On the edge : diary of hillhousing as an approach to design

Abstract

This thesis seeks to address and synthesize three fundamental, personal concerns: (l) a design process which attempts to integrate various yet complementary design theories, (2) urban living environments in general, and (3) hill housing in specific. Herein, being "on the edge" connotes not only the sense of place, upon a hillside , but the notion that no singular theory attributable to one designer/theorist presents the "correct" or "best" way to building/dwelling/making pl ace. The contents arc arranged in four parts;. The first part deals with the defining of a design process as an amalgamation of different, and possible divergent, yet related thoughts on architectural design. In fact, many different architects or theorists expound upon similar, if not exactly the same topics; I call these corresponding thoughts "parallels." These "parallels," comprising Part One, are grouped into the follm·ling categories: (1) MIT "built form" theories, (2) Theories of Place, (3) Inclusive Architecture/Participatory Processes, (4) Environmental memory and Associative images, (5) Body-Image theories, (6) Relation to Dance/Movement/Choreography, (7) Relation to Other Arts/Language, (8) Opposites, and (9) Variety. The second part, coincidental with the beginning of a design process, reviews the current literature and other resources on the topic of hill housing as a type, making observations from the field as well as coordinating known "patterns" into a "language" for later reference. Part Three makes use of a photo description/ analysis of the site within its context (Mason Path on Corey Hill in Brookline), a program for housing and associated mixed uses, and a list of design objectives as a link between the general approach and the projective design. Part Four consists of an account, a literal "diary," of a five-week exploration in the design of a multi-family hill housing project on an urban site, as a means of testing out some of the theoretical processes mentioned in Part One. It is not intended that the work in this part be complete, (not could it, short of being built, inhabited, essentially "dwelled in,") but representative of an interactive process at the schematic stages. The aim of the thesis is not so much to impress upon the reader the intrinsic value of any one specific principle referred to, as much as to, hopefully, part new interest in clarifying what is mutual, what is collective, and thus perhaps more valid, in our approach toward quality architecture.