Blacksburg Centre for the Arts: a proposed cultural center and town redevelopment

Abstract

This thesis involves the development of a methodology for generating a new environment for towns, using Blacksburg as an example of towns and a cultural center as the vehicle of generation. A need for a cultural center is established, and activities are programmed to fit that need. The idea is to create a center that will generate a new surrounding micro-environment that, once initiated, changes the status of that town--Blacksburg--to an urban center. The focus of this thesis will be to initiate a conceptual framework of what an urban cultural center should be and how to integrate that framework into an urban fabric to cause new growth; and to propose a cultural center in downtown Blacksburg as an actual implementation of that framework. The key problem is to bring together the two existing communities, university and town, in a satisfying and cohesive fashion.