{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/67746"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/67746","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Lessons from the underground : the pedagogic possibility of urban infrastructure","abstract":"There is no end of superlatives regarding Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project [CA/T] , also known as \"The Big Dig\". Each day, as the budget grows and the construction progresses, another benchmark is passed. It has been ubiquitous in the city for over a decade, and yet, the goal of this project-that has literally torn through the earth of downtown, South Boston, East Boston, and finally stretched across the Charles River to Charlestown-is to conceal the enormous infrastructure change as much as possible. The artificiality of a city is easily forgotten-in part because it is tremendously complex to consider how a city is formed. Repeated visits to the same places yield distinct impressions. An enriched awareness of a place makes it unique among the complexity, a destination. This thesis proposes four new destinations, distributed along the CA/T path through Boston, that will enrich the awareness of the city and its supporting infrastructure. By strategically choosing installation points, each with different architectural requirements, unique aspects of the CA/T can be revealed. A visit to the four sites will yield an understanding-through direct physical experience-of the CAIT and its path through Boston, and of urban infrastructure there and elsewhere. All of the locations present opportunities to explain the myriad urban implications- from hydrology to neighborhood formation-inherent in such an enormous endeavor. The hope is to increase a visitor's awareness of their surroundings, and to foster the questions that lead to a deeper awareness of this and other places.","abstract_html":"There is no end of superlatives regarding Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project [CA/T] , also known as "The Big Dig". Each day, as the budget grows and the construction progresses, another benchmark is passed. It has been ubiquitous in the city for over a decade, and yet, the goal of this project-that has literally torn through the earth of downtown, South Boston, East Boston, and finally stretched across the Charles River to Charlestown-is to conceal the enormous infrastructure change as much as possible. The artificiality of a city is easily forgotten-in part because it is tremendously complex to consider how a city is formed. Repeated visits to the same places yield distinct impressions. An enriched awareness of a place makes it unique among the complexity, a destination. This thesis proposes four new destinations, distributed along the CA/T path through Boston, that will enrich the awareness of the city and its supporting infrastructure. By strategically choosing installation points, each with different architectural requirements, unique aspects of the CA/T can be revealed. A visit to the four sites will yield an understanding-through direct physical experience-of the CAIT and its path through Boston, and of urban infrastructure there and elsewhere. All of the locations present opportunities to explain the myriad urban implications- from hydrology to neighborhood formation-inherent in such an enormous endeavor. The hope is to increase a visitor's awareness of their surroundings, and to foster the questions that lead to a deeper awareness of this and other places.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kramer, Zachariah, 1972-"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Anne Whiston Spirn."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2002,"date_issued":"2002","date_published":"2002","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:28Z","subjects":["Architecture."],"languages":["eng"],"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."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67746","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Anne Whiston Spirn."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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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."]},{"key":"dc:rights.uri","label":"Rights URI","values":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/67746"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2002.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 75-76)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["There is no end of superlatives regarding Boston's Central Artery/Tunnel project [CA/T] , also known as \"The Big Dig\". Each day, as the budget grows and the construction progresses, another benchmark is passed. It has been ubiquitous in the city for over a decade, and yet, the goal of this project-that has literally torn through the earth of downtown, South Boston, East Boston, and finally stretched across the Charles River to Charlestown-is to conceal the enormous infrastructure change as much as possible. The artificiality of a city is easily forgotten-in part because it is tremendously complex to consider how a city is formed. Repeated visits to the same places yield distinct impressions. An enriched awareness of a place makes it unique among the complexity, a destination. This thesis proposes four new destinations, distributed along the CA/T path through Boston, that will enrich the awareness of the city and its supporting infrastructure. By strategically choosing installation points, each with different architectural requirements, unique aspects of the CA/T can be revealed. A visit to the four sites will yield an understanding-through direct physical experience-of the CAIT and its path through Boston, and of urban infrastructure there and elsewhere. All of the locations present opportunities to explain the myriad urban implications- from hydrology to neighborhood formation-inherent in such an enormous endeavor. The hope is to increase a visitor's awareness of their surroundings, and to foster the questions that lead to a deeper awareness of this and other places."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["M.Arch."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Lessons from the underground : the pedagogic possibility of urban infrastructure"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Anne Whiston Spirn."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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The artificiality of a city is easily forgotten-in part because it is tremendously complex to consider how a city is formed. Repeated visits to the same places yield distinct impressions. An enriched awareness of a place makes it unique among the complexity, a destination. This thesis proposes four new destinations, distributed along the CA/T path through Boston, that will enrich the awareness of the city and its supporting infrastructure. By strategically choosing installation points, each with different architectural requirements, unique aspects of the CA/T can be revealed. A visit to the four sites will yield an understanding-through direct physical experience-of the CAIT and its path through Boston, and of urban infrastructure there and elsewhere. All of the locations present opportunities to explain the myriad urban implications- from hydrology to neighborhood formation-inherent in such an enormous endeavor. 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