Mega-Shed
Master's Thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 2008.
Thesis Advisor: Alexander D'Hooghe
Abstract:
The recent legitimization of Landscape Urbanism as a theory for architectural design may signal a growing cultural shift toward environmental custodianship. Design strategies that blur buildings and landscape have become architecture’s new orthodox response to this trend, promising continuity between architecture and landscape on the new “green” urban surface. However, the infrastructural and organizational demands of this blurring of city and country may actually require an architecture that is more flexible over its lifespan –more appropriately accommodating the vast bureaucratic efforts required to manage this utopian complexity. This thesis offers a modest proposal for big-box architecture, one capable of delivering continuity and flexibility for the city, even for programs that require functional separation. An exploration of this super-sized typology, the Mega-Shed demonstrates the timeless desire to manage nature, while resisting the urge to re-create picturesque landscape. Whereas modern cities banished their support systems to the periphery, the Mega-Shed is a passive machine for the current age, an organizational strategy capable of bringing these support systems back into view, producing a sublime utility in the heart of the city.
Thesis Advisor: Alexander D'Hooghe
Abstract:
The recent legitimization of Landscape Urbanism as a theory for architectural design may signal a growing cultural shift toward environmental custodianship. Design strategies that blur buildings and landscape have become architecture’s new orthodox response to this trend, promising continuity between architecture and landscape on the new “green” urban surface. However, the infrastructural and organizational demands of this blurring of city and country may actually require an architecture that is more flexible over its lifespan –more appropriately accommodating the vast bureaucratic efforts required to manage this utopian complexity. This thesis offers a modest proposal for big-box architecture, one capable of delivering continuity and flexibility for the city, even for programs that require functional separation. An exploration of this super-sized typology, the Mega-Shed demonstrates the timeless desire to manage nature, while resisting the urge to re-create picturesque landscape. Whereas modern cities banished their support systems to the periphery, the Mega-Shed is a passive machine for the current age, an organizational strategy capable of bringing these support systems back into view, producing a sublime utility in the heart of the city.