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ORCID
N/A
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Architecture
Degree Type
Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
Year Degree Awarded
2014
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
The overarching goal of this investigation is to determine how an existing building of spatial and programmatic rigidity can serve as a framework for designing a more integrated center for personal and community development. This project is an exploration of what a building can evolve into after its "shelf-life" has expired, with the aid of a reconsidered architectural vision. Formulated within criteria individual to its context, it is intended to be an investigation of possibility and the testing of a nascent potential, not an attempt to serve as a prescriptive, panacea solution. It is an examination of a creative vision in the development of a more responsive and expressive community space.
Through this exploration, the architectural experience as derived from a subject-object perspective will be investigated and considered, as well as the art of placemaking in crafting a design strategy that is responsive to its immediate context, reconsidering the ability of architecture to generate meaning and experience outside of its prototypically considered building-envelope boundaries. By focusing on the potential to for personal and community-based growth and development, three avenues of program will be explored: Education, Experience, and Expression. Serving as an intersection point between cultural production and cultural consumption, the transmission of this cultural capital has the ability to gestate a deeper sense of identity amongst the embedded community.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/5534380
First Advisor
Kathleen Lugosch
Second Advisor
Joseph Krupczynski
Recommended Citation
Gilbert, John III, "Reconsidering the Community Center - Restorative Strategies Within Existing Frameworks" (2014). Masters Theses. 18.
https://doi.org/10.7275/5534380
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/18