Merge : the hybridization of architecture, infrastructure, and landscape

Abstract

The evolution, revitalization, and densification of many urban centers in the United States often involve the intensification of the diverse components of the city. As city centers continue to grow and continue to experience a sustained revitalization, more demand on housing, entertainment, retail, green space, and infrastructure follows and, in turn, promotes more growth. As this intensification continues, the architectures that support it begin to merge and begin to challenge notions of boundary such as the party wall separating one building program from another or the highway separating one neighborhood from another. In a dense urban center, the increasing lack of space and the increasing premium on land values often forfeit the lUxury of autonomous building typologies, and quite often, disparate programs are forced to combine into the same building. Housing historically combines with commercial, and commercial often combines with entertainment in a complementary fashion; but often unexpected combinations will occur such as retail with a bridge or a church with an office building. As these combinations defy and lack any pure, nameable typology, they challenge our notions and understanding of building identity and architectural typology. Furthermore, as this lack of typology is intensified and formalized, it becomes an anti-typology and can more appropriately be referred to as a hybrid building. Many urban centers have become divided, bisected, even surrounded by the same infrastructures that continue to promote their growth. Zoning strategies and the character of particular neighborhoods and districts have been greatly influenced and impacted by the boundary of infrastructure in both positive and negative ways. The urban landscape, in both its physical scale and its planned usage, can often change dramatically from one side of the highway to the other separating what was once a single neighborhood into two separate districts. However, as densification and revitalization continues, the role of architecture as a means of reconnecting separated components of the city and physically absorbing infrastructure must be considered. The intention of this thesis is to investigate the impact of densification and revitalization of urban centers on the nature of architectural programs, generative forms and structures, and urban infrastructure as they begin to merge into hybrid structures. It is time to formally consider the anti-typologies generated when disparate programs combine, such as housing with cinema, or retail with religious halls, or highways with offices. As densification forces this merging, consideration must be given to the reconciliation of the combination of these disparate programs on both the urban scale and the architectural scale. What generative forms and spaces emerge through hybridization? This thesis investigation seeks to understand at what scales this hybridization can occur, from the urban scale of infrastructure to the architectural scale of building form and building identity.