110430 . Thesis Evolution

MASKING ARCHITECTURE & IDENTITY

Boston Is a city of neighborhoods, specifically ethnic niches that gather in the host society and share in the idyllic view of a homeland left behind.

At the edges of these cultural neighborhoods the boundaries are blurred. Cultures share and adapt their traditions. Identities are called into question and, sometimes, lost in translation.

The West Indian community in Boston has had an exceptionally hard time defining their identity in a society that casts them as ‘African American’, ‘Caribbean’ or, simply, ‘Black’. This group of English-speaking, Afro-Caribbean people inherited their enclave on Blue Hill Avenue in Dorchester from the declining Jewish population, and they struggled to mask the established buildings with their unique identity, different from that of their African-American or the Spanish-speaking Caribbean counterparts.

Dudley Station is the hub for many ethnic groups in Dorchester, Roxbury and South Boston. Dudley Station is the edge, the threshold and the link between cultures. The edge is a transitional space between cultures; a space to celebrate both heritage and assimilation as we simultaneously seek to fit in and stand out.

The New Immigrant Transitional Housing and Media Center acts as this transitional space, allowing new immigrants to assimilate into Boston while preserving their heritage roots, and second generation citizens to reclaim their heritage past.  The mask, it seems is the tool for this assimilation, allowing us to simultaneously project an assumed identity and protect an inherent identity. Unlike the condition on Blue Hill Ave, which applies a static mask to a flat plane, this project allows the mask to be what it wants to be - a dynamic habitable space. Through mask-like architecture we find that we can belong to two worlds and negotiate our identities based on who we are, and who we want to be.

110127. Thesis Abstract Evolution

The Edge of Place & Identity

Boston is a city of neighborhoods, but it’s not the only one.

People are settlers, seeking place and identity. We simultaneously seek to belong and to stand out.

Cultural groups form niches in the urban fabric and form an idyllic, shared view of the homeland.

The post-immigration identity is shared in the diaspora group and displayed to the host society through food, media and recreation.

At the edges of these cultural neighborhoods the boundaries are blurred. Cultures share and adapt their traditions. Identities are called into question and, sometimes, lost in translation.

The edge is a transitional space between cultures; a space to celebrate both heritage and assimilation.

Is identity enough to create place? If the answer is yes, then how do we navigate cultural space, learn from it and inform it? 

110120. Thesis Abstract Evolution

What is the relationship between Immigration and Identity? In an effort to preserve a cultural heritage outside the homeland, immigrants tend to romanticize the idea of home; a polished version of reality. In the host society immigrants of similar backgrounds gather, form communities, and express their foreign identities through food, media and recreation. When different immigrant groups are aligned in the host society, edge conditions are formed, spaces where culture is called into question and boundaries are blurred. These ethnic groups share space and traditions, borrowing from each other and growing farther away from the authenticity of the homeland identity. What then, if the edge were celebrated as a transitional space between cultures? Here lies the opportunity for an architectural space that allows cultural exchange and, simultaneously, the preservation of a cultural identity.