The morphology of the urban edge : design projections for a commercial street

Abstract

The renaissance of the American city's a phenomena of great potential but also one which threatens to destroy the fragile balance of elements that structure the city. In the rebuilding and reoccupation of these urban environments, architects and planners must bear in mind that infusions of new architecture must be carefully knitted into the existing economic, social and architectural context. This thesis examines specifically how commercial buildings have been, and should be integrated with the existing urban fabric. The design portion of the thesis is the generation of an alternative program and design scheme for a proposed regional shopping mall for the central business district of Pittsfield, Massachusetts. The process begins with a brief investigation into the economic and political history of the mall's development to date, and into an understanding of the principles of shopping mall design as they are currently practised. More importantly it is an investigation of urban architectural vocabularies as they relate to street edges of commercial districts, ranging from the scale of large buildings to that of street furniture. With the help of this information. the design project suggests that the success of new retail development in the American city depends upon the acknowledgement of the public street as the sole organizer of social and economic activities in addition to being a channel for pedestrian and vehicular circulation.