New Suburbanism Learning From Suburbia

Why does current architecture not address suburban spaces? Suburban spaces are the bulk of what is seen in Atlanta Georgia; and are the most common lived space these spaces are known as Sprawl, this sprawl seen in Atlanta can be described as fragmented, contradictory, corporate, smooth, additive and ever expanding. Suburban spaces are also airy, convenient and it addresses the needs of our current societal needs. What happens when you embrace and intensify the junkspaces and non-places seen in suburbia? How do you live with the parking lot, the big box store and the strip mall? This thesis is about this design challenge, how do you embrace these common spaces and qualities through re-composition and layering of the non-place. In Learning from Las vegas, Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown studied and used the design principles of the the Las Vegas Strip to create new forms and concepts in architecture. Along the same line, Rem Koolhaas has theorized about these spaces in Junkspace. Their work shows the result of embracing these common spaces. This research seeks to perform similar studies focusing on the spaces of Atlanta Georgia. This research will document the suburban typologies of Atlanta and perform precedent analysis of relevant projects. This research seeks to critically look at suburban architecture and understands its design principles to embrace and amplify the common spaces of Atlanta Georgia.