concludes with a reflection on an implicit metaphor in use at Arup, that simulation is a kind of theatre. By probing this metaphor, we can understand the* practice of simulation as a balance between immersive and analytical ways of engaging audiences. Creating a valid simulation at Arup, like creating a successful theatrical performance, is all about connecting with your audience in the right way. / by Yanni A. Loukissas. / Ph.D.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-70). / by John A. Watlington. / M.S.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1967. M.Arch. / by William Robert Gustafson. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1958. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [43]-[50]). / K.G. Terriss. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1958. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 46-48). / by Albert Anthony Tappé. / M.Arch.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1972. M.Arch. / MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN ROTCH LIBRARY. / Leaf 39 bound in reverse. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2006. / Vita. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 98-103). / This thesis evolves as a curatorial exercise with three phases: revisiting the practical and aesthetic position of the architecture thesis, structuring a design environment within MIT for fellow thesis candidates, leading to the development of a 1:1 test case - the Turtle. The Turtle will transport past student theses while also serving as a remote "pin-up" review space. The unit travels through and out of campus, in order to place greater publicity on the output of MIT both within and beyond the Institute. This provides theses candidates with a prop for their respective presentations allowing for more informed contributions to the MIT School of Architecture. The Turtle ultimately aims to serve as cultural equipment towards informing a broader sphere of knowledge that becomes more accessible to the contemporary architecture student, their critics/consultants, and their respective audiences. Considering MIT's digital thesis search engine, D-Space, these additional terms are addressed: a new type of specialist, authorship, collaboration, collective imagination, communication, digital, Venturi's duck, education, endless, fact, faction, fear, fiction, Gehry's fish, hegemony, human, infinite, interference, knowledge, lack of knowledge, learning, material, mode of production, movement, myth, need, open source, optimism, party, political imagination as risk society, practice, propaganda, property, public programs, Goulthorpe's rabbit, relations, research, reticulation, rhinoceros, scale, simulation, spiritual, student tools, students as medium, teaching, technological, truth, turtle, variation. / by Luis Rafael Berríos Negrón. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 148-150). / In a contemporary world of rapidly dwindling resources and the sprawling consumption of landscape, it is important to look at the role of boundary, spatial differentiation and the value of spatial diversity while recognizing that the city, like nature, is composed of interdependent parts. Rather than figures apart and a value of transparency over opacity, the perpetual negotiation of figure and ground while maintaining necessary distinctions is of the utmost importance - establishing an order of separation without division. By delineating boundaries, human responsibility can establish and hold its place in the animated, complex and constantly changing nature of the city. The texture of this negotiation at the building envelope reinforces ideas of self while negotiating relationships with others. As the shared boundary of architectural and urban space, the interconnectedness, thickness and representation of envelopes suggest new types of textures and figures as well as a critical, infrastructural, role for architecture in the city. By establishing a link in the loops of operation at the scale of the wall, building type and block topology, this thesis formulates an analytical methodology that avoids both the scenographic, hierarchical and function based idea of traditional space and the universal and detachedness of modern space. Instead, through a critical and design-oriented re-interpretation of the existing non-site condition at New York University, space can be constructed to mediate between itself and surrounding Greenwich Village and SoHo. This implies the need to reconsider programmatically the role of real estate and commercialization in preserving their institution and infrastructure - and the materials of these transitions/mediations. In articulating the line between architectural and urban space and between complimentary and contradictory programs, NYU can articulate its own significance on a cultural and architectural level to make a civic project. / by Peter J. DePasquale. / M.Arch.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1967. M.Arch. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Five unnumbered leaves inserted. / by Janez Lajovic. / M.Arch.

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 53-54). / This thesis studies the differences in the perception of space and character movement between 2D and 3D animation. 2D animation is defined by elements constructed in a 2D environment while 3D animation by elements constructed in a 3D environment. Modern day animated films have been seen to mix the two forms for the sake of artistic effect, expedited production, and general convenience. Though some modern animations combine the two in the explorative quest to discover new animation forms, few films directly compare the forms to visualize the differences in their perceived qualities. Noticeably, the two animation methods differ in level of detail, dimension, realism, and artistic expression. In terms of lighting, the science of illumination dictates the 3D environment whereas in the 2D environment, lighting is an illusion created by coloring conventions. This study looks specifically at lighting as the controlling factor delineating the two forms. Two short mixed media films were created. One film had a 3D base while the other a 2D base. A varied set of subjects were shown one of the two short films produced and asked to complete a survey. The survey measured the subject's understanding of space and character movement as seen the film. Results show that in 3D there is an enhanced understanding of spatial perception while in 2D there is a lower sensitivity to character movement. / by Kristin C. Au. / S.B.