A question of substance

Abstract

During the week of January 27th to February 2nd, 1986 a design symposium was held in the Department of Architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. This symposium, entitled "An Architecture of Substance" was wholly student initiated, organized, and executed. The symposium was organized around ·an evening lecture series and a student design workshop led by visiting educators. Participants included internationally known architects, historians, and teachers, as well as students of 20 schools from North America. Europe, and Japan. This thesis is the compiled and edited documentation of that symposium. Included are the edited and annotated lectures of eight speakers, the work of seven design studios, and excerpts from additional discussions. This thesis, however, will not limit itself to a straightforward sequential narrative of the events of the week, but attempts to portray through photographs and commentary the "event" of the event beyond its calendric limits. The purpose of this thesis is to record a remarkable week that represented the diversity of current architectural thought and practice. This thesis i~ effectively an epilogue to a speculative inquiry into the making of architecture.