Activating the Vertical City: Catalyzing Ascent + Connectivity within the Delaminated Domains

Abstract

Responding to isolation and the repetitive nature that high-rise buildings typically evoke, Activating the Vertical City seeks to respond to the lost sense of place that exists within vertical environments. It proposes to solve this disconnect using variety, connectivity, and the metamorphosis of progression through space. Coupling the theoretical concepts of space, place, and the in-between, with the mathematical interpretive tools of topology and topological space, the thesis proposes to enhance the experience of moving through space using a series of dynamic intersecting journeys that catalyze ascent and connectivity. These theories will be tested through an objet-type investigation of what it means to circulate through and dwell within the vertical. Pursuing the idea that interaction through edge effects and thresholds can promote a sense of place and alter the experience of multiple environments simultaneously: the objet-type will consider ways of occupying the vertical, and the interstitial inhabitation of horizontal planes.