The Infrastructural Space of Appearance
Neeraj Bhatia (Author)
Research Advisors: Alexander D'Hooghe, Ann Pendleton-Jullian, Richard Sennett, & William J. Mitchell.

The Infrastructural Space of Appearance examines the dilemma of the common object in a liberal pluralist society.  Situating the arguments in Hannah Arendt’s The Human Condition, the thesis investigates the notion of the Space of Appearance in the contemporary city as providing a common platform for exchange.  This Space of Appearance is conceived of through the linking of two public and democratic infrastructures – massive transport lines and the public library – creating a space for action and speech while affirming the reality provided by the public realm.

Using Toronto, Ontario as a case study of multicultural pluralism, the location of Southern Ontario as an ambiguous island in North America is examined as a precursor to Toronto’s multicultural success.  Within Toronto, a similarly ambiguous island exists, and is ironically entitled “CityPlace”.  CityPlace is an island formed and bounded through massive infrastructural separation, while simultaneously at the convergence of the city’s flows.  It is this “neither zone” of both Southern Ontario, and more locally, CityPlace that is believed to strengthen its ability to embrace pluralism.  An urban design proposal for this foreign island of CityPlace investigates the common object in pluralism at the scale of the city.

Lastly, The Infrastructural Space of Appearance investigates the common object in pluralism at the scale of architecture, namely the public library.  Through situating the discourse of the library in a historic lineage, the thesis examines the current dilemmas in library design.  From here, a new typology is developed which directly addresses these new challenges, the CityPlace island, and Arendt’s notion of plurality.  As the medium of library information increasingly transforms to non-spatially bound forms, the primary role of the new typology is repositioned as its ability to provide a common meeting ground for the city.  Through an investigation of pluralism, the thesis proposes an Infrastructural Space of Appearance that provides a collective platform for exchange at the scale of the city and building.

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