Thesis (S.B. in Art and Design)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2011. / Pages 86 and 87 blank. Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 84-85). / Architectural discourse on transparency has centered on the idea of layering spaces, light construction, and perceptions of different spatial relationships and has a long history from modernism to the present. This thesis proposes to question received notions of glass as a transparent material and instead focus on its possibilities as a reflective material. The thesis is an exploration of a specific material property, reflectivity, and the effects it has on architecture in terms of experiencing a space and defining a space and redefining perceptions of one's self within space. Architectural projects often draw from materials and their specific properties to create certain forms or types of spaces. Reflectivity as a material property operates on the extreme end of the spectrum of transparency. Transparency is a way of introducing layers of space and juxtaposing spaces on top of one another. Reflectivity, on the other hand, has the special property of recreating an image almost exactly but one that is dependent as an effect on the actual eye of the viewer. The location of the viewer in relation to a space and a mirrored surface becomes a relationship that can be highly controlled to create a specific effect or experience. The geometry of the mirrored surface and the geometry of the space being reflected can also be carefully controlled and designed to produce particular effects. Mirrors are unique in that they provide an opportunity where spatial relationships may not be as solidly defined as what is normally experienced. The architecture latent within the reflected image of a mirrored surface can appear to operate under its own laws of physics. There can be an ambiguous quality to a space that detracts from the more concrete materialization of the architecture. Normally, we can readily define our position within a space but the mirror distorts our perception of space beyond cognition addressing the psychological aspects of experiencing a spatial architecture. / by Frederick Kim. / S.B.in Art and Design

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 46-47). / The thesis deals with building the water edge at Fort Point Channel, between Congress Street and Summer Street Bridges. It serves as a public event that intends to establish continuity of movement along the waterfront. The design proposes a multilayered promenade into which various activities are interwoven. It is a place for artists' studios as well as indoor and outdoor exhibit spaces for the artists working there. The project also informs about the many galleries and studios in the Fort Point Channel Warehouse District. Instead of viewing the building as a single enclosure or container, the thesis explores as an alternative a particular connection of built elements in which the built form becomes a three-dimensional screen, incorporating into its structural framework public open spaces, as well as visual and spatial interactions. The site is situated between two tectonics: on one side the wooden piles and decking, on the other, industrial buildings which are firmly anchored to the ground and present continuous surfaces. The proposed project echoes these materials and language of forms. / by Audrey Godwin. / M.Arch.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2004. / "June 2004." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 117-121). / The donning of camouflage gear by military forces is uniformly understood to be an attempt to dissolve into a background matrix in order to deceive an enemy in combat, or in a combat simulation. This thesis examines the landscape of Vieques, Puerto Rico, to disprove such notion and move towards proving the opposite: that the military assembled the background matrix according to its own set of interests. Through different communication channels and agents, the military arranges the retrospective gaze into the landscape, recasting the past in the service of its future stratagems. The military communicates to visitors that they gaze at original, primeval nature, when in fact it is a successional vegetation misrepresented as primordial. This scenography proves nearly unquestionable when it is adopted by corporate tourism marketing at the end of the 20th century, but does not appeal to the leisure audience only. It also seduces all those that opposed the military, perpetuating an idea of Vieques without people in the process. / by Javier Arbona. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 72-76). / A Digital Fabrication Production System (DFPS) is a concept describing a set of processes, tools, and resources that will be able to custom produce an artifact according to a design, fast, cheap, and easy, independently of location. A DFPS project is a complex assembly of custom parts that is delivered by a network of fabrication and assembly processes. This network is called the value chain. Evaluating feasibility of a DFPS project has two main problems: first, how to evaluate assemblability of the design; second, how to evaluate performance of the value chain. This thesis formulates Attribute Process Methodology (APM); a framework that describes assembly and value chain structure as a network of attributes and processes and uses System Dynamics to evaluate its performance. / by Mimitrios Papanikolaou. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 293-297). / The primary focus of this investigation is the insertion of a new piece in an environment where the natural elements of site and the man-made elements of city can begin to inform the ordering systems used in the design process. The existing footprint of the ruins of La Antigua Penitenciaria, in the center of the Costa Rican capital, San Jose, is transformed in meaning and character to become a cultural center for the city. The problem presented is a contextual one of making a place in the world through a reading, cataloguing and reinterpretation of /lature, city, and culture. The .goal of the process is a building that reveals the meaning of its present time and place, set in a landscape that tells stories of its past. / by Mayer S. Abbo. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.Arch)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1960. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 90-93). / by Bill Booziotis. / M.Arch

Thesis (M.Arch)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1961. / Accompanying drawings held by MIT Museum. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 45). / by Akira Inadomi. / M.Arch

Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2018. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. Page 82 blank. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 80-81). / The spaces we inhabit influence the way we experience our surroundings, but this causal relationship is much weaker than designers and architects like to imagine. The Ecology of Truth investigates these weak effects as a mesoscope; a device designed to interrogate the spaces and relationships between the microscopic-the lab, and the macroscopic-the Institute. The work draws on the aesthetic of the laboratory at MIT-both transparent and reflective-visible, yet inaccessible. In addition to its aforementioned aesthetic influences, The Ecology of Truth derives its esthetic influence from the solipsistic world of architectural language, blending it with scopic histories that run throughout the development of modern science. If the project has a single inspiration it is the Wunderkammer-also known as cabinet of curiosities-the idea that a unified curation of its contained objects re-assembles their spatial lives, turning 'real' objects into a mythic, often singular narratives of the world-a miniature ecological prism, with various competing truths. The life of the work is dynamic-moving around the institute, it captures scientific curios bound for the trash, repurposing them as a narrative gallery of failed objets-types-modern tools transformed into contingent objects of contemporary space. While on the move, the cabinet turns eyes, and hopefully some of the minds behind those puzzled and curious glances. If not, the artist hopes the viewers enjoyed seeing a reflective box, punctuated by apertures, filled with shiny things! Who doesn't like shiny things? / by Samuel Schneider. / M. Arch.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 115). / I am interested in the relationship between solidity and transparency, between permanence and ephemerality, in the context of the modern city. This thesis is an exploration of transience and of social and phenomenal exchange, using music, and, more generally, sound, as a vehicle. The project is an alternative music school and performance center located in Harlem, in New York . The functions of the institution include a community music school for neighborhood youth, a cabaret, a conservatory for adult students of music, a radio station with recording studio, and a library/museum . There are a total of up to five performance venues, depending on the configuration of the facilities . The project aspires to changeability not merely to accommodate different performance scenarios but also to create a volume of space that is porous and alive, a landscape that is accessible to all urban bodies. / Michele Auer. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 70-74). / This study deals with the images of corporate high-rises in Seoul, Korea, the main city of a rapidly growing industrial nation. The questions explored concern mainly the images of office high-rises. Five multi-story headquarters of securities companies were selected specifically to analyze this aspect. By interviewing the architects and managers of the respective companies, the thesis identifies the assumptions behind the designs in an effort to isolate and highlight the underlying meanings for the buildings. Drawing upon the transcripts of the ten interviews, the study attempts to analyze the following: What are the most powerful underlying images and how do these serve the corporations? Do the interviewees help clarify a useful set of criteria for identifying demands on corporate architecture more generally? Is there some single standard or common underlying ideal in high-rise office design? Given the international nature of the modem business world, is there a viable alternative to architectural conformity to First World trends? In addition, this thesis may clarify the process of choosing the image, identify the influential actors in the process, and show the degree of reliance on images originating from the United States. The variables of image used in this thesis are as follows: Image of Economic Success: Clients judge firms by the buildings they inhabit in terms of economic growth, social status, and financial credibility. The firms in tum use their buildings to store up public goodwill by projecting a positive image of themselves. Image of Visual Distinction: Recognizing that pre-eminence of skyline affects the market, companies desire high visibility for easy identification. Visual distinction serves as a marketing device and also as a corporate logo. Image of Internationalism: Office towers are thought to be products of the West and therefore not Korean. Although architectural innovation is welcomed, the public may have a negative reaction against a design which seems too reliant on foreign imagery. Image of Commercialism: The proliferation of "designer buildings" indicates that corporate architecture is heavily reliant on two dimensional flow of images. Image of Intelligence: The invisible high-technology content of the buildings becomes part of the image of corporate up-to-dateness in the public conscience. Image Shapers: Although the desire to recover maximum square footage is important, public perception greatly defines the attitudes of architects and clients in deciding the priorities for shaping the image projected by their building. The conclusion explores the question of identity, and whether the findings of this thesis can be used to develop a viable Korean corporate architecture as an alternative to First World trends. / by Ji-in Chang. / M.S.