History Commons^™

Visualizing Complexity : A Spatial Analysis Of Decorative Geometric Pattern In The Islamic World, 900-1400 Ad, Tracy Elizabeth Harrison

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores how the use of complex decorative geometric patterns in Islamic architecture spatially relates to advances in the fields of science and philosophy in the Islamic world between the ninth and fourteenth centuries. This project examines hypotheses developed by vario~s scholars on the forces that shaped the use of these patterns (known as the geometric mode) in Islamic architecture. The prevailing assumption that advances in mathematics contributed to the use of the geometric mode is used as a starting point for subsequent analysis.

For this study, two spatial databases were created. One contains over two hundred and twenty …

The Legacy Of Andre Smith, Ginny Seibert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Jules Andre Smith was an architect and an artist with an aspiration to build a retreat where artists could explore and develop new ideas. In the late 1930s, due to the generosity of a benefactor named Mary Louise Curtis Bok, Smith embarked upon an undertaking that fulfilled his ambition. He created a legacy known first as The Research Studio and later as the Maitland Art Center. The intent of this thesis is to document and journey through Smith's legacy, and answer the following two questions: What is the symbolic meaning behind the imagery? Why design six acres of architecture dominated …

"More Than Shelter": Community, Identity, And Spatial Politics In San Francisco Public Housing, 1938--2000, Amy L. Howard

Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects

During the second half of the twentieth century, scholars and journalists documented the failures of the public housing program in the United States with a range of studies focusing on the Midwest and East. Problems such as displacement, criminal activity, high vacancy rates, racial segregation, and the isolation of tenants informed critiques of federally-subsidized housing for low-income families. These aspects contributed to the national image of "the projects" as high-rise ghettos, populated primarily by African Americans, and located in run-down areas. Public housing with its position at the crossroads of national, state, and local politics and policies as well as …