Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 50). / This thesis explores the potential of the sports museum as a major institution and resource. Drawing from the great tradition of sports and from the character of the New England region, the design of a New England Sports Museum is undertaken. The museum's design is formulated on a concept of architectural imbeddedness; the notion of a "world within" - a world which in preserving a contextual fabric and character becomes part of the life of that context, while engendering a distinct experience within which is its own. / by Christopher Valentino Miller. / M.S.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 69-71). / The Image based space of vision has substituted functional space as a stage of contemporary life, the relationships between physical spaces are constantly being redefined by the change from function to image, forcing us to live in a state of spatial indeterminacy, in a Blurred space that lacks a specific formal, territorial or social definition. The notion of " limits" is constantly being questioned and redefined by th is transition, giving way to overlapping interpretations of the meaning, shape and function of limits and the spaces that they contain. These undetermined or Blurred limits are permeable elements that allow interaction through them at different levels of engagement (visual, tactile or spatial). The Blurred space is, then, not characterized by confusion, but by a multiplicity of interactions between its components, its visual space becomes the spatial generator of our image-based culture. The power of photography as a representational tool allows us to explore blurred representations of space to understand the spatial characteristics of the photograph's altered space and its relationship to the user. This thesis looks at the Blur's qualities and explores its conceptual possibilities as a design tool by studying the relationship between its components, its relation to vision and its spatial characteristics. The blurred space of the image becomes descriptive of the visual Blur, yielding information about the spatial characteristics of the Blur and its possible translation into architectural space. / by Gustavo A. Rodriguez. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2012. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-151). / In 2050, global oil supply will decline to 1/8 of today's. Migrating to the Post-Oil Era, over 10000's km2 of Powerscapes - the solar-collecting infrastructure - will be gradually constructed across the arid desert, for the indispensable production of solar energy to sustain Middle East's economy and global energy supply. The contingency of introducing the Powerscapes is a spatial problem. Unlike a powerplant that burns coal or oil, the scale of the Powerscapes is dramatically extensive. The inserted Powerscapes will interiorize the desert landscape and shelter the ground from the harsh direct sunlight that will be captured for power supply. Transformation in biological development, meteorological activity and geological phenomena will be inevitable, but the change that reduces the heat and evaporation rate will make its climatatic dynamics more habitable for human, animals and plants - an invaluable opportunity for the synthesis of energy production and climate conditioning. This thesis investigates the strategic programming and spatial configuration of such constructed landscape, capitalized by its new temporal characteristics, and sensitively adapting to it. Layers of material will be organized to form "Strata" of temporal conditions to be stretched across the landscape. To forge a symbiotic relationship between Solar Collection, human habitation, agricultural production and wild nature, the layers of material will delineate, push, flip, intersect, puncuate, wrap and merge, responding to programmatic needs and geographical dynamics that the natural geology and the Powerscapes together create. Such adaptive organization also permits certain geometrical and configuration logic to reiterate themselves in multiple scales, formulating a fractalic field with recursive part to whole relationships. / by Chun Lun Otto Ng. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-149). / The idea for this thesis came from the recognition of the richness in an architectural experience and the desire to understand more about the meaning of this experience in the larger context of architecture and culture. Andalusia, Spain provides a uniqueness in that it unites, through many years of struggle, two cultures, the Spanish and the Islamic. It begins with the description of a personal architectural experience ... a journey through the Alhambra. From this description a clearer understanding of its meaning is derived. The existence of a dialog between nature and architecture becomes evident in the analysis. Light and shadow are integral in the making of this experience and layered upon these are elements which unify the experience. The integration of these aspects of the architectural experience provide a richer understanding of the definition of the architectural experience. As the experience becomes more clearly understood, its role in Islamic architecture in Spain becomes unveiled. This thesis is an attempt to challenge the personal experience of architecture and to analyze its meanings as a way to extend the understanding of Islamic architecture in Spain. / by MaryAlice Torres. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1983. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 117-119). / A concept of community has greatly influenced the planning ideas of residential areas. Yet, often it has brought a normative view, regarding a local area as some kind of entity. This normative view is intensified by the hierarchy concept of urban structure. This study argues that this normative and hierarchical view hardly incorporates the issue of social integration in residential areas . This study suggests a concept of intermediary structure as a way of reflecting the issue of social integration in a physical environment in residential areas. It emphasizes the interrelation between local areas simply through connecting the interactional webs in a local area, especially that of secondary interaction. This study attempts to see the effect of interaction between different social groups on a local physical setting in four cases. Cases are found in Seoul, Korea. They are examined in terms of allocation of social groups, coincidence between social grouping and physical grouping, physical configuration, and selectivity of use of services to see the possibility of applying the intermediary structure. / by Jinai Kim. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75). / Modern day living limits us from understanding and seeing where our food comes from and how it was planted, grown, and manufactured. As we become more and more conscious about our diets, our relationship to food is more distant than we've ever come to realize. The closest we get to knowing the source of our food is through reading labels from manufacturers, of nutritional facts and ingredients. The relationship between food and the consumer in an urban environment becomes highly complex and mysterious. The Center for Food is a multi-faceted building, dealing with the way food is transported, processed, prepared, served and consumed. This thesis investigates the different food conditions in contemporary Chinese culture, and brings them together as a part of the Kowloon City community. It looks at how food enters a dense and complex urban environment, is sampled, adapted to the specific eating habits and typologies and redistributed. A system of programmatic organization is used to study, illustrate and heighten the relationships between the different modes of food consumption, in all their brutal reality. The building incorporates a series of food related mixed use programs into the community, allowing for an opportunity to see the process of food relative to the urban setting. It challenges the conventional zoning principles of program uses, and redefines the parameters of how all the elements converge at the site. The project satisfies our desires to understand what we are consuming, where we are eating, and how our food is processed. / Kwan Yue Chan. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987. / Bibliography: leaves 76-77. / by Megan Mary Dobroth. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 83-84). / The thesis tests the assumption that a building is not an isolated occurrence, but is integral with the ongoing scene from which it emerges. The design was developed with a constant sense of its context, both built and sociological: people effect and are affected by a building's existence. The building is a facility for the enhancement of lives as they are lived, and of the city as its fabric finds its way into and through its buildings. Far from demarcating a sacred precinct, the building is more like a net which undulates with the flow of the city and its life, but lets that life pass through with only the remembrance of what has been experienced. Consistent with this philosophy, the thesis is presented in a story format which views the building as continuous with the people, context, and mores from which it emerges. The scene focuses on Adams Morgan, specifically Columbia Road NW, its main street. We see it through the eyes of of three characters whose lives become entwined through the creation of a new school of popular music there. The story of the characters, related in comics format, tells of the genesis and realization of the Whynot School of Contempo Music, an institution whose campus finally be comes the street. In the telling we are reminded of the significance of pop iconography and the sights, sounds, and feel of Rockitecture. / by Maria DeAngelis. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.Arch.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture, 1954. / Bibliography: leaves 121-125. / Appendix contains numerous pamphlets. / by Robert E. McConnell. / M.Arch.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1968. M.Arch. / Bibliography: leaf 46. / M.Arch.