Bridging Worlds: Visible and Invisible Continuities in Architecture

Abstract

Is architecture a bridge? The position taken in this thesis operates on the premise that architecture is not only a bridge but a construct of infinite bridges, real and imagined, the degree to which determines architecture's ability to "move us." This position is presented through an expanding notion of the bridge not only as mere object on the landscape but as an immense subjective mode of thought tracing continuities through various fields of human knowledge. Informed by research and supplementing this argument are preliminary interpretation and translation studies of various subjects and objects followed by precedent studies in architecture. All of these studies lead up to a design response for a site in Montijo, Portugal. The place and culture of Montijo provide the subjective and objective foundations for this thesis.