Architecture Commons^™

Review Of The Winter Harvest Handbook: Year-Round Vegetable Production Using Deep-Organic Techniques And Unheated Greenhouses, Madeleine K. Charney

University Libraries Publication Series

No abstract provided.

Making Connections - Envisioning Springfield's North End, David M. Ahronian, Kelly R. Ashton, Erin G. Bassett, Maxwell A. Cohen, Victor J. Czulak, Gregory S. Dunbar, Brendan T. Farragher, Jonathan L. Gorman, Peter L. Guy Ii, Timothy J. Iles, Piyawut Inthasorn, Travis A. Johnson, Jonathan Koch, Justin J. Kronewitter, Zachary B. Livingston, Matthew Morano, Brian Mulvehill, Kevin C. Murphy, Sean P. O'Connell, Peter W. Stephens Jr., Christopher Tourigny, Bryce P. White, Timothy E. Young

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

This work explores a service learning strategy in the context of the senior Urban Design Studio taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The primary goal of this project is to stimulate a conversation in the neighborhoods of the North End, to develop green design strategies, to improve services and businesses for residents and the employees of local businesses, and to foster cultural engagement and interaction in the North End that will enhance the vibrancy, resilience, and quality of life of this urban community. Making connections - Envisioning Springfield's North End …

Craigmillar Castle Park: Design Parameters In A Historic Designed Landscape And Scheduled Ancient Monument: Planning To Restore Attraction To A Dilapidated Park, Aaron M.N. Crowell

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The castle of Craigmillar was begun in the late 14th century and was developed until the late 17th century when it was abandoned and the lands surrounding it which today comprise Craigmillar Castle Park (CCP) developed into a picturesque park and a plant nursery. This land has been a retreat from Edinburgh's city center recorded as early as the time of King James the IV of Scotland, six centuries ago (Tabraham, 2003). The castle and its parkland have seen significant development of the gardens in the Tudor, Restoration, Georgian, Regency, and the Victorian British historical periods. The park like setting …

Direct-To-Business And Direct-To-Institution Marketing And Distribution Arrangements For Ethically-Based Farms: Reduced Value Chains And Other Strategies For Increasing The Viability Of Mid-Sized Southern New England Farms, Evan C. Aird

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

This Master's Project aims to examine the issues involved in the creation and enhancement of direct-to-business and direct-to-institution marketing and distribution arrangements for mid-sized farms in Southern New England. Previous scholarly and professional literature has indicated that regional food systems are less costly from an environmental perspective than national or local ones, identity-preserved products have inherent marketing advantages over untraced farm products, and these advantages can be enhanced through cooperative efforts by major farm customers. This research study involves reviewing leading examples of local farm marketing and distribution networks, analyzing regional spatial and statistical data, and conducting interviews with farms, …

Westfield Downtown Plan Final Report, Joseph Krupczynski

Re-thinking Downtown Westfield (2009)

This project, a collaboration between the city of Westfield, the Pioneer Valley Planning Commission, UMass Amherst Center for Design Engagement, and Westfield State College Department of Geography and Regional Planning is aimed at developing a comprehensive downtown housing and economic development action plan for Westfield, MA.

Community Service Learning Through The Lens Of Applied Field Studies In Guatemala, Central America, Travis Shultz, Adam Monroy, Jason Dell'orfano, Brian Giggey, Tamzeena Hutchinson, Megan Reagon, Dan Shaw, Seth Morrow

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

How can landscape architects and planners apply the skills acquired through our academic training – and in the work we pursue in our careers – with the needs of underprivileged communities? This research proposed to answer this question through the lens of Community Service Learning (CSL) in Guatemala City, Central America. Specifically, a professor of landscape architecture and regional planning carried out an applied field studies class with eight graduate and undergraduate students to test principles of CSL. The work focused on the research, design, and application of a unique project; the start-up of a municipal composting facility that would …

Watershed As Metaphor For Nested Hydrologic Systems, Christopher Todd Lynch

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The Tan Brook watershed vision and recommendation matrix give the town of Amherst a road map for making the watershed into a resilient ecosystem that could sustain life across many scales. The Master Plan for Amherst Regional high school nested within the Upper Reach of the Tan Brook Watershed, specifically implements components of the recommendations so that it becomes a model for what stream restoration, rain gardens and impervious materials might do to improve water quality, provide social benefit and restore habitat. The landscape of the high school is a metaphor for what the Watershed might become, and with its …

Umass Center For Exploration And Innovation In The Built Environment, Neal A. Overstrom

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

This project proposes the design of a studio facility on the University of Massachusetts campus dedicated to the exploration and application of both traditional landscape materials (earth, structure, plants, water) and contemporary technical media (infiltrators, irrigation systems, green-roof systems) as a part of an interdisciplinary learning landscape committed to sustainability in built environments. At no time in history has the appropriate choice and application of materials for use in the built landscape been more significant. Today the use of materials and techniques that mitigate and, where possible, reverse the impacts of environmental degradation is vital. This mandate notwithstanding, the importance …

Designing The Phytoremediation Landscape: Exploring Phytoremediation Of Urban Brownfields As A System And Stage In Designed And Managed Successional Processes, David N. Maynes

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Masters Projects

The present day challenges facing the post-industrial city are economic reinvention, social equity, and environmental recovery. The urban mosaic of these places is vague and broken, and demands new and innovative solutions for the reclamation of vacant, abandoned, and contaminated landscapes that create a unification of economic, environmental, and cultural healing. A multi-scalar approach is proposed as a strategy for the integration of multiple components in multiple contexts. Particular focus is on the synthesis of community engagement and environmental remediation of these spoiled, derelict lands. Specifically, phytoremediation is explored as a solution for land reclamation, ecological and social recovery of …

Revitalizing The South End - The Gateway For Downtown Springfield, Barbara J. Constable, Brian Giggey, Christopher J. Jennette, Julie P. Meyer, Megan M. Plante, Diana W. Slawniak, Ben Eli Webb, Duanchai Yomdit, Deborah A. Zervas

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

This studio report explores a service learning strategy in the context of the Graduate Urban Design Studio taught in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The primary goal of this project is to design the South End as the future gateway for downtown Springfield that will help to transform it into a vibrant urban community.

Green design strategies, improvement of services and businesses for residents and the employees of local businesses, and new housing opportunities will enhance the vibrancy, resilience, and quality of life of this disadvantaged urban community. Revitalizing the South …

Modes, Means And Measures: Adapting Sustainability Indicators To Assess Preservation Activity's Impact On Community Equity, Mackenzie M. Greer

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Preservation of and reinvestment in the built environment as a redevelopment tool has been used by cities and towns across the country, in many cases providing significant social, economic and environmental benefits. Potential social effects have often been the least explored aspect of sustainable development, especially with regard to preservation, yet they are often the most challenging, particularly given the potential for displacement.

This thesis reviews literature where the issues of preservation, redevelopment and sustainability intersect. A set of best practices was developed that can be applied to other cities and towns to help balance preservation- and equity- enhancing activities. …

Indexing Trace, Zachary E. Smith

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis aims to critically examine the relationship of digital technology and the modern art gallery in order to find the possible role of art galleries in the future. The integration of technology and the modern art gallery can change the way people experience art in built space.

In order to examine this, certain questions needed to be asked. The most important of these questions is authenticity and originality in a digital art gallery. What if, in order for the notion of originality to exist, it needs the notion of the copy; a kind of parasite. What if we don’t …

Capturing Gathering Swarming - Re-Coding Post-Communist Space In East Germany, Tobias Bernecker

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

My project is an acknowledgement of the fact that the physical layout of our environments is not directly describing and shaping the way we live or our societies are shaped. Non-spatial structures are playing a bigger role in societal processes than spatial ones. My project is trying to give these invisible processes spatial expression. Non-functional structures that highlight the non-functionality of postsocialist space. The monotony and monumentality of socialist spaces is contrasted with a design that expresses the multiplicity (of possibilities, paths, choices, desires) that exists nowadays. Orthogonal space is sliced up, perforated and at points overlaid without replacing it …

Regenerative Architecture: A Pathway Beyond Sustainability, Jacob A. Littman

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The current paradigm in the field of architecture today is one of degeneration and obsolete building technologies. Regenerative architecture is the practice of engaging the natural world as the medium for, and generator of the architecture. It responds to and utilizes the living and natural systems that exist on a site that become the “building blocks” of the architecture. Regenerative architecture has two focuses; it is an architecture that focuses on conservation and performance through a focused reduction on the environmental impacts of a building.

This paper introduces regenerative architecture as a means for architectural design. I present the Nine …

Crossfit Design: Maximizing Building Potential Across Broad Time And Modal Domains, Benjamin W. Goodale

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Crossfit is a unique method of physical exercise founded on a specific set of underlying scientific principles. The ultimate goal of Crossfit is to maximize work potential across broad time and modal domains. This project attempts to apply the concepts and principles of Crossfit to architecture to maximize living potential of built environments across broad time and modal domain by means of an architecture that is kinetic, interactive, responsive, and continually reconfigurable. The focus of the project is the design of an approximately 35,000 sf building titled The Motus Center for Kinetic Art Science. The building serves both as an …

Designing A Foodshed Assessment Model: Guidance For Local And Regional Planners In Understanding Local Farm Capacity In Comparison To Local Food Needs, Shemariah Blum-Evitts

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis explores how to conduct a regional foodshed assessment and further provides guidance to local and regional planners on the use of foodshed assessments. A foodshed is the geographic origin of a food supply. Before the 1800s, foodsheds were predominantly local — within the city or neighboring countryside. Today most urban areas are supported by a global foodshed. While the global foodshed can present many benefits, it also creates tremendous externalities. In an attempt to address these concerns, promotion of alternative local foodsheds has re-emerged. A foodshed assessment serves as a planning tool for land use planners, as well …

Post-Anthropocentric Dwelling Conditions, Peter N. Hendery

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The way we build our environment today is a process of protecting ourselves from the elements of nature. We build walls, roofs, and windows; we create a more predictable and controllable environment to keep out what’s felt to be dangerous, dirty, and destructive. We isolate ourselves from the things we perceive as threats. This is common practice and not illogical. Shelter is about preservation and refuge. We need to feel safe in order to prosper. What is illogical, though, is wasting all those opportunities that come along with living closer and more integrated these natural processes that are being excluded. …

Three State-Run Green Building Programs: A Comparative Case Study Analysis And Assessment, Haidee N. Janak

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis explores three state-run green building programs (California, Minnesota and New York) through comparative case-study analysis. Main topics discussed include cost benefits, health benefits, certification (i.e. LEED or other), and lessons learned from direct interviews with program staff.

Designing Community, Martha Bryan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

It is at the interface of the virtual and the physical worlds where both the practice and the process of architecture are generated. This premise will be explored in the context of designing community- or in other words resolving apparently binary relations.

This thesis explores the spatial interaction of two autonomous but interrelated systems- for example, the interior and the exterior, the virtual and the physical, human systems and informational systems. The proposed “building” becomes the frame of these relationships. The built project is the landscape of connections shaped by its passengers- the networked individual and the incessant flow of …

Evaluating Methods For Measuring And Managing The Cumulative Visual Effects Of Oil And Gas Development On Bureau Of Land Management National Conservation Lands In The Southwestern United States, Tara L. Germond

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The public lands of the United States administered by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are used for multiple purposes, like conservation, recreation, grazing, mining, logging, and oil and gas development. Many of these activities have the potential to disturb the surface of the landscape, which can negatively impact scenic values. While the BLM has a system for managing visual resources and mitigating the potential impacts of development on visual quality, it does not adequately consider cumulative visual effects, which are the combined impacts of the same type of activity on the environment over space and time. This paper studies …

The Community Garden As A Tool For Community Empowerment: A Study Of Community Gardens In Hampden County, Shanon C. Kearney

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of how community gardens can catalyze positive change in an urban environment, to determine and catalog the impacts, and to learn about their importance to small-scale agricultural production. The study surveyed neighbors of the two umbrella organizations community gardens, The Nuestras Raices of Holyoke and Growing the Community of Springfield, who strive to ensure that local families gets enough food to feed their families on a daily basis.

Parking Regulation Strategies And Policies To Support Transit-Oriented Development, Ryan W. Lundergan

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

This thesis identifies and explores the effects that new parking strategies and policies could have on transit-oriented development (TOD) success levels. Additionally, it makes the case for TOD parking regulation reform, and is designed to educate planners and stakeholders on how to successfully and responsibly shape parking regulation in the planning and implementation process, so that land use in the region allows the synergistic provision of sustainable transportation specifically to the Boston region.

Transit-Oriented Development is viewed and defined differently throughout research and literature, with its most common traits being compact, mixed use development near transit facilities and high-quality walking …

Tourism As Modern Pilgrimage: A Museum In Bruges, Belgium, Johanna A. Vandemoortele

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

Arguing that one of the multiple dimensions of a Museum’s role is as a landmark of cultural pilgrimage, this Master’s Thesis uses notions of pilgrimage and journeying to develop a Museum of Medieval and Contemporary Art in Bruges, Belgium.

Summary Report: Population Estimates In Massachusetts: A Report To The Secretary Of The Commonwealth, Henry C. Renski, Susan Strate, Ludgarda Simmonds

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report summarizes the 2009 estimates results from the UMass Donahue Institute’s Population

Estimates Program (UMDI-PEP). These population estimates are developed in tandem with the

Donahue Institute’s data collection efforts, namely our group quarters and housing unit surveys.

There are several reasons why it is necessary for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to develop its own population estimates. First, county and sub-county population estimates are a key resource for state and local governments, non-profits, and the private sector which use these estimates to prepare reports, grant applications, business plans, and state and federal compliance documents. At present, public agencies in Massachusetts …

Workforce Flows In The Maine Marine Trades Cluster - An Analysis Of The Uses Of Matched Establishment-Employee Databases In Understanding Labor Market Dynamics, Henry C. Renski

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Using Secondary Data Sources To Identify Industrial Synergies Among Precision Manufacturing Firms In The Pioneer Valley, Henry C. Renski

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

The purpose of this memo is to report the findings from an exploratory analysis of trade and occupational relationships among businesses in the Pioneer Valley’s Precision Manufacturing sector. The motivation for this work is the interest among economic development professionals in developing an information system that can identify local companies with common interest and needs by examining underlying commonalities in their workforce skills, technological foundations, markets and other types of complimentary attributes. These commonalities may then serve as a common platform upon which to build future inter-firm partnerships. One possible application for this information system is to design more effectively …

Review Of The First American Women Architects, Madeleine K. Charney

University Libraries Publication Series

Book review of The First American Women Architects by Sarah Allaback, which traces the personal and professional lives of seventy-six women pioneers in the field of American architecture.