AN EXPLORATION OF SMALL TOWN SENSIBILTIES by Lucas William Winter A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in Architecture MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana April 2010 ©COPYRIGHT by Lucas William Winter 2010 All Rights Reserved ii APPROVAL of a thesis submitted by Lucas William Winter This thesis has been read by each member of the thesis committee and has been found to be satisfactory regarding content, English usage, format, citation, bibliographic style, and consistency and is ready for submission to the Division of Graduate Education. Steven Juroszek Approved for the Department of Architecture Faith Rifki Approved for the Division of Graduate Education Dr. Carl A. Fox iii STATEMENT OF PERMISSION TO USE In presenting this thesis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a master’s degree at Montana State University, I agree that the Library shall make it available to borrowers under rules of the Library. If I have indicated my intention to copyright this thesis by including a copyright notice page, copying is allowable only for scholarly purposes, consistent with “fair use” as prescribed in the U.S. Copyright Law. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this thesis in whole or in parts may be granted only by the copyright holder. Lucas William Winter April 2010 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. THESIS STATEMENT AND INRO…...........................................................................1 2. HISTORY…....................................................................................................................4 3. INTERVIEW - WARREN AND ELIZABETH RONNING….....................................14 4. INTERVIEW - BOB BARTHELMESS.…………………...…....................................20 5. INTERVIEW - RUTH BROWN…………………………...…....................................27 6. INTERVIEW - VIRGINIA COFFEE …………………………...................................31 7. CRITICAL REGIONALISM AS RESPONSE TO GLOBALIZATION…………......38 8. SENSIBILITIES…………………………….……………...…....................................43 9. ELDERLY CARE…………………………...…...........................................................48 10. CASE STUDY 1 - TOLO HOUSE…...…………………...…....................................56 11. CASE STUDY 2 - FOUR SEASONS HOME …………...…....................................57 12. CASE STUDY 3 - MAGNEY HOUSE…………………...…....................................59 13. CASE STUDY 4 - GREGORY FARMHOUSE…………..…....................................62 14. CASE STUDY 2 - THE INDIAN STEPWELL…………..…....................................64 15. PROGRAM…...…………………...…........................................................................66 16. SPACE ADJACENCIES…...…………………...…...................................................69 17. SITE ANALYSIS……...…...…………………...…...................................................70 18. CODE SEARCH…...…………………...…................................................................84 19. FINAL PROJECT…...…………………...…..............................................................98 BIBLIOGRPAHY…...…………………...…..................................................................108 v LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 16-1. Space Adjacencies …...................................................……........................69 17-1. General mapping of Miles City ……………...............……........................71 17-2. Miles City weather data…..............................................………..................74 17-3. Buildings lost in fire…………. ……………....................……...................75 17-4. Highway 59…….. …....................................................………....................77 17-5. Main Street………………… …………….....................…….....................78 17-6. Site …...............................................................................……....................78 17-7. Neighboring Businesses…….. …………….........................……...............79 17-8. Distances to other amenities.............................................. ……..................82 19-1. Ground Floor Plan…………. …………….......................……...................98 19-2. Second Floor Plan …….. …..........................................………...................99 19-3. Third Floor Plan ……… …………….....................……….......................100 19-4. HVAC Diagram....................................................... ……..........................101 19-5. Sun Shelf Diagram………….. ……………............……….......................102 19-6. Miniature Plan Diagrams.............................................. …….....................103 19-7. Longitudinal Section.......................................................... ……................103 19-8. Lateral Section…………......................................................………..........104 19-9.Elevations…….…………......................................................…….............104 19-10.Exterior Rendering…….......................................................…….............104 19-11.Interior Rendering 1…………...................................................................105 vi LIST OF FIGURES CONTINUED Figure Page 19-12.Interior Rendering 2…………...................................................................105 19-13.Wall Section 1…………...........................................................................106 19-14.Wall Section 2…………...........................................................................107 vii ABSTRACT This thesis will explore the design process of creating a contextually appropriate building by responding to sensibilities gleaned from a series of local narratives. The resulting architectural exploration is a three story elderly housing project in downtown Miles City, Montana. 1 CHAPTER 1 THESIS STATEMENT AND INRO Buildings exert important cultural influence, both through the effect they have on the daily lives of their inhabitants as well as how they engage the local population aesthetically and functionally. When a city has lost prominent downtown buildings, one would hope that these structures are rebuilt with a careful understanding of both the site and the community. Miles City has these very concerns as it recovers from the massive spring 2009 downtown fire. This thesis will explore the design process of creating a contextually appropriate building by responding to sensibilities gleaned from a series of local narratives. The use of narratives as a vehicle for exploration of design pertains to the unique human characteristic of using stories as a communication of self. Stories are an incredibly powerful representation of our lives. Even such progressive scholarly thought as quantum mechanic entanglement theory is illustrated by the famous analogous story of Schrödinger’s cat. It must be recognized that there are many ways to address the design of a contextually appropriate building scheme. However, the hope of this thesis is to provide vision unclouded by the glazed over eyes of lofty abstract theories. Miles City is a traditional small town in the sense that most people earn their keep by the sweat of their brow and the dirt at their feet. They are a people connected more to the earth than the internet. It would be inappropriate to introduce an architecture based on wild theoretical 2 speculations. Instead, the following pages propose the design of a downtown Miles City building inspired by the anthropology of the local citizens. Interviews and personal interaction with life long residents of the area will focus on two areas of interest: site and culture. First, questions and conversation specifically addressing the site will collect important information from those who are acutely attuned to the wants and needs of the community. Secondly, life stories provide an engaging way of understanding local culture. Specifically this thesis will be dealing with an interesting social dynamic unique to the context of small agricultural towns like Miles City. As farmers and ranchers age they are often no longer able work on their land and consequently move into town where they will be closer to hospitals, grocers, and other amenities. This move is a huge interruption to these people’s lifestyle. This thesis will be using narratives to design elderly apartments addressing this situation in hopes of easing the transition from independence in an expansive rural landscape to varying degrees of independence within an urban environment. To provide background on the people and Miles City way of life this book will begin with a short summary of Miles City’s vibrant history. Following, four narratives will provide the backbone for exploration. Culled from numerous interviews these four narratives present a variety of people connected to the ideas being explored. From here 3 the book will begin to conceptualize how to apply these narratives to an architectural design project. Once this driving theory has been laid out the thesis will springboard into studies of elderly care, case studies, program, a code search and finally the design concept. 4 CHAPTER 2 HISTORY Just east of the Rockies lies a harsh and lonely landscape. Formally the floor of the Bear Paw sea, it sits as a unique eulogy to a landscape nearly unscathed by man’s conquest and propagation. As described by author Jonathan Raban “[the landscape] fattens you with self-importance to be so alone, and so conspicuous a figure, in an arena whose enormous circumference reduces you to a dot. You’re very big and very little all at once-and being both, are neither…you walk, a bit unsteadily, back to the car,