Architecture Commons^™

The Histories Of New York City’S Parks, Catherine Mcneur

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is the introduction to the Journal of Planning History volume 16 issue 2, 2017.

What Causes Cost Overruns On Building Projects? - An Overview., Tony Cunningham

Other Resources

Cost overruns are commonplace during the construction phase of building projects. This study investigates common reasons why cost overruns happen on building projects. It examines how the client’s priorities and decisions regarding the project duration and quality expectations can undermine cost certainty. The actions of the client’s consultants, particularly those of the architect / employer’s representative, are identified as key factors in causing or preventing cost overruns. The building process, itself, is uncertain, particularly in relation to ground conditions. Large, complex and innovative construction projects containing a substantial element of specialist work are identified as ones which are particularly prone …

Experimental And Numerical Investigation Of Flexural Concrete Wall Design Details, Anahid A. Behrouzi, T. Welt, Dawn Lehman, Laura Lowes, J. Lafave, Daniel Kuchma

Architectural Engineering

Reinforced concrete structural walls are common in mid- to high-rise structures in high seismic regions, and are expected to have good strength and ductility characteristics if designed in accordance with ACI 318-14. However, experimental and analytical investigations of reinforced concrete structural walls and isolated boundary element prisms indicate that the existing design provisions may be insufficient to provide ductile, flexure-dominated response under cyclic loading. Walls designed with an ACI compliant boundary element length are susceptible to shear-compression failures below the maximum ACI allowable shear stress of 10Acv√fc’. Also of concern is the frequent use of thinner walls in modern design; …

Worldbuilding: A Survey Of Games And Architecture At Play, Charlotte Meagan Mckernan

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Architecture often looks to the value of digital spaces for simulation and computation. This thesis argues that the architectural value of games comes not from their role as mimetic digital spaces, but instead from their ability to teach playful worldbuilding. Working with Ian Bogost's methodology of unit analysis, I unpack a number of examples of worldbuilding throughout architectural history. I begin specifically with the construction toy, then move on to explore playful architectural theories in general. Next, drawing from the fields of game design, literature, and philosophy, I unpack the value of worldbuilding itself as a method for generating meaningful …

Architecture Amidst Smog, Hui Sheng

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis is an investigation on smog and architecture.

Challenging The Pattern, Gary Thurston

Architecture Thesis Prep

Christopher Alexander and Yona Friedman suggest the architect is necessarily limited in his or her ability to construct the built environment for all people, or should be limited in favor of participation of the non-architect. While I agree that all parties of the world should take part in design and construction, I assert that architects through their training are better equipped to design and construct our built environment and in this sense, I am directly challenging the claims made by Alexander, et al.

Urban Archtifice: Regenerating Residential Facades Through Acupuncture, Ran Mei

Architecture Thesis Prep

To legitimize and make use of weirdness in the Chinese cultural fascination of symbolism and objectified architecture, I decide to put it in the most function-oriented program in the city _ collective housing, or more specifically, the transformation and regeneration of existing housing types in Chinese megacities. To inject iconicity into the most banal and repetitive structures of Chinese cities, the residential high-rises, I aim to create a human layer that parasites the faceless facades of housing blocks; to take advantage of the novelty value of collectively generated iconicity to legitimize the personal appropriation of “public” space; to bring back …

We Die As We Live, Yücel Güven

Architecture Thesis Prep

Each person is made up of different characters that build his/her complete identity. It is possible to identify these individual personas and design a different mausoleum to each one, specific in architectural language and function. The mausoleum should architecturally be unique to the persona and functionally serve the same purpose.

The "D.A.R." Object, Zhe Wang

Architecture Thesis Prep

The D.A.R. Object discusses a method, which to redesign a selected object through Disassembling - Analyzing - Reconstructing, 3 main process. When the method of "D.A.R." is adopted, the inherent form logic of an object will still be kept. Because designing like this way will make challenge to the original object ideologically. This challenge is embodied in the dramatic conflict between the process, which has a strong relationship with the object's inherent logic, and the result, which will blur the original reality of the object.

And my method of "D.A.R." initially comes from my study of structuralism and deconstruction. More …

Herbert Hoover Elementary / Charleston Complete Corridor Plan, William Riggs, Kristan Anaya, Troy Andres, Ryanne Browers, Dan Canella, Jesse Carpentier, Dylan Coleman, Seitu Coleman, Melanie Conti, Rob Etter, Kyle Finger, Matthew Fluhmann, Daniel Harrison, Alyssa Lucero, Eric Martinez, Ian Mccarville, Caitlin Milich, Megan Miller, Sammi Mulhern, Benjamin Rady, Erina Shimanuki, Noah Stricker, Bryan Wheeler, Torina Wilson, Justin Wong, Crp 425 Bicycle And Pedestrian Planning

City and Regional Planning Studios and Projects

Completed as a part of CRP 425 bicycle and pedestrian planning, led by Dr. William Riggs, this planning project assessed the Herbert Hoover Elementary site and Charleston corridor in the City of Palo Alto with an aim to bring a complete streets strategy to the area. The plans recommend improved accessibility for bicycles and pedestrians along Charleston Road including modal separation between bicyclists and pedestians, improved vehicular flows to mitigate vehicular traffic congestion during peak hours and increased innovation in safety features to prevent pedestrian-vehicle conflicts.

Breaching The Divide: An Inquiry Into Border Passage, Russell Scheer

Architecture Senior Theses

This project is an inquiry into the existing threshold that currently separates Israelis from Palestinians in the West Bank. Through the dismantling of the Israeli border checkpoint and reinterpretation of its parts, this project reimagines the sequence of passing through the threshold. By framing the mundane activities of border passage through dramatic scenes, this architecture can reveal themes religion, resources, and surveillance. This architecture also intends to highlight the imbalance of the current conflict and those involved in it, by creating an architecture equally absurd.

Configuring Narrowness: Formulating Vertical Vernaculars In The Forgotten, Teriya Lee

Architecture Senior Theses

The thesis is convinced that a memorable narrowness can be achieved in an urban void if the architect shifts focus from the horizontal plane to the vertical plane. Indeed, a large portion of what can be seen when approaching a narrow street is not "the front," but "the sides." By using the current vernacular palette to develop vertically-oriented shacks, the thesis proposes two alternative designs to reimage these cracks in the city, in order to fill these cracks in memory.

What Is Sacred, Maxwell K. Baum

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis aims to reinterpret the notion of sacred space and explore architectures role in the creation of sacred space. Stripped of the religious connotations of the sacred, this thesis hopes to create an architecture that balances between the individual and the collective, fosters both introspective reflection and extrospective contemplation, and proposes architecture for the experiencing of the sacred.

Architecture can serve as the platform for the transcendental experience. This can be achieved through a thorough understanding of criteria this thesis has identified as constituents in creating sacred space. The concept of Le Corbusier’s “L’espace Indicible,” the ideas of phenomenology …

Ruin-Naissance, Fatma Gonca Tunc

Architecture Senior Theses

Ruin-naissance is the term I use to describe not only the resurrection of an archeological site, but also the rebirth of an idea about how we think about ruins and how new construction can enhance the experience of these kinds of sites.

The principle contention of this thesis is that a better understanding of the fragmented evidence presented by an archeological site can be seen through the lens of a contemporary architectural intervention that responds sensitively to an ancient site. In doing this, the intervention needs to address issues of identity, narrative and historiography. The new architecture should not ignore …

Emergency Homes, Denise A. Lee

Architecture Senior Theses

“Designers cannot just stand by and watch as the refugee crisis unfolds,” and although architects and designers can’t save the world, through design, we can alleviate consequences of scarcity. It’s not about creating a structure that will withstand the ends of time or endure the most extreme climate, it’s about how to respond in an emergency with the most geographically intelligent prototype that utilizes the utmost importance of on site materials so the bare minimum of an instruction manual or few key tools to offset distribution obstacles. This thesis is aimed to design for the 99 in disaster relief.

The Discursive Construction Of Learning Opportunities, Thomas Fowler, Iv, Ethny Stewart

Architecture

Researchers entering new learning environments or disciplines, ones outside their own disciplines, are often required to follow the roots and routes of observed processes to gain anemic (insider) understanding of the work of local actors, artifacts, and language-in-use.Through exploration of everyday patterns of participants, ethnographers begin to uncover what actors are required to know, understand, and construct to engage socially, professionally, and academically (Heath, 1982). For this poster, I present subset of analyses used in gaining an emic understanding of critique practices and processes in a 24/7 access third year undergraduate architecture studio at public regional university site in California.

Perceptions On The Status Of Lean-Manufacturing In Thermoplastics-Manufacturing Industry, Ning Jin

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The current study gathers thermoplastics professionals’ perceptions on the implementation of lean-manufacturing in the Thermoplastics-manufacturing industry through Qualtrics, which is a survey website. From the professionals’ perceptions, the current study infers the current status of lean-manufacturing implementation in the thermoplastic-manufacturing industry and identifies the best lean theories and tools for the industry. However, the results of the current study are not generalizable to the entire thermoplastic-manufacturing industry.

The current study reviews thermoplastic-manufacturing processes from the house of lean’s perspective. The foundations of the house are stability and standardization, the pillars are Just-In-Time (JIT) and Jidoka, the roof is customer focus, …

Wall Panel Optimization For Refugee Shelters In Germany: An Ahp Study, Zhu Jiadong

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The German government is experiencing difficulties housing and assimilating Syrian refugees in its borders. Erecting temporary shelters on location is one way to deal with the current crises. This thesis attempts to use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to determine the optimum combination of materials and construction methods to be used in the shelter’s walls in order to improve the living conditions of the refugees and to ensure that the cost is acceptable to the German government. This thesis compares six existing wall panel products from China, which have the lowest cost on the worldwide market. The R-value, strength, price, weight, …

The Moving Image, Eujean Cheong, Andrew Kim, Sol Yoon

Architecture Senior Theses

Form in architecture has become synonymous with geometries as opposed to the philosophical Aristotelian notion of form. This thesis rests on two beliefs: space and form are co-present, as space without form is nothing and likewise form without space leaves no room to materialize itself. An object results when space and form are co-present; architecture as an object then subsequently reveals itself when a third element of human movement is introduced.

This thesis contends that if architecture is perceived through the introduction of human movement, then it is peculiar that architectural representation has historically been represented through means of …

Rethinking "Stuff", Jonathan Anthony

Architecture Senior Theses

As our methods of storing grow, our storage environments tend to not adapt. Rethinking "Stuff" contends that our established storage environments have the potential to be more closely correlated to the complex nature of our stuff today. This thesis attempts to leverage the effects of stuff in storage by capitalizing on three notions that stuff is increasingly challenging: ritual, temporality, and ownership.