Sites of friction : borders of the banal

Abstract

This project considers the duality of friction as a force which is simultaneously threatening and essential; responsible for destruction and violence, yet vital in precipitating progress and new relationships within the urban context.The thesis uses Boston as a case study and investigates its history of social conflicts from its puritan origins to present day.The recent shift to a sublimation of friction between groups within the city is theorized as a source of stagnation.The project examines this issue, centering on two adjacent yet isolated communities in the Dorchester neighborhood and proposes the introduction of a series of physical borders which are housed within several seemingly banal commercial buildings.The border is offered here not an object to further divide, but paradoxically as a necessary edge condition which permits contact and thus re-establishes friction between these neighborhoods.