Interior Architecture Commons^™

Nature As Material, Time As Tool, Chuchu Chen

Masters Theses

No building stands forever. Over time, the natural environment acts upon the outer surface of the building, leading to the failure of materials and the final dissolution of the structure itself, leading to ruin. In order to prevent this or retard its occurrence, we constantly maintain and renew the things we build. Nature seems to stand in opposition to architecture. The passage of time is constantly subtracting from the building. However, what differentiates nature from architecture? This thesis questions whether these two are not opposed, but on a continuous spectrum. Approaching the building as part of the overall environment that …

Manifesto Of Poor Images: Re-Imagine Guggenheim In The Post-Digital Age, Mengning He

Masters Theses

What is the role and value of low-resolution digital images, or "poor images," in a culture dominated by high-resolution and hyper-realistic digital media? This thesis investigates poor images from several perspectives: their technical characteristics, viewer’s experience, creative process, and artistic content.

With low-resolution as the defining characteristic of poor images, these pictures challenge the unceasing longing for ever-higher image resolution. While they seem unstable and untrustworthy, they challenge the obsession with higher resolution, offer an ambiguous visual experience, and provoke nostalgia. Poor images are open to appropriation, allowing users to become editors and co-authors. In the process of image-making, poor …

Interactive Architecture - Intervention Of Virtual Business On Commercial Space, Yihao George Xu

Masters Theses

Traditional mall-based restaurants, such as P.F. Chang’s in the Providence Place Mall, have primarily focused on site-based dining and bar services. However, the food provided by this chain restaurant often lacks depth, and customers seldom learn the story behind the dishes. This thesis explores the integration of mixed reality technology within the physical environment of P.F. Chang’s, an American Chinese restaurant chain with over 300 locations, aiming to transform it into an authentic Shanghai food culture experience. This experience combines virtual and physical stimuli to evoke various periods of Chinese history, providing a unique encounter for customers.

The proposed transformation …

Beyond Burial - Transforming Death: A New Ritual Of Farewell And The Ecological Return Of The Body To Nature, Chang Xie

Masters Theses

Burial and funeral culture have been shaped by human self-awareness and reflect an anthropocentric worldview. The modern funeral industry's multi-billion-dollar enterprise is based on the principle of protecting, sanitizing, and beautifying the corpse to promote the idea of human exceptionalism. However, this practice overlooks the natural process of decay and the potential beauty in returning the body to the earth, with which the body shares the same chemical basis as the earth itself. Modern science has provided Eco-friendly green burial methods, such as soil modification, ice burial, and water burial, making it suitable to contribute to natural ecology using human …

Overlooked Modi Vivendi, Natalia Silva

Masters Theses

Traditional gender roles, performance of heterosexuality, marriage, parenthood, and a large variety of other societal expectations manifest themselves in the domestic realm, both intangibly and spatially. The design of domestic spaces has historically catered towards heteronormative living stereotypes, marginalizing people whose way of living challenges the norm. Even in the present day, designers with non-user clients — developers, investors, real estate firms, etc. — will design with heteronormative households in mind. The rise in feminist and LGBTQ+ rights movements has allowed for non-heteronormative modi vivendi (ways of living) to be more vocally and visibly present in the sociopolitical and cultural …

The Mobile Senior University, Youshurui Li

Masters Theses

With the rapid development of technology, social networking is no longer just a face-to-face connection between people and traditional methods of contact are becoming less and less dominant. During the COVID-19 pandemic, isolation pushed us further apart, but connection through new media has also brought us closer together. Compared with the young, the elderly are generally less familiar with how to use this connection to strengthen each other's social interaction and enjoy the convenience of contact over space. This thesis proposes an architectural approach to bridge this gap and design a mobile university for seniors, focusing on new media and …

From Vault To Platform （Democratizing Museums Through The Lens Of The Metaverse））, Zhaoyang Cui

Masters Theses

The modern history of art viewing moves from private collections to public museums, and the modern museum arises with an intention to encourage a broad range of visitors. However, if we look at the reality of museum access, especially in the digital era, when the methods of attaining knowledge and information have grown ever stronger, it is easy to notice the single-direction circuit of information in the operation of museums from curators to the public, which seems outdated in the times of social media, AI and metaverse. Even if a broad range of visitors enter the museum, the information they …

Glowing Under The Bridge—A Healing Space For Wounded Souls, Ruier Zhao

Masters Theses

The suicide rate among Chinese adolescents is significantly higher than the world average, with academic stress and family relationships being the major causes. This thesis focuses on building a place for Chinese students from upper elementary school to high school, where they can regulate their psychology, relax, and ideally reduce the rate of impulsive suicides.

In Chongqing, the percentage of students who attempt or commit suicide is close to 25%. The proposed site for this place of rest is under the bridge of one of Chongqing’s most crowded monorail stations, which is a semi-abandoned park with a beautiful view of …

Chinese Tea Ceremony Spirit Revival, Hongli Song

Masters Theses

The history of tea dates back to ancient China, almost 5,000 years ago, though at this point tea is well-integrated into the history and civilization of various countries throughout the world. However, China, as the birthplace of the tea ceremony, has lost widespread understanding of the traditions they innovated.

For example, the Sencha method that once flourished in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the whisked tea method in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has already been entirely lost. Today the brewing tea methods passed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are nearly lost. The Chinese traditional tea ceremony is facing …

A.R. Futuristic Scenario In Seun, Yookyung Lee

Masters Theses

Due to social distancing policies during the coronavirus pandemic, people have increasingly turned to digital platforms to fulfill what they previously enjoyed in face-to-face interactions. The high demand for virtual world services, called “metaverses,” has sparked discussions about the possibility of completely replacing the real world, which has raised questions about the role of architects in dealing with physical spaces. However, it is widely believed that digital elements will merge into the real world instead of completely replacing it, which makes augmented reality (AR) a key technology to study in the context of architecture.

In “Learning from Las Vegas,” Robert …

Nurturing Haven: A Safe Place For Single Mothers, Meng Su

Masters Theses

Single mothers may turn to substance use as a coping mechanism due to the overwhelming responsibility of caring for children on their own. Raising children without the support of a partner can be emotionally, physically, and financially demanding, leaving single mothers feeling stressed, anxious, and exhausted. These feelings of burden and pressure can lead to depression, and substance use may sw to maintain their responsibilities and provide the care their children need. This thesis proposes the integration of two typologies: a harm reduction center and a daycare center, with the aim to de-stigmatize single mother substance users and create a …

Adding Subtraction: Wasting Time In Space, Daeun Kim

Masters Theses

Architecture is designed to increase our productivity – think of features like uniform workspaces, straight pathways, or purely functional rooms arranged to optimize tasks. When forced into constant productivity, we gain efficiency, but we end up exhausted and disconnected from one another. We need to design subtraction spaces in our workspaces and everyday life, spaces that accommodate the feelings and dreams of the occupant: spaces where we can wander, wonder, feel, connect, relax, restore, and reset. By challenging the perception that time just moves on and cannot be controlled, people can shift time: they can start, reverse, break, accumulate, prolong, …

Moving Narration: A Journey Through History, Yincheng Zhu

Masters Theses

The Central Pacific, as the first transcontinental railroad, is a remarkable achievement in the history of the United States. However, the story of what happened during its construction, including the struggles of the first generation of immigrants from China who built the tracks, and the resistance of native Americans to cede their lands, is largely forgotten. The California Zephyr, as a long-trip train that currently runs on the Central Pacific tracks, is not only a means of transportation but should also tell the history of survival and resistance embodied by the landscape it moves through and tracks it travels over. …

Intensifying The Experience Of Contemporary Art, Wanjin Feng

Masters Theses

Contemporary Art museums, emphasizing visual experience- es, struggle to accommodate multi-sensory art forms. This thesis introduces a groundbreaking exhibition design mod- el focused on creating immersive, multi-sensory experiences for visitors. The model transitions from a passive observation paradigm to an interactive perception approach, fostering a deeper understanding and emotional connection to art.

Applied to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), the model introduces strategies such as narrative sculptures, interactive drawing spaces, integrated reading within exhibitions, and emotionally-driven spatial design. These strategies aim to make art more accessible, promoting personal connections with artworks.

In conclusion, the proposed model transforms contemporary art …

A Cloud Above, Jiwon Kim

Masters Theses

Even though Manhattan has a lot of green space, it is not sufficient to reduce the urban heat island effect of so much concrete and metal. This thesis proposes a new way to create more green infrastructure in dense urban areas. by utilizing the stack effect through a chimney structure as an air purifier. Additionally, it proposes the widespread use of facades with Heliostats to produce and use solar energy within the structures.

This thesis considers a four-storeyed parking lot that has two entrances on the south and the north. Its walls are merged with those of the adjacent mid-rise …

The People's Food Project, Grace Barrett

Masters Theses

The architectural design of spaces offering food assistance has received little to no attention since food pantries emerged in the 1970s. Non-profit food initiatives are often sited quickly with limited resources, producing inadequate spaces unable to fully support a food insecure community, prioritize the experience of users, and create a sense of belonging. The current spaces limit services to merely food distribution. They do not take advantage of the opportunity to expand socioeconomic capital through the power of shared food experiences: growing, cooking, eating, and learning.

This thesis redefines the traditional food pantry model, responding to explorations in psychological comfort …

Reconcile Liminality, Zefeng Wang

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the concept of liminal space as a metaphor for the current transition to the digital era. We are not fully prepared for what the future holds. Fears and worries surrounding rapid development are amplified by the potential for social problems. However, by examining human development in history, we can gain insight into our current situation and start a discussion about where we are headed. The objective of this proposal is to create a space that eases concerns about the arrival of the new digital age. This is particularly relevant to Japan, which is now at a digital …

A Study Of Dwelling, Julia Mcarthur

Masters Theses

In teasing out natural phenomena in the unbuilt environment, through admiring beauty, and emphasizing the ordinary, meaningful moments can be brought about that can cause you to be more present with yourself and the world we live in. It is important to qualify that these spaces that encompass “ordinary” moments are not intended to be “idealized spaces,” but a domain that reconciles the chaos from the peaceful and the stress from the calm that is ever apparent in our daily lives. My thesis asks: Through critiquing the modernist condition of a prescriptive ideal space, how can we better understand how …

Eviction To Placement: Rethinking The Current Supportive Housing Systems For Hidden Homeless Families, Fang-Min Liou

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on repurposing unoccupied office space into affordable housing systems tailored to meet the unique needs of homeless families. Families with children make up 36 percent of the homeless population overall and children’s homelessness status is almost always “hidden." Architecture and design can play a vital role in addressing social inequity by creating improved living environments for the houseless community through adaptive reuse of underutilized space situated within dense urban areas with the greatest access to resources to support these families, evoke feelings of comfort, security, and hope.

The following thesis accommodates three basic needs of homeless families: …

On The Power Of Attainable Architecture Community Engagement And Interaction Through Architecture: A New Approach To Architectural Exhibitions, Jianing Yang

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the potential of architecture exhibitions as a medium to make architecture more accessible and relevant to the public. Drawing inspiration from an article titled "6 Small Scale Projects with Large Social Impact", it highlights the significance of small-scale architectural interventions that foster social responsibility, public engagement, and sustainability.

The prevalent architectural elitism often overlooks attainable, small-scale architecture, which advocates for a broader appreciation of architecture, including the everyday built environments that shape our communities and everyday lives.

The thesis proposes a new approach to architecture exhibitions emphasizing authentic immersion and engagement. It introduces a unique 1:1 experience …