Architecture Commons^™

Sinoconn: Merchandising Of Architecture And Rearmament Of Labor, Furui Sun

Architecture Senior Theses

The project is situated in the context of contemporary China, where tremendous production power and a huge labor force have been accumulated through decades of rapid economic growth. In recent years, China's persistent growth has begun to slow, which challenges the administration with an imminent socio-economic crisis and the potential for a massive scale of surplus capital and its consequences. This conflict emerges out of the complementary "inner connection...between the developments of capitalism and urbanization" identified by British-born Marxist scholar David Harvey. Such a problem and its resolution can be seen in France in the mid-19th century right after an …

Facilities Management: How Public Leadership Is Responding To Crisis, Rebecca Jane Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research presents the results of a qualitative and quantitative investigation to understand the challenges of public sector facilities management and maintenance to include the negative impact of deferred maintenance, it’s history, the current industry practices and the potential to reverse the negative impact of the current trend.

History has been known to speak loudly, and with accuracy relative to the expansion of public facilities and the challenge to maintain them. The challenge to keep pace with the growing population and the ever-changing requirements for contemporary designs are felt in every sector of our public facilities. Regardless, we, the public …

Rigs Of Refuge: Spatial Agency And Its Role In Conflict, Brittany Lauren Mcgraw

Masters Theses

Architecture is an inherently political endeavor. As such, designers should carefully consider the spatial dialogue that the built environment creates between those who control spaces and those who use them. In times of crisis, this dialogue often ceases to be an equal exchange, pushing users’ needs aside and exerting authority in the most expedient way possible.

This thesis proposes that amidst settings of conflict, hyper-responsive architectural systems can counteract landscapes of authority by returning spatial agency to users. As the means of providing such a system, oil rigs should be repurposed as a network of deployable crisis response hubs.

Emergency Homes, Denise A. Lee

Architecture Senior Theses

“Designers cannot just stand by and watch as the refugee crisis unfolds,” and although architects and designers can’t save the world, through design, we can alleviate consequences of scarcity. It’s not about creating a structure that will withstand the ends of time or endure the most extreme climate, it’s about how to respond in an emergency with the most geographically intelligent prototype that utilizes the utmost importance of on site materials so the bare minimum of an instruction manual or few key tools to offset distribution obstacles. This thesis is aimed to design for the 99 in disaster relief.

The Ark: Grafting Productive Programs Onto Contemporary Waste-Space, Caryn Brause, Carey Clouse

Caryn Brause

As the intertwined issues of climate change and resource scarcity profoundly alter the shape and scope of urban life, emerging designers must be positioned to respond in meaningful ways. This paper documents a research and design project that foregrounds several key design considerations for the future city: the expanded role of animals, the necessity for communal spaces to share knowledge, tools, and materials, and the waste-spaces that can be appropriated for that purpose. In doing so, it critically considers how we can prepare future design professionals to propose architectural and landscape program types that have yet to be invented, to …

Dead Space, Aimee Michele Hultquist

Architecture Senior Theses

Deadspace might seem like it would refer to a sequestered location, but it is more of an ephemeral idea. The universality of death as a condition of life means that deadspace exists across all cultures and even transcends human creation. Deadspaces can be for no one and for everyone, or they can be open only to particular constituencies. A cemetery may be open to everyone, or it may be accessible only to those who practice a certain faith; it may even be a place so feared that no one is to be there except for the dead. A nuclear contamination …

What Happens In Vegas: Addressing The Freshwater Crisis, Hannah Miller

Architecture Thesis Prep

"The situation in Las Vegas is startling. The population has continued to grow without restraint in almost disregard of the ongoing drought diminishing the Colorado River and the lakes it supplies. The age old saying, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” has made its way into the attitude towards water consumption. There is a careless concern towards the limited supply of fresh water in the Great Basin region. Exploring new ways to provide water for this growing demand will not only help Vegas and the Southwest region of the States, but areas across the globe in similar drought situations …

La Crisis Del Fútbol Argentino, Fernando Carrión Mena

Fernando Carrión Mena

El año 2009 puede marcar un importante hito en el fútbol Argentino. La selección ha perdió con Bolivia y Ecuador con un resultado agregado de 8 a 1. Si Brasil le gana el próximo partido de las eliminatorias, peligra la clasificación automática al mundial de Sudáfrica. Los clubes, en este primer semestre del año, no han tenido resultados relevantes en los torneos internacionales. ¿Qué hay tras estos resultados deportivos? Por otro lado, los torneos nacionales en sus distintas categorías no han podido empezar en las fechas establecidas, debido a problemas económicos que arrastran los clubes. En otras palabras, existe una …

Vivienda Y Crisis, Fernando Carrión Mena

Fernando Carrión Mena

En el año 1900 solo el 10 por ciento de la población residía en las ciudades. Un siglo después y según Naciones Unidas en algún momento del año 2007 se produjo el hecho histórico de que la población urbana supere a la población rural; esto significa que hoy en día hay una supremacía de la población concentrada en las ciudades sobre la que habita en el ámbito rural. Son 3.300 millones las personas que moran en este ámbito y no se descarta que en el año 2030 lleguen a una cantidad superior a los 5.000 millones de habitantes.

A este …

Crisis Y Política Urbana: El Caso De Quito, Fernando Carrión Mena

Fernando Carrión Mena

La nueva forma de organización territorial que adopta el proceso urbano de Quito, se origina en la coyuntura petrolera de los años setenta, cuando el Estado y las fuerzas sociales involucradas logran consolidarse, ello posibilitará al municipio emprender una política urbana concertada a través de sus instrumentos fundamentales: la generación de "capital físico", la realización de planes urbanos y la gestión económico-financiera.

La realidad del municipio desdice la situación teórico-legal que le da sustento, ya que ha sido superado por la magnitud y complejidad de problemas como la crisis urbana, la redefinición de las relaciones entre los poderes central y …