The Architecture of the Transformation of Folding and the Design of an Alexandria Law Firm

Understanding architecture through a contemporary context of the transformations of art and technology was the springboard for this thesis. Identifying folding as a basic transformation became the focus for developing an Old town, Alexandria, Virginia law firm building. Folding is conceptually used in the spatial and inhabitable forms of the building as well as the materials, textures, and finishes of the walls, ceilings, and floors. Folding is structurally investigated by taking once planer and flimsy elements and creating folded, rigid, and load-bearing elements. Architectural concepts of day lighting, shading, rain runoff, partitioning, vertical circulation, horizontal circulation, library stacks, file storage, solar energy collection, gardening, building services, furnishings, reading, and inhabitation are all thought of in terms of folding. Designing a law firm for Old town, Alexandria, Virginia was chosen from a random number generating process cross referenced with the Alexandria, Virginia phone book. I interviewed a local law firm and based the programmatic spaces on their office needs and relationships.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Architecture

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Architecture

Department dc:contributor.department

Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Detomo, Michael

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Feuerstein, Marcia F.
• Emmons, Paul F.

• law firm
• Alexandria Virginia
• lawyer
• folding
• transformation

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07262010-093858

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34191