Vertical Urbanism

Abstract

Oxford defines culture as ideas, customs, and social behaviors of a particular people or society; the attitudes and behavioral characteristics of a certain social group. For the most part this is good; that is the culture you identify with can give one, but not always, identity, tradition, beliefs, etc. Since birth, these sets of ideas permeate through interactions, wither that is with people, with objects, or with society's concepts, thus, culture is adopted and world view is formed. Space, as a comparison, is the state of architecture, or lack thereof, at birth; pure and blank. Humanity, as survival necessitated, shaped, limited, and defined space while simultaneously imbuing meaning that characterize it; the cave has one opening, the tipi has a center hearth, the church has a spire. These arrangements, so culturally ingrained, start to visually define each building type respectively. Architecture, as a result, is then experienced inattentively; instead of being contemplated it is scanned, instead of absorbed it is passed. This thesis, in an attempt to jar this process, takes the unique opportunities of verticality to explore and challenge the conventions of the model type. Not to endanger the cultural lens but to engage it and make it apparent to the user.