Architecture Commons^™

"Lost Shadows", Julle Oksanen

Masters Theses

There are thousands of pages of technical argumentation on lighting. We could say that there is already a legacy of technical lighting. It is the result of the activity of technically oriented people. In the 1900, CIE was founded to research oil socks and their properties. Standardization got a huge boost in 1931 when CIE introduced international trichromatic colorimetry system, known as “CIE System”. Engineers became active in illumination engineering societies. Sadly, the more visual skills of the lighting designer started to ebb. The lighting design work shifted from the hands of visually oriented people to the hands of technically …

Contextualizing The Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site (40wg59): Understanding Landscape Change At An Upland South Farmstead., Daniel Whitaker Howard Brock

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on a contextual archaeological approach to investigate the historic landscape of the Tipton-Haynes State Historic Site. Tipton-Haynes is a late eighteenth- through twentieth-century upland south farmstead located in Johnson City, TN. Home to two prominent Tennessee families and occupied until acquired by the state in the 1960s, the site has experienced many alterations to the landscape over time. The analysis presented views the landscape as material culture investigated through a multidisciplinary approach including historic research, architectural survey, geophysical survey, dendrochronology, and archaeology. To make sense of the complex nature of the Tipton-Haynes site, multiple methods were used …

[Re]Connection, Taylor Hahn

Masters Theses

In this thesis, I argue for a place where people can go to regain perspective, and to reevaluate their interactions, both with other people and their environment. This proposal explores ways in which architectural design creates a setting where the built environment is intrinsically connected to systems and forms of the natural environment. The design project consists of a facility in McLean, Virginia, just west of Washington, DC, on the southern bank of the Potomac River, for the temporary stay of people suffering from depression: who feel alienated in a world full of connections. Cases of depression are higher than …

Perform + Function: A Proposal For A Healthy Public Housing Community, Brandon M. Harvey

Masters Theses

PERFORM+FUNCTION: Proposal for A Healthy Public Housing Community

Architecture exists in Place, the integrated context of both the built and natural environments, including socio-economic, cultural, and political climates that influence our growth, development, and survival. As architecture necessitates around human purposes, it is important that architecture is built for and sited in an environment compatible for human well-being. My thesis focuses on human habitation and its immediate relationship with human health, assessing the performance and functionality of Place that have an impact on human health. Using public housing as the vehicle of my investigation, I will seek the appropriate application …

Communicating Sustainable Design Through Visual Dynamics, Phillip Walter Zawarus

Masters Theses

My thesis is the exploration of dynamic methods to eff ectively visualize and communicate sustainable designpractices. Every site consists of temporal conditions (climate, vegetation growth, hydrology, comfort, aesthetics)that require dynamic representation of it’s progressive state. By understanding both the quantitative and qualitivemeasures of a site’s content, designers can begin to create guidelines and adaptive responses to the changingconditions. Th is can be achieved by fi rst understanding the intergrated relationship of those conditions, as oneelement has a direct or indirect impact on another. Th e design, in turn, cannot be a static implimentation butrather an evolutionary application.

Addressing Imbalance In Park Distribution And Accessibility In Disadvantaged Neighborhoods, Erin M. Tharp

Masters Theses

This thesis will critically study the issue of socio-economic class based inequitable distribution of landscape / recreational resources and the ways in which the principles of environmental justice can be used as a tool by landscape architects in the planning process to amend this.

A preliminary study indicates that the zip code of 37915, located in Knox County, Tennessee proves to be a suitable case study. High levels of poverty and a greater percentage of minorities as shown by the U.S. Census, add to the undesirability of this neighborhood. The city has located pocket parks with playgrounds and basketball courts …

Disappearing Vistas, Jessica Christine Bundy

Masters Theses

National parks have historically used long distance scenic views, known as vistas, to reveal iconic American landscapes to auto tourists. However, decades of budget constraints and inadequate management have prevented National Parks from maintaining vistas as originally intended. Many important vistas are disappearing due to encroaching vegetation. As a result, numerous complaints and concerns have been expressed by park visitors, especially within Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Vistas still play an intricate role in the visitor experience of national parks – an experience worth protecting. In an effort to conserve this experience, ecologically sustainable vistas must be established that are …

Freeway Capping: Capping Nashville's I-40 South Loop To Connect Downtown And Midtown, Michael Joel Payne

Masters Theses

In 1956, the U.S. federal government enacted the Federal Highway Act, and the interstate system would change the face of cities across the nation. (Weingroff, 1996) These highways were great opportunities to rapidly bring people to and from the city (Kreyling, 2005). While the interstate system does serve an important transportation role in today’s automobile reliant economy, it also functions as a great divider of the urban fabric in many cities. During the planning of the interstates, many people argued that they should not run through cities. They argued that the highways would divide neighborhoods, bring unwanted pollution and noise, …

Socio-Economic Revitalization Through Brownfield Reclamation, Corrin James Breeding

Masters Theses

Brownfields are defined as real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant (epa.gov). Brownfield remediation is land rehabilitation.

There are many brownfield sites that exist around the world today. These locations are nuisances because of their effect on the environment. They can be eyesores, riddled with dilapidated structures and debris that put chemicals into the soil, affect local watersheds, become prime areas for violence and/or other activities viewed as unsafe, etc. The impact these areas have on the health of living organisms is a …

Beneath The Surface: A Culturally Informed Approach To Regenerative Water Resource Management In Fond-Des-Blancs, Haiti, Muriel Elowyn Miller

Masters Theses

A growing movement in the design fields toward humanitarian and socially conscious work expressed itself in the aftermath of the earthquake that hit Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010. However, humanitarian work begets skepticism. Four to five decades of foreign aid have not lifted the country out of its impoverished state. Common critique emphasizes the importance of cultural appropriateness, but this is difficult to achieve at a time when much help must come from abroad.

Cultural anthropologists are experts in the study of cultural appropriateness. It is this discipline, and its methods, to which designers should turn for lessons on appropriateness. …

Transit Oriented Development For Nashville: Learning From Europe, Erin Ashley Gray

Masters Theses

A popular movement in the past decade has been to implement transit oriented development in city planning. Transit-oriented development, or TOD, is nationally characterized as mixed-use development located within a 2,000 feet diameter from a mass transit center. However, the typical format for TOD in the United States, initiated by Peter Calthorpe and fermented in the West Coast, lacks consideration in unifying various forms of transit. Individuals are more likely to participate in public transportation if they do not have to solely rely on one method of travel. On the other hand, TOD has been wildly more successful in European …

The Wellness Clinic: A New Approach To Healthcare Design, Timothy Michael Creasy

Masters Theses

The healthcare industry is currently undergoing a paradigm shift in the delivery of care; it is moving from a system that treats illness to one that prevents disease and promotes wellness. The goal of this thesis is to present a design solution that is an example of what a healthcare facility of the future can be. The design presented in this document is one that demonstrates the attributes for a successful healthcare environment; one which allows the programmatic functions of a primary care clinic, an education center, and a fitness center to function as an integrated wellness platform facility.

By …

The Lateran Baptistery: Memory, Space, And Baptism, David Tyler Thayer

Masters Theses

In the fourth century, the Lateran Baptistery was sponsored by Constantine the Great; it is the first extant free-standing baptistery known from the Roman world. In the fifth century, Pope Sixtus III renovated the baptistery through a newly-emphasized spatial hierarchy and the appropriation of some of Rome's most cherished structural elements and decorating themes. The result was a unique space that created a dialogue with Roman memory for the specific function of the baptismal rite it hosted. This thesis will analyze the spatial and symbolic forms, and the baptism ritual to show Sixtus III’s interaction with the Roman tradition of …

Experience Generated Design: An Approach To Restore Balance In A Culture Of Comfort, Joleen Collins Darragh

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the role of architecture in regulating the positive experience of interaction between people and nature. The concept of a thermally neutral interior environment is unnatural and consequently has negative effects on our experience of space. It is highly recognized that the introduction of natural lighting has contributed to the overall enhanced experience in office buildings, but now the idea of admitting natural ventilation into building design is being researched for its potential to increase occupant well-being. In researching and making connections between the interaction of the interior and exterior realms, I found …