There are contradictory thoughts associated with ruins. Mainly when we hear the word ruin, it reminds us of glorious ancient structures that evoked an aesthetic pleasure and inspired artists and philosophers throughout the history. But it also has a negative feeling, it means to destroy to turn into decay. The former is the way that we feel about ancient ruins but our way of thinking about the ruins of modern times is different.
There are different reasons for this duality and this thesis firstly attempts to explore the reasons behind this ambivalent attitude. Secondly to answer why ruins of our own time are considered invaluable, why they deserve our attention, how their qualities can offer different ways of remembrance and challenge the common perception of history and how their existence can arouse the topic of otherness in the urban context and provide a physical space for alternative cultural activities.
The design project focuses on an early twentieth century ruin in Baltimore, Maryland. The former theater building had a relatively short period of splendor followed by several alterations and decades of abandonment and decay. Through an architectural intervention, the project aims to understand and appreciate the history and qualities of the ruined theater and integrate these qualities into the atmosphere of the new space, binding the old and the new together and at the same time, retaining the incomplete character of the ruin. / Master of Architecture / Mainly when we hear the word ruin, we think of famous ancient ruin sites like the Colosseum, Acropolis or Angkor Wat. It reminds us of glorious ancient structures that evoked an aesthetic pleasure and inspired artists. But the word ruin is also associated with negative feelings. It means to disintegrate, to reduce to a state of decay, to collapse. The way we feel about the ruins of our own time is mostly associated with the latter. Modern ruins are mostly seen as unpleasant. Places that provide a space for undesirable activities and are linked to crime and, thus, threatening the safety of the residents in that area. As a result of this attitude, they become an ignored and marginalized part of the cities. Although ruins have some of the mentioned negative possibilities, they also contain positive qualities and potentials that I explore in this thesis.
There are different reasons for these ambivalent feelings about ancient and modern ruins and this thesis studies the reasons behind it. This thesis provides answers to questions of why ruins of our own time are considered invaluable, why they deserve our attention and how their existence can arouse the topic of otherness in the urban context and provide a physical space for alternative cultural activities.
The design project focuses on an early twentieth century ruin in Baltimore, Maryland. The former theater building had a relatively short period of splendor followed by several alterations and decades of abandonment and decay. Through an architectural intervention, the project aims to understand and appreciate the history and qualities of the ruined theater and integrate these qualities into the atmosphere of the new space, binding the old and the new together and at the same time, retaining the incomplete character of the ruin.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/106820 |
| Date | 02 December 2021 |
| Creators | Koushkebaghi, Mona |
| Contributors | Architecture, Feuerstein, Marcia F., Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C., Emmons, Paul F. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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