Architecture Commons^™

Chaos And Order, Jie Du

Masters Theses

Water is my natural place to start seeing what exists in nature. Water has different states as it travels in nature from the ocean to the sky, from the sky to the land, and from the land to the ocean. My thesis lives in this cycle: I create in this cycle from the water cycle governs and highlights all nature has to offer.

Water has a variety of forms. It stays in visible and invisible state. It is the matrix for us. We live in nature, but we rarely pay attention to nature. Because it is hard to care about …

Möbius System : A Pseudo-World Made From Pseudo-Science, Xinye Lin

Masters Theses

In somewhere of a giant universe, there is an infinite world called Zero. She is not only a projection of the universe but also an indication of the form of life. As the beginning of all life, the world begins with a tiny cell and by self-division, it grows layer by layer, space by space, the world by world. Eventually, she sets the rules for her own world. ... the whole journey begins with a waterdrop in the space.

Joy Through Layered Tension : Convergent Fire-Escapes Fulfill A New Community, Luca Rivelli

Masters Theses

The initial curiosity of this thesis was the exploration of the unquantifiable aspects of architecture. How can the emotional experience of one’s design process be manifested into something that physically embodies those sensations? How can the creator and the observer have a more intimate connection through emotional solidification?

In Between, Farinaz Moslemi

Masters Theses

The thesis explores the space between anticipation and experience; The journey from knowing to recognizing the unknown. Series of drawings, models and videos try to illustrate the space in between.

Opine : Positioning Architecture, Kevin Crouse

Masters Theses

Architecture is an ambiguous discipline. We must accomodate this by having clear positions, recognizing the embedded contradictions of polarized thought. This is to opine—to hold, form, or express an opinion; to think, consider, and suppose. 3

The Room : The Space Between, Adelaide Cushing Mackintosh

Masters Theses

As a society we see the urban fabric as fragmentations. Spaces that are in front, behind and between. The urban landscape has been divided by boundaries of infrastructure and vehicular traffic. The pedestrian has been left behind. For the room the space between, I have studied these unwanted spaces and their commonalities. These spaces have become the keepers of our unwanted material. They are the impermeable landscape that roof drains lead to. These spaces are fragmented voids that tie together down narrow alleys and over streets. Why are these spaces undesired?

This thesis addresses the city of Providence, Rhode Island. …

Nostalgia For The Future : Home 2028, Junqing Yang

Masters Theses

to

People I met,

Places I have been,

the past

and future

Gassed Out, Toban Shadlyn

Masters Theses

As the automobile industry continues to evolve with car sharing services, electric vehicles and soon autonomous driving, the infrastructure that supports our present-day car culture will become obsolete. While the current advancement focuses on the future of car design and accompanying policies, there is a need to consider the evolution of our infrastructure from an adaptive reuse standpoint.

Among the different kinds of automotive infrastructure, gas stations in particular, are the most environmentally problematic yet advantageous due to their abundance. The conversion of gas stations, however, is not a new notion. While these sites have been renovated into cafés, restaurants, …

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 …

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 …

Living With Mega-Cavity, Ankang Xu

Masters Theses

With the future depletion of mineral resource, huge quarry pits will be remained in many areas in Massachusetts. They are like vast “scars” laying beside the urban fabric which create a sense of “urban sublime”. They exist abhorrently but definitely have significant influence on the region at many levels, such as ecology, hydrology, economy and society. Moreover, the abandoned mine pits have become a global environmental issue. How to deal with these “scars” will be a vital topic in the future.

In phase 1, the researcher focused on the study of quarries in Massachusetts and the recognition of “Urban Sublime” …

We Can Host! : Preparing Miami's Neighborhoods For An Amphibious Future, Dongning Huang

Masters Theses

HOST is a thesis investigation that seeks to understand the impact that rising water levels will have on the city of Miami. This investigation will take place within the larger context of global sea level rise and will examine a variety of events including flooding and hurricanes. The goal of the work is to promote a conversation about the types of adaptive strategies that can be applied to Miami, how they can be applied, and how to visualize the dynamic of the impact of rising water levels so that the people who live in, work in, or visit Miami will …