dearborn park 2 garden
Can something as large as a city influence something as small as a building…a piece of furniture? This was the question I asked, and attempted to answer, with my MIT thesis "Paradigm or Pariah? An Architectural Intervention Into Daniel Burnham's Timeless Plan of Chicago."
My father who was an urban planner in Chicago challenged me to turn my, in his words, "highly theoretical thesis" into a buildable project. My budget was $2500.00 and my site was a small garden in a newly constructed townhouse development in Chicago's South Loop community.
I reframed the question of my thesis asking whether something as large as a city could influence something as small as a garden?
My father who was an urban planner in Chicago challenged me to turn my, in his words, "highly theoretical thesis" into a buildable project. My budget was $2500.00 and my site was a small garden in a newly constructed townhouse development in Chicago's South Loop community.
I reframed the question of my thesis asking whether something as large as a city could influence something as small as a garden?
Aerial view of completed garden w./planted "lake"
Cover page from my MIT thesis
Clay, trace paper & homosote thesis site model
Plan drawing of garden showing limestone "coastline", bluestone breakdown of Chicago's 1 mile square grid into ever smaller units, brick paver "residential blocks", limestone diagonals pointing to Burnham's Chicago city centers and Chicago's central park, Grant Park.