Interior Architecture Commons^™

Reclaiming Modern Architecture: An Urban Visual Narrative Of Kuwait City, Yara Hadi

Masters Theses

For a city to be remembered, to be successful, to be desired, a distinct connection has to be made between the city-dweller and the city itself. In 1938 Kuwait transformed from a town that relied on trade into a single resource exporter of oil, fueling a booming modern economy. The influx of the automobile and modern solutions to Western ways of living would forever change the city. In the speed of these developments, critical aspects of city planning such as the pedestrian and the harsh desert climate were overlooked. Kuwait began to lose a connection between the city and its …

Flexible Architecture: Immersive, Interactive, And Responsive Resort Spaces, Skylar Michael Fontana

Hospitality Design Graduate Capstones

Millennials, born between 1980 and 2000, now number over 75 million, eclipsing the current size of the baby boomer generation. Their generational values and cultural endeavors are going to define the built environment throughout the century as the preferences of older generations steadily move out of focus. Las Vegas' resort properties have been built up since their inception on the allure of gambling, but the city as a whole is now seeing a diversifying shift of entertainment and cultural options to respond to new generational preferences. The purpose of this research is to illustrate how Las Vegas resorts can thoughtfully …

Investing In Entertainment: Creating A New Las Vegas Gaming Space Through A Stock Exchange Informed Design, Roger Dey

Hospitality Design Graduate Capstones

Las Vegas is constantly reinventing itself, and this year the whole world has had to reinvent itself. Had this thesis not been developed during a global pandemic, some of its ideas might be considered radical for the hospitality industry. However, given the evidence of the gaming world's ability to rapidly adapt to the ever-changing landscape of gambling and risk-taking in the tourist and hospitality industries, Roger Dey's work reads more as a play book for possible next steps in merging integrated resorts with electronic trading. It promises to reach millennials among other populations not already connected to the entertainment capital …

Esports Entertainment Of The Future: Esports Integration With Different Archetypes, Jerry Jiang

Hospitality Design Graduate Capstones

The video gaming industry has become an innovative aspect in the advancement of technology and the entertainment industry, providing the audiences with an immersive and interactive entertainment experience. Video games are becoming one of the most popular recreational activities in the United States, among a diverse population spanning every age, gender, and ethnicity. Games have evolved over the past five decades, from single standalone games into collaborative and competitive multiplayer games (Banyai et al., 2018). However, games have become much more than a hobby, it has flourished into a professional competitive gaming industry called Esports. Millennial and Gen Z have …

Art And Empathy: Self Discovery In A Dark Forest, Younser Lee

Graduate School of Art Theses

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 40 million people report feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress as the world moves at an increasingly rapid pace and faces unprecedented challenges. However, many ignore these negative thoughts and fail to acknowledge them as a serious issue. My art, which shares my own experiences, creates safe, cathartic places for viewers to think about their own emotional experiences. Crucial to this process is my use of daily objects and the creation of individualized, participatory, and multisensory experiences.

My art relates to daily life and the negative emotions that we experience daily. I …

Head Space: An Exploration Into Design Code, Gaylon Lerch

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis explores the field of medical research for data to support the assertion that today’s coding standards are not performing in a way that fully addresses the needs of occupants of the built environment. This thesis will pull from the fields of psychology, physical medicine, and architecture to establish what current codes are, how they are deficient, and how they can be rectified, improved upon, or added if not already existing. The method used to establish the criteria of basic needs for healthy human function is established through understanding of how light, sound, and overall spatial quality effects the …

Encapsulating Sound, Jackie Soto

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis aims to identify the acoustic anomalies of Cannon Chapel by understanding how its visitants typically occupy the flexible space, the use of materials, and the shape of the spaces, and therefore to accurately resolve those acoustic anomalies, improving the auditory experience of those visitants and advancing architectural acoustic research.

Collage, Perspective, And Space: The Consequences Of The Method Of Mies Van Der Rohe, Daniel Barker

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The method in which architects design space has the capacity to shape the manifestation of the built work. Architect Mies van der Rohe is one of the most noteworthy designers to exhibit this in his method of design: collage. This inquiry investigates the connection between the collages and the architecture of Mies van der Rohe, and how his use of collage defined the language of the architecture he created.

The investigation studied the collages and architecture of Mies van der Rohe through a design process investigation. Collages were made in the same language as Mies and used as a …

Design During A Pandemic: Application Of The Well Building Standard To Historic Engel Stadium, Laurel Getty

Honors Theses

Can buildings prevent the spread of disease through their design? This study argues that by employing the WELL Building Standard to an adaptive reuse project during the COVID-19 pandemic, human health and wellbeing is increased. Research shows that adapting existing buildings to the WELL Building Standard improves air quality, promotes clean contact, and strengthens immune systems (The International WELL Building Institute, 2020). Additionally, adapting existing historic structures maintains cultural significance within the community. This thesis creates a hypothetical adaptive reuse plan for adapting Engel Stadium in Chattanooga, Tennessee into Engel Concourse, a gathering place for students, UTC faculty, and community …

Incu-Bus: A Live-Working Internet Incubator, Muci Yue

Architecture Senior Theses

The framework for this company includes three main components: development, human resource, and finance. In the Finance aspect, it is an Internal circular economy; people Only can use credits for food or all the resources. Development and human resource are taking part in evaluating employee's work, rand and deciding their credits. It is running in the winner take all system. The company only provide living space resources or facility. The Worker: produce internet/mobile-related profitable ideas. The Venture capitalist: provide funding to the company but also discover the potential project for early stage.

Evolving Efficient Floor Plans For Hospital Emergency Rooms, Alex Ramsey

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Genetic Algorithms find wide use in optimization problems across many fields of research, including crowd simulation. This paper proposes that genetic algorithms could be used to create better floor plans for hospital emergency rooms, potentially saving critical time in high risk situations. The genetic algorithm implemented makes use of a hospital-specific crowd simulation to accurately evaluate the effectiveness of produced layouts. The results of combining genetic algorithms with a crowd simulation are promising. Future work may improve upon these results to produce better, more optimal hospital floor plans.

Material Connexion, Henny Shah

Featured Student Work

The project showcases the use of Material Connexion Library Materials for a commercial design project- URBANIO - A Coworking Space, in an innovative way. The purpose of these materials is to elevate their aesthetic value as they are visually appealing along with their sustainable and environmentally friendly characteristics.

Researching Current Data Trends And Amenities To Improve The Community And Wellbeing In Higher Education, Michaela Gensler, Shayla Gardner, Brooke Ward

Undergraduate Research Conference

The interior design students goal was to design a new residence hall and dining facility for the SFASU campus. The design intention was to create functional spaces that allow student collaboration and motivate social interactions, while providing features that enhance student academic success and personal development.

Quantitative and qualitative data was collected by conducting surveys regarding the current housing and dining facilities on campus. Results from the current student’s surveys and from interviews of student/staff members on campus allowed the team to create the most functional plan. Researching current trends and amenities offered at campuses across the country assisted in …

Review Of Flexible Learning Spaces In Education, Emily A. Fisher, Donger Liu, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, and Design

Research has shown that Flexible learning spaces have benefits in educational settings. The space has an impact on teachers' pedagogies and mindsets. In turn, instruction can be more student-centered promoting more interaction and engagement with each other and content. These findings imply that Flexible Learning Spaces can contribute to positive shifts in mindsets for teachers and students, as well as disrupting the dynamics of traditional classroom settings and instruction.

Holy Frit, Michele M. Desmarais

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Holy Frit (2021), directed by Justin Monroe.

Native. A Look Into Interior Design's Impact In Rural Communities., Ashlynn Engelhard

Honors Theses, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Rural America faces a greater set of health challenges than ever before, especially when compared to its metropolitan counterparts. The Association of American Medical Colleges notes these rural disparities resulting from “economic, social, racial, ethnic, geographic, and health workforce factors.” Though somewhat daunting to consider, the AAMC concludes “We need to figure out how to use this data to target resources and interventions to make a meaningful difference in improving the health of rural America.”

Focusing on addressing rural disparities that inhibit communities from positive health and well-being, this projective design research project aims to provide a comprehensive intervention through …

Review Of Nature Experience In Learning, Donger Liu, Emily A. Fisher, Guy Trainin

Research and Evaluation in Education, Technology, and Design

The current review examines the impact of nature experience on student academic performance. The findings suggest that the effect exists in two types of association: (1) green space and school-level academic performance; (2) outdoor educational programs and student school motivation and knowledge. Overall, the researchers predominantly found that students exposed to green space performed better academically in Grades K to 12. Meanwhile, students’ socio-economic status, the proximity of green space, types of vegetation, and subjects could also affect the association. Considering it is not unusual that researchers found SES contributing to the correlational model, future studies ought to control for …

How Green Buildings Effect Both Price And Desire In The Real Estate Housing Market, Bryson Lino

Construction Management

There has been a recent emphasis on green building certification. Unlike other conventional building approaches, green building has emerged as a sustainable way of building in the real estate housing market. As a result of the green building revolution, the real estate developers have been prompted to acknowledge the essence of environmental and social factors on the investment properties’ value. It is through such a paradigm shift that the green building has redefined the real estate business. Given that climate change has emerged as a major global issue, interventions have been made to avert the emission of high levels of …

Archaeology Of The International Space Station, Justin Walsh, Alice Gorman, Wendy Salmond

Art Faculty Data Sets

The explicit goal of the International Space Station Archaeological Project (ISSAP) is to provide an understanding of material culture as a key component of life in space, on par with the research by biomedical and psychological scholars that has been ongoing since the 1960s. We take as our inspiration a phrase first used in the National Academy of Sciences report Human Factors in Long-Duration Spaceflight, which described a crewed spacecraft as “a microsociety in a miniworld” (Lindsley 1972, 23). One of our primary methods is the cataloguing of people and elements of material culture (objects and built spaces) from photographs …

Online Collaboration Exercises Replacing Face-To-Face Student Interaction, Candice Wilcken

UNLV Best Teaching Practices Expo

Despite the default to online learning in 2020, the demand for online learning has increased over the last 3-5 years. This brings to light the acknowledgment that the traditional higher-education model is seriously challenged. With this challenge, curriculum requires integrating multiple means of engagement, interpretation, and articulation to help meet the students’ needs. The key element to meeting these challenges is collaboration, and for students, the best learning can often happen from one another.