2026-09-19T03:25:45Zhttps://dspace.mit.edu/server/oai/requestoai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/973712026-06-06T00:47:55Zcom_1721.1_7582com_1721.1_7581col_1721.1_131023
William O'Brien Jr.
White, Robert O., M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture
2015-06-10T19:14:47Z
2015-06-10T19:14:47Z
2015
2015
http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/97371
910724515
Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (page 65).
This thesis takes aim at several agendas within architectural discourse. On one hand it is a demonstration of the architectural understanding of mask. The mask, as both an object of formal and figural qualities as well as a participant in performative rituals, becomes the source material with which to resituate the current practice of architecture along the lines of narrative performance. Through the study of specific works of architecture, such as Adolf Loos' houses and the development of theater form throughout history, the project defines several qualities of an architectural mask. Primary to this work lies in the mask's ability to reveal and conceal, and to do so both formally and psycho-socially. The proposal begins with a courthouse, a courthouse framed not as programmatic desire but as a site to develop complexity from the canonical instruments of architecture: hierarchy, sequence, and narrative. These instruments, coupled with tools present in both architectural history and masks of traditional societies such as symmetry and anthropomorphism, are used to simultaneously construct and question both the institutions of society and its architectural objects.
by Robert O White.
M.Arch.
65 pages
eng
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.
http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
Architecture.
Courtroom characters, architectural actors : a play in several acts
Thesis
application/pdf
Publication
unknown
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<Abstract>This thesis takes aim at several agendas within architectural discourse. On one hand it is a demonstration of the architectural understanding of mask. The mask, as both an object of formal and figural qualities as well as a participant in performative rituals, becomes the source material with which to resituate the current practice of architecture along the lines of narrative performance. Through the study of specific works of architecture, such as Adolf Loos' houses and the development of theater form throughout history, the project defines several qualities of an architectural mask. Primary to this work lies in the mask's ability to reveal and conceal, and to do so both formally and psycho-socially. The proposal begins with a courthouse, a courthouse framed not as programmatic desire but as a site to develop complexity from the canonical instruments of architecture: hierarchy, sequence, and narrative. These instruments, coupled with tools present in both architectural history and masks of traditional societies such as symmetry and anthropomorphism, are used to simultaneously construct and question both the institutions of society and its architectural objects.</Abstract>
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