Architecture Commons^™

The Contribution To And Affect Of Design And Architecture On Health & Activity Promotion (H&Ap) In The Workplace, Krystal L. Schumacher

Theses from the Architecture Program

Expanding the research and awareness on the contribution to and affect of design and architecture on health and activity promotion in the workplace (h&ap) is essential in moving forward in the design of working environments. As humans, we spend the majority of our time indoors, for an average American adult he or she spends the majority of the day in a working environment. The impact that our spaces have is much deeper than the aesthetic. Our environments can depict how we act, feel and operate based on the design of our surroundings. Through this research, the goal was to study …

Transforming Architecture: Engaging The Built Environment, Ryan G. Hier

Theses from the Architecture Program

Contemporary society is transfixed by the newest piece of technology. More often than not these devices serve as commodities; eliminating a certain amount of burden from daily life. The architectural realm is no different. Building design decisions are constantly scruti­nized by their ability to perform, with respect to energy consumption and conservation. However, there is a different type of building performance worth considering: the act of transformation. Transformable architecture has the abili­ty to change structure, space, and function through physical movement of the architecture.

In an age where technology suc­ceeds in disengaging humans from interaction with each other, it can …

Boomtown: A Momentary Community, Elizabeth G. Hawks

Theses from the Architecture Program

“Gillette Syndrome” describes a condition within a city undergoing rapid growth, usually due to the introduction of a new industry within the city or more specifically, the extraction of a newly discovered natural resource. Symptoms of the syndrome are an increase in crime and decay within a city and a decrease in community identity.

Global oil prices continue to rise as the resource becomes more difficult to extract from the earth’s layers. The new price of oil necessitates the extraction of crude through methods that were previously too expensive to justify.

These new methods are utilized for extracting oil in …

A Walk Around Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda, Daniel C. Scott

Theses from the Architecture Program

Royal Naval Dockyard, Bermuda aims to become a national center of distinction, a thriving new district in Bermuda, and a flagship in the economic regeneration of the West End. It will be a place unlike any other in Bermuda, offering cultural, residential, office and tourist amenities that are rooted in the fabric of Bermuda, and the diverse and vital history of the Royal Naval Dockyard.

Building on its history, and preparing it to fulfill its full potential for the future the Dockyard will need to transform to meet the changing needs of Bermuda’s economy. With a weakening tourist industry and …

Water And The Architect: Architecture As Decentralized Water Management, Daniel A. Williamson

Theses from the Architecture Program

Water is the essence of life, a material, a resource, a commodity. It is volatile, fragile, devastating, nourishing and is ultimately spatial. The design of how water spatially inhabits, flows, and interacts with our built life has seen many forms, functions, systems, failures and successes. Over the course of history those who have had the opportunity to define our relationship with water has spread across numerous disciplines, and touched many professions. The architectural relationship with water has seen an unfortunate bifurcation over the past two centuries. It is this separation of architecture from adequately and actively engaging water management, primarily …

Lexiconic: Reading The Edifice, Amanda L. Mejstrik

Theses from the Architecture Program

Language has undergone an evolution similar to architecture. Both have been defined through multiple styles which have a tendency to change and reestablish themselves based on popular culture, eventually permeating through society, while subsequently losing momentum and necessity. In the same way that architecture has transitioned through time based on a societal importance of efficiency, economy, and effectiveness, language begins to assume a new oratory standard.

Old English begat Middle English begat Modern English

Victorian Style begat Modernism begat Structural Expressionism

These entities have become representative of our culture throughout the ages and have reached a point of abbreviation so …

Terra[Form], Michael G. Harpster

Theses from the Architecture Program

This project generates an alternative model of high-density development for emerging metropolitan areas that increases the intensity of use and overall density of a site while simultaneously producing new types of public open space.

Focused intently on ways in which urban form influences or impacts a city’s consumption of energy and resources, the project can be understood as a formal approach to sustainability in which basic formal or tectonic properties are examined in favor of technological building systems.

Ultimately, the project redefines the relationship between the park and the city, creating a network of public open spaces through the intensification …

The Emergent In-Between, Gregory R. Gettman

Theses from the Architecture Program

As walkability becomes a more critical aspect of the organization of urban environments, it is essential that architects engage in the development of the spaces people actually occupy (the ‘in-between’) as well as the relationship between the programs they border. Using walkability as a catalyst, this thesis seeks to design a system for growing new urban tissue. Within that tissue are networks and proximities of activities that define the means and destinations of walking, as well as the spatial condition that makes the condition appealing for walking. Such a system should be able to define and optimize program organizations and …

Transparency: The Unspoken Design Element -- How Levels Of Visibility Affect Adult Learning And Sharing, Erica M. Bartels

Theses from the Architecture Program

Adult learning and sharing environments, specifically high school, college, and workplace facilities, maintain a similar purpose in terms of meeting the needs of the institution and its users. For each of these three project types, the design team develops a plan for users that are capable of social, cognitive maturity while engaging in the creation of new knowledge or ideas. With abundant discussion available on the design variations of these spaces, such as open vs. closed delineations; individual and group work; online or unplugged, it is necessary to dig deeper into the environmental psychology at play amidst the built environment …

Evidence-Based Service-Learning Interior Design Projects: Engaging Undergraduate Students And Advancing The Interior Design Body Of Knowledge, Ann Marie Ragan

Theses from the Architecture Program

Expanding the current interior design body of knowledge (BOK) is essential to the continued development of the interior design profession (Birdsong & Lawlor, 2001; Clemons & Eckman, 2011; Dickinson, Anthony, & Marsden, 2009; Dickinson, Anthony, Marsden, & Read, 2007; Dickson & White, 2009; Guerin & Martin, 2001, 2004, 2010; Martin & Guerin, 2006). The increased use of evidence-based design (EBD) projects in the interior design industry offers interior designers the opportunity to conduct research studies with the potential to create better designs and to expand the existing interior design BOK. Incorporating the EBD process into service-learning projects has the potential …

From Carson Pirie Scott To City Target: A Case Study On The Adaptive Reuse Of Louis Sullivan’S Historic Sullivan Center, Lisa M. Switzer

Theses from the Architecture Program

This study provides an in-depth exploration of the adaptive reuse of one of Chicago’s most iconic structures over the course of a year from the Summer of 2011 to the Summer of 2012. The Sullivan Center was converted from a mid-scale retailer to City Target. Through extensive interviews with the Target development team, Chicago city officials, historians and Landmark Commission representatives this study documents the conversion and identifies the successes and opportunities of the project. The study follows the project from design development to completion, and provides insight on the local community perspective on the development.

Advisor: Mark Hinchman

In Light Of Light The Secular Sacred In Architecture, Jessica L. Graves

Theses from the Architecture Program

Humankind’s fascination and experimentation with light is as old as the built environment itself. Consciously or unconsciously, architecture and light share a distinctive relationship. This has created rich situations in the past and it can create new ones in the future as well. To address the potential of this relationship in a design thesis, one must realize that there is a crucial difference between an objective description of light and what we perceive.

The measure of light can be quantitatively described in luminous flux, radiant energy, or even directionally in relation to time. This way of approaching light produces standard …

Self-Fixturing Architecture, Darin C. Russell

Theses from the Architecture Program

“Fixturing” as a concept and practice is applied almost exclusively to manufacturing. Mass production utilizes the fixture to assemble volumes of identical parts into volumes of identical assemblies via holding and locating. This results in accurate and repeatable assembly of parts. Typically, the fixture is only economical when a large enough volume of assemblies exist - a small number of assemblies does not warrant the design and fabrication of a fixture. In this context, the fixture is external from the assembly - that is, the parts do not intrinsically locate and hold themselves within the assembly. It is arguably more …

Data Driven Architecture, Zachary S. Soflin

Theses from the Architecture Program

There is a change in the paradigm of architecture and the approach toward the development of forms. A change that strives to get past the shallow ascetic of Post modernism and its view of architects as the generators of forms whose priority is appearance not performance. This change continues the movement away from the shallow facade of Post modernism toward a priority of performance and accuracy in architecture. By this, I mean an architecture that serves its users better, and attempts to accurately address the issues & needs of the user.

While performance based design is not a new concept, …

Designing Resilience To The Potential Failure Of An Oil-Dependent System, Michelle A. Morehead

Theses from the Architecture Program

American, post--World War II suburbia exists in a unique form different from previous development in the U.S. and the rest of the world. While suburbs in European countries are typically defined as outlying areas within a city’s limits, American suburbs have no legal definition, and are frequently within a metropolitan area, but outside of the main city’s limits. Suburbs are independent in land-use, taxing and regulatory powers, and therefore may have separate governing bodies and interests than the city they have proximity to. With post-war wealth, credit, and mass production of the automobile, Americans in the 50s were able to …

Rail (Re) Connection, Benton J. Cooper

Theses from the Architecture Program

The primary goal of this project is understand why the passenger rail industry in the United States has fallen short of the rest of the world over the last several decades and to promote the revitalization and re-connection of the passenger rail industry within the United States, with the focus starting in the Midwest. The overall scope of the project is to use existing rail infrastructure, track and existing smaller depots, and new hub terminals to integrate passenger traffic back into the rail industry. As the existing infrastructure becomes outdated and/or worn new infrastructure to support new rail technology will …

Ecotourism, Grant M. Ronchi

Theses from the Architecture Program

The idea to design a fully functioning ecotourism lodge was conceived as a result of two projects, the first being an academically organized team assignment and the second, an actual venture of one of my relatives. The challenges that arise in designing solutions for an environmentally-conscious uniform facility are especially stimulating when they are to be executed abroad. The marketability of such a facility needs to be contemplated carefully, respecting a well established culture. Deliberate attention to a triangle of three components will drive this design as a thesis project: the natives and their culture, construction methods and materials, and …

Into The Seam: The Architecture Of Boundary, Erik T. Leahy

Theses from the Architecture Program

The current conflict occurring in the State of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories is representative of a trend which is becoming common in the modern political era: the walling off of the ‘first world’ from the ‘third world’; ‘civilization’ from ‘wilderness’. Examples of this include (but not limited to) the US-Mexico border, the 38th Parallel between North and South Korea, the economic remnants of the Iron Curtain, the subdivision of the Balkans, and the division and nationalization of the Indian Subcontinent. These border zones reflect cultural, political, and economic differences. Recently, however, through infrastructural definition and physical manifestation, many …

Design Capitalism, Emily Van Court

Theses from the Architecture Program

Social business examples are few in the architecture profession. In fact, humanitarian architecture as a concept is new to the field. Left to non-profits and academics (Architecture for Humanity and Rural Studio respectively), humanitarian architecture is not traditionally regarded as a profitable business.

However, other fields have found ways to combine a social initiative and a profitable business. Grameen Bank founder Dr. Muhammad Yunus not only defined the term, but created the model for social business. Subsequently, many non-profits have followed suit and applied the successful system, increasing the capacity for social change within their fields.

My thesis will aim …

Permanent Impermanence, Craig A. Weflen

Theses from the Architecture Program

"This is the real news of our century. It is highly feasible to take care of all of humanity at a higher standard of living than anybody has ever experienced or dreamt of. To do so without having anybody profit at the expense of another, so that everybody can enjoy the whole earth. And it can all be done by 1985." -Buckminster Fuller, 1971

41 years later, we still have people living in abject poverty, forced into situations where the politics of displacement actively prevent them from improving their living situation. For an organization that puts out a "Handbook for …

Extended Hyperlink Mobilizing Education Through Social Networks, Zachary D. P. Johnson

Theses from the Architecture Program

The moment we are living in is the largest increase in expressive capability in human history! The new media landscape that we are all now a part of has played a critical part in this and it has reconstituted the way people gather and transfer knowledge. The learning process is now continuous and does not begin nor end with the school building. This thesis is a critical look into the university educational system in America that starts by exploring the relationship between educational environments and the way new media and social networking are changing the social behavior of today’s student. …

Intuition In The Design Process, Tyson C. Fiscus

Theses from the Architecture Program

The vast spectrum of unique outcomes and innovative solutions found within the realm of architectural design suggests the field of architecture to be stirring with creative potential. When one first looks at these creative outcomes, it would appear that the designer arrived at a creative solution instinctively or intuitively. The designer often explains the process as intuitive or derived from a natural, unintentional sequence. The intention of this design thesis is to explicitly research intuition, understand intuition’s role in creativity, and critically apply these findings to an architectural design process.

In order to research the seemingly inexplicable realm of intuition, …

Fused, Abby A. Baumert

Theses from the Architecture Program

Since the 1800’s, the consolidation of rural schools in the United States has been a controversial topic for policymakers, school administrators, and rural communities. Primary concerns with consolidation include budget, efficiency, student achievement levels, school size, and community identity. In the history of American education, consolidation has been an alternative way to solve rural issues. Currently, rural schools and communities facing declining enrollments and financial cutbacks are challenged by the growing trend of consolidation and school reorganization.

Debates continue today, whether the consolidation movement is considered a success. Opponents of school consolidation point to research that suggests consolidation may not …

Haptic Vision, Adam H. Donner

Theses from the Architecture Program

Haptic Vision is an investigation into the idea that the experience of architecture is lacking because of the bias Western society has placed on vision, that the other senses are stifled by this and that it is a result of us living in an occularcentric society. Architect and theorist Juhani Pallasmaa has said that, “While our experience of the world is formulated by a combination of five senses, much architecture is produced under consideration of only one - sight. The suppression of the other sensory realms has led to an impoverishment of our environment, causing a feeling of detachment and …

Rust Belt Rhizome, Kathryn L. Hier

Theses from the Architecture Program

The Detroit phenomenon is happening at smaller scales in dozens of cities across the Rustbelt as a result of industrial decline, suburban growth, and increased poverty levels. This disjuncture in the urban fabric is manifested as a rich figure-ground of two opposing forces: city and “un-city”. The “un-city” is a complex and dynamic collection of foreclosed homes, vacant lots, unoccupied property, condemned buildings, and unused infrastructure that pervades the viable urban systems of the city. The presence of scattered emptiness takes observable socio-economic tolls in the form of increased crime, decreased property values, loss of community, and perceived isolation.

This …

Digital Morphogenesis: A Computational Housing Typology, Bryce R. Willis

Theses from the Architecture Program

Architects have integrated computers into firms to streamline the documentation process and which has allowed for the integration of rapid prototyping and digitally driven technologies and tools. Although this has increased the efficiency of the traditional approach to architecture, an alternative methodology has the potential to adapt the computer’s role in architecture, making it a more integrated part of the design process. Within a traditional process, software allows a designer to build the documentation of his designs around the relationships between elements. Instead, new methodologies can be used to imbed the nature of an architectural design within a system of …

A Computational Response To Arrested Development, Nay Z. Soe

Theses from the Architecture Program

Current improvements in transportation, communication technology, and a steady rise in globalization has lead to the effect of suburbanization. While the exact effects and implications of suburbanization remain a matter of great controversy, it is undeniable that substantial qualitative changes are taking place in the world economy, with major spatial and social implications. These conditions pose significant challenges to the normative design practices in concern to planning and housing, requiring an approach that operates beyond the quick fix or the local solution.

In order to operate critically and design effectively to these conditions, an examination of socio-spatial urban processes and …

Building Performance, Aaron K. Wong

Theses from the Architecture Program

This project is a critique on current sustainable practices and looks to create a better system for sustainability that can build upon itself, serve as a progressive system for future use, and ultimately offer a means for self sustaining cities. The current standards for sustainability are far from being progressive or even par for current needs. The means in which buildings are evaluated and means in which sustainability is thought of is very limited, and has lost sight of fundamental goals. A new system in which sustainability is not thought of on as a one off building, but on a …

Adaptive Value: Design For Changing Economies, Adam S. Post

Theses from the Architecture Program

The intent of this thesis is to better understand how architects can increase the value of under utilized sites amidst changing economies. Initial explorations of material reuse, reconstruction, deconstruction, and adaptive reuse have culminated in a better understanding of the value of architecture.

Inherent to any building design is the initial program for its construction. These programs help define the building and set up parameters upon which architects base their designs. The problem that often arises is that nothing happens to these spaces once the programs have changed. This thesis looks to examine how an adaptive reconstruction process can take …

Boundless Boundaries, Amanda C. Kottas

Theses from the Architecture Program

Humans dealing with physical and mental ailments can benefit from improvements in condition that many types of therapy can offer. One of these is equestrian-aided therapy. Its techniques offer a unique range of tools that are both mentally and physically beneficial to the patient.

“The activity of riding closely simulates human gait. The warmth from the horse and the rhythmical motion provides relaxation to spastic muscles. Exercises done on the horse are designed to improve balance, endurance, range of motion and strength” (HETRA, 2011).

In physical therapy with the horse, humans form a bond with the animal. The patients learn …