Art and Design Commons^™

Intersect- On The Corner Of Princess Anne And William, Madison M. Goff

Theses and Dissertations

After a worldwide pandemic, perspectives towards personal space and private quarters have shifted. Social distancing procedures during COVID-19 altered the use of space, even after vaccinations have been administered. After limits on large gatherings and keeping 6 feet away from each other, what is the expectation that people hold now when in public?

Research will include interviewing the intended user groups (students and travelers), designers who are familiar with hospitality and hostel design, and hospitality professionals. The perspective on private and public space has shifted after the pandemic, so a survey will target hostel age groups that could help understand …

Discovery: A Visual Arts Elementary School, Cindy J. Perdomo

Theses and Dissertations

On average, school-age children spend more time in the classroom environment than they do at home. Why not provide environments that stimulate children’s curiosity to learn through visual arts? Including visual arts in educational programs can enhance students’ cognitive development, problem-solving abilities, cultural awareness, and critical thinking skills.

As someone who has attended various public schools in Florida, I’ve found that incorporating arts education into the curriculum can enhance students’ overall engagement with learning. Unfortunately, many students lack access to arts education due to a lack of funding and resources. Traditionally, the arts have been viewed as an opportunity for …

From Silence To Forte: Developing An Inclusive Space For Persian Musicians To Flourish, Sholeh Salimi

Theses and Dissertations

Music serves as a reflection of culture and conveys various emotional and intellectual states, such as a nation's perspective, social attitudes, and historical background. However, the Iranian revolution in 1979 led to the ban of music by the new regime, limiting the output and audience for Iranian music. In addition, the emergence of Western music accessibility through technology posed challenges for traditional Persian music, and the government's restrictions on music further compounded the problem. To support and advance the preservation and dissemination of Iranian music, this study aims to explore how an interior designer can create a space that enables …

Flourish: Exploring Healing Environments In A Residential Treatment Setting, Emily D. Kalafian

Theses and Dissertations

The following project explores the ways in which our environments promote healing and support recovery through the design of a residential center for eating disorder recovery. The center will serve 8-10 young women as they seek recovery from restrictive forms of eating disorders. The center will accommodate the necessary staff personnel as well as spaces for supporting activities and wraparound services. The project intends to create a place for healing that feels safe, warm, and considers patients’ needs for autonomy, dignity, and a sense of control amidst disorder. This is a place to create meaningful relationships and to participate in …

The Algorithmic Mashrabiya: Reimagining The Traditional Islamic Screen, Ahmed Nour

Theses and Dissertations

Traditionally, a mashrabiya was an ornate wooden structure attached to the side of an Arabian building or house, with small, intricately patterned openings to provide both ventilation and privacy for the people inside. The patterns, following the geometric rules of Islamic ornament, lent a distinctive appearance to buildings in the region. A mashrabiya converted the house into a safe, private sanctuary, providing a magical scene inside, characterized by linear sun rays, filtered points of light and shadow. Over time, as building technology changed and the number of skilled craftsmen dwindled, the traditional mashrabiya has all but vanished. The aim of …

Design Hub: Activating Community By Design, Ed Williams

Theses and Dissertations

MOTIVATION

At the turn of the century, Robert Putnam (2000, 27) wrote “...a powerful tide bore Americans into ever deeper engagement in the life of their communities, but a few decades ago that tide reversed and we were overtaken by a treacherous rip current.” Putnam is describing a loss of “social capital” throughout American society. Research suggests that many of our contemporary issues are the result of a decline in “social capital,” or “community.”

This pervasive lack of community is thought to be detrimental to “educational performance, safe neighborhoods, equitable tax collection, democratic responsiveness, everyday honesty, and even our health …

Hidden Gem: Realizing The Value Of Community In Healthcare Environments, Nicole Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Holistic approaches in healthcare address a problem from its root causes. The American healthcare model – both its treatment and distribution methods – is among the many issues that divides the nation. We have found ourselves with millions of uninsured people among a growing population where chronic illness is on the rise among adults and children, especially within low-income demographics (Goodman & Conway, 2016). Though this is a widespread epidemic, only recently has there been any effort to question and reform traditional healthcare.

The way that wellness is assessed in America has been detrimental to patient outcomes …

Co-Creation: A Study Of Intimacy And Control, Erin Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

Drawing from ongoing revitalization initiatives in Richmond, Virginia, this adaptive reuse project creates a structured dialogue between public and private expression to create a more immersive gallery experience for viewer and practitioner. The gallery experience is twofold; traditional object-based display and nontraditional process-based display. Preservation of the historic fabric of the existing Handcraft building at 1501 Roseneath is integrated with the transformative potential of introducing voyeuristic opportunities in creating a community arts center. Notions of voyeurism will center around ideas of visual connection and physical separation. This project questions if tactics of voyeurism, which inherently create physical barriers, can facilitate …

Water | Desire: Design Of A Responsible Urban Retreat In Georgetown, Washington, Dc, Tanya Zimmerli

Theses and Dissertations

The design of an urban retreat within an industrial building in Georgetown, DC provides an opportunity to experience water in the built environment. The location of the building between two bodies of water—the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River—creates an opportunity to connect water and the visitors. Management of the water to ensure responsible resource use was researched and accommodated in the design. Water is further used to shape the space and the moods created by the volumes, materials and finishes. The final project provides a luxurious shower and locker room, a series of pools, and a tea …

Broad To Marshall Bridge | A City Block Interior That Separates And Connects Place, Emily Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This is a project about an old city block. It once housed confectioners, jewelers, restaurateurs, pharmacists, and retailers in street-level parcels with residents in the apartments above. Now, it is home to a barber, a few restaurateurs, and street vendors. Over 200 years of building and development have shaped what is now the north 100 block of E Broad Street and although most of it still stands, it shows the effects of renovations, time, and neglect. This is also a project about paths. As sidewalks move pedestrians along streets they provide paths to retailers, employers, homes, and places to gather …

Design Invites Stories: A Mental Health Facility, Christina Lee Waters

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis documents the design process for an out-patient mental health facility for veterans of war. Here are some questions that drove my design work. How are stories told in design? How are stories generated from users within a designed space? Can users participate in contributing to a space's design? Many structures create psychological stories through graphics, color, and layout to involve users in their procedures. For example, commercial retailers will setup a story line to promote a more personalized connection with their customers which encourages repeat business, while places of worship also use this narrative strategy to evoke a …

1700 Library: A Public Library In Scott's Addition, Anna Kreyling

Theses and Dissertations

Thesis book documents process of creating design schematics for a proposed public library located in Scott's Addition at 1700 Summit Avenue. The final design uses a series of meandering ramps punctuated by bookshelf stacks in order to create a narrative experience. Specificity and simplicity were two main goals for the project.

Fixed + Flexible: A Mixed-Use Celebration Of Richmond's Creative Culture, Kate Magee

Theses and Dissertations

This mixed-use space was designed to celebrate Richmond, Virginia’s arts and design communities. By creating a contemporary Richmond experience in a historic trolley shed, it is a space to create, relax, and inspire. This dynamic platform will showcase Richmond’s talented new creatives, from painters and sculptors to fashion designers and graphic artists. A central retail space featuring the wares of local designers is adjoined by an exclusive art gallery with exhibitions and live performances that change on a regular basis. The space also includes a sit-down restaurant and a smaller, more casual café, where patrons can dine with friends or …

Museum Design: Art, Wonder & Discovery, Christy Addis-Gutierrez

Theses and Dissertations

Christy Addis-Gutierrez MUSEUM DESIGN: art, wonder & discovery Some art institutions create such an elitist atmosphere that the average person might feel intimidated. But for the artists to be the most effective in expressing their ideas, their feelings, and their point of view, more people need to experience it. If the audience for art is limited to a relatively small group of art lovers, how does that serve the art process? A broader audience could enrich the art that is produced, allowing artists to engage in more daring work. A contemporary art museum that also incorporates spaces for gathering and …

Urban Country Club, Scott Grooms

Theses and Dissertations

The program of the interior spaces of an urban country club is similar to that of an actual country club. The apparent differences between the two entities, independent of the interior, are primarily the location followed by the amenities offered. This club is set in a vastly urban location, where there is no alluring green space to be allocated to outdoor activities. The urban club must rely on social, indoor recreational spaces for its vitality. The urban club will be located in Riverfront Plaza West Tower, with views of the downtown and river, and will attract the urbanites of the …

The Ambassador's Residence At 909 West Franklin, Jonathan Janis

Theses and Dissertations

In redesigning the century old Scott House into a modern Class IV residence of an US Ambassador, his/her family, and staff the concepts of transparency, circulation, and materiality and the ideas of openness and design as a display of national identity are explored.

Nourish, Sara Streeter

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the design of a food service space in an historic building in Richmond, Virginia near the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University. It is a result of retrofitting an awkward 1850s building by transforming it through the modern concept of a fast casual style restaurant, based in whole ingredients. The thesis is about the process of designing to rebalance the relationship between food and consumer in a modern era.

Culture And A Connection, Chris Arias

Theses and Dissertations

Culture and a Connection In the Spanish province of Asturias, many homes built in the16th and 17th centuries are constructed of dry-stacked stone and large timbers for floor joists, rafters, decking. They are topped with large, irregularly shaped roof slates. Alongside many of these homes stands a rectangular granary called a cabazo. The cabazo, similarly constructed, is a stand-alone structure about twenty feet tall, six feet wide and twenty feet long. The main portion, (the storage area), stands ten feet off the ground atop two large, tapered columns. The upper level is typically separated form the lower level by a …

Mods: Collaboration And Play In Design, Margaret O'Saben

Theses and Dissertations

Located in Richmond, Virginia, MO Design is a small design/build company founded by Molly O’Saben. Ms. O’Saben received her bachelor’s degree in Craft & Material Studies and her master’s in Interior Environments from Virginia Commonwealth University. MO Design was founded in 2010 with a team of fellow alumni from VCU.

We make objects that inspire inventiveness. Our reconfigurable components offer our clients the unique ability to adapt their environments to life’s ever-changing needs.

We make MODs: Make your Own Designs.

Our products are for people who appreciate efficient spaces, are open to exploring possibilities, and like to play. Just as …

What Is A Partition?, Lee Dijoseph

Theses and Dissertations

Buildings from the nineteenth century are rich with history and tradition in their materials,design and construction. Over the past few years in Richmond, many of the formerly vacant buildings have been converted into residential “lofts”. These spaces have the potential to teach and serve us in a way we could never duplicate today. The space we live in has the power to determine how well we function. I believe this is one of the keys to happiness. I like to think of these buildings holistically in terms of past, present, and future . I will supplement the space with partitions …

Grace Street Senior Center, Virginia Brockett

Theses and Dissertations

Societal structure has changed through the decades to reflect a contemporary interest in youth culture. The nuclear family, where generations lived under one roof no longer exists, leaving the elderly on the periphery of the family structure. Where once grandparents, parents and children all cohabitated, now the oldest family members are relegated to solitary retirement and aging alone. Studies have shown that "depression in the elderly is more likely to lead to suicide. Elderlywhite men are at greatest risk, with suicide rates in people ages 80 to 84 more than twice that of the general population. The National Institute of …

Rhythm, Grid And Collage: Building A Design Business Incubator, Robert David Smith

Theses and Dissertations

The idea of rhythm as applied to interior space is the basis for this thesis. The site is an old warehouse with a structure that contains a repetitive rhythm in the form of a columnar grid and a corresponding fenestration pattern, yet the building also has an atypical wedge shape. The program is a design business incubator, a place where design business startups, recent graduates of Virginia design programs, can begin their design careers and find their rhythm in a cooperative and supportive environment, a collage of design businesses, if you will. Rhythm is essential in our lives, from the …

Ws 1207 Community Workshops, Katherine M. Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

For my thesis, I have chosen to adapt the abandoned office/warehouse at 1207 North Boulevard for use as a community workshop for all of Richmond's urban neighborhoods. The community workshop's focus will be to provide open workshops, classes, a resource library and design consultation to low and middle income homeowners, affordable housing properties, and community parks. In addition, the center welcomes all of Richmond city residents to join and partake in 1207's resources in order to grow a multi-faceted community focused on improving the lives of all of Richmond City's residents. The center will function as a gathering space for …

Portable Space And Interior Design For Dentists, Yu-Ping Liu

Theses and Dissertations

In the United State today, many people do not have access to adequate dental treatment, while tooth decay is the single most common chronic childhood disease-five times more common than asthma and seven times more common than hay fever. At the same time, studies show that 80% of dental illness takes place in 25% of the population, which is comprised mostly of lower socioeconomic groups. A study undertaken by the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2000, concludes that poor children suffer five times as much tooth decay as their more affluent peers. Furthermore, in poor children with tooth …

The Integration Of Technology Into Home Space In The 2020s, Ying Li

Theses and Dissertations

Research on the current housing status in the United States, and the features of middle-class and high-end houses, revealed that home space consists of five spaces: living, work and study, resting, service and circulation. A meticulous look at the four-century American housing history disclosed that transformations in the five spaces were profoundly impacted by technology. To predict home space in the near future, research on future technology and lifestyle was performed. There will still be five home spaces, with new and improved components. Technology will bring greater comfort and flexibility to the home interior. Two design solutions for middle-class and …