Abstract:
The American city is suffering from an identity crisis. This crisis is the result of society placing the value of the dollar above that of the city's image. Self-glorifying individuals are building in the city without considering the consequences of their actions beyond monetary returns. This irresponsible urban development is eroding away the key images of the city. These images help people to understand their place within the city. A city's images must be guarded and shared by all urban citizens. The destruction of these images is slowly making the American city illegible. The illegible city is inhospitable to human use. If we as human beings cannot understand and use our cities, urban life will cease to be.The purpose of this investigation is to inquire into and illustrate how the urban architect might act as a creative citizen in an effort to secure and promote the legibility of the city. This exploration involves a progression through three phases. The first phase utilizes a visual survey to document the experiential aspects of the urban context. The next step uses the data collected from the visual survey to explore and establish what kind of architectural events might be most valuable in encouraging the development of the chosen sites image and function within the city. The final stage of this probe gives form to the architectural events through the synthesis of information disclosed in the first two phases.The value of this investigation lies in the realization of the three phased method of enhancing the city's image. This method suggests that when one builds in the city, one should embellish the city's overall image by deriving both the architectural events and the form of those events from the urban context. The actual components of this procedure are relatively simple in their structure. It is hoped that this simplicity may aid in clarifying the issues at hand so that this work may be understood by the layman and the professional alike.
