Architecture Commons^™

A Period Examination Through Contemporary Energy Analysis Of Kevin Roche’S Fine Arts Center At University Of Massachusetts-Amherst, L Carl Fiocchi Jr

L. Carl Fiocchi

Studies of buildings belonging to a subset of Modernist architecture, Brutalism, have included discussions pertaining to social and architectural history, critical reception, tectonic form and geometry inspirations, material property selections, period technology limitations, and migration of public perceptions. Evaluations of Brutalist buildings’ energy related performances have been restricted to anecdotal observations with particular focus on the building type’s poor thermal performance, a result of the preferred construction method, i.e. monolithic reinforced concrete used as structure, interior finish and exterior finish. A valid criticism, but one that served to dismiss discussion that the possibility of other positive design strategies limiting energy …

Effects Of Reverberation And Noise On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Z. Ellen Peng, Lily M. Wang, Siu-Kit Lau, Adam M. Steinbach

Lily M Wang

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of adverse signal-to-noise-ratios on non-native English-speaking listeners' performance on speech recognition using recall tasks, as well as implied that comprehension skills were more impaired than recognition skills under reverberation and noise. The authors have themselves previously conducted a pilot study on three native and three non-native Englishspeaking listeners to examine the effects of reverberation and noise using speech comprehension tasks. Those results suggested that speech comprehension performance is worse under longer reverberation times (RT), and that a longer RT is more detrimental to speech comprehension by non-native listeners than native listeners. This paper …

How Tonality And Loudness Of Noise Relate To Annoyance And Task Performance” Noise Control Eng. J. 65(2), 71-82., Joonhee Lee, Jennifer M. Francis, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Audible tones in noise generated by building mechanical equipment can be a leading cause of complaints from occupants. A number of metrics have been developed to quantify prominence of a tone, but previous work has shown that the impact of a certain tonality appears to vary with the level of the broadband noise signal. More work on how tonal signals of varying tonality, tone frequency and broadband noise levels relate to annoyance and task performance is needed. This paper investigates such relationships between current noise metrics, annoyance and task performance under assorted tonal noise conditions through subjective testing. Participants rated …

Acoustic Tweets And Blogs: Using Social Media In An Undergraduate Acoustics Course, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Each fall, the author teaches an undergraduate architectural acoustics course to around 40 third-year architectural engineering students at the University of Nebraska. Beginning in 2011, a social media component was introduced to explore the use of this technology and how it may supplement the students' learning experience. Students were given an opportunity to receive extra credit by using Twitter and/or blogging about course material using a set hashtag (#AE3300) or through the course website. Results were positive, and the author will discuss pros and cons that she has experienced in adding this social media component. Suggestions for future implementations and …

A Need For Evidence-Based And Multidisciplinary Research To Study The Effects Of The Interaction Of School Environmental Conditions On Student Achievement, Josephine Lau, Lily M. Wang, Clarence Waters, James A. Bovaird

Lily M Wang

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Healthy Schools initiative, a research team from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on establishing how environmental conditions in K-12 school buildings impact student scholastic achievement. The objectives of the research project are: (1) to study comprehensively the impacts of a wide set of indoor environmental factors (including indoor air quality, thermal, lighting and acoustic conditions) on student achievement; (2) to investigate how these environmental conditions interact with each other to impact student achievement; (3) to rank order the environmental variables in terms of their relative impact on …

Rebuilding Silicon Valley - An Assessment Of The Silicon Valley Corporate Campus And The Potential For Suburban Sustainability, Eden Lindeman

Master's Projects and Capstones

Silicon Valley is the San Francisco Bay Area’s economic powerhouse and is herald for its innovation and success. However, Silicon Valley’s urban design is unsustainable and characterized by remote and large corporate campuses that contribute to job sprawl and heavy traffic congestion. Many of the buildings are also not performing at an efficient level and are due for deep overhauls to cut back energy consumption and costs. The inevitable effects of climate change continue to loom large over the world, heightening the importance for the built environment to be reformed into an environment that can mitigate and adapt to climate …

Mojave Unnerved, Rachel Scarnaty

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

phenomenology is rich in the preserved land of the mojave desert with only a light human touch interfering.

observed through admiration and mainly scientific analysis, it is easy to believe the ethereal qualities of the land are at their peak.

i challenge that architecture may exist within the mojave national preserve to intensify the unique sensory experiences.

tectonics form to measure and analyze the climate components that create the fantastical qualities. the architecture learns from the environmental and social history and future of each site.

i have chose four of nine main sites within the preserve: soda lake, barber peak, …

Living Tiny Legally, James G. Rollin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Over the last 40 years, the average new United States house has increased in size by more than 1,000 square feet, from an average size of 1,660 square feet in 1973 (earliest year available from the Census Bureau) to 2,687 square feet last year (Perry, 2016). In that same time period, there was a 91% increase in home square footage per inhabitant and a decrease in average household size. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average home in the United States costs approximately $358,000 to build, an increase of roughly $200,000 since 1998. Meanwhile, the average annual income in …

Urban Space Regeneration, Yuanyuan Xiao

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The main idea I pursued in my research is the regeneration of urban space, which helped to create a new civic space for a city. The details of urban space regeneration are designed to improve the quality of life, and it involves the use of urban public space. Based on the research and background study, my thesis explored to improve the urban environment, enhance urban space usage and improve city image in Beijing to regenerate it from a heavy industrial city in a garden city. In my research on regeneration of urban space I came across the example of the …

Offshore R+D Facility, Philip A. Marble

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Design a Research + Development facility that merges with a functional Oil Rig. This center will house both a Marine Research Center and Oil rig Research + Development center. Both of these facilities will be in a separate structure than the Oil Rig but will have a connection back to the Living Quarter.

Divine Intervention: Designed For Social Evolution By Integrating Natural Order, Anatoshia L. Wyatt

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

There is a long tradition in architecture of using ordering systems found in nature and science to create built space. This thesis builds upon such line of thought to propose new design methods based on ordering systems with a particular focus on social relations. It focuses on the design of a community center in the city of Atlanta which is considered as a catalyst for jumpstarting the betterment of society through improvement of social bonds, community involvement, activism, meditation, and the integration of nature in the community. The design is situated on the Bellwood Quarry site and creates an ecological …

Springfield Climate Action & Resiliency Plan Vulnerability And Resilience, Elisabeth Hamin, August Williams-Eynon, Catherine Ratte

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

No abstract provided.

The Artifacts Of Preserving: Housing Echoes Of Silence, Jennifer Nicklas

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Lacuna: Transcendence Of The Human Body Through The Space Between, Anica Bottom

Honors Theses

This essay examines the author’s choreography, Lacuna, and research integral to its representation. During the choreographic process, experimentation of how the human body moves in relation to different architectural space was observed. In collaboration with the cast of dancers, cohesion of personal experiences in particular locations was evaluated: specifically, investigation of how environments has the ability to trigger habits or patterns of movement from both past and present experiences. A closer look at how the body responds on a visceral level to the physical and emotional sense of place is described. Although the choreographic piece, Lacuna, came to …

The Delamination Of Manhattan: Living In The Layers Of A Post-Land Society, Dylan Hursley

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rising water levels threaten the existence of many coastal cities throughout the world, including Lower Manhattan, which is in danger of sea level rise by as much as six feet by the end of the century! Higher sea levels mean that larger storms will occur with greater frequency. Assuming that humanity does not reverse its current ecological contribution, barriers to stop rising waters will not be adequate.

Manhattan is covered by 50 feet of water, transforming New York into a new Venice. The substantial bedrock of the city provides a hefty foundation capable of supporting Manhattan’s structures for many years …

Redefining Landscape Norms: Exploring The Influence Of Normative Landscaping Patterns In Washington County, Utah, Ryan White

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As water supplies in the American West become increasingly strained by growing populations and threats of drought and climate change, water managers and governments are working to maximize water-use efficiency. With well over half of municipal water being used on outdoor irrigation, improved landscape water efficiency has been a clear candidate for conservation messaging. Because social norms play a significant role in what conservation behaviors individuals adopt voluntarily, conservation messaging strategies often try to influence and shift norms in favor of improved behaviors. A clear understanding of the existing norms, demographics, and cultural values of an area is essential to …

Recreation Community Branding: A Comparative Analysis Within Utah’S Wasatch Front, Lynda D. D. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study demonstrates the role recreational amenities play in contributing to the brand identity and sense of place in Utah master planned communities (MPCs). These MPCs are designed to enable residents to live, work, and play within close proximity within a styled built environment. While the built environment is often branded with a particular identity, these identities resonates with other attributes of the community, including recreation amenities. The study focused on MPCs along the Wasatch Front in Utah, since Utah’s population, along the Wasatch Front, is expected to double by 2050 (Envision Utah, n.d.). Many of the developments being built …

Evaluating Variables Of Patient Experience And The Correlation With Design, Dyutima Jha, Amy Keller Frye, Jennifer Schlimgen

Patient Experience Journal

The objective of this paper was to understand the variables of patient experience by analyzing recent and relevant evidence and to identify design solutions within the hospital environment that positively impact those variables. A systematic review of literature published from 2008-present was conducted to identify variables that contribute to patient experience benefits. Identified variables were documented and categorized into a design, organizational, and outcome variable matrix. Interviews were conducted with professionals from healthcare institutions, architecture firms and organizations committed to improving the patient experience. Data from healthcare facilities, with high patient experience scores, was also examined to derive effective design …

Stitching Together The Urban Fabric, Tyler Gaudreau, James Goode, Samantha Hampton, John Haryasz, William Jurczyk, Eric Kadziolka, Daniel Kossack, Keira Lee, Matthew Pilis, Preston Rowan, Chinda Samms, Devon Vendetti, Yifei Yan

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

This Urban Design Studio in Springfield focused on incremental and systemic design changes at specific places in Downtown to improve the quality of life. The analysis investigated six interweaving, overlapping urban systems: Music and Art, Food and Retail, Working, Public Green, Education and Housing. Overlooked streets and their immediate context were of major focus: Worthington Street, Dwight Street, Willow Street and the stilted Interstate 91 viaduct.

Downtown Springfield is currently undergoing a substantial change of the physical urban fabric: The renovation of the Union Station into a multi-modal transportation hub, the MGM Casino Resort and the new Dr. Seuss Museum …

How Tonality And Loudness Of Noise Relate To Annoyance And Task Performance” Noise Control Eng. J. 65(2), 71-82., Joonhee Lee, Jennifer M. Francis, Lily M. Wang

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Audible tones in noise generated by building mechanical equipment can be a leading cause of complaints from occupants. A number of metrics have been developed to quantify prominence of a tone, but previous work has shown that the impact of a certain tonality appears to vary with the level of the broadband noise signal. More work on how tonal signals of varying tonality, tone frequency and broadband noise levels relate to annoyance and task performance is needed. This paper investigates such relationships between current noise metrics, annoyance and task performance under assorted tonal noise conditions through subjective testing. Participants rated …

The Impact Of Walkability On Home Values: Findings From Neighborhoods In Three Bay Area Citites, Jonathan Turner

City and Regional Planning

No abstract provided.

Living Core Of The Future: Proposing New Approach For The Future Of Residential Complex In Metropolitan Areas, Mahsa G. Zadeh

Masters Theses

Building that can adapt and change to become useful for not only today’s society but for generations to come is one which elicits biological and evolutionary processes. In essence, the need for a transformative architecture that can sustain an active dialogue with its inhabitants, whose trend are in constant flux, results in a reunification between humanity and its time-sensitive, responsive natural habitat.

The aim of thesis is to explore what makes people satisfy and comfortable and what factors make their living space and city livable, especially focusing on future housing needs. We can respond to the question of how is …

Clothedral, Jacob T. Holmes, Andres Munoz, Sam Tenreiro Theis, Marta Blachowicz

Architectural Engineering

No abstract provided.

Bau, January 17-21, Munich, Jim Roche

Other resources

This bi-annual five-day event is one of the

leading and biggest trade fares of architecture,

materials, building systems and craft skills in

the world. Held in the huge Messe München

Trade Fair Center in eastern Munich and

stretching over 17 gigantic halls each the size

of a football pitch, it offers a truly rich display of

the latest innovations in building technology.

Restoring The Heart: A Community Vision For The Neighborhood Of Aldenville, Nicholas Campbell, Eric D. Gemperline, Todd R. Horner, Sean G. O'Donnell, Sierra T. Pelletier, Seth Taylor, Keitlin Young

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

The goal of the Master of Regional Planning Studio is to develop a student’s techniques for collecting, analyzing, and synthesizing spatial and non-spatial data and then presenting that collective data in a manner (i.e., report, video, presentation, and charettes) that is understandable to academics, professionals, and the public. Planning Studio allows students to integrate knowledge from coursework and research, and apply such knowledge to resolving representative planning problems. At UMASS Amherst, these problems are found in neighborhood, rural, urban, and/or regional settings.

For the Fall 2017 Planning Studio, Chicopee tasked the Masters of Regional Planning Studio to prepare a vision …

Edra Archives Donated By Davis And Szigeti, Kathleen Demsky

Archives

No abstract provided.

Edra 48: Bibliography Of Books On Display, Kathleen Demsky

Bibliographies

edra 48 | Voices of Place | Madison, WI

The Freeman Performing Arts Center, Community Design Center

Project Reports

The Freeman Performing Arts Center marks the threshold between prairie and civic life. This small agricultural community of 1,300 has an outsized Anabaptist music tradition recognized nationally. The 37,000 sf hall-type building unifies a miscellaneous collection of public buildings and landscapes at the southwest corner of the town’s one-mile grid. The center’s massing projects an ascending system of familiar gable roofs, which absorb the fly tower into a composition reflective of pragmatic building forms. The principal face of the building is a translucent curtain wall that illuminates interior massing—a beacon on the prairie. A thru-Porch celebrates transitions between the prairie’s …

Sinatra Living: Technical Scope Summary, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. Solar Decathlon Team.

Sinatra Living: Planning and Design

This document, labeled as project document 3.4 Technical Scope Summary, contains the scope of technical aspects for the project house.

Sinatra Living: Elevation North, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas. Solar Decathlon Team.

Sinatra Living: Planning and Design

An architectural drawing plan of the Sinatra Living house.