Interior Architecture Commons^™

Re-Connect, Xin Ren

Masters Theses

We live in an era of contradiction: the order of the external world always stands in an ambiguous relationship to individual autonomy. In this time of high industrialization and fast paced efficiency, the development of technology has not only greatly reduced the distance between space and time, but also causes the over-coupling effect in social division: institutions are formed with a dangerously strong and stable dependence on each other. This excessive reliance on one another weakens their independence and resilience. Meanwhile, in this hyper-connected society, access to instant satisfaction through consumption and fragmented entertainment is the norm. Similar to the …

Lived-In Grassland : Nomadic Architecture In The Nomadic Community Of Mongolia, Linxi Wang

Masters Theses

Traditional modes of living and production on the Mongolian grassland are quietly changing under the impact of modern civilization, and a higher demand for a comfortable life is on the way. Shifts in career and lifestyle have changed expectations Mongolians have for housing, and traditional dwellings have not adapted to these new demands in the modern era. Fortunately, thousands of years of constant transition in nomadic life have prepared Mongolians to adapt to the new mode of survival and living in the process of constructing their residential buildings. The process of improvement of living conditions is bound to mean traditions …

Living And Alive : Homeless Shelter Design, Zixu Wang

Masters Theses

Homelessness is a major social problem in the United States. The number of people who are living without a decent shelter is rising daily throughout the country. The problem of homelessness affects various groups in society, including the elderly, children, youths, and middle-aged adults. Recent studies have shown that the percentage of teens and youths who are experiencing homelessness has reached an alarming rate. The homeless adolescent group is defined as teens aged between 13 and 19 years. This rise in homelessness in this population group demands immediate attention, particularly older teens from 15 to 18 years of age. This …

Re-Occupation : Buildings, Ideology And Decolonization In Northeastern China, Ziyu Wei

Masters Theses

Buildings often survive longer than a single human generation, and many witness significant transitions from generation to generation. When we approach varied eras that have washed over an unchangeable building like tides eroding a bank repeatedly, how can we distinguish the building’s primary identity and judge its fate?

In Northeastern China, a Japanese dormitory survives as a witness of Manchurian colonization, early socialism and the economic recession that caused its abandonment until today. The city also suffers a swiftly aging population and brain drain as the brightest of the youth move away. How can an intervention build dialogue and revive …

Creating A Safe Haven : A Study On Coastal Resilience In A Time Of Climate Change & Sea-Level Rise In The Philippines, Maria Carla Victoria M. Sebastian

Masters Theses

In 2013, Typhoon Haiyan struck the southern part of the Philippines with a five to six meter storm surge; in just three days it took more than 7,360 lives in one city alone, displaced four million citizens, and affected around 16 million Filipinos nationwide. Coastal resiliency in relation to climate change is a particularly urgent issue for city planners and government leaders in an archipelago of 7,641 islands, where 80% of the population dwells in coastal areas. This thesis aims to challenge the existing paradigm of coastal provincial architecture in the Philippines by proposing a more integrated evacuation center that …

Testing Reliability Of Biophilic Design Matrix Within Urban Residential Playrooms, Ellen Marte

Theses and Dissertations

Biophilic interior design in urban playrooms has been greatly understudied. We measured inter-rater reliability of the Biophilic Interior Design Matrix (BID-M) and matrix items by quantitatively coding images of 45 New York City residential playrooms. Findings suggest that the BID-M needs to be modified to better assess urban playrooms.

Brandmaking And Brandscaping Place Making In The Retail Environment, Maripet Contreras

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Shopping malls today are dying due to the demand of online shopping. Rather than going strictly to the digital world. The retail spaces are places where consumers can physically feel the product that online shopping does not have to offer.

The Importance Of Daylighting In Guest Rooms And The Fundamental Flaws Of Hotel Design, Jairo Garcia

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Analysis of the hotel buildings reveals greater than 50% of rooms have inadequate day lighting. This topic is especially important here in Las Vegas because 15 of the 20 largest hotels in the world are located in our city. With a total of about 150,000 hotel rooms. An average of about 31% of all rooms in the strip are in the shadows, and have no exposure to sunlight over the year. Studies reveal that being in rooms facing north or with poor lighting brings negative effects to its inhabitants like depression, increased stress, gives people little energy and buildings spend …

Designing A Non Conventional Philosophy Of Punishment: Rehabilitation And Reintegration Of Young Offenders, Paola Ortiz

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Architecture is one of the few disciplines that sends a silent message to everyone walking into any space. Design is crucial to create specific environments, but when it comes to a prison design, the concept is restricted. Design for prisons, jails, and juvenile corrections are more focused on cost and security, than humanity and hospitality related principles. Access to natural light is a luxury, windows are expensive, and the standardized colors used on their walls are far too depressing.

The Material Light: Exploring The Relationship Between Contained And Container, Oliver Brown

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Many buildings around us use the same ubiquitous boundary materials that fall short in directly influencing the disposition of the space it defines. There are many different opportunities to explore myriad material compositions to present the ambient qualities of space in a manner the puts the constructed boundary to the task to acclimatize the interior it envelopes. This thesis will explore a series of material compositions, with a focus on natural light, and how the articulation of the spatial boundary can bring out the strong qualities of daylight for visually sensitive activities. With this exploration, I will examine ways to …

Dynamic Workplace Design, Eduardo Parra De Nova

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The design of workplaces is often complex because it balances two opposing forces: on the one hand, innovation and creativity often involve teamwork processes and collaboration, occurring in spaces which may then produce higher than normal noise levels. On the other hand, many work processes rely on individual work, which requires quiet spaces needed for concentration. Another complex issues that office design architects must address involves the ever changing nature of workplaces, either as part of short-term evolving daily activities or as part of the longer-term changes organizations have to bring to their managerial style in order to stay competitive …

Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years Of History & Membership, Jessica E. Nantka

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this master’s thesis project is to examine the formidable globalized service organization, Zonta International (ZI), which has impacted women around the world for 100 years. I utilized essential practices in the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State to create this project in association with an exhibit, Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years of History & Membership, presented at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from November 5 – November 23, 2019. The use of digitized images, documents, and artifacts within the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection owned by The Buffalo History Museum, have been …

Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years Of History & Membership, Jessica E. Nantka

Museum Studies Projects

The purpose of this master’s thesis project is to examine the formidable globalized service organization, Zonta International (ZI), which has impacted women around the world for 100 years. I utilized essential practices in the Museum Studies Master of Arts program at SUNY Buffalo State to create this project in association with an exhibit, Zonta International: Unveiling 100 Years of History & Membership, presented at the Karpeles Manuscript Museum from November 5 – November 23, 2019. The use of digitized images, documents, and artifacts within the Howard D. Beach Photography Studio Collection owned by The Buffalo History Museum, have been …

Multi-Sensory Design For People With Visual Impairments, Joshua Levy

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Architectural design commonly focuses on the visual qualities of its manifestation, leaving people with visual impairments aside from its qualitative goals. In order to counteract this phenomenon and appropriately address people with low visual acuity / legal blindness, we must understand the people within this large community as well as current policies focusing on different types of accommodations for spatial practicality. Understanding the people will entail a dive into what a visual impairment is, what it is like, and understanding how people perceive the world as a whole. Then it is necessary to understand current policies that designers have adopted …

The Impact Of Lighting Type On Consumer Behavior In The Purchase Of Healthy Products, Sarah E. Hartmann

Honors College Theses

This project explored how lighting in the produce section of a supermarket can influence a consumer's decision to purchase healthier options. There is research in this field that examines this idea in restaurants, however, this specific area has not been researched. For this study subjects participated in a pre survey, viewed renderings, and took a post survey all at one predetermined time. The estimated time for the completion of this was about 20 minutes, but this time varied between subjects based on how long they spent taking the surveys and viewing the models. The surveys determined correlation between lighting and …

Encapsulating Educational Design For Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Lauren Praeuner

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper is a thesis/creative project hybrid split into two parts. First, it examines different aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), the symptoms experienced by those on the spectrum, and the guidelines that parents, medical professionals, and educators should follow to ensure a holistic approach to the care and education of children with autism. The text also notes some of the considerations that designers should review when designing educational facilities for these individuals, as well as few precedents that successfully do so. The second part of the paper presents my team’s architectural studio project, contributed to by UNL students Lindsay …

Reading Between The Lines: Revealing Interiority, Paramita Atmodiwirjo, Yandi Andri Yatmo

Interiority

Words, texts and narratives have the potential to reveal the complexity of interiority; they can tell stories beyond the physical materiality of space to reveal spatial occupation, address social and cultural issues embedded in space and capture the trajectories of inhabitation over time. This issue of Interiority addresses writing and reading as a form of inquiry towards the idea of interiority being embedded within the represented forms of architecture and interior. The articles in this issue demonstrate various forms of inquiry concerning the idea of interiority through various media of ‘writing,’ then explore how their reading becomes a way of …

Slashed Interiors: Text/Space, Igor Siddiqui

Interiority

This essay explores the relationship between text and space by considering the notion of writing interiors as a form of creative practice. The research focuses on the textual and spatial uses of the punctuation mark slash (/), as evidenced in a range of text-based works by Barbara Kruger, Glenn Ligon, Dom Sylvester Houédard, Anni Albers, and other artists. The first part of the essay surveys the typographic character’s varied uses in written language; the second part considers its role within artwork titles, namely how its presence shapes spatial interpretations of each artwork in question; in the third part, preceding the …

Buildings, Faces, Songs Of Alienation: How Interiority Transforms The Meaning Out There, Peter Marthinus De Kock

Interiority

This paper presents a theoretical framework that explores visual meaning in the design and use of interior space. It is comprised of three main parts. The first outlines the framework and draws on several key theories. The second introduces three very different constructs as case studies that in#uence (or are a product of) spatial quality, namely: buildings, faces, and songs of alienation. The third part is a discussion about how each of these three constructs are linked to each other as well as to the idea of interiority. While architectural forms are containers of meaning, the way in which interior …

Urban Interiority In The Anthropocene, Nerea Feliz Arrizabalaga

Interiority

This paper explores how interior design could amplify the current discourse on sustainability within urban public space. The consideration of a number of contemporary authors that are questioning the traditional notion of interiority situates this paper within an expansive understanding of interiority in the context of the Anthropocene. Interiority is considered as a transferable condition based on modes of interior occupation, that can take place on the outdoors, and is often found in public spaces within dense urban areas. In the face of an upcoming biodiversity crisis, this text advocates for a necessary disciplinary shift away from traditional anthropocentric views, …