From the flea market

This thesis is about marketplaces in general, and one flea · market in particular. It explores some of the physical potentials the market has for generating a building and some of the social implications of a controversy which it prompted. The focus of this exploration is the recently evicted Canal Street Flea Market in New York City. The question raised is: given 'lhe success of the market, can this existing use, which thrives on an open parking lot, be maintained and encouraged in connection with a new building? Close inspection of the site and its surroundings has informed a series of design considerations for the exploration of a building intervention. The steps involved in incorporating an understanding the flea market and the characteristics of the surrounding streets into an architectural design include photographing, sketching, film- making, interviewing and writing. At each stage of the design, a number of issues were raised: -- 1. What are the specific qualities of the site and what is its realtionship to the surrounding neighbourhood? -- 2. What is the general significance of the "marketplace" and how should it function today? -- 3. How do different forms of representation serve as reference material for an architect? What is the usefulness of the reference itself in the design process?

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

1986

Author dc:creator

• Krasnow, Ariel Rebecca

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maurice K. Smith.

• 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/1721.1/75512

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/75512