Digital Commons Network^™

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …

The Second Home: Breaking The Cycle Of Lonely Death, Woohee Kim

Masters Theses

Lonely Death Syndrome is a phenomenon in which an isolated person suffers a lack of social relationships and dies alone. This is a serious problem in modern South Korea, particularly among poor elderly people living in Seoul. Though the government has tried to help, there is an obvious bureaucratic limit in resolving the sense of loneliness. In Seoul, Nowon-gu is one of the districts that has the highest concentration of poor seniors, and high-rise rental housing built for this population. These apartments are uniform in design in order to house as many people as possible economically in a limited space, …

Generating Tension : Memorial Of Sexual Slavery, Mary Park

Masters Theses

War crimes, such as slavery and rape can lead to hatred between countries of perpetrators and victims, souring political relationships for generations. Memorials of these atrocities are the physical indication of an effort, however nascent, to continue the dialogue and keep questioning the tragic history. The memorial as a reminder of a specific incident, not only changes the relationship of surrounding spaces within the site but also between different groups that are engaged in that specific history.

In South Korea, the history of sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II has been a major cause of …

Practicing A Senior Living, Siyu Shuai

Masters Theses

Implementation of China’s family planning policy fundamentally changed the traditional core family structure. The family size has become ever smaller, breaking the traditional family model in which three-generation or even four-generation cohabitate. The 4-2-1 family structure (4 grandparents, 2 parents, and 1 child) has become mainstream. This has caused an explosion of senior family and elderly living alone, which now represents a significant social issue in China.

The Chinese government has recognized and responded to the lonely elder problem by creating the so-called Senior Citizen University. The SCU serves as a welcome place in the community, for elder entertainment, study …

Ciudad Informal : A New Model For Urban Living, Rebeca Isabel Peña Reinoza

Masters Theses

Why should the poor be forced to live in slums on the periphery of the city when there are empty high-rises in the center? Housing scarcity and densification are increasing challenges in cities as a consequence of urbanization and displacement of communities. By performing a study on informal settlements in the city of Caracas, acknowledging both their strengths and weaknesses, this thesis explores vertical communities and the potential to convert unused high-rise buildings into accessible housing solutions. The Tower of David is both a precedent and the host structure for this thesis, which aims to analyze how collective effort and …

Remembering Culture In The Modern Era : Cultural Center Spa Grössling, Alex Trajanov-Godmas

Masters Theses

Review and explanation of the important questions. Culture, tradition and heritage are important terms in a country’s history. Once these terms are no longer present or forgotten about, the country suffers, therefore this problem needs a solution.

Purpose After Tragedy, Elena Tepavac

Masters Theses

Psychological trauma arises through the experience of conflict, such as war, fire, and terrorism. People exposed carry fragments with them throughout their lifetime. Buildings hold a great significance in the fabric of the cities they inhabit, and can also become vessels for trauma. They carry the gift of keeping memories alive even as they succumb to ruins.

One such building is the RTS- Radio Television of Serbia, located in the center of Belgrade, Serbia. During the Kosovo War of the late 1990’s, NATO saw this media center as a target because of its communication ties to the Yugoslav Armed Forces …

Amending The Idle : An Analysis Of Urban Idle Spaces + Third Places, Paige Davidson

Masters Theses

The term Third Places describes a space located outside work and home where individuals can socialize with their friends or those in their community, and talking more about their personal interests and or current news. Amending urban idle spaces into the setting for engineered, social interactions between city dwellers will bring more connection and a new sense of social interaction throughout cities.

What sets third places apart from most public spaces, such as coffee shops or restaurants, is that there is no associated cost. Third places help eliminate the specific demographic inclination based in socioeconomics to the other public spaces …