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Thickening the EdgeJeffrey M Bedard

Jeffrey M Bedard

Spring 2011

Mark Mistur - studio headThomas Mical - committee member

Thickening

IN>Form | PER<FormB.Arch Final Project

the Edge

Précis

Genealogy

Ecological Systems

Design Investigations

Of the Edge

Creating Duality

Thickened Experience

Conclusion

Bibliography

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Table of Contents

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Figure 1: an aspen forest at sunrise

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Précis

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Abstract

At the threshold of boundary, mul-tiple systems collide and ecologies transform allowing the adjacent log-ics to connect or to separate, creating an inevitable space to explore and ex-perience. The edge is typically seen as a flat condition, portrayed as an occur-rence only within a plane, the division acts as a line, separating or connect-ing one another at a barrier or joint. Perceived in the two-dimensional, the experience can be enhanced through the thickening of the plane into a volumetric spatial condition where the affected area of the coincided are stretched out of the planar as an expanded ecology at certain scales. As such, the condition that acts as a conjoined logic is expanded three-di-mensionally to provide an enhanced experience of the exterior and interior conditions of an edge. This condition, or dealing with the thickening of a boundary condition, has long been a studied phenomenon within the phil-osophical, scientific, and architectural worlds. Merleau-Ponty1 identified the

experience of space as an extension of the body, where the flesh acts as a connective tissue between the mind and the world, creating a thickening of oneself through the experience of the surrounding environment. As such, a space can be developed as a “both-and” condition as opposed to an “either-or” where inhabitants ex-perience and understand the dual-ity without perceiving a disjunction. Within natural and built ecologies there has been an increased study of the “edge effect,” a juxtaposition of contrasting environments, where the division of two ecosystems acts as a gradient of qualities between and within the two. The rethinking of an edge condition will allow for a trans-formation from a two-sided state to a thickened condition of the boundary between both. As a synthesized logic, inhabiting the thickened space will establish a relationship of connectiv-ity and separation via the experiential understanding of one’s immediate and projected surroundings.

1Maurice Merleau-Ponty was a French phenomenological philosopher

Thickening the Edge

Jeffrey Bedard

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Description

At the base of Mt. Royal in Montreal, Quebec, the park’s forest abuts the cityscape where the two exist sepa-rately, as an either-or condition. The city itself can be seen as a vertically thickened city where the under-ground network of businesses and transportation allow residents to in-habit the ground, as well as the urban or ground plane and the sky – via the mountain top. The connection of the city to the mountain present a case of vertical growth in a way that is sepa-rate from the buildings because of the lack of connectivity to the ground and sky as one inhabits the buildings. Through the implementation of stu-dent living and public-use space as an expanded program of social and cultural relationships, an architectural intervention will provide a thickened experience of the space through the site and the city. By joining the cul-tural side of Montreal (represented

by public use) and the educational (signified by the student living), the interaction that happens within will allow for holistic integration of the long term public and the short term students. The multiplicity of temporal and programmatic use of the building will improve upon the city’s internal relationships as the users inhabit one space and thicken their understand-ing of Montreal as a dynamic metrop-olis.

Thesis

By thickening the edge between dif-fering adjacent conditions, an inte-grated system will exist within both as a conjoined ecologic where the spatial experience is understood as belonging to both conditions simul-taneously, enhancing an expanded experience of the program, building, site, and ecologics.

Figure 2

Figure 2: Habitat 67 is a hous-ing complex located on the Saint Lawrence River in Mon-treal, Quebec, Canada. It was designed by architect Moshe Safdie based on his master’s thesis at McGill University and built as part of Expo 67.

2Iain Borden is an architec-tural historian and urban commentator

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“Boundaries present themselves to us as the edge of things, as the limit between the here and there, present and future. The boundary in all its manifest forms – wall, façade, gate, fence,

river, shore, windows – appears to be a descrete separation between alternate sides of a magical divide; things are dis-

persed and ordered in space. Yet for postmodern urbanism, in which architects investigate the wrapping and layering

of space and urban managers review its representation and control, nothing could be further from the truth.”

- Iain Borden2

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N AT U R E

Figure 3: the space between urban and nature is seem-ingly undefined; however expanding each based of their own logics can produce a unique space between/within both

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Figure 4: The Glass Pavilion in Toledo, designed by SANAA; the building is comprised of curved glass walls where the thickness between some panes becomes inhabitable space while others become merely wall thickness.

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Genealogy

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The Philosophical Realm

People have always been interested in the relationship between human and nature and as such, the connec-tions or separations between the two. In the 19th and 20th century, philoso-phers began to question and write about the existence of the individual person and their relationship to the world around them. Some important minds within the existentialist belief included Friedrich Nietzsche and Mar-tin Heidegger who questioned the everyday norms of society and what it meant to be as a person who can ex-perience and interact with the world. Both men inspired the next genera-tion of philosophers including Georg Simmel, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Christian Norberg-Schulz. While Sim-mel questioned society and culture through the lens of a sociologist, Merleau-Ponty and Norberg-Schulz became key roles in the development of phenomenology.

In Rethinking Architecture, Georg Simmel writes about the examination of the bridge and the door as well as what they mean juxtaposed to one another. In and of itself, separation can only be realized after acknowl-edging the distancing between the two objects, thus providing a connec-tion between the objects and/or their meanings. Three objects that were examined within this article were the bridge, the door, and the window. Each object plays an important part in distinguishing connectivity and sepa-

ration: the door as a built threshold of choice between the two, the bridge as an iconic extension of nature sig-nifying the separateness through the connection, and the window as some-thing that is not passed through, but looked upon, primarily outward. It is here that I would recommend an-other important boundary condition: the wall. This can signify separateness but a desirable act is performed when constructing a wall in relation to its height and boundaries. The juxtapo-sition of connection and separation play an integral part to an under-standing of space and as such need to be more heavily examined.

Whereas Simmel was talking about connection via space and location, Merleau-Ponty explored space as the extension of oneself where the whole can only be understood through the understanding of connectedness of the individual’s body. As he explained it in The Visible and the Invisible, the intertwining, or the “chiasm,” of mind and body, body and space form a thickened communication between one another and as such the visual becomes the tactile as the space and body change through inward and outward movement. The two con-sciousnesses of the mind are con-ceived through the comprehension of touch and sight where one sole touch or one sole vision become a small part of what makes up the experience of both past and present in both the

“My body model of the things and the things model of my body: the body bound to the world through all its parts, up

against it; all this means: the world, the esh not as fact or sum of facts, but as the locus of an inscription of truth.”

- Maurice Merleau-Ponty

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“It is absolutely essential for humanity that it set itself a boundary, but with freedom, that is, in such a way that it can also remove this boundary again, that it can place itself outside it.”

"Man dwells when he can orientate himself within and identify himself with an environment, or in short, when he experiences the environment as meaningful."

“Now more than ever, nature cannot be separated from culture; in order to comprehend the interactions between ecosystems, the mechanosphere and the social and the individual Universes of reference, we must learn to think transversally.”

Edmund Husserl

Martin Heidegger Jacques Derrida

Friedrich Nietzsche

Karl Marx Georg Simmel

Jacques Lacan Peter Zumthor Christian Norberg-Schulz Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Steven HollFelix Guattari

known for his existential and phenomenological explorations

of the "question of Being."

founder of phenomenology

"The Three Ecologies" his conception of "ecosophy" -- the three

related ecologies of environmental, mental and social worlds

Zumthor mirrors Heidegger’s celebration of experience and emotion as measuring tools

German sociologists with a neo-Kantian approach,

asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's

question 'What is nature?'

built the foundational role that perception plays in understanding the world as well

as engaging with it

provides an intellectual framework in which he connects phenomenology

with architecture

existentialist who radically questioned the value and objectivity of truth

Figure 5: relationships and heirarchy between “thinkers”

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“It is absolutely essential for humanity that it set itself a boundary, but with freedom, that is, in such a way that it can also remove this boundary again, that it can place itself outside it.”

"Man dwells when he can orientate himself within and identify himself with an environment, or in short, when he experiences the environment as meaningful."

“Now more than ever, nature cannot be separated from culture; in order to comprehend the interactions between ecosystems, the mechanosphere and the social and the individual Universes of reference, we must learn to think transversally.”

Edmund Husserl

Martin Heidegger Jacques Derrida

Friedrich Nietzsche

Karl Marx Georg Simmel

Jacques Lacan Peter Zumthor Christian Norberg-Schulz Maurice Merleau-Ponty

Steven HollFelix Guattari

known for his existential and phenomenological explorations

of the "question of Being."

founder of phenomenology

"The Three Ecologies" his conception of "ecosophy" -- the three

related ecologies of environmental, mental and social worlds

Zumthor mirrors Heidegger’s celebration of experience and emotion as measuring tools

German sociologists with a neo-Kantian approach,

asking 'What is society?' in a direct allusion to Kant's

question 'What is nature?'

built the foundational role that perception plays in understanding the world as well

as engaging with it

provides an intellectual framework in which he connects phenomenology

with architecture

existentialist who radically questioned the value and objectivity of truth

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specific and the general understand-ing of space. If man can be seen as homologous to the space he inhabits, then his experience—or understand-ing—can be stretched outward to become body, building, site, city, and nature as one. The flesh expands as it touches a wall as does the wall as it touches a room beyond, continu-ing until one understands the tactile relationship to the outer context and situation of the space being inhab-ited. Visually, the mind acts similarly, perceiving space through parallax and reformation from one’s previous understanding. Together, look and touch create a thickening of experi-ence via the body and space that the mind inhabits.

Psychophysiological space is an im-portant understanding to the ideas or phenomenology and perception/inhabitation of space in architecture. According to John Hendrix, percep-tion of space is a fluctuating interac-

tion between what is physically being seen and what is being thought of and seen through the mind. We can-not see behind a partition wall, but as we change our position in relation to the wall and what is behind it, we be-gin to see little, but understand a lot via the mind. Where the eye can’t take us, the mind can; and it is here that architecture becomes an important role. If looked upon as the formation/revelation of light, space only exists in the eyes and mind. Perspective is con-stantly changing and therefore one’s understanding is as well. Because of this, space cannot be seen as Carte-sian, but rather as the amalgamation of light, sight, and thought, where one can change the space by merely perceiving it at different locations of perception.

In Sustainability and Pleasure, an Un-timely Meditation Payne describes a present and futuristic look into the area of the perception through the

Figure 6

Figure 6: Spanish Pavilion by Francisco Mangado at the Zaragoza Expo in 2008; the tree-like structure creates a gradient of spaces and light-ing

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means of the sustainable and pleas-urable designs. In other words, we perceive something as good when we are able to understand that it is good for the environment/others and perhaps because of this, perhaps not, we feel pleasure. Through the means of perception and understanding of self and space, this article discusses the senses and as a designer, this can be of great importance to under-stand how one might understand or experience a built space. One pas-sage to note is the perception of the cooked or raw (does one perceive the raw because of the knowledge of the ability to cook, or does one perceive the cooked due to the ability of it to be raw?). This can be translated to an architectural perspective in the sense that people can perceive the natural sense due to the understanding of the imposed/built while others will perceive the built due to the under-standing of the nature that could or is present. The juxtaposition places im-

portance/bias on nature or the built form, but the problem is that both should be understood simultaneous-ly as the dominant and submissive at the same time.

The Scientific Realm

More recently, in the scientific world, examination of the ecology occurring on or around edge/boundary condi-tions has been growing. Williams-Lin-era writes about the vegetation at the forest edges in Panama and Murcia researches the implications of frag-mented forests on the occurrences inside and outside the forest ecology. While forests are being destroyed for resources, the boundary of the forest (whether manmade or naturally oc-curring) calls into question the adapt-ability of the systems within the forest ecology. Light, temperature, water, etc. all vary as one progresses several meters inward from the outer edge of a forest. This, in turn affects growth,

“What makes the weight, the thickness, the flesh of each color, of each sound, of each tactile texture, of the present and of the world is the fact that he who grasps them feels himself emerge from them by a sort of coiling up or redoubling, fundamentally

homogeneous with them; he feels that he is the sensible itself coming to itself and that in return the sensible is in his eyes as it

were his double or an extension of his own flesh.”- Maurice Merleau-Ponty

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development, and habitation of other parts of the ecosystem. This edge ef-fect is of concern to scientists espe-cially when the edge is created and man-made systems inhabit the juxta-posed side.

The edge effect1 in ecology is the ef-fect of the juxtaposition of contrast-ing environments on an ecosystem. In this study, forests that have been isolated and fragmented through the growth/destruction of new forests are examined on the edge condition where there is an overlap or dominant ecology existing. The new/different growth that occurs at the edge of a forest and the changing temperature/lighting qualities that occur within the fragmented forest all play impor-tant roles in the development of new/old systems.

Fencerow and Forest Edge Archi-tecture discusses the comparison of varying types of boundary signifiers

such as fences, forest edges, hedge-rows, etc. Any type of boundary con-dition can impact a pre-existing ecol-ogy and the effect can be the catalyst to drive changes or destroy present life and systems. Height and spatial characteristics play important parts in defining the experiential aspects of a barrier condition. A row of trees can signify a boundary, but allow people to pass through with only the per-ceived changes in light or tempera-ture. Fences more distinguishably state a personal boundary that peo-ple may or may not be welcome to cross. Forest edges, too, provide a dis-tinguished barrier that has drastic dif-ferences within its metaphysical qual-ities if next to an open field compared to a cliff. Often times, natural bounda-ries are viewed as either-or conditions where one system stops and another one starts. However, in actuality, edg-es usually occur over a gradient or diminishing quality where systems overlap or transform from one state

Figure 7

Figure 7: Crop field meeting the edge of a forest

1Edge Effect in ecology is the effect of the juxtaposition or placing side by side of con-trasting environments on an ecosystem

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to another. The interaction between the two provides multi-scalar micro-environments where the edge of one system is thickened through part or all of the adjacent system.

When forests are cut and abrupt tran-sitions of the vegetation result be-tween clearings and the remaining forest, the environmental conditions at the boundary drastically change. In Vegetation Structure and Environ-mental Conditions of Forest Edges in Panama, it details the changes and adaptations of a Panama forest at the edge of a man-made clearing. Major concerns include lighting and heat-ing throughout the first several me-ters of the new edge condition. Spe-cific plants will emerge within specific distances from the end of the forest and as such there are limitations to growth and development within the ecosystem. Abrupt transitions of vegetation occur due to the change in evaporation, temperature, solar radiation, and soil moisture. As such, varying resources provide for varying growth and development, changing the space between two systems grad-ually within the system’s bounds.

When the edge of a man-made envi-ronment, such as a city occurs, simi-lar conditions present themselves as within the boundaries of natural environments. In Edge of a City, the importance of the edge of an urban condition becomes evident through the understanding of perception, pro-jection, and solid/void relationships.

At the edge of a city, there is an over-lap of systematic conditions (rural/wild and urban/suburban) which can provide for a distinguished space via the exploration of an architectural im-plication. If one considers the ending or beginning that occurs at this edge, the importance of visual and spatial cues becomes of great importance. Often times the end of a city/property is delineated by the means of a wall or barrier (i.e. object). Instead, archi-tectural consequences could provide an inhabitable space that allows an experience of within and outside that of the city lines. According to Holl, parallax and spatial projection cause people to understand or project what might be perceived. At the edge of a city, what might be perceived can be drastically changed depending on the angle of view and the system log-ics embedded within wither side of the boundary.

The Architectural Realm

Architects like Steven Holl, Thom Mayne, and Herzog and de Meuron have used material and spatial design to create a poesis between the mind and the body through an architectural discourse. They have also emphasized the use of surface and layering to distinguish or blur a spatial relation-ship. Simmons Hall, by Holl, acts as a porous membrane between the MIT campus and the city of Cambridge (see Figure 9). SANAA’s Toledo Glass Pavilion acts as an edge condition within itself where the glass walls pro-

“When forests are cut and abrupt transitions of the vegetation result between clearings and the remaining forest, the environ-

mental conditions at the boundary change markedly.... including increased evaporation, increased temperature, increased inci-

dent solar radiation, and decreased available soil moisture.”- R.A. Reed2

2R.A. Reed in Contributions of Roads to Forest Fragmen-tation (see bibliography)

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vide physical separations, but visually; the building becomes an extension of the landscape (see Figure 4). The Buro Center in Linz by Treusch Architects is on the edge of a dense city and reach-es out towards the marina allowing the building to act as a resolved urban edge. Through the implementation of similar techniques involving, surface, space, and building, an architectural consequences within the ecosystem of an edge effect should emerge as a logical and social medium.

In The Function of Form, form can only occur once it has been created by and for the objective/subjective functional principle. In doing so, the built environment acts as a mediator between people and the built and the environment. By establishing an en-vironmental, social, cultural, and ex-periential definition of form, the two are able to more successfully allow inhabitancy to occur. By informing the form as to how to perform, archi-

tectural space can become a unique connectivity between many realms of the ecological within a given site. In designing this way, however, form may become fixed, but the function of the form does not. While people inter-act, experience, and perceive a build-ing, they are constantly changing and re-informing the functionality of the built form (which can be seen as stat-ic). This means of affect can only occur if the proper mediation has occurred between the object and the subject within the architectural design.

Steven Holl often times designs us-ing a common philosophy within the realm of the phenomenology and the built environment. His major ar-chitectural intentions involve paral-lax, hinged space, porosity, light, and phenomenology. In many instances, his works have been integrated into some sort of boundary condition dealing with the previously stated intents. The explorations of these

Figure 8

Figure 8: Laban Center for Contemporary Dance in Lon-don, designed by Herzog & De Meuron; the design of the surface as a thickened skin opens up and connects in-side to outside.

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themes provide an ability to denote a boundary/edge by means of a ma-terial/functional/spatial characteristic simultaneously. Within many of his buildings, porosity and light are used to deteriorate or emphasize an edge. His hinged spaces exist entirely in the realm of the boundary/threshold in the sense that spaces can fold or change to distinguish or blur them-selves. Within his discourse, the edge is prevalent as a driving force for suc-cessful architectural implications.

In relation to the idea of an edge/threshold condition, Zumthor’s work and philosophy become rel-evant through the sequential and metaphysical qualities of his spaces through the focused study of mate-riality. Zumthor’s defining of a space occurs via materiality and light which is both signifying and experiencing a boundary condition. In his work, the material change or lighting change

might signify differentiation while the metaphysical realm is always being played with. The practice of Herzog and de Meuron is intriguing due to the material-based implementation of phenomenological reactions (see Figure 8). The surface condition is of-ten an intriguing area of interest with-in their practice because of the inter-dependency that occurs between the spatial and the physical. By examining these conditions in relation to a sur-face (or wall) interesting relationships can be developed within the realm of the boundary between separation and connection that a surface/wall can provoke.

“Surfaces are unreal. They have only one side—their ‘out’ side—and as far as our world is concerned, outside goes on forever. “

- Michael Benedikt3

“the blurring of boundaries — real and virtual, as well as urban and rural — implies a greater connection and complementarity

between the various parts of a given territory.” - Moshen Moustafavi4

Figure 9

Figure 9: Simmons Hall, designed by Steven Holl acts as a porous sponge between the city and the campus; ver-tical sections cut through the buildings to create section connections through the building

3Michael Benedikt, Environ-mental Stoicism and Place Machismo (see bibliography)

4Moshen Moustafavi, Why Ecological Urbanism? Why Now? (see bibliography)

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Figure 10: aspen canopies, measuring ratio of sky to tree

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Ecological Systems

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Initial Investigation

With regard to a thickening of edge, aspen trees are remarkable organ-isms that respond to a layered sys-tem through specific connections and separations. While the roots are interconnected between trees to per-form one function, the forest canopy works on the opposite end to provide necessary conditions for the roots to function. The aspen forest as a whole acts as horizontal surfaces that relate and depend on one another with the trunks acting as separating members holding the two important layers at bay. While the roots literally provide growth and development, the canopy allows for light, heat, and energy to be absorbed into the forest. As the cycle continues, the porous canopy allows light to reach the seedlings below, which grow and provide a canopy for their young to grow as well. Trees are constantly dying and being reborn through their clones so the forest sys-

tem is in a constant flux of growth and development at all times.

Aspen forests grow through imple-menting clonal colonization.1 An as-pen’s roots grow predominately lat-erally (only about two or three feet deep), reaching up to one hundred feet away from the base of the trunk. A root sucker will shoot off of one of the roots and begin to grow up-wards. From this, a new seedling will grow and develop into a tree. As such, one tree may provide the grounds for many to grow (see Figure 12). By growing this way, the plant is able to obtain necessary nutrients without even having to develop its own root system to retain nutrients. As the tree matures, the porous canopy above allows bountiful light to reach the ground level, also providing an abun-dance of necessary light for these plants to grow. The above ground

1st generation3rd generation 4th generation

2nd generation

Figure 11: aspen trees

1Clonal Colony: a group of genetically identical indi-viduals (e. g., plants, fungi, or bacteria) that have grown in a given location, all originat-ing vegetatively (not sexu-ally) from a single ancestor

Figure 12: time lapse genera-tive growth of an aspen for-est through clonal colonies

Figure 11

Figure 12

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0 feetground level

-6 feetmax root depth

6 feetsprout/sapling layer

30 feetaverage canopy

48 feetaverage height

root system

sapling layer

mature layer

canopy

Figure 13

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part of the plant (trunk and canopy) will typically live anywhere from 40 to 150 years, whereas the roots of the same tree can live to be thousands of years old. As such, the aspen becomes an important part in forest succes-sion because while other species are wiped out from natural disasters such as forest fires, aspens only loose the top of the plant, allowing the bottom to regenerate and grow through the soil. Problems with this type of repro-duction include the fact that if other trees manage to take over an area, the aspen has no way of travelling distances to reforest its own area and may die off as a result.

The canopy of an aspen is a very po-rous membrane which allows a great magnitude of light and air to perme-ate through to the lower levels of the forest (see Figure 17). The structure of each leaf consists of a stem that is long in the vertical direction, but extremely narrow in the horizontal direction. As such, the leaf is easily moved with the

slightest gust of wind, thus giving it its nickname, the quaking aspen. This allows wind to be dissipated through-out the canopy providing a constant growth by intake of air. More impor-tantly, the porosity allows plenty of light to penetrate to the lower levels of the canopy and the forest, provid-ing equal amounts of energy to the plants throughout the system.

The examination of such an organ-ism shows the importance of the edge conditions. It is at these layers that vital interaction occurs with the surroundings allowing the system to thrive internally and grow externally. In architecture, similar ideas can be applied to multiple scales of the built form or spatial relationships. As such, a thickened edge condition can be very informative as it responds simul-taneously to multiple conditions and acts accordingly to accommodate a multiplicity of functions or experi-ences.

Figure 14

Figure 15

Figure 13: diagrammatic plans and sections of an as-pen forest; showing the re-lationship between canopy and roots

Figure 14: aspen groves showing by color their clonal colonies

Figure 15: ground level of an aspen forest

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Synthetic Ecologies

Phoenix, Arizona is the fifth most populated city in the United States with the twelfth largest metropolitan area. It is the hottest city in the U.S. ac-cording to the greatest annual mean temperature of 122 degrees. The city is set up on a large grid where each massive block is about ¼ of a mile by ¼ of a mile and each is broken down into smaller sectors depending on the zoning of the space. Within the city, Grand Avenue, a long boulevard that runs at a 45 degree angle, is a major break in the monotonous grid. At the corner of 43rd and Camelback, there is an abundance of abandoned lots and parks that could provide a great public surface within the city as one travels between the residential, com-mercial, and industrial spaces around the area.

The Phoenix site is a very flat area with have of the buildings being residen-

wind

tial; the tallest buildings in the imme-diate area are the industrial buildings that are a maximum of five stories tall (see Figure 18). As such, the relative height of the canopy is in the same region as these buildings, but towers over most of the surrounding residen-tial and commercial buildings. Most of the trees on the sire are also rather short, only reaching about the top of the average aspen canopy. The instal-lation of such a system on this site would drastically change the sense of the ground in the area, creating a new overhead condition and thicken the edge of the ground.

The synthesis2 of the aspen system and the Phoenix site would create a sheltered condition, expanding upon the notion of the flat ground and the hot sun found on the site. An under-ground system of connectivity would act as a way of travelling from place to place without having to enter the Phoenix heat. On the ground level,

Figure 17

Figure 16: aspen leaves “quaking” in the wind

Figure 17: depiction of the porosity of the aspen can-opy, where the leaves, due to their structural make-up, flutter and bend, allowing an abundance of light and wind through the canopy

Figure 16

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residential

commercial

empty

physical and visual connections to buildings and the sly would remain constant throughout. Light would be filtered so as to provide shade were desired and solar collectors or photovoltaics would absorb excess energy to help the city. The large spaces would allow airflow through-out and the heat to rise up and out of the structure, creating a comfortable space on the ground level. In doing so, one would be thickening the pub-lic realm in the vertical direction, both above and below grade (see Figure 20).

Forest Ecology

A forest ecosystem is natural wood-land consisting of all living organisms that are functioning together with all of the abiotic factors of the environ-ment. In dealing with a forest, this ecology includes the populations or communities of the multiple organ-isms at multiple scales. Depending on location and environment variables,

a forest can be constructed of infi-nite numbers of spatial arrangements due to the vast differences in size and quantity of the organisms within. The different amounts of sunlight, heat, humidity, wind, water, and nutrients allow for a highly heterogeneous en-vironment and flux in energy and de-velopment of a forest. As such, a great amount of edge conditions occur within and on the border of a forest ecology. These boundaries exist on the horizontal and vertical plane and always occur three dimensionally at some scale.

A forest grows, regenerates, and dies through series of succession. Typically a forest begins when new territory is available after there has been a distur-bance or an emergence of an unoccu-pied habitat. Opportunistic species such as fast-growing, well dispersed plants settle and grow in abundance so as to begin reforestation in a fast and varying way. Over time, diver-sity decreases as new species begin

Figure 19

Figure 18

2The synthesis of the aspen ecology and the Phoenix site is done in order to under-stand what the architectural consequences might be of the unification of two very separate systems into one design.

Figure 18: schematic of four blocks in Phoenix, AZ show-ing the residential, commeri-cal, and empty spaces and how they are positioned within the context of the city

Figure 19: diagrammatic representation of an aspen canopy covering the open spaces of Phoenix, AZ

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ground level provides paths and benches in shaded regions

direct sunlight provides space for future planting/growth

underground netwocool pathways for p

travel between

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hot air rises through tall space

wind directed through “canopy”solar energy absorbed

rk provides people to nodes

Figure 20: a synthetic version of an aspen forest within the confines of Phoenix, AZ as an architectural landscape

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to prove dominant over some of the faster growing organisms. Usually, small grass and forbs seed first with an expansion of both diversity and size over time. Shrubs begin to grow and shade intolerant species become the dominant organisms, growing and overtaking shrubs and forbs. Once they have reached sufficient density and height, shade tolerant trees be-gin to find places that support their spatial and nutritious needs. As com-petition increases, more trees die off and conifers flourish as various spe-cies inhabit the same layers or edges to compete for sun and space. Once enough of the intolerant plants have died off due to competition, tolerant plants thrive and take over, repro-ducing and eliminating as much of the competition surrounding them. These dominant species will maintain a balanced community where intoler-ant trees cannot survive until a distur-bance or change in the environment occurs and allows for new growth or succession (see Figure 21).

Forest ecology, and specifically the growth of the forest, has also be-come largely impacted by man as we grow or disturb forest ecosystems, either through attempting to con-trol the system or interrupting the system through building or logging. In forestry, ecosystems are managed (naturally or by man) in order to al-low a sustained growth of resources. Silviculture, more specifically relates to the growing and tending of trees and forests in order to provide raw material. Managing forests essentially means that the ecosystem becomes artificial because the growth is speci-fied to a specific species or resource and all other variables are controlled through cultivation or grooming. Al-though this does not allow for diver-sity or natural development, many parks and forests are carefully main-tained in order to either produce de-sired material or space.

Figure 21

Figure 21: natural and man-aged forest succession over a time period of 200 years; comparing the flux and con-trol of the managed forest to the overgrowth and destruc-tion of the natural forest

AGE

Natural Forest Succession

Managed Forest Succession

20’

40’

60’

80’

100’

20’

40’

60’

80’

100’

12 3 45 67 89 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 120 140 160 180 2000

AGE12 34 56 78 9 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 120 140 160 180 2000

33

Building Near Trees

Trees are a very important part of the site and architectural consequences when developing a plot of land. To be properly integrated with the building, trees must be attended to throughout design and construction in the prop-er manners in order to maximize the experience of a naturally grown for-est rather than rebuilding a grove of trees to simulate nature. In doing so, there are many concerns with build-ing around trees in a forest in a way that allows for minimal deforestation and interferences with the natural habitat and growing patterns of the trees. Details such as the trees’ roots and growth patterns are important to acknowledge when building adjacent to pre-existing forests.

The majority of a tree’s root system is found within one meter of the surface and the root systems typically grow outward the distance of up to one and

half the height of the tree. The Tree Protection Zone can be more specifi-cally calculated using a diameter ten times the diameter of the tree trunk at 1.5 meters off the ground (see Fig-ure 23). Tree roots need water, aera-tion, food, lack of contamination, and room to grow. The biggest problems that can occur when building around trees are weakened root systems. This happens when either a root is cut or the soil around a root is so compacted that it can no longer get the oxygen and nutrients it needs. Either one of these problems can cause up to twen-ty percent loss in root mass which would greatly impact the strength and health of the tree. To prevent roots from growing into built space (i.e. foundations), proper depths and barriers must be in place to stop the roots from seeing that space as ben-eficial in one of the five ways they can thrive. Proper care and placement of trees is also important for soil control to prevent erosion or water runoff.

Figure 22

Figure 23

Figure 22: the natural suc-cession of a forest ranging from mosses to grasses and shrubs, then aspens and pines to spruce and birch as the climax community

Figure 23: the drip line of a tree is a rule-of-thumb as to where not to build, but more precisely, 10x the radius of the trunk at eye level is the proper measurement of safety

drip

line

1 10 20

34

Figure 25

Figure 24a

Figure 24: photos of vari-ous kinds of forests, includ-ing managed forests, forest growth, and overgrown trop-ical forests

Figure 25: diagram depict-ing the area alloted to build around trees once the desira-ble ones have been selected and kept after clearing out some of the other older or younger trees

Figure 26: biulding paths or terraces on a sloped surface require certain cut and fill techniques depending on the particular slope and de-sired affect

35

Once the proper distance and separa-tion has been designed, building next to or among trees can provide a great spatial experience both inside and outside a work of architecture (see Figure 25).

Building on Sloped Surfaces

Designing within the hills poses many problems within both the technical and habitable ways of constructing and living. The stability of the earth, surface drainage, subterranean water, and vegetation growth must all be carefully examined in order to safely intervene within the ecosystem. Prop-er site planning must be attended to in order to establish a sound foun-dation through the built and natural objects within the area being exam-ined. Not only can retaining walls and foundations be implemented, but vegetation can be used to help with erosion control and soil stabil-ity. By placing or keeping certain trees along a hillside, the earth will remain stable through the interconnected-ness of root systems and soil material. If natural means cannot be kept on the hillside as they may currently be, then building terraces with retaining walls or foundations may be needed to help retain the earth. If the ground is affected too much, water drainage will also need to be taken into consid-eration. Depending on the openness of the hillside, wind and sunlight will need to be considered for erosion purposes, but also for living or means

of sustainable energy. With the proper precautions, a hillside building can be very beneficial.

In regards to space usage and func-tionality, the hillside must be used as a means of organization and place-ment of space within the built form. For stability and structure, it is best to build following the contours, placing the built form parallel to the hillside, rather than perpendicular. Designing is such a way allows for maximum sun-light to reach the spaces, assuming the building is only one room thick, sweeping along the natural curves of the hillside. In doing this, utility or mechanical rooms can be placed within the hillside, allowing the more used rooms to be placed on the outer edge where they can interact with the hillside as one can be above or within the vegetation as well as see the land-scape beyond. Because of the interac-tion with building and a slope, there is always opportunity to provide bal-conies or terraced open space above or at grade with the slope. As such, cut-and-fill techniques will most like-ly need to be implemented in order to interact directly with the ground. While building on a sloped surface can be much more complicated than flat earth, the benefits for spatial rela-tionships and inhabitability become numerous. The built form can become so connected to the hillside ecosys-tem thus providing a greater interac-tion with those inhabiting the build-ing as they concurrently inhabit the hillside and the landscape beyond. Figure 26

cluster form rsing

cluster form descending

land form rising

land form descending

cluster form / land form

land form berming

Figure 24b

36

Figure 27: a photo of a con-ceptual model representing the thickening of a hillside

37

Design Investigations

38

39

Thickening

Space is often perceived as the imme-diate—what do I inhabit; what space am I within. However, the percep-tion of space can be expanded upon through the visual connections one may draw from the gaze or under-standing of what is beyond a direct-ly inhabited space. A thickening of space can occur through direct visual connections occurring through a lay-ering of porous surfaces, thus creating a presence of space much larger than the actual space that can be inhabit-ed. It can also be thickened through a series of interconnected volumes that act as a larger whole that is all at once inhabited and understood through visual understanding of physical con-nections. While both techniques pro-vide an end result of thickened space through an enhanced sense of pres-ence, the means of which they are acting are dissimilar.

The layering of planes occurs essen-tially two-dimensionally; one space is repeated and the emphasis is placed on the barriers (i.e. walls) between the spaces (see Figure 31). The volumetric arrangement produces space through the three-dimensional connection of planes that suggest volumes as the negative of the surfaces (see Figure 32). While both are constructed of planes, the layered technique accen-tuates the transparency or hollow-ness of the surface while the volu-metric strategy uses whole planes in order to emphasize the hollowness of the space between the surfaces. The thickening occurs via the understand-ing of connection through the separa-tion created by the planes as bound-ary conditions.

Thickening can also occur in a more literal sense, as extrusions between two planes (see Figure 30). This explo-ration shows the connection between

Figure 28: the extrusion be-tween separate surfaces al-lows for an interstitial space that is connected to its sur-rounding barriers

Figure 28

40

surfaces and the spatial configura-tion that may result as the two planes gravitate towards one another and interact. This technique emphasizes the thickening of material or mass as one edge transforms into another edge while still remaining separate yet passing through each other. Ex-amining how mass can be thickened also provides an opportunity to carve space out where one inhabit-ing and experiencing might be able to perceive two physical separations through the connective tissue be-tween.

The thickening of an experience oc-curs through the thickening of its sur-roundings. The mind must perceive the enhanced space as an interrelated paradigm that coexists as the duality, the “both-and.” When one can per-ceive their relation to their immediate context and their projected reality of inhabitance, a thickening of the mind has occurred via the visual and tactile, thus thickening the space and the ex-perience.

Thickening the Hillside

A hillside presents a unique condition in regards to spatial relationships with the ground. While the hill represents a presence over or above something below, the relationship between the ground and a person changes from “on top of” (i.e. a flat condition) to a question of “in” the ground, “on” the ground, “out” of the ground, or “next” to the ground. This change in percep-tion allows for a unique case of the thickened condition of the ground as the hillside becomes floor, wall, and space. The condition of being above the ground might be next to a con-dition of being within the ground or high above the ground. The dynamic relationship between space, percep-tion, and habitability all come into question as the hillside is developed and designed so as to create a thick-ened site.

When thickening conceptual space, repetition and unitization can occur

Figure 29

Figure 29: diagram show-ing x-ray layered surfaces as perceived from the outside looking through

Figure 30: extruded mate-rial between two transpar-ent surfaces, creating space through a carved volume

Figure 31: layered surfaces creating a thickened space through visual connectivity and spatial weaving in the sectional perspective

41Figure 31

Figure 30

42

Figure 32

Figure 33

43

infinitely in all applicable directions. However, when applying a thickening of space to terrain such as a hillside, other limitations and aspects must be considered. For one, designing on a hillside calls into question many of its own design constraints including how it may interact with the land. This relationship may be that of cut-and-fill, peeling away, or lifting from the surface (such as on pilotis). Pilo-tis lifts volumes and surfaces off the ground, providing an additional layer over the ground plane, but allows for no interaction with the actual ground plane itself. The peeling method cre-ates an expansion of the ground and one can pass under the lifted surface, but the ground still remains just a sur-face that we can only see one side of. The cut-and-fill method allows for a greater interaction with the ground where mass is removed and built up in order to dynamically change the surface condition of the earth. While all provide a certain degree of thick-

ening the ground, each results in a very different spatial experience of the ground plane and its relation to an inhabitant.

Through studying the thickening of space on a hillside, implement-ing the pilotis and peeling methods, the resulting formal logics also play an important role. With the pilotis, long bands of walkways and walls present themselves, suggesting spa-tial qualities at multiple scales, cre-ating layered space and a thickened experience (see Figure 36). When constructing a logic using the peeling off the ground, more chaotic, random actions occurred, creating only one scale of space in a haphazard manner (see Figure 33). While both produced different results, the pilotis proved more successful because of the inter-connected perception of scalar space and hierarchical relationships be-tween forms in the model. This strat-egy did prove to be lacking on the

Figure 34

Figure 32: volumetrically linked spaces of transpar-ency and opacity, connect-ing spaces and thickening the volumetric proportions of the space within

Figure 33: a thickened hillsie using the technique of peel-ing the ground and imple-menting angular walls to cre-ate the random appearance of forest and terrain through a thickened site

Figure 34: diagram of volu-metric thickening of space

44

ground condition though because a user could only exist on the ground plane or on the created surfaces, not within or above the ground or the surfaces. As such the space became three-dimensionally thickened, but did not provide physical connections vertically, thus limiting the actual experiential qualities of the spaces formed by the model.

A final method tested for thickening a hillside was in the form of suggested space (see Figure 37). This technique involves peeling the ground, sur-rounding spaces by walls, and also creating larger frames that unify and suggest a volume. This technique in-volved carving into the ground as well as peeling away to produce space through and within the ground plane. As such, the built forms were any-thing added to the carved surfaces, including fencing, walls, roofs, and frames hovering over local positions in the model to suggest unification

and connectivity. The trees become another part of the thickened ground condition as the canopy provides an additional surface to interact with and provide shelter/space. While sca-lar shifts produce different results, the thickening of the slope becomes a dynamic interaction of space, ground, built, and natural within the context of the hillside.

Figure 35: diagram showing the hillside’s relationship of space where there can be a presence within or without the earth, below or above the surface; implementing design on such a site would allow for the thickening of these relationships and the actual hillside itself

Figure 36: a thickened hill-side through the creation of fenced spaces and linked surfaces

Figure 37: a thickened hill-side via the means of sug-gested volumetric connec-tions and linked surfaces of space

within

Figure 35

without above

below

45

Figure 36

Figure 37

46

Figure 38: the city of Mon-treal, downtown area as seen from Mt. Royal

47

Of the Edge

48

49

Choosing a Site

In order to create a thickened project, the site selection had to be carefully considered based on the possible op-portunities of edge conditions and relationships within the desired loca-tion. The selected site has to be one of scalar presence, where the large and small relationships interact, de-pend, and relate to one another. Po-sitioning the design at the edge of a city in relation to the natural context as well as considering density and seclusion all must be taken into con-sideration when choosing the site. By designing in Montreal at the base of the mountain, the sectional rela-tionship of earth and sky can further add to the thickened experience of the public and private programmatic spaces integrated within the site. By positioning the project here, a truly thickened experience can occur via the connectedness of the aforemen-tioned reasons.

Montreal

The island of Montreal was estab-lished in 1611 by Samuel de Cham-plain as a fur trading post and base for further French exploration in North America. Then known as Ville-Marie, it remained a French colony until 1760 when it was surrendered to Great Britain after their victory in the Seven Years War. Eventually getting its name from the Mount Royal, Montreal was incorporated as a city in 1832 and was merged with the 27 surrounding mu-nicipalities on the island in 2002, cre-ating a unified city of Montreal cover-ing the entire island. Located at the confluence of the Saint Lawrence and Ottawa Rivers, today Montreal is the second largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec.

Montreal consists of 141 square miles with a population of 1.6 million residents, giving a density of about 11,496 people per square mile. Clas-

Figure 39: Mont Royal in proximity to the downtown area of Montral

1referred as this by Monocle magazine

Figure 39

50

sified as a humid continental climate, Montreal’s summers are warm and often muggy (average temperatures ranging between 61 and 79 degrees Fahrenheit) with very cold winters of snow and ice (average temperature ranging between 9 and 23 degrees Fahrenheit). Annual precipitation is around 39 inches and on average 86 inches of snowfall, which occurs from November through March. With 66.5% Francophone and 13.2% An-glophone it is also the second largest primarily French-speaking city in the world, after Paris. The city has become an important center of commerce, fi-nance, industry, technology, culture, and world affairs, although it’s main attraction is as “Canada’s Cultural Cap-ital.”1

The city hosts a number of venues for all interests with a great diversity of people and culture. The city is home to numerous museums, music venues, sports venues, government buildings,

churches, universities, clubs, etc. Of great importance to the culture of the city is Place des Arts, a complex of different concert halls surround-ing a public square. This square hosts several festivals throughout the year, including the Just For Laughs comedy festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Montreal World Film Fes-tival, and many more. Another unique feature to Montreal is the number of churches located within the city, one of the four Roman Catholic Basilicas being Saint Joseph’s Oratory on the western slope of Mont Royal. Ice hockey is also of great importance in Montreal and the city’s professional hockey team, the Montreal Canadiens, is one of the original six teams in the National Hockey League. The city also hosts seven other professional teams, including football, soccer, and rugby teams. With such a diversity of people and interests, the city has been con-sistently rated as one of the world’s most livable cities.

Figure 40

Figure 40: diagram of the urban and natural land-scapes of the island of Mon-treal and the surrounding area (the color green indi-cates a park, green space, or farmland)

51

The city of Montreal is made up of 19 large boroughs which are further sub-divided into smaller neighborhoods. The Borough of Ville-Marie hosts the most neighborhoods, including the city’s downtown, the historical district of Old Montreal, and the Quartier In-ternational. The largest neighborhood is the Plateau within Le Plateau-Mont-Royal Borough and is deemed one of Canada’s most creative neighbor-hoods because of the large amount of artists in the labor force there. The city has an Italian, a Chinese, and Latin neighborhoods as well. Over-all, each neighborhood within each borough has its own unique culture with its residents being comprised of some similarity or common lifestyles. When looked at as a whole, the city becomes a connection of separated cultures that comprise the diverse city of Montreal.The island of Montreal is connected to the surrounding suburbs via 12 road bridges, one tunnel, two railways, and

a metro line. Like most other cities, vehicular traffic is a problem within the city, but the public transportation is extensively used and as such, is a sufficient form of travel through and into the city. The network of buses, subways, and commuter trains ex-tend through and off the island are operated by the Societe de transport de Montreal which serves an average of 1,347,900 daily passengers in 2010. Montreal’s Metro is Canada’s busiest subway system in total daily passenger usage, serving an average of slightly more than one million passengers per day. Each station was designed by a different architect with individual themes and artwork throughout; fur-ther emphasizing Montreal’s diversity and push for a culturally rich environ-ment for the city’s inhabitants to live their daily lives in.

Figure 41

Figure 41: overview of Mon-treal, showing the close proximity of the heart of downtown to the large park on Mont Royal

52

Mont Royal

Mont Royal is a small mountain with-in the city of Montreal, covering 494 acres, located just north of the down-town area (see Figure 41). The moun-tain is part of the Monteregian Hills (a linear chain of isolated hills) situated between the Larentians and the Ap-palachians and is a deep extension of a vastly eroded ancient volcanic com-plex that was active millions of years ago. The three peaks that make up the mountain are Colline de la Croix (Mont Royal proper) at 764 feet above mean sea level, Colline d’Outremont (Mount Murray) at 692 feet, and Westmount at 659 feet. Although these heights would otherwise be considered a hill, it is considered a mountain in rela-tion to the Monteregie region. The main type of rock within the moun-tain is a gabbro composed of pyrox-ene, olivine, and variable amounts of plagioclase, meaning much of the area consists of dense, dark, coarse-grained igneous rock.

The mountain is also the site of Mont Royal Park, one of Montreal’s larg-est public greenspaces. The park was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead who wanted to emphasize the moun-tainous topography through the use of vegetation; the higher up the mountain, the more sparse vegeta-tion would be to give the illusion of exaggerated height. However, his vi-sion was never fully realized because of a depression that Montreal suffered through in the mid 1870s and many of Olmstead’s ideas were lost. Today, the park contains two belvederes, a small man-made lake (Beaver Lake), s short ski slope, various hiking, biking, and cross-country skiing trails, a sculpture garden, and the Smith House, an in-terpretive center.

Mont Royal Park is one of the last oa-ses of nature within the heart of the city of Montreal. With an extensive biological diversity, Mont Royal has become an important host to much

Figure 42

Figure 42: shows the land use designation of the borough of Ville-Marie, of which much is mixed-public use na dresi-dential

Figure 43: shows the rela-tionship of building density within the borough of Ville-Marie, indicating the dense downtown area represented by the darker shades

Figure 44: shows the build-ing heights of the borough of Ville-Marie, indicating the relationship of the down-town to the rest of the city

53

Figure 43

Figure 44

54

Mont Royal

Site

Downtown

elevation :: 300’elevation :: 100’

Mont Royal

Site

Plan Sections Showing Elevation Changes - based off of zoned building heights

horizontal connectivity between skyscrapers and mountainconnectivity acts as an extension of the ground

55

elevation :: 700’elevation :: 500’

Downtown

Figure 45: diagram of the re-lationship of building height and mountain height within the downtown area of Mon-treal

horizontal connectivity between skyscrapers and mountainconnectivity acts as an extension of the ground

56

of the city’s wildlife. Within the park, there exists a multitude of species of fauna, including 182 birds, 20 mam-mals, 2 reptiles, and 2 amphibians. It is also home to 65 tree species and 600 plant species, making it the city’s most cherished green space and symbol of conservation right within the down-town area of Montreal. Because of the constant pressures of urban develop-ment and intensive use, Mont Royal Park’s ecosystems and biodiversity are constantly threatened. With the proper knowledge and guidance, the park’s wildlife can remain preserved as the wilderness within the city for years to come.

A Thick City

Montreal is a very diverse city with an abundance of unique culture, sites, and design. Because of the down-town’s close proximity to the moun-tain, and the presence of the under-ground city, Montreal itself, becomes

a thick urban setting both program-matically and spatially. Within the heart of downtown, Montreal has a presence in the sky and in the ground. This relationship is due to the tall sky-scrapers that exist above the under-ground portion of the city, known as RESO (a homophone of the French word Reseau, meaning network). This underground system of tunnels spread over 20 miles connecting all types of buildings including malls, apartments, hotels, banks, offices, museums, universities, recreational facilities, and transportation (see Fig-ure 46). With over 120 exterior access points, the underground city also has access to over 60 residential and com-mercial buildings. This thickening of the inhabitable ground becomes of great importance throughout the city as it not only allows patrons to get out of the weather, but also allows the continuity and unification between transportation, living, business, and recreation as one system.

Figure 46

Figure 46: overview of Montreal showing the mountain (which thickens above ground) and the un-dergound city (which thick-ens below ground); both indicated by the shadowed areas

Figure 47: seasonal imagery showing summer, autumn, and winter on the specific site in Montreal

57

The city also acts as a thickened site in another way in relation to the moun-tain (see Figure 45). The presence of the 764 foot mountain top (which building heights cannot exceed) al-lows for a connection throughout the city on multiple scales. When one is on the mountain or in the park’s forest, there is a constant visual connection at eye level with the taller buildings of the city. This, in a way, allows the gaze to be drawn outward, connecting the viewer to the city, although they still remain physically separate. On the other hand, while in the city, many of the streets run perpendicular to the base of the mountain and as such al-low people to see the presence of the forest and mountain while walking or driving through the city. The exten-sion of the person to the ground, to the mountain top becomes a unique relationship very different than that of the buildings in downtown Montreal. For these extruded spaces sit on top of the land, not within the land or be-low the land as the mountain/forest can. As such, the mountain allows for the connection to nature, a connec-tion to the sky, and a connection be-tween different parts of the city. While in the park’s forest, the city remains a backdrop and an extension of the vertical trees within the natural land-scape. The play between the park and the city becomes of great importance when designing for the thickened condition where the urban cannot be without the natural and the forest cannot be without the man-made.

Specific Site

The thickened city becomes present when looked at as a whole. The larger scale of connectivity and relation-ships draw upon one another in a way that allows for the downtown to re-late to the park and the underground. While these relationships form a broad understanding of the city, the boroughs and individual neighbor-hoods in some cases still remain sepa-rate entities as a fractured landscape Figure 47 Winter

Autumn

Summer

Figure 47

58

Rue Peel

Rue Stanley

Rue Drummond

Rue Montagne

Avenue des Pins

Rue Peel

Rue Stanleyy

Rue Drummond

Rue Montaggggne

Avenue des Pins

Residential

Health Center

Arts & History

Administration

PsychologyHealth

Social Sciences

Medicine StudiesLaw

Science & Research

Medicine

Apartments

Communications

Mt. Royal Park

McGill University

Figure 48

59

ship to the both at the same time (see Figure 49). This both-and condition will not only exist within the ecosys-tems of the urban and the natural, but will build upon enhancement of the boroughs and neighborhoods within the city of Montreal. As a forested site, the proper development of land and forest will allow for a conjoined con-dition of the city and the forest while simultaneously interacting with the ground and the sky as volumetric spatial conditions. While the site is primarily surrounded by residential and some institutions, the piece of land can be developed as space for all those surrounding to use as well as the city beyond. As a thickened site, the integrated design should reach outward and inward to the surround-ing communities as an aleatory space for anyone and everyone in the city.

rather than a thickened one. As such, a constructed complex that can unify, or at least bring together people will fully integrate a site into the entirety of the city as an enhanced experience of space, program, and the city. By intertwining various public and pri-vate spaces for every type of person, a specific site can start to represent a small scale projection of what the city means as a living ecosystem.

In the South-west of the borough of Ville-Marie, Mont Royal slopes down-ward to meet the city at Avenue des Pins. At the intersection of Avenue des Pins and Rue Peel, an undevel-oped plot of land that lies between the park and the city is currently a young forest. This site is positioned on about a ten degree incline and is the home to a fairly young forest and switchback road that begins the as-cent up the mountain. It is here that a thickening of the city-forest relation-ship will allow for a better relation-

Figure 48: Context Plan where the project will be lo-cated

Figure 49: A photo diagram showing the desired effect of creating a new space that is netheir forest or city, but both conditions coexisting as one

Figure 49

60

Figure 50: balcony of Thea-tre de Quat’sous Montreal; showing the use of glass as an illusion of expanded space and connection to the city

61

Creating Duality

62

63

Thickened Program

A thickening of space requires a pro-gram that simultaneously be socially and pragmatically thickened through an enhancement of its use and inhab-itants. This must also occur through cycles of time in order to expand the user population daily and yearly. Thickening in this sense requires a multi-functioning program that al-lows for the use of space to change throughout the day as the activated spaces shift and different users in-habit different spaces according to their purpose for visiting the building. This shift can also occur on a yearly basis if the main inhabitants differ on a year-to-year basis, thus providing a mapping of the project as constantly thickening throughout time via its users. Opening various spaces to the public while keeping some private also allows for an edge condition that can be thickened by the means of who will inhabit the space. In consid-

ering various social performances as user interaction through space, time, site, and the public, student living will provide a basis for thickening the ed-ucational, cultural, social, and livable realms of architecture through the public-private and interior-exterior dualities that provide the edge condi-tions to be thickened.

Montreal Cultural Metropolis

In the past decade, Montreal has been developing itself as an out-ward-looking metropolis of crea-tion and innovation (see Figure 51). Through an enrichment of activities and development, the city is aiming to enhance the population’s under-standing and perception of Montreal through the revitalization of pro-gram and interaction within the city. As such, the progression of relation-ships between heritage, knowledge,

Figure 51: UQAM’s Campus designed by Tétreault Parent Languedoc & Saia Barbarese Topouzanov

Figure 51

64

territory, sports, leisure, social values, and economy have been focused on in order to thicken the city through its inhabitants and how they use/interact/inhabit the city. There is a desire to spread an enhanced experi-ence of the city through the develop-ment of these factors. The city seeks to educate its residents through the understanding of the historical herit-age and culture as well as expand the mindset through the promotion of educational facilities and libraries that provide a global and local outreach. Developing the city through arts and sports also becomes an important part in the contribution of balanced living and well-rounded citizens that provide additional value to the city of Montreal. Additional concerns in-clude the social and economic better-ment via the development of the city through new programs and functions within the city, allowing people liv-ing or travelling to Montreal to have a better understanding and experience

throughout the varying realms of in-habitance. The broadening of the city and thickening of its social realm pro-vide a well-supported foundation for an integration of university housing mixed with public program to allow the permanent (city) and changing (students of higher learning) to coex-ist in a singular space, thus thickening the interaction between the two. Université.

Montreal has one of the highest concentrations of post-secondary students in all major cities in North America (see Figure 54). The students, composing about 4.4% of the popula-tion, belong to nine universities and twelve junior colleges within a five mile radius of the city. The two An-glophone universities are McGill and Concordia and the seven francophone universities include the University of Montreal (UdeM) and the University of Quebec (UQAM). McGill, Concordia, and UQAM all have around 300 pro-

Figure 52 Figure 53

Figure 52: Faculty of Music, McGill University; Saucier + Perrotte

Figure 53: The Bikuben Stu-dent Residence, Copenha-gen, Denmark; double spiral circulation around an atrium provides the greatest pos-sible contact between users

65

grams of study and host a population of about 35,000 students each. The University of Montreal has over 200 programs of study and nearly 60,000 students attending the school. As such, the city is greatly impacted by the fluctuating presence and activity of the students on a daily, and sea-sonal (i.e. the school year) basis. The interaction internally and externally among the university settings and the public have in some cases created boundaries and others created a unifi-cation of people and use. With a push towards the future, the university and public spaces must be integrated in order to obtain a thickened sense of the city. This revitalization is being addressed architecturally with the push to build new, better, and more urban architectural space throughout the city. Evidence of this can be seen within the Faculty of Music Building and the UQAM Master Plan. Both de-sign projects activate the public realm on the ground and allow for city to be

absorbed into the site as the archi-tecture responds to the context and the cultural/social necessities of the people. The enrichment of experi-ence and space integrates holistically with the city-street edge as well as the public-private duality. A housing development should achieve similar characteristics through the conjoin-ing of space and use rather than the separation.

Student Living

People’s needs for living are physical, social, and personal. Student housing inhabits a unique range of living as it exists somewhere between a merge of a hostel and a house. The social and physical sphere requires a great deal of attention because of the im-pact it can have on student growth and campus living at a larger scale. This group becomes significant due to its 24-hour a day impact on the us-age of space as the students adjust,

Figure 54

Figure 54: Diagram of pub-lic and institutional spaces within the city of Montreal. Red indicates universities and educational facilities, blue shows libraries, and yel-low indicates public or com-munity centers

66

educate, grow, perform, and live. A student residence acts as a social-rec-reational center and an educational community simultaneously. In the so-cial environment, scalar shifts of users become very important as the private individual must be accounted for as much as the larger community of an entire floor, building, or complex. The physical environment must provide proper space, light, heat, noise, and connectivity between various private and public spaces. Increased perform-ance can be achieved through proper consideration of these factors as a thickening of the experience occurs through the connectivity of small to large, private to public, and inside to outside occur simultaneously.

To further thicken an experience of student living both internally and ex-ternally to the university and the city, a residential college can provide a multitude of programs, social interac-tions, and ties with the city at large. A

residential college is an organization-al pattern for a division of a univer-sity that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty. By placing a residential pro-gram like this into the building, the interaction and uses become much greater than living as the functions expand to eating, learning, gathering, etc. Through the implementation of a residential college, decentralization, faculty leadership, social stability, and genuine diversity will result through-out the hall. As part of a residential college, the housing can also have an abundance of public space to fur-ther expand the users to the residents of the city as well as the university. By having public programs includ-ing food, health, arts, and education, a variety of users will fill the spaces for varying programs and at varying times, allowing for the thickened use of what could be a singular space. The integration of living and visiting through the residential college and

Figure 55

Figure 55: Tietgenkollegiet, student housing Copenha-gen; this design places equal importance on public and private space and provides connected spaces through the inward focused shape and sectional cuts through-out the building

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public spaces will provide for a pro-grammatically thickened experience of people, activities, and space. By in-creasing what occurs in a residential building and expanding when things occur, a student living program with integrated public facilities can greatly enhance the perception of space as a thickened condition.

Typology

Dorm typology has recently been challenged through architecture within the social and programmatical realms of the building. Although mod-ern designs have varied greatly, the basic layout designs have branched from five main formal logics including the section type, the corridor type, the apartment type, the apartment-like type, and the multistory type. The section typology is formally organized into a quadrangle building with com-mon spaces at the head of the quad-rangle and the building is divided into eight vertical sections. The corri-

dor typology is long and narrow with common spaces concentrated at the center of the building. The apartment typology can essentially be any shape in plan where the importance con-nectivity is achieved through arrang-ing the space for small group living units with centralized common-use areas. The apartment-like typology is like the apartment typology but each grouping is stacked vertically with no horizontal connection between the grouped units. The multistory typol-ogy can be of any extruded shape; it places all rooms on the exterior with service spaces in the core. Minor complications or adjustments can be made to these basic layouts in order to reinterpret the spatial/social realm of the building type (see Figure 57).

Some modern architectural exam-ples of play on the dorm typology are prevalent as every new design is at-tempting to better or change the re-lationship of spaces and uses of a stu-dent residence. The Bikuben Student

Collegio del Tridente: hillside terracing

Collegio dell’Aquilone: topography alignment

Collegio della Vela: topography terracing

Figure 56

Figure 56: the college com-plex in Urbino by Giancarlo De Carlo implements three techniques for a complex housing dorms and public space on a hillside

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Residence in Copenhagen, by aart, improves the possibilities of a com-munity spirit through a framework of social networking (see Figure 53). To provide the greatest possible contact between common and private rooms, there is a connection of each space to a double spiral surrounded atrium, allowing the living quarters of each individual to expand to the entire building through direct and indirect spatial and visual relationships in the atrium. Another housing project in Copenhagen, the Tietgenkollegiet by Lundgaard & Transberg Arkitektfirma, uses a concept of creating space for the communal and private life by as-signing equal weight to all spaces (see Figure 55). The building is oriented around a central courtyard and is in-tersected by five vertical cuts which divide the spaces and provide access through the courtyard. Another ex-ample of effecting the typical organi-zation can be seen in Simmons Hall, by Steven Holl. This college residence

is a typical multistory hall but imple-ments large sectional cuts through the space in order to open commu-nal and private spaces to one another sectionally through a building. Col-legio del Colle and Collegio del Tri-dente by Giancarlo De Carlo are two examples of how the typologies can interact and respond to the site con-ditions. Collegio del Colle’s typology follows the contours of the hillside and as such becomes a series of bars connected with walkways whereas Collegio del Tridente is built as a series of terraced bars bisecting the hillside, opposing the natural contours but re-sponding to the slightest change in elevation through the terraces. Both respond to a hillside condition in very different ways, yet both provide a se-ries of connected spaces the interact with the topography and other units on the complex (see Figure 56).

Section Type

Corridor Type

Apartment Type

Apartment-Like Type

Multistory Type

Figure 57

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Program Details

The specific program requirements cover an area of around 200,000 square feet of which about half is stu-dent residential and the remaining half is shared public space. The private spaces consist of singles, doubles, and triple dormitories. Groupings of the bedrooms will share bathrooms, study spaces, private rooms, kitchens, lounges, laundry, family suites for pro-fessors, and public gathering space. Outside of these directly related pro-grams, a pool and gym facility, class-rooms, an auditorium, a mail room, gallery, restaurant, café, and perform-ance hall will be added to bring in the public and interact with the students living within. As such, privacy and se-curity will be considered and program adjacencies will define locations of nodal communities that are perma-nent to the site with public spaces at-tached. Through this duality of space and inhabitants, thickening

Figure 57: the five basic ty-pologies to dormitory con-figuration as defined by Harold C Riker in Planning Functional College Housing. Blue represents communal spaces and gray represents private rooms.

Figure 58: program diagram showing the relationships between square footages (left) variety of people us-ing the space (right) and the amount of daily use the space gets (center bubbles)

of the program’s experience and user interaction will produce an enhanced form of living within the site and city of Montreal (see Figure 58).

dorm room

gym

dining

gallery

private room

public gathering

lounge

cafe

study room

restaurant

classroom

bathroom

support rooms

auditorium

spatial

mor

ning

daily variancepopulation

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ent l

ivin

g

mix

ed-u

se

afte

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even

ing

nigh

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Figure 58

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Figure 59: original design rendering showing layering of thickened spaces through-out program, site, and city

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Thickened Experience

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The Urban Forest

The design project itself must be able to exist in both the urban and the nat-ural environments as it thickens the experience of the edge condition into a new spatial experience (see Figure 60). While the downtown region of Montreal connects to the mountain via Rue Peel, the urbanity of is able to travel through the site because of the pedestrian and visual movement into and through the site. The heavily used switchback road on the site acts as a constant push-and-pull through the layers of space and program. While constantly being visually connected back to the city, those experiencing the site are also always aware of the forest they inhabit.

The designed site is never fully expe-rienced as a forest condition or a city condition, but rather can be under-stood as its own entity existing within both. The urban relationships of

program and spatial volumes mixed with the flow of people and diverse interaction emanate the activity of the urban. The arrangement of spac-es and volumetric linkages simulta-neously provide a sense of security where users can see but not be seen as the secluded feel of a forest setting integrates with the built environment. While the two spatial experiences merge into one spatial realm, the new experience becomes a thickened state of connectivity to the mountain and the downtown.

Positioning the urban forest at the location within/between Mont Royal Park and downtown Montreal allows for the site to be populated with not only the long and short term users of the site, but the people in the city who desire the integration of nature into the urban life. While the park is actively sought out and used year

Figure 60: photoshop dia-gram of the desired blurring affect between urban and natural landscapes

Figure 60

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DowntownMontreal

Macdonald

MolsonStadium round, the new space created within

the edge of the two will allow for peo-ple to interact with the idea of a city and the idea of nature in a new way where the park is no longer a means of escape from the city life. The urban forest can be interacted with as a new means of serenity and urbanity where the simultaneity acts as an enhance-ment of both types of lifestyles within one spatial means.

Of the Site

Thickening the immediate site where the project is to be located meant in-habiting every layer and spatial con-dition present within the wooded hillside at the base of Mont Royal. While the urban-nature relationship was mainly expressed horizontally be-tween the relationships of the city to the forest next to it, the local site con-dition would be experienced verti-cally as the edge between earth, tree, and sky become one space to inhabit as the project.

The wooded hillside became a new volumetric edge where there is no distinction between underground, on ground, in the trees, and above the canopy, but rather the entire hillside becomes a fuzzy, 3-dimensional plane of space. The canopy level of the trees becomes a clearly mapped space of figure-ground for the project to in-habit (see Figure 61). The sloped sur-face and topographic features relate to physical boundaries of buildable space and geographical relationships

to the form of the road—a main ex-periential path for the project—and visual connectivity to the city beyond (see Figures 62 & 63). The formal and tectonic relationships between these site characteristics build the founda-tion for positioning the project within the immediate context, allowing the built form to become a part of each layer of the site, and the experiential spaces to relate back to each level of the site.

While the relationship to the ground becomes important as a thickening of one’s understanding of above, below, or at grade is challenged, the trees also become an essential aspect of the experiential qualities of the pro-ject. The organization of trees and their positioning on the contoured site have an integral role in the ex-panded experience of the site tecton-ics of light and space. While the trees are always changing sue to growth and seasonal shifts, so is the phenom-enological characteristics of the light-ing within the site. The canopy always provides a certain degree of shading and the cast shadow is always chang-ing due to the movement of the sun (see Figure 64). As such, the site be-comes a dynamic play of light and heat while the spatial and structural components of the trees themselves may remain fairly static (see Figure 65). This duality of visual and physical allows for the creation of space that in and of itself is connected to both the sky and ground conditions. While these conditions are also being devel-

Figure 63

Figure 61

Figure 62

Figure 61: slope-analysis dia-gram (red=50% grade, yel-low=5% grade)

Figure 62: external views from the local site

Figure 63: diagram showing the black or white spaces of canopy or sky

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Figure 64

Figure 65

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Figure 66

Figure 64: (page 75) sun study of local site involving the trees that are currently present

Figure 65: (page 75) canopy and tree location study of lo-cal site

Figure 66: relationship dia-gram showing physical in-teraction between various program within the project

oped, the integration of the system as a whole allows for a built experience to assimilate into the site.

Designing a project of the site rather than within or on top of, provides a systematic logic towards internalized external factors that relates oneself to their immediate context with an understanding of larger experien-tial conditions they may be a part of. Formulating site relationships for program, form, and users to be imple-mented into permits the integration and enhancing of one’s experiential relationship of people, building, and site.

Expanding the Program

Developing the site relationships within and without architectural com-ponents would not be successful if the phenomenological qualities of time, space, and experience were not developed through programmatic

and formal interactions. Developing the project via the means of student living and mixed public use, the co-habiting and interrelatedness of each individual type of space becomes an important design consideration in-ternally to other program and exter-nally to the site. As such, diversity and positioning of program plays an im-portant part in successfully creating a thickened experience of program-matic space.

The organization of space most im-portantly related to levels of private and public needs, followed by neces-sary adjacencies within the program and to the outside site where they are to be situated (see Figure 66). Or-ganization through physical privacy and institutionalized spaces begins to arrange spaces amongst themselves, while also simultaneously position-ing certain programs on the ground versus in the air (i.e. community and public spaces closer to the ground for

77

easy access, see Figure 67). At which point, internal relationships of physi-cal adjacency or connectivity begin to arrange the layout of program. While considering these relationships, the integration with the site begins to develop formal logics that relating each programmatic space to a larger grouping of spaces, and back out to the site conditions (and vice versa). The growth of the programmatic spaces into the site allow for neces-sary relationships to form between users, spaces, and form.

Through this process of programmat-ic development, varying relationships are able to form between the different program types and site relations. The communal spaces within the student housing and the public mixed spaces become part of the ground condition, allowing the more private spaces to transition away from the public rela-tionship to the ground and into and beyond the canopies of the trees. The

more public spaces become linked at the ground level, moving in, out, above, and below the ground plane, acting as the roots of the project, cre-ating a foundation for structure and traffic flow into the building. At the other extreme of the spatial organi-zation are the living quarters and pri-vate spaces for the student residents. These spaces are extended into and through the tree canopies to allow the residents privacy, natural light, and visual connections outward be-yond the site. Although they grow outward from the public grounded spaces, they are connected via tran-sition spaces such as study spaces, classrooms, lounges, and other mixed public-private volumes that act as the trunk between the canopy and roots of the architecture. Together the built form connects internally and exter-nally to the program, site, and city.

restaurant

bathroom

study room

private room

auditorium

bathroom

support rooms

public gathering

dorm room

auditorium classroompublic gathering private room

cafe

lounge

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lounge

lounge

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auditorium

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gallery

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restaurant

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gym

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restaurant

support rooms

dining

classroom

bathroom

dorm room

cafe

gallery

public gathering

study room

dining

classroom

cafe

Figure 67

Figure 67: diagram showing the overlapping sectional conditional posibilities be-tween programmatic rela-tionships

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Linear

Nodal

Focus

Graduated

community

gathering

living

exercise

socialize

community

gathering

living

cultural

ppublicub

communitym

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communityty gatheringga

livingn

enterttainmententerttainmententerttainment

Thickened Relationships

Spatial relationships throughout the project constantly deal with the visual and physical connectivity between spaces or tectonics. As such, these in-teractions also concurrently relate to one another in specific ways, creating communal or secluded forms of space. Also, physical volumetric overlapping and fencing of spaces creates another layer of spatial thickening between and amongst program. Sectional and planar shifts create linkages or sepa-rations that provide visual or physi-cal relationships to be realized—or at least suggested. It is through these relationships that the user is able to connect to other unfamiliar people and spaces; providing an enhanced phenomenological understanding of the architecture one is within.

Being primarily composed of student living, the organization of the site be-comes one relating to the fundamen-

tal proposition of community. Differ-ent organizational techniques for a community structure (see Figure 68) allow for different interactions among the users to occur. Primary concerns among each design strategy are the focus of connectivity and attention from and towards private and pub-lic spaces. As such, a combination of all can be implemented at different scales and locations around the site in order to create a thickened experience of program and architecture. Within the dormitory units, linear organiza-tion allows for separation and privacy of bedrooms, while nodal and focus organizations occur branching out from the dorms in order to connect private to public and public to site. A mixture of these two techniques is also implemented externally to create areas of interest as destination points throughout the site. Such strategies help organize the local spaces to their larger community, then again to join the communities to the entire project

Figure 69

Figure 68

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visual slight shift physicalshift

Figure 68: diagrams showing typical community structure within a group living situa-tion

Figure 69: collage diagram indicating spaces of overlap and connection in plan view

Figure 70: relationship dia-gram showing sectional con-nections between the shift-ing of two adjacent spaces

as a whole within the site. These rela-tionships are present when the pro-ject is looked at in plan (see Figure 69) as to how spatial overlaps and com-munity organizations allow for a lay-ered scalar shifting of space to occur, thus thickening the overall project’s relationships within itself.

The perimeter shape and internal overlaps of the different spaces (rep-resented by different colors) show the connectivity and focus areas that al-low for the programs to interact and morph from separate logics into one larger system. At many of the nodal intersections of program, vertical con-nective tectonics were created to rip through the building and connect the overlaid programs to one another, but also the site and sky as an vertical ur-ban alleyway. It is at these moments in the project where vertical shifts allow for another layer of interaction between and amongst programmatic spaces at a much more personal level

(see Figure 70). The distance between two or more spaces and the 3-dimen-sional offsetting of the spaces all play a part in the perception and experi-ence of the space in regards to sight, sound, and touch. The phenomeno-logical implications of such relation-ships provide for intriguing personal conditions of understanding spatial and psychological interactions within the architecture.

Final Design

The final project design explores the relationships and experiential quali-ties that occur through the means of thickening multiple edges at various scales, creating a thickened experi-ence of the edge condition between two typically separated spatial realms. Sectional and layered relationships within the project connect people to program, program to form, form to tectonic, tectonic to site, and site to city. Whether the user experiences the

Figure 70

aligned joinedshifted angled

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Figure 71

Figure 71: sectional perspec-tive showing the thickened state of program within one section of the building

Figure 72: exploded axono-metric of the thickened pro-ject, showing the connected-ness and relationships within the tectonics of building to site

project once in their life, or they are a permanent resident there, the design aims to provide new and broad expe-riences on a daily basis as the dynamic forces of the urban and natural coex-ist to create a thickened experience of the many edge conditions.

At a personal level, the program and built spaces create isolated, yet con-nected areas for various users and various activities to coexist (see Fig-ure 71). The building grows out of the ground and branches through and over the trees, sectionally link-ing ground to tree and sky. Spaces designed to sleep or live are volu-metrically and phenomenologically connected to spaces made for com-munity and public gatherings. The thickness of the space becomes im-mediately connected to the expan-sion of the mind via the experiential qualities of the senses. Underground and at-grade public spaces form to the ground and mimic the switchback

road found on the site. Simultaneously the surface of the earth peels, breaks, and stretches to absorb and carry the conjoined build environment. These spaces are also wrapped and layered so as to provide internal relation-ships and connectivity to be realized as scalar spatial shifts throughout the site. Concurrently, the trees and verti-cal connective pieces grow out of the ground and connect all levels of space and site to one another as a vertical, urban meeting place of site, program, and people (see Figure 72).

Whether experiential relationships occur at the personal, built scale, or at the scale of the site, the project implements the tectonically layered associations both sectionally and in plan in order to create an architecture where the most immediate space be-comes part of the larger whole. When examined in section, the project can be seen to be an integral part of the site as it grows from the ground and

81Figure 72

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becomes part of the canopy, while simultaneously allowing inhabitable space to occur throughout all layers of this growth (see Figure 73). While trees grow out of the hillside and provide a form of roof to the site, the vertical connective pieces open the project to the sky, while still maintain-ing continuity and connectivity to each layer of the site and built form. This foaming of the edge allows for the linear condition that exists as the ground surface to become a volumet-ric space that is thickened below and above the planar surface. By hollow-ing out the earth and extending it outward into the trunk and canopy levels of the tree, the ground can be seen as an expanded surface that ul-timately becomes a thickened space. The intermingling of this ground con-dition with the trees provides further connectivity between the ground and the sky through the particularity of the tree levels. Architectural and tectonic means begin to inhabit this

space throughout all present levels where spaces interrelate in new and dynamic ways, providing a sense of totality and a holistic relationship to the overall project. Different spaces begin to float, while others are dras-tically anchored to the ground. While people fill up the spaces, the section comes to life as one experiences all aspects of program and site simulta-neously throughout all types of spac-es of the site.

The layered typologies of the project relate themselves between program, architecture, and site. Examining the project through a series of plan sections (see Figure 74), one begins to understand the relationships be-tween the multidimensional thick-ened edge. This series of plans shows the relationship that exists among the various layers of site and building, whether it is the relationship from ground to canopy or bedroom to pub-lic spaces. The stacking of contours,

Figure 73

Figure 73: section of project showing thickened relation-ships of site and building

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trees, and building slowly begin to re-veal the interconnectedness of these thickened aspects within the project. The revelation of different typolo-gies at one single plan cut shows the complexity and dependency of each part of the project within and of the others. As such, the project becomes a thickened condition of space, archi-tecture, and site.

Figure 74: series of plans cut through the project, show-ing the relationship from ground to building to tree to sky

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elevation 230’elevation 245’

elevation 305’ elevation 290’

many parts of the project have broken away from the ground, while the multitude of spaces become

one with the forest logic of the site

moving above much of the project, additional piec-es begin to connect back into the hillside while si-

multaneously inhabiting the tree canopies

groupings of space connect to the ground while concurrently existing above the canopy and roofs

of other spaces on the site

highest level depicts most of the project as part of the canopy, connecting to the sky

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elevation 200’elevation 215’

elevation 275’ elevation 260’

lowest level presents the majority of the project as relating to the ground as a hollow and stretched

condition

the ground begins to open up and the interaction between the architecture and the trees becomes

more prevalent

additional underground spaces juxtapose the sprawled tectonic of the built form within the trees

some parts of the site remain very wooded and al-low for above and below relationships to occur with

the built and natural environments

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Figure 75: view looking through the site and project to the city

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Conclusion

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A Thickened Experience

Architecture has an important role to play in the relationships and di-rectivity of interaction. As such, the enhancement or reduction of spatial experience greatly impacts the phe-nomenological realm we perceive. Through developing, designing, and thickening simultaneous edge con-ditions, a work of architecture will al-low people to experience more of the world around them in an enhanced interaction of their immediate to their global environment. Through the de-velopment of program and spatial relationships integrated onto a wood-ed, sloped site situated between na-ture and city, one begins to under-stand the possibilities of separations and connections that occur at every scale. By exploiting these edge condi-tions (urban-nature, ground-tree-sky, and public-private) in a manner that allows both to coexist creates a thick-ened experience of space where one understands both simultaneously.

Often times architectural tectonics are employed to denote boundary condi-tions, signifying the end of one thing and the beginning of another. Howev-er, the phenomenological experience of a space can be greatly enhanced when a multiplicity and dynamicism can be created due to people, space, structure, or site relationships. Archi-tecture has a duty to challenge the way people experience and thus the way they think about their inhabit-ance. By developing a singular space that can be considered to be part of multiple programs creates a unique diversity of interaction and experi-ence. Such can be said when integrat-ing tectonics and site relationships between the internal and external re-lationships of ground-building-sky. By connecting and blurring the bounda-ries within and without nature, peo-ple can obtain new experiences from visiting the same site multiple times.

Figure 76: rendering show-ing the connective wrapping of spaces via the facade and fencing of spaces

Figure 76

90Figure 78

Figure 77

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Exploring a thesis with such a multi-tude of possibilities, various site and tectonics must be played out to be-gin to fully understand the power of a thickened space. Through focusing on solely the internal or external fac-tors, in depth understanding of co-existence of a “both-and” condition should be more realized and able to develop at scales as large as the urban and as small as a wall system. How-ever, further exploring of site integra-tion is also necessary to have a truly thickened understanding of space as site/architecture/person.

While architecture will always strive to provoke something more in those experiencing it, integrated design relationships must be considered in order to create simultaneity of un-derstanding and experience within each person experiencing the work. Through the layering and enhance-ment of all aspects of design, people can become an extension of the work

itself as they are integrated into the realm of the inhabitants, the program, the spaces, the built form, and the site that the architecture is one with.

Figure 77: image of original design showing the connec-tivity between the architec-ture and the site

Figure 78: view of the project from the switchback road looking through the forest

Figure 79: view of one com-munal space connecting the student living and public spaces to one another and the site beyond

Figure 79

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Figure 80: sectional model showing the relationships of the architecture to the hill-side as a whole

Figure 80

Figure 81: sectional model depicting the connection between the interior and ex-terior through the project

Figure 82: sectional model showing the internal pro-gram and spatial connectiv-ity between built form, site, and the vertical urban con-nections

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Figure 81

Figure 82

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Figure 83: aerial view of pro-ject looking up the mountain away from the city

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List of Figures

Figure 1: http://giraffesandcandy.blogspot.com/2010_09_01_archive.htmlFigure 2: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rezendi/152860690/Figure 3: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 4: http://edwardlifson.blogspot.com/2010_07_01_archive.htmlFigure 5: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 6: http://tectonics.urbarch.com/?tag=zaragozaFigure 7: http://www.hmcv2.com/news/photos/large/Figure 8: http://fiveprime.org/hivemind/Tags/laban,ukFigure 9: http://www.essential-architecture.com/STYLE/STY-M12.htmFigure 10: edited image by Jeffrey Bedard http://fineartamerica.com/featured/ aspen-tree-canopy-2-ron-dahlquist.htmlFigure 11: http://www.superstock.co.uk/stock-photos-images/1760-10480Figure 12: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 13: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 14: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 15: http://www.plantcare.com/encyclopedia/quaking-aspen-2188.aspxFigure 16: http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=312713Figure 17: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 18: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 19: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 20: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 21: edited image by Jeffrey Bedard http://www.foresthistory.org/educa tion/curriculum/activity/activ2/act2fsd.htmlFigure 22: https://www.uwsp.edu/natres/nres743/T1Eco2.htmFigure 23: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 24: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ForestFigure 25: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 26: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 27: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 28: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 29: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 30: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 31: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 32: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 33: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 34: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 35: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 36: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 37: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 38: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MontrealFigure 39: http://hauntednorthamerica.webs.com/top50incanada.htmFigure 40: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 41: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 42: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=2762,3101655&_ dad=portal&_schema=PORTALFigure 43: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=2762,3101655&_ dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

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Figure 44: http://ville.montreal.qc.ca/portal/page?_pageid=2762,3101655&_ dad=portal&_schema=PORTALFigure 45: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 46: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 47: Google Earth ImagesFigure 48: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 49: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 50: http://www.architravel.com/architravel/building/741Figure 51: http://www.arquestilo.com/uqam%E2%80%99s-campus-by- tetreault-parent-languedoc-saia-barbarese-topouzanov-in-montreal- canada/exterior-design-uqam%E2%80%99s-campus-by-tetreault-par ent-languedoc-saia-barbarese-topouzanov/Figure 52: http://www.e-architect.co.uk/montreal/saint_laurent_sports_com plex.htmFigure 53: http://www.architravel.com/architravel/building/395Figure 54: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 55: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/3476006Figure 56: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 57: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 58: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 59: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 60: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 61: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 62: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 63: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 64: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 65: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 66: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 67: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 68: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 69: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 70: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 71: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 72: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 73: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 74: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 75: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 76: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 77: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 78: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 79: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 80: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 81: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 82: original image by Jeffrey BedardFigure 83: original image by Jeffrey Bedard

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