Toward fitness through adjustment over time : people, genius loci and climate

Author

Ziang Xu

Date of Award

8-2003

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Architecture

Major

Architecture

Major Professor

Mark DeKay

Abstract

The city and its architecture are the largest artifact that demonstrates the interaction of human beings, human culture and nature. Harmonious architecture is epitomized by fitness of the built environment, the natural environment and people who inhabit the built and natural environment. Fitness is the optimum relationship among the members in a system. It puts the members into a beneficial relationship with each other, which we call harmony. In today's architectural theory and practice, there are many different approaches that address fitness through the consideration of the relationship between the built environment, the natural environment and people. This thesis asserts that the fitness can only be gained through the integration of all three by the adjustment of their relationships over time. A holistic decoding, transmitting and encoding of the patterns of people's activities, the place's genius loci, and the local climate into a seedmap helps the consensus to occur among interdependent architects, who coherently adjust these relationships over time. Through the adjustment cycles, an architecture of fitness unfolds, placing human beings into a harmonious relationship with nature and culture.

Recommended Citation

Xu, Ziang, "Toward fitness through adjustment over time : people, genius loci and climate. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2003.
https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/5321