Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 102-104). / The urban campus will not be an isolated enclave in the future. The quality and vitality of the campus will affect and be influenced by the character of the surrounding neighborhoods. Therefore, it is significant to enhance the relationship of the campus with the surrounding community to create a vital, diverse, and attractive environment. This thesis proposes transitional urban campus boundaries as a future form of the educational environment that contributes to shaping an attractive physical setting for the university, fostering neighborhood amenities and enhancing the relationship between them. The interpretation of this concept is explored through the design exercise in transforming MIT's campus boundaries into transitional boundaries. It addresses the potentials for future redevelopment and transit development as a revitalization mechanism. A series of relevant planning strategies and urban design guidelines will be set up to achieve the design goal. This study is a qualitative evaluation of the urban form that is best suited for a successful transitional boundary between city and campus. / by Xin Tian. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 136-139). / Our growing understanding of technology and environment has expanded the complexities of producing large naturally ventilated buildings. While it may be argued that designing for natural ventilation is a straightforward, intuitive process, somewhere between the simple diagrams and signing off on the building, the designer must be able to verify that the design will be effective -- essentially that people will be comfortable, and that the system is robust. Today, professional experience is the only methodology to understand the broad considerations behind these new structures. Literature reviews and interviews with industry professional illustrate the lack of information available to the academic and practicing audiences describing the series of calculated decisions and challenges surrounding the design of large naturally ventilated buildings. Architecture professionals and students desiring to engage in these recent, innovative practices would therefore benefit from a resource describing the options available to evaluate a proposed design and optimize a completed building. The thesis examines the strategic decisions in evaluation and monitoring of three case study buildings (Morphosis' San Francisco Federal building, Fosters & Partners' Swiss Re building, and Behnisch & Behnisch's Genzyme building) and derives principles influencing future architecture practice. / by Wendy Meguro. / S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 95-96). / by Peter Schröder. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 64-66). / by Midori Tsushima. / M.S.

Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2014. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (page 50). / A freeway interchange plays a much more significant role in a city than simply permitting the movement of automobiles from one direction to another. As they carve their way through urban centers, interchanges divide communities from one another and create lasting boundaries between neighborhoods. However, in their wake, they create an entirely new set of spaces, nestled in the concrete framework that gives these structures their identity. This thesis re-appropriates these spaces, and posits their role in urban mending. The configuration of interchanges creates extraordinary moments of volumetric opportunity. The spaces are serendipitous byproducts caught in between the composition of ramps, overpasses, and underpasses; designed not for human occupation, but rather for vehicular expediency. The radius and the tilt of the turning road, the slope of ramps, and the height at which the overpasses take are all pre-prescribed to mediate traffic. The abundance of existing structure and available space makes interchanges a prime candidate for architectural intervention. Their soaring heights create the framework for an entirely new type of occupation; connecting the ground plane and pulling it up into the air. These previously unreachable places form a new understanding of movement, speed, and perception. The thesis is situated at the Interstate 93-US Route 1 interchange immediately northwest of the Leonard P. Zakim bridge in Boston, MA. It seeks to function as a research prototype for infrastructural adaptation around the world. / by Edrie Buenaventura Ortega. / M. Arch.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 106-108). / by Thomas G. Aguierre Smith. / M.S.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1972. M.Arch. / MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN ROTCH LIBRARY. / Includes bibliographical references. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1990. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 139). / This thesis proposes an urban sanctuary at Chapel Rocks, a peninsula extending into Boston Harbor. The sanctuary includes an ecumenical chapel. restaurant/meeting hall and designed features of the landscape. Several general issues guided this exploration: Architecture and Landscape: How can the design of architecture and the design of landscape be conceived of as equal contributors to the experience of a place? How can the designed landscape build a relationship between human activity and the natural landscape? The nature of a reclaimed landscape: After industrial culture transforms the natural features of a site by cutting, fIlling, drilling, stripping .... how can a new landscape be conceived which acknowledges these changes and the original features of the site? How can a further transformation take place which fuses human aspiration and the specific nature of the place? The nature of an urban sanctuary: How can a site at the edge of a modem industrial city foster an understanding about the ultimate role that nature plays to sustain our physical and spiritual well-being? Can this understanding provide a meeting ground for people of different faiths to share in an experience of the contemplative and sublime? / by Richard H. Epstein. / M.Arch.

Thesis (B. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1952. / MIT copy bound with: A synagogue / Jay Fleischman. [1952] Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 51-52). / B.Arch.

Thesis (S.M. in Art, Culture and Technology)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 82-85). / This thesis will discuss selected cases in which artists have undertaken projects directly relating to a business practice, and the relevant terms for understanding those projects. In the absence of a physical product (as is often the case with conceptual artwork and knowledge-based production), we rely on other ways of understanding the producer's work: typically, we look to distinctions amongst familiar production categories and supposedly strict differences in the native behaviors of artists or businessmen. Where these hard categories may once have helped identify the source and intent of work, they seem to hinder apt description in contemporary practice. I will argue that comprehension of current artistic undertakings requires an ontology of a middle position-between art and business-and regard for sustained attitudinal ambivalence. This paper aims to aid the reading of the growing field of artistic undertakings that deal with business practices, especially focusing on those in which an artist avails knowledge to a non-art market. To this end, the thesis lays out the methods and poetics of such projects in sections titled CASES and TERMS. The first chapter provides a background for enterprise artworks, and overviews the development of the terms Enterprise Culture and the New Spirit. The second chapter focuses on the artist-consultant (two cases, Artists Placement Group & Ocean Earth) and unpacks the spatial and embodied nature of the corporate language that they use. The third chapter surveys contemporary cases of artists working in this field, and describes the ambiguity and ambivalence with which they operate. These three chapters will progressively bring the reader, chronologically and topically, to an understanding of current projects in this field, and (hopefully) pragmatic thinking about their potential. The thesis functions as an analysis of artistic undertakings as well as positioning statement for the author, as ambi_ / by Carson Salter. / S.M.in Art, Culture and Technology