Digital Commons Network^™

Body As Instrument: Crafting A Spatial Representational Language For The Dancer's Body, Avery Boland

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This project explored the intersection of dance and architecture using choreography, photography, and architectural principles through the development and application of a graphic notation system. Focused on the works of modern dance pioneer Martha Graham and photographer Barbara Morgan, the study tested the representation of the body in space through the use of Graham's choreography as captured by Morgan.

The results of the study demonstrated the effectiveness of the representational language in capturing the spatial dynamics of the human body in Martha Graham's choreography through the notation of “frame” and “plane”. Through a comparative analysis of the selected dances, the …

Biophilic Design Strategies In Healthcare: Using Nature To Promote Wellness In Small-Scale Mental And Behavioral Health Facilities, Skyler Peckham

University Honors Theses

Designing spaces that promote the health and well-being of the general public has been a highly debated topic for several centuries within the disciplines of architecture, urban planning, and other similar fields. As more research has been done throughout the years, the notion of utilizing nature to promote wellness has become a prominent design strategy. Through the examination of a wide range of scholarship regarding the benefits that nature has for human health and connecting this research to the biophilic evidence-based design strategies of healthcare facilities, I aim to highlight what design aspects truly promote wellness for patients in small-scale …

Lifelink, Yuan Yuan

Masters Theses

The primary focus of this research is to investigate the historical evolution of urban planning in California and its current urban landscape. The aim is to propose an alternative transit reality for Californians, envisioning a more significant impact not only on urban planning but also on their lifestyles.

Reform Craft | Re-Form Clay, Katherine Badenhausen

Masters Theses

In an era of rapid globalization, architecture faces the challenge of balancing local cultural identity with global influences. This project explores the critical issue of how the loss of traditional craft is resulting in the erosion of visual identity in architecture. It advocates for an architectural approach that resists the placelessness and rootlessness often seen in modern construction, which frequently results from standardized building practices.

The thesis emphasizes the importance of a deeper engagement with materials and their crafting, highlighting the need for an understanding of local, cultural, and environmental impacts to promote sustainable and meaningful architectural practices. By focusing …

Design With Decay, Charlotte Wyman

Masters Theses

The following project is an exploration and argument for greater acceptance of material change. The argument finds its narrative through the story of five historic coastal properties in Rhode Island that have become increasingly threatened by rising sea levels.

Despite undergoing foundation upheaval, relocation and leveling onto stilts, all but two homes remain intact. This project is a proposal for an alternative past in which the homes are not moved or raised, but instead ushered into states of decay that challenge our notions around sub-natures and their viability.

Culinary Community: Collaborative Relationship Building Through Improvisational Fine Dining, Victoria Goodisman

Masters Theses

I am redesigning the fine dining experience to create a space for community building and forming new interpersonal bonds. In response to the pandemic, people learned the pressing need for face to face connection. The current landscape of fine dining inadvertently perpetuates isolation by creating a hierarchical dynamic that separates customers from service staff. This project proposes a restaurant where patrons actively participate in creating their dining experience, blurring the lines between customers and staff. By understanding the restaurant experience through the lens of performance and improvisational theater, we can redefine how people engage with this space. Customers collectively assume …

Memoryscapes: A Study Of Memory And Experience In Architecture, Jacob Granger

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Thesis statement

Architecture and urban spaces are fundamental in shaping both personal and collective memories, serving as the physical manifestations of narratives that define and inform community identity and individual experiences. This thesis asserts that urban design and architectural features extend beyond their utilitarian functions to actively craft and influence these memories. By intertwining intentional design with memory, architecture not only reflects but also molds our understanding of communal identity and historical narratives. This perspective offers a unique exploration of the interplay between tangible structures and the intangible experiences they foster, illustrating how architecture does not merely mirror reality but …

Politics Of Urban Design: Racist Agendas Built Into The Environment, Chassidy Titley

Senior Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Cover, Uncover: The Changing Face Of Architecture On Locust Street, Cora Trout

MFA in Illustration & Visual Culture

Locust Street was once a vibrant banking and commercial district in downtown St. Louis. Today, it is an untidy collection of new, old, dilapidated, semi-intact, restored, and vacant buildings punctuated by crumbling parking lots and garages threatening imminent collapse. To understand why, we must reassemble Locust Street. As St. Louis watched its wealthy, white population flock to the suburbs at mid-century, the revitalization of the decaying urban center became one of the city’s primary preoccupations. Beginning in the early 1950s, a calculated and conscious physical transformation of the central business district began, lasting through the 1960s. This essay, which integrates …

Interdisciplinary Couture: A Translation From Fashion To Architecture, Michael Toache

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Haute Couture or ‘high dressmaking’ is a term used for fashion designers to implement one-of-a-kind designs custom fit for an exclusive collection. Within the realm of design, there lies a relationship between fashion and architecture. Humans formed the earliest iterations of spatial boundaries by implementing weaving techniques made with plant fibers and posts. We created fences before we clothed ourselves. Weaving these boundaries or textile walls was instituted in some of the earliest forms of architecture still used today. The process of design that drives the creation of the spaces we inhabit today is created by the same beginnings as …

Evolving Comforts [Reimagination Of The Homestead Community Based On Flexible Living, Adaptability And Self-Sufficiency, Tyler Quick

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

"Evolving Comforts" investigates the design of adaptable housing components to facilitate flexible, sustainable, and self-sufficient living, in form of a community homestead. The research explores how adaptable housing solutions can foster a more flexible lifestyle while promoting sustainability and cost efficiency. Innovative material options are scrutinized to ensure both flexibility and sustainability in developing housing components. Effective joinery techniques balancing ease of replacement, reuse, and transport are examined. Additionally, strategies for creating the desired homestead community environment and achieving net-zero energy goals are proposed. Through this study, a solution emerges for reimagining housing for those seeking simplified, more …

Architronics: Utilizing Virtual Reality In Architectural Pedagogy, Constantine Lambros

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This research is about integrating the recent advancements in VR technology as a way to ‘playtest’ and design in architectural pedagogy. To better gauge the interest in VR and prove the need for VR integration, surveys were conducted among students and faculty within KSU’s College of Architecture and Construction Management (CACM).

A ‘site analysis’ was then conducted within surrounding firms in the greater Atlanta area, leading to precedent studies of local firms that use VR in their practice. By utilizing the firms advancements, this shed new light into how VR could be implemented into architectural pedagogy, and why it hasn’t …

Stitching Atlanta's Hbcus: Campus Design As The Site Of Integration, Nicole James

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The DEI initiatives, which aim to cultivate an institutional culture at the intersection of diversity, inclusivity, and equity, have permeated every corner of public life. One can trace these initiatives to the rise of multiculturalism in the 1960s civil rights and other emancipatory movements that demanded the recognition of differences in general and ethnic, gender, religion, and cultural differences in particular. In architecture, however, the discourse of intersectionality arrived late and only in a fragmentary fashion. While Edward Soja, Saskia Sassen, David Harvey, Henri Lefebvre, among others, have underlined different dimensions of the relationship between space and politics, the intersection …

In Search Of A Blind Tiger: A Cultural And Historic Landscape Analysis Of Prohibition-Era Charleston, Chloe Martin

All Theses

Though Charleston, South Carolina is known as a historic city, many of its historic landscapes lack representation within modern compiled histories. One such landscape is that of Dispensary and Prohibition-era Charleston, which can be defined as the period between 1893, with the ratification of The Dispensary Act, and the repeal of the National Prohibition in 1933. This thesis research documents and assesses the cultural and historic landscape of the Charleston peninsula during the Dispensary and Prohibition eras. This study intends to create a baseline with which this period in Charleston can be studied, both culturally and architecturally.

The primary data …

Reclaiming Tremé: A Design Research Thesis, Tori Dunston

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Reclaiming Tremé explores the potential for design to support the well-being of the oldest African American neighborhood divided by urban highway projects in the US. This comprehensive thesis that seeks to improve the well-being the neighborhood using precedents, historical context, and the quantifiable architectural goals of WELL v2, to present a design solution for Tremé. Through understanding the current communities needs and having historical context of the area, the design strategy focuses on creating a vibrant cultural core that enhances the community's well-being. By integrating new structures and amenities, preserving cultural heritage, and enhancing physical and social infrastructure, the project …

Mapping Stratcom: The Architecture Of Offutt, The U.S. Military, And Strategic Command, Anna Miles

Honors Theses

Architecture and the military have always been intertwined. The built environment both on and off U.S. military installations responds to the events, history, and influences of the military. This project explores one example of this by investigating the history of the United States Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), headquartered at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska, through the lens of architecture.

When exploring USSTRATCOM, this project aims to understand not only its history, but also its impact: on Offutt, on the world, and most importantly, on architecture. Firstly, the project explores the history of the military in the state of Nebraska and …

The Effect Of Natural Light On Mental Health, Gianna Arquilla

Honors Projects

All students have experienced low motivation at one point in their academic career, but what are the factors that can affect this? Is it solely based on their personality and work ethic, or can the environment have an effect? This study discusses the effects on mental health through architecture. Can the amount of natural light in a building affect the motivation of students? Natural light is something that is often overlooked, mostly considered as a perk rather than a necessity. How can students truly feel passionate about their work sitting in a dark place? To evaluate this data, this study …

Efficient, Affordable, And Accessible (Eaa) House Design, Jack Holohan, Matthew Carpenter, Faith Dalton, Payton Tindal

Scholar Week 2016 - present

Recent trends in the housing market, along with household income disparities, underscore the need for efficient, affordable, and accessible (EAA) housing for middle to lower-middle-income families. The EAA House Design project presents an alternative solution through a detailed set of construction documents encompassing architectural, electrical, mechanical, structural, plumbing, and interior design. Revit software was used to plan, design, and manage the project. The completed project will be submitted for the National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying (NCEES) Engineering Education Award.

Health And Healthcare: Designing For The Social Determinants Of Health And Blue Zones In North Nashville, Rebecca Tonguis, Honor Thomas, Olivia Hobbs

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Owned by North Nashville’s First Community Church, a now empty site in the Osage-North Fisk neighborhood of North Nashville has been identified as a potential site for a new location of The Store, in addition to a community-centric architectural development based on the social determinants of health and informed by the principles behind Blue Zones, the locations with the highest lifespans in the world. Opened by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, The Store is a free grocery store that “allow[s] people to shop for their basic needs in a way that protects dignity and fosters hope”, for which North Nashville …

Photography, Architecture, And Environment: An Architectural Analysis Of Edward Ruscha’S 26 Gasoline Stations, Rebecca Tonguis

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This presentation explores Edward Ruscha’s photobook 26 Gasoline Stations through an architectural lens. Specifically, it treats Ruscha’s work as historic evidence of how consumption, industry, and commodity have infiltrated all kinds of environmental contexts through architectural manifestations. Known for being the first artist’s book, 26 Gasoline Stations ambiguously exists as both fine art and documentation of everyday conditions, with the overall graphic character highlighting its perceived focus on overarching narrative. Since gasoline stations are the primary subject of each of the 26 photographs, the subject of this work is arguably architecture, suggesting that the historic relationship between mass gas consumption—or …

From Affordable To Equitable: An Analysis Of Affordable Housing As A Solution In A National Shortage, Machelle Cooper

Honors Theses

Amid a national shortage of housing, the United States needs housing solutions that both remedy infrastructural concerns imposed by outdated standards of urban development and address a widespread lack of equity across several urban areas. Conventional approaches to public housing have proven ineffective in promoting equitable change within underdeveloped contexts. These areas desire innovative, intentional interventions that adequately address all aspects of their social, economic, and environmental needs that existing patterns of development have neglected for decades. Public and state sentiments regarding areas of concentrated poverty and segregation in urban space must change for a future of equitable housing to …

Exploring Imageability Through Architecture To Study Neuroscience: Preliminary Results Of A Systemic Review, Cristian Maestre, Shana Garza, Silvia Mejia-Arango, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Gladys E. Maestre

Research Symposium

Background: Neuroscience and architecture are often combined to study the impact of environment, physical spaces, colors, shapes, and buildings on brain activity and health. This is an emerging field with distinct areas examining architecture in relation to neuroscience. Among the numerous elements of architecture, imageability seems to be of particular interest. Imageability refers to the quality of a physical space that evokes strong images in people’s mind, and influence cognitive functions including visual, memory, and spatial recall. It is hypothesized that environments, spaces, and buildings with poor imageability might negatively affect cognition, behavior, and brain health. Diverse studies have been …

Visualizing Voices: Exploring The Use Of Architectural Visualization To Present Complex Qualitative Findings, Oriana Abboud Armaly

The Qualitative Report

In this paper, I discuss the promising use of visual architectural drawings to present findings of qualitative studies, particularly when dealing with a complex, multidimensional human experience. I examine an interdisciplinary integration between qualitative research and architecture that embraces visual elements. I propose using visual drawings borrowed from architecture as a tool to present deep meanings of human experience within a social phenomenon and make the findings visually transparent. The architectural drawings offer distinct views: one provides an overall view of the building, while the other exposes its hidden layers. I employ this visual means to highlight deep meanings obtained …

Digitizing Delphi: Educating Audiences Through Virtual Reconstruction, Kate Koury

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Implementing a 3D model into a virtual space allows the general public to engage critically with archaeological processes. There are many unseen decisions that go into reconstructing an ancient temple. Analysis of available materials and techniques, predictions of how objects were used, decisions of what sources to reference, puzzle piecing broken remains together, and even educated guesses used to fill gaps in information often go unobserved by the public. This work will educate users about those choices by allowing the side-by-side comparison of conflicting theories on the reconstruction of the Tholos at Delphi, which is an ideal site because of …

Reframing Perceptions Of Signares In French Colonial Senegal, Gabriela E. Weaver

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Fifteenth to nineteenth-century French Colonial Senegal was a period of unprecedented cultural contact and convergence in Western Africa. With these interactions came new social hierarchies and the emergence of the signare identity. Signares were wealthy mixed-race and African Women who became involved with French men. This paper examines nineteenth-century art by Frenchman David Boilat and Stanislas Darondeau, and the eighteenth-century house of signare Anne Pepin. It critiques the racism and sexism depicted within Boilat and Darondeau’s work as well as its misinterpretations by contemporary scholars Mark Hinchman and George E. Brooks. Signares were knowledgeable entrepreneurs rather than manipulative and seductive …

Deconstructing The Blueprint For Infringement: Remedying Flawed Interpretations Of The § 120(A) Exception To Architecture Copyrights, Margalit Zimand

Kernochan Center for Law, Media, and the Arts

Drafting the Architectural Works Copyright Protection Act of 1990 (“AWCPA”) consisted of a bizarre hodgepodge of considerations. Ostensibly, the goal of the Act was to bring the United States unquestionably into compliance with the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, which the United States had just recently joined, with as minimal an impact on U.S. law as possible. In reality, this goal — itself not without built-in tensions — was but one of several competing forces at play in the drafting process. The other forces generally fell into three camps. There were the proponents of preserving …

Beyond Aesthetics: Antoni Gaudí'S Revolutionary Use Of Biomimicry, Biomorphism, And Biosynchronization In Architectural Design, Yechan Sung

MA Theses

This paper explores the evolving paradigm of sustainable development in response to increasing issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and ozone depletion. Recognizing the inherent connection between architecture and nature, the study highlights the substantial benefits that nature provides for human habitation. A rising trend in organic or nature-inspired projects reflects the increasing prominence of contemporary architecture, which aims to harmonize human needs with the natural environment. The application of nature in architecture extends beyond aesthetics, encompassing well-being, sustainability, economic benefits, and climate resilience. These broader environment-friendly elements were meticulously incorporated into the architectural works of Antoni Gaudi, who …

Moonshine Babies, Arghavan Heydareslam

Theses and Dissertations

Moonshine Babies is a two-screen film made of collage/cut-out stop-motion and live-action. It is a visual poem based on my journals from when I recently started living in the US as an outsider. The experience left me feeling divided between the empty present and memories of the past. suggesting that there are collective memories among a group of interconnected individuals that unite them within a single narrative.

There was a moment when I asked, "If you are your memories, what does it mean to be somewhere you have no memories of and no one has memories of you there?"

Memories …

The Past Informing The Future: An Interview With Earl Santee, Populous, Rachel Hickey

Journal of Applied Sport Management

The facility expert in focus is Earl Santee, a senior principal, global chair, and founder at Populous. Populous is the leading architectural and design firm in the sport facility sector. Santee, having been has been recognized for numerous awards, including the Sports Business Journal’s 2019 Class of the Champions: Pioneers & Innovators in Sports Business, is excellently positioned to offer an expert perspective on the past, present, and future of sport facility design

Barriers To Use Of Cross-Laminated Timber In Maine, Shane R. O'Neill

Forest Resources Faculty Scholarship

To increase understanding of both the adoption rate and in-state manufacturing of mass timber In Maine, the 131^st Legislature and Governor Mills passed LD 881, a resolve directing a study of the barriers facing cross-laminated timber In Maine and provide recommendations to promote their use in construction. This study was developed in response to the resolve. The study engaged 108 unique participants to define available training, education, and experiences across the stakeholders throughout the building lifecycle process in the state.

From this information, the following five recommendations are proposed:

1. Understand the policies and initiatives of other states to develop …