Building (,) Set (,) Prop
Item
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Title
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Building (,) Set (,) Prop
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Description
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Every building is a living archive of its history. The archive, legible through the envelope’s fading color, surface marks, or structural cracks, transforms in a complex and nonlinear way. Recognizing the importance of preserving a building's unique history and character while also enabling it to evolve and adapt to new uses and contexts, this thesis investigates a self-referential method for the adaptive reuse of architecture.
Borrowing terms from theater and film production, Building (,) Set (,) Prop repurposes a Somerville industrial warehouse into an architecture depot for the city by critically translating the existing building finishes and inserting “theatrical” elements conceptualized as “sets”, “props”, or “set-props” into the as-found structure. These elements provide storage for physical materials, backdrops to curate new civil memories, and spaces for managerial activities. Each category possesses a different life span for inhabitation and interactions.
The project advocates the democratization of cultural heritage and seeks to subvert the traditional archival typology through performative and participatory means. It also raises questions about the visibility and construction of collective memories and their public access, eventually blurring the boundary between the “front of house/on the scene” and the “back of house/behind the scene.”
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Creator
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Tang, Yijia
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Subject
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Architecture
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Design
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Theater
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Contributor
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May, John JM
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Date
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2023-05-24T04:04:04Z
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2023
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2023-05-23
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2023-05
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2023-05-24T04:04:04Z
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Type
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Thesis or Dissertation
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text
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Format
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application/pdf
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application/pdf
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Identifier
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Tang, Yijia. 2023. Building (,) Set (,) Prop. Master's thesis, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
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30523114
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https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37375329
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Language
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en