Architecture Commons^™

Climate Change Adaptation Chapter: Marshfield, Massachusetts, Joshua H. Chase, Jonathan G. Cooper, Rory Elizabeth Fitzgerald, Filipe Antunes Lima, Sally R. Miller, Toni Marie Pignatelli

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Climate change, understood as a statistically significant variation in the mean state of the climate or its variability, is the greatest environmental challenge of this generation (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2001). Marshfield is already being affected by changes in the climate that will have a profound effect on the town’s economy, public health, coastal resources, natural features, water systems, and public and private infrastructure. Adaptation strategies have been widely recognized as playing an important role in improving a community’s ability to respond to climate stressors by resisting damage and recovering quickly.

Based on review of climate projections for the …

Prelude To A Master Plan: Ware, Massachusetts, Belen Alfaro, Bruno Carneiro, Margaret Engesser, Kathryn E. Fox, Evadne R. Friedman, Timothy Inacio, Anita Lockesmith, Christina Mills, Stephanie Molden, Meagen Mulherin, Russell Pandres, Vinicius Pereira, Brian Reid, Pedro Soto, Jennifer Stromsten

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

Prelude to a Master Plan offers ideas, recommendations, and a toolkit to help the town chart its own path towards that future. While the teams and individual students worked to ‘drill down’ into specific topic areas, the Studio defined three basic areas in order to think about how the various assets, challenges and ideas undermine or reinforce one another. The report is loosely organized in those terms: addressing the outlying rural areas and issues specific to these places, considering one of the key growth areas that has extended from town and the conflicts that arise from the many uses occurring …

Drinking Water Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

This document is intended to help local and regional planning agencies, and their constituent water utilities, integrate drinking water infrastructure planning and investments into plans for sustainable development. Resources listed here provide guidance on making land use decisions that protect water resources, setting adequate and sustainable drinking water rates, controlling water loss, funding water infrastructure projects, and managing water utilities.

The directory was developed by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Environmental Protection Agency. Through this program, EFCN is providing capacity …

Re-Thinking The Green Belt: Sustainability And Development In Growing Cities, Maria Saavedra

Architecture Thesis Prep

"One of the major goals of this research is to study the relationship between nature and technology as urban generators. I agree with Lisa Tilder and Beth Bostein, who state that instead of using architectural technology to return nature to some impossible, pre-human pristine state, we should consider fully employing the power of architecture to produce new forms of nature. Instead of thinking about the River’s edge as a natural and physical barrier between the water and the city, we should consider it as an opportunity to challenge the image of nature, exploring how it limits or furthers our social …

Park Avenue & Us 50 Redevelopment Streetscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang, Pamela Blackmore

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

The town of South Lake Tahoe experienced undisciplined development, which created traffic congestion, limited connectivity to recreational assets, and negatively impacted the scenic and environmental quality of Lake Tahoe and the region. In response, strict environmental regulations were developed, which subsequently ceased development activities. Faced with serious environmental and economic problems, residents, officials, and developers jointly revised development regulations and worked to strategically deploy development monies to give the town a new future. Today, the town's Park Avenue Corridor with its wide sidewalks, interconnected plazas, consistent architecture, gondola, intermodal transit center, street furniture, and integrated stormwater management is a national …

Charles City Permeable Streetscape Phase I Landscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang, Pamela Blackmore

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

The Charles City, Iowa, Green Street project addressed serious issues with street deterioration and nuisance street and adjacent yard flooding for a 16-block residential area. The project combines durable permeable paving materials with sustainable stormwater Best Management Practices, while maintaining the historical character of the neighborhood. By integrating stormwater management, the City was able to leverage additional funding that would not be available for conventional street reconstruction. Because of the success and the lessons learned in design and maintenance, the project has spurred additional phases in adjacent neighborhoods and serves as an important blueprint for others considering similar sustainable stormwater …

Cherry Creek North Improvements And Fillmore Plaza Landscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

The 16-block Cherry Creek North retail district was designed to be Denver's premier outdoor shopping area. Yet deteriorating infrastructure, tired aesthetics and competition from an adjacent indoor mall had led to steady decline. Fillmore Plaza in the heart of the district was no longer a desirable public space since being closed to vehicular traffic in 1987. The new streetscape strengthens the retail environment, preserves the district's history and character, improves identity, beautifies the area, provides new lighting, improves signage, and adds 20 "Art and Garden Places" for shoppers to relax and linger. The redesigned Fillmore Plaza is now a vibrant …

Green Infrastructure Resource Directory, New England Environmental Finance Center

Sustainable Communities Capacity Building

Green infrastructure is an approach for managing stormwater that uses vegetation and soils to capture and treat rainwater where it falls. Unlike single-purpose gray infrastructure, green infrastructure realizes multiple benefits at once, including flood mitigation, improved water and air quality, community beautification, provision of recreational opportunities, and energy and cost savings. This resource directory is intended to help communities design, implement, fund, and monitor green infrastructure practices and programs. It was compiled by the Environmental Finance Center Network through the Capacity Building for Sustainable Communities program funded by U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. …

Greyfield Adaptive Re-Use: Applying A Matrix Of Contemporary Theory To A Real Site In Springfield, Ma, Kathryn E. Ostermier

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

New neighborhood and home construction since World War II has been rapid and sprawling. Development companies have used increasingly efficient modular plans and construction techniques to design, grade, and construct sub-divisions across the country with little regard for vernacular landscape or a sense of place. Salmon-colored stucco homes in Ladera Ranch, California could be confused with those in Tucson, Arizona, which look just like communities in Homestead, Florida. Rows and cul de sacs of houses with duplicate floorplans, similar color and finish with standard foundation plantings and landscaping blur into one another, and it becomes impossible to place oneself because …

Revitalization Of An Urban Riverfront To Revitalize The Socio-Economic Conditions Of Springfield, Ma, Sneha Rasal

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The City of Springfield, Massachusetts is one of the largest cities in western Massachusetts, and was established on the Connecticut River for trading and as a fur-collecting post. In 18th and early 19th century, it experienced an industrial boom and became a regional financial center. Springfield became a major railroad center and grew to become the regional center for banking, finance, and courts. However, in mid-19th century Springfield suffered due to the flooding of the Connecticut River and the disinvestment in industry. These resulted in an urban sprawl as people started moving away from heart of the city.

Now, once …

Evaluation And Amendments Of A Healing Garden At The Western Massachusetts Hospital, Owen Morgan White

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

This study evaluates the variety and quality of four healing gardens currently in existence, with an eye toward developing a healing garden at Western Massachusetts Hospital (WMH) with similar characteristics, but designed specifically to the confines of the WMH site. In the evaluation process, the researcher employed the Mara Eckerling three-layer evaluation method. Personal survey and site photography were performed at four healing gardens; the Howard Ulfelder Healing Garden at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA; the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts; the Joel Schnaper Memorial Garden at Terrance Cardinal Cooke Health Center in Manhattan, New York and the …

Roger Williams Park Edible Forest Garden, Mark S. Scialla

Senior Honors Projects

An edible forest garden is a low-maintenance system that uses edible native and regionally-adapted plants arranged in beneficial relationships to meet human, wildlife and ecosystem needs. The forest garden in Roger Williams Park will transform underutilized urban land into a highly productive parcel producing market-viable fruits, nuts, vegetables, medicine and fiber. Forest gardens mimic natural forest systems in architecture and complexity. The design follows ecological principles to create a system that promotes biodiversity and enhances the surrounding ecosystem. This project also demonstrates the potential to grow food and create land-based livelihoods in the city.

Located on the edge of a …

Along The Chicopee River From The Mills To The Ludlow Bridge - Creating A Vision For Indian Orchard, Ying Cao, Elizabeth Englebretson, Scott Fulford, Jing Huang, Yiwei Huang, Rocky Liu, Tracy Murphy, Sparky Von Plinsky, Albert Wang, Jinglin Wang, Yan Yan, Shanshan Yu

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Studio and Student Research and Creative Activity

The report documents design investigations for Springfield’s Indian Orchard neighborhood. The Graduate Urban Design Studio focused on the exciting area along the Chicopee River from the Indian Orchard Mills to the spectacular outlook at Indian Leap and the neighborhood gateway at the Ludlow Bridge. The primary goal of the project was to unveil the unique assets and character of the area, make these assets more accessible and legible and thus strengthen the identity of Indian Orchard as a vibrant place for its residents and visitors. Crucial keys to attaining this goal are: acknowledging the strong industrial heritage; improving connectivity to …

Assessing Impermeable Surface Area Impacts On Modeling: Implications For The Combined Sewer Overflow Long Term Control Plan In Omaha, Nebraska, Andrew D. Szatko

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

The report looks at assessing the accuracy of estimating impervious surface areas (ISAs) by zoning code, the method utilized by the City of Omaha, Nebraska. A 101 acre subcatchment had all ISAs manually digitized and compared the actual with the estimated value. The subcatchment was then modeled with 10 percent decreases of ISAs to establish the relationship with peak flow rates and total volume in the combined sewer service area. The results show a significant relationship between the two that may provide insights into a new approach to manage CSO events with the integration of green infrastructure.

Technocarpet: Supporting A Culture Of Congestion, William Andrew Weigand

Architecture Senior Theses

"The TechnoCarpet is a public space sited in a future of resource scarcity, climate disruption, and urbanization. It provides support facilities and cultural amenities necessary to sustain super dense urban populations. I establishes an internal frontier for the city as a means to provoke density, by creating an escape from it. The TechnoCarpet is a model for parks in the 21st century."

Landscape Of Culture: Permanence And Change, Stefanie Huchzermeier

Architecture Senior Theses

"As conditions change and culture shifts to adapt, it is my contention that architecture has the capacity to provide an understanding of identity in times of change by regenerating the previously existing level of engagement between people and their natural environment through means of a reestablished spatial network and a materialization of informal social and spatial relationships."

A Sacred And Secular Landscape: Empowering Social Agency, Shreya Shah

Architecture Senior Theses

"I contend that landscape can provoke an idea for a productive, public space using the people of the city as social agents to create a sensitive rather than oppressive water remediation system. By inventing a program that uses landscape as a water remediation space as well as landscape as a religious and social space, the project will exhibit the idea that social agents can inform a change in the water pollution crisis."

Reconnecting The City With The Riverfront, To Revitalize The Socio-Economic Conditions Of Springfield, Ma., Sneha Rasal

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The City of Springfield, Massachusetts is one of the largest cities in western Massachusetts, and was established on the Connecticut River for trading and as a fur-collecting post. In 18^th and early 19^th century, it experienced an industrial boom and became a regional financial center. Springfield became a major railroad center and grew to become the regional center for banking, finance, and courts. However, in mid-19^th century Springfield suffered due to the flooding of the Connecticut River and the disinvestment in industry. These resulted in an urban sprawl as people started moving away from heart of the …

Grow Pods: Flexible Design To Regenerate Urban Landscapes, Rachel K. Roberts

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Shifts in economics, demographics, and lifestyle in America have lead to changes in this country's urban landscape. Rural and urban populations have migrated toward the suburbs and concentrated metro areas, leaving holes in the urban fabric of small and midsized cities. Often these empty spaces become drivers of blight, crime, and discouragement in the community.

The goal of the Grow Pods Project is to transform the negative of vacant urban lots into an opportunity for improving health, building community, and encouraging positive growth.

As a tool for integrating the food system directly into the urban context, this project addresses the …

Environmental Design Research And The Design Of Urban Open Space: A Study Of Current Practice In Landscape Architecture, Jennifer Masters

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

A large and growing body of research exists on how the design of the environment can positively or negatively affect people’s health and well-being, as well as influence their behavior. Researchers in this field, known as “environmental design research,” have long acknowledged the challenge of translating their findings into formats that are accepted and used by practitioners. This study explores how environmental design research on urban open space and the practice-oriented translations of it are used by landscape architects who have been recognized in the profession for their designs of parks, plazas, and streets in urban areas. Through interviews with …

Culture, Community Development, And Sustainability In A Post-Freeway City, Bryan Obara

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Freeways that once tore through the urban fabric are now reaching the end of their lifespan and raising the question as to whether it is time to rebuild or remove them. The Interstate system has revolutionized transportation, connecting cities nationwide, but at the same time has slashed through existing neighborhoods.

The very land from which hundreds of Fox Point residents were evicted for the construction of Interstate 195 through Providence, Rhode Island, now lies barren as a result of the interstate’s realignment. The surplus land, rezoned as the East Side Overlay District (ESOD), connects the Providence River and Narragansett Bay …

Social Interaction At The Maya Site Of Copan, Honduras: A Least Cost Approach To Configurational Analysis, Heather Richards-Rissetto

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

In this article, I employ least cost paths using GIS to measure the relationship between site configuration and social connectivity at the ancient Maya site of Copan, Honduras. I investigate two questions. First, did people of different social classes experience varying degrees of social connectivity? Second, did people living in different parts of the city experience difference degrees of social connectivity? Ultimately, the goal is modify traditional configurational analysis using least cost analysis (LCA) to identify how social hierarchy was embedded in landscapes and how ancient people may have strategically manipulated landscapes to structure social interaction and community organization.

Slimplexity: A Glimpse Inside The Hive Mind Of Snohetta, Noel Brady

Articles

Simplexity is an interview with Craig Dykers cofounder of Snohetta. The firm has a unique structure in Architecture circles with a Hive Mind like structure. In addition its parallel interests in Architecture and Landscape Design has meant that both professional strands have equal parity in the firms operation.

South Grand Boulevard Great Street Landscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Yue Zhang, Pamela Blackmore

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Culturally-diverse South Grand Boulevard is a historic district of St. Louis noted for its multitude of international restaurants. It is a growing commercial and residential area selected as one of four Great Streets Initiative pilot projects in the St. Louis region in 2009, demonstrating the character of the local neighborhood. The project, which was scrutinized by local government officials, brings people together and strengthens transit, walkability, recreation, and sustainability, while promoting a safe street environment. South Grand Boulevard applies innovative green solutions to reduce stormwater loading at moderate cost and in a manner that provides additional environmental benefits.