Embracing the shadows : inhabitation of an infrastructural landscape

Abstract

This thesis embraces the slots of space left behind by regional transportation infrastructure: It proposes an inhabitation of the places over, under and within existing enclaves and impasses, through an engagement of the specific, inherent forces of the site, both physical and sociological. The site, a Community of Industrial Arts in Philadelphia, PA, is a multi-layered intersection of three functioning, but currently independent, entities: A live/work industrial arts neighborhood, the approach to the Delaware River Bridge, and the elevated 1-95 Expressway. The inserted programs are site-specific, symbiotic, and catalysts for connection on a local scale: The School of Industrial Arts and Building Technology, which is modeled on collaborative research and development groups, supplements the existing workshops and emerging galleries of the neighborhood; the adjacent Public Transit Interchange becomes a hub for the school and community, and connects independent, multi-level rail lines. Through an architecture that is responsive to site-specific challenges such as light and shadow, acoustic vibration, wind load, water flow, and multiple cross-grain circulations, programmatic and experiential layers are woven into the existing infrastructure to create a system of mutually reinforcing connective tissues.