Threshold: Baltimore's Post-Industrial Edge

Abstract

Working simultaneously at multiple scales, this thesis focuses on the process of making, a process of iterative spatial studies and the making of integrated scales of threshold between city and water. At the urban scale, a rich and layered threshold condition between city and water, public and private, and integral movement systems reconnects the city of Baltimore, Maryland with its post-industrial edge along South Clinton Street. At the community, campus, and building scales, an integration of film making, viewing and education creates a threshold between residential and industrial functions of the site. At the detail scale, material and specific connections enhance the concept and experience of threshold. Technology advancements during the twentieth century expanded industrial ports and the city of Baltimore, though subsequently caused a physical disconnection between city and water. As industry moves away, the opportunity to reconnect post-industrial cities to the water's edge is ineluctable.