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Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Soft boundaries

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Textiles have always played a critical role in the spaces we inhabit. Although textiles are often in opposition to what we consider to be architecture. Architecture is permanent, grounded, fixed; textiles are temporary, flexible, and portable. It is precisely those qualities of variation that allow us to directly modulate our surroundings, which is something we have long relied on textiles to do--not only as clothing, but also very much so in architectural contexts. Even the most iconic of modern architecture with its great expanses of glass and even greater claims of eliminating boundaries is nearly always accompanied by a curtain. In the realm of architectural textiles, curtains in particular go beyond the decorative. They are an essential element to the functionality of the architecture. Curtains have the ability to mediate light, sound, temperature, create spatial boundaries, and allow for direct and tactile interactivity. In taking on the curtain as an architectural element equal to any other, my goal is to employ the functionality and flexibility of textiles along with the language of curtains and expand it to design boundaries that can mediate between programs, but with their embedded variability, emphasize choice in the control of our environment.

Degree

thesis:*
Department dc:contributor.department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
Grantor dc:publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Year dc:date.issued
2014

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Covarrubias, Daniela
Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
  • Joel Lamere.

Subjects

dc:subject × 1

Rights

dc:rights
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.
Language dc:language.iso
eng

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Handle dc:identifier.uri
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87137
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/87137

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
MIT
Base URL
dspace.mit.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
related terms
citation

Covarrubias, Daniela. Soft boundaries. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/87137