Architecture Commons^™

Kastra: Architecture And Culture In The Aegean Archipelago, Constantine E. Michaelides

Books and Monographs

Final version of Kastra: Architecture and Culture in the Aegean Archipelago, published Summer 2018. “Kastra: Architecture and Culture in the Aegean Archipelago,” is a sequel to “The Aegean Crucible: Tracing Vernacular Architecture in Post-Byzantine Centuries,” published in 2004. “The Aegean Crucible” focused on the vernacular architecture of the Aegean archipelago, while “Kastra” focuses on the collective fortification, a building type vital to survival in the region, during the thirteenth-to- eighteenth-century period. “Kastra” was also written on the conviction that what we identify today as the vernacular architecture of the Aegean islands emerged from the building of Kastra, the medieval collective …

Wood, Diane (Fa 1155), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 1155. Student folk studies project titled “Folk Art and the Pennsylvania German” which includes survey sheets with a brief description of Pennsylvania German and other folk art collected in Burton, Ohio and Warren County, Kentucky. Sheets may include an item or representation of folk art, brief description, photograph, and origin.

Purpose After Tragedy, Elena Tepavac

Masters Theses

Psychological trauma arises through the experience of conflict, such as war, fire, and terrorism. People exposed carry fragments with them throughout their lifetime. Buildings hold a great significance in the fabric of the cities they inhabit, and can also become vessels for trauma. They carry the gift of keeping memories alive even as they succumb to ruins.

One such building is the RTS- Radio Television of Serbia, located in the center of Belgrade, Serbia. During the Kosovo War of the late 1990’s, NATO saw this media center as a target because of its communication ties to the Yugoslav Armed Forces …

Preventing Lonely Death, Hyun Kyu Lee, Menghan Zhou

Masters Theses

Loneliness is part of a constellation of social, emotional and health outcomes for the elderly which collectively form one of the greatest public health issue worldwide. Various factors, such as losing connections with family and friends, and economic issues contribute to social isolation for the elderly, leading directly into the growing problem of “lonely death.” Lonely death describes the phenomenon of bodies discovered days, weeks, even months after death. It is possible to address this social problem almost entirely via architectural means, working within existing infrastructure of cities.

This thesis proposes a scattered elderly community within selected Boston MBTA Orange …

Architecture As An Adapter : A Revolution In High-Rise Corporate Architecture, Nan Zou

Masters Theses

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change” is the core of Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection theory. This relates not only to biology, but architectural typologies over time.

Office design has gone through many periods of evolution to reflect changes in industry and the workforce: from Ford’s assembly line to office cubicles to the open plan workplace and today’s anti-office. Designers have been mediating between workers and space for better performance for over 100 years -- though none of these anticipated the need for complete flexibility.

Through the development of automated …

Moments Of Rotary Motion : Temporary Use In Vacant Industrial Heritage Architecture, Xuecheng He

Masters Theses

The vacant industrial historic building at 145 Globe Street within the Jewelry District in Providence, Rhode Island is designated one of the ten most endangered historic properties in the city. After surviving many stalled plans for renovation there are no efforts underway to save it, and deterioration from natural elements and vandalism continues. Many Industrial heritage buildings wait in a similar limbo. When there are no definite plans for renewal, often these buildings are left vacant for years without routine maintenance, causing severe damage and posing a threat to public safety. These buildings should be used as a resource in …

Redundancy For Change, Kyuyeon Park

Masters Theses

We live in a world where efficiency is the best quality. A building is the same. We try to maximize the efficiency of the use of space and energy. However, is this design still efficient in the long term? Most modern commercial buildings are designed for a specific program such as residential or school and have little extra space or capacity to maximize the efficiency for now. It makes it hard for the building owners to change the building’s floor plan, programs, and facilities. Buildings should be able to change its program, structures, and mechanical services over time to adjust …

Rising Above Disruption, Paola Alexandra Mondino

Masters Theses

Climate change is real. Given the rising number of natural disasters affecting communities across the globe, this is a universal concern for all. From warming oceans to the decreasing of ice sheets and global sea level rise, we have problems. In the wake of increasingly frequent natural disasters, a community’s identity is abruptly interrupted repeatedly – an identity built upon history and traditions created over time, pulled apart over and over. When dealing with damaged communities post-disruption, another identity must emerge, shaped to incorporate the need for future resilience, while acknowledging the presence of the affected area’s past.

South Florida …

Embody Phenomenal Transparency : The Expanded Application Of "Phenomenal Transparency" In Landscape Architecture, Hongfei Li

Masters Theses

Phenomenal Transparency was first identified from cubism painting and applied to architectural analysis by Colin Rowe and Slutzky in 1963. In terms of the discussion of form, this spatial quality synthesizes and demonstrates complex orders and organizations in a structural way which could be comprehend through experience. From the perspective of modern physics considering the traditional space as timespace continuum, the intentionally ambiguous space creates simultaneous perception and actively mutual relationship between human and time-space which is the essential forum of Phenomenology in current context.

The thesis bridges the theory of “Phenomenal Transparency“, the theory of “Phenomenology” in aspect of …

The Future Of Agriculture In Miami, Siyu Zheng

Masters Theses

Miami is facing an inevitable future in which sea level rise will submerge some of the city and most of the Everglades and agriculture area by 2100.

Phase one investigates the impact on ecosystems surrounding Miami due to climate shift and rising sea level. During this phase, the effect of sea level rise (SLR) on ecosystems in Miami will be analyzed using the existing Land Cover Distribution Map and Land Cover Change Report posted by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Phase two talks about the farming land being taken over by the wetland. However, both wetland and farming …

Life After Dark, Austin Bamford

Masters Theses

Witnessing the movements of the moon, stars, Milky Way and meteors is a fundamental first step in examining our roles in the universe and revealing the material origins of the landscapes we inhabit. It is this cosmic understanding that leads us to steward our environments and identify who we are.

We see the choreography of the stars not only by seeing the celestial bodies with telescopes or the naked eye, but also by experiencing the ways in which ambient light interacts with ground—changing by the minute, season and year. It is the dynamics between source and surface that catches us …

The Present, Ann Motonaga

Masters Theses

My thesis asks how can architecture create spatial experiences that hold us in the present moment? I investigated how good stories that follow a structure of constriction and release as defined by Christopher Booker, and that exists in the Japanese culture that engage the imagination and senses to allow us to return to the present moment. In addition, I looked at other forms of “constriction” such as paper and thread making, and the Buddhist philosophy of menmitsu that emphasized a slow process and being present.

Since the industrial revolution our lives have gotten increasingly more efficient. Because of this time …

Environmental Diversity For Student Residence Life, Jiaying Bai

Masters Theses

Anxlety, stress and difficulties in handling human relationships are the three most serious and common mental health problems among students of the Rhode Island School of Design, according to Shauna Summers, director of RISD Counselling and Psychological Services. As one of the best design schools in the country, RISD admits top applicants. It's common for students who had brilliant grades and performance in high school to find themselves no longer the best among their collea13ues, Moreover, the seemingly constant perfect performance of those around them adds to anxiety and stress. For these students, it is hard to recognize value in …

Future Street, Wushuang Xing

Masters Theses

This book seeks to identify future street typology in the City of Miami for better adaptation to sea-level rise, hurricanes and flooding. Based on the current transportation system, streets in Miami could be improved and be more resilient during natural disasters and be more navigable after disasters have passed. Currently, urban streets in Miami always confront failure during and after hurricanes and flooding. Because of rising sea levels, these problems are going to increase in severity, which could have an even greater impact on people’s daily lives and recovery after disaster. Consequently, improving urban street typology in Miami could have …

Reveal The Aura : Risd Contemplative Atrium, Shuyi Guo

Masters Theses

The built environment affects us on an emotional and psychological level; architecture can be as calming as meditation. Architecturally-induced contemplative states allow inhabitants to experience the benefits of meditation through space. Emotional well-being is essential to personal development and integral to the creative process. The Rhode Island School of Design campus currently offers counseling and psychological services for student and faculty. What is not offered is a space for students and faculty to seek inner peace in a relaxed way. In order to support the RISD community by creating a place for people to promote mental health in a consistent …

Creating Connection In A Digital Society, Mariah Bennett

Masters Theses

The digital revolution has greatly affected the way we engage with each other.1 We choose virtual friends over real life ones as we go through our daily lives.2 According to the 2016 Nielson report, the average American spends four-five hours a day using social media, with teens spending an additional three hours a day.3 This is an average of 28-56 hours a week dedicated to Twitter posts, swiping on Tinder, Snapchatting, checking Facebook, or liking on Instagram, the equivalent to a part time job. According to countless studies, the digital age has made it hard for teens, young adults, and …

Amending The Idle : An Analysis Of Urban Idle Spaces + Third Places, Paige Davidson

Masters Theses

The term Third Places describes a space located outside work and home where individuals can socialize with their friends or those in their community, and talking more about their personal interests and or current news. Amending urban idle spaces into the setting for engineered, social interactions between city dwellers will bring more connection and a new sense of social interaction throughout cities.

What sets third places apart from most public spaces, such as coffee shops or restaurants, is that there is no associated cost. Third places help eliminate the specific demographic inclination based in socioeconomics to the other public spaces …

Understanding Dwelling Beyond The Terrestrial, Sungkyu Yang

Masters Theses

One of the first places humans have lived outside of Earth is the International Space Station. However, the quality of life on the station is dehumanizing because it was designed to be a laboratory, not a dwelling. The condition of the existing space is monotonous and dooms residents to a boring and tedious life. The expression of beauty inherent in human nature is missing. The operation of the ISS as a space environment research laboratory is scheduled to end in 2024. This thesis explores how to utilize the adaptive reuse potential of the International Space Station to better understand human …

Revealing Context & Complexity In Urban Historic Sites, Simin Chu

Masters Theses

Historic sites cannot stand alone. The order, hierarchy and narrative sequence of architecture can only survive when surrounding context exists. Often over time the urban fabric changes, leaving future generations unaware of the historic meaning of a disjointed site. By revealing the historic complexity of architecture as it was originally intended to function, we can develop juxtaposition of new and old orders which make old buildings both imply the original order and adapt to new urban fabric.

For instance, in Providence, Rhode Island you have Cathedral Square, located between Downtown and Upper South Providence, which was almost demolished by the …

Architecture As Water-Human Mediator, Hui Bao

Masters Theses

Humans have developed a working relationship with water and the sea since ancient times. Sea level rise is going to challenge that relationship and change people’s lifestyle forever. To better adapt people physically and psychologically to their new life within or near the sea, it is necessary for the coastal building environment to mediate people’s relationship with the ocean, helping people get more comfortable with water.

The Boston fish pier is an icon of the Boston fishing industry. Climate change and overfishing are causing the decline of this industry and making the pier more and more desolate. Hundreds of years …