beginning abstract

My thesis is about transition as place. My initial research began with a study of the link between journeys and destinations. This study focused on how the destination could affect our journey. It evolved into a study of the way people transition to different places of all scales and how. The research looked at terminal design for subways, airports, and train stations, as well as walking, biking, and driving to see the effects at every scale. The thesis is primarily theory based; however site and program will help to give it substance and direct research.

Going into the design process I am beginning to look at aspects of automotive travel. This involves specifically the differences between back road travel and expressway travel of long trips. The comparison looks at how back roads can give a sense of place and connection while the expressway plows right through and past all around it. The research will be using mapping studies and collage analysis to compare the two. The idea will look at time, connection, and movement.

Also starting the design process I am studying the link between journey and destination by using graphic and photographic collage and montage. I am interested in seeing how two different places can relate through the journey between them and the affect each one has on the transition. This also aims to study the duration of the journey and its affects.

Too often when people speak of where they have been do they talk about points or cities or destinations they have gone to, while leaving out what occurred in between. This is what I hope to discover, what happens in between. The period of transition becomes forgotten as a void of time that exists without place. The design process will focus on how the transition can become a place.