Learning the City: A Community College and Mixed-Use Neighborhood for Washington, D.C.

Abstract

As city dwellers, we are students of our environment, continuously learning how to interact with and contribute to the urban realm and to the world at large. This thesis explores how a school can expand the culture of a neighborhood, how a neigborhood can shape the identity of a city, and how a city can cultivate the growth of a person. The project consists of a master plan for a community college, mixed-use neighborhood, traffic circle, and streetcar station. Within the larger plan sits a Library and Student Center, which emerges as the iconic piece of architecture for the school and the neighborhood.