thesis discussion and presentation

On thursday last week we sat down with Charles Rattray to discuss the groups various proposed areas of study and to see if we could refine these areas for fridays presentations. I felt that this time was very helpful in not only clarifying our individual positions but also in aiding us to establish some common ground between the individual projects.

In the above slide (an extract from the groups thesis presentation) the top diagram charts the various study topics of each individual in the group, ranging from studies in urban environments out to studies in rural environments.

The three images along the bottom of the slide help to describe the topic I would like to research this year. (left image: Section of Richard MacCormac's Spitalfield proposal, centre: nolli plan of New York, right: nolli plan of rome)

In fridays presentation I proposed that the title for my thesis would be called 'Rules of an Urban Block. At this stage I proposed that the project would have two stages. The first stage would involve an in depth study and analysis of successful and interesting examples of urban blocks in cities throughout the world. During this research stage I will attempt to derive a set of common rules which combine to create a successful urban block. The second stage of the project would then use the identified rules to dictate the design of an urban block. By creating a set of rules for the design of a block it would not necessarily have to be myself who designed the block but the rules could be given to an architect or architects to see what variations could be produced within the parameters of the established rules.