Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: p. 163-165. / Although social conflicts in corridor housing have long been acknowledged, few useful alternatives have been developed. The corridor remains a standard of apartment design. As a catalyst to the development of new alternatives, this thesis examines the corridor in detail, and determines some basic principles for the design of more socially coherent access space in apartment housing. The first section of the thesis isolates twelve major problems of corridor living. It then discusses their effect on the social and spatial qualities of the apartment environment. And in response to these problems, it derives principles for the redesign of this environment through an examination of other forms of housing in which access from the street to the front door is more direct and more coherent. In the second section, these principles are applied to the analysis and redesign of one of the few existing alternatives to the internal corridor in apartment housing: the outside access gallery. In this analysis, a group of the more important gallery access projects is examined to determine how well they each fulfill the twelve principles isolated in the first section. Where these principles remain unfulfilled, alternatives are proposed and illustrated. Together, these principles sketch out a larger design project which attempts to fulfill all of the proposed principles. / by John D.T. Graham. / M.Arch.

No description available.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Jin Kyoon Kim. / M.Arch.

Thesis. 1979. M.Arch--Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Bibliography: leaves 135-142. / M.Arch

High-rise residential tower is an inevitable and prevalent building type in high-density areas such as China. Because of the large population such buildings accommodate, improving the quality of people's lives in these towers has significant meaning. One of the important problems in such environments is the loss of identity of individual homes. This occurs because living spaces cannot fit individual families' unique and changing physical and spiritual needs. People can identify their lives and express their individual values in their homes in only the most meager ways. Consequently, people and their communities suffer deeply for the loss of identity of individual homes.The first focus of this thesis is to bring the question of individual control into light with the issue of identity of individual homes. Identity of any built environment results from the interplay of both shared values and individual values. In an identifiable and accommodating environment, both value sets should be in balance, over time. In high-rise residential towers, individual values are hardly presented because of the lack of individual control. So the radical way to establish identity of individual homes is to enable individual control in the building process.The second focus of this thesis is a study in architectural design of the distribution of control in such high-rise environments. Two kinds of individual controls are assumed and distributed: the control of the dwelling layouts and the control of dwelling unit facades. To enable these tow configurations of parts to be subject to individual control, propositions for setting up a new balance between centrally controlled parts and individually controlled parts in high-rise residential towers are put forward.To demonstrate these propositions, a specific high-rise residential tower in Beijing is redesigned to the solution of technical problems, regulatory issues and conventions when control is distributed. Individual control of both the dwelling layouts and the facades are simulated in a methodical way.Finally, notes about supportive products and management techniques, broader developments in other types of high-rise buildings, and the cultivation of shared values out of individual values are offered. / Department of Architecture