Continuity across scales in architecture : details and their relation to the whole in a Friends Meetinghouse

Abstract

The following thesis weaves together three major themes. First, it is a design investigation of architectural continuity across scales, seeking to identify principles and attitudes by which design decisions at every level can reinforce one another and produce a rich and understandable whole. Second, I use my own experiences in the Maine woods as an example of how the natural world can be a useful reference for the built environment. Finally, the work is an attempt to integrate those two themes through an understanding of architecture as language and composition. The design itself is a series of studies for a Friends (Quaker) Meetinghouse and Center of approximately 14,000 square feet. The design uses the site of the present Cambridge Meeting on Longfellow Court, in Cambridge.