Architecture Commons^™

Canvas And Catalyst: Reinventing Urban Space, Ricardo A. Borges

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

As an intervention strategy set amid a stark and neglected, yet highly energized urban setting of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this project seeks to relieve a stagnating urban condition through the introduction of contemporary and dynamic forms of expression. Skateboarding and street art can be seen as interpretative modes of action that reinvent objects, spaces, and conditions within the urban landscape, lending creative and engaging gestures to the everyday. As (sub) cultural expressions in their own right, these practices transcend their mere formal representations, and present unique identities, spaces, and modes of engagement within a society, initiating a creative mindset and DIY …

A Place Of Dwelling For Graduate Students, Garth H. Schwellenbach

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The lives of graduate students are often insular and focused, with high workloads and resultant stresses. Beyond the unifying demands of academia, graduate students have a diverse set of individual challenges. Some students have families, some are visiting the US and learning to live in a new culture, and some are fresh out of undergraduate studies and living on their own for the first time. In addition to these challenges the graduate student body is a diverse and disparate group, representing varied cultures, experiences and generations. Due to these demands and circumstances the students have little time and energy to …

The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway: Making The Vision A Reality, Alec E. Zebrowski

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The $15+ Billion "Big Dig", replaced Boston's deteriorating six-lane elevated Central Artery, known as the Green monster, with a widened highway tunnel running underground through Downtown Boston and crossing the Charles River, creating more than 27 acres of new land area for reuse in Downtown Boston.

Today, a significant portion of the land has been turned into a system of parks known as the Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway. Since its completion in 2008, five civic and recreational developments planned for the Greenway have been abandoned due to poor funding, rising construction estimates, and a general lack of support. Disconnected, under-programmed …

Architecture+Design 600, Joseph Krupczynski

MIRA/LOOK: New Visions for Architecture in Holyoke (2008)

This studio promotes creative research and conceptually rigorous design methodologies that aim to illuminate, situate, and contest the complex circumstances within which a truly “sustainable” architecture can emerge — an architecture capable of escaping a narrow technological focus, while addressing the broader social and theoretical implications of sustainability. The interplay between site, culture and program is a key focus of the studio. Through critical assessments of a broad range of specific site conditions students develop investigative strategies for responsive architectural interventions that bridge the gap between theory and practice. This semester we will be working on a series of projects …

Space Inventory And Preliminary Marketing Recommendations, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report was designed to assist further economic development of Gloucester, Massachusetts’s working waterfront and downtown commercial district. This market and economic development plan was meant to provide the Gloucester Community Development Office with some key ingredients for the success of their overall economic revitalization plan that was being prepared for the entire city.