Architecture Commons^™

Adaptive Reuse Of The Suburban Office Building, Olivia Mora

Architecture Theses

My thesis addresses the current issues of office vacancy and the housing shortage. Living in the Portland, Maine area my entire life, I’ve noticed a lot of gentrification happening in the city downtown, including my dad’s little neighborhood he grew up in. I want to create a space where people of all incomes levels have the opportunity to live in.

After a thorough GIS analysis, the ideal site was determined to be 300 Southborough Drive in South Portland. This is only 10-15 minutes from downtown Portland. When adapting a vacant, standalone suburban office building like this one, there are a …

Reviving The Plan An Implementation Of Historic Concepts, Jared Mcgowan

Architecture Theses

For my thesis I would like to research historic concepts and ideas of plans, and how they could apply to residential housing layouts today. Through precedent ideas and example projects, I would be able to identify architectural moves made by famous architects of the past that would have real value today, but have since gone unused except in the projects in which they were created. Through projects examined in architectural history classes, to projects suggested by professors, I will research a wide range of styles and ideas to include in a modern project.

I will rely on historic typologies, centered …

The Future Living Experience In Vail, Co, Maikao Vang

Architecture Theses

Employee housing has become a struggling issue with the U.S. ski industry due to the fluctuation of climate, location and the industry known to have one of the highest carbon footprint. Today, many ski resorts are resorting ways to reduce their carbon footprint by using more environmental friendly equipments and incorporating all-seasons activities. As ski resorts starts to incorporate more activities into their resorts; the architecture and experience has been re-elevated as well.

This thesis project explores the limit of architecture and experience of putting employees and tourism experiences together. The two programs were developed and the similar program was …

Open Source Architecture: Redefining Residential Architecture In Islamabad, Mariam Yaqub

Architecture Theses

Islamabad, a planned city, has grown rapidly since its conception in the 1960’s but it has not followed its predetermined fate but rather grown haphazardly due to the lack of infrastructure available to implement Doxiadis’s master plan. The city was unable to meet the housing requirements of the people causing them to build gated communities on the outskirts of Islamabad and its sister city, Rawalpindi. The market demands caused city prices to rise exponentially, increasing the economic divide between the social classes. The city which was once supposed to reflect diversity of social classes became home to the elite and …

Creating Social Networks: Resettlement Center For Burmese Refugees, Kelly Lynne Clarke

Architecture Theses

The refugee resettlement program in the United States must encourage both the formation of refugee communities and integra­tion within the larger community. I propose a multiuse building to strengthen refugee communities [bonding social networks] and connect refugees to the larger community [bridging social networks]. Both of these connections are essential for refugees to become integrated in a community. The building will be run by Lutheran Social Services who currently assists in the resettle­ment of refugees in the Springfield, Massachusetts area, with assistance in funding from the Wilson-Fish Discretionary Grant Program which provides financial support for alternative models of resettlement.

In …

Creating Community: Mixed Use Development In New Bedford, Ma, Matthew J.B. Cate

Architecture Theses

In creating a new type of community for New Bedford, MA, there was an awareness of both the existing community, context, and people, while realizing a need for change. The design uses the concept of adapting the existing density into two modes. First, merging the existing residential fabric and merging it with a public program including both commercial and retail development. Second, focusing that new typology into a smaller more refi ned space, while creating new public areas for communal enjoyment and development. Creating such an idea of living takes the existing unused exterior spaces allotted to the typical housing …

Adaptive Housing: Transformation And Growth In The Urban Environment, Kevin Mowatt

Architecture Theses

The proposal for an adaptive housing project and its chosen location arose from two obstacles that all modern cities and the world as a whole, face. The urban environment is revered for its cultural amalgam of people and wide range of demographics; however with this density and diversity comes a shortage of one type or another of commodious housing. Additionally and consequentially, the city must expand and build new buildings, leaving older, unsuitable building vacant. An adaptive architecture would allow families to grow and demographics to shift within the established community, all the while reinvigorating that second obstacle the city …

Dignified Housing: A Community In North Conway, New Hampshire, Christian Lanciaux

Architecture Theses

This document outlines and explores my interest and investigation of how architecture affect’s one’s state of mind while addressing a specific social need in a particular area. The project is a mixed-income housing development in the town of North Conway, New Hampshire.

Allston Artist Village, Meaghan Earner

Architecture Theses

Architecture should evoke community. The built environment should encourage engagement between people in both public and private realms. We will teach, learn, sell, and celebrate art. This artist village explores the idea of the individual and their relationship to the whole. The project delineates individual and community spaces through their separations and connections. The goal is a more diverse engagement of all members of the community.

Empathetic Design: Transitional Shelter, Anne Marie Loiselle

Architecture Theses

Empathetic design is a concept that can be applied to any building type, anywhere. Empathy has implications in all aspects of design from scale, to materials, to organization and circulation. Empathetic design needs to adapt to the people it is built for, and the context it is built in. It is understanding of the needs and concerns of its occupants and provides a bridge to connect people to space. This project explores the concept of empathetic design as applied to a TRANSITIONAL SHELTER. This shelter is so named because it provides more than a temporary place to sleep. It is …