Other Architecture Commons^™

Country Tech: The Adaptive Reuse Of A Former Theatre In The Catskill Mountains, Isimamwen Imarhiagbe, Calvin O. Walters Jr., Cheriyah Wilmot

Publications and Research

Our research centers on the birth, life, abandonment, and a proposed adaptive reuse of an early 20th-century former social hall theatre in Shandaken, a former company town for manufacturing furniture, within the Catskill Mountains. Adaptive reuse involves renovating a building or space by repurposing the existing structure and inserting a contemporary design/function. The building housed a variety of purposes throughout its lifetime: a theater, social hall, bowling alley, artist studios, and residential apartments. Our proposal is to return the building to its original purpose as a social hall, performance space, and a flex space for year-round use for art exhibits, …

Exploring Methods Of Adaptive Reuse As A Means Of Reviving Abandoned Spaces, Joshua Davids

Honors Projects

This interdisciplinary project explores cases of building abandonment as well as adaptive reuse projects. Building abandonment is analyzed for its causes and influences, with adaptive reuse also discussed as a means to revitalize these abandoned spaces. The end of the project includes a small-scale design concept for the renovation of unused spaces in Bowling Green State University's Founders Hall.

A Stereotomic Struggle, Jim Roche

Articles

Stone in architecture has “territorial and political implications” as its use and designation impact the human rights of the indigenous population. The craft of stereotomy is not just bequeathed from the Crusaders or more recent imperial colonists but has a diverse blended history that is deeply ingrained in Palestinian built culture. Such theses inform the experimental work of Elial and Yusef Anastas, two brother architects who operate from Bethlehem what they term a counter hegemonic practice with the stated aim of “decolonising architecture”.

Da Ste Zhivi I Zdravi: May You Be Alive And Well An Exploration Into Play, Ruination, And Preservation, Levana Elena Rashba

Senior Projects Spring 2023

My thesis explores unconventional architectural representation and themes through the lens of memory and play. I am drawn to the everyday, less heroic moments of architecture and to the celebration of lived life. I use the thematic structure of play throughout my project as a way to approach a site and rethink its space, history, and meaning. The surface is the site with which I am operating, inspired by motifs of weathering, pastiche, palimpsest, and collage to illustrate fractured memory and layered histories. These approaches manifest in a memory map informed by two walks I took this February with my …

Genius Loci: Capturing The Distinctive Roman Spirit Through Pochoir, Carlee Mcguire

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

This capstone explores the concept of genius loci through photographic and artistic exploration and does so through a lens of study set on Rome, Italy. The first major goal of the process has been to discover the elements, moments, physical textures, and other design elements that comprise the genius loci of a city or space. The second goal has been to partake in a process that can be used by myself and other designers in efforts to make more conscious design decisions — gaining a better understanding of ‘sense of place’ can assist designers in straying from globalized, placeless design.

The Adobe Frontier, Christopher J. Gauthier

Theses and Dissertations

The Adobe Frontier is a documentary film about Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello—together known as “Studio Rael San Fratello” —and their work connecting contemporary technology with the legacy of pottery making and adobe architecture in the Southwest United States.

From The Church Of Disco To Waterfront Ruins: An Analysis Of Gay Space, Liam Nolan

Senior Projects Spring 2019

My senior thesis is an analysis of gay space from the late 1970s to 1980s New York, and I’m questioning how themes of private vs. public, accessibility, race, and economic status dictated where one searched for gay self-expression and community in the built environment. In order to understand how queer spaces functioned architecturally and socially, I’ve chosen to research two opposites: The Saint and the west side piers. The former was a private club in New York City from 1980-1988 and was considered to be the “Vatican of Disco” with a planetarium that could hold over a thousand men, two …

Z-Cube: Mobile Living For Feminist Nomads, Zi Ye

Masters Theses

Homes proclaim our social standing and reflect the trend of the times. This project seeks to explore and redefine the relationship between modern homes and modern women who strive for mobile life styles.

Modernism and globalization have brought us a new way of living that could have never been imagined before— our workspace and homes are no longer limited to a specific unit but have extended to the entire globe. The physical changes compelled by modernity have also complemented the changing role of women. Since the beginning of the 20th century, modern women have expanded their lives outside of their …

The Shenzhen Activist Program`, Hyunggyu Kim, Jae Hyun Kim

Architecture Senior Theses

There is a gap between being an architecture student in western countries and working as an architect in underrepresented communities. Architect Teddy Cruz defines the role of an activist architect as "expanded mode of practice", and the task of "deigning the protocols or the interfaces between communities and spaces".

This thesis contends that architecture schools need to continue to embrace the widely-accepted norm of studios studying abroad and working in an international studio. Current study abroad programs tend to skew towards being touristic field trips and there is not a curriculum or programmatic investment in cultivating relationships between the visiting …

Adair, Mary And Dian Whitlock (Fa 882), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

FA Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 882. Paper titled: “Architecture and Culture of Schochoh, Kentucky.” Project includes survey sheets with brief descriptions of various buildings along with a map of the area of Schochoh in Logan County, Kentucky. Sheets include a brief description, the informant’s name, and a photo and/or illustration of the building.

It's Not Easy Being Whole | Reevaluating The Relationship Of Part Whole In Pursuit Of A New High-Rise Vernacular, Josh Bransky

Architecture Senior Theses

Architecture has the power to structure societal relationships. Specifically, architecture's form can bring the balanced relationship between community and individual identity, as exhibited in vernacular single-family homes, to the housing tower. This thesis plans to achieve such a social orchestration through a nuanced understanding of formal part-to-whole relationships, or "differentiated" parts within the whole, exhibited in a 300' housing tower in Seattle, WA.

By carefully balancing the relation, material, scale, and form of each part, this project will achieve this difficult whole (of differentiated parts). Mining this middle ground will produce a housing tower in Seattle, which actively balances the …

Gabe's Reimagined: A Multi-Use Renovation Of An Abandoned Hotel, Alissa Ramburger

Lewis Honors College Capstone Collection

The building, named Gabe’s Tower after owner and public figure Gabe Fiorella, was once an icon of Owensboro. Unfortunately, due to population growth southward and the opening of a rival hotel downtown (The Executive Inn), Gabe’s Tower was unable to remain open. It has since undergone many different ownerships, each of which have struggled to remain profitable. The building has remained vacant for years and therefore has been subjected to becoming a location for crime. This has produced a very negative image for the building and the surrounding area. This negative image drives the purpose of this project. Through the …

Developing Maker Economies In Post-Industrial Cities: Applying Commons Based Peer Production To Mycelium Biomaterials, Grant R. Rocco

Masters Theses

Our current system of research and production is no longer suitable for solving the problems we face today. As climate change threatens our cities and livelihoods, the global economic system preys on the weak. A more responsive, equitable, and resilient system needs to be implemented. Our post industrial cities are both products and victims of the boom-bust economies employed for the last few centuries.
While some communities have survived by converting to retail and services based economies, others have not been so fortunate and have become run-down husks of their former bustling selves. The key to revitalizing these cities is …

Utopia In The Apocalypse: Creating A Framework Of Survival Systems, Bryan E. Toepfer

Masters Theses

As medicines continue to evolve, as well as our tendency to misuse and abuse them, viruses become more and more resilient. While the flu is largely an inconvenience which at its worst may result in a missed day of work, it bears the risk of returning to the days of old when it was a terminal disease. With the imminent risk of resistant super viruses emerging,New York Cityhas taken precautions to prepare for the worst case scenario. If deemed necessaryNew Yorkhas plans to completely quarantine and isolate the city from the world. This provides us with the perfect opportunity to …

Block 271, Reviving An Industrial Artifact, Jared Thomas Pohl

Masters Theses

Vacant industrial sites are scattered throughout our cities all across the country. These sites, these remnants of industry, are occupied by a very interesting category of buildings. They are artifacts from an industrial era that served very unique and specific functions. These service buildings suffered programmatic failure and have lost their vitality. They have entered a form of hibernation, waiting for the post-industrial epoch to wake them up.

The building stock under investigation makes up a large portion of the city’s structures. Identifiable by their heroic scale, clean articulated lines and tendency to be vacant, these service buildings raise arguments …

The C.S. Daniels House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

Historic information and architectural features indicate that the house at 918 12th Street represents several different constructions and remodelings. This report details the architectural evolution and ownership of the house.

Raab House, Susie Van Kirk

Susie Van Kirk Papers

The architectural integrity of the house continues to be impaired by past and on-going alterations. Window and door changes along with major interior reconstruction have altered the house considerably from its original appearance. It is the addition on the southwest corner, however, that is so intrusive as to permanently compromise the house's historic architecture. For this reason, I am recommending denial of the application for historic designation.

Parallel For Providence To Consider, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"They have done it here. The Grand Opera House has nearly been restored and it is now the Deleware State Performing Arts Center. A lively activity center located on the recently opened, pedestrianized Market Street Mall, the Grand is serving as a major focal point in bringing life back to downtown Wilmington."