Testing the Limits: A DC Ecoblock Creates Community for Everyone

Abstract

Loneliness is an emotional feeling that represents disconnection. With one in

five people suffering from loneliness, it has become a public health crisis. Ranked

second in the nation for loneliness, Washington DC is three times the national

average. The transient nature of the greater DC population has created a negative

perception on the city, causing people to either move on or move out. Such a

progressive and influential city seems stuck in a stagnant pattern, not reacting to the

constantly changing density, mobility, and needs of the built and non-built

environment.

This thesis aims to explore the connections of ecology and psychology of

architecture through a superblock typology in an effort to battle loneliness in the

nation’s capital. A superblock is a large-scale entity both extroverted and permeable

composed of business, community, and other institutional programs, each different

but overlapping in a common elements and connections.

The superblock throughout time has been given a negative connotation

because of exploited failed attempts. When using the principles correctly, however,

the superblock typology provides endless possibilities and solutions to connect,

engage, and ignite community interaction through strategically placed nodes of space

and diverse program.

If one were to take create new principle site, culture, and health specific,

could a meaningful interaction and connection through a ecoblock in DC be created?