Invisible parentheses : maping (out) the city and its histories

In theory as much as in practice, "history" and "design" have been traditionally regarded as distinct and even opposite spheres of investigation; however, the space of the city, itself a product of both, manifests the overlapping between the two fields. Contrary to modernism's evolutionary model, in which the past is there only to be surpassed, and to postmodernism's revisionist agenda, in which history simplistically becomes material for the future, this thesis proposes that both history and design are dynamic "projects," synchronically and in equal parts shaping urban space. The case study is Thessaloniki, a port-city of major significance but also complex identity, which has developed through centuries as a common ground for parallel cultural and ethnic histories, located as it is at a multinational crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Balkan Peninsula. The capacity of urban space to historically integrate multiple imprints of external influences and at the same time emerge as unique and integral formal entity, conditions any attempt to design in it as well as the writing of urban history itself. The objective is to explore and highlight the continuous shifts in meaning of the city's tangible space, its fabric and artifacts, through the intertwined operation of design intention and historical inevitability.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2000

Author dc:creator

• Katsavounidou, Garyfallia, 1972-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Mark Jarzombek.

• 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/1721.1/8962

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/8962