Architecture Commons^™

Architecture And And Zen Calligraphy: Shaping Spiritual Space, Rubina R. Siddiqui

Masters Theses

“The ancients penned characters as a means of spiritual elevation, for it was considered possible to express the essential spirit of the universe through brushwork. …the act of writing a character is seen as parallel to the universal process of creation, and an embodiment of the principles that govern life.” -Barbara Aria

“The way a word is written can convey as much meaning as the word itself.” -Haji Noor Deen Mi Guangjiang

“Alas, one who does not enter the gate of this art will not glimpse its mysteries!” -Sun Qianli, Treatise on Calligraphy

Calligraphy is the means by which the …

Continuity Within Islamic Art And Architecture: Hassan Fathy As A Modern Catalyst, Ahmad Hamid

Archived Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Combined Maternal Alcohol And Tobacco Use On Low Birth Weight In Singleton Pregnancies : A Population Based Study In The Us, 2003, Della A. Campbell

Dissertations

Background: The Black-White disparity in birth outcomes in the United States remains embedded. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines low birth weight (LBW) as birthweight less than 2500 grams/5.5 pounds or below the 10th percentile for gestational age. LBW is a frequent marker of poor maternal/infant health outcome. A reduction in the incidence of LBW is a major public health initiative in the US. Objective: The objective of the study was to determine the magnitude of risk for low birth weight, defined in this study as neonatal birth weight less than 2500 grams, in relation to combined maternal alcohol and …

Reservoir Sedimentation And Property Values, Ronald Leftwich Jr.

All Theses

This thesis uses multiple regression analysis in the determination of two hedonic models to explain the impact that sedimentation and algal bloom events may have on property values along Lake Greenwood, SC. Utilizing different independent variables, the hedonic equations reflect the market value and the sales price of the selected lakeside properties. With an average 4.6 percent of the original lake area lost to accreted sediment, the models show a $7,800 to nearly $10,000 average loss in property value or an estimated $5 to $6 million in value lost within the study area. Properties sold within a two-year period following …

Adaptive Customization: New Design Opportunities In Orthopedics, Driven By The Merging Of Imaging And Surgery, Marie Mcfaddin

All Theses

The architectural response for an out-patient orthopedic surgery and rehabilitation facility that merges the fields of imaging and surgery needs to be an architecture of changing needs. Orthopedic patients are a diverse population with varied and changing medical treatment needs. The practice of orthopedic medicine is rapidly changing in response to these needs and ongoing advances in medical technology. One of the most significant changes under way today is the merging of surgical and imaging modalities. Settings for the delivery of orthopedic medicine must be able to better accommodate these changing needs by becoming more easily adaptable while being highly …

The Interactive Medical Emergency Department (Imed): Architectural Integration Of Digital Systems Into The Emergency Care Environment, David Ruthven

All Theses

In healthcare, the architectural response to the development of information technologies has largely been relegated to a reactive role, essentially waiting for systems to develop and simply accommodating them with appropriately sized spaces. Designing IT systems independently from, rather than integrally with, their environment impedes them from reaching their full potential as vital components in the delivery of care by creating a lack of flexibility, decelerating performance, and degrading the healing environment. The flexibility of the environment is compromised by fixed position, single user data systems which prevent it from actively adapting to changing conditions, especially during volumetric surges associated …

Integrated Treatment Facility: An Alternative Care Setting For Adults With Mental Illness, Brenna Costello

All Theses

ABSTRACT The current model of community mental health care does not provide adequate therapeutic settings for many mentally ill patients to fully recovery. Due to this deficiency, patients are falling into a harmful cycle where they are admitted to the hospital through the emergency department, stabilized at the acute care setting, and discharged within a matter of days into the larger community where they have limited access to resources and support networks. At this point, patients become overwhelmed, have another event, and come full circle back to the emergency department. As a result, there is a drastic need for new …

Design Guidelines For The Historic Downtown Of The City Of St. George, Utah, Bronson R. Tatton

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This document proposes historic preservation guidelines for the downtown area of the City of St. George, Utah. It grew from a summer internship with the city where I took inventory of the streetscape in the Historic Downtown and prepared recommendations in the form of a PowerPoint Presentation that was given to the city council. This paper summarizes the summer internship and introduces a more appropriate approach based on reflection of the intern ship. The new approach involves a thorough inventory of the historic character, in depth research of the historic elements that contribute to the historic character, development of design …

A Catalog And The Perceived Effectiveness Of Stormwater Best Management Practices Bmps Used On Municipal Sites In Northern Utah, Saadia E. Ahmed

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Stormwater, as a result of hydrological events and urbanization, has contributed to problem s of water quality and flooding. Stormwater picks up pollutants and flows into sewer systems ultimately impacting water sheds and wildlife habitat. The primary method to control storm water discharge is by the use of best management practices. This research seeks to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of stormwater structural Best Management Practice s (BMPs) installed on municipal sites in northern Utah. A representative sample of sites is chosen using a snowballing sampling method. Selected sites are visited and surveys addressing effectiveness and maintenance issue s are answered …

Reservoir Sedimentation And Property Values: A Hedonic Valuation For Waterfront Properties Along Lake Greenwood, South Carolina, R. Wayne Leftwich Jr.

All Theses

No abstract provided.

Inventorying Landscape Assets In Rural Utah Communities: A Sociocultural Approach, Jennifer F. Hale

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

A community's physical environment embodies distinct natural and built elements, which hold meanings and values that are formed through daily social interactions within that environment. Such elements, however, are not often recognized until they are dramatically changed or lost. As amenity-rich rural areas of the Intermountain West steadily attract new residents, consciously identifying these elements prior to rapid growth is critical to their preservation.

Research suggests that strong social capital has the potential to encourage the identification of a place's visual assets prior to such change. A documentary research approach was used to understand why citizens do not actively participate …

Bionic Architectural Design: Assembly, Symbiosis, & Repetition, Henry Louth

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

The Integration Of Historical And Green Planning In Commercial Development, A Study For The Potential Use Of The Historical Canada Packers Site In Edmonton, Alberta, T. David Murray

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Canada Packers meat packing plant stood as a symbol of the agricultural heritage and formed part of the collective memory in the city of Edmonton throughout much of the twentieth century. Abandoned in 1994, the site has remained undeveloped and neglected for over a decade, while new development has expanded in every direction of the city. The development of the site is inevitable as property values skyrocket and the booming oil economy continues throughout Alberta. Currently the site is owned by RONA, a large Canadian home improvement store, and will be developed in the next few years. It is …

A Water-Efficient Landscape: Public Lands Center, Montrose, Co, Marcus Pulsipher

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The problem of water-wasting landscapes is prevalent throughout the western United States. For decades western settlers struggled to turn their arid lands into the more familiar settings of lush vegetation found in their native New England and Western Europe. This mind set has been passed down through generations and has transformed into the basis of the current western water crisis (Brundin and Pearson 2001). Only in the last few decades has this mentality been challenged and we've seen the emergence of several water-efficient landscape models. Through careful application of water-efficient landscape principles, western communities can greatly extend the life of …

Design Response To Humanitarian Crisis: An Analysis Of Low-Income Labor Camps In Doha, Qatar In The Context Of A Student Charrette, Holly Murdock

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

"Imagine a future where design can alter the quality of life." So began the instructions for "Charrette: A 48 hour Design Challenge" hosted by Virginia Commonwealth University's School of the Arts in Qatar. ("Charrette," 2007.) Combining sustainable design solutions with issues of human rights, an experiment in design education was created to challenge students to improve the quality of life for some of the world's most disadvantaged workers.

Historic Preservation And Revitalization In Working-Class Communities, Paul Woodward

All Theses

Historic preservation and revitalization efforts undertaken in lower-income, working-class communities often have negative consequences, including displacement and gentrification. Too often, sense of place and community spirit are sacrificed in an effort to save important historic buildings. As both sense of place and historic fabric are important, it is necessary for preservationists, planners, community members, and others to analyze the current condition under which preservation and revitalization take place, and begin looking at alternatives. Through analysis of case studies that focus on mill villages, three different approaches to preservation and revitalization are considered. Each case study offers valuable information for other …

Reviving Community Identity Using Movement In And Through Public Space, Nekia Strong

Masters Theses

“…the interweaving of human patterns. They are full of people doing different things, with different reasons and different ends in view, and the architecture reflects and expresses this difference...Being human, human beings are what interest us most. In architecture as in literature and the drama, it is the richness of human variation that gives vitality and color to the human setting…” – Raskin (Jacobs 229)

This thesis asserts that the greater opportunity for people to interact socially, the greater sense of identity a community has. Over time, as historically defined public space has been in decline, so has the level …

The Experience Of Place And Body In The Built Form, Joshua R. Shinn

Masters Theses

“The place is the concrete manifestation of man’s dwelling, and his identity depends on his belonging to places.” (Norberg-Schulz 1980, 6)

Human existence is defined by our being in the world; the daily actions of individuals in places over time. To enhance this existence, it is necessary for us to connect to place, to become aware of the relationship between body and place. Architecture provides a venue to bring together body, place, and time. Architecture can articulate the experience of being-in-the-world; therefore, through the experience of architecture an individual can become aware of place. As we come to …

Design Outfit An Interdisciplinary Think + Act Tank, Douglas Jack

Honors Capstone Projects - All

The Design Outfit is a real project derived from a conceptual program. The program, or set of concepts from which the project sprang, critically approached three aspects of design practice:

I) reality: how design proceeds from initial sketches to finishing touches, with all steps and scales given comparable attention

II) collaboration: how designers interface with one another and others throughout a design process

III) social awareness: how designers can shape and place their efforts in relation to social significance

The project was designed to explore and test these aspects of design.

Based at Henninger High, a public Syracuse City school …

City, Interrupted : A Study Of Infrastructure And The Urban Condition, Seaneen Lucretia Murphy

Masters Theses

Urban renewal and revitalization, considered an essential component to the rebuilding and reshaping of most promising communities, customarily attaches with its definition a “for the common good” connotation. The efforts of city and regional planners with local governments concerning renewal projects is one of offering great change and providing potential to a sector of a city that had not previously been successful; one where every member of the community seemingly would benefit from such projects. The strategies, when executed, most specifically concerning the Eisenhower Interstate System, sought to create affirmative change within the infrastructure of metropolitan areas and provide a …

The Interpretation Of Comingtee Plantation, Kimberly C. Norton

All Theses

This thesis provides a long term preservation plan for Comingtee Plantation, located at the confluence of the east and west branch of the Cooper River in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The plantation, owned by the Ball Family for almost two hundred years, includes the ruins of an eighteenth- century house, a nineteenth-century rice mill, as well as yet undiscovered archaeological resources. The site is owned by the Department of Natural Resources, a state agency, and is accessible to the public, though use is generally limited to hunting activities. During the summer of 2006 I participated in an internship project with …

Campus Commuting: Barriers To Walking And Bicycling Use In A University Town, Benjamin Miller

All Theses

Policy makers frequently express a desire to increase the use of non-motorized modes of transportation for commuting. However, walking and bicycling are only viable commuting modes if people live within acceptable distances of their destination and transportation networks can safely accommodate pedestrians or bicyclists. This research uses a combination of stated maximum-acceptable commute times for walking and bicycling and an assessment of the suitability of the transportation network to develop walking and bicycling commute catchments from which a person could be reasonably expected to commute to a destination by walking or bicycling. Identifying commute catchments such as these then allowed …

The Missing Link: Archaeological Resource Protection In Charleston, South Carolina, Kathryne Joseph

All Theses

Charleston, South Carolina is one of the nation's leading cities in preservation of its built environment - meaning historically and architecturally significant dwellings, sites, and structures. Protection of the city's underground resources, however, falls considerably behind as there is no archaeological preservation ordinance in place, nor is there an archaeological commission or city archaeologist to oversee and administer development projects potentially affecting significant historic and archaeological remains. The purpose of this study is to address the need for archaeological resource protection for the city by providing a better understanding of the importance of urban archaeology and by examining and identifying …

Housing And Living Patterns Among Charleston's Free People Of Color In Wraggborough, 1796-1877, Katie Ann Stojsavljevic

All Theses

This thesis focuses on the living patterns of Charleston's antebellum free black population by examining spatial contexts, architectural styles, building materials, and the various socio-economic factors which influenced such patterns. Wraggborough, serving as a specific case study neighborhood, was selected based on its residential diversity in terms of both race and class. The timeline from 1796 to 1877 follows Wraggborough from its origins and subsequent development, into the enslavement crisis on the eve of the Civil War, through the Reconstruction era.

The "Dead House" At The Former Charleston Navy Base And Shipyard, Christopher Ohm

All Theses

Over the years a small brick building on the former Charleston Navy Base and Shipyard has been studied, yet still leaves many with unanswered questions. Much speculation has been made about its builder, and date of construction, but with little success. Many researchers cannot agree on the original use of this building, usually referred to as the 'Dead House.' Historical research pointed to many answers, but often led to almost insurmountable questions. This author's recent research has found several missing sites eliminating much confusion. Further research has led to explanations for many of the enigmatic aspects of this building. Architectural, …

Tragedy, Loss, And Memory: The Use Of Rhetoric In Making And Marking A Site, David James Baker

Masters Theses

How can architecture relate to sites of tragedy and loss by serving as an artifact disinterred, reminding a society of an important and forgotten event in its cultural history? I use rhetoric to understand the meaning of sites as they respond to a specific tragic moment. The site's physical objects and narratives influence the formation of the architecture in this thesis. I am interested in the rhetorical implications of the scene setting in post-modern plays, which open an interaction between actors and audience. This interaction functions through an abstract method of visualization, one we can use as architects to understand …

Architecture Of Mutual Permeation, Bolin Briscoe Evans

Masters Theses

“Human life is not intended to oppose nature and endeavor to control it, but rather to draw nature into an intimate association in order to find union with it...this kind of sensibility… de-emphasizes the physical boundary between residence and surrounding nature and establishes instead a spiritual threshold... While screening man’s dwelling from nature, it attempts to draw nature inside.” --Tadao Ando¹

The result of humanity’s dominant approach to nature has led us to separate ourselves from the natural environment, both physically and spiritually. As J. B. Jackson explains, “we have persisted in separating man from nature and …

Architecture Thesis, 2007-Dale Lunan: Virtual Terror Tribunals, Dale Lunan

School of Architecture - Theses

"Tribunals determining the identities of captured terror suspects are necessary. The Geneva Convention of 1949 demands that these tribunals occur as close as possible to the 'theater of operations'. In the War on Terror, the 'theater of operations' can exist anywhere. Therefore, the tribunals must have the capacity to exist anywhere."

This thesis focuses on the possibilities of virtual terror tribunals, as influenced by airplanes, technology, and expanding networks of modern communication.

Evaluation Of Interior Designers' And Interior Design Students' Perceptions Of Cad (Computer Aided Design), Vaishali A. Patil

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research project used quantitative research method to evaluate interior designers' and interior design students' perceptions about CAD (computer aided design) in interior design. Survey method was used to collect data about demographics, perceptions regarding CAD use, difficulties with its use, and expectations of CAD in near future. Descriptive analysis was used to summarize data from self-administered questionnaires for students and interior designers.

The outcome ofthe study provided an explanation for co-relation of the use of CAD among interior designers and students of interior design. It also provided understanding of practitioners' and students' expectations regarding the use of CAD in …

The Costs Of Not Using Green Design In The Usaf: Would Using Green Building Design Have Resulted In Life Cycle Cost Savings?, John Kimball Osborne

Theses and Dissertations

This study’s purpose is to determine if using green building design would have resulted in life cycle costs savings for the United States Air Force. Green designs are those that employ steps to mitigate the impacts facilities have on the environment by using resources more efficiently than conventional design. The prevailing ranking system for green design in the United States is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system which evaluates facilities on certain characteristics, assigning point values that translate to non-certified, certified, silver, gold, or platinum ratings. The author attempts here to show how previous studies indicated …