Architecture Commons^™

The Future Of The Urban Street In The United States: Visions Of Alternative Mobilities In The Twenty-First Century, Esther Zipori

Dissertations

This dissertation is concerned with the present and future of urban streets in the United States. The goal is to document and analyze current visions, policies, and strategies related to the form and use of American urban streets. The dissertation examines current mobility trends and offers a framework for organizing visions of the future of urban streets, evaluating them through three lenses: safety, comfort, and delight: assessing physical conditions in accordance with livability standards toward sustainable development. At the same time, it demonstrates the way 12 scenarios (NACTO Blueprint for Autonomous Urbanism, Sidewalk Labs: Quayside Project, Public Square by FXCollaborative, …

Limpieza De Asbestos En La Ciudad De Nueva York, Ariana G. Perez-Castells

Capstones

This is the story of how asbestos is removed in New York City, and who carries out the work. It's unclear how much more asbestos abatement is left in the county, and the U.S. has not completely banned the dangerous material, unlike over 50 other countries across the world. Both of these things could change soon. A new study that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will carry out by December 2024 would give us a better picture of how much asbestos there is still in buildings and how much more removal work is to be done. At the same time, …

Human Composting Is Changing The Landscape Of Death Care (Literally) — And It Could Be Legal In New York State As Soon As Next Year, Rachael Robertson

Capstones

Soon New Yorkers might have a new option for end of life care: Natural Organic Reduction, or human composting. Rather than being buried or cremated, New Yorkres might have the option of having their body composted and turned into soil as an environmentally friendly burial alternative. A bill legalizing Natural Organic Reduction in NYS and setting regulations similar to cremation is sitting on Governor Hochul's desk. Death, remembrance, and disposition are especially difficult in New York City, where there is not enough cemetery space for the number of people who die annually. Through audio, data, and print, I explore how …

Preservando La Playa Del Pueblo, Tasha A. Sandoval

Capstones

After more than 80 years, the only queer beach in New York City, the People’s Beach at Jacob Riis, is in danger. In 2022, the city announced the demolition of the Neponsit Hospital, a long-abandoned structure that shelters the beach from the street, creating a sense of privacy and safety. Can Riis Beach live on as a safe and joyous utopia for queer communities without the presence of the hospital buildings? Some beach-goers are campaigning to ensure that whatever replaces the hospital space centers the queer community and preserves the beach’s queer history, including the legacy of Ms. Colombia, a …

Reduction Of Embodied Carbon In Buildings Through Use Of Low Carbon Strategies And Standardization And Enforcement Of Life Cycle Assessment, Bhargavi Sai Sudhakar

Master's Projects and Capstones

The building and construction industry is energy intensive and as of 2021, this industry is responsible for 37% of the total global greenhouse gas emissions. In previous studies of conventional buildings, the operational energy of a building contributed to 80% and the embodied energy contributed to 20% of the total life cycle energy. With increase in policies and standards that focus on reducing the operational energy, low energy and certified green buildings have emerged where the operational energy has considerably reduced. The relative and absolute share of embodied energy in these energy efficient buildings have increased due to excessive use …

Estimating Vehicle Infrastructure: Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, Zachery Phillip Baiamonte

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Cities have little knowledge about their parking infrastructure despite clear evidence that abundant parking has environmental, economic, and transportation consequences. The objective of this thesis is to illustrate the need to accurately estimate the area dedicated to vehicle infrastructure (parking lots and streets) within urban areas. I focused on a method that estimated the vehicle infrastructure area within the Downtown Core of Albuquerque, New Mexico, by cross-referencing geospatial cadastral data with minimum parking requirements. Three parking space types were identified: 1) parking in structures; 2) surface parking (parking lots and residential driveways); and 3) on-street parking. To illustrate the need …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

Nexuscapes: A Landscape Approach For A Transdisciplinary Water-Energy-Food Nexus Decision-Making Process, Fortino Acosta

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study develops a reliable transdisciplinary framework for complex ecological and social systems by characterizing, mapping, typifying, assessing, and testing enhanced water-energy-food nexus scenarios under critical time constraints, specialized skills, or sensitive data accessibility. Detached management of limited essential resources like fresh water, reliable energy from renewable sources, and nutritious food can jeopardize regional economies and governance. Using a novel landscape approach, this study recommends a decision-making the framework focused on the circular economy that induces collaboration among diverse sectors and brings strategic coordination, specificity, and magnitude to the proposed solutions. The study elaborates on a decision-making tool that integrates …

Likeliness To Recommend: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Consumer Perception Of Homebuilders, Todd Usher

All Dissertations

Measures of consumers’ likeliness to recommend a business or company have been shown to relate to business performance. Less is known about how such scores might operate in the homebuilding industry. This study examines the factors influencing consumers’ perceptions of homebuilders, an area with little published research. Using a sequential mixed-methods approach, the study analyzes survey data from consumers (N = 366) who had new homes built within the preceding 12 months. Quantitative analyses of the data reveal several aspects of consumers’ likeliness to recommend a homebuilder. One finding of great interest is that consumers of the survey were more …

The Evergreen Challenges Of Healing: An Evaluation Of Urban Green Space In Harambee, Kacee Ochalek

Theses and Dissertations

Urban green space initiatives have emerged in low- and middle-income cities as a solution to disinvestment, the production of more positive public health metrics, and a tool of community engagement. While the production of urban greening provides ample room for applause, The City of Milwaukee’s Healing Spaces Initiative model regarding the ongoing construction of green space and the implementation of maintenance creates challenges that perpetuate racist capitalistic notions of the neoliberal project. This paper presents reports from participant observation, document analysis, and 17 qualitative interviews with representatives of the City of Milwaukee, community partners, garden leaders, and residents. The data …

Sconce Upon A Time: Evaluating Multimodal Methods Of Researching Period Lighting Technology, A Case Study Of Drayton Hall, Neale Elizabeth Grisham

All Theses

This thesis reviews several methods of researching light sources and lighting schemes from the “long eighteenth century,”[1] on a historical site. Despite the period’s cultural reliance on lighting as well as technological advancement in this era, there has yet to be published documentation on how to engage with evidence of lighting technology on historic sites for better understanding of the site’s relationship with lighting.

Using Drayton Hall in Charleston, South Carolina as a case study, this thesis outlines and demonstrates the process of five methods of investigating period lighting technology. These methods are: wall investigation, anchorage points comparison and …

Reciprocal Frames: The Flat Beam Grillage, Cesar Noe Jimenez Ramirez, Nicholas Sowatzke

Architectural Engineering

This report follows the pursuit of attaining information and researching academic resources regarding the elusive reciprocal frame structures throughout history, in particular the flat beam grillage. In the following pages, the reader should expect to learn about reciprocal frames in a historical context throughout the globe, as well as, gain insight on how to potentially analyze these frames when they span two-dimensionally. As seen in Figure 1 (Pugnale 2011) and Figure 2 (Godthelp 2019), reciprocal frame structures consist of multiple groups of three or more members that are mutually supported. Along the perimeter of the structure, the members are supported …

Use Of Precious Plastic Method Of Bricks For The Construction Of Tiny Homes, Haylie E. Tallon

Architectural Engineering

Precious Plastics, a Netherlands based company, created an open source project that can be used to create different objects from recycled plastics. The San Luis Obispo area has a large amount of recyclable plastic that is being treated as trash, adding to the pollution of the ocean and the air. This project is to determine the necessary steps to create plastic building blocks, using the Precious Plastic process, as a construction material for low-income, temporary housing. This report covers the process that was used to build two of the machines that will be used to create the bricks. This requires …

Gentrification And Displacement: Connections Between Changing Housing Typologies And Long-Time Residents’ Quality Of Life In East Austin, Texas, Grant Wilson

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the impacts of gentrification on quality of life, displacement, and housing typology in East Austin, Texas. The neighborhood is examined as a case study and example of the concepts discussed. Evaluated through both a qualitative and quantitative lens, this study serves as a report and update on the continued disruption of the living patterns of minority residents in the city. Recommendations are given to mitigate displacement for East Austin residents and improve the quality of life for those remaining. By identifying the connection between changing housing typology and displacement impacts, this report aspires to give designers a …

Form From Color: Color Generated Form, Kyra Vreeland

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Form From Color: Color Generated Form evaluates the ability of color to be a three-dimensional and architectural space creator. While complex in history and connotations, color within this capstone is assigned a theoretical characteristic by which forms are generated from color solely. The produced results suggest that color can be a form generator and can have more spatial applications in design. This capstone has the mode of inquiry of a Creative Artistic Inquiry.

There are three series of tests within this capstone. All of which are based on Johannes Itten’s belief that primary colors correspond with primary shapes. The first …

Identity And Placemaking Of Modern Roman Piazzas: Case Study Analysis Of Piazza San Cosimato, Piazza Testaccio, And Piazza Cavour, Lauren Lamker

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The more we understand the patterns of how people use space, the better we will be able to forecast the outcomes of new public space initiatives. Studying public life can be done in a similar way to how meteorologists can fairly accurately describe the weather (Gehl 2013, 2). The goal of this analysis is to better understand the patterns evident in these successful spaces so that more similar spaces can be developed in the future. Can exemplary public spaces be used to forecast new projects? Rome has a high density of successful public spaces, and this case study will focus …

The Relationship Between Bird Species Richness And Human Appropriation Of Net Primary Productivity, Kaeli Mueller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As humans harvest increasing amounts of biomass, it is crucial to gain an understanding of how much energy is being appropriated and the impact that this could have on ecosystems and biodiversity. The primary way in which humans impact biodiversity loss is through land use change. One way of quantifying the impact of land use change is through human appropriation of net primary production (HANPP). This measurement represents the total amount of energy derived from photosynthesis that humans remove from ecosystems and appropriate for their own use. My research studies the relationship between HANPP and bird species richness at the …

Site Development Feasibility Study, Andy A. Tenekjian

Construction Management

A feasibility study in the world of construction is deemed as a preliminary due diligence process in which key components of a project are addressed to determine if the project is viable or not. These components are related to time and money, and the end goal of a feasibility study is to determine if the initial investment of time and money is worth the amount of future financial return. What deems a project successful in the preliminary stage is up for interpretation. Each developer and investor have their own return on investment threshold in a multi-family project like the one …

Assessing Socio-Demographic And Urban Form Changes Of Sprawl Retrofitting Projects In The United States, Hooman Hadayeghi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Growing population and urbanization have escalated the inclination in today’s societies to live in the suburbs. In the United States, urban development has had a suburbanization pattern since World War II. People living in such areas must use their cars to reach their destination and commute to work. Sprawl retrofitting is a term introduced by planners and researchers to overcome urban sprawl's negative impacts on mobility, transportation, and the environment. This approach is used to densify and change the built environment to make daily trips easier, shorten daily travels, and enhance pedestrian activity in places dealing with sprawl. Sprawl retrofitting …

The Rehabilitation Of Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills: A Case For A Unique Public-History Site And Open-Air Museum, Nina Elsas

Master of Arts in Art and Design Theses

By the 1990s, Atlanta's historic Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills (The Mill) had fallen into extreme disrepair. After operations ceased, the 19th-century factory suffered from years of neglect, forcing the decision to either demolish or rehabilitate its industrial structures. Fortunately, a choice was made to convert the majority of Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills’ buildings into residential lofts, despite the significant financial risk. The research related to this study aims to address whether the successfully renovated Fulton Bag & Cotton Mills could identify as an open-air museum.

Answers to this question were obtained from Primary Sources (such as interviews and …

A Business Plan For Construction Companies Entering Into Real Estate Development, Dylan Michael Barrett

Construction Management

The construction industry is one that has been lucrative yet difficult to navigate at times. Companies must continually adapt to potential changes in the market and shifting consumer demands while ensuring that their core business ideologies are not abandoned. For these reasons, many construction companies have found that being flexible in the work they do proves to give consistent results for their businesses. One way to change business models is to pursue real estate development. Its lucrative rewards prove a great additional revenue stream. This project aims to provide insight, via a business plan, as to how a construction company …

Science, Technology, Engineering, And Mathematics (Stem) Project-Based Learning (Pbl) Education: A New Mexico Case Study For Equity And Inclusion, Kimberly A. Scheerer

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

This research addresses how student participation in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) project-based learning (PBL) education activities encourages underrepresented minority student achievement in STEM career field trajectories. Seven New Mexico high school counselors and 12 STEM organization personnel were interviewed during this study. Their responses represent the nuanced professional voices where New Mexico public education intersects with STEM student interest and cultural influence.

For students, STEM PBL can foster deep integration across educational disciplines and enhance STEM career trajectory interest and readiness. STEM education converged with PBL methodologies has the ability to leverage community support while broadening student networks. …

Travel Behavior Change And Economic Transition In Gentrified Neighborhoods, Maryam Izadi

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Post-industrial cities in the US have experienced social and economic transitions, mostly in declining downtown neighborhoods. This process, known as gentrification, typically involves revitalization that reverses the decline and disinvestment in inner-city neighborhoods. The industrial shift increased the demand for housing near downtown. The employment of college-educated and high-skill workers has been centralized, while low-skilled jobs continue to decline downtown. While the impacts of gentrification on housing and residential displacement is frequently investigated, little attention has been given to its impact on travel behavior change and economic transition, which is the focus of this research. Change in travel behavior is …

Developing Mexican And Central American Spanish Phrases For U.S Construction Workforce To Improve Jobsite Communication, Alexis Saborio

All Theses

This paper gives an overview of a study conducted with US construction practitioners and Hispanic construction workers to develop Mexican and Central American construction Spanish phrases. Many companies face the challenge of a language barrier between the English construction supervisors and the Spanish-- speaking speaking Hispanic workers. This language gap is creating poor expectations among different sectors in the construction industry. Over the past several years as the number of Hispanic construction w orkers have increased in the United States so has the language barrier. The majority of the Hispanic construction workforce comes from Mexico and Central America. US construction …

Analysis Of The Relationship Between Ieq And Energy Consumption In Uae University Building: Impact Of Thermal And Lighting Comfort On Energy Usage, Salama Abdulla Al Ghaithi

Theses

The Indoor Environment Quality (IEQ) of buildings becomes increasingly critical as people spend more than 90% of their time inside buildings based on the National Human Activity Pattern Survey (NHAPS) (Klepeis et al., 2001). The quality of the indoor environment in a building has been shown to have a significant impact on users' productivity and energy consumption. Further, if tenants are working in a comfortable indoor environment, absenteeism rates and incidental expenses, such as medical expenses, will be reduced. For instance, a comfortable workplace increases productivity by 10-15% and reduces absenteeism by 2.5% (Leyten & Boerstra, 2003). According to the …

Roadmap For Port Preparation Of Alternative Fuel Bunkering In Support Of Shipping Decarbonization, Mohamed Khalid Yusuf Hasan Sater

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Memory And Resistance, Cami Quinteros

Masters Theses

The centuries-old neocolonial relationship between the United States and Latin America is marked by acts of silencing, either directly in the hands of U.S. foreign affairs organizations or by proxy governments economically supported by the United States. These attempts to de-memorialize the atrocities of the past consolidate the power dynamic between the inheritors of colonial rule, and those who were colonized. U.S. interventionist policies––borne of corporate interests, the safeguarding of capitalism, and a skewed sense of national security––have created mass and enduring violence in Latin America, resulting in waves of migration north, where the journeys of the displaced are often …

Building Information Modeling (Bim) And Building Energy Modeling (Bem): Assessment Of Bim-Bem Workflows And Energy Simulation Tools, Mahsa Farid Mohajer

Doctoral Dissertations

Interoperability and Integration of the Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Building Energy Modeling (BEM) tools are major challenges for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry. The goals of this dissertation were to (i) investigate various BEM tools to evaluate their workflow and integration with BIM and (ii) assess BEM tools’ accuracy in predicting/simulating whole building energy performance from a broader lens to a more specific one (i.e., EUI to end-use data, respectively). To conduct the research study, case study buildings were selected from various categories, representing different building types (i.e., academic, administrative, and recreational). The case study buildings were …

Understanding Unsteady Corner Separation Within Wing-Body Junction Flows, Paul G. Winner

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Wing-body junction flows, formed at the interface between a wing and fuselage surface, are a complex, coupled, three-dimensional, turbulent flow field. This thesis focused on the unsteady corner separation that develops at the trailing edge of this wing-body junction under certain conditions. A NACA 0015 wing mounted on a flat plate at an angle of attack of 13°was used as the model junction flow field. The wing had an aspect ratio of 8 with a linear washout twist of 15°. The Reynolds number based on the wing chord was Re_c = 4.5 × 10⁵. Time-dependent stereoscopic particle …

The Importance Of Street Lighting: A Study In San Luis Obispo, Kaitlyn P. Lam

City and Regional Planning

The purpose of this report is to shed light on the importance of resident and student safety in the City of San Luis Obispo. The report goes over exact locations of frequently used areas in the City of SLO that lack street lighting. By spreading awareness, studying different lighting types, and getting citizen input, it helps to plan out a method of bettering San Luis Obispo’s streets. The report presents information on efficient and cost-effective lighting in order to integrate them into a location specific proposal that the city could utilize. By the end of the report, readers will be …