Walking in-between: A passage in downtown Los Angeles
Date
1999
Authors
Sun, Qiyi
Major Professor
Advisor
Conway, William F.
Committee Member
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
My thesis proposal is a passage linking elements of an arts community college located on Broadway Ave. in downtown Los Angeles. At the center of a historic district, Broadway functioned as a complete business and entertainment center of Los Angeles in the beginning of the twentieth century. The district now has become largely a Latino-oriented retail district, and many upper floors of the buildings that constitute Broadway's significant architectural frame has long been vacant. L.A.'s new downtown strategic plan offers a strategy for reviving Broadway as an arts and entertainment center. A major step in the revitalization is the conversion of the Broadway/Spring Arcade building to a community arts college and artist lofts. My project offers a passage that makes its way through the planned community arts college buildings, physically connecting the different parts of the college, while at the same time providing an exciting new space within the old spaces of the buildings.
The passageway is a new architecture that resides in the old, a new space in between the existing spaces. An element of Cyberspace is also introduced into the passage through its architectural surface. Virtual Reality space, the CAVE, is combined with a performance stage inside the passage to facilitate college and community activities. The digital presentational CAVE space and the physical performance stage, which is the traditional presentation space are placed together so that these spaces could be mutually complimentary and simulating. An ambiguous space in-between the concrete and virtual is therefore created. Also, a historical Virtual Reality passage is programmed for display in the CAVE space of the passage, which provides a viewpoint that in-between our information age and history. The passage is a pliant, flowing architecture.
It is a complex system involving both the issue of creating new topological space inside the existing historical building frame and the issue of combining digital space into architectural space. The purpose of my thesis is to explore a new type of space and erect the logic of this kind of space. The new space could be considered a prototype and applied to different sites and Buildings.
Series Number
Journal Issue
Is Version Of
Versions
Series
Academic or Administrative Unit
Type
thesis