A Catalyst for Gradual Change

Abstract

A Catalyst for Gradual Change This thesis seeks to explore the way in which an area, or neighborhood, which suffered from a loss of its inhabitants can again become a viable and vital area within a city. Lack of density, lack of activity, and abandonment in an urban area is often detrimental to further progress. Re-inhabitation of an area that has suffered from a loss of its inhabitants must begin in the place where the former population fled to. In order to reinvigorate a desolated area, that area must be infused with a population. While this population may not be permanent initially, it must pass through the area with increasing frequency and strength. An increase in this transient population must occur in order to eventually break the cycle of abandonment and neglect. Once the population is of a more permanent nature it can begin to provide the depressed area with the resources it needs to once again be vibrant and productive as an independent community with its own unique identity. This newly considerate population will begin to affect the area and mold it to their needs and desires and by doing so will give life back to that place. An area situated within the context of a larger urban condition should have purpose and identity unique among the context of a greater urban area. The structures within that area play an integral role in the identity of that place. This identity is formed based on both the formal and programmatic characteristics of the place. Formally, the materiality, architectural language, technology, and sustainable practice are all to be considered when a new building is to be inserted into and already complex urban context.