Architecture Commons^™

Decoding Third Places, Caleb Bertels

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Urban open spaces should give back to the public, creating vital and valuable places within a city. People should want to seek out these spaces to occupy, seeing them not as useless gaps between buildings but areas with their own value and identity. To create this public demand, successful open spaces contain qualities of third places. Third places, a term coined by Ray Oldenburg, describes somewhere familiar that people choose to spend their time outside their first places (their homes) and their second places (their work). Third places bring communities closer together and are open to the public, but not …

Placemaking In Metro East Springfield - Creating A Landscape Framework, Benjamin Breger, Sean Fitzsimmons, Mitchell Johnson, Tasuku Kamei, Jiarui Yu, Tia Novak, Sarah Welch, Josiah Simpson, Yincheng Zhang, Dania Khlaifat, Jess Schoendorf

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

PLACEMAKING IN METRO EAST SPRINGFIELD - Creating a Landscape Framework

Placemaking in Metro East Springfield – Creating a Landscape Framework provides strategies to use the landscape as a framework for rebuilding community in a downtown urban area that has “good bones” but has been neglected and overlooked for decades. A catalyst for the development of project area is the recent acquisition of the historical 1916 Willys Overland building through a developer. The Graduate Urban Design Studio 2018 developed five proposals for urban revitalization in the area that are centered on the landscape. The programming of the proposals was developed in …

Creative Chaos And Effect On The Livable City, Mohammed Qasim Al Ani, Wurood Adeeb Khamees

Emirates Journal for Engineering Research

The city is a complex entity and needs the integration of several urban systems. Urban systems, including the development plans and the strict building codes, will lead to the loss of part of the creativity and vitality of urban dwellers. When these laws and plans lose control of the city, the needs of the occupants will be clearly visible, sometimes leading to uncontrolled urban chaos. However, this disorder to count as the driving force of life that drove occupants like Baghdad residents to express their needs. The city life and its complexity will appear through several criteria governing their regularity …

Designing For A Driverless Future In Downtown San Luis Obispo, Amir Hajrasouliha, Crp 512 Students

Amir Hajrasouliha

An Evaluation Of Public Open Space In Downtown Lincoln, Nebraska, Karl Dietrich

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

Public open space provides many benefits to a downtown area. Among the benefits are economic growth, social connectivity, health, and helping to create an identity for a city. As many cities continue to sprawl outwards, it is important that their downtown areas create a sense of place so that businesses and people stay and visit. Public open spaces can help provide that much needed sense of place. This study examines whether the “public space index” designed by Vikas Mehta (2014) is effective at evaluating public open spaces. This was done by using four public open spaces (Foundation Garden, Tower Square, …

Atascadero Historical Report, Alyssa Beth Chung

City and Regional Planning

Historic sites play a critical role in shaping a community’s character, and contribute to aesthetic, spatial, and cultural themes that inform future development. Strategic protection of historic sites may also contribute to the sustainable goals of the City as well as the overall health and maintenance of public and private properties. This project analyzes the relationship between land use regulation, community identity, and the intentional design of the built environment. It will incorporate a range of skills developed in the CRP undergraduate program, including data collection and analysis; public outreach; writing professional documents and policy; and communicating information across a …

Envisioning Resilience & Revitalization In The Apremont Triangle Neighborhood, Andrew Capelluti, Allison Gramolini, Maggie Kraus, Sara Lawler, Mimi Lo, Kate O'Connor, Doug Serrill, Alysha Thompson, Diance Tian

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

ENVISIONING RESILIENCE AND REVITALIZATION IN THE APREMONT TRIANGLE NEIGHBORHOOD

This urban design studio partnered with the City of Springfield to investigate the complexity of issues facing the Apremont Triangle neighborhood within the metro district and develop a range of conceptual designs. The studio focused on developing ideas that improve the livability of the neighborhoods, walkability of streets, and improve the environmental and economic health of the neighborhood. Resiliency in this context means that the neighborhood strives for a social and physical balance.

The Studio began by conducting an inventory and analysis of cultural, economic, and ecological factors that influence the …

Urban Identity, Mustapha A Farrakhan Williams

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Envisioning The South End Of Tomorrow: Live, Work And Recreate In A Transforming Neighborhood, Chris Alpay, Leanne Blue, Jon Bronenkant, Hao Fang, Anthony Gemma, Rachel Guilfoil, Silke Henstebeck, Barbara Lampson, Andrew Libby, Kyle Nevarro, Karina Ramos, Stephen Roach, Genevieve Shepard, Jasmine Su

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

ENVISIONING THE SOUTH END OF TOMORROW – Live, Work and Recreate in a Transforming Neighborhood

Background and Challenges

Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric. The most visible examples are the construction of the MGM Casino Resort and the renovated Union Station into a multimodal transportation hub. The MGM Casino Resort is the first one in the country that is integrated in a core downtown area. It is obvious that downtown and its adjacent districts will change substantially. How can different uses next to each other coexist productively or can negative influences be being …

Stitching Together The Urban Fabric, Tyler Gaudreau, James Goode, Samantha Hampton, John Haryasz, William Jurczyk, Eric Kadziolka, Daniel Kossack, Keira Lee, Matthew Pilis, Preston Rowan, Chinda Samms, Devon Vendetti, Yifei Yan

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This Urban Design Studio in Springfield focused on incremental and systemic design changes at specific places in Downtown to improve the quality of life. The analysis investigated six interweaving, overlapping urban systems: Music and Art, Food and Retail, Working, Public Green, Education and Housing. Overlooked streets and their immediate context were of major focus: Worthington Street, Dwight Street, Willow Street and the stilted Interstate 91 viaduct.

Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric: The renovation of the Union Station into a multi-modal transportation hub, the MGM Casino Resort and the new Dr. Seuss Museum …

Corridor Revitalization Program, Alan Ayon, Miriam Arias

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Urban Design Vision For The Vista Del Sol Development, Gustavo Castro

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

A Wellness District For The City Of Ventura, Vicente Del Rio, Amir Hajrasouliha

Amir Hajrasouliha

Urban Redevelopment Through City-University Partnerships: Envisioning An Education District In Springfield, Massachusetts, Mohammed Abdelaal

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the impact of planning a potential new urban university campus in Springfield, Massachusetts on the city’s long term goals for urban revitalization. By exploring a collaborative and community-oriented process for higher-educational development, I propose a dynamic model that could work as a catalyst for urban revitalization.

The study will focus on the following: developing partnerships between the city of Springfield (government, community, local groups) and major educational institutions (such as the University of Massachusetts system); identifying potential sites suitable for the anticipated urban/mixed-use campus or compound; and studying and analyzing the forces within the city (neighborhoods around …

Layers Of Staro Sajmište [Re]Opening Dialog, Jared Samuel Wilkins

Masters Theses

This research analyzes and tests the application of a process driven memorial intervention on the contested territory of Staro Sajmište, Novi Belgrade’s former 1937 International Exposition Fairgrounds that was adapted into a concentration camp in 1941. Today, Staro Sajmište exists as makeshift living for an impoverished community. Traditional memorial and conservation efforts have been attempted on the site over the last 60 years; however, none have achieved an appropriate depth of impact. I propose to revisit Staro Sajmište through an intervention not recognized as a literal memorial, but rather as the transformation and re-appropriation of the urban fabric into an …

Measuring The Influence That Components Have On Pedestrian Route Choice In Activated Alleys, Samuel Hirsher Gross

Master's Theses

This paper explores how cities have integrated formal planning into improving public space. Through a review of literature on the topic, this the paper identifies the potential design has to renovate narrow streets and alleys, within the public right of way. By preforming an assessment of plans and programs, this paper identifies the common themes or components that have been used by planners, architects, and engineers to improve the urban environment for pedestrians. Based on this information, a pilot study was created to measure the influence the most common components have on pedestrian route choice. The results are then compared …

Urban Design Projects, Vicente Del Rio

Vicente del Rio

Images of main planning and urban design projects and book covers, such as: Urban design concept plan for Fells Point, Baltimore; Rio Cidade Project, Rio de Janeiro; Lagoa dos Ingleses and Porto Jacuhi new communities; Runner-up for riverfront ecological park in Uberlandia, Brazil; Runner-up proposal for the 2016 Rio Olympics Park Master Plan; Park Marina Riverfront Urban Design Plan, Redding CA; Avenue 12 Corridor Urban Design Plan, Madera County CA.

Compact Community, Abdulrazzak Alanjari

Architecture Thesis Prep

Small and compact spaces achieve a certain lightness

and “smallness” that large-scale architecture obviously

cannot achieve. The contention for my thesis is to explicitly

study the obsession with the large in Kuwait and

reasons for it, which might include climate, expanses of

land, and rapid oil industry development. By doing so,

a new typology for small spaces can be introduced in

Kuwait City and integrated into Al Sawaber Residential

community, the site, by expanding on certain elements

unique to the foreign labor communities and formally

creating spaces for that community, since they tend to

live with so little (space, luxuries, …

Redevelopment Of Urban Village In Shenzhen, Hang Zhou

Masters Theses

Urban Villages are a specific phenomenon raised in modern China due to the high-speed economic development and urbanization in recent three decades. And there are social, economic, cultural and architectural transformations happened in these villages during these years. They appear on both the outskirts and the downtown segments of major cities, and surrounded by skyscrapers, transportation infrastructures, and other modern urban constructions. They are commonly inhabited by the poor and transient.

Most of Urban Villages are heavily populated, overdeveloped, and lack of basic infrastructure. Some villages' building density is higher than 70%. They are composed of overcrowded multi-story buildings from …

Urban Economics Of The Ideal City, William Taylor Brantley

Masters Theses

Infrastructure influences both depictions of the ideal city and economic models predicting urban growth. As the common variable, infrastructure investments could promote ideal city values within free market economies.

To preserve the countryside and natural lands infrastructure investments must encourage concentrated growth in cities. The city and countryside are codependent. An abstraction between the two zones will lead to the demise of both the city and the countryside. New urban infrastructure should relate to public spaces creating economic, cultural, and social value in dense development. This value is achieved by generating a multiplicity of connections, program, and places within the …

Carbon-Neutral Design Guidelines For Medium Density Urban Areas In Warm-Humid And Cool-Dry Climates, Jennifer Delane Stewart

Masters Theses

This thesis combines Architecture 2030’s carbon-neutral performance targets with the SmartCode transect-based development principles, to generate guidelines for design of medium-density carbon-neutral districts. The topic examines these guidelines in medium density planned and built sites (transect types T4, General Urban Zone, and T5, Urban Center Zone) in representative cities within a cool-dry climate (IECC climate zone 5B, Denver) and a warm-humid climate (IECC climate zone 3A, Atlanta). The thesis assumes that a carbon-neutral district is more effective and potentially easier to achieve than designing independent carbon-neutral urban buildings. Within an urban context, it is now possible to connect buildings to …

Redefining America’S Postwar Urban Renewal At The Northgate Of Springfield, Ma, Mohammed Abdelaal, Meilan Chen, Zhuoya Deng, Ericka Duym, Laura Keskula, Joseph Larico, Bin Liu, Shu Liu, Wenjie Liu, Tharyn Nein-Large, Junzhi (Jason) Yu, Zhangkan Zhou

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This project presents visions for an underutilized and overlooked district in Springfield, MA, developed by the Graduate Urban Design Studio in the spring of 2014. The area between downtown and the North End neighborhood has undergone major transformations in the 1950’s and 1960’s during America’s era of postwar urban renewal. Residential blocks were replaced by large office buildings and oversized streets left a ”no-man’s land”. The current rehabilitation of the Springfield’s Union Station into an intermodal transportation hub should draw new attention to the area as the northern gateway to downtown - the “Northgate”. Five visionary design proposals rethink and …

Springfield’S “X” – From Crossroads To Center, Joseph A. Agrillo, Theodore D. Chesbro, Nic M. Brown, William Cody Black, Patrick W. Corey, Krystal A. Ford, Jay M. French, Alexander Jardin, Da Hee Lee, Henry C. Puza, Sean J. Regnier, Charles M. Richard, David William Ross, Stphen Sanborn, Julia Rose Sim, Thomas F. Holt, Bryan Anderson, Samuel Brown, Richard Disharoon, Andrew Fang, Dan Kamins, Colin Lord, John Nicol, Tricia O'Grady-Howard, Brett Riley, Jennifer Verville

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The work explores a community service learning strategy within the framework of two urban design studios with the goal of revitalizing the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, through design, planning, and engagement with the community. The studio worked in the Forest Park neighborhood around the “X” – on the intersection of three major street arteries. Our study contains a diverse catalogue of strategies to make the Forest Park Neighborhood a better place to live, work, and recreate where the most important streets meet. Through rerouting of the traffic patterns around the “X” the number of pedestrian crossings is increased and the …

Revitalization Of Urban Alleys, Shusei Kakimoto

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses and Student Projects

Alley revitalization is becoming more widely acknowledged as a viable urban redevelopment strategy in United States cities. Currently, most alleys in U.S. cities are underutilized, and they evoke a number of negative images—fearful places, waste-strewn, stinky, etc. The successful revitalization of alleys presents many benefits, such as economic development, enhanced walkability, visual enhancement, reduction of crime, etc. Revitalization of alleys leads to more productive and effective utilization of public space. In fact, cities in many countries have long utilized alleys as places where many aspects of ordinary daily life of the city take place. However, the potentials of alleys and …

The Revitalization Of Springfield’S North End - Envisioning New Housing And Places To Live, Work And Recreate, Samantha R. Anderson, Ngoc Xuan Doan, Ivette Banoub, Keith W. Hannon, Trudy M. Hall, Irene Estelle Miller, Colin N. O'Donnell, Amanda Lynn Rookey, Yan Xu

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

This report summarizes the results of a seven-week design studio in our Landscape Architecture Program and engaged experts, stakeholders and medical students of the Memorial Square Neighborhood, in conjunction with planning officials from the Springfield Office of Planning and Economic Development. The project brought students and local export together in a supportive and constructive atmosphere of reciprocal learning.

The proposals seek to connect the powerful economy of the medical sector with the rich culture of the North End to create a more balanced social and economic climate. More spatial, green connections of the hospitals with local businesses on Main Street …

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.

Urban Design Of Bristol Waterfront, Lower Thames Street, Otto Chan, Jon Cornachio, Jessica Delemos, Eric Figuerdo, Jack Hamm, Kaelen Hunter, Andrew Larson, Edward Law, Jake Levine, Ian Luke, Anastasios Papadopoulos, Jake Wheeler, Ulker Copur, Lauren Bombara, Matthew Eckel, Arnold Robinson

Architecture and Urban Design

The marketplace is going to be one of the highlights on Thames Street, serving as a destination for leisure, shopping and dining. The concept of the project is to have indoor space continue out to the water, providing an outdoor space for dining and leisure, but also giving the boardwalk a resting point. The building is planned as two floors, with the fish market and multipurpose area on the first and an eatery, sitting area, balcony and facilities on the second. The building will be made of a light metal frame with panels to enclose the space and is designed …

3d Digital Modeling For Urban Design + Planning, Emmanuel Velazco

City and Regional Planning

Cities throughout the country face a number of challenges in dealing with the changing development needs of the 21st century. In urban planning, the fusion of social, environmental, political, economic, and functional considerations are required. Today, local, state, and federal governments are experiencing an economic downturn, making resources scarce to plan for smarter development, attain greater public interest, and economic revival.

The primary objective of this project is to provide innovative solutions in city and regional planning using software applications, such as Google SketchUp, that enable assessment of various urban design projects. A second objective was to create a 3D …

Along The Chicopee River From The Mills To The Ludlow Bridge - Creating A Vision For Indian Orchard, Ying Cao, Elizabeth Englebretson, Scott Fulford, Jing Huang, Yiwei Huang, Rocky Liu, Tracy Murphy, Sparky Von Plinsky, Albert Wang, Jinglin Wang, Yan Yan, Shanshan Yu

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The report documents design investigations for Springfield’s Indian Orchard neighborhood. The Graduate Urban Design Studio focused on the exciting area along the Chicopee River from the Indian Orchard Mills to the spectacular outlook at Indian Leap and the neighborhood gateway at the Ludlow Bridge. The primary goal of the project was to unveil the unique assets and character of the area, make these assets more accessible and legible and thus strengthen the identity of Indian Orchard as a vibrant place for its residents and visitors. Crucial keys to attaining this goal are: acknowledging the strong industrial heritage; improving connectivity to …

Fairmount Greenway - A Community Initative, Leah H. Bamberger, Liliana Carvajal, Mary F. Dehais, Yuanfang Gong, John E. Hulsey, Eric C. Kells, Kimberley Klosterman, Pamela Jo Landi, Adam G. Monroy, Seth A. Morrow, Bryan O'Bara, Jie Su, Arianna Thompson, Owen M. White

Mary Dehais

This studio was based on the Fairmount Greenway that was developed through a series of public meetings with the neighborhood community and with consultants from the firm Crosby, Schlessinger and Smallridge (CSS). The Fairmount Greenway, while drawing its identity from the traditional greenway model is in fact a reinterpretation of an urban greenway. The greenway path follows along both primary and secondary city streets because of the lack of space along the rail right-of-way. The Fairmount Greenway begins at what will be a new station stop at New Market South Bay near Upham’s Corner in northern Dorchester. The greenway follows …