Show simple item record

dc.contributor.advisorArindam Dutta and Dennis Frenchman.en_US
dc.contributor.authorVanky, Anthony P. (Anthony Phong)en_US
dc.contributor.otherMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.en_US
dc.coverage.spatialn-us-tnen_US
dc.date.accessioned2011-09-13T17:46:58Z
dc.date.available2011-09-13T17:46:58Z
dc.date.copyright2011en_US
dc.date.issued2011en_US
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65748
dc.descriptionThesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2011.en_US
dc.descriptionCataloged from PDF version of thesis.en_US
dc.descriptionIncludes bibliographical references (p. 152-155).en_US
dc.description.abstractUpon arrival in Memphis by air, a sign welcomes passengers to "Memphis - America's Distribution Center", a reflection of one's place in the city, and the country. Rather than a romantic reflection of the cultural heritage of the city with Elvis Presley and B.B. King, the statement places passengers not at the destination of their travels, vis a vis a "welcome to", but en route somewhere else. Memphis International Airport, identified via its aviation code "MEM", is not a place of arrival-a terminal, from "terminus", the end-but a location to be passed through-a state of being in transit or colloquially "passing through". Few passengers and goods conclude their travel here; MEM's raison d'etre is as a layover, as travelers are being distributed elsewhere as a result of the efficiency of the hub-and-spoke model of aviation. As a result, MEM is the world's busiest cargo airport. At its peak, an upwards of six flights arriving a minute carrying Apple computers, Mickey Mouse plush toys, cooking items from William-Sonoma, and the variety of other goods to and from all corners of the world destined for FedEx's so-called SuperHub. Because of the presence of such a facility, MEM has arisen as an economic capital in an improbably location within the interior of the United States replete with its own sprawling developments. MEM, as an airport city, challenges the social and cultural norms of what one considers a traditional city, as its reasons for being is the economy of moving goods and founded on the way we do business and not the way we live. This thesis proposes an urban form for MEM's surrounding city that serves as a means of regeneration of the surrounding, decaying area as well as accepts the condition of being in transit for goods and people as a primary condition of existence. In Brophy's character's words, it is an urbanism that "[perpetually remains] in the present moment, in at least semi-sempiternal transit between departure from the past and arrival in the future" and is more appropriate than the status quo within the context of MEM with regard to the transitory nature of goods, passengers and employees. The urban logic is thus a metaphor of FedEx in the transposition of technological logics, such as the flow of bodies and the interface of machine, the parcel, and the human occupant.en_US
dc.description.statementofresponsibilityby Anthony P. Vanky.en_US
dc.format.extent155 p.en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherMassachusetts Institute of Technologyen_US
dc.rightsM.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.en_US
dc.rights.urihttp://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582en_US
dc.subjectArchitecture.en_US
dc.titleIn-transit urbanism : the landscape of logistics and the time presenten_US
dc.title.alternativeIn transit urbanismen_US
dc.title.alternativeLandscape of logistics and the time presenten_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
dc.description.degreeS.M.en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
dc.identifier.oclc748975635en_US


Files in this item

Thumbnail

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record