Architecture Commons^™

Contemporary Infrastructure For The Sustainable Mid-Sized City, Christian Martinez

Architecture Thesis Prep

Embedded within the Feasibility Assessment of Sustainable Transportation: Syracuse study’s goals is an interest in urban mobility particularly in mid-sized cities in America. Well referenced texts tend to deliberate on issues of urban infrastructure in great urban metropolises. This presumes infrastructure improvements can universally have a positive impact on urban mobility irrespective of city size. But is it possible for the prosperity of cities to be augmented by virtue of investing in policy and infrastructure for sustainable transportation through following megalopolis biased guidebooks? Vishaan Chakrabarti advocates for a more urban America in “A County of Cities”, because of their ability …

As Above, So Below: Tapping Into The Latent Energy Of Abandoned Underground Infrastructure, Alexandra N. Ramirez

Architecture Thesis Prep

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Abandoned underground infrastructure is an example of an untapped surplus in energy that an architect has the opportunity to reappropriate. Tunnels in particular, can be used as systems to heat or cool a network of buildings above ground to create more sustainable urban environments. In addition to greater energy efficiency, the system could also have beneficial social implications within segregated cities by providing fluid connections between divided neighborhoods.

This thesis will establish a framework for repurposing underground infrastructures. The strategy operates under an umbrella of sustainability and urban improvement which are two concepts applicable to sites far beyond the …

Urban Infrastructure Reconnection: Recuperating The Riverfront Of Cincinnati., Ethan William Keller

Masters Theses

Transportation infrastructure has created divides within cities, but as cities continue to grow again, these spaces can be recuperated, utilized, and integrated into the urban fabric to reconnect neighborhoods, engage people in urban culture, and insure long-term viability of cities. Cincinnati is a city that has been divided by convergent highways cutting the riverfront from the downtown and surrounding neighborhoods. These large voids of space must be activated to develop a reconnection that once existed between the city and its riverfront. Connectivity will create an abundance of pedestrian flow which will increase growth and economic opportunities for the city. Infrastructure …

Absorbency In Tidal Resiliency | The Thickened Pier, Shauna Strubinger

Architecture Senior Theses

The inevitable truth of climate change has placed coastal cities at great risk. Past natural disasters in the United States such as Hurricane Sandy and Katrina, displaced many people because these communities’ only protection was their failed infrastructure.1 Although hard and soft infrastructure strategies have addressed the rising sea level, architecture at the building scale creates static surfaces and divisions that are slow to adapt to flooding and leave little to no room for the ambiguity of tidal flooding and storm surge. Though numerous areas are at risk of sea level rise across the globe, the Chesapeake Bay area is …

Innie/Outie | Renegotiating Figure And Structure, Maxwell Rosner

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis contends that in order to sustain its claim to be socially progressive and accessible enterprise, the discipline of architecture must resist the divorce of figure and structure.

Innie/Outie considers Architecture as a simultaneously typological and teleological proposition. Architects exploit typology as a means of classifying, diagramming, and ultimately flattening and iconicizing ideas about Architecture so as to place them within a broader cultural context, thereby making them intellectually accessible to their audiences. By contrast, architects from the advent of Modernism onwards have displayed a critical preoccupation with the discipline’s teleological potential, the creation of form that follows function …

Philep | A Self-Sufficient Pod, Brenna Merola

Architecture Senior Theses

Since 2011 civil war has erupted in Syria causing many Syrians to flee the county. About 9 million people have been internationally displaced causing disruption to the surrounding countries, which have had to create new accommodations. Primary issues have been shortage of basic such as shelter, food and water. Through analysis of disaster situations and refugee conditions, the types of infrastructural systems needed for survival can be better understood. This analysis can determine how to integrate systems into an architectural solution to this global issue: temporary housing pods.

Michael McDaniels, EXO Reaction Housing founder, has created a prototype of a …

Two Lands, One System | Redefining The Border Crossing, Matthew Trulli

Architecture Senior Theses

The Israeli and Palestinian populations each have their own distinct infrastructural system, which operates independently and fails to connect the people in this region. This thesis contends that if a two-state solution is implemented under the guidelines of the 2003 Geneva Accord, new connections can stitch the populations of Israel and Palestine together through a reimagined border system.

These divisive infrastructural networks, which are a result of tense relationships, have also sparked increased violence throughout the region, particularly in Jerusalem. The French Hill, located north of the Old City in Jerusalem, is positioned at a critical point in the infrastructural …

Better Infrastructure Procurement For Public Private Partnerships: An Australian Perspective, Michael Regan, Jim Smith, Peter Love

Michael Regan

Public private partnerships (PPP) are a method for the delivery of social and economic infrastructure services in over 80 countries worldwide. PPPs are a contractual arrangement between public and private entities through which the skills, assets and/or financial resources of both sectors are allocated in such a manner that provides optimal service delivery and good value to society. Central to the operation of public private partnerships is the systematic evaluation of the procurement options available to government, an output specification to encourage private design, risk transfer, construction and operational innovation, the detailed analysis of projects over their operational lifecycle, a …

The Effect Of Community Connectivity On Water And Sanitation Systems In Rural Panama, M.C. Moritz

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The world has yet to realize universal access to water and sanitation. Various academic and professional fields provide frameworks for understanding water and sanitation access, but none directly consider the impact of community connectivity. Community connectivity refers to the infrastructures linking rural communities with urban centers. These infrastructures fall under the broad categories of transportation, energy, and telecommunication. This paper examines 23 rural Panamanian communities and compares connectivity measures with the functionality of the communities’ rural water and sanitation systems (RWSS). Community connectivity was evaluated with the Community Connectivity Analysis Tool (CCAT), while the water and sanitation systems were evaluated …

Impermeable Assemblages: Flooding, Urban Infrastructure, And Stormwater Politics In São Paulo, Brazil, Nate Millington

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

This project analyzes efforts to remake the relationship between water and city in São Paulo, Brazil. Currently experiencing overlapping problems of flooding, scarcity, and pollution, São Paulo illustrates the challenges of managing water in a contemporary mega-city. This dissertation subsequently considers the city’s water management through an approach that borrows from urban political ecology, social studies of science, and post-colonial urban theory. With an epistemological grounding in these literatures, this project analyzes ongoing conversations about water management in São Paulo, and focuses on how water is encountered and engaged with in the landscape by engineers, artists, and activists. This project …