http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/7749 2013-06-08T21:19:06Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79059 Revealing a contemporary ruin : toward understanding the ruin, landscape, and change Stanton, Barry W. (Barry Wayne) An approach toward understanding the ruin in relation to a design intervention. In an important way, this thesis asks the question of how a new form can be built or introduced as the survival of the previous form. The first part describes the ruin generally, and in terms of a formal arrangement of relations undergoing change in a landscape and within the context of culture. The second part describes an approach to seeing the ruin which is singular, absolute and rooted in the romantic experience. The third part describes a relational and more relativistic approach. It is one which directs toward an understanding of design. The fourth part reveals a specific ruin of a contemporary nature that exists outside Lausanne, Switzerland. It describes, through design, a relational bridge between what exists and what is made to exist, or those "facts" which reveal temporal and spatial relationships between older and newer forms. The fifth part describes comparable references as the survival of the design, or as relational facts through which to describe the design further. Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987.; MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.; Supervised by William Lyman Porter.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 127-131). 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79038 Integration of range images from multiple viewpoints into a particle database Linhardt, Paul Michael Thesis (M.S.V.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1989.; Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122). 1989-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79036 A contribution to urbanism--the tall building as a multi-dimensional framework for additive growth and change Nelson, David J. (David Jeffrey) Skyscrapers do not destroy cities; they make them look different and they make the urban space more crowded, but they have not yet put an end to the urban environment. Many of the problems with the early tall buildings have been resolved. For example, we now know how to make structures of great height. This thesis turns its attention and design focus toward the integration of more conventional architectural concerns of skyscraper design and towards the elaboration of the high density framework that follows from it. For the tall building to make a positive contribution to urbanism, it must be responsive to the multitude of variations that exist within the complex urban environment, not merely a neutral background or an exclusively self-defined structure. Among designers, there are differing attitudes towards physical definition. This thesis provides frameworks for speculation and research about the future of physical form, style and spacial organization in buildings of this type. These frameworks, ranging from the primary structure to closure and detail, will provide the existing urbanism with a mechanism to accommodate growth and change. The work is divided into three sections. The first section, The Project, is a design proposal for a specific site in downtown Boston. While these studies do not aim at producing an actual proposal for the extensive site, they do propose a new formal organization and diagramatic transformation of the existing fabric. Architectural Comparables, section two, examines some tall buildings in the urban environment and identifies positive compatibilities between common design intent and built physical reality. The final section, Observations, examines implementation strategies, adaptability, and feasibility for the design proposal. Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987.; MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 123). 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/79035 Building in Cairo, building over Cairo Abouseda, Hassan The section of the Medieval city of Cairo centered around Shari' AI Moe'iz which connects the Northern gate of Bab AI Futuh with the Southern gate Bab Zowayla, is now known as AI Gamaliya. From the time the city of Cairo was laid-out, in 969 A.D. to the arrival of European colonialism with the Napoleonic Campaign. AI Gamaliya has been the site for buildings that serve as superb examples of the formal beliefs. technical capabilities and social patterns of the respective eras that built them. For this project, I have elected to inhabit the now empty pockets that riddle this dense and seemingly homogeneous environment. in an effort to place an architecture of the late twentieth century among the historic struCtures of Shari' Al Moe'iz. Fundamental to this effort is a definition of a contemporary formal vocabulary that would be in harmony with those historic vocabularies which exist. Many of the elements of the various styles. From Fatimid to Mamluke, such as arches and vaults were a direct result of technical limitations, others such as the distinctive mashrabiya screens were an accommodation of social patterns, while the gilt inscription band carried from one building to the other down Shari' Al Moe'iz served as religious icon. The power of such elements lies in their historic integrity as direct expressions of climatic. technological and social conditions of their time. The mere replication of existing or historic formal vocabularies or the reorganization of such vocabularies in a pastiche of iconic elements to house current uses totally alien to them, does not adequately satisfy the conditions of our time. The issues involved are simultaneously simpler and more profound Climate remains a powerful factor but the availability of materials and technology offers opportunities until recently unknown. The cultural or behavioural patterns which simultaneously inspired and resulted from these historic struCtures prompts a recognition of formal, particularly dimensional concerns. and the exigencies of modem life, as mundane as vehicular access and parking on streets designed only for pedestrians, present an additional set of requirements to which we must respond. This thesis is an attempt to manifest an understanding of these conditions. as a result of observation, and, based on such understanding. to develop formal principles, which offer a transformation of the traditional as well as a reflection of the contemporary. Thesis (M. Arch)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1987.; MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.; Includes bibliographical references (p. 41). 1987-01-01T00:00:00Z