Architecture Commons^™

Memory And Experiential Lab, Yufan Xu

Masters Theses

In the tapestry of our lives, there exist moments and places that we can never revisit, scenes etched into our memories that fade with the passage of time. These experiences and memories are treasures, provide us with an anchor to our past. Unfortunately, many of these moments are like fireflies in the night, here one moment and gone the next. Yet, they remain invaluable, forever etched in our hearts and minds. I wonder if it is possible to trigger cherished past experiences and memories in our daily lives, allowing individuals to re-experience similar moments, thereby nourishing the spiritual world. Therefore, …

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

Z-Cube: Mobile Living For Feminist Nomads, Zi Ye

Masters Theses

Homes proclaim our social standing and reflect the trend of the times. This project seeks to explore and redefine the relationship between modern homes and modern women who strive for mobile life styles.

Modernism and globalization have brought us a new way of living that could have never been imagined before— our workspace and homes are no longer limited to a specific unit but have extended to the entire globe. The physical changes compelled by modernity have also complemented the changing role of women. Since the beginning of the 20th century, modern women have expanded their lives outside of their …

The Role Of Placemaking In Sustainable Planning: A Case Study Of The East Side Of Cleveland, Ohio, Sarah Lang

Masters Theses

The notion of placemaking and sustainability are central to planning practice. However, is there a connection between the goals of sustainability and the impacts of placemaking initiatives? The ultimate goal of sustainable planning is the creation of a sustainable community which include the defining features of a healthy climate and environment, social wellbeing, and economic security. Yet, sustainable planning is heavily focused on the environment. Placemaking initiatives focus on underutilized space, permanently or temporarily highlighting location, locale, and sense, the three realms of place. In attempt to answer whether placemaking can contribute to sustainable planning, this research focuses on the …

Residential Rebuilding In Rural Haiti Natural Disaster Recovery Strategies, Mallory Lyn Barga

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on an appropriate and applicable way to recover from natural disasters in a place where indigenous resources, building and construction technologies, and manpower are unlike those in developed countries. Overtime, Haiti has suffered from a multitude of natural disasters that have had devastating long-term effects on the safety and health of the country. As a result, it has become apparent that Haitians expanded their housing off of existing relief shelters through improper building techniques. These improper techniques lead to insufficient structural stability of their homes and increased vulnerability to future disasters. The proposal for this thesis focuses …

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 …