Aug '04 - May '05
Well, I realized that I have yet to post my Thesis Statement. So for what its worth, here are the statements that back up my thesis along with my abstract.
Topic: Articulation of significant residuals
Project Statement: Adaptive use of the historic Dallas High School into a market place with emphasis on significant residuals.
Thesis Statement: Architecture should not petrify forms, nor should it deny their existence. The existing context and its character should be encouraged to evolve and transform, thus establishing a connected sense of being and a management of environmental change.
Facility Statement: The synergy of a traditional market can be infused into a contemporary mixed use facility and exploited via the use of transparency.
Context Statement: By unfolding the landscape, and through careful exploitation of the existing circulation networks, the current void in the Dallas Central Business District will be transformed into a vibrant place of commerce.
Scope: The adaptive reuse of an existing 98,000 square foot facility into a mixed use market place providing restaurant facilities, grocery, market cafe, retail, vendors, business offices, and necessary parking.
Abstract:
In what ways does architecture affect the human sense of time? How are connections to the past and the future made, and how do they affect the present world in which we live? There is a fierce battle in today's society between nihilistic and nostalgic thought. The past is currently either purified or razed to make way for the future. A sense of time is either petrified or destroyed, resulting in a confusing and disconnected sense of being.
A sense of being is ultimately defined by expired time, the time that is yet to be, and awareness of the current time. The personal image of time is paramount in the well-being of society and the proper management of change. Society's external physical environment plays a crucial role in forming and supporting the image of time. Therefore, architecture is a key factor in the reciprocal relationship between environmental change and the image of time.
The motivation for this thesis is an attempt to bridge the gap between nihilistic and nostalgic thought. A reconciling of extreme perspectives to preserve a sense of time in a volatile context of computers and communication technologies, massive redevelopment of the physical environment, and social and cultural spaces that are continually made unrecognizable. The author will argue that a desirable sense of place is one that celebrates the present while simultaneously establishes connections with both the past and the future.
This project specifically focuses on the adaptive use of the historical Dallas High School. As a stable fixture in the Dallas Central Business district since 1908, the high school has survived two world wars, The Great Depression, numerous functional reorganizations, political battles, and recent attempts to raze the original structure. As the structure nears its one hundredth birthday it is in desperate need of an effective plan of transformation in order to secure its survival in the twenty first century.
Research for this project includes continual communication with former students of the school who make up The Dallas Tech Alumni Association. Numerous texts on preservation, restoration, adaptive reuse, and human psychology will be compared to generate an optimal solution in the management of change. Case studies of recent architectural projects will be consulted for references in form, facility, and context issues.
The purpose of this project is to conceive and implement a plan to utilize and adapt the Dallas High School facility into a hybrid form of preservation and contemporary design. A sense of time will be created through the manipulation of a historically rooted context and result in a facility that will open outward into the future. An attempt will be made to create an environment that is flexible and receptive, incomplete and unresolved, historical and contemporary.
I've been working on the Sub Level Plan today. Sorry for the crappy printscreen image. 
3 Comments
Brian,
First off let me preface this by saying that this post is not intended to be a shameless plug. With that said, you may want to get your hands on the latest issue of Oz, volume 26. The theme is "sequence" and I think it may be relevant to your thesis.
Here is the prologue of Oz 26:
"Observed, space is seemingly in a state of constant flux. The endless variation perceived by the occupant allows a multitude of possible readings. Over time, progressive enframing of architectural space creates a dynamic, cinematic quality. Like the refresh rate of a CRT our eyes convey a sequence of images that read as an entirety. There is no pause button. The conceit of an objective, knowable enframement of a specific point in space and time isn only a subjective instance linked to the past and future that surround it. This is sequence.
"Remember that the human gaze carves up both space and time at once, the eyes objectivity thus bringing off a relativistic feat, the limits of the visual field and the succession of sequences further combining with temporal carving up of the rhythmics of the image. The act of discriminating gaze is thus not a hollow notion; if it were, the relativity of the visible would itself be merely a hallucination of perspective."
– Paul Virlio
With this issue we will investigate how movement, time, and circumstance alter our perception of architecture.
j. Helmbrecht/ G. Spaw, Editors
Here are the titles and authors of articles.
1. Excerpt from "Light Time" ; Paul Virilio
2. Evolving Patterns; dZO
3. Making of Lines; Taeg Nishimoto
4. The Building of a Symbolic Image; Randolph Langenbach
5. Two Projects; CJ Lim
6. Architecture as an Allusion Lisa Deidrich and Dr. Wilbur Jobe
7. How Sequence Influences Building ; Gerard Damiani
8. Circulatory Anomalies; Preston Scott Cohen
9. Desert Time; Micheal Rotondi
10. Recycling Materiality; Jennifer Siegal
email me if you're interested, brad_kingsley@yahoo.com
may i ask which case studies you are looking at?! and books you read?! since i'm exploring kinda similar idea of bridging the past and future..
Hope this helps. Good luck
Case Studies:
Castelvecchio by Carlo Scarpa, EOM’s work in Culver City,Falkestrasse Rooftop Remodel by Coop Himmelblau
Text:
Benjamin, Andrew. Architectural Philosophy. New Brunswick: The Athlone Press, 2000.
Brand, Stewert. How Buildings Learn. New York: Penguin Group, 1994
Betsky, Aaron. Architecture Must Burn. Madera: Gingko Press, 2000.
Betsky, Aaron. Architecture in Limbo. [on-line]. Accessed 12 December 2003; available from
http://archilab.org/public/2000/catalog/betskyen.htm; internet.
Cantacuzino, Sherban. Re/Architecture: Old Buildings / New Uses. New York: Abbeville Press, 1989.
Chipperfield, David. “Tradition and Invention.†2G. January 1997, 129.
Cohen, Preston Scott ed. and Brooke Hodge, ed., Eric Owen Moss The Box, New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995.
Davern, Jeanne M. ed. Places for People. United States: McGraw-Hill, Inc, 1976.
Futagawa, Yukio, ed. “Stealth, Building One and Two, Umbrella.†GA Document, January 2001, 104.
Jacobs, Jane. Death and The Life of Great American Cities. New York: Random House, 1961.
Lynch, Kevin. What Time is This Place?. United States: The Colonial Press, 1972
Lynn, Greg. Architectural Curvilinearity: The Folded, The Pliant and the Supple. Edited by Greg Lynn. Folding Architecture. London: Academy Editions, 1993.
Mayne, Thom. Morphosis. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2003.
Marks, Steven, ed. Concerning Buildings. Oxford: Architectural Press, 1996.
Pena, William M. and Steven A. Parshall. Problem Seeking, An Architectural Programming Primer, New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2001.
Polano, Sergio. Carlo Scarpa, Tokyo: a+u Publishing Co., 1993.
Powell, Kenneth. Architecture Reborn: Converting Old Buildings For New Uses. New York: Rizzoli, 1999.
Ranalli, George. Carlo Scarpa Architect, Intervening with History. Montreal: The Monacelli Press, 1999.
Robert, Phillippe. Adaptations New Uses for Old Buildings. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1989.
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