Defying Decay: A Prototypical Response to Planned Obsolescence

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Defying Decay: A Prototypical Response to Planned Obsolescence

Submitted to the Department of Architecture in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture at the Wentworth Institute of Technology, April 2021

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title: Defying Decay: A Prototypical Response to Planned Obsolescence

creator: Allison West

subject: Weathering of buildings; Architecture and time; Architecture, Conservation and restoration; Facades, Massachusetts, Boston, Designs and plans

description: Planned obsolescence has transformed the way we design and build architecture. This has propelled major climatic and social issues within society today. Large portions of the architecture of the 20th century has been designed for failure and has left us with a decaying urban fabric. To address the enormity of this systemic problem, we must design a prototypical solution that can respond to various building typologies and their underlying issues. My thesis develops a way to engage and rethink critical preservation bydesigning a prototypical façade system that will change the way we adapt and preserve decaying buildings in order to eradicate systemic obsolescence and improve under-performing architecture. This project develops a prototype through the analysis of the three major types of wall construction which included; glass curtain walls,brick masonry, and metal cladding. This analysis allowed for a catalog of various building typologies. The city of Boston has then been used in order to understand the materials and methods of construction and find ways to attach on to and improve these buildings. By using Boston as a test site, the project is able toengage a variety of existing buildings in order to test this prototypical response. After the examination of existing façades, this project transforms the typical approach to design andtreats each façade as a surface and understands the conditions and opportunities that each site has. By viewing a building in this way, the new façade system is able to preserve the existing building while also harvesting energy and rain water. Harvesting these elements will allow for environmental and financial benefits to eachbuilding, and over time can have a larger effect on the city as more and more buildings are transformed. This adaptation and preservation of decaying buildings is integral in order to strategically engage the next 100 years and defy decay.

publisher: The Douglas D. Schumann Library and Learning Commons, Wentworth Institute of Technology

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date: 2020

type: Thesis

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language: eng

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rights: https://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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