Architecture Commons^™

Chicago Transportation Adaptation, Amy J. Kraus

Theses from the Architecture Program

While living in Chicago, without a car, I developed a deep interest in the

network of transportation that enveloped the city. The freedom from parking tickets, traffic jams and pricey parking rates was liberating to say the least, especially after coming from Nebraska, a culture dominated by the automobile that I have participated in since the age of fourteen.

As I studied abroad in Europe last year, I chose to document public transportation in cities visited as an independent study. While traveling to over 100 cities in nineteen different countries during five months of backpacking on three continents, I took …

Phasic Edge, Toby D. Olsen

Theses from the Architecture Program

Costal architecture in the 21st Century carries an inherent concern with regard to its future viability as global sea levels are inching higher. Costal cities and urban infrastructure around the world will face the prospect of being uninsurable, unsaleable, and uninhabitable. From an architectural and sustainable standpoint, abandonment of coastal cities, infrastructure, and property is an unthinkable solution to a very real problem. Perhaps an even more dismal forecast includes the possibility of mil-lions of climate refugees and their respective loss of local cultures. This project aims to call attention to a very real threat facing this generation of emerging …

Lindauer Interpretive And Environmental Center, Robert W. Zander

Theses from the Architecture Program

In today’s world we have altogether become over consumers. We throw away countless items without thinking twice about it. Many of these used items, though at first glance may seem useless, can serve an adaptive purpose. Take, for instance, the cardboard toilet paper roll. Instead of throwing them out once the last sheet of paper is removed, they can be reused as seedling canisters for the greenhouse making it easy to transplant in the Spring. The same can be said of our buildings. Instead of razing a tired building, let’s make new use of it. Therefore, this project is an …

Rural Renewal, Stacey L. Hageman

Theses from the Architecture Program

This project looks to combat the decline of rural communities by employing innovative planning and design processes in order to create a sustainable plan that incorporates quality of life, community pride, walkability/active living, and innovative and energyefficient design; specifically in the rural community of Cambridge, Nebraska.

A site analysis and needs assessment explore and define the requirements of the study and aide in the creation of focused goals and objectives. Planned Unit Developments and Form-Based Codes are implemented in order to influence a creative and innovative plan for the subdivision.

Earth-sheltering highly influences the structure of buildings within the site. …

Saturating Suburbia, Erin N. Ostendorf

Theses from the Architecture Program

Something is wrong and we must make it right… or at least find the most effective starting point to effect change. Global warming is a complex issue; there is no one cause, no single effect. It is a problem that has become connected to nearly every facet of today’s society. From species extinction and intensified weather events, to food shortages and rising sea levels, global warming has the potential to change our lives forever. As we face the greatest threat ever posed to mankind, it becomes a question of what to do now? ¬This project began as an exploration of …

Erasure, Kevin A. Augustyn

Theses from the Architecture Program

Intent for the project was generated by gaining an understanding of world societies and the volatile nature of the systems that help to structure them. The consumptive attitude of the world and its people has, up until now, been fed by the abundant resources of the planet, but current trends show a planet that is no longer capable of supporting these attitudes. Many different steps have been taken to alleviate the current issues, but most of them focus on developing ways in which people can continue to act as they have in the past while not causing environmental damage. People …

Urban Conagraculture, Dale J. Luebbert

Theses from the Architecture Program

Current pressures in today’s world caused me to investigate strategies of change in the organization of society to promote a more effi cient existence. Globalization, a movement characterized by the dissemination of economies, ethnicities, media, ideas, technologies, and production; has become today’s reality. The shift from imperialism to globalism has caused a decline in the power and importance of nation states and a rise in the power of multi-national corporations operating within this globalized society.

The investigation focuses on globalism’s physicality and the fact that its existence is reliant upon access to inexpensive energies, which is not today’s reality. This …

Curating American Culture: Architectural Representation Through The World’S Fairs, Erin L. Wencel

Theses from the Architecture Program

Within the culture I have grown up in, most building types possess and conform to a standard. The standard has an aesthetic appearance, a certain scale, and possibly the most

relevant at this time, a predetermined place in society. Schools, fast food restaurants and homes are identifiable at a level far from an architectural standpoint. Thus, the designer is prompted with a range of decisions from conformation to innovation. Most of the people within these cities accept and favor the sense of familiarity. Conclusions and arguments form why our culture is inclined this way [comfort, control, societal hierarchy], and to …

Continuing Care Retirement Community In North Downtown Omaha, Jesse J. Mcconnell

Theses from the Architecture Program

Over the next few years North Downtown Omaha will evolve into one of Omaha’s most exciting and active neighborhoods. The neighborhood already has started with the Qwest Center opening in 2003 and the new College World Series Ball Park opening in spring of 2011. There are condos, hotels and retail shops springing up all over the area. Young people, empty nesters, and seniors are moving to this area to participate in the active lifestyle, enjoy the walkability of the area, and take part in the vibrant street level activity.

A new model for a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) is …

Re:[Work], Bradly J. Brooks

Theses from the Architecture Program

Globalization is shrinking the world. This is bringing about dynamic possibilities for information, service and intellectual property exchange. This shrinking and leveling of the globe will usherin ideas and services from areas of the world that add new exciting perspectives to ideas of collaboration, design and technology.

While Architecture has embraced the periphery of revaluating space and even cyber-space with BIM, outsourcing, exchange hubs, cyber-conferencing and plan exchange systems it still lacks the opportunity for a larger pool of ideas and collaboration which, in the long run will only diminish the Architects ever shrinking influence in the built environment. To …

Science Fiction / Science Fact: Collaboration For Architectural Design In Outer Space, Chad E. Kruse

Theses from the Architecture Program

SCIENCE FICTION AND SCIENCE FACT are typically perceived as two competing perspectives: reality and fantasy lie in two separate planes. In actuality, science fact has much to gain from studying science fiction as technological advancement and possibility of the past century allows yesterday’s science fiction to become today’s science fact; the impossible becomes possible.

For millennia, the concept of human spaceflight remained a dream far from reach, merely science fiction. However, on April 12, 1961, fantasy became reality when the first human broke free of the Earth’s atmosphere setting free the imagination of possibility, allowing humans to inhabit the harsh …

The Rehabilitation Of The Chicago And North-Western Railroad Freight Depot In Fremont, Nebraska And The Redevelopment Of The Surrounding Area, Troy A. Einspahr

Theses from the Architecture Program

The former Chicago and North-Western Railroad Freight Depot in Fremont, Nebraska, designed by Frost and Granger, sits empty, next to the railroad yards at the southern edge of the Downtown area. The surrounding area contains commercial, industrial, institutional, and residential uses. The one-hundred year old Depot is significant because of its history and its architecture and because it is one of the most substantial buildings adjacent to the railroad yards. The preservation objectives require an adaptive reuse. The intent of this project was to investigate how the historic preservation of a significant building can affect the preservation and revitalization of …