Architecture Commons^™

The New Urban Artifact, Ricardo Rodriguez Huerta

Architecture Thesis Prep

This is a study of the architectural and historical construct of the Urban Artifact. For the purposes of this exploration, an Urban Artifact is to be understood as the physical manifestation of the city and its collective memory. It is the product of the history and character of its place and the embodiment of an idea of its type and the memory of its lineage. In contrast to the fixed intention and permanence of a monument, an Urban Artifact has its own autonomy and value gained over time until it ultimately becomes also identified as a monument. These concepts, defined …

Atmospheres And Bureaucracy: Challenging Everyday Perception And Regulation Of Public Space, Philip Claghorn

Architecture Senior Theses

It is common for us to overlook the everyday elements encountered in the city such as public Wi-Fi beacons, aestheticized benches, bike-sharing stations, and other items which have colonized street-scapes. In reality, these components are cosigned by business investment districts, private businesses, and city governments who stand to profit by maintaining control of public space. This struggle between formal and informal urbanism has been played out globally. The best example of informal urban contention can be found in street vending policy. An increasingly congested sidewalk, in conjunction with convoluted policies in places such as New York City, has made street …

Open Spaces, Open Hearts

SIGNED: The Magazine of The Hong Kong Design Institute

Public space in the city provides exercise and discovery, a chance to commune with nature and neighbours. Landscape architects are addressing human needs in their designs, lifting citizens' spirits with their clever eye for sustainability, smart technology and authenticity

Fences: Physical And Socio-Cultural Boundaries, Vanessa Baehr

Senior Projects Fall 2018

Fences, walls, and lines exist around the world, across many cultures, and are generally universally understood symbols of defense, inclusion, and exclusion. Barriers are created intentionally and their purposes vary. Fences can act as a tension or relief between public and private spaces. Physical barriers can been seen as metaphors for social dynamics and relations; boundaries can be reflections of both our internal and external landscapes. Incorporates fences / walls from a number of perspectives; historical, anthropological, archaeological, and cultural. Inspired by a reflexive moment in moving to a new town, buying a house, having a garden, and wanting a …

Reinvigorating Urban Under Space:Towards A New Type Of Public Landscape, Yujia Wang, Gandong Cai

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

The proposition of this paper is to examine the agency of landscape in subverting, energizing and reinvigorating a specific kind of deserted space in cities - Urban Under Space. The term Urban UnderSpace refers to residual infrastructural spaces, such as under-bridge space, abandoned subway stations, air raid shelters, etc. The wide availability and continued generation of Urban Under Space in cities that were investigated in North America and Asia reflect a problem in modern planning. But it also provides an opportunity of positioning these piecesas a network of new urban landscapes that can offer a unique and attractive public space …

Revitalization Of New Dinamo Factory Through The Urban Agriculture, Françeska Delia, Ariana Neprvishta

UBT International Conference

The country's industrialization recognized its peak during the '60s and' 70s. Industrial constructions served as catalysts for the construction of several new housing blocks in Tirana. Around these industrial areas were built dedicated dwellings mainly for the workers' families. After the total abandonment of these structures, the industry was no longer the main revenue generator in the country, so Albanians turned to private activities.

For seven to eight years, we have turned attention to these factors from these areas and abandoned structures. The first is the private factor, which has begun to reuse some of the areas in these areas. …

Building Community : Network Within Grey Space, Lingfei Liu

Masters Theses

Buildings constitute the city, but at the same time isolate people from the action of the city by delimiting the activities within. Considering the relationship between buildings and public urban areas, is there a missing characteristic which could blur the boundary and create a smooth transition, a grey space gradually mediating between the outside and the inside, exterior and interior? Perhaps a type of connection within the city which contains more flexibility and accessibility would reduce the isolation of people from the activities of their own cities.

Isolation of this type exists on the urban scale, but also affects institutions …

Look Up, City Skygazers, Yiyang Qian

Masters Theses

This is a research-design project looking for tools to rebuild the lost connection between city dwellers and the cosmos through visual effects, spatial experience and materials implemented in public spaces in a modern city. Disturbed by high-rises and their neon lights at night, New York citizens tend to look around instead of looking up. The sky has become unfamiliar to most people. Without seeing the same vastness above us, people forgot how small we are compared to the universe, as well as how much we resemble each other. This project started with a wish that everyone could remember our commonalities, …

A Simulation-Assisted Workflow For Outdoor Thermal Comfort Design In Downtown Syracuse, Pouya Zhand

Architecture Senior Theses

Cities are not just about the buildings and skylines. Cities are also about the space be­tween buildings (the ground in figure-ground). More importantly and fundamentally cities are about people and the life that happens between buildings. Simulation tools can inform the design of attractive public spaces by pro­viding insight about the environmental conditions.

Reconnect: Amplifying Circulation Typologies To Radically Rethink Urban-Aqueous Relationships, Tiffany Pau

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis proposes a radical rethinking of city-water relationships to leverage existing infrastructural and architectural divides; because it holds great architectural and social value to work within and challenge existing systems, and because access to the waterfront– for sustenance, transportation, commercial, or leisure purposes– is a core human need. The project questions what happens when connections are scaled extra-large, yet aim to maintain the qualities that are imbued within them at the micro scale to generate increased public activity at the water’s edge. It looks to create a new type of urbanism, one that prioritizes the very act of circulation …

Ritual Place, Dabota Wilcox

Architecture Senior Theses

What is a ritual? Its connotations are rooted in the vocabulary of religion, but essentially a ritual is a repeated or singularly significant act meant to instill a deeper meaning or reinforce a belief. Beliefs are supported through the practice of rituals. Rituals are special because they facilitate experiences that separate us from the mundane. They serve to pull its participants to recognize and participate in something of worth. But what would it mean to imagine the new ritual? If for a moment this distinction were expanded there are countless moments, activities, or seemingly insignificant acts that could be considered …

The Public Sky-Spacer, Piotr Jankowski

Architecture Thesis Prep

We have reached an era where architecture has to prepare for the alarming changes affecting our modern society. Predicted urbanization will lead to cities becoming denser and taller to facilitate the needs of housing and workspace for the growing world population. High costs of rent and scarcity of real state land in city centers will force developers to build skyscrapers. Taking into account the impact of larger populations, skyscrapers will have to offer more efficient spaces and follow strict environmental regulations while contributing to the production of energy and necessary resources. Focus on human comfort and sustainability will play an …

Charon's Passage: The Journey To Nimiety, Nicholas Kronauer

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis aims to reconsider the possibility and potential of the mausoleum as an architectural contradiction by reconceptualizing the mausoleum as a typology for public space, thus inverting the traditional objective of introspection and the object-form, interior-exterior dialectic of funerary architecture. By engaging the mausoleum with 21st-century urbanization, traditional notions of permanence, meaning, and tectonics can be renegotiated through the juxtaposition of a foreign object that activated by the appropriation and integration of a social program. Through this thesis, the mausoleum is no longer a place for reflection or solidarity but will operate as a stage set to frame and …

Excess Capacity: Shared Space Possibilities In An E-Commercial Suburbia, Christina Lulich

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Identity And Urban Design: The Path To Meaningfulness In The City Of Concepción., Laura Yazmin Rodriguez

Focus

In her research leading to this article, Laura Rodriguez studied the urban design and place making qualities of the University of Concepción campus in Chile. Based on interviews with a select group of experts and field observations, the results indicate that the campus' strong meaning within the city image is partly due to its original conception as an overall consistent project and as part of the city grid and life.

'Public' Prayer Rooms Of Contemporary Bangkok, Winyu Ardrugsa

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

This paper investigates the exclusivity of Muslim prayer rooms found distributed throughout urban Bangkok. Although the prayer room can hardly be considered domestic, its existence is not really'public' either. Increasingly, this little worship space is accommodated in some public facilities owned by state organizations and private corporations. In this paper the prayer room is examined in three interrelated scales: the geographical network, the placement of the room within a facility and the interior. The examination reveals inscribed body-place relationships which are conceived specifically to different projected images of each place and different social categorizations of Muslim users.

Sustaining Urban Spatial Network Of Historical Communities Through The Reuse Of Temple Grounds And Social Space - A Case Study Of Rattanakosin, Bangkok, Khaisri Paksukcharern

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

Old communities in Rattanakosin, a historical center of Bangkok, have been the model of a vibrant mix-use urban area where residences, temples, schools and local retailers are clustered in close proximity.The Rattanakosin area has distinctive spatial characteristics hardly found in other areas of Bangkok; small urban blocks, a dense grid network for pedestrian only, and a large number of Buddhist temples well integrated within communities. The mapping of space usage reveals how local inhabitants, as well as tourists, interact within a series of public open spaces. How this interaction differs at various times and activities are in fact spatially related. …

Traditional Aspect And Community Socialization Through Public Urban Space- Study Case Peja, Vlora Aliu, Binak Beqaj

UBT International Conference

It’s to be considered as an important issue, the issue of public space identification and social relationships of the community with them. It’s the fact that social aspect of the people living in urban areas is considered as main aspect identified with: •Inclusiveness and equity for different community categories •Sustainable integration of urban development and •Tradition Considering this, the aim is to insist on development of those public spaces and definition of their role on social, societal and traditional aspect for the community. Knowing that Peja as important urban area in Kosova, as city under modern development, is in the …

City Of Felt And Concrete: Negotiating Cultural Hybridity In Mongolia's Capital Of Ulaanbaatar, Joshua Hagen, Alexander Diener

Joshua Hagen

Capital cities play an integral role in the construction of national identity. This is particularly true when the capital is the country's only major urban center. Over the course of its history, Mongolia's capital of Ulaanbaatar has been periodically reshaped to reflect competing trajectories of national culture. This article examines the evolving symbolism of architecture, urban design, and public space in Ulaanbaatar as a means of exploring Mongolia's complex negotiation between its traditional culture (mobile pastoralism and Shamanism/Buddhism), its socialist legacy, and globalization. Amidst the rampant social change of the last two decades, rather ambiguous national narratives have emerged in …

Situating Urban Moving Images: Illuminating Place, Annie Dell'aria

Graduate Student Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of Perspective: The Production Of Transitoriness In 21st Century Public Space, Kenny Kim

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis considers the specific relationship between representation of cities and its capacity to promote and construct cities. In the last century, there has been a shift of theorizing in the position of the human eye to organize the new systems of the contemporary city. It has moved away from using these tools to imagine and polemically argue for or against the city.

Charon's Passage: A Pyramid For The 21st Century, Maximilian Kronauer

Architecture Senior Theses

Charon’s Passage is the product of nimiety1: a pyramid for the 21st century. By engaging the mausoleum within the context of global urbanization and global consumption, notions of permanence and object-form relationships are challenged and renegotiated through the introduction of foreign agents and spatial products. Ultimately, the agency of the project is facilitated by overlapping autonomies that assume the scale, density, and power structures of a city-state as exhibited by the casino-resort while reinforcing the sacredness of the mausoleum’s objective formal agenda.

Syllabus: Public Space Design Plus: Integrating Sustainable Design Through Exploration And Research, Carolina Aragon

Sustainability Education Resources

This studio focuses on the integration of sustainable technologies into the design of a public space on campus. We will explore this integration at various scales: the human scale, the site scale, and the campus scale ––while covering subjects like materiality, people’s behavior, and innovative sustainable solutions for landscape applications. The work of the studio will be a combination of creative exploration and research supporting this exploration. The methodology will include experiential learning ––learning by doing, research through direct observation, and research using library resources. Through research and use of library databases, students will gain a broader perspective of the …

Spatializing The Corridor, Mengru Li

Architecture Thesis Prep

The goal of this thesis project is to develop a model for a public corridor that would serve as the basis for the future development in the planning of a new district.

The Reclamation Of Public Parks: An Analysis Of Environmental Justice In Los Angeles, Allison Rigby

Scripps Senior Theses

People who live in cities are far more likely to suffer the physical and psychological effects of urban environments--high noise levels, automobile emissions, toxic industrial waste, crowded living conditions, and a general scarcity of open space. Combating these issues, public parks do more than provide recreational space. They are fundamental to any efforts focusing on urban revitalization, social justice, and sustainability. In downtown Los Angeles, public parks are rare, especially in low-income communities. Several new public parks have reclaimed abandoned land, unwelcoming spaces, and the City’s brownfields. After years of intense private use and neglect, spent land has been reinvigorated …

Connecting Cayucos: Visions And Actions For Public Space, Spring 2014, Crp 553 Project Planning Lab

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

This document expands upon the principles set forth in the County of San Luis Obispo’s Estero Plan (2009) in the context of public space and develops site-specific recommendations to support future implementation of public space plans for Cayucos, California. This plan includes an existing conditions analysis, general goals and principles, site-specific visions and actions, as well as supporting conceptual diagrams. The main purpose of this plan is to reflect the community’s desire to preserve, protect, and enhance the public spaces of Cayucos.

Is The Public Invited? Design, Management And Use Of Privately Owned Public Spaces In New York City, Te-Sheng Huang

Dissertations

Researchers in urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture and sociology often criticize the increasing privatization of public space in the US for limiting the diversity of uses and users. Privately owned public spaces in New York City have received this critique. However, careful empirical research, with onsite observations of specific spaces and interviews with building managers, architects and city officials, is still largely lacking. Nor have researchers systematically investigated the full range of design features and management regulations and practices that do, or do not, serve to exclude certain kinds of activities and occupants. This study does precisely that as …

Espacios Sucre: Interdisciplinary Program To Develop A System Of Small- And Medium-Scale Interventions In Public Spaces, Daniel Belandria, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

With the accelerated growth of most Venezuelan cities, many of them show precarious settlements where residents seek to resolve their housing needs while services, facilities, and public spaces in particular hove been neglected. This is the case in Caracas and within the Municipality of Sucre, the second largest in size and population of the whole country. In this context. the Espacios Sucre Program, an interdisciplinary initiative with the main purpose of building networks of public space in both small and medium scales, not only works to confront the deficit but also to relate the contrasting areas of the Municipality and …

Art, Public Spaces And Private Property Along The Streets In New Orleans, Renia Ehrenfeucht

Renia Ehrenfeucht

In this article, I investigate how and why a street art controversy that emerged in post- Katrina New Orleans was transformed from a dispute over property transgressions to a broader struggle over the meanings of art amidst the city’s devastated condition. The controversy began when a street art initiative by the New Orleans artist Rex Dingler invoked a backlash of anti-graffiti activism. In response, local artists began painting on the walls. When the locals were joined by artists from different cities, the discussion intensified about the merits of street art as well as commentary on and reflection of a city …

Revitalizing Waterfront: The Sinking City, Clifford Shih

Architecture Senior Theses

The existing waterfront condition presents a separation between the water and urban. I propose this separation between the water and urban is an interacted space of urban and water. Waterfront constructed in this way protects the city from floating, yet a solution of creating a public space, ports, and water filtration facility will blend the separated condition. Thus, architecture exemplifies a vehicle to constitute physical and visual connection for dichotomy edge created by the waterfront in a rapid stratified urbanization and industrialization.