De-materializing the boundary between architecture and context

by Stephenson, Matthew Frank.

The distinct static edge typical within architectural design is a result of a traditional reliance on barriers and the segregation of space to define form. This form, acting as the signifier of its conditions, is consistently considered in opposition to the context, thereby diminishing the ability of context to be a generator of architecture and form. By overlapping physical form, psychological boundaries, and conceptual processes, this thesis problematizes the separation of figure and ground. The occupiable thresholds that bridge figure and ground are revealed through the juxtaposition of public and private, interior and exterior, and existing and proposed conditions. This investigation of the space beneath Manhattan’s Brooklyn Bridge provides the opportunity to appropriate unclaimed space and question physical, conceptual, and psychological boundaries of the site and program. The formation of a space that resists the purity of a single condition is left to moderate between figure and ground, de-materializing any static barrier between the two. i This page left intentionally blank ii Introduction