Outlining the characteristics of tractable housing : a design of rowhouses
Name
07346456-MIT.pdf
Description
Full printable version
Size
7.98 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fa2d820a2c85be3d159b9698ae49c369
Author(s)
Craig, Charles Allen
Advisor(s)
Chester Sprague.
Date Issued
1980
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract
Architecture is not just flashy design, nor is its sole aim to determine what dispositions of form are appropriate for all people for all time. Sometimes the architect must take a more humble, less visible role. Participation of the people who inhabit a place is key to maintaining the environment. For such participation to occur, an architect must enable inhabitants to exercise a wide play of choice in the use of a built environment and of change in the adaptation of its physical structure. Such characteristics of a place contribute to its tractability. The objective of this thesis is to outline design characteristics which contribute to the tractability of housing, using the rowhouse type as a spring point. This study is grounded in a behavioral perspective. Dimensional criteria are generated using behavior patterns, in an attempt to avoid stereotypes inherent in defining household activities by rooms. Activity settings and use scenarios are vehicles for examining two instructive examples of housing. Relevant characteristics are summarized and employed in the design of rowhouses for a Cambridge site, to simulate future conditions as scarcity of natural resources brings about concern for intensification of urban land use.
Description
Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1980.
MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH.
Bibliography: p. 108-113.
Subjects
Architecture.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
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