As I begin my final year of Architecture school and undertake what will be the most in-depth and self expressive project that I have yet design, I have decided to begin an electronic record. I want this blog to be a weekly track and progress report as to where I am within this process that is my Masters Thesis. It is the forum through which I will keep track of my own thoughts, reflections, and frustrations. As I embark on this year long journey, I hope to discover more about my own architectural (and material) imagination.
Currently, I have a vague idea as to what my thesis project will study. The relationship between old and new has fascinated me for many years of my architectural education. How do we as conscious beings use the resources we have available to us in a smarter way? Can we take what is already out there and re-purpose it to give it new life?
Being a proponent of urbanism, there are inherent qualities of the relationship between old and new built into cities. Each city has a history of its own, with old structures and new structures that are in constant conversation with each other. Perhaps directly next to or within each other. How does the role of the joint impact this dialogue? From the scale of the city, to the site, to the detail?
I hope to find a site that has an existing historical structure, take that structure and study it, and plan an addition/renovation that gives it new life, while still honoring the life that it has had.
The site is still to be determined, but will be located within the city of Washington, DC. The program will be informed by the site, and will come at a later date.
a sketch of The Querini Stampalia in Venice, Italy,
a renovation project by Carlo Scarpa.
an electronic documentation of my masters thesis.
