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Access Type

Campus Access

Document Type

thesis

Degree Program

Architecture

Degree Type

Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)

Year Degree Awarded

2010

Month Degree Awarded

May

Keywords

Urban Renewal, Mixed Use, Multimodal Transport, Node

Abstract

My project seeks to produce a building type that addresses the undeniable need of the Town of Orange, Massachusetts to be revitalized as a town and community. While Orange has a great deal of potential, it is for all intents and purposes a dying hill town, in need of being reconnected to the larger world, and indeed itself.

As I discovered through my research and participation with the Sustainable Design Assessment Team of the AIA, Urban revitalization is a complex issue. It is through these SDAT sponsored community charretts that I have gleaned the basic information needed to program a design. The chief aim of this project is then to produce what the people want – simply, an enhanced quality of life for the community and its visitors. This project attempts to satisfy this need by activating heretofore neglected and overlooked space in the heart of the town as a new town node.

It is also my goal to establish a re-branding of the town with a contemporary image, asserting and producing convenience, sustainability, enhanced mobility, economic expansion, health and leisure, and community social connections.

The project is not intended to merely stand on its own legs, so to speak. Rather, it aspires to mesh-together with preexisting conditions, enhancing nearby commerce, while simultaneously providing connection to both nearby neighborhoods and communities, and far away destinations such as Boston, New York and Canada.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/1291992

First Advisor

Ray K. Mann

Second Advisor

Kathleen R. Lugosch

COinS