Environmental and Conceptual Factors Affecting Building Design and Landscape in the Former United States Canal Zone, Panama.

摘要

The Panama Canal Zone existed as a secluded, U.S. owned, territory with its own governmental structure, from 1914-1999. The physical spaces created and modified by Canal Zone resident-employees were indicative of a unique society. There were three basic building phases: the initial establishment phase (1900-1920), which focused on establishing a U.S. presence in the region and constructing the Panama Canal; the post-establishment phases (1930s-1950s), which saw many significant social and political changes in the Canal Zone; and the pre-modern phase (1970s), which was a time of modernization and change. During this initial establishment phase, building design and arrangement took sanitation imperatives into consideration; communities were planned based on a system of segregation; and defense of the canal and Canal Zone was a major consideration. Building considerations during the post establishment phase related to expansion and municipal improvements; the advent of climate-control technology; an end to subsidized food and housing for Canal Zone residents; and defense. Factors affecting building design during the pre-modern phase included segregation/desegregation; modernization; and administrative changes after the Carter-Torrijos treaties, which required the canal and Canal Zone to be turned over to Panamanian authority in 1999. In addition to a unique style of building design and arrangement, there were perceptions of the natural environment that were indicative of Zonian society. One view, and perhaps the earliest in a chronological sense, is that the natural environment was the enemy; and that civilization was the ultimate example human victory over nature. Another, later, view, was that "nature" could be a source of aesthetic pleasure, but it should be controlled, and it was the function of society to control the natural environment. A final, and most recent, view is that "nature" represents a dynamic system of which humans are an inextricable part and that the natural environment needs to be preserved, as well as, protected from human activity. The Panama Canal is now completely run by the Panamanians with less than 5% of the workforce consisting of Zonians and non-Panamanians. Most Zonians left the isthmus in the years leading up to the turnover. A noticeable urbanization of the Zone has occurred since the turnover and residential buildings in the former Canal Zone have been modified in a number of significant ways. Utilizing archival research, historical and ethnohistorical analysis, participant observation; and the use of informants; this thesis examines the environmental and conceptual factors affecting building design and landscape in the former U.S. Canal Zone, Panama.