Thorough;

Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, February, 2021

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132732
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author White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
author2 Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
author_facet Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture.
White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
author_sort White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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description Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, February, 2021
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spelling mit-1721.1/1327322021-10-07T03:17:05Z Thorough; White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture Architecture. Thesis: M. Arch., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, February, 2021 Cataloged from the official pdf of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 127-132). Henry David Thoreau writes in the first chapter of his book, Walden, that before he could begin work on his house by the pond, he first had to borrow an axe. "Near the end of March, 1845, I borrowed an axe and went down to the woods by Walden Pond, nearest to where I intended to build my house, and began to cut down some tall, arrowy pines, still in their youth, for timber."This passage, which marks the moment when Thoreau first turns to describing building his house, illustrates something surprising. Thoreau's famous experiment in self reliance began with another man's tools. As independent as Thoreau intended his enterprise to be, for Thoreau, borrowing is more rule than exception, appearing repeatedly and in varying ways throughout his account. He relies frequently on materials, knowledge, labor, etc. that are outside himself or his capacity to create. The nails he bought from a blacksmith. The boards were recycled from an old shanty. The land itself and the trees on it were loaned to him by his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Tools, natural resources, supply chains, help, etc. had to be bought, loaned, or scavenged in order for Thoreau to build and live, as he says, "by the labor of his hands alone."This thesis is interested in that shortfall, where Thoreau's ideals about how to build and live, which is represented in the Walden text, do not match the true constraints of building and living, which are represented in the architecture. Proposed here is a series of alternatives for Walden. Each carries with it as constraint and ideal of independence. Each exaggerates the effects of those constraints as a way to better uncover their inherent tensions. Together, the designs serve as a manual, playing out the implications in design of the limits that define them. by David Allen White. M. Arch. M.Arch. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture 2021-10-06T17:43:42Z 2021-10-06T17:43:42Z 2021 2021 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132732 1265054049 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 146 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Architecture.
White, David Allen, M. Arch Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Thorough;
title Thorough;
title_full Thorough;
title_fullStr Thorough;
title_full_unstemmed Thorough;
title_short Thorough;
title_sort thorough
topic Architecture.
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132732
work_keys_str_mv AT whitedavidallenmarchmassachusettsinstituteoftechnology thorough