An argument of the overwhelming: architectural forms in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

This is a thesis investigation of the potential of architectural form in its ability to overwhelm. Architecture cannot be measured by bolts or decorative elements; it must be measured by its capacity to move us. Technological feats, humanistic comforts, or historical legacies will never yield the ultimate expression of man. Expression is a controlled, deliberate act which carries out a concept to fruition. The basis of this proposal is to emphasize an act, an essence, a process -- an accentuation which subjects a new layer that reveals, distorts, and produces anew. It is to change the original by means of its own devices, yielding a further sense of harmony with a place. A gate, walls in a clearing, a bridge, a moat, four towers, a plaza, a "passeggiata," many benches, and stepping stones are the elements that are collaged with a "greensward, " a "hilly land covered with plantations, " and a " low plain mainly occupied by a lake. " Three acts are proposed : the elements, all strict geometric forms , are placed to contrast their setting; the land where they lie is trenched or terraced to perceptually remove the parcels of earth from the Park; the enclosing roads weave in and out, emerging within the Park, to determine the position of the elements.

Name thesis:degree_name

M. Arch.

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Architecture

Department dc:contributor.department

Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Year dc:date.issued

1996

Author dc:creator

• Proffitt, Pilar

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Dunay, Robert J.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Rott, Hans Christian
• Schnoedt, Heinrich
• Weiner, Frank H.

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10919/111050

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/111050