Landscape Architecture Commons^™

A Functional Escape, Zachary Spero

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Over the past two decades, the tree house has outgrown its more recent traditional role as a child’s place to play and has served many new functions. I intend to conduct research that questions how the tree house has evolved over the last twenty years based upon changes in program, technology, and relation to the tree itself. As a result of this research, I will deliver a clear understanding of tree house design best practices in the form of a manual.

The Social Lot: Reimagining The Future Of Surface Parking Lots In Kansas City, Missouri, Lauren Davis

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Currently, the world is experiencing a resurgence of the urban lifestyle as humanity undergoes its third great wave of human history, the metropolitan tide. Humanity’s advancement in the past few decades has made cities the largest technology possible. In 1952, only thirty percent of the population lived in cities, and by the end of the twenty-first century, eighty-five percent of the world’s population will be urban. With this influx of population in the urban landscape, it is pertinent now more than ever for cities to redesign the city for the pedestrian.

In the 1950s, there was a predominant reorganization of …

Blazing A Trail For The Future Of Paris, Texas, Ashton Wunsch

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Steam Illusion, Tianhao Xiang

Fall 2019 Confluence: St. Louis and Hinterlands

Nuclear power plants provide 20% of the electricity in the United States. Heat from Uranium and chain reactions turns water into steam to run the generator. Being close to water is an important element to select the site for nuclear power plants. Most of the water elements are concentrated in east of Gateway Mall. This factor combined with the underground nuclear shelter in 22nd Judicial Circuit Court help me determine my site. The inner design is a microcosm of the nuclear cooling tower, the design can provide a warm atmosphere in the winter for visitors but at that same time …

Beyond Coal: Facing Our Landscape Legacy & Seeing Our Renewable Future, Danni Hu

Fall 2019 Confluence: St. Louis and Hinterlands

Beyond Coal is a park design project located at the Gateway Mall in St. Louis. Coal has been an essential source of power generation since the 1800s. Coal is a non-renewable resource and causes environmental pollution in the process of using coal to generate electricity. Since the 21st century, there has been a shift from coal to renewable resources. In Missouri, however, coal still generates more than 70 percent of electricity. Coal ash from power generation is buried underground, threatening soil and groundwater resources. Climate change is further exacerbated by the large amounts of greenhouse gases produced by power generation. …

Forest Evolution, Mengying Li

Fall 2019 Confluence: St. Louis and Hinterlands

The forest we enjoy today is very different from the forest 100 years ago in Missouri. Forests have undergone excessive cutting during the 19th century. After that, US and state governments implemented forest regeneration programs that ensure harvests for the future. Forest can be a renewable resource if we manage it in a sustainable way. The site is separated into three parts, each part applying different strategy: selective cutting and natural regeneration, selective cutting and replanting, clear cutting and replanting. I will plant far more trees than I remove. I use a 20’ by 20’ grid to visualize the density …

Partition & Connection, Lei Liu

Fall 2019 Confluence: St. Louis and Hinterlands

Shipping, the transportation of materials goods, is a worldwide industry that influences everyone’s life. Shipping is part of our lives. We consume large amounts of material goods, but this process also implies a huge transportation process. This is significant because the emission of carbon dioxide from shipping also contributes to climate change. On average each, person in St. Louis is responsible for enough carbon emissions to fill 3 largest size containers, by volume. Additionally, railways and highways divide our cities. These are connectors but also dividers, and I am choosing my location year railroads. My site is also near the …

The Meeting Of Water, Trash, & Us, Xue Ying

Fall 2019 Confluence: St. Louis and Hinterlands

The sewer system is an integral part of an urban context. It separates types of wastewater, while also making our city cleaner and more beautiful. However, these pipes clog and back up, loosening the functional system. As a result, we now face unseen daily accumulations of trash and flooding. Due to the dynamic topography in this old part of the city, the Gateway Mall is a great place to highlight the sewer system and play play with the rules of the old sewer system. Humans have built up thousands of plastic and concrete pipes underground to move the wastewater. In …

Dramatic Play Affordances Of Outdoor Settings For First And Second Grade Children With And Without Disabilities, Nicholas R. Leschofs

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Unstructured play is crucial for children’s development. Dramatic play is play involving a transformation of objects, actions, or self-identity. During dramatic play, children may operate at more advanced cognitive levels than they do in non-dramatic play, thereby furthering their cognitive, social, and emotional skills. Interactions among children with and without disabilities are valuable opportunities to further a children’s development.

This study compared dramatic play behaviors among first and second grade children with and without disabilities to determine which play settings encouraged children to engage in quality dramatic play. Eighty-nine six-to-eight-year-olds were observed during lunch recess daily on an inclusive playground. …

Exploring Park Quality In Urban Setting With Environmental Justice, Alternative Measurements, And Social Interaction, Shuolei Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

With rapid urbanization, urban green resources, such as parks have become important assets for quality of life in urban settings. Parks provide urban residents with both physical and psychological health benefits through various mechanisms such as physical activity and social interaction. Quality is an important non-spatial dimension of urban parks and has started to gain attention among researchers. To better understand park quality in an urban setting, additional knowledge should be explored. This dissertation studies the quality of urban parks from three different perspectives: 1) the equal distribution of park quality resources and its relationship to environmental justice issues, 2) …

Rural Sustainability In The Intermountain West, Mary L. Oliver

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Assessing the sustainability of communities is important for planners and citizens alike. Sustainability plays a central role in forming healthy, successful communities and in planning for responsible growth and development. Most current sustainability evaluations favor urban environments due to their high densities and resulting efficiencies, leaving rural areas labeled “unsustainable” because of their decentralized growth patterns. Characterized as “not urban,” they fall short of urban sustainability benchmarks (Isserman, 2005). The importance of rural sustainability to both small communities and regions leads to the question: how can rural sustainability be characterized and assessed?

This study applies a comparative assessment model to …

Bookscapes: A Study In The Interconnectivity Of Landscape And Narrative Visualization And Communication In Landscape Architecture, Tonya Randall

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The fields of landscape architecture and literacy have the potential to be linked through a simulated environment. Through this connection, opportunity for education arises. This thesis creates and describes a program called Bookscapes, which presents a narrative inside a simulated landscape for the purpose of communicating landscape architecture/urban planning principles.

Bookscapes is a stand-alone computer program designed using theories in education and guidelines for virtual and restorative environments (including Huang’s elements, Kaplan’s Attention Restoration Theory for restorative environments, constructivist theory of situational learning) and the revolving design process in landscape architecture’s communication to clients through 3D modeling.

This thesis first …

Pitching Change: Micro-Community Of Higher Learning, Christopher Chaphe

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Being around sports growing up has given me some experiences that have shaped who I am today. Playing and watching sports is a common activity amongst my friends and family. These events spark engagement and camaraderie between us. The stadium in which these sports are played within are a key component to this engagement. They bring people together to enjoy and root on your favorite teams along side thousands of other fans.

Stadiums today are becoming a remarkable instrument to generate communal spirit besides marketing, recruiting and hosting games for universities. The iconic design of these stadiums has become more …

Analyzation Of Sandpit Lakes In Grand Island, Nebraska, Olena Yarmolyuk, Morgan Davis

Architecture Program: Student Creative Activity

The oxford dictionary defines “dichotomy” as, “noun: a division or contrast between two things that are or are represented as being opposed or entirely different.” In the context of Grand Island, Nebraska, a dichotomy exists in the development of housing. In the 1900s, sand quarrying began along the railroad in Grand Island. When the sand was dredged up from these quarries, the floodplain began to fill in holes over 5 feet deep, creating man-made lakes. As these lakes grew the sand could no longer be quarried, recreation and housing began to develop on their shores. The housing developments, in particular, …

Placekeeping And Equitable Development In The Embudo Valley, Felicity Fonseca

Public Administration ETDs

Embudo Valley Library is planning to build a permanent stage and improve their grounds to become a public park. In what ways can this project stimulate a creative placemaking community development strategy for Dixon, NM? The research goals are to learn how this project can contribute to revitalization, equity, and creating a cohesive community that retains its historic and cultural essence. The research includes an overview of the community context, a literature review about creative placemaking and community development strategies, and three surveys, the results of which will inform the project. Conclusions are that human centered design and equitable development …

Water, Waste, And Race: Designing For Change On The Shelby County Landfill, Elizabeth Peterson

LSU Master's Theses

Historically, landfills have been viewed through an environmental lens as sites for technical remediation, employing scientific or engineering strategies for testing, mitigation and capping. They are more rarely viewed as cultural landscapes, places with histories of habitation and use, or as potential sites for design. This thesis investigation examines the Shelby County Landfill in Memphis, Tennessee from a cultural landscape perspective, opening up a dialog and opportunity to think about this site and other waste sites in a more layered and culturally rich way.

This research contributes to discussions within the field of landscape architecture that present waste landscapes as …

The Siltcatcher: A Sediment-Capture System For Wetland Creation And Coastal Protection In Western Lake Pontchartrain, Andrew M. Wright

LSU Master's Theses

The West Lake Pontchartrain region faces a number of long-term environmental challenges due to anthropogenic climate disturbance and landscape modification, including sea level rise, increased storm surge risk, shoreline erosion, and wetland degradation. In response, this thesis applies recent research in the fields of landscape architecture and civil engineering to propose a dynamic, natural-systems solution for wetland creation and shoreline protection. The project envisions a series of breakwater-like structures in western Lake Pontchartrain positioned to slow water released from the nearby Bonnet Carré Spillway, causing suspended sediment to settle and create self-building and self-sustaining wetlands capable of keeping pace with …

Thiết Kế Cho Gia Tài Nông Nghiệp: Cho Khu Tôi Ở Nu Ô Linh Đông - Designing For A Living Agricultural Heritage: For My Vietnamese Neighborhood In New Orleans East, Nguyệt Nguyễn

LSU Master's Theses

ABfdSTRACT

Versgggailles in New Orleans East is home to one of the densest populations of Vietnamese outside of Việt Nam. Following the Việt Nam War in 1975, thousands of refugees fled the country and several hundred were resettled in this neighborhood. Over time, community members rooted in a sense of home through tangible and intangible means in the landscape. Elders grow vegetables, herbs and fruit from Việt Nam in yards and vacant lots. Neighbors and and amenities are within walkable distance. The Catholic church is a focal community hub. Language and tradition are practiced at the family and the community …

Give Us Back Our River's Edge: An Analysis Of Man Made Flood Controls Along The Mississippi River, Taylor Jacobsen

LSU Master's Theses

Settlement and engagement along a river’s edge can be seen throughout human history. The direct proximity to a water’s edge has both physical and mental benefits, as well as economic value. However, throughout the last century, cities and their citizens along the Mississippi River have become disconnected from their water’s edge; due to man-made interventions for increased flood control and advancements in the maritime industry. These interventions appeared to be prudent at the time and contributed to many cities' economies to growth, poor planning and placement of these interventions created barriers between citizens and their water’s edge. This thesis analyzes …

A Proposal For The Implementation Of Stormwater Art At Gvsu, Christa Fernando

Honors Projects

Although there are increasing efforts to improve stormwater management on the campuses of Grand Valley State University as an inhabitant of the Great Lakes region, there remains limited visibility and efforts for public awareness and cooperation with ecological restoration initiatives generally. The goal of this project is to describe the opportunity to implement functional art that promotes public awareness of sustainable water management practices. Methods included research into the public art of GVSU and the necessary methodology for future project execution. Various local contacts are also provided as resources for advice, connections, and funding opportunities. In this report, plans and …