Thesis Statement (revised)

1 + Architectural sensibilities such as contextual and programatic responsiveness have the ability to redefine the nature and function of American highway construction.

3 + The purpose of this thesis is to ask a "what if" question about interstate travel based on a societal development which constantly encourages more speed and more efficiency.  In responding to an extreme case--high speed vehicle travel--where speed severely outweighs attentiveness, a new typology of Architecture may be necessary.  It would serve as a catalyst for future development which could potentially rethink the way we mobilize through space from the scale of the local to the global.

9 = The case study for this catalyst will be the Pennsylvania Turnpike which, when built over 60 years ago, carried design standards that exceeded other interstate systems and loosely resembled the American version of the Autobahn.  Certain design standards remain relevant but the turnpike is no longer treated as a luxury.  The turnpike failed to become the American Autobahn so the luxury of speed is obsolete, especially when other means of travel, such as by plane, are often cheaper and faster.  The mood of the average driver now is best defined by impatience.  In an attempt to preserve the will to travel by land, the new luxury of interstate travel might be geared towards experience.  An experience which runs many of the original design approaches of interstate construction through and architectural filter in order to create a mode of travel defined more specifically by space, time and context.  Looking at the turnpike within two major destinations--Pittsburgh and Philadelphia--there already exists a framework on which an architectural narrative can be constructed.  The research will include a thorough analysis of interstate design but an even more thorough analysis of the landscape to which the architecture must respond.  Developing a full understanding of urban, suburban, and, most importantly, rural Pennsylvania is both the challenge and the crutch to the success of the project.  The architectural problem focuses directly on the potentials of contextual responsiveness and the final product ought to reflect that entirely.