The sprawl of the wild : a new infrastructural landscape in Silicon Valley

California faces an immediate and dire water shortage. The San Joaquin River Delta water supply system - which provides Silicon Valley with most of its fresh water - periodically draws down water delivery due to drought and environmental degradation. Currently, these policyscale decisions may only be met with very small-scale compensatory measures (on the order of "change your light bulbs"). There are not yet any solutions proposed at a middle, mediating, architectural scale. This thesis asks: how could an architectural intervention provide a solution to regional needs? Fast and furious development in recent decades has brought on and compounded major environmental problems, as well as increased the already high value of land in the region. In Silicon Valley, a growing population and a rapidly expanding high-tech (these days meaning biotech / pharmaceutical) industry pressure its few remaining large vacant parcels to develop. One can see in these sites the quiet but great potential danger of the status quo. They could just be the last large parcels slated for subdivision, and we could continue nostalgically lamenting the drain on and damage to natural resources. Or these sites could be our first chance at something new. This thesis explores a radically positive view of development, proposing an approach to program that multiplies value on all fronts economic, cultural, infrastructural, and environmental - and asks: how can a new infrastructure best perform?

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2008

Author dc:creator

• Flynn, Kathleen M. (Kathleen Michele)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• J. Meejin Yoon.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45969

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/45969