An argument of the overwhelming: architectural forms in Prospect Park, Brooklyn

Abstract

This is a thesis investigation of the potential of architectural form in its ability to overwhelm. Architecture cannot be measured by bolts or decorative elements; it must be measured by its capacity to move us. Technological feats, humanistic comforts, or historical legacies will never yield the ultimate expression of man. Expression is a controlled, deliberate act which carries out a concept to fruition. The basis of this proposal is to emphasize an act, an essence, a process -- an accentuation which subjects a new layer that reveals, distorts, and produces anew. It is to change the original by means of its own devices, yielding a further sense of harmony with a place. A gate, walls in a clearing, a bridge, a moat, four towers, a plaza, a "passeggiata," many benches, and stepping stones are the elements that are collaged with a "greensward, " a "hilly land covered with plantations, " and a " low plain mainly occupied by a lake. " Three acts are proposed : the elements, all strict geometric forms , are placed to contrast their setting; the land where they lie is trenched or terraced to perceptually remove the parcels of earth from the Park; the enclosing roads weave in and out, emerging within the Park, to determine the position of the elements.