Colman, Scott2012-09-052012-09-052012-09-052012-09-052012-052012-09-05May 2012English, Elena. "Manifesting Exchange." (2012) Master’s Thesis, Rice University. <a href="https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64599">https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64599</a>.https://hdl.handle.net/1911/64599Exchange is at the core of public space. Whether trading products or sharing information, exchange between people produces social interactions and spatialized hubs of activity. Without exchange public spaces fail. Today, the Internet threatens older methods of spatialized exchange as people communicate through email, pay bills electronically, and shop online. These despatialized forms of exchange are having a damaging impact on previously functioning public spaces such as the post office and retail stores. Distribution centers, meanwhile, are thriving as product exchange points but they remain completely invisible and inaccessible to the customer. With the United States Postal Service in rapid decline, once monumental buildings will soon be abandoned. Taking advantage of the existing infrastructure of post offices, I am proposing a centrally located public distribution center; giving online companies a physical presence in the city, monumentalizing the currently despatialized market, and reintroducing the public to the exchange process.application/pdfengCopyright is held by the author, unless otherwise indicated. Permission to reuse, publish, or reproduce the work beyond the bounds of fair use or other exemptions to copyright law must be obtained from the copyright holder.Post officeDistribution centersExchangeNew YorkPenn StationThesis2012-09-05123456789/ETD-2012-05-34