Architecture Commons^™

A Street-Scape Named Remembrance, Michele Chen

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

On May 21, 1996, streetcars rattled through the West End neighborhood for the very last time as #15 Hodiamont line, the only remaining streetcar route in St. Louis, ceased operation. Memory, however, persists and this intervention honors the Hodiamont service by creating an ecologically rich trailhead to the track's new life as a Greenway. Streetcars are celebrated through embedded track lanes, vertical handhold like insect hotels, and transformable furniture along tracks inserted into Gwen B. Giles park. Existing pavement cracks at the intersection of the Greenway and Hodiamont Avenue are seeded with Virginia mountain mint. As the mint spreads the …

Garden Intersection, Kai Smith

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a greenway by Great Rivers Greenway. The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites …

Biodiverse Batway, Graham Mcallister

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

The little brown bat, Myotis Lucifugus, is the focus of this intervention. Not only is this tiny insect-eating bat an intriguing create in its own right, it is also an excellent pollinator and important contributor to the urban ecosystem; its droppings function as a superior fertilizer for plant growth.

A series of bat nesting boxes are placed on the verge between the Hodiamont Tracks and Laurel Street. Oak trees are planted within the paved surface of the inaccessible section of Laurel Street that runs parallel to the tracks forming a shady plaza and an active node. The oaks provide roosting …

Gwen Giles Park Turtle Time Track, Martine Kushner

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

Gwen Giles Park Turtle Time Track

Gwen Giles park, the victim of misguided urban renewal efforts, still contains evidence of its rich ecological history and the significant role it once played in the community. The installation of a mile-long jogging track with distance markers and outdoor fitness equipment takes advantage of the altered topography and the rich bottomland soil; the legacy of a once-thriving prairie ecosystem.

The Catalpa tree, for which the park was previously named, is reintroduced, and a field of Goldenrod on the mounds becomes the catalyst for on-site biodiversity. Central to the proposal is the introduction of …

Cicada Grove, Helen Han

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

The gentle throb of cicada song is an essential element of hot summer nights. The annual performance not only reminds people of a carefree childhood, but also signals a rich ecosystem. The cycle of cicada emergence is emblematic of the natural cycles of growth and decay.

This project proposes a neighborhood hub—an epicenter of cicada habitat and social activities. Located in the heart of the historical West End neighborhood and sited between apartment complexes, parking lots, and a playground, Cicada Grove is both a productive garden, a gathering space, and a place of repose where the song of the cicada …

Birdscape Programming, Rebecca Shen

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a greenway by Great Rivers Greenway.

The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites …

Reproductive Benefits Of Sexual Cannibalism, Tobie Soumekh

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Touch, Heewoong Yang

2019 Spring Shared Sites: Design for Intergenerational Aging

Site: St. Louis

Intergenerational exchanges are becoming more and more important as the society ages. Throughout this studio, I have tried to figure out what are the walls between generations and how to tear down the barriers with architectural languages.

Between two generations, there are a lot of strong stereotypes which make more difficult to interact with each other.

If we just ignore these stereotypes and try to make them interact, it might bring many side effects.

According to research conducted by Taiwan civil organization, they tried to give a particular preparation stage before making two different aging groups meet. …

Situational Assemblage, Mikaela Gatewood

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a Greenway by Great Rivers Greenway.

The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites …

Local Lavendar, Tiffany Zheng

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a greenway by Great Rivers Greenway. The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites …

Greenway Development, Makio Yamamoto

2019 Spring Undergraduate Landscape Architecture Studio

In this landscape-based studio, senior lecturer Jacqueline Margetts led a group of undergraduate architecture students in exploring ecological and public open space networks through the West End neighborhood in the City of St. Louis, focusing along the historic Hodiamont Tracks. The former streetcar line, which remains as a neglected service alley, will be converted to a greenway by Great Rivers Greenway. The studio was sited in the West End neighborhood in part due to its high number of native bee species, a vital component in maintaining biodiverse ecosystems and key indicator of environmental health. Students were charged with transforming sites …

Factors Affecting Marta Ridership: Tod, Non-Pedestrian Access, Or Something Else?, John Luke Derochers

All Theses

Public transit has emerged as a socially acceptable sustainable transportation solution to the urban ills of 21st century cities. Understanding the factors that affect public transit ridership is of great need to transit agencies, planners, and policy makers. The literature suggests two main avenues for improving transit ridership in the US context. One option is to create Transit Oriented Developments (TOD) that mimic historically strong transit land-uses and built environments, including high densities of populations, jobs, and pedestrian friendliness. The other suggests that in the modern American sunbelt cities, populations, jobs, and activity centers are scattered throughout the metro area …

Community Bike Shops As Youth Development Programs: Influences On Mobility & Accessibility Of Youth Participants, Adrienne Warren

All Theses

Lack of mobility in low-moderate income neighborhoods can lead to mobility-based social exclusion and can contribute to a path of generational poverty, diminished quality of life, among other health and socio-economic disadvantages for residents. Community bike shops provide opportunities for youth residents in low-moderate income neighborhoods to learn new mechanical and riding skills through earn-a-bike programs in addition to providing access to a bicycle and facilitate group riding experiences. These new experiences can improve student’s mobility and accessibility and thus help alleviate mobility-based exclusion. A mixed methods case study of two community bike shops, Village Wrench in Greenville, South Carolina …

Decoding The Jolly Green Giant: An Analysis Of Green Gentrification In The Context Of Rails-To-Trails Policy, Lorin R. Carter

Planning Dissertations - Archive

Recent urban public policies and planning initiatives have resulted in increased efforts to improve stewardship of our limited natural resources (sustainability), increase defenses against natural stressors (resiliency), while also seeking to prevent and remedy unequal environmental burdens placed on minority, elderly, and lower-income communities (environmental justice). This research seeks first to evaluate how the intersection of these policies combine to create the urban phenomenon of Green Gentrification, where the intended effect of these actions is to improve environmental characteristics and infrastructure, but they often result in the displacement of original citizens and culture the improvement sought to help (Gould & …

Sunset.Zip Popular Preservation And Learning From Roadside Architecture In Southern California, Ethan Russell-Benoit

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Outside of the spaces we inhabit daily, the car is the frame through which the majority of Americans experience the majority of architecture. Most architecture, especially as viewed from the car window is mere scenography, mere image; but images are democratic, they are compressible, transmissible, infinitely reproducible, and therefore immortal1 . Using film, animations, models, and drawings, Sunset.zip translates the experience of architecture from the car into a highly compressed architectural artifact that preserves popular cultural memory of a place as a constructed image. This project situates itself within multiple disciplinary discourses without preferencing one over another. Sunset.zip is in …

Re* Presenting Dharavi, Anuradha Desai

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The recycling of plastic is a critical informal economy in Dharavi, one of Asia’s largest slums located in the heart of Mumbai. Waste from dumping grounds is manually collected, sorted and prepared by recyclers who transform trash into a commodity to be sold back into the city as a substance with value. As part of top-down efforts to redevelop Dharavi’s valuable land with condominium towers, the Mumbai government has tarnished the industry’s image by labelling it as “polluting,” and has increased the cost of utilities such as electricity in an effort to drive it out of the community. As it …

Situation Comedy, Domestic Situation: The Design Of American Domesticity In Television Comedies, Aaron Guttenplan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In this paper, I examine the design of homes on television sitcoms and their relationship to reality and what viewers recognize as “home.” This is done through referencing sources from the realms of architecture and television/media studies. Additionally, multiple interviews with professionals in the production design industry inform many of the paper’s most important points. This serves as a companion piece to an architectural design thesis, which is a design of a space that combines living and television production programs. The aim of this is to ask how and why television homes are designed the way they are, and what …

Vestigial Vedute: Manipulating Warsaw’S Palimpsest To Reveal Ambiguity, Benedykt Ezlakowski

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The urban core of Warsaw today is a string of autonomous and unambiguous artifacts. Parts of the city were rebuilt after World War II, others built over during communist rule, and some created during times of rapid westernization after the fall of communism. The thesis concerns itself with representing these changes in the urban fabric over time. It aims to question this representation of Warsaw and through the use of layered maps and manipulated historical painting seeks to reveal a simultaneous reading of the city’s past and present states. I argue that this layered, hyperbolized reading is a tool to …

Sustainable Reuse: The Adaptive Reuse Of The Chattanooga Choo Choo Into The Chattanooga Market Using Leed, Ashley Degennaro

Honors Theses

Buildings account for a significant percentage of energy use, material consumption, and waste production. This study argues that a solution for this issue is the adaptive reuse of existing buildings. Research shows that reusing existing buildings for new design projects helps to decrease the amount of energy consumed and waste produced. When adapting historic buildings specifically, the cultural significance within the community is maintained (Department of the Environment and Heritage, 2004). Sustainability has often been seen as more difficult when adapting historic buildings due to the importance of protecting the historical character and design of the building (Polo Lopez & …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.