Structuring beyond architecture

This thesis explores the layering and negotiation of structural devices in urban settings. Its point of departure is a series of patterns of how structural design and urban design interact and overlap, from which are developed design strategies that encourage differentiation and the ability to accommodate change in the future. Therefore, the thesis traces an approach for growth rather than simply specifying a particular isolated solution to a single local set of conditions: a machine rather than a spare part. The overarching structural challenge which I have investigated as a vehicle for this approach is for foundation systems spanning over shallowly buried subway and highway tunnels at a site adjacent to the Fort Point Channel neighborhood in South Boston. This challenge, facing many cities around the world, provokes the problem of designing and creating the structure of support in these areas to enable more - rather than less - creative spatial possibilities above the ground. The subsequent proposal details a system of linear bundles - high-performance concrete beams rooted down to bedrock, along with utilities, walkways, plantings, open spaces, loading conditions, property rights, and implementation strategies bundled together -

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Foxe, David M

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Bill Hubbard, Jr.

• 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/1721.1/35282

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/35282