Architecture Commons^™

Shrine Analysis, Anastasia Benko

Architecture Thesis Prep

Shrines are used throughout different cultures to mark graves, sites of importance, and or events that may have occurred, and any number of things that may holds significance to an individual or a group of people. The interest in studying these constructs, however, comes from the shared aesthetic qualities that are utilized in many different families of shrines to create a sense of spirituality, or more specifically, to create a heightened awareness of an individual’s understanding of him/her self. Architecture can learn from the vernacular of shrines in order to understand the inherent spirituality of a structure. This vernacular is …

Violent Growth, Leandro Cortez

Architecture Thesis Prep

Generating mix-use program to meet the housing, economic, and nutritive needs of rural migrants to the "urban periphery."

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.

Parking, Alyssa Francis

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project re-conceptualizes the parking garage structure from a building type deemed as an utilitarian object, to a multi-functioning public service provider, to not only store cars for the individual but also as an infrastructured platform for providing urban amenity, providing much needed urban public space. This structure looks at the concept of garage to look beyond its normative function of purely car storage, and sees the potential of using the building both with and without vehicles, to ultimately act as a form of urban rehabilitation.

Beyond Vision: Designing For The Deaf, Kristen Charters

Architecture Thesis Prep

I propose a Deaf/Hearing Cultural Center as a means of testing these relationships. The center would enable the increased awareness of Deaf culture by the Hearing population while providing a space for the Deaf community. The varied programs of a cultural center would enable the investigation of a sensory architecture in combination with the social aspects of being Deaf.

Hedonic Architecture: Coexistance Of Hyper Stimulating And Hypo Stimulating Experiences, Rossitza Iovtcheva

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis proposes that rehabilitating effects can be achieved through natural stimulation facilitated by the architectural design. It argues that while hospital design requires stress reduction to improve healing, a polar experience of hyper stimulation is also necessary for a substance abuser in order to yield a decrease of relapse rates.

Perfomance Pedagogy, Dana Hareli

Architecture Thesis Prep

The deterioration of performance-based learning in contemporary educational practices, fostering one-to-one teaching models, prompts a discussion of the implications of theatricality on design education and the role of performance pedagogy in the architectural discipline. The Montessori method of education is a child-centered educational approach, which views the child as eager and capable of initiating learning in a supportive and prepared learning environment

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, …

Redefining The Prison Milieu, Emily Lodato

Architecture Thesis Prep

Spaces of solitary confinement and isolation are the most detrimental to the mental health of any patient. In order to influence positive mental health, spaces must promote human interaction with the objective of instilling a sense of community in the inmates. A community is composed of varying architectural elements that create private and public spaces with different types of restrictions at different times.

Blind Spot, Andrea Macias-Yañez

Architecture Thesis Prep

Negotiating between the physical and software means mediating perception, therefore physical space is defined by endo-perception and software space by exo-perception.

Godless Pious: Buddhist Sacred Space, Holly Kang

Architecture Thesis Prep

The present dissonance between the practice and architecture of Buddhism can be resolved through the programmatic revision of the sacred complex that prioritizes the interdependence of the sacred, the banal and the profane.

Curated Disorders, Nathanael Bengio

Architecture Thesis Prep

By using the techniques of contradiction that existed in Dadaism fused with those of psychoanalysis and defamiliarization in Surrealism and Nouveau-Realism, my thesis examines the possibility of an architectural typology that critiques hyper-functionalities, anonymous ornament and the general facelessness of most commercialized architecture today. Within the context of a Haussmannian facade will be created a simple matrix that allows for the displacement of architectural elements in and out of their intended contexts leading to the curation of the reverse, the disordered twin.

Dwelling In Density: A Study On High Density Residential Architecture, David Domke

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis aims to propose an high density plan for Philadelphia by cataloging existing vacancy levels, define variously dense formal typologies within these vacancies, and strategically implement high-density architectures within the existing urban fabric to accomodate future growth.

Augmenting The Third Teacher, Christina Hoover

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis explores the formal and material design potentials of the school and contends that for it to adapt to the needs of today’s techno-centric youth, dynamic and responsive materials should be integrated to enhance the environmental quality of spaces for a child’s developmental benefit.

Cuba: Architecture And The Social Order, Jessica Obregon

Architecture Thesis Prep

As the Cuban society emerged and developed, the combined forces of slavery, feudalism, capitalism, and socialism had a great impact on its architecture. When architecture ceases to be an “effect” to become a “cause”, architecture becomes a tool to affect social change.

An Architecture Of Dimensions: 2d, 3d, 4d, Etc., Tiffany Montanez

Architecture Thesis Prep

A funhouse, a building equipped with trick mirrors, shifting floors, and other devices designed to scare or amuse people as they walk through is the program of choice. Funhouses are designed for the perception of the user. They provide an amusing architecture, as well as an architecture driven by position, form, and most importantly, experience.

Spatializing The Corridor, Mengru Li

Architecture Thesis Prep

The goal of this thesis project is to develop a model for a public corridor that would serve as the basis for the future development in the planning of a new district.

Designing For A Resilient Waterfront, Laura Festa

Architecture Thesis Prep

The project will use soft infrastructure systems to create a more environmental, technical, and economically resilient waterfront development. The threat of rising sea level will become the framework for a flexible and holistic design between architecture, landscape, and soft infrastructure. By arraying the activities of recreation, ecology, and urban development along the waterfront and combining these design strategies with a soft infrastructure system, the coastline of East Boston has the potential to become a precedent for other urban waterfronts vulnerable to sea level rise. By rethinking the division between landscape and infrastructure to form a soft infrastructure system, solutions can …

Storrytelling And Its Mediums: The Spatial Implications Of Creative Collaboration Spaces, Omal-Hoda Kassim

Architecture Thesis Prep

For this specific thesis we will be focusing our area of study of ‘storytelling’ on Film/Cinema, Animation and Comics. The three disciplines require highly creative people who are required to be multi-talented, as well as collaborate highly with one another. This coerced collaboration is one key point of study for this thesis.

Civic Composition: An Architectural Solution To An Urban Problem, Kaan Sanalan

Architecture Thesis Prep

The project I am proposing, “A New Way to Expand our

Cities: a Concentration of Civic Infrastructure”, offers a

solution to this ill growth expansion. A hyper dense populated

city big enough to support public transportation and

other amenities less populated areas do not, in simpler

terms, human oriented cities with concentrated civic infrastructures

(for example: schools, city halls, museums, spa

centers, transportation centers, commercial areas and low

income housing). This can be done easily with the encouragement

of the private sector and no zoning or mixed use,

but instead, more general rules and guidance which create

more opportunity to …

Energy Modeling And Implementation Of Complex Building Systems, Kurt Rogler

Architecture Thesis Prep

Complex/dynamic systems and technologies

are gaining traction in architecture, but accurate

analysis and simulation of conflicting dynamic

systems within a building model has yet to be

achieved. Most ideas of analysis and simulation

revolve around a set process: model one instance

of a building (i.e. without changing parameters)

and analyze in a separate program. The use of a

parametric base for analysis/simulation plugins,

as well as an easily manipulatable and responsive

model would not only further the accuracy of

testing the effects of multiple dynamic systems, but

become a new tool that merges model, behavior,

analysis and simulation to strive …

Open Tectonics, Steven O'Hara

Architecture Thesis Prep

Tectonics is the project of following rules. It is the process of accepting what is given to us and making the best of it. We, as architects, assemble these predetermined components without question, albeit with potentially great results. By understanding the materials, processes, design, and jigging of building components, the limitations of actualizing designs can be eroded, challenging the relationship between designer, builder, and user.

Unlocking The Architectural Lessons Of Life On For Life At, The Beach: Mixed-Use Housing And Planning, Flagler Beach, Florida, David O'Bryan

Architecture Thesis Prep

Flagler Beach, Florida will be the stage for this architectural experiment. Chosen for its efforts to hold on to it’s vernacular architecture, economic mix, cultural diversity and environmental expression, while challenged by the pressures of tourism and gentrification that it may not even know exists. Its origin was that of a destination place that converted to a hometown community that now has difficult decisions to make possibly loosing what makes it currently a great place. Flagler Beach could fall prey, as other beach communities have, and become forced under development pressures, into a place that it never intended to be.

Active Density: Stimulating The Urban Domain In High-Rise Social Housing Developments, Heather Dela Cruz

Architecture Thesis Prep

I propose to retain the benefits of vertical housing and improve upon it by

up-zoning the block and building low-rise, high-density mixed-income structures

on the site’s perimeter. The new construction will include public amenities that are

lacking in the immediate area such as retail, restaurants, work space, and public

service facilities. Through adaptive re-use of mega blocks will be reclaimed. This

mixed-use approach to the expanded occupancy will also restore the diversity that

was lost when the towers were first built.

Contemporary Sacred Space, George Guarino Iii

Architecture Thesis Prep

I’m interested in the kind of constituency that thinks something along these lines: that

thinks, “I can’t believe in any of this stuff. I can’t believe in the doctrines. I don’t think these

doctrines are right. But,” a very important but, “I love Christmas carols. I really like the art

of Mantegna. I really like looking at old churches. I really like turning the pages of the Old

Testament.” Whatever it may be, you know the kind of thing I’m talking about -- people

who are attracted to the ritualistic side, the moralistic, communal side of religion, but can’t

bear …

Inhabiting Urban Voids: Urban Infrastructure In Sao Paulo, Andrea Novazzi

Architecture Thesis Prep

Single-functioning infrastructure produces residual spaces within the urban fabric of a city. Existing structures may be ‘thickened’ through the implementation of different programs. The singularity of infrastructural elements creates a ‘clean’ environment lacking use or character. Infrastructure is a public service that enables human interaction. “Thickening” the infrastructure with public programs, either formally or informally, may facilitate an ‘event’ happening between individuals. My thesis asserts that within the urban voids generated by existing infrastructure, public programs may be implemented in order to promote spaces that encourage different human transactions and encounters, to create a spatial identity.

Big Urban Things, Nathan Geller

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project has evolved from an interest in architecture’s role and impact in the city, as well as a developing interest in the philosophy of Object Oriented Ontology. As a way to explore these interests, this project is about contextualizing Bigness through the writings of Graham Harman.

Fields In Fields, Or Infinite Space, Joshua Graham

Architecture Thesis Prep

I contend that the Field is important and

worth examining because it values the

“Typical” as a means of generating the

atypical, to borrow the term from Koolhaas.

This condition of “typical-ness” can criticized

for its repetition or sameness, however it is

only because of this repetition and sameness

that differences, mistakes, slips can emerge!

Therefore, I will begin with fields. I will

collect them. I will read about them. I will try

to diagram them. I will rescale them. I will

combine them. I will use images to make new

fields; reimagine territories.

Perception, Megan Rand

Architecture Thesis Prep

In today’s age of technology, online media allows wider access

to architectural photos and information. Through images provided

by architectural firms, magazines, amateur photographers, official

websites, and social media, one can experience a building to

an extent, without ever visiting that physical place. This greatly

impacts the discipline of architecture, as the general public is

able to view, interpret, and criticize works without the consent

or the input of the architect. Before the rise of social media,

architects had great control over what information and images

were released for a project, controlling the perception of the

general public.

“There’S No Way I’M Moving Into A Nursing Home. You're Going To Have To Shoot Me First.", Robert Moldafsky

Architecture Thesis Prep

Current retirement homes near universities introduce the burgeoning minds of college students and the academic culture of a university, the lectures, professors, and resources to satisfy the mind, but do not provide a bridge for the experience and knowledge of the elderly to benefit the university. One area of a possible Collective Group Form is the University medical center. The elderly require more medical attention as time goes by and Universities have some of the most advanced and highest ranked geriatrics programs. Perhaps there is a cross over where the university provides medical services and the elderly are available to …