Architecture Commons^™

Mela: Vessels Of Ephemeral Architecture, Neha Tummalapalli

Architecture Senior Theses

In states of temporality, conventions can be challenged and reimagined. Ephemeral architecture responds to fluctuating conditions and are often built with lightweight, recycled materials that allow for reconfiguration and reinvention. Melas, Sanskrit for "gathering," become a lens through which ad hoc urbanism can be further explored in its most idealized form. Melas include gatherings of all scales that are commercial, celebratory, or religious. The large crowds and temporary nature of these events allow for thoughtful ephemeral configurations to be tried and tested.

The largest gathering of humans in the world is the Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj, India. This religious pilgrimages …

Suppression | Liberation: Memorial To The Lgbtq + Holocaust Victims, Justin Difabritis

Architecture Thesis Prep

Architecture + poetry are powerful forms of creativity, both exemplifying beauty, symbolism, emotion, and experience through structure + form. This thesis is interested in poetic architecture and its ability to not only narrate, represent, symbolize, or express, but also eternalize, the story of groups, individuals, and events.

Through the analysis of, but not limited to, memorials, tombs, and monuments, a deeper architectural understanding will be offered, one of architecture’s ability to emotionally affect others as a means of remembrance.

This research will focus on the literal + symbolic narrative and experience of the LGBTQ+ victims of the holocaust, placing a …

Ruin-Naissance, Fatma Gonca Tunc

Architecture Senior Theses

Ruin-naissance is the term I use to describe not only the resurrection of an archeological site, but also the rebirth of an idea about how we think about ruins and how new construction can enhance the experience of these kinds of sites.

The principle contention of this thesis is that a better understanding of the fragmented evidence presented by an archeological site can be seen through the lens of a contemporary architectural intervention that responds sensitively to an ancient site. In doing this, the intervention needs to address issues of identity, narrative and historiography. The new architecture should not ignore …

The Shenzhen Activist Program`, Hyunggyu Kim, Jae Hyun Kim

Architecture Senior Theses

There is a gap between being an architecture student in western countries and working as an architect in underrepresented communities. Architect Teddy Cruz defines the role of an activist architect as "expanded mode of practice", and the task of "deigning the protocols or the interfaces between communities and spaces".

This thesis contends that architecture schools need to continue to embrace the widely-accepted norm of studios studying abroad and working in an international studio. Current study abroad programs tend to skew towards being touristic field trips and there is not a curriculum or programmatic investment in cultivating relationships between the visiting …

Ruin-Naissance, Fatma Gonca Tunc

Architecture Thesis Prep

Ruin-naissance is the term I use to describe not only the resurrection of an archeological site, but also the rebirth of an idea about how we think about ruins and how new construction can enhance the experience of these kinds of sites.

The principle contention of this thesis is that a better understanding of the fragmented evidence presented by an archeological site can be seen through the lens of a contemporary architectural intervention that responds sensitively to an ancient site. In doing this, the intervention needs to address issues of identity, narrative and historiography. The new architecture should not ignore …

It's Not Easy Being Whole | Reevaluating The Relationship Of Part Whole In Pursuit Of A New High-Rise Vernacular, Josh Bransky

Architecture Senior Theses

Architecture has the power to structure societal relationships. Specifically, architecture's form can bring the balanced relationship between community and individual identity, as exhibited in vernacular single-family homes, to the housing tower. This thesis plans to achieve such a social orchestration through a nuanced understanding of formal part-to-whole relationships, or "differentiated" parts within the whole, exhibited in a 300' housing tower in Seattle, WA.

By carefully balancing the relation, material, scale, and form of each part, this project will achieve this difficult whole (of differentiated parts). Mining this middle ground will produce a housing tower in Seattle, which actively balances the …

Memory + Architecture | The Act Of Forgetting, Mariel Mora Llorens

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis proposes the activation and repurposing of buildings associated with traumatic memories as a means of studying the ways in which architecture embodies memories and aids in the process of forgetting. Architecture and the built environment are linked to the creation and recollection of memories because they trigger four of the senses that are related to memory.

To forget is an active, not passive endeavor. Conscious forgetting is not an act of erasing memories, but transforming them by removing the emotional responses that are produced by our recollection of these memories. Like memories in our brains, buildings that have …

Anarchy City, Zhuocen Yao

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis is a political manifesto that seeks to address the current chaotic and undesrable politcal environment on the border between Hong Kong and Shenzhen (Anarchy City). Acknowledging that:

-Anarchy City has evolved from political borders whose purpose was to create division.

-Anarchy City possesses width and depth, is a 3-dimensional space of physical presence.

-Anarchy City is a "zone of exception" independent from the entities it sets out to separate.

-Anarchy City is anarchic, free of formal rules and regulations and thus free for interpretation.

-Anarchy City is deliberately distinguished from, and …

The Ottoman Han: Recovery Of A Lost Typology, Asli B. Germerli

Architecture Senior Theses

Developing countries around the world are coping with rapid population growth, the negative effects of globalization and the resultant political stress. Many of these cities have unique historical heritages and cultural identities that are being compromised by the monoculture and sameness of architecture that has come along with globalization. To preserve this historic fabric and cultural legacy, these cities must be willing to shape their future through self-expression driven by the local context. Yet, change is inevitable. The challenge is to find a balance between safeguarding the historical heritage while building new layers of history. In brief, the challenge is …

Obsolete Architecture: Revitalization Along A Spectrum Of Utility, Garrett Goodridge

Architecture Thesis Prep

I am interested in understanding the potential contemporary significance of currently obsolete infrastructures in architecture. I am also claiming that architecture exists along a spectrum of utility. It is insinuated that obsolete architecture is subjugated to one side of the spectrum (uselessness), however, it is not yet (completely) dead. It instead exists in a middle ground between useless and useful. I am contending to exploit the extremes, and in doing so, drawing attention to the ambiguity of the obsolete architecture at hand in effort to generate modern functionality.

The Continuing Exodus: The Synagogue And Jewish Urban Migration, Samuel D. Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

Catalog essay in Silent Witnesses: Migration Stories Through Synagogues Transformed, Rebuilt or Abandoned (Farmington Hills, MI, 2012) that deals with Jewish settlement and migration in American cities (especially New York, Boston and Cleveland) and the religious and community buildings erected and left behind in the process.

Bridge_Works, Chris Driscoll

Architecture Senior Theses

Building typologies are generally well defined and functionally specific. A church is for worship, a house is for living, and a theater is for performing. In certain instances, these basic building typologies have been combined to form composite structures such as mixed-use housing/retail projects, or a house on a boat. The opportunities created by composite typologies have allowed for broader economic development, more complex and integrated programming, greater utility and richer social structures. A specific combination of typologies--the mix of infrastructural bridge with housing/retail/public space--has produced a few historically successful models[...] Over time, the bridge was developed from a simple …

Special Formats, Innovative Preservation Storage Solutions, Peter D. Verheyen

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

The presentation dealt with the tube storage system developed for architectural and other over-sized drawings at Syracuse University Library.

A Structure Defining Movement: Mediating Between The Past & Present, Laura Klock

Architecture Thesis Prep

Erie Canal Aqueduct, Rochester, NY - Re-forming the Identity of a Historic Urban Artifact

"Structuring the movement through space, and thus the temporal experience of that place, can serve as a mnemonic device for the recollection of the past and the reinterpretation of a site's identity as a composite of the past and present."

Storage Of Architectural Materials At The Syracuse University Library, Peter D. Verheyen, Carolyn Davis, Debra Olson

Libraries' and Librarians' Publications

When the Department of Special Collections at the Syracuse University Library acquired the papers of Werner Seligmann, an architect and former Dean of the Syracuse University School of Architecture, the opportunity presented itself to develop a model storage system that could be applied to the other architectural drawings in the Department. While not large in comparison to these other collections, the Seligmann Papers were sizable enough to give us a better understanding of the storage issues involved if we decided to undertake the task of re-housing our other drawings. If such a task were to be undertaken, a new storage …

Monumenti Storici Ebraici In Europa: Nuove Tendenze, Samuel Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

This article discusses the trends and accomplishments in the documentation and restoration of historic Jewish monuments in Europe form 1990 through 2000 with special emphasis on the restoration/preservation of the Tempel Synagogue in Krakow, Poland and the Etz Hayyim Synagogue in Hania (Crete), Greece.

Foglio, Syracuse University

School of Architecture - All Scholarship

Foglio is a publication that covers the work produced by students and faculty of Syracuse University during their time in Florence. This edition covers the topics of urbanism as well as many contemporary issues.

Silenced Sacred Spaces: Selected Photographs Of Syrian Synagogues By Robert Lyons, Samuel Gruber, Samuel D. Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

Discusses the history and architecture of the synagogues of Syria documented by photographer Robert Lyons in a survey sponsored by the Jewish Heritage Council of the World Monuments Fund.

Architecture In The Text: A Re-Proposition Of Solomon’S Temple, Christopher Pizzi

Architecture Senior Theses

This Thesis investigates the idea of Architecture in text, and the role which a text can play in making architecture. This Thesis will analyze a text and question how it can be used to reveal architectural form and meaning as well as generate program. This Thesis is about the reading, translation, and rewriting of texts. The texts are the written text, the text of the ruin, and the text of the city. The subject of textual analysis is the Bible, specifically those passages which reveal or describe the Jewish Temple. The Temple is referred to often in the Bible, …

Thesis Preparatory Booklet - Contemporary Design And Historical Sensitivity; Design Of A Museum And Cultural Center In Pondicherry, India, Pavlom Mistry

Architecture Thesis Prep

"The primary goal of this thesis is to investigate and test hoe an architectural intervention in a historical site will set a direction for future development of an urban fabric. The urban architectural intervention will be in a form of a modern building project, which shares a dialogue with the history and which will be based on the analysis of historical and contemporary precedents. Tha ability of the architectural intervention to express a regional and universal identity is the motivating concern. The following architectural issues will be addressed: Context, Process, Scale and Image."

Survey Of Historic Jewish Monuments In Poland, Revised Edition, Samuel D. Gruber, Phyllis Myers

School of Architecture - All Scholarship

1995 report to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad on historic Jewish sites in Poland. Includes information on the history of Judaism in Poland, as well as the history and current conditions of synagogues and cemeteries.

Survey Of Historic Jewish Monuments In The Czech Republic, Samuel D. Gruber, Phyllis Myers

School of Architecture - All Scholarship

1994 report to the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad on historic Jewish monuments in the Czech Republic. Includes information on the history of Judaism in Poland, as well as information on the history and conditions of synagogues, cemeteries, ghettoes, jewish quarters, and other sites related to Jewish heritage. There are also notes on Czech preservation laws and destroyed synagogues.

Echoing The Sounds Of Time: Pennsylvania Station, Michael D. Wade Jr.

Architecture Senior Theses

The intent of my thesis is an investigation that will exist on two primary levels. The first level is an investigation of urban design and will deal with the development of a city within the city using a multi-programatic complex, as the vehicle. The second level is an investigation of a modern transformation of an existing typology using the primary piece of the complex, the railroad station, as the vehicle and will deal with attempting to re-establish the station and the idea or memory of travel and arrival as an important event within the fabric of the city.

The Future Of Jewish Monuments, Samuel Gruber, Samuel D. Gruber

Religion - All Scholarship

Exhibition essay from first exhibition focused on the documentation, protection and preservation of Jewish monuments and historic sites. The exhibition opened in conjunction with the international conference "The Future of Jewish Monuments," organized by the Jewish Heritage Council of the World Monuments Fund. The exhibition focused on the needs of historic sites in Eastern Europe, North Africa, the united States and elsewhere, and made the case for international support.

Restoration Versus Demolition: Case History Of Amsterdam, New York, Raymond Joseph William Andrews

Architecture Master Theses

The purpose of this study is to disclose why Amsterdam, New York -- like thousands of other cities in the United States -- has shunned restoration. It is hoped these findings will prove the worth of the ordinary old buildings and that the revitalization of the urban fabric does not follow from demolition and newness.