Architecture Commons^™

Evaluation Of The Dynamic Behavior Of Steel Staircases With Concrete Filled Pan Treads, Tyler Sondag

Architectural Engineering -- Dissertations and Student Research

Vibration serviceability of staircases has been a growing challenge for structural engineers due to changing materials and structural forms. In order to prevent or correct serviceability problems due to structural vibrations, structural engineers should be able to predict the dynamic performance of a staircase structure. However, there are few technical guides available for designing steel staircases, and the ones that do exist are often limited in their applications. Currently, there is a lack of research on staircases that are less prone to vibrations, such as staircases with concrete filled pans that are composed of face and wall stringers. Therefore, the ...

Demolition In Rural Nebraska: Revitalizing Fairbury’S Vacant Sites, Mohammad S. Qutbaldeen

Theses from the Architecture Program

Small communities are the most affected by the population decline. This decline results in an increase in the number of abandoned buildings. Those buildings, if left uncared for, will disintegrate and pose an environmental threat to the communities that they are in. In rural areas, demolition without repurposing or redevelopment plans is the dominant solution for unoccupied buildings. Data from the U.S. Census and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality shows that the rural town in Nebraska with the highest rate of vacant sites in a rural town has occurred in Fairbury. Vacant sites are an inevitable result of ...

Catalog Of Speculative Suburban Futures, Tara Grebe, Geneva Sinkula, Austin Riggins, Zac Porter

UCARE Research Products

This joint creative project examines ordinary suburban architecture through a neutral lens. American suburbs are often a source of vibrant debate in architectural discourse. The goal of this research was not to contribute to the endorsement or condemnation of suburbia, but to instead study the composition of these common place typologies. The three typologies studied in this project were shopping malls, big box stores, and gas stations; each of these has a distinct organization and set of characteristics that separates it from the others. After studying the basic components, interventions were made to transform each building in unique ways. This ...

The Impact Of Pev User Charging Behavior In Building Public Charging Infrastructure, Ahmad Almaghrebi

Architectural Engineering -- Dissertations and Student Research

Plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) play a significant role in the development of green cities since they generate less pollution than conventional vehicles. To promote PEV adoption and mitigate range anxiety, charging infrastructure should be deployed at strategic locations that are readily accessible to the public. Nebraska is working on the expansion of charging infrastructure around the state; however, stakeholders face several difficulties in trying to minimize irregular charging behaviors. Most electric vehicle users plug in and leave their vehicles for an extended time at public parking lots designated for PEVs. Some users even leave their vehicles for longer than 24 ...

Guidelines For Sustainable Practices In The Rural Built Environment, Nash Kelly, Ethan Weiche

UCARE Research Products

This poster provides information about sustainable changes people can make to better improve their health, community and built environment. From what is shown, this can be done through community gardens, pedestrian access and building certifications.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), climate change will have direct and significant health impacts (1), which the Lancet Countdown identifies as disproportionately affecting at-risk populations.(2) The challenges of geographic isolation and lack of population density in rural and remote areas limits adequate access to basic healthcare services, such as primary care, emergency care, and mental health services. Additionally, the health deficit experienced ...

Analysis Of The Geographical Distribution Of Primary Care Physicians In Nebraska, Chanhyun Park

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

Many articles point out that there is a disparity between rural and urban areas in healthcare service. The disparity is derived from the locational choices of physicians which are influenced by diverse factors such as backgrounds where they grew up or type of facility at which they worked. This study examines physician movements which vary depending on the types of physician and facility in Nebraska. The research dataset are annual practicing records of all primary care physicians and business information of the facilities in Nebraska from 1998 to 2019. The study result shows that there is little difference in physicians ...

An Investigation Of The Operational And Design Characteristics Of Circadian Lighting Systems - Report, Aaron Adams, Iason Konstantzos

UCARE Research Products

This report investigates the operation of circadian lighting systems to gain an understanding of the main design and control characteristics and to promote different objectives for use. Research is guided by asking how color intensity, color temperature and their temporal characteristics are related to the circadian response, and how this knowledge can be utilized when designing and operating lighting systems for indoor environments. This report consists of an extensive literature review and case study application cut short by the impact of the novel coronavirus. The case study takes place in an office space housed on the UNMC campus featuring an ...

An Investigation Of The Operational And Design Characteristics Of Circadian Lighting Systems, Aaron Adams, Iason Konstantzos

UCARE Research Products

This report investigates the operation of circadian lighting systems to gain an understanding of the main design and control characteristics and to promote different objectives for use. Research is guided by asking how color intensity, color temperature and their temporal characteristics are related to the circadian response, and how this knowledge can be utilized when designing and operating lighting systems for indoor environments. This report features an extensive literature review and case study application cut short by the impact of the novel coronavirus. Future investigation and implementation is encouraged.

Epicenter: An Investigation Of Interior Design's Influence Of The American Suburban Situation, Lindsay Meyer

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

The suburbs cause isolation and poor physical and mental health for a variety of individuals, including parents, teenagers, and the elderly. Neighborhood design rarely considers marginalized teenagers and elderly, but instead focuses on the automobile. Teenagers show higher rates of anxiety, depression, and substance abuse in suburban areas than in urban areas. Millennial desire for suburbs that are engaging and elderly desire to remain in their homes longer demands reconsideration of the current suburban model. Big-box store blight ravages suburban communities damaging local economies and diminishing community curb-appeal. Closing box stores compounds the suburban dweller’s reliance on the automobile ...

An Experiential Online Training Approach For Underrepresented Engineering And Technology Students, Arefeh Mohammadi, Kevin Grosskopf, John Killingsworth

Architectural Engineering -- Faculty Publications

Workforce pipelines are essential to sustain a productive workforce in an increasingly competitive, high-tech environment. Advanced automation, sensors, materials and data analytics will increase the need for highly skilled workers in the manufacturing (and manufactured construction) sector. Attracting and developing the next-generation workforce is not without its challenges; however, students are often deficient in technical skills and generally have negative perceptions about manufacturing and construction. As a result, new education and training models have been developed to provide instruction at all levels of the educational system, with a focus on both traditional students and non-traditional students, including ethnic minorities, women ...

Investigating Multidimensional Characteristics Of Noise Signals With Tones From Building Mechanical Systems And Their Effects On Annoyance, Joonhee Lee, Lily M. Wang

Architectural Engineering -- Faculty Publications

This paper investigates multidimensional characteristics of tonal noise from heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems, besides loudness and tonality, to improve prediction of annoyance. Two studies were conducted: multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis to determine what other perceptual signal characteristics are important and perceptual weight analysis (PWA) to understand the impact of multiple tones in a signal. In the MDS study, paired comparison tasks were conducted to gather similarity and annoyance data. Results show that the latent perceptual dimensions are related to the signal’s tonality, loudness, sharpness, and roughness. Including metrics for these perceptions, except roughness, improves the performance of earlier ...

The Relationship Between Separated Bicycle Lanes And Bicycle Crashes In Denver, Colorado., Wonsun Chang

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

Cyclists feel more comfortable when they ride in a bike facility separated from traffic. Therefore, cyclists tend to prefer separated bicycle lanes over other lanes. It follows that cities are increasing the installation of separated bicycle lanes for bicycle utilization and bicycle safety. However, previous research has proven that separated bicycle lanes cause more crashes. Through empirical study, this paper examined the impact of both separated bicycle facilities and shared roads on bicycle crashes and which is safer or dangerous among methods of the separation. This study deals with bicycle accidents in Denver from 2013 to 2019. This research creates ...

Digitally-Mediated Practices Of Geospatial Archaeological Data: Transformation, Integration, & Interpretation, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Kristin Landau

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Digitally-mediated practices of archaeological data require reflexive thinking about where archaeology stands as a discipline in regard to the ‘digital,’ and where we want to go. To move toward this goal, we advocate a historical approach that emphasizes contextual source-side criticism and data intimacy—scrutinizing maps and 3D data as we do artifacts by analyzing position, form, material and context of analog and digital sources. Applying this approach, we reflect on what we have learned from processes of digitally-mediated data. We ask: What can we learn as we convert analog data to digital data? And, how does digital data transformation ...

Tiny Houses In Metropolitan Areas Of Nebraska: Seasonal Or Permanent Living Environments, Michele L. Hybner

Interior Design Program: Theses

This study is designed to determine if tiny houses offer a viable seasonal and/or permanent living environment for Nebraska residents. Two objectives are used to assess the viability of tiny housing in this Midwestern state. The first analyzes the economics (demand, supply, and cost) of tiny housing in metropolitan areas of Nebraska. The second identifies barriers to occupancy of tiny houses in the state. The results of this research are significant because tiny housing presents a means to address the state’s need for more affordable housing options available to Nebraska residents. At the time of this study, 11 ...

Designing Single-Family Residences: A Study Of The Positive Impact Of Interior Design In Creating New Home Value, Shawn M. Falcone

Interior Design Program: Theses

This study seeks to demonstrate that interior designers should be included as primary stakeholders in the home construction market. The market demand for new single-family homes in America is a relative constant. The primary stake and role that land developers, architects, draftsman, home builders, bankers, appraisers, real estate agents, and buyers have in the home construction market is clear. What is less clear is the role in value an interior designer has in the home construction market. This thesis examines the impact designers have on home value when their expertise is utilized in space planning (i.e.: layout, function, room ...

Workforce Development Through Online Experiential Learning For Stem Education, Arefeh Mohammadi, Kevin Grosskopf, John Killingsworth

Architectural Engineering -- Faculty Publications

The U.S. workforce is increasingly comprised of older adults, women, and minorities who lack basic skills and are unable to acquire these skills through traditional educational and training programs. New approaches are needed to provide effective training to the adult learner and flexible support for nontraditional students who must balance work-life demands with limited educational opportunities. Contextualized teaching and learning (CTL) is a form of experiential learning that blends both basic skills and occupational training together in environments that allow students to relate subject matter to real-world situations. Virtual CTL environments can be created to better engage students, provide ...

Machine Learning In Architecture: Connectionist Approach To Architectural Design, Andrew Chase

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

Previous applications to design processes intend to enhance a building’s schematic design using quantitative data. Therefore, most applications to the early design phases are passed by as simple overarching ideas informed by the designer and users’ knowledge. Although this is a preferred method of choice making, the knowledge used to inform conceptual and schematic design process can be limited. With the increase of computation in all major industries, a new increase in data to describe forms of infrastructure is required. These forms being objects to analyze their performance and potential, and active forms that can describe the disposition of ...

Blend Space: Architectural Storytelling In The Age Of Mixed Reality, Grant Moehlenhoff

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

Storytelling and narratives have long been traditions for communication in human culture. Hieroglyphics, cave paintings, and stone tablets became the mediums in which this common method of communication began. The reasons why people tell stories are numerous, the most common ones being to entertain, to keep cultural heritage, to transfer knowledge, or provide warnings to others of danger. In addition, cultures often use architecture as a place to embed these narratives.

As technology has rapidly developed, so have the modes for telling stories. Today, stories are moving beyond the physical, and into both virtual and mixed realities. Virtual and augmented ...

Generative Suburban Frameworks: Emerging Architect-Guided Optimization Workflows Within Suburban Mass Production, Chris Reeh

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

The mass production of single-family housing has led to a number of overlooked design problems, including enormous physical footprints, subpar construction, and hastily installed infrastructure (Florida 2017). The continued growth of this development strategy has decreased the disparity of the building type, which also undergoes far less design consideration than other building typologies. Solutions to these issues have been oriented around concepts of modular construction and prefabricated elements. These ideas have typically remained in conceptual design stages, and when actualized they tend to lack the simplicity, speed, or cost of current residential construction practices. Additionally, several of these approaches could ...

Type Theory, Paris Mood

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

The concept of type and typology are at the heart of Architecture. Type is the simple act of drawing similarity and difference between a group of artifacts. Typology, on the other hand, is a bit more complicated. When one engages with typology, they are taking the information they gather from observing the artifacts and transposing it into a new context. Most designers and architects refer to this act as type/typology. The distinction between the two terms is necessary for my work. My work looks at the relationship between these two events. As a collective they are Type Theory.

With ...

Agnosia, Hilary Wiese

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

This thesis “Agnosia, a parallel history of the figures of the infra-ordinary” explores the contemporary possibilities for architecture to be critical as well as projective, to formulate a position while learning from the past, to provoke the present with the hope to liberate the future.

The critical positioning that the work engages with is feminism in architecture, women’s under-recognized voices in the making of modern architectural history and how their contributions should be studied to cultivate new contemporary perspectives in architecture practices and architectural pedagogy.

Formulated through text, narratives, poems, research but also total installations, object making, movie making ...

Architecture For The Atypical: Architectural Diffusion, Diane Nguyen

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

The study of phenomenology within architecture is rooted in the emphasis of the experience of the human body. The ability to understand how a human inhabits a space is crucial; through the study of the human experience, we are able to study phenomenology within architecture. But what happens when the human body doesn’t react the way that we, as architects, desire? Since the reliance on vision is the most prominent sense for a phenomenological experience of a space, taking away that sense seems to lessen the impact. As a result, this privileging of vision leads to missed opportunities within ...

Combating Zombie Subdivisions In Teton Valley, Idaho, Taylor Cook

Community and Regional Planning Program: Student Projects and Theses

This research examined the history, background, and viable solutions to deal with zombie subdivisions in the Teton Valley area (Teton County, Idaho). Overdevelopment, lack of responsible zoning code enforcement and the 2008 economic recession are just some of the key factors that contributed to the ongoing dilemma of zombie subdivisions in the Teton Valley. The current and past long-range plan for Teton County, Idaho was reviewed and analyzed to understand the workings and planning mechanisms that were and are currently set in place. Zoning code, Idaho state statutes and development agreements between Teton County officials and developers, were closely reviewed ...

The Experience Condition: Experiencing Alternate Futures, Holly R. Craig

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

A B S T R A C T I n t r o In The Human Condition, Hannah Arendt states that the human capacity for new beginnings is marked by the launch of the first satellite into space in 1957. Arendt recognizes this as an ‘event, second in importance to no other, not even to the splitting of the atom’. The minatory threat of technological enterprises, the advent of automation, virtual and cosmic colonization, climatic changes, and todestrieb or ‘death drive,’ belong to a scope of events that impel new forms of experiences. (1)(2)(3) Narrative Architecture will be ...

The Antithesis: Challenging The Current Execution Of University Thesis Via The Exquisite Capriccio And Grand Tour, Joshua D. Puppe

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

This thesis challenges the current set of norms, definitions and execution of present university thesis via a speculative extension and practice of the grand tour and travel journal through a montaging of mediums, experiences, methods, and techniques.

Architecture In Neoliberalism, Ben J. Kunz

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

Neoliberalism, as a form of capitalism that redistributes wealth to existing accumulations of money, has reorganized our society around market relations resulting in extreme inequality. Architecture has been both captive and complicit in this process because it relies on the largess of its clients who benefit most from the process of neoliberalization. We must dissolve the dogma of architectural practice, and become free entrepreneurial operators in a neoliberal society with architecture as a core skill set, able to operate on risk and its dimensions of time, space, and money without the servitude to our risk ordered professional relationships in order ...

Dimensions Of Surveillance, Prisoners Of The Planetary Panopticon, Mallory R. Lane

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

This project explores the Prisoners of the Planetary Panopticon. Surveillance no longer exists solely within an architectural scale, but has expanded to the urban, territorial, and planetary scale.

At the beginning of this thesis I began researching the contemporary issues of prisons and found that issues now extend far beyond the walls of the grounds. When comparing the architecture of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon to today's society, what separates our exposed, surveilled bodies from those within the Panopticon Prison of the 1800's? This subject is relevant at a time when surveillance has taken over the city and created ...

Papi Design + Build, Eric L. Engle

Theses from the Architecture Program

My thesis explores design build. I set out this thesis to try and explore the relationship between my experiences doing design build and the implications in can have in the built environment. My maker experience started with furniture in high school and shifted into cabins and micro dwellings through architecture school. Design Build is what I want to pursue after graduation with an aim of setting up a practice where I can do design build projects. My current interest lies in micro-architecture because its a scale I feel I can be in complete control of the outcome. Also a smaller ...

The Heart And The Living Room: A Comparative Case Study Of Two Informal Learning Spaces, Tara Grebe, Tiffany Schweer, Mikinna Mcgerr, Dr. Erica Defrain, Dr. Miyoung Hong

UCARE Research Products

The goal of this exploratory study was to apply post-occupancy evaluation techniques to understand how informal learning spaces at UNL are utilized by students. Results will be used to improve future space design across college campuses to better accommodate student learning. Data for this mixed-methods study was collected during the Fall 2018 semester. Preliminary findings have shown different usage patterns between genders. The Stacks - which are confined, quiet study spaces interspersed throughout the collections - were often used by males, while the Mezzanine－a larger, open space－was primarily occupied by females. Other findings have shown a distinction between how students ...

The Augmented Drift, Kylie Miller

Theses from the M. Arch. Program

This thesis aims to define and understand the role in which technology plays on human perception and its relationship to architecture. This is to critically analyze the changes and manipulations of the body within regards to new technological systems. These are analyzed under the frameworks of body perceptual systems and their levels of engagement. This then allows for experimentation of sensory manipulation to test the body’s responsive and reactionary techniques.

The design of this thesis explores the opportunities in crossing, amplifying, and re-contextualizing the body and senses within the regards of the technological impacts. This is implored through physical ...