UN2 : reconfiguring the world city

The establishment of the United Nations' "permanent headquarters" in New York City was hailed as an epochal triumph: the era of post-war internationality- in terms of global politics and architectural modernism--was to be continuous and encompassing. Sixty years later, however, the UN's physical and governmental infrastructures find themselves desperately out-of-date and decreasingly relevant on the world scene; the decay of the original complex has necessitated a complete renovation, which is in turn an opportunity to rethink the architectural expression of international governance while recognizing and reinforcing the existing iconicity of the present structures. This thesis is a proposition to expand and reconfigure the UN (taking into account the increased prominence of Non-Governmental Organizations and decentralized agencies), ultimately reshaping its organizational apparatus as well as its urban identity. In reflecting on the UN as both site and subject, this project considers the realities of contemporary bureaucracy and reinterprets the tectonics and organistic rhetoric of the original complex's designers.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2009

Author dc:creator

• Graham, James D., M. Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Nader Tehrani.

• 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/1721.1/49683

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/49683