Agora: Implementing wood into urban, public architecture for the culture of dialogue
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Program
Architecture and urban design (MPARC), MSc
Publicerad
2021
Författare
Kidron, Mathias
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
In the ancient civilizations of Greece and Rome, the heart of every city was
the Agora or the Forum. Public spaces where people met, socialized, traded,
got their news, discussed, debated and made decisions. Places where ideas,
knowledge and goods were exchanged. Today, the format of these interactions
have gone from analogue to digital. What once was a specific physical space
is now available everywhere and anywhere, with both positive and negative
consequences. With the degeneration of the public debate and discussion
climate, along with polarization and threats towards freedom of speech, both
digital and in real life, could architecture play a role in improving the state of
these subjects?The aim of this master thesis project is to investigate how the
antique forums and the modern internet forums and social media platforms
could be combined and converted into a modern, wooden, free standing public
building. Wood has for long been seen as a material for smaller scales such as
villas, summerhouses or smaller apartment buildings. A material for cheap or
rural projects. Stone on the other hand, has always been considered the public,
urban material. A material that symbolizes the strength, wealth and
robustness of the eternal city. Traditionally, free standing public buildings made
out of stone were often inspired by the classical architecture of Rome and
Greece. However, the origins of these classical orders has its roots in early
archaic wooden architecture.
The proposal strives to create a sustainable architecture, both in terms of
architectural robustness as well as the use of sustainable materials. A wooden
construction has therefore been chosen as the main material for the thesis
investigation. With this in mind. How could wood be used to resurrect the lost
typologies of ancient Rome and Greece. Furthermore, how could these
classical references be translated into a contemporary, wooden, freestanding
public building, made for the freedom of speech and the joy of conversing