Architecture Commons^™

Climbing The Adaptation Planning Ladder: Barriers And Enablers In Municipal Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Nicole Gurran

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Local municipal governments have a crucial role in helping communities adapt to climate change. Recognizing different levels of climate preparedness, this chapter analyzes what steps communities tend to follow when they move forward on climate adaptation, including prerequisites for planning and the selection of policies. Drawing on content analyses of local climate adaptation plans from the United States (US) and Australia, as well as interviews with municipal planners in both nations, the chapter explores the adaptation policy choices communities are making and explains the range of strategies local governments have used to move forward on a ‘ladder’ of climate adaptation, …

Foraging For The Curriculum: Sourcing Local Projects For An Integrated Understanding Of Issues Central To Practice, Caryn Brause

Caryn Brause

Historically, the profession has relied on the period of architectural internship to enable graduates to integrate professional practice issues into their design-thinking. However, as the profession looks for ways to shorten the licensure process, eliminating the timeline between graduation and licensure, it is necessary to examine how these issues may be addressed in a more multi-dimensional manner within the academy. This paper documents pedagogical research, supported by the 2013 NCARB Award, that investigates an experiential, hybrid classroom and field-based model for integrating issues central to practice in curricula. Original course objectives focused on introducing students to the relationship between concept …

Intern Architects In The Academy: Preparing For Future Practice, Caryn Brause

Caryn Brause

In the summer of 2014, the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) announced its intention to provide a structured path to licensure upon graduation to qualified candidates. As the period of internship becomes embedded in the academic curriculum, with students eligible to become licensed upon graduation, identifying pedagogical methods that navigate the relationships among theory, design, construction, and practice becomes essential.

This paper documents pedagogical research, supported by the 2013 NCARB Award, that investigates an experiential, field-based model for integrating issues central to architectural practice in curricula to better prepare architectural students for future practice. The paper considers coursework …

Light At The End Of The Labyrinth? From Historic Preservation To Heritage Placemaking: New Approaches To The Interpretation Of Historical Authenticity, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

The Light Cube: Employing The Measurable And The Immeasurable To Address Constrained Sites, Caryn Brause, Naomi Darling

Caryn Brause

Light has the power to define space, to create presence, and to deeply affect our spirit. Sunlight connects a place to its location with respect to the solar system and its unique coordinates on earth. Through light, the passage of time is revealed in a perpetually dynamic play of color, intensity, and movement.

The environmental imperative to address climate change through a reduction of fossil fuel use has renewed interest in the quantifiable aspects of daylighting in building. This can be challenging in urban sites where key contributors to daylighting such as building orientation, form, and floor depths may be …

Heritage Places: Evolving Conceptions And Changing Forms, Neil A. Silberman

Neil A. Silberman

No abstract provided.

The Ark: Grafting Productive Programs Onto Contemporary Waste-Space, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Caryn Brause

As the intertwined issues of climate change and resource scarcity profoundly alter the shape and scope of urban life, emerging designers must be positioned to respond in meaningful ways. This paper documents a research and design project that foregrounds several key design considerations for the future city: the expanded role of animals, the necessity for communal spaces to share knowledge, tools, and materials, and the waste-spaces that can be appropriated for that purpose. In doing so, it critically considers how we can prepare future design professionals to propose architectural and landscape program types that have yet to be invented, to …

The Concept Of Ecosystem Services In Adaptive Urban Planning And Design: A Framework For Supporting Innovation, Jack F. Ahern, Sarel Cilliers, Jari Niemela

Jack F. Ahern

Recent research and professional interest in planning for sustainable and resilient cities emphasizes the assessment of a broad spectrum of urban ecosystem services. While such assessments are useful to establish specific benchmarks, and for measuring progress toward sustainability and resilience goals, they do not motivate, or support the innovations required to provide specific ecosystem services as an intentional part of routine urban and infrastructure development activity by municipalities and professionals. In this context, predictions for unprecedented future urbanization and development of new urban infrastructure represent a unique opportunity to “learn-by-doing”. Significant advances in urban sustainability have recently been made through …

Prototyping Practice, Caryn Brause

Caryn Brause

A prototype is defined as an early model, built to test a concept or process or to simulate a final product. In many fields, there is great uncertainty as to whether a new design will perform the way it is intended. For vehicles, products, and machines, the prototype is often the first full-size working version, and is produced in small batches to develop future iterations. Designers use prototypes to explore alternatives, assess user experience, approve aesthetic decisions, and confirm performance prior to starting production. However, a variety of industries from software user interface designs to emerging building technologies, have extended …

The Productive (Narrow) Lot, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Carey Clouse

No abstract provided.

Animal Dwelling Modules, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Caryn Brause

No abstract provided.

The Productive (Narrow) Lot, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Caryn Brause

No abstract provided.

Animal Dwelling Modules, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Carey Clouse

No abstract provided.

Havana’S Urban Agriculture: Productive Land-Scapes Within A City’S Crumbling Infrastructure, Carey Clouse

Carey Clouse

When Cuba found itself abruptly cutoff from trade with Soviet bloc in 1989, the country spun into an economic crisis of unprecedented severity. Suddenly lacking the oil, pesticides, and machinery with which to grow crops, and without access to the imported food that had previously sustained it, Cuba’s foodshed suddenly caved. Nearly twenty-five years later, this food crisis has vanished almost as swiftly as it arrived, in no small part due to the country’s innovative and widespread urban food production efforts. This research addresses the urban design framework that Cuba created in order to support urban agriculture initiatives, and suggests …

Performance, Appearance, Economy, And Working Method, Jack F. Ahern, Paulo Pellegrino, Newton Becker

Jack F. Ahern

No abstract provided.

Landscape Planning And Design In The Century Of The City, Jack F. Ahern, Huang Yi-Wei

Jack F. Ahern

Urbanization is expected to occur at different rates around the world but will mostly occur in the developing countries. Based on the analysis of the opportunities and challenges that global urbanization has brought to the cities, the author discusses about the urban dynamics typology, ecosystem services and functions, greenways and green infrastructure, and so on. Taking Shanghai as example, the author also analyzes the experiment values of urban sprawl, and lays expectation on the significance and trends of landscape architecture to urban sustainable development.

Windows Of Opportunity: Addressing Climate Uncertainty Through Adaptation Plan Implementation, Yaser Abunasser, Elisabeth Hamin, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

There is a pressing need for municipalities and regions to create urban form suited to current as well as future climates, but adaptation planning uptake has been slow. This is particularly unfortunate because patterns of urban form interact with climate change in ways that can reduce, or intensify, the impact of overall global change. Uncertainty regarding the timing and magnitude of climate change is a significant barrier to implementing adaptation planning. Focusing on implementation of adaptation and phasing of policy reduces this barrier. It removes time as a decision marker, instead arguing for an initial comprehensive plan to prevent maladaptive …

Community Commons: An Analysis Of The Gullah Communities Of South Carolina, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

Descended from slaves brought to the southeast United States between the early 17th and mid 19th centuries, the Gullah-Geechee of South Carolina and Georgia in the United States, have developed distinctive, culturally-expressive creole communities. Juxtaposed against their ancestor’s plantation slave villages, present-day settlements reveal deliberate creations of community and strong connections to place. The Gullah concept of place and community also includes an understanding of the land as commons that is at odds with the dominant culture in the United States.Under slavery the Gullah lived in rigidly geometric settlements. Although this was the only settlement pattern the slaves had experienced, …

2013 Proceedings Of Fabos Conference On Landscape And Greenway Planning, Mark S. Lindhult

Mark S Lindhult, FASLA

The Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning is held every three years to bring together experts who are influencing landscape planning, policy making and greenway planning from the local to international level. The papers contained in this book highlight recent trends and expand the literature about landscape and greenway planning and describe how different countries are approaching greenway planning and tailoring them to each country’s unique geographical, cultural, and political circumstances.

Exploring Sites Close To Home: Installations Along The Connecticut River, Caryn Brause

Caryn Brause

Understanding the intertwined relationships that constitute a “place” involves studying that place at a series of scales. This paper focuses on work completed during the Fall 2011 third semester undergraduate studio at the University of Massachusetts that employed making at a variety of scales to engage students in a close study of their local environment. One pedagogical goal of the third architectural studio is to move students from formal abstraction toward the expressive potential of actual architectural construction. This semester acts as a bridge between the more focused projects of first year studios and the independent projects of the final …

The Window Unit: Low-Tech Animal Husbandry In The High-Rise, Carey Clouse, Zachary Lamb

Carey Clouse

Like humans, animals have also witnessed a steady shrinking of their territory, space, or landscape of inhabitation. The Window Unit creates individualized animal habitats that take advantage of the human environment in a way that allows for a mutualistic relationship. Chickens, bees, and fish gain a useful and previously uninhabitable space in the air, their living quarters curiously fastened to a window ledge via a simple and solid steel armature.

Researching Architectural Salvage Through Experiential Education, Carey Clouse

Carey Clouse

In the streets of post-Katrina New Orleans, it was trash heaps, rather than signage, that offered the promise of a homeowner’s return. Street-side mountains of soggy sheetrock, worn-out flooring and old windows provided a visual testament of rebuilding efforts inside; these piles of architectural debris framing gutted houses on almost every block. Such material waste regularly accompanies standard construction practices, where the yardstick of progress measures the number of dumpsters filled, and transformation implies resource depletion. This perverse line of thinking was called into question by one team of architecture students at Tulane University, who in the midst of the …

Mainstreaming Climate In The Classroom: Teaching Climate Change Planning, Elisabeth M. Hamin, Daniel J. Marcucci

Elisabeth M. Hamin

Climate change planning, both mitigation (reducing greenhouse gasses) and adaptation (designing built environments for changed climate conditions), is an area of emerging importance in both planning practice and education. This research examines the uptake of climate issues in planning education programs primarily in the U.S., and compares course content to leading climate change planning practice and research concepts. Studio and seminar courses are emerging in a variety of universities, and are addressing many of the key research concepts for mitigation and adaptation. Beyond stand-alone classes, the article argues the need to mainstream climate considerations in core planning curricula. Modeling this …

South Hadley Falls: Report On The Public Process, Elizabeth Brabec, Mark Hamin

Elizabeth Brabec

The goals of this design and visioning process were:

• to identify a common vision for the future of South Hadley Falls;

• to identify opportunities for future growth, change and development that are appropriate to the vision; and

• to consider creative visions to identify alternative outcomes.

Spread over a period of months from September 2011 through February 2012, the process was composed of four activities:

1. an initial information gathering phase of documentary research into the history, background and demographics of the community;

2. a visit to and discussions with residents;

3. a community design charrette to discuss …

Using Locative Media In Heritage Landscapes: A Review Of Current Practice, Elizabeth Brabec, Gordon Mclennan

Elizabeth Brabec

Locative media projects are beginning to be recognized in various arts and humanities disciplines as a portal through which interpretive information can be connected to location. Projects can be accessed from two different perspectives: in front of a computer screen or on the ground with the aid of a GPS enabled smart phone. In either format, content in the form of narrative, video, images, historic documents, etc., can be connected with a specific GPS point location on a map or on a real site. However, while locative media holds the potential to create a visitor experience without negatively impacting the …

The Use Of Spatial And Mixed Methods In Analyzing Cultural Landscapes, Elizabeth Brabec, Chingwen Cheng, Kristina Molnarova

Elizabeth Brabec

The cultural landscape is a complex phenomenon resulting from both natural-geographical and social-cultural processes. Defining the normative patterns produced by each culture and/or historical period is essential to understanding the patterns and features of the anthropogenic landscape and the inherent meaning. Currently, an understanding of both historical and contemporary patterns is developed from the qualitative analysis of a single or small number of cases. Results obtained from a single or small number of cases are inherently limited in their ability to clearly identify the pattern in a complex system, particularly when a chosen case may present an anomaly rather than …

The University And Local Economic Development, John Mullin, Zeenat Kotval-K, Jonathan Cooper

John R. Mullin

Increasing pressures on universities and educational institutions to be more involved in the communities that house them have led to a wave of interactions that have been both creative and mutually supportive. These ‘town-gown’ relations have stemmed not only from pressures by government leaders, but also from the sense of civic responsibility and the drive for ‘service learning’ where students move beyond the academic walls to engage in real life situations as part of the learning process. The resultant merits are invaluable lessons and experiences that are mutually beneficial to the students and the communities. Similarly, the involvement of community …

Telling The Springfield Story: Project Report, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

This project applies locative media technology (video on website and mobile devices) to spur community engagement and economic development in downtown Springfield. Video performances (narrative stories, songs, dances, etc.) by local Springfield residents relate their experiences and perceptions of the city. The video performances are accessed through locative media, which enables smart phones and other Internet devices to download content in a downtown Springfield "performance walk."

Visual Preferences For Wind Turbines: Location, Numbers And Respondent Characteristics, Kristina Molnarova, Petr Sklenicka, Jiri Stiborek, Kamila Svobodova, Miroslav Salek, Elizabeth Brabec

Elizabeth Brabec

There is a dichotomy in the view of wind farms among members of the public: on one hand, there is a desire for renewable energy sources, and on the other hand, there is a major concern about the visual impact of wind turbines used for power production. This concern for visual impact is a major factor in the reaction of the public to the development of new wind farms. Our study aims to objectify this influence and to establish the factors that determine how people evaluate these structures. We tested the visual quality of landscapes in which these structures are …

Urban Chicken Coops, Carey Clouse, Zachary Lamb

Carey Clouse

No abstract provided.