Architecture Commons^™

Sanctuary Uprising: Spiritual Reclaiming Of A Former Immigration Detention Center Site In Laredo, Texas, Antonio J. Labra Alvarez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis operates at the intersection of

architectural memory, spatial justice, and speculative

futurity. It asks not only how buildings harm, but how

the ground they occupy can be reclaimed — not

erased, but transformed. Rather than demolishing

the evidence of detention, the project proposes a

descent: a subterranean sanctuary that borrows the

geometry of confinement and inverts its intention,

turning surveillance corridors into processional

thresholds, cell dimensions into the measure of

sacred space, and the enforced stillness of detention

into a choreography of ritual and rest.

The site is Webb County Detention Center, Rio

Bravo, Laredo, Texas — a …

Enduring Identity: A Peace And Cultural Center For Palestinians In Exile, Sami M. Hajbi

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Over 110 million people have been forcibly displaced worldwide, confronting architecture with a challenge that extends beyond shelter toward the preservation of cultural continuity, history, and human dignity. This thesis investigates how architecture can function as a living framework for cultural memory rather than a static monument, an active system rather than a filed afterthought.

Palestinians represent one of the longest-standing displaced populations, enduring generations of exile since 1948. Despite fragmentation and loss of homeland, Palestinian identity has persisted through embodied cultural practices: embroidery, music, storytelling, and communal ritual. Cultural memory, this thesis argues, is not preserved through objects alone, …

Rebel Commons: Reimagining Commoning, Connectivity, And Civic Space Through The 2025 Gen-Z Uprisings, Corbin Austin

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In September 2025, Nepal’s Generation Z, those born roughly between 1997 and 2012, mobilized one of the largest horizontally organized youth rebellions in South Asia, using digital platforms to coordinate mass protests against corruption, unemployment, restricted opportunity, and failures of public governance. These grievances are exacerbated by Nepal’s unique geographical conditions, leading to severe physical disconnection due to the country’s extremely mountainous terrain. In tandem with this physical fragmentation, the nation has experienced years of political instability following the 1996 to 2006 civil war. As a result of these factors, young people face limited mobility, deteriorating infrastructure, and weak institutional …

Space For Life Below, Anthony J. Iadevaio

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture is traditionally understood as the design of spaces for people. Buildings, cities, and landscapes are typically evaluated through how humans move through them, occupy them, and experience them. My thesis begins by asking a simple shift in perspective: what happens when architecture is designed not for humans, but for other living beings, specifically aquatic life?

My research focuses on understanding how spatial design principles can be used to create better environments for fish and aquatic ecosystems. Rather than treating aquariums as decorative objects or displays for human enjoyment, I approach them as lived-in spaces where fish are the primary …

Constructing Atmosphere The Use Of Light And Water As The Generators Of Architectural Atmosphere, Victoria A. Cioffi

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

What if the spaces we inhabit are no longer felt, only seen? In contemporary architecture, many buildings are designed for visual impact rather than human experience, often resulting in environments that feel emotionally detached. This thesis asks a central question: have buildings lost their soul? It proposes that atmosphere, understood as the sensory and emotional quality of space, is essential to restoring meaning and connection within architecture.

Drawing from the work of Peter Zumthor, this research explores how architecture can move beyond visual form to engage the body through environmental conditions. The study focuses on light, shadow, and water as …

Designing Through Perception: Testing Spatial Regulation Using Virtual Reality, Denisse Rosa

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

College students across the United States are experiencing high levels of stress, sensory fatigue, and burnout, yet most academic environments are not designed to support mental well-being. Research in biophilic design and environmental psychology shows that warm materials, natural light, and intentionally organized sensory zones can reduce academic stress and create conditions for calm and focus. This thesis explores how neuro-inclusive and biophilic design principles can reshape learning spaces into environments that actively support student wellness. The framework development and virtual reality testing documented here represent the completed phase of this research; formal data collection with human participants constitutes the …

In Search Of Design Process : A Computational Framework For Meaningful Form, Mario A. Vaquiz

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In Search of Design Process : A Computational Framework for Meaningful Form

Imagine walking through your hometown, a place where identity, culture, memory, and collective resilience should be visible within the built environment. As cities continue to develop, new buildings rise from the ground, yet many remain indistinguishable glass boxes. They are efficient and visually neutral, but they fail to reflect the depth of culture, the struggles of communities, or the meaning embedded within place. These buildings fulfill functional requirements, but they often lack intentional expression. They exist, but they do not speak.

In Search of the Design Process begins …

A(Gr)Tecture: Designing An Agricultural Learning Facility To Energize Food Production In The Urban Areas Of Dominica, Kendel Constant

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis aims to explore my interests in improving the agricultural sector/farming within the urban areas of the tropical Caribbean Island of Dominica. The research will examine the issues currently challenging the agricultural sector, including hurricanes, landslides triggered by heavy rainfall, and shifts in temperature, which destroy open-field crops. In addition, other issues, including limited adoption of advanced farming techniques, an aging farmers’ population, and soil erosion, have weakened the agricultural sector in Dominica. My thesis project is to teach farming methods through an Agricultural Learning Facility that can help address these challenges, but focus on the urban areas.

The …

Can Architecture Save The World?, Stella Majewsky

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia has been under ongoing threat from mining. It sits at the border between Georgia and Florida in an area with child poverty rates up to 52 %.Heavy reliant on the timber industry, the region has suffered ecologically through hurricanes, mill closures and various other economic forces. The thesis proposes an architectural intervention in the Stephen Foster State Park in the Okefenokee. The objective is to develop an architecture that will help to protect the swamp; an architecture which invites the visitor to follow a trail into the swamp, to learn about the unique landscape, and …

Built For The Moment: Creating Temporary Hotel Architecture With Prefabrication For Transit-Oriented Development Along Marta Stations, Joshua D. Aicher

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis explores an architectural approach to addressing temporary population increases caused by large sporting events through flexible, prefabricated structures that adapt to varying sites and programmatic needs. The project is situated in the context of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the United States, where host cities face significant pressure to accommodate short-term population surges. Typically, cities invest heavily in roads, transit, and hotels to support these events which are then abandoned or underutilized after events. While cities such as London 2012 Olympic Games and Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games leveraged existing, mature transit networks to absorb this increased demand, …

Placemaking On Peachtree: Breathing Life In To Downtown Atlanta’S Outdoor Environment Through Wellbeing-Centric Design, Rachel Pickert

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Why do outdoor public spaces in Atlanta not prioritize pedestrian well-being by providing comfort, safety, and service to their daily life? The built environment is a key determinant of overall well-being through the opportunity for social interaction, stimulation, safety, comfort, and a sense of belonging. The vehicular-centric design of Downtown Atlanta has resulted in pedestrians seeking comfort away from the ground level using viaducts, subterrain transit, and sky bridges. This historic removal of pedestrians from the streets of Atlanta has resulted in un-activated outdoor public spaces which do not fulfill the basic needs for pedestrian wellbeing. This thesis uses existing …

Cohabitation As Care: A Campus For Intergenerational Living And Experience Of The Elderly And Orphan Children, Rachel Ayers

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

15 Cigarettes per day. Loneliness and social isolation can increase the risk of premature death just as much as smoking 15 cigarettes per day. Research shows loneliness and social isolation can be so serious that for some the only way out is to resort to addictive behaviors. This is becoming a widespread public health concern. Social science research links the risk of social isolation and loneliness to two of our society’s most vulnerable age groups: the elderly and children. Orphans are among the ones who miss out on the opportunity to form these connections. Similarly, retired adults, especially those who …

Reclaiming Civic Space: Designing A Public Space For Political Engagement, Joiya Nguyen

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

According to a 2018 survey of the United States, loneliness has reached generational highs, particularly among those who substitute social media for in-person social relationships — from dating to political engagement. Despite this knowledge, digital interaction continues to displace physical community. The root of this turn to the digital is the lack of adequate public spaces. This project investigates how the built environment can reclaim civic spaces by offering meaningful, in-person alternatives to digital interaction.

Drawing on Henri Lefebvre's Right to the City and Anthony Vidler's writing on occupied spaces, alongside an analysis of historical civic precedents, this research maps …

Found & Forged: Rediscovering What Was Lost & Reshaping What Will Be., Christopher Dennis

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The decline of heavy industry across the American Rust Belt has left behind expansive, fragmented landscapes that are often treated as voids awaiting replacement. This thesis, Found & Forged challenges that assumption by repositioning the former U.S. Steel site in Lorain, Ohio, not as an absence, but as a layered urban condition with embedded cultural and spatial value. Found & Forged proposes a regenerative urban design framework guided by three interdependent pillars: Memory, Reconnection, and Resilience. Rather than erasing the industrial past, the project selectively preserves and reinterprets existing structures and artifacts to construct a living narrative of place. At …

Kattam Choreography- A Facade Of The Virgin Islands, Kiyani J.M. Ottley

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Kattam Choreography reimagines a historic building in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI as a vibrant cultural hub that celebrates dance, memory, and commerce. Rooted in the embodied traditions of the qudrille folk dance, this project explores adaptive reuse as a performtive act—where architecture becomes a living archive of movement and heritage.

The design treats the building’s layered history not as a static artifact, but as a choreographic score. Quadrille’s spatial logic—its symmetry, rhythm, and communal gestures—informs circulation, program, and atmosphere. The building unfolds as a triptych: a dance pavilion, multi-purpose educational spaces, and a gift shop. Each element responds to …

Nurtur-Her, Azizi Ivey

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The Vine City Wellness Campus will transform the abandoned Morris Brown College Student Center—a symbol of the neighborhood's rich HBCU heritage—into a beacon of community health, honoring the past while addressing present health crises. By integrating clinical care, maternal health services, wellness programming, and community gathering spaces within a historic structure supplemented by sensitive new construction, this project will demonstrate how architecture can heal both bodies and communities, addressing generations of health inequity in one of Atlanta's most historically significant yet underserved neighborhoods.

Ile Idasile Aso: Creating Spaces That Promote The Creative Economy In Lagos., Ifeoluwa S. Gandonu

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Ilé Ìdásílẹ̀ Aṣọ directly translates to “House of Cloth Creation”. Yoruba fashion is more than attire; it is a cultural system that encodes identity, resilience, and social belonging through fabric. Every textile from the indigo-dyed adire of Osogbo to the ceremonial aso-oke woven in Abeokuta carries a story of community, heritage, and continuity. These materials serve not merely as garments but as living archives that express the Yoruba worldview through color, pattern, and form. Just as fashion weaves meaning into cloth, architecture can weave culture into space. Both disciplines involve composition, layering, and adaptation, reflecting how societies construct and express …

From Camps To Communities: A Spatial System For Refugee Recovery, Integration, And Independence, Neeya Yahaya

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Global displacement has reached unprecedented levels, with over 114 million people forcibly displaced worldwide (UNHCR, 2024). Although refugee camps are intended as temporary emergency responses, the average duration of displacement has extended to approximately 17 years. During this time, displaced populations are typically housed in rural, border-adjacent settlements with limited access to infrastructure, economic systems, and social services. Designed for short-term survival, these environments often fail to support long-term recovery, resulting in prolonged dependency and continued exposure to instability.

This research defines this condition as temporary permanence: refugees remain in camps for years or decades in environments not designed to …

Piece By Peace: Reimagining Healing Spaces For Us Veterans, Gerdon Chavez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The study of U.S. Veterans mental illness presents a unique opportunity to explore how architecture can respond to the psychological, emotional and economic struggles through spaces that provide solutions beyond conventional institutional healthcare models. Findings suggest that veterans continue to experience complex forms of trauma, including but not limited to, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) and existing clinical spaces are often disconnected, making the reintegration back into society harder. This study will examine how architecture can shift its focus from housing a facility to becoming part of the process by integrating housing, therapeutic spaces and community …

Resurrecting The Romani Presence - Restoring Cultural Memory In Triana Seville, Jesus A. Sanchez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In an era of placeless architecture and fragmented civic identity, this thesis investigates how design can cultivate belonging through cultural and historical meaning. It examines the disjunction between spatial function and symbolic resonance in contemporary civic institutions, proposing a framework for architectural memory — a system of strategies that translate narrative, context, and collective history into spatial experience. Through precedent studies and design research, the project explores how rootedness can be achieved through materiality, sequencing, and light, transforming civic space into a vessel of memory and participation. The design proposal, a Romani Museum in Triana, Seville, situates architecture within …