The recovery of substance and intimacy : material and character in architectural design

Abstract

This thesis is essentially a diary, drawn and written, following the design of a home for abused children. The site is located in the Hill Country of Texas, and the project was first undertaken in an architectural design studio at Rice University, in the spring of 1979. In its structure and sequence, the thesis illustrates a way of designing, with the purpose of making that more conscious and explicit. The incremental process of recognizing appropriate images or organizational devices, and then incorporating them in an evolving project, is documented through a series of sketches kept in a notebook over the course of the semester. The basic intent is to move beyond the diagrammatic organization of space, to a more positive consideration of structure and materials, particularly as they interact to form a building's edge. This centers upon an understanding of architectural character, as it is manifested in those boundaries whose form and material interpret a given spatial order, and relate it to its physical context.