The aim of this design thesis is to explore the essence of the word "community" in an urban context and propose ways in which design can propagate a sense of community. Four qualities were determined early in this project which were external to the architect, but which are instrumental in promoting the quality of an urban community. First, there must be a sense of place. A river or a fork in the road provide a distinct sense of place. The site needed this type of sense of place to provide an identity of its own. Second, there is a need for access to such common, but important, amenities as grocery and drug stores. Restaurants that are close can produce a familiarity for people in the neighborhood. Seeing the familiar faces of neighbors in these establishments provides a sense of belonging. Thirdly, there must be access to public transportation. Providing a certain walkability or proximity to public places adds a sense of familiarity to place. Finally, there must be a rekindling of the public realm - a site which by its very location provides access to the previous three urban qualities. Using these four ingredients the location of the site was chosen: 300 Block South Henry Street. / Master of Architecture

Proportions Dangerous liaisons Ultimately this project was approached As a kind of architectural choreography. As in all choreography motion plays a Major role. The motion of the participants Through the spaces, and the placement of The pieces in relation to each other. On a Smaller scale a choreography of duality. Mute, mute, light Enclosed space, enclosed space, volume Horizontal and vertical This project being a vehicle for discovery Various amounts of play and exploration Are allowed within this choreography. The amount of play allowed is both the strength and weakness of this project. With something of this range and scope there are: Direct hits, Near hits, Near misses, Direct misses, All within the whole. Finally as with anything that is thoroughly Done it is fuel for beginning and not an end In and of itself. / Master of Architecture

Let's go up. Yeah, but it's raining. I know, let's just go. Well, we'll meet you up there. "Therefore we travel not like messengers but like travelers. We do not think only about the departure and the arrival but also the interval separating them. The trip itself is a pleasure for us." Rousseau Emile, Book V Convenience is tough on architecture. Most Americans have no time for architecture. Necessity has been diluted by today’s 24-hour, car fax, tummysizing, books-on-tape life-style. It is through a lack of convenience that one can see what is important and appreciate it. “Primitive” forms, stone circles, mounds, and roads are generators of my projects; not in the sense of an homage or reference, but more in the sense of “that was the image I held in mind.” They try to produce some of the same feeling or presence. Few elements, simple forms, no clutter; I try to achieve clarity and control in the design of the object. Buildings to me are objects. The ruins of Italy, Hadrian’s Villa and the Foro Romano were inspiring in their formal nature and in the presentation. To see a building as a ruin, to see the building as a section or as a plan, and to experience the generation of the architecture really started to define the basis of architecture. In the Ticino region of Switzerland, these ideas were present in a different culture, specifically Galfetti’s Castelgrande project, as well as the existing castle. The region’s architecture made it possible to see what was important personally in architecture: the craft, the materials, and the sense of place. / Master of Architecture

Human beings have continually sought an understanding of their place in th eworld. Creation mythologies abound in an attempt to discern and communicate a meaningful relation between mankind and the surroundings of earth, sky, and sea. These stories provide if not a dominant position for man, then at least an identifiable one... Knowing more about where and how we are in a place can tell us more about who we are -- learning about outselves as we learn bout the world. / Master of Architecture

The main theme to investigate repetitive elements included an investigation into the limits of monotony and an addition of an exception to their rank, that is why the design for a hotel has been chosen. The secondary theme to crystallize my beliefs about urban design was possible by choosing a site of inherent complexity in a diverse context. / Master of Architecture

Through man-made canyons of skyscrapers, across the Midwest plains, lies a grid of highways and humanity. America, perhaps more than anywhere, displays the imposition of man's artifacts upon the landscape. It is the birthplace of Learjets, Mustangs and Coca-Cola, of Levis and Harley-Davidsons. These objects have helped define America, its culture and attitudes, yet nowhere is the spirit and enthusiasm of their creators celebrated or remembered. We recall the battles and explorations of the Pioneers to the West, but not those who forged a passage across a cultural and design wilderness to establish these icons. It is this journey, with its trials and tribulations, that I wish to celebrate and honour in my thesis project. I intend to create spaces which enable the process of design to be illustrated and communicated to many more than those directly involved with it, to those who employ the final outcome so often with little regard to this journey, and to help them participate in the excitement and energy inherent to any creative process. / Master of Architecture

Even though downtown areas are located in the heart of the city, they are often lifeless and empty. They have been developed into office areas with no life in the evenings. Closed. blank walls on ground floor and the possibility to drive right into the building with a car deserted the streets. Right now efforts are made to revitalize these areas. With my project I develop buildings for one block in Downtown Washington DC. I will address the following issues: How can a museum, film theaters, and a building with art-related functions and housing be combined on one site? Is it possible to create a pedestrian-friendly environment on ground level even though the previous mentioned functions do not need openings or the connection to the outside? How can inside and outside work together without disturbing each other? Can daylight be used in the museum and the film theaters although it is not needed for the functions themselves? I will try to set an example for a different approach of building in Downtown. / Master of Architecture

This project addresses the possible connections that occur when a place is studied at the geographic, urban, neighborhood, street, building, and personal scales. The project is located in an under-utilized area adjacent to Tallahassee's central business and state government center known as the All Saints Neighborhood. The Design Thesis which, focuses on the Arts Museum, is part of a larger study titled Implicit Structure. At all of the scales referenced above, implicit structure is a method that seeks a transformation of the inherent qualities and evolving possibilities of a particular place/ occasion. It is a critical process of revealing similar to Henri Bergson's description of the evolutionary moment: "Each moment is not only something new, but something unforeseeable;... change is far more radical than we suppose - to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating one's self endlessly." Henri Bergson / Master of Architecture

Duality begins in the layers of intentions within this thesis. The thesis is approached from the primary need to address the questions of architecture by means of the intellect. Subjectivity is an inevitable intervention in the design process. Thus, there is the secondary need to address the questions of the self in which the intellect and its subjectivity are integral parts. Much of my identity is sculpted by the Buddhist philosophy. Thus it is the primary source which I draw from in the making of architecture. However, the philosophy and architecture are in diametrical opposition. Architecture is reliant on the tangibility of materiality and structure. Buddhism rejects that life in the tangibility. More acutely, its essence is an amorphism because of its inexplicable nature. Conversely, architecture's caliber resides in the clarity of form. This is an attempt in the construct of an architecture taken from outside of architecture while imbuing the quality of being architectural. In parallel, duality is in the dialectic of a thesis and an antithesis in search of a synthesis. / Master of Architecture

"Architecture exists because of man's desire to express meaning in the shaping of his environment, i.e., to express himself, his innate humanness in the making of built spaces that can accommodate the events of his life with ease and grace." David C.S. Polk makes this statement in his essay "The Expression of Meaning and the Necessity of Integration," and further expresses that one of the most fundamental of human desires is to feel at home in the world. Christian Norberg—Shultz illuminates this same desire when he uses the term "existential foothold" to define the need man has to feel connected with the environment, the need to feel a certain "groundedness" in existence. Man, therefore, makes to affirm his existence and to establish a world of meaning which will bring him closer to existing as part of the world, of being in harmony with other living things. A link is thus established between the things that exist among men, and man himself. How is one to find meaning in the built environment that will serve to offer a sense of "groundedness?" The two dimensions that provide meaning to any system, according to Husserl, are the formal, or syntactic dimension, and the transcendental, or semantic dimension. While the semantic dimension concerns itself with the historical, or symbolic aspect of each element of a system, the syntactic dimension is based on an internal system of rules which govern the order of the elements without regard to external significance. (1) This thesis concerns itself primarily with the syntactic dimension, and the qualities inherent in the material aspect of architecture. As Kenneth Frampton proposes in his essay, "Rappel A L'Order: The Case for the Tectonic" architecture can be deemed valuable in its own right as a structural and constructional form. Rafael Moneo states that "architecture arrives when our thoughts about it acquire the real condition that only materials can provide." Architecture is therefore inherently about form, the material aspect of a work and the dialogue that exists among physical elements. The idea of structure, the overall ordering principle that guides the design towards material reality, is the starting point. Prior to structure, however, is the idea that requires structuring, the idea that supplies what is to be ordered. Rudolf Arnheim calls this the "anabolic creation of a structural theme which establishes what the thing is about."(2) This is not to say that all aspects of a work of architecture must be rationally justified through the structural theme. What is provided is a framework through which the energy of material can be hamesses into the manifestation of a built work, one that can come into being as a "thing", ontological rather than representational. (3) Through the effort of carrying through an idea of something into a built manifestation of it tension develops. The idea may be as much influenced by the nature of the structural and constructive aspects of the work as it is in influencing such aspect. This dialogue can be found at many levels, including the site, in the tension of the structural idea and the nature of material, between various materials that come together to form a whole. The dialogue that results through any relational condition is a strong opportunity for architecture. When architectural elements come together, whether to support a load or delineate space, the physical manifestation that takes place offers an architectural opportunity. There is a governance of general rules pertaining to an internal order of the elements, principles the elements follow which will maintain a certain cohesiveness when being considered together as part of a whole. The rules are not so restrictive, however, that they completely relegate the formation of the parts to mere elements in complete service to the whole. To quote Herman Hertzberger, "While the elements may follow a set of rules governing the whole, it is important that there is a possibility for transformation, or growth in richness in the whole which is a result of the elements. It is in a dialogue between these two aspects, parts and whole, that growth occurs." (4) The richness that results from the interplay of parts and whole can provide meaning in the built environment. It is in being open to richness and diversity while being guided by a structural idea that architecture can emerge. 1. Alberto Perez—Gomez, Architecture and the Crisis of Modern Science, (The MIT Press, 1983) 2. Rudolf Arnheim, Entropy and Art, p. 49. 3. Kenneth Frampton, "Rappel A L'Ordre: A Case for the Tectonic." published in A & D 4. Herman Hertzberger, Lessons for Students in Architecture (Rotterdam, 1991), p. 249. / Master of Architecture