When metaphors speak : a design for a theater in Boston

Abstract

This thesis pursues an examination of ideas in architecture and of ways that form may express both a conceptual metaphor for a building type and heighten the experience of that type for its participants. The vehicle for this exploration is the design of a dramatic theater in Boston. This thesis proposes as an idea for theater that the dramatic experience is simultaneously an extension of life and an idealized world. From this metaphor grow two parallel suppositions: that theater represents an image of our culture as it exists; and that it concurrently explores alternate images of culture and reality. This position suggests a model of theater as simultaneously an integral part of the city and as an isolated microcosm; these two extremes overlap and coexist in the lobby, offering a range of possible interpretations of its role. Architectural forms are sought that express this metaphorical order, with its inherent dialectic, and also respond to other orders, creating a degree of ambiguity in interpretation. From this combination of clear idea and formal ambiguity, it is postulated that a stimulating architectural environment will result.