Architecture Commons^™

Translational Placemaking: The Diasporic Archive, Alia Varawalla

Masters Theses

Globalization and mass migration has propelled a hybrid existence, as individuals that occupy multiple geographies we live in a constant state of translation. Our museums and cultural institutions are in opposition to this; static, preserved and de-contextualized. At the intersection of printmaking and architecture, this thesis proposes a living archive to document the collective migratory journey across sites, materials, and hybrid identities. A network of centers for knowledge sharing and production centered on India and its diaspora. As art practices and people migrate, cultural production evolves with its context, gaining new meaning as it changes hands generationally and globally.

Cohabitation X Adaptation, 2100: A Climate Change Epoch, Kyle Andrews

Masters Theses

Some seventy-seven odd years in the future, the world as we know it will only be recognizable by those who are willing to accept it. The bustling metropolis of Boston Massachusetts has been transformed to appease the tides of Mother Nature as a consequence of human intervention. In the decades prior, humanity viciously fought to contain the effects of climate change, until many realized the colossal undertaking of such a battle. Municipalities across the globe had begun to accept that fighting the earth was no longer an option. Instead, the only hope forward was to adapt to a reality in …

Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites Of Trauma, Abigail Zola

Masters Theses

“Emotional contamination,” describes residual feelings associated with a space where a negative or tragic event occurred to an individual or group either personally, historically, or politically. Emotional contamination affects people’s associations with place and informs their willingness to spend time in them. This project considers a set of design principles rooted in uncovering and acknowledging the lifespan of a site, and considers how this acknowledgment can exist as an urban system rather than an individual architectural artifact. My thesis work analyzes five case studies in Berlin where political and economic factors determined the result of intervention, and how these sites …

Development Of The New Hasslein Caed Collaborative, Catie Dines

Construction Management

This paper outlines the development and execution of the new Hasslein CAED Collaborative student competition which engages students of all five majors in the College of Architecture and Environmental Design in a Request for Proposal style competition. CAED houses students studying Architecture, Architectural Engineering, City and Regional Planning, Construction Management, and Landscape Architecture. There is little opportunity for interdisciplinary collaboration within the CAED, despite our future career paths being heavily intertwined. This competition followed research by Greta Stout, class of 2022, on the benefits and support of interdisciplinary collaboration at Cal Poly SLO in CAED. The competition is named after …

A Feminist Approach To Solutions In Urban Development, Lourdes Yessenia Gracia Cantu

Civil Engineering and Environmental Engineering: Sustainability and Development Capstone Projects

Are there ways of occupying space and producing places that somehow contest, challenge, and problematize the dominant modalities of organization, of space and place?

A Feminist Approach to Solutions in Urban Development presents an exploration and proposal of a more equitable and diverse urban design that guarantees the use of public space as a place for economic development. With a focus on the recent theory and social movement concerning the impact of the built environment on women, children and older adults, urban feminist, comes across as a participatory planning process that ensures the involvement of multilevel agendas, to react and …

Reinventing Greyfields, William Jones

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Since the 21st century began, sports involvement within society has grown as sporting events have become significant spectacles. Thus, major stadia came to be to hold spectators. Unfortunately, many are on the city's outskirts due to the size of their parking lots, categorized as greyfields. Greyfields are 'Underused' land or a 'sea' of asphalt concrete. The problem of creating greyfields within cities harms the urban fabric and the actual relationship between the stadium and the city. They are creating a disconnection between the two. This proposal is to design an urban hub around a chosen existing stadium to enrich the …

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 …

Building Unity; Design Framework For Inclusive New Urbanism, Chad Sharp

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The city of Atlanta has historically embraced isolated growth over integrated density, which has contributed to the city’s limited inventory of inclusive urban centers. This divisive approach to urban design has helped facilitate a city of extremes; with high regional concentrations of wealth and poverty. This phenomenon is worsened by the city’s inherently exclusive transportation network and isolated residential development patterns. As Atlanta continues to grow and densify, it is crucial to adopt planning and design models that prioritize high-density, mixed-use residential developments in equitable locations with easy access to public transportation. To account for the failures of property filtering …

Designing For Mass Customization Housing Through Generative Design, Tania Salgueiro

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research proposal aims to investigate computational design strategies for sustainable, affordable, and more equitable housing. The study will focus on the use of generative design tools, such as parametric modeling, rule-based modeling, and optimization, to aid architects and designers in creating custom housing complexes for single families in small and medium urban lots. The goal is to develop a computational method that considers sustainability, affordability, and long-term usage parameters to create housing designs that meet the desired spatial qualities. The research question asks how generative design tools can support designers in approaching affordable housing given the increasing demand for …

Exploring Methods Of Adaptive Reuse As A Means Of Reviving Abandoned Spaces, Joshua Davids

Honors Projects

This interdisciplinary project explores cases of building abandonment as well as adaptive reuse projects. Building abandonment is analyzed for its causes and influences, with adaptive reuse also discussed as a means to revitalize these abandoned spaces. The end of the project includes a small-scale design concept for the renovation of unused spaces in Bowling Green State University's Founders Hall.

An Investigation Of The Car-Centric Street: Cataloging And Advocating For Misuses And Disruptions From The Users Of The Street, Harris Joseph Anton

Senior Projects Spring 2023

Senior Project submitted to The Division of Arts of Bard College.

From Building To Dwelling: Unfolding Infinity Through Bioregional Fulfillment, Sanjana Bhatnagar

Pitzer Senior Theses

The causes of anthropogenic climate change touch every feature of our modern-day existences. Approaches to sustainability tend to focus on material actions, but unsustainable practices are guided by an ontological orientation of individuality and human exceptionalism. This thesis provides an alternate account of being that decenters individuality through weaving the metaphysics of Fazang of the Huayan School of Mahayana Buddhism with the metaphysics of Martin Heidegger. To encompass the whole of the relational network that constitutes and conditionally defines our existence, I expand Heidegger’s account of locales as relational sites which are put forth solely by humans to an account …