Temperature and dynamic form in contemporary hardscape environments

This thesis explores how the property of thermal expansion in building materials can be leveraged to express seasonality in hardscape environmental design. Four contemporary designed landscapes (Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, Theater Square, and Seattle Freeway Park) were selected for investigation on the basis of their predominant use of hardscape materials and perceived inability to express seasonality. Retrofit concepts were developed for each of those sites in accordance with the original intentions of its designer. Speculative applications for skate park design were then developed based on concepts that emerged from the first part of the design investigation, but ultimately not pursued as the main focus of this thesis. Instead, the south façade and plaza of Jean Nouvel’s Arab World Institute in Paris, France, was selected for a more intensive design-research process. Six resulting design scenarios suggest how both the modular façade and adjoining plaza could be retrofitted with hardscape building materials capable of responding to environmental temperature shifts