ARCHITECTURE AND DIALOGUE: Bar and Apartments as Setting for Political and Public Conversation

Human beings by nature are social creatures capable of intelligent and complex interactions. Unfortunately, planning and implementation of the built environment has not always influenced or created opportunities for social exchange and conversation. The thesis explores how architecture can influence the interconnection between people at various scales in order to promote interaction. The mixed-use building includes a social coffeehouse and bar above which is a small apartment complex. These apartments would house a small number of politicians and their interns from each political party. This setting becomes a vehicle within which various players from the political spectrum could interact and commune together. By creating a variety of both public and private spaces, different experiences and relationships between inhabitants create opportunities for social dialogue and interaction. This architectural narrative, then, is the conversation between the reader and writer. ***NOTE: The uploaded file is 72dpi for computer viewing. Please contact the author if you should require a higher resolution pdf.***

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Architecture

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Architecture

Department dc:contributor.department

Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

2010

Author dc:creator

• Shealy, Benjamin D.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Feuerstein, Marcia F.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C.
• Parikh, Rajiv R.
• Emmons, Paul F.

• fencing
• Washington D.C.
• Architecture
• politics
• public space
• interaction
• people
• conversation
• dialogue

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Dc Identifier Other

etd-07262010-201032

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/34194