{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/97371"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/97371","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"Courtroom characters, architectural actors : a play in several acts","abstract":"This thesis takes aim at several agendas within architectural discourse. On one hand it is a demonstration of the architectural understanding of mask. The mask, as both an object of formal and figural qualities as well as a participant in performative rituals, becomes the source material with which to resituate the current practice of architecture along the lines of narrative performance. Through the study of specific works of architecture, such as Adolf Loos' houses and the development of theater form throughout history, the project defines several qualities of an architectural mask. Primary to this work lies in the mask's ability to reveal and conceal, and to do so both formally and psycho-socially. The proposal begins with a courthouse, a courthouse framed not as programmatic desire but as a site to develop complexity from the canonical instruments of architecture: hierarchy, sequence, and narrative. These instruments, coupled with tools present in both architectural history and masks of traditional societies such as symmetry and anthropomorphism, are used to simultaneously construct and question both the institutions of society and its architectural objects.","abstract_html":"This thesis takes aim at several agendas within architectural discourse. On one hand it is a demonstration of the architectural understanding of mask. The mask, as both an object of formal and figural qualities as well as a participant in performative rituals, becomes the source material with which to resituate the current practice of architecture along the lines of narrative performance. Through the study of specific works of architecture, such as Adolf Loos' houses and the development of theater form throughout history, the project defines several qualities of an architectural mask. Primary to this work lies in the mask's ability to reveal and conceal, and to do so both formally and psycho-socially. The proposal begins with a courthouse, a courthouse framed not as programmatic desire but as a site to develop complexity from the canonical instruments of architecture: hierarchy, sequence, and narrative. These instruments, coupled with tools present in both architectural history and masks of traditional societies such as symmetry and anthropomorphism, are used to simultaneously construct and question both the institutions of society and its architectural objects.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["White, Robert O., M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["William O'Brien Jr."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2015,"date_issued":"2015","date_published":"2015","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:53Z","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. 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