Architecture Commons^™

Human Capital In The City: Exploring The Relationship Between Skill And Productivity In Us Metropolitan Areas, Ryan Wallace

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

In economics, new growth theory suggests that knowledge creation and innovation are key drivers of growth. As a result, the ‘new economy’ is increasingly reliant upon the knowledge, skills, and abilities embodied in its workforce, also known as human capital, that facilitate the stimulation and generation of new ideas (Romer 1986, 1990 and Lucas 1988). This research contributes to the understanding of the relationship between stocks of human capital and economic output. I construct metrics to measure concentrations of basic worker skills using the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Information Network (O*NET) and employment estimates for 353 US metropolitan areas. …

Civic Center For Municipal Corporation Of Delhi, Akanksha Sharma

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The thesis project proposes to explore into the design possibilities for the Civic Center for Municipal Corporation of Delhi and extract the richness of the site conditions into architecture through means of computational design. The computational design approach will provide a degree of variance which will be an interesting thing to explore in terms of defining spaces, program and systems.. The design would hinge on to one of the major centers of Delhi and aim to enhance social permeability through means of forms and articulation of spaces. It would cater to all classes of people and help in promoting small …

Socio-Spatial Constructs Of The Local Retail Food Environment: A Case Study Of Holyoke, Massachusetts, Walter F. Ramsey

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This mixed-methods study addresses the relationship between the availability of food and realized food access by studying the retail food landscape of Holyoke, Massachusetts – a small, socio-economically diverse city. While a large body of empirical research finds that low-income communities and communities of color are especially likely to lack adequate access to healthy foods and experience increased vulnerability to food insecurity, few studies explore urban food environments through a mixed-methods case study approach. Through the use of food store mapping, store audits, and resident interviews, this research is a nascent attempt to articulate how the unique development histories and …

Reworking: Transforming A Textile Mill, Jennifer M. Hayes

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This project examines the adaptive reuse of a disused nineteenth century textile mill building in Gilbertville, Massachusetts. While the original form and structure of the building type was conducive to maximum production of goods, contemporary uses require different forms. Although other mills in New England have been reused for housing, museums, or professional offices, my goal was to propose a program that related to the building’s original function as a place where people worked. Because the unemployment rate is rising in Massachusetts in 2010, I propose that the mill be reused as a training center where people learn green building …

Evaluating Strategies To Create Successful Business Incubators In Massachusetts Gateway Cities, Sonya C. Smith

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis evaluates economic development, planning, public policy, and business strategies to create successful business incubators in Massachusetts’ post-industrial cities. These post-industrial cities in Massachusetts are dubbed “Gateway Cities” because they were once the economic engines of the region as well as areas of entry for many foreign-born residences to live and work. These cities have been recently plagued by high unemployment, poverty, and low business investment as many businesses, especially manufacturing, have located elsewhere. Legislation and policies involving redistribution of wealth to these Gateway Cities has recently been enacted to strengthen these communities. Although there currently isn’t a cohesive …

Economic, Demographic And Housing Trends In 495/Metrowest Region, Henry C. Renski, Kim Mckee

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Using School-Age Populations To Identify Hard-To- Count Populations: A Report To The Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Henry C. Renski, Susan Strate, John Gaviglio, Sonya Smith, Bill Proulx

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Design Collaboratory (Dc), Thomas Fowler

Architecture

The Design Collaboratory builds on the successful 46-year multi-disciplinary experience of this academic institution in developing an interdisciplinary design studio, which cultivates innovative models of practice. A team of professors, with over 40 years of collective cross disciplinary collaborative experience, and students from Architecture and Architectural (Structural) Engineering Departments with periodic involvement from the Construction Management Department (LEED workshop and student involvement on team) participate in a 20-week interdisciplinary design studio. This course has been taught since the 2007/08 academic year. This interdisciplinary team approach to building design has all disciplines involved from the inception of the building design project. …

Integrated Project Studio (Ips), Thomas Fowler

Architecture

A third year building design (BS) studio is integrated with a building environmental systems (BES) studio, which is referred to as the Integrated Project Studio. The same 18 students are in both the building design studio and the building environmental systems studio. The instructors for each studio, one an active practitioner who is a managing partner in a local firm and also a full time lecturer in the department and the second a full time academic (full professor) collaborate together on developing the content for both courses. The quarter starts of with a series of intense short workshops that used …

Challenging Computer Software Frontiers And The Human Resistance To Change, Jens Pohl

Architecture

This paper examines the driving and opposing forces that are governing the current paradigm shift from a data-processing information technology environment without software intelligence to an information-centric environment in which data changes are automatically interpreted withinthe context of the application domain. The driving forces are related to the large quantity of dataand the complexity of networked systems that both call for software intelligence. The opposing forces are non-technical and due to the natural human resistance to change.

Based on this background the paper describes current information-centric technology, proposes avision of intelligent software system capabilities, and identifies four areas of necessary …

The Space Of The Mask: From Stage To Ridotto, Marc J. Neveu

Architecture

In this chapter, I consider the means of participation within the public sphere of eighteenth- century Venice. My interest is to flesh out the nature of discourse within interior institutional spaces, and I will do so through a discussion of two related phenomena. First, I will examine the role of the mask, which by the eighteenth century had become synonymous with Venetian carnival and debauchery. Indeed, Venice in the eighteenth century gained much of its naughty reputation due to the exploits of Sior Maschere. Masks, however, were not only worn for amusement or the possibility of anonymous pleasure. During …

Laurel Community Farmstand, Terje Johansen

Horticulture and Crop Science

The project was for us to come up with a temporary farmstand that would be set up to sell fruits and vegetables but mainly to draw people to the area to bring awareness that there were plans to build a development at that location. Our group, Dana Curtice, Robert Vasilieff and Terje Johansen met with the developers three times. New ideas and information were presented in the first two meetings. The third meeting was to present our final design.

Nourishing Urbanism: A Case For A New Urban Paradigm, Lewis Knight, William Riggs

City and Regional Planning

True sustainability demands that we seek to more than ‘prop up’ traditional approaches to our environment; rather, it requires that we redress current shortcomings in the planning and design of our urban environment at both bio-regional and local scales. Nourishing Urbanism proposes a shift in the urban and non-urban paradigm relating to energy, water and food; all face significant climate-related challenges—and are united by land-use policy, planning and design. We need a renewed planning and design framework for cities and regions that allows the retrofitting of today's urbanity, and prepares our cities for a new tomorrow. Nourishing Urbanism seeks to …

Going Home Again, William Riggs

City and Regional Planning

In Thomas Wolfe’s 1940 novel You Can’t Go Home Again, the main character, George Webber, writes a novel that depicts his hometown is part of his home community. More than simply a case of vigilante exclusion, Webber's severed connection with his hometown is part of his exploration of a changing America, about the relationship between city and country and the tensions that surround a rapidly urbanizing country. This nostalgic disconnect has entered our lexicon to refer to the line between those who have moved to the “sophisticated” metropolis from the rural backwater (or perhaps now the bucolic suburb or …

Post-Disaster Assessment Of The Performance Of Hazard Mitigation Projects: The California Smart Approach, Michael R. Boswell, William Siembieda, Kenneth Topping

City and Regional Planning

California's SMART (State Mitigation Assessment Review Team) program for assessing natural hazard mitigation project performance after a disaster is a method of integrating multiple state agencies' expertise into a working tool for assessing the value of public investments in risk reduction. The intent of the SMART program is to provide the California Emergency Management Agency with information about the performance of publicly financed mitigation projects so that it can better allocate future funding and improve the overall safety of California. A key aspect of the program is the mobilization of California State University faculty and staff from across the state …

Assessment Formats: Student Preferences And Perceptions, Mairéad Seymour, Shannon Chance

Articles

This paper provides a student perspective on the variety of forms of design critique available to educators. In architecture and landscape architecture, the design jury remains the dominant format for providing feedback to students. In recent years this format has come under scrutiny and its effectiveness called into question. However, little research has been done into the variety of alternative or supplemental formats available to educators. This paper explores an array of techniques that the authors have employed in design studio courses (which include techniques suggested by students in Webster’s 2007 article in the Journal of Architectural Education). These include …

Treatises Cited In The Most Notable Antiquity, Rumiko Handa

Architecture Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Much debated is the authorship of The Most Notable Antiquity of Great Britain, Vulgarly Called Stone-Heng, on Salisbury Plain, Restored by Inigo Jones (London, 1655) for a number of reasons. Firstly, the book was published three years after Jones’s death, who was Surveyor for Prince Henry, King James I, and King Charles I. Secondly, it presented an erroneous interpretation that Stonehenge was a Roman temple dedicated to Coelus. Thirdly, John Webb, Jones’s assistant since 1628, claimed that he himself “compose[d] this Treatise” from the master’s “some few indigested notes.” By comparing the printed sources the book cited and those we …

Barrio Capital De Analco: A Living Capitol Neighborhood For Santa Fe, New Mexico, The 2009 Urban Design Studio, Andrew C. Von Maur, Paula Dronen, Daniel Acevedo

Books

Diverse cultures and the high desert have always defined the unique American story of Santa Fe. For centuries Santa Feans have shaped their city’s buildings and spaces for economic opportunity while conserving the precious natural resources of northern New Mexico. This history of continuous change and preservation has yielded the distinctive identity of Santa Fe. Its spirit and values are manifested in its people and culture, its art and architecture, and its health-giving natural beauty. Within this context, Santa Fe seeks to cultivate a Living Tradition, rooted in its past and anticipating the future. Restored and improved for the next …

Edra 41: Bibliography Of Books On Display, Kathleen Demsky

Bibliographies

edra 41 | Policy & The Environment | Washington, DC

Contemporary Practices In Sustainable Design: Appraisal And Articulation Of Emerging Trend, Archana Sharma

Architecture Publications and Other Works

Sustainable design is a phrase commonly used in the realms of design practice and yet the definition of the same remains quite fuzzy, thus providing the motivation for this research. The paper looks at contemporary sustainable design practices in the area of architecture design, building construction and landscape architecture. The objective is to understand what the term “sustainable design” really means as used in practice and what strategies are being employed towards the goal of sustainable development. The practices are assessed for their empathies as per the currently defined social, ecological, economical well-being goals of sustainable development. The paper concludes …