Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 61-65). / Gardening the Elements in a Landscape of Technology discusses three multisensory environmental sculptures: Wave Garden, Eyes of the Wind, and Thermal Delight. Each of these installations explores the relationship between people, nature and technology. It is my thesis that technology can be used to enhance the intimacy of our experiences with natural phenomena. Each of these interactive sculptures is inspired by my encounters with common natural phenomena. The form, materials and choice of technology which comprise these environmental sculptures are guided by the quality of sensory experience inherent in the phenomena which they explore. / by Diane Willow. / M.S.V.S.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1954. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves [114]-118). / Irvin J. Kohler. / M.Arch.

Thesis (B. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1954. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / John B. Rogers. / B.Arch.

Thesis: S.M. in Art, Culture and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 65-70). / Laura Serejo Genes spent her last year in the Art Culture and Technology Program at MIT obsessively researching the works of an American Foreign Service Agent working in the highest office of the United States Interest Section in Cuba from 2002-2005. This character, Chief of Mission James C. Cason, spearheaded many public diplomacy projects in Havana, the magnum opus of which was a huge LED electronic ticker on the facade of the U.S. Embassy Building. The ticker immediately calls to mind the work of artist Jenny Holzer. Laura traveled down to Florida to ask the retired diplomat if he had ever heard of Jenny Holzer. He had not. But in her conversations with him, and with Tomás Vicente Lara Franquis, the incredible Director of the Monuments Commission in Cuba [CODEMA], Laura started to think about political leaders like James C. Cason and his adversary, Fidel Castro, who inadvertently or not, personally authored public projects so large and stimulating that they should be considered public works of art. She puts forth the original term: art salvo, to describe precisely this type of intervention: a figurative act of war. Fascinated by this particular situation in Cuba in the early 2000's, Laura outlines the power of what she is calling: the agency of discretion. Politics are everywhere and discretion operates at many scales, but discretion is most discernible when considering the amount of it apportioned to leaders. Perhaps, she concludes: this form of political agency can be and is a fertile ground for art production? However satisfying it may be to reach this conclusion, sometimes the terrifying nature of the result outweighs the satisfaction of having arrived at it. / by Laura Serejo Genes. / S.M. in Art, Culture and Technology

Thesis (M.Arch.) Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture, 1955. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Includes bibliographies. / by William Beckley Hayward. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-94). / All architecture is the interplay between structure, surface and ornament. Traditionally, ornament adorned structure thereby giving it its meaning. A society with its intellectual foundations resting in faith or the abstract emphasized the ornament over the structure. The growth of Rationalism and the substitution of the empirical for the abstract necessarily caused a reordering of ornament and structure. Enabled by technology, structure subsumed ornament. The new architecture was not designed as per canons, rather, new methods for design developed parallel to the technology which enabled its construction. The new architecture, supported by a load bearing skeletal structure represents a turning point in the history of building. The wall was dissolved and replaced by a skeletal structure. The structural members were not covered, rather, their exposure was a conscious act. They served to articulate the resulting architecture which was markedly spatial and expressive. Architecture was no longer confined by stylistic rules. New architecture reconciling realities of how it IS conceived and constructed finds meaning in and of itself. As a result, the conceiving and building of architecture factors into the architectural process. The reordering of the architectural elements of structure and ornament is indicative of the evolution of the intellectual process. Structure, made visible in architecture graphically represents the · thoughts, values and intents of its builders. Architecture in which structure subsumes ornament, is more reflective of the thoughts values and intents of its builders. / by Helene Marie Conway. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-71). / This thesis tests the assertion that the design of the physical environment plays a role in the effective integration of school and community. The design of most existing urban schools fails to recognize the integral role communities play in their children's education. Most schools are insular, turning their back physically and programmatically on the adjacent neighborhood. The identities of the community and its children are seemingly negated. Almost unintentionally, the design of such institutions mirrors the dislocation of the urban poor from mainstream society. To be effective, the formal (school) and informal (family and community life) components of a child's education must act symbiotically. Continuity among the educational systems of many inner-city children, however is often foiled by the socioeconomic and cultural differences between parents and teachers, administrators and community members. The disparities between school and community are further complicated in the condition of extreme urban poverty. Schools, often run by middle class outsiders, stand as physical manifestations of a system ill-equipped to recognize and facilitate the unique needs of urban communities and their children. The complete educational system, therefore, falls victim to stereotypes and a lack of understanding between educators and the community. At present, educational reform efforts are directed toward establishing meaningful communication between these diverse, and often adversarial, components of a child's education. Programmatic initiatives alone, however, will not be enough. While successful as social programs, these strategies fail to address the influence of the physical environment. This thesis explores the role urban design and architecture can play in redefining the interaction among schools, families and communities th rough the redesign of the destitute West Baltimore community of Poppleton. The (public) school becomes the new neighborhood center. This learning center should not only meet the traditional educational needs of children, but also serve as a vehicle for the physical and programmatic reintegration of family and community members into the pedagogical process. / by Stephanie C. Farrell. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-98). / This study is an attempt to interpret and comprehend the development pattern of urban form in an ethnic community, in this case Boston Chinatown. The study does not propose a detailed urban design framework but calls for a sensitivity in future design interventions for strengthening the cohesive character of the district. . Contrary to conventional planning approaches which aim to regularize and integrate ethnic districts such as Chinatown into the 'city fabric', this thesis suggests a more cautious strategy in which the peculiarities of the 'unshapely' structure of the area are seen as opportunities to enhance and maintain its identity. The thesis acknowledges an organic wholeness of Chinatown where the physical structure is subservient to and a result of a complex network of vital socio-cultural processes. An increased awareness of these factors is essential in formulating future urban design guidelines for the remodeling and up gradation of the Chinatown district. / by Meng Howe Lim. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 168-173). / This thesis originated from the assumption that the effects of time on city form involve complex processes and are closely related to different physical and social factors where human beings as changing agents play only a partial role. Taking the North End, Boston as a case study, it tries to explore the complexities of the combined effects of some of these processes bearing on city form. In conclusion, the thesis shows that changes in city form do not happen only because there is a deterministic need, such as a population increase, or only because human beings as the primary changing agent wants something to happen in a certain way. Evidently, none of the processes or elements, alone, can sufficiently explain the changes in city form. The relationship between the processes bearing on city form is far more complicated and is generally non-deterministic in nature. At the most abstract level that can be conceptualized as a three dimensional relationship, acting between 1) the stimuli like economic and population growth provoking change, 2) the adaptive change required by the stimuli, and 3) a wide variety of factors that mediate between this stimulus-response relationship, sometimes by enhancing it and at other time by retarding it. The thesis tries to extrapolate the characteristics of these mediating factors, and the relationship between the city and humans as changing agents in the form of some intrinsic regularities and constraints of the changing process in city form. / by Mahbub Rashid. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-89). / Over the last two hundred years formal education has developed into a major component of modern society. It is seen as the training of individuals to be free-thinking, contributing citizens. Education has also been touted as the best way to solve many social ills. It is related to improving health, employment opportunities, racial tolerance, and general improvements in the quality of life. Despite our hopes for formal education many of our schools are not meeting even our minimal expectations. The fundamental question this thesis seeks to answer is: How can the architectural experience of a school reinforce the educational experience of the students as well as the school's value in society? Before we can answer this question we have to ask: What is a good educational experience? While there are a wide variety of opinions in relation to this question, I propose that a good educational experience is one that is based on the natural educative experience of living life in a society. This I would cal I 'informal' education and involves five basic principles: observation, imitation, instruction, experimentation, and discussion. These five basic principles are best supported in a community. If this is the natural way that one learns in a non institutionalized setting, and if schools are an institutionalized abstraction of the larger society, then it follows that these activities should take place in the school setting so that education is effective in producing active creative citizens. Based on the premises stated above th is thesis seeks to test the following hypotheses: 1) A cohesive community needs to have a genius loci or "spirit of place" to operate. A necessary condition for a genius loci is a collective space. If a school is meant to be a microcosm of this larger society then it needs to operate as its own community. Therefore it needs a genius loci and a collective place for this genius loci to exist. A successful school should thus have the built opportunity for collective gathering. 2) The school cannot be isolated it must have built exchanges with the larger community so that the school's community is sustained. 3) If the school is the institutionalization of 'informal' education then the school must have a variety of spaces that will allow the five basic activities of 'informal' education to take place at a variety of size gatherings as they do in the larger community. 4) The school's form should be non hierarchical but reflect democracy. To test these hypotheses I have designed a small public high school in Cambridge, MA that not only functions as a high school but also provides a genius loci for the community through the built integrating of school and community functions. The site is situated next to Sonnet Park, which is heavily used by the surrounding, ethnically, racially, and economically diverse neighborhood. / by Michael Erickson Reid. / M.Arch.