My thesis engages the mereology of architecture. All architecture is composed of parts, but these are typically seen as subsidiary to some whole. This project, in contrast, takes on part-to-part relationships without the expectation or implication of any total form or composition. Working with radically increased scale, the thesis uncovers what happens when the spaces between parts become cognizable as parts themselves, undoing the old distinction between positive and negative and calling attention to the importance of absence. 

Understanding parthood via the analog of Japanese joinery, a friction-fit logic of structural components and tolerances, this thesis is a mixed-use development that treats program elements and buildings alike as parts in the larger urban fabric of Tokyo. The goal is not to construct any overarching design, but to test what happens when highly particularized solids and voids are given maximum autonomy.