Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin, Madison, 2006. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 94-102).

"Having being fixed on paper or retained in the memory music exists already, prior to its actual performance differing in that respect from all the other arts. The musical entity thus presents the remarkable singularity of existing successively and distinctly in two forms separated from each other by the hiatus of silence. This peculiar nature of music determines its very life as well as it's repercussions in the social world for it presupposes two kinds of musicians: the creator and the performer." Igor Stravinsky This thesis is an investigation of how architecture becomes the threshold manifesting that hiatus of silence; preparing the spectator; preparing, reinforcing and introducing the spectacle, only to be completed by the final act, that of the performer. It is that in between through which one passes in anticipation and preparation. The form in which the creative phenomenon exists then becomes the prologue of the performance. / Master of Architecture

The work involves an architectural design for a facility located on The Mall in Washington, District of Columbia. The Museum of American Immigrants is a proposed facility for housing the exhibits regarding immigration sequences and their development that make up the United States of America. The ethnographic nature of the work, its artifacts, their collection, exhibition, preservation, and mutations is seen as a means to nurture our better understanding of the on-going struggle with the experiment called America. With reference to current theories of museum architecture, examples of other similar museum buildings, site constraints, and programming, the work strives towards the integration of architecture and purpose. The building is expected to provide layers of experience in both spatial and ethnic terms. The precise geometry defines the spaces and voids, while the way the exhibits are organized defines the building as a framework of displays. The design method used in developing the building called The Museum of American Immigrants has involved a personal understanding in working with the contemporary design Vocabulary and programmatic concerns to create a learning environment for the Visitors while making every effort to achieve contextual balance and harmony required by the surroundings. / Master of Architecture