Architecture Commons^™

Pro Bono Publico: The Architect As Developer, Daniel Hurshel Hodge

Masters Theses

The profession of architecture now encounters a precarious economic landscape because of the separation of economy and the value chain. Architecture has historically succeeded on the backs of its craftspeople and the intangible tangibility of its productions. Yet, in our current economic era, where everyone is disconnected from value creation and imbibes value through the medium of brand, architecture has responded with niche reforms and feeble assertions of legitimacy. What follows is a reevaluation of its professional values in a valueless climate. From the standpoint of the architect, coupling its systemic elements with that of the real estate developer may …

The New Parallel: Urban And Agrarian Political, Environmental, And Architectural Landscapes Of The Demilitarized Zone, Robert Vincent Truka

Masters Theses

North and South Korea share the most heavily armed military border in the world. Technically both sides are still at war dating back to 1950. The 38th parallel, also known as The Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is a 156-mile long by 2.5- mile wide border condition with over two million plus known landmines buried with-in its boundaries. The Juxtapositions of the financial, political, economical, and military modalities could not be more drastically different between North and South Korea. North Korea is a communist autocratic military dictatorship and has one of the worlds lowest Gross Domestic Products (GDP). South Korea is a …

Integral Perspectives, Henry Brian Cheek

Masters Theses

Integral Perspectives is a method to architectural design that encompasses four different approaches. The four approaches, or perspectives, I chose to focus on include: Cultural, Experiential, Performance, and Systems. Designing with each of these perspectives in mind, I intend to create a more holistic and integral design solution. My thesis explores this methodology using the affordable housing crisis in Nashville, TN.

Rigs Of Refuge: Spatial Agency And Its Role In Conflict, Brittany Lauren Mcgraw

Masters Theses

Architecture is an inherently political endeavor. As such, designers should carefully consider the spatial dialogue that the built environment creates between those who control spaces and those who use them. In times of crisis, this dialogue often ceases to be an equal exchange, pushing users’ needs aside and exerting authority in the most expedient way possible.

This thesis proposes that amidst settings of conflict, hyper-responsive architectural systems can counteract landscapes of authority by returning spatial agency to users. As the means of providing such a system, oil rigs should be repurposed as a network of deployable crisis response hubs.

Architecture Of A Post Physical Universe, Mathew D. Smith

Masters Theses

As architects we are fundamentally forced to make arguments within the physical realm. However since mid 1990’s the world has become more and more reliant upon the digital. Now in 2017 it is the way we voice public opinion, shop, visit with our friends and much more. This digital space has taken over, and while humanity would more than survive without this modern technology, it continues design our world around it. This architecture project glimpses into the future of how we as architects are continually dealing with this new infrastructural space. While many projects have played architecture as the victim, …

Logistical Bodies Of Fulfillment, Michael Steven Frush

Masters Theses

existence occurs in a spatial assembly of multiple scalar experiences that is intensified and brought to perception by the exponential advancement of a virtual extension.

the physical realm that human cognition experiences acts as a bound container influenced by natural law and trusted forces. the virtual realm exists as a medium through which linkages are made that suppose unseen law, forces, and connections. the human existence experiences an interface between the multiplicities of the physical and the virtual. as technologies advance exponentially the recognition of a multiple temporality is intensified by digital networks and spatial extensions. the trusting of physical …

The New Sub Urban, Brad Lee Herr

Masters Theses

By pairing the unique and varying physical conditions of open-pit mines with the contextual situations and issues that surround them, these often abandoned and overlooked gaps in the earth can be rethought as a new landscape for creating future infrastructures that uniquely address national and global issues that are likely to increasingly effect our world in the future. This thesis project aims to rethink and restore purpose to these numerous vacant gaps left in the earth to determine how their unique conditions can provide a greater benefit to society through adaptive reuse.

Monumental Revival, Michael Brandon Litton

Masters Theses

The post-industrial era has left textile mills programless and isolated from their towns, leaving these monuments in ruination. The villages surrounding these mill have began to decay as a part of the process of the mill closing. In search of a thriving economy, inhabitants of the town leave for opportunity elsewhere. This thesis explores a method of reviving a mill town by re-adapting the textile mill and injecting a transnational economic system into the town.

Modeling Practice Immersive Design Methodologies, Michael Aaron Stone

Masters Theses

Modeling Practice is centered around an immersive methodology that connects the architect to the process of making. The value of reflection and a consciousness of methodology are intrinsic layers of thought throughout. The act of building influences the process of design. The experience of creating is as important as the final result.

The practice of creating architecture comes with a range of limitations, notably a disconnection from the building process, and in many cases an insubstantial amount of time to interact with the site and surroundings in which the project is located. Throughout many years of working in the profession, …

Institutions Of Transformation, Anthony Michael Dienst

Masters Theses

The multiple stages of a building’s lifespan must have a voice in any future adaptive reuse endeavor.

In order to envision the future, we must examine not only the past but also the unintentional ‘ghost spaces’ associated with the loss of the original function. The ‘ghost spaces’ provide insight into the transformational nature of a changing program.

The path of a future architectural trajectory must evolve simultaneously with the study of the past in order to create architecture that is appropriate for the present. Only by recognizing critical events in both the past and present timeline can we root the …

Scruffy City, Variegated Spaces, Rare Places, Royal Moore Starr

Masters Theses

The general basis of this thesis is to provide a critical examination of city branding and its implications on the built environment. Geographically fixated upon on the city of Knoxville, TN, Scruffy City, Variegated Spaces, Rare Places explores a unique relationship between cultural identity and architectural form. This project is an attempt to understand and harness an allusive attitude that undoubtedly shapes the architecture of this city. Therefore, the project itself is an open-ended set of design operations that inherently challenge the nature of architectural process in an attempt to study and emulate scruffiness in the built environment.

The project …

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 …

A Visible History: A Synthesis Of Past, Present And Future Through The Evocation Of Memory Within Historic Contexts, Nicholas Jeffway

Masters Theses

How can new spaces evoke the layers of memory associated with historic places and utilize them to envision anew? What are the spatial strategies involved with creating architecture rich in memory and how can a space which is cognizant of its physical and historical context serve as a tool for revitalization?

These questions could be used to investigate revitalization efforts in much of the cities and towns which line the Connecticut River Valley. Ultimately, solutions become directly rooted in the context to which they are set.

With the industrial village of Turners Falls as the setting, this thesis is based …

Umass Dining Hall. A Path To Resiliency, Lukasz Czarniecki

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates integration of University’s Dining Hall and Emergency Shelter in terms of their inter-related sustainability factors; the ability to take advantage of the site to harvest, store, grow and learn about all aspects of food production, and to provide a safe place to stay during times of emergency.

The program, in addition to being a dining hall, is concerned with teaching about food science and culinary studies, relating to the agrarian history of the University of Massachusetts and bringing that history into the current moment with the resurgence of localized food production and in support of the UMass …

An Incremental Intervention In Jakarta: An Empowering Infrastructural Approach For Upgrading Informal Settlements, Christopher H. Counihan

Masters Theses

Incrementalism is a growing movement within multiple design disciplines that approaches design with sustainable, social, and resilient aims structured around participatory, infrastructural, and phased approaches to design. Carefully considered structural and independent infrastructural frameworks allow infill and accretion according to the demands and needs of individuals and communities. This paper outlines the theories, case studies, and conditions driving incrementalism. My research has informed my project proposal for an incremental upgrade of a slum located in Jakarta using a phased, soft infrastructural, resident facilitated upgrade and development strategy creating new housing units, productive landscapes, and urban form. Incremental development will foster …

Regional Expression In The Renovation Of Remote Historic Villages, Jie Chen

Masters Theses

Due to the fast-pace of urban development, there is a large demand for labor in big cities in China. Also, because of a huge income gap between countryside and cities, an increasing number of youths in rural areas have chosen to leave their homes and transfer to the cities causing a rapid decline of population and the vacancy of properties. This phenomenon is referred to as “Hollow Village”. Especially in case of some remote historic villages, due to labor turnover, villages which has precious historic and culture value are abandoned and stopped from development. Only children and elders are left …

The Performance Of Light: Exploring The Impact Of Natural Lighting In The New Umass School Of Performance, Dylan Brown

Masters Theses

This thesis explores how natural light can be integrated with built form to create a “performance of light” in architecture. Lighting conditions from a contemporary dance piece, as well as other architectural precedents, were studied, and aspects adapted into the building’s design. In addition to designing theatrical effects of light, the classroom and administrative spaces were designed to take advantage of natural light. Daylight studies were used to inform glazing design and material selection to stay within illuminance thresholds in the spaces.

This project is responding to the facility needs of the campus of UMass Amherst where the program of …

New York City 2050: Climate Change And Future Of New York | Design For Resilience, Abhinav Bhargava

Masters Theses

The escalating temperature, annual precipitation, sea level rise and carbon footprint will likely lead to an unimagined future which does not have a bright side. With the rise in carbon footprint particularly due to greenhouse gas emissions, burning of fossil fuels and change in land uses; carbon dioxide is 40% higher as compared to era before Industrial Revolution.

The constant increase in temperature is melting the glaciers and increasing the sea levels. The Hudson River is estimated to rise by 1.5-2ft by 2050, directly affecting the low-lying areas of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan. Amongst the multiple coastal cities …

Lighting : An Atrium Core To Reconnect With The Sun, Quan Lei

Masters Theses

At the Rhode Island School of Design, students work so much that they treat their studio as home; the majority stay in studio past midnight, which leads to lack of sleep. How to improve students’ physical and mental health is a question demanding immediate investigation, particularly as relates to rest. According to the scientists at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) in Troy, N.Y, engagement with daylight environments increase occupant productivity and comfort, and provide the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate circadian rhythms, encouraging more restful sleep. Students cannot function healthily because their busy schedules remove them from the …

Super Natural : Hybrid Strategies For Urban Flood Protection In Coney Island Ny, Georges Fischer

Masters Theses

How will inundation change the design of city coastlines? This thesis is an investigation into strategies to mitigate urban flooding from storm surge in Coney Island NY.

In Phase 1, dynamic phenomena are identified and deconstructed, the result are properties that can be assembled to make a machine that applies forces to wet plaster, which solidified to yield insights into the sectional forms of waves. This process was used to inform a conceptual model documenting the site’s physical form, and the relative differences between land and water in terms of its density and porosity.

In Phase 2, a catalog of …

Collective Consumption : A Game For Living, Zachary Rochman

Masters Theses

“The time-lapse fluctuation of our societal floor plan has accelerated. Now you can almost watch the walls go up and down in real time.” -Rem Koolhaas, Elements

There is an efficient and beneficial way to collectively consume resources, but our houses and apartments do not function this way. The commons still exist, but their locations are sparse and specific. What if we established communal spaces that connect private dwellings and blur the lines between them? What new responsibilities and freedoms would arise? If we establish new commons and new abilities to share spaces and resources, we can help alleviate the …

Inhabit The Storm : Emergency Evacuation Route, Anastasiia Isakova

Masters Theses

Today a lot of design research is concentrated on problems of resiliency and performance in conditions of hazardous events, such as sea level rise, hurricanes, tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes and drought. And while designers, architects and engineers try to convince people to care about these issues, offer building higher seawalls, recreating marshlands, reinforcing shorelines and various ecosystems, they never really address evacuation, which remains a big problem for vulnerable areas prone to cyclical occurrence of natural disasters.

More people die during evacuation - escaping the disaster site, rather than from the disaster itself; more people die because of the consequences of …

Remediating The Garment Industry, Kellie Knight

Masters Theses

This thesis culminated from an interest in addressing the pollution by the dye processes of the textile industry on the Earth’s waterbodies. The first Phase of this thesis explored the globalization of the garment industry. The movement of production was tracked over time from the 1950’s when production occurred primarily in the United States and Europe to present day when production is worldwide. With the global spread of the industry came the global spread of its pollutants.

The second phase of the thesis investigated the functioning of the fashion industry itself to determine which process from production to distribution is …

Openness, Yu Cao

Masters Theses

I am fascinated with the experience of drawing the openness of the mind consumes me. When an energy much much bigger than me moves me I draw. I am open and candid patient and silent deep listening to that intrinsic energy, flowing with colors, running with marks, being taken for a walk by one line until the unknown reaches precision. I still don’t know what they are; flying tigers, swimming birds breathing pink banana blue. This is my world where I encounter a me I don’t know yet. Where a child finds home. Where I can inhabit the openness of …

Simultaneity Of Space, Amy Lungariello

Masters Theses

The generational gaps between the baby-boomers and millennials are a result of a number of sociobiological and economic factors. Events such as the 2008 Financial Housing Market Crash, the current political climate and the events proceeding and following the election, constantly changing cultural trends, global warming, countless international tragedies, and most importantly the ever advancing technological innovations which most connects and divides the people of our time. The position of my thesis is one which poses the question of how to bridge the gap between the numerous divides of our time through the means and practice of architecture. Distance is …

Into The Open : Blurring Building Fences, Chun Qiu

Masters Theses

When an urban college campus is open to the surrounding community, students benefit from a closer engagement with the resources of the city: entertainment, markets, living arrangements, more cultural and professional experience. At the same time, local residents enjoy a stronger regional economy from all of the people attracted to study or work on campus, allowing closer contact for locals with the world beyond the boundaries of their own city.

Though it is clear how valuable communal engagement is to urban life, we live in a society obsessed with separation. The near-universal practice of extruding backyard parcel lines has created …

Building Community : Network Within Grey Space, Lingfei Liu

Masters Theses

Buildings constitute the city, but at the same time isolate people from the action of the city by delimiting the activities within. Considering the relationship between buildings and public urban areas, is there a missing characteristic which could blur the boundary and create a smooth transition, a grey space gradually mediating between the outside and the inside, exterior and interior? Perhaps a type of connection within the city which contains more flexibility and accessibility would reduce the isolation of people from the activities of their own cities.

Isolation of this type exists on the urban scale, but also affects institutions …

Sculpting Time In Spatial Narrative, Hua Gao

Masters Theses

In architecture, we dwell in time as much as in space. As there is a geometry in space, so there is a psychology in time. The spatial narrative refers to a plot involved in the space design, also to the construction of the space, the arrangement of order relationship results in the effective content of space. The core of spatial narrative is to create the space order. The spatial narrative contains a mental world, in which the experienced, remembered and imagined, as well as the past, present, and future is inseparably intermixed.

Architecture is not only enfolded by the eye …

The Void Between Us, Xiaofan Fan

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the sense of connection and detachment among people. The interference with sight and physical placement of the body are the two aspects that this thesis researches upon. Through a discussion of life and death, the research is able to take form in the architecture realm with a crematorium as the final deliverable.

Perceptible Ambiguity : Learning Center, Zhurong Qian

Masters Theses

This project investigates the possibility of using the concept of projection to blur a boundary, as well as the potential to create an ambiguous transition between various spaces. In this project, the differentiation between floors, inside and outside, solid and void, starts to fade away.

Projection is a way to understand the world. Through “looking”, we “collapse” the original object, and reconstruct the image in our head.

Learning is in the same way, we “break down” the phenomenon in order to comprehend the logic, and through experiments, we examine the theory repetitively. Learning is also about seeing the same thing …