Architecture Commons^™

The Urban Infrastructure For Sustainability: Learning From Kigali, Marwan Ghandour

Marwan Ghandour

Until 2013, when a new master plan for the city was approved, Kigali had very few urban regulations in place. Incremental constructions, usually associated with informal urbanization, were the norm rather than the exception. Most of the city fabric grew organically creating a unique configuration of urban adjacencies, which would be improbable for planners and designers to imagine. This configuration is particular to the geographic, economic and social conditions of the city as incremental urbanization slowly adjusted to the living conditions, through the actions of thousands of city residents over a long period of time. These actions were formed in …

Idea, Form, Reality – The Implications Of Natural Ventilation Strategies On Public Buildings In Temperate Maritime Climates, Michael P.G. Haslam

Masters

Natural ventilation is one of the prime form givers in environmentally responsive architecture – in its detail and its architecturally charged form of stacks and voids. It facilitates our understanding of a response to natural systems – not just in how it responds visually to warm and cool air but also in the adaptive approach to thermal comfort. The purpose of this research is to investigate the impacts and implications of natural ventilation strategies for different typologies of public and commercial buildings. This is with the aim of attempting to define a vocabulary of ventilation techniques and details that are …

Architectural Ecotone: The Edge Effect, Holly Metzger, Tara Nuqul

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis aims to study the relationship between architecture and its environment. Specifically, this thesis will explore symbiotic relationships between architecture and surrounding ecosystems in many different terrains. Iceland presents a particular important case for this idea because it is a hotbed of geological activity. The country itself is a patchwork of desert, glaciers, geysers, lava fields and active volcano, which has led to Iceland developing intelligent systems of vernacular architecture throughout history to mediate this environment.

This thesis studies systems of domestic vernacular architecture by examining the qualities and characteristics of craft, materiality, structure, and a symbiotic relationship to …