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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 …

Desert Safe Haven, Deja Dortch

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The purpose of this thesis is to inform on the materials, technologies, spaces and structure needed to architecturally and sustainably achieve human comfort and create a mother nature-proof safe haven in the becoming harsh climate of the USA. All the while implementing minimum HVAC, using primarily passive and active systems towards a net zero home. Studies have shown there is a real threat with the rate in which the climate is changing. Temperatures are rising worldwide which is causing droughts, more frequent fires, glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise, more severe hurricanes and storms, etc. Sustainability is a way …

Empowering Communities Through Food Entrepreneurship And Creative Placemaking, Bailey Kijek

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The City of Clarkston is one of Atlanta’s oldest and most diverse communities. The city is currently in need of tactical placemaking strategies to create quality public spaces that can serve and unite the members of the community. This thesis seeks to identify the needs of the city using a comprehensive site analysis and apply that knowledge to determine a program that is best suited for the community. To create an impactful design, applicable placemaking procedures will be identified through literature review and case study analyses. The data collected will inform a design procedural that will yield an outcome that …

Turning Green: Envisioning A Sustainable Future For Bowling Green, Kiana Fitzpatrick

Honors Projects

This project examines how smaller cities and communities can become more sustainable.

Toward An Afrofuturist Landscape: A Refutation Of The Deceptive Aesthetics Of Spatial Violence In Wynberg, Cape Town, Benjamin Perry Levy

Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Statement of Purpose: This essay represents a continuation of work that I was fortunate enough to be able to begin while I was studying abroad at the University of Cape Town in South Africa during the spring 2022 semester. Beyond this, however, this paper represents an exploratory dive into the spatial humanities, particularly with regard to architecture, history, and landscape–an interest of mine that has developed (and which I hope to pursue more [in/ex]tensively in my graduate studies) as I have had the opportunity to learn from Professor Walter Greason, one of my mentors here at Macalester College. Throughout this …

The Tree Of Life: Observations From The Olive Grove, Kendall Lowery

Scripps Senior Theses

Scripps College is famous for its olive trees and the award-winning olive oil that they produce. However, despite the considerable age of the trees, the campus community has only harvested the annual crop of olives for the past decade. In this thesis, I set out to learn why the trees were planted on the campus in the first place. To this end, I immerse myself in the history, culture, and commerce of the olive oil industry, and ultimately use the fruit as a lens through which we can explore the colonial history of Scripps College and Southern California. In order …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings …

Re-Imagining Design For Affordable Housing In Mexico, Kenza Fernandez Dominguez

Scripps Senior Theses

Since the presidency of Enrique Peña Nieto, affordable housing developments in Mexico have been produced in a massive, unsustainable scale. The speed at which these developments are produced equates to the carelessness that goes into their planning. At large, the developments’ monotonous design is aesthetically dehumanizing and fails to promote a sense of community. These developments lack basic infrastructure, and their residents have abandoned them, which has incentivized increased criminal activity.

In this paper, I will be looking at successful models of affordable housing globally, exploring the histories of communal living, and function of architectural collages. Based on my findings, …

Embracing Entrepreneurship, Naomy Sengebwila, Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Doctor of Ministry Projects and Theses

Embracing Entrepreneurship

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and Globally

Embracing Entrepreneurship

A Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of Perkins School of Theology Southern Methodist University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Ministry by

Name of Student

Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Name of Student: Naomy Nyendwa Sengebwila

Date: 03/31/2021

How Christian Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship Can Lead to Sustainable Communities in Zambia and globally

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …

Living Together : Revisiting The Sro + New Forms Of Collectivity, Elizabeth Parker

Masters Theses

The current affordable housing crisis has reached a boiling point. Home prices are increasing at double the rate of wage gains, and almost half of all renters in the United States are considered costburdened (spending 30% or more of their income on rent). There simply isn’t enough affordable housing available to meet the growing demand and people are being priced out. The housing market, as it stands, is in desperate need of re-examination.

Options that better reflect the demographics of growing cities and promote inclusion are of vital importance for a sustainable future.

This directed research project responds to the …

From Displaced To Our Place: Educational Environments Can Promote A Community’S Health And Well-Being, Morgan Frederick

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Thomasville heights is a displacement neighborhood for people pushed out by Atlanta’s Urban Renewal projects. Thomasville Heights remains a casualty of a system of economic segregation. Under this system of segregation these neighborhoods are left in detrimental states. It is in places like Thomasville Heights where the phrase “place matters” becomes a call to action. A town of 6000 residents and only one elementary school, Thomasville heights is bordered by multiple freight yards, a cemetery, landfills, and Atlanta’s US penitentiary, just a 5-minute walk from that one elementary school. There remains a vast difference between that of low-income urban, and …

Book Review: Placemaking With Children And Youth: Participatory Strategies For Planning Sustainable Communities, Brandy C. Judkins

eJournal of Public Affairs

This review discusses Derr, Chawla, and Mintzer's Placemaking with children and youth: Participatory strategies for planning sustainable communities. The text sheds light into a gap in urban and community planning---inclusion of children and youths in the design of their built environment. The text seeks to change discourse by instructing current and future city planners, architects, industrial and interior designers, interior decorators, landscape architects, contractors, government officials, and educators in engaging the children and youths of their communities in design, decision-making, and development to create truly sustainable communities that meet the needs of all who live within them. Divided into twelve …

Participatory Design For Sustainable Community Development. Case Study; A Dates-Pack-House In The Egyptian Western Desert, Dina Bahaa Eldin Hussein

Theses and Dissertations

Over recent years, participatory design processes have been gaining momentum in the architecture field. This research analyzes the past experiences of the participatory design processes from literature and case studies to apply it on an ongoing sustainable development initiative for creating a dates pack-house in the Western Desert Oasis of El-Heiz. The aim of the development project of the dates pack-house at El-Heiz is to help achieve a more sustainable community economy. The research is done through understanding past intervention in the area, mapping the whole participatory design process (while being a design participant) in its various stages, and finally …

Techne Issue 05, Ting Chin, Michael Duddy, Jason Montgomery

TECHNE

INTRODUCTION: TING CHIN, MICHAEL DUDDY, AND JASON MONTGOMERY

As the Department of Architectural Technology at the New York City College of Technology embarks on its path to achieve accreditation by the National Architecture Accrediting Board (NAAB) for a Bachelor of Architecture, this issue of TECHNE- decidedly focused on architectural education. Over the last two years through countless discussions within our department and college, and with architecture faculty from other universities and currently practicing architects, we have been questioning the value, purpose, and means of an architectural education. As educators in architecture we are responsible for exposing students to a multifaceted …

Sustainable Communities For The 21st Century Lar 350, Michael Vocino

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

The New Parallel: Urban And Agrarian Political, Environmental, And Architectural Landscapes Of The Demilitarized Zone, Robert Vincent Truka

Masters Theses

North and South Korea share the most heavily armed military border in the world. Technically both sides are still at war dating back to 1950. The 38th parallel, also known as The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 156-mile long by 2.5- mile wide border condition with over two million plus known landmines buried with-in its boundaries. The Juxtapositions of the financial, political, economical, and military modalities could not be more drastically different between North and South Korea. North Korea is a communist autocratic military dictatorship and has one of the worlds lowest Gross Domestic Products (GDP). South Korea is a …

Designing Sustainable Communities For Automated Transit Networks, Shannon S. Mcdonald

ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium

Automated Transit Networks have the potential of changing the design of communities. Transportation is one of the key aspects for structuring our built environment. Now that Automated Transit Networks are being re-examined, early studies integrating them into the built environment can provide insight into their potential applications.

Redeveloping Commerce | Comuna 20 As The Commercial Gateway Of The City, Carlos Restrepo

Architecture Senior Theses

Colombia has long been suffering a debilitating civil war. Lasting more than 51 years, this continuing conflict has brought suffering and hardship to millions of people. Indeed, countless civilians have been forcefully displaced from their rural homes into informal settlements on the outskirts of major cities. These densely populated, ad hoc constructions surround the cities as unstructured enclaves festering with crime and disease exacerbated by isolation and government indifference. The vast social, economic, and cultural divide between these settlements and the contiguous cities pose a major problem for contemporary Colombia that must be addressed. In spite of these conditions, the …

Developing Maker Economies In Post-Industrial Cities: Applying Commons Based Peer Production To Mycelium Biomaterials, Grant R. Rocco

Masters Theses

Our current system of research and production is no longer suitable for solving the problems we face today. As climate change threatens our cities and livelihoods, the global economic system preys on the weak. A more responsive, equitable, and resilient system needs to be implemented. Our post industrial cities are both products and victims of the boom-bust economies employed for the last few centuries.
While some communities have survived by converting to retail and services based economies, others have not been so fortunate and have become run-down husks of their former bustling selves. The key to revitalizing these cities is …

Network-Based Development In Chattanooga, Tennessee: Processes And Potentials, Kathryn Ansley Taylor

Masters Theses

Chattanooga is a city of networks. The goal of this project is to provide examples of how developers, by tapping into Chattanooga’s most vital networks, can create buildings that speak to the city’s unique character, build interest in the city, and foster a stronger future for Chattanooga.

Chattanooga has four networks that serve as its backbone. They are the Cultural Network, the Blue Green Network, the Fiber Optic Network and the Dwelling Network. These networks are linkages between people and places, bound by common hopes and affinities. They are platforms for social connection, economic growth and physical change.

Three developments …

Westport Affordable Housing Design, Kyle Baron, Joe Cardella, Eric Figueredo, April Gaddis, Heather Gillock, Jack Hamm, Ben Horst, Colby Karambelas, Jacob Levine, Evan Mozzer, Tim Pranaitis, Chris Rossi, Jacob Wheeler, Ulker Copur, Arnold Robinson

Architecture and Urban Design

Currently, there are not any fire stations within an appropriate range for development on the Drift Road site. This will make it essential for a proposed development to contain a pond and pump onsite for immediate fire control until further assistance arrives. Should municipal water not be available for residents on this site, private well systems will need to be built on each property, a minimum of 100 feet away from any septic system.

Towards An Articulation Of Architecture As A Verb; Learning From Participatory Development, Subaltern Identities And Textual Values., Richard Bower

School of Art, Design and Architecture Theses

Originating from a disenfranchisement with the contemporary definition and realisation of Westernised architecture as a commodity and product, this thesis seeks to explore alternative examples of positive socio-spatial practice and agency. These alternative spatial practices and methodologies are drawn from participatory and grass-roots development agency in informal settlements and contexts of economic absence, most notably in the global South. This thesis explores whether such examples can be interpreted as practical realisations of key theoretical advocacies for positive social space that have emerged in the context of post-Second World-War capitalism. The principal methodological framework utilises two differing trajectories of spatial discourse. …

Enhancing Community And Place Through A Suburban Retrofit, Luke Daniel Murphree

Masters Theses

Suburban sprawl, characterized by low-density, scattered, single-use development, is an ever-increasing concern for the environment, economy, and sense of community and identity of cities today. Sprawling communities have been designed with poor neighborhood connectivity, a lack of walkability, and in isolation from public space, jobs, and schools, creating a place that is virtually devoid of social interaction and a distinguishing identity.

Suburbia constitutes roughly 75% of contemporary development in the United States. Many buildings in these suburban areas are either vacant or out of date, and demographic and market shifts indicate a growing demand for more diverse housing types and …

Revitalization Through Rehabilitation: Enhancing Communities Through Re-Use, Jason Stuart Pimsler

Masters Theses

The densification of an existing community through the implementation of sustainable design principles, such as adaptive reuse, promotes revitalization. The re-inhabitation of the proposed abandoned structure along the BeltLine can lead to further development of the existing arts complex. As part of this revitalization, linkages established along a citywide master-planned path provide nodal connections between the local art district and the artists of the Goat Farm and educate visitors of the significant industrial history of the area. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the positive impact that sustainable architecture, adaptive reuse and proper planning can have on a …

Residential Square In The 21st Century: Applying A Typology To Create A New Urban Morphology, Elizabeth Whittington

Architecture Senior Theses

The transposition of the residential square will be part of a large-scale strategic plan for the re-development of low-rise low-density neighborhoods on the fringe of the central business district in the post-industrial city. A community garden will be defined by a public housing project. Thus, the neighborhood’s identity will be presented through the physical landscape, building volumes and façade. The project will become part of the system of communal spaces within the city. American individualism will express the civic realm, while creating a secure and connected environment. The new housing block provides a proto-type for an urban morphology that decreases …

Trinity Restoration Inc. Theater Design, Arnold Robinson

Architecture and Urban Design

Problems: (1) Sound travels very quick around the curve of the wall creating a disproportional amount of sound on the opposite ends of the arc. (2) Sounds that start in front of the curve gets reflected back to a focal point. The location of that focal point moves depending on where the sound is located. As a result, loud refocused echoes are created at the focal point. When heard, the sounds seem to come from a mysterious place. The effects of the curved walls are extremely strong and need to be addressed. One common mistake is over applying absorptive material …

Main Street Revitalization: Woonsocket, Ri, Arnold Robinson

Architecture and Urban Design

A healthy environment that utilizes local urban ecologies will positively impact the health and well being of the community. It is important to create an environment that will foster understanding and inspire learning about native plants and animals, how to care for them, and how to protect them.

Cohousing And The Greater Community: Re-Establishing Identity In Taunton’S Weir Village, Andrew Kremzier

Architecture Theses

This proposal seeks to bring new life to the former industrial district of the post-industrial city. Existing in a society based on services and technologies, these villages must either adapt to meet the needs of business or serve another purpose within the community. The project for the Weir Village falls into the latter category, as its aim will be to create a cohousing community within Taunton. The new development will strengthen the character of the village and be able to affect the community beyond the site’s physical boundaries. It will create affordable alternatives to housing for those who do not …

Residential Square In The 21st Century: Applying A Typology To Create A New Urban Morphology, Elizabeth Whittington

Architecture Thesis Prep

"As a low-rise high-density mixed-use typology, the reconsideration of the residential square can provide a new urban morphology that densifies residential zones, while providing safe public spaces. In addition, I assert that through its combination of juxtaposed functional uses, unit typology the language of the façade, the historical European residential square, can articulate the identity of residents."

Perform + Function: A Proposal For A Healthy Public Housing Community, Brandon M. Harvey

Masters Theses

PERFORM+FUNCTION: Proposal for A Healthy Public Housing Community

Architecture exists in Place, the integrated context of both the built and natural environments, including socio-economic, cultural, and political climates that influence our growth, development, and survival. As architecture necessitates around human purposes, it is important that architecture is built for and sited in an environment compatible for human well-being. My thesis focuses on human habitation and its immediate relationship with human health, assessing the performance and functionality of Place that have an impact on human health. Using public housing as the vehicle of my investigation, I will seek the appropriate application …