Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2001. / "February 2001." / Includes bibliographical references (p. 237-248). / Combining aesthetic theory with theories of the public sphere, this dissertation examines the brief appearance of a publicly empathetic civic realm in the United States during the 1940s. The argument begins with a reevaluation of the debate over monumentality initiated in modernist architectural circles, which included such figures as Sigfried Giedion, Lewis Mumford, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, and Philip Johnson. Centering on the city, this debate recast monumentality in terms more progressive than commemorative; it posited open-ended architectural and urban strategies that offered a non-restrictive yet sympathetic public resonance. If empathy is understood as the viewer's physical and psychological engagement with an object, then the 'publicly empathetic' collects and communicates the public 's individualized engagements. The term 'publicly empathetic' underscores the distinction between totalitarian consensus, exemplified by the modernism of Mussolini's fascist Italy, and what Alexis de Tocqueville identified in 1835 as America's collective individualism, which persisted in the 1940s under the umbrella of Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Springboarding from Ernst Cassirer and Susanne Langer's philosophies of symbolic form as unconsummated symbol, I argue that the modernism of this period did not define the public but rather expressed architecture's publicness through the recasting of form, programming, and modernism's public mandate. The chapters of this dissertation examine in turn the texts, projects and urbanism of this empathetic modernism. The projects constituting this realm are both public and private in nature; they include Charles Franklin and ... / by Sarah Whiting. / Ph.D.

Notre recherche de doctorant aborde l’architecture royale en Mésopotamie à la fin du bronze ancien et au bronze moyen (de l’époque de la IIIème dynastie d’Ur : 2112- 2004 av. J.-C. à l’époque paléo-babylonienne : 2004-1595 av. J.-C.). C’est durant cette partie de l’âge du Bronze que les activités de construction de grands bâtiments publics ont été les plus importantes et qu’elles sont les mieux documentées par les fouilles archéologiques La thèse comporte deux volumes (texte et figures). Le volume du texte se compose de trois parties : la première et la deuxième concernent l’analyse architecturale des palais de la Mésopotamie du Sud et du Nord. Dans la dernière partie, on a proposé une étude comparative entre les palais mésopotamiens construits de la période d’Ur III à l’époque paléo-babylonienne. Des comparaisons sont aussi faites entre ces derniers palais et ceux appartenant à la même région de l’âge du bronze. On a aussi proposé d’autres études comparatives entre les palais mésopotamiens et ceux relevant des civilisations voisines, ainsi qu’entre ces palais et les grandes maisons de la même région. / Our doctoral research discusses royal architecture in Mesopotamia from the end of the Early Bronze Age through the Middle Bronze Age (from the time of the Third Dynasty of Ur: 2112-2004 BC through the Old Babylonian period: 2004-1595 BC). Activities surrounding the construction of large public buildings reached their height during this part of the Bronze Age and the most complete records from archeological excavations date from this period.The thesis consists of two volumes (text and figures). The text volume is divided into three sections: the first and second sections give an architectural analysis of the palaces of North and South Mesopotamia. In the last section, we offer a comparative study of Mesopotamian palaces built at the time of Ur III and those built during the Old Babylonian period. We also compare these Old Babylonian palaces to those of the same region during other periods of the Bronze Age. Finally, we compare Mesopotamian palaces to those of neighboring civilizations and to the large houses of the same region.

published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

Thesis (MTech. degree in Architecture (Professional))--Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The Department of Justice has sanctioned regional courts to hear divorce cases which were traditionally only heard in the High Court. This address the accessibility to civil services. Four branch courts in Gauteng have been upgraded to full service courts, including Mamelodi. These law reforms will increase the case load for the already over-extended court in Mamelodi, and the dissertation will aim to resolve accommodation short comings and bring the facilities in alignment with full service court standards. As a society we all are affected by or benefit from the protection the law offers. The buildings that facilitate these legal processes are a particularly challenging type of civic complex. The aim is thus not to design a new type of complex merely replacing existing models for the sake of changing existing typologies into something more modern, but rather to offer a proposal motivated by sustainability and guided by the belief that a building which embodies social outcomes should be designed to be a regional response with sensitivity to current conditions.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

Durban has often been referred to as one of the fastest growing cities in the world. During the Post-Apartheid years, migration of people from other parts of South Africa as well as African countries to Durban has drastically increased. However, the challenges migrants face in the city vary from mild antagonism, to the difficulties of finding employment, to aggressive xenophobic outbreaks. There is a need for orientation for these migrants to help them adapt and feel more at home in the unfamiliar setting. This research dissertation explores the various approaches to creating a new type of architecture to aid the transition of migrants into the city of Durban. The psychological and social changes that they are experiencing in their transitional state have been translated into a set of architectural place-making methods that explore the possibility of an architecture that orientates and promotes transition, as well as provides a place where migrants can find temporary refuge. The dissertation aims to ultimately result in the design of an original architectural typology; a landmark that facilitates orientation and adaption of migrants, both physically and psychologically, and also educates and promotes inter-cultural understanding and appreciation amongst communities of migrants and locals. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

A changing perception based on the appreciation for information in our era allows a broader idea and different understanding of life as a system driven by the flow of information. Simultaneously, our understanding of 'the' urban was broadened. It enabled us to perceive urban structures as living organisms beyond their physical manifestation and separated from human control. Like species, our cities are great products of evolutionary forces and contain invaluable information worth preserving.When writing about urban spaces, urban is understood as a system which is constituted not so much by built forms and infrastructures, but as a heterogeneous field that is constituted by intervention and lines of forces and action. These lines form the coordinates of an urban topology that is not based on the human body and its movements in space alone, but also on relational acts and events within the urban system. These relational acts can be economic, political, technological or tectonic processes, as well as acts of communication. The urban is therefore quite different from the physically defined spaces of events and movements.The focal point of this paper is to explore the relationship between the spaces of movement, the spaces of events and the relational systemic 'spaces'. It will be attempted to identify fundamental processes behind urban design. Rules are derived from connective principles in complexity theory, systems theory, pattern recognition, and artificial intelligence. / Department of Architecture

The department store retailing concept grew out of the nineteenth century dry goods retail trade. Dry goods stores were usually housed in a group of nineteenth century commercial buildings. As the United States became more prosperous during the late nineteenth century, dry goods establishments outgrew their buildings and developed a new department store building type. The "second generation" store design was generally tripartite: large ground floor display windows, intermediate stories with regular banks of windows, and decorative upper one or two stories capped with an elaborate cornice. These flagship buildings were expanded and remodeled until the 1950s, when the focus of department store retailing shifted to the suburban branch stores. The branch stores anchored shopping centers in the 1950s and 1960s and enclosed shopping malls thereafter. / Department of Architecture