Architecture Commons^™

Re-Think It Conference Proceedings, Grand Valley State University, Matt Ruen, Mary M. Somerville, Lori S. Mestre, Eric Kurt, Ilana Stonebraker, Tomalee Doan, Corey Seeman, Jeffery Scherer, Christine Tobias, Christina Mune, Sharon Thompson

Re-think it: Libraries for a New Age - Conference Proceedings

Essays contributed by participants in Re-think it: Libraries for a New Age, a conference on library design, services, values, and visions, which was held in the Mary Idema Pew Library Learning and Information Commons at Grand Valley State University, August 10 - 12, 2015.

A Place To P(R)Ay: A Study Of Spiritual Rituals In Bangkok Malls, Nicha Wiboonpote, Pat Seeumpornroj

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

This research examines the phenomenon of Thai Buddhist elements for spiritual rituals in Bangkok malls. Today, religious settings are not only located in temples or churches, but they are also occasionallyrelocated to commercial spaces such as malls. This reflects the effort to bring the religion closer to the community and to use religion-related activities as a magnet that draws attention to the mall itself. Accordingly, this research explores the influences behind such happenings, which include spiritual beliefs, cultural practices of commercial spaces and marketing strategies. This phenomenon also leads to a wider aspect regarding the role of a mall in …

The Physical Activity And Redesigned Community Spaces (Parcs) Study: Protocol Of A Natural Experiment To Investigate The Impact Of Citywide Park Redesign And Renovation, Terry T. K. Huang, Katarzyna E. Wyka, Emily Ferris, Jennifer Gardner, Kelly R. Evenson, Devanshi Tripathi, Gabriel Martinez Soto, Matthew S. Cato, Jon Moon, Julia Wagner, Joan M. Dorn, Diane J. Catellier, Lorna E. Thorpe

Publications and Research

Background: The built environment plays a critical role in promoting physical activity and health. The association between parks, as a key attribute of the built environment, and physical activity, however, remains inconclusive. This project leverages a natural experiment opportunity to assess the impact of the Community Parks Initiative (CPI), a citywide park redesign and renovation effort in New York City, on physical activity, park usage, psychosocial and mental health, and community wellbeing.

Methods: The project will use a longitudinal design with matched controls. Thirty intervention park neighborhoods are socio-demographically matched to 20 control park neighborhoods. The study will investigate whether …

Cognitive Radio For Smart Grid With Security Considerations, Khaled Shuaib, Ezedin Barka, Nedaa Al Hussien, Mohammed Abdel-Hafez, Mahmoud Alahmad

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

In this paper, we investigate how Cognitive Radio as a means of communication can be utilized to serve a smart grid deployment end to end, from a home area network to power generation. We show how Cognitive Radio can be mapped to integrate the possible different communication networks within a smart grid large scale deployment. In addition, various applications in smart grid are defined and discussed showing how Cognitive Radio can be used to fulfill their communication requirements. Moreover, information security issues pertained to the use of Cognitive Radio in a smart grid environment at different levels and layers are …

V.1 2016-2017 Supplement, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The 2016-2017 Supplement issue contains handwritten answers on post-its to the question "What feels urgent to you in your studio? In your life? In the world?" These post-its were written at a grad-student gathering on the day after the 2016 US Presidential election, scanned and printed as a zine the next day, and distributed at open studios the day after that.

Developing Agritourism In The Caribbean: Critical Ethnography And Sustainable Landscape Design To Improve The Human Experience At Letan Bossier, Haiti, Kristen Maria Lonon

LSU Master's Theses

The Letan Bossier, Haiti community is in need of continued investment from international agencies, in an effort to improve conditions for locals, along with shaping the experience of the tourist, at and around an attractive natural basin, three miles north-west of Cayes-Jacmel, Haiti, at about 187 meters above sea level. In order to improve one’s journey through this mountainside community to the Grand Basin, capital investments must be made. The goal of the proposed design solutions is to solve for the locals first, in turn, attracting tourists to experience a space that’s supported by its own people. The goal of …

#Cone-Versation: A Tactical Urbanist Experiment, Yifu Liu

LSU Master's Theses

The thesis intends to introduce tactical urbanism as a way to expand the toolkit for designers to communicate with theirs audiences from the public. Lessons from the post-Katrina planning processes urges for better communication tool that invites broader conversation while providing more direct physical outcome from the process. Tactical urbanism is introduced to the city and the discipline of landscape architecture in order to provide a fresh solution to the communication by changing the speech between the authority figure and the residents into a more personal conversation with an invitation through on-site installation. At the same time, it is a …

Resilient Future: The Cultural Riverfront Edge In The New Capital, Amaravathi, In Andhra Pradesh, India, Priyanka Malik

LSU Master's Theses

India faced the bifurcation of a united Andhra Pradesh state into the state of Telangana and state of Andhra Pradesh or Seemandhra, on 2nd June 2014. Since the year 1948, the city of Hyderabad remained the capitol of united Andhra Pradesh. However, post the bifurcation, the two states are required to share Hyderabad as their administrative capitol for ten years after which the city of Hyderabad will be the centre for the state of Telangana. The state of Andhra Pradesh is thus building a new capital Amaravathi, along the banks of Krishna River. The name of the capital is borrowed …

Can We Make Chinatown A More Sustainable Environment: Rethinking And Remaking Chinatown, San Francisco?, Zhen Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Since nineteen century, Chinese immigrants in the United States had a great contribution to the economy and transformation of landscape by gold mining, transcontinental railroad construction and agriculture cultivation, applying techniques that were learned from ancestors thousands years ago in China. And Chinatown as the first destination of continuing Chinese immigrants transformed from a ghetto to the top tourist attraction of the city in San Francisco with commercial-oriented development in more than a hundred years. This paper will explore the transformation of the image and representation of Chinatown by analyzing Chinese culture influences, American confinement, and pop culture impact, to …

From Ruins To Home The Exploration Of Shikumen’S Development, Xinye Zheng

LSU Master's Theses

The issue of Shikumen is the confliction between urban development and historical value preservation. And the historical value can be better understood with Chinese modern history behind, especially the concession part (an area ruled by foreign countries and don't have the independent rights on economy, politics and military (18, Li)). Because of the historic reason, the residents were made of three main streams, which were international stream, national stream and local movement. Those residences brought their culture into the concession and created a “melting pot”. This melting pot cultural phenomenon was shown in building design of Shikumen. However, with the …

Mass Incarceration By Design: The Impacts Of Urban Renewal And Landscape Architecture's Absence On The Prison Industrial Complex And The Use Of Landscape Architecture As An Antidote To Mass Incarceration, Abigail P. Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

The work of landscape architects has both positive and negative social impacts and landscape architects can strive to intentionally design for positive social impact. This paper utilizes mass incarceration as a lens for discussing the social impact of landscape architecture. The crossroads of mass incarceration and design offer a unique opportunity for Landscape Architects to examine the impact of many urban renewal efforts on marginalized communities, the benefits of landscape architectural involvement in prison design, and the use of design as protest against inhumane structures. This paper is separated into three sections, one detailing the history of social justice and …

Sustaining The Identity Of Spiritual Mughal Monuments: Case Of Sat Masjid Road Dhaka, Jinia Sharmeen

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

Bangladesh is home to the fourth largest Muslim population of the world. Numbers of mosques are proportionately dense in relation to the city's population and the capital. The capital, Dhaka, is called the city of mosques. Spiritual buildings are an integral part of the architectural character of Dhaka. It was a flamboyant city during the Mughal era. The architecture of Mughal Dhaka made profound contributions to the history of Islamic architecture. Mughal religious monuments are significant for combining spirituality with identity. Now their identities are struggling with the growth of Urbanization. This study attempts to analyze Mughal spiritual buildings at …

Khao Mo: Mythical Escapism, Sanitas Pradittasnee

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

"Khao Mo - (Mythical Escapism)" originated from the exhibition, "Resort: An Art Exhibition for Landscape of Rest at BACC. "Khao Mo" tries to transfer human belief and expression from the pastthrough the present. When the time passes, the unifying ideal of nature and religion gradually becomes the identity of idea and expression.

Sacred Innovation In The Shadow Conservation Network, Julia Watson

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

The global shadow conservation network is informally composed of all the sacred lands of the world. This essay explores the lands of the Kayapo of the Amazon Basin; the Maasaiof Southern Kenya and Northern Tanzania; the Turkana of Northern Kenya; the Subak of Bali; the Khasis of Northern India and the Tofi nu of Benin and the ancient infrastructures found there. From the material and construction modules, to the ecosystem as a whole, the sacredness imbued in the landscape works to maintain its ecological sustainability. By combining eco-technology with sacred mythology, we find new and unique ways humans live symbiotically …

'Public' Prayer Rooms Of Contemporary Bangkok, Winyu Ardrugsa

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

This paper investigates the exclusivity of Muslim prayer rooms found distributed throughout urban Bangkok. Although the prayer room can hardly be considered domestic, its existence is not really'public' either. Increasingly, this little worship space is accommodated in some public facilities owned by state organizations and private corporations. In this paper the prayer room is examined in three interrelated scales: the geographical network, the placement of the room within a facility and the interior. The examination reveals inscribed body-place relationships which are conceived specifically to different projected images of each place and different social categorizations of Muslim users.

Spiritual Transformation And Inculturation As A Key To The Understanding Of Sacred Architecture: Case Study Of Wooden Church Heritages In The Northeast Of Thailand, Kittitouch Chaiprasith

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

This paper is an exploration of key concepts to understanding sacred architecture. The first part of this article is divided into three topics; the first studies the meaning and anatomy of the sacred. The second topic is the concept of spiritual transformation as a key to understanding what sacred architecture represents. The third topic discusses the concept of inculturation as another key concept to understand how the sacred is manifested in the world. In the second part of the article there are analyses of wooden churches that belong to the decades-old Christian community in northeast Thailand and their heritages. The …

Interior Lighting Design For The Holy Rosary Church, Bangkok, Phanchalath Suriyothin

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

Lighting design is an important element in spirituality in architecture from the past to the present. Places of worship have existed long before electric lighting and were designed for meaningful daylight orientation and the controlled use of fire and candlelight.Currently there are new activities held in churches, such as concerts and wedding ceremonies that need different types of atmospheric lighting. Modern application of lighting design and spirituality are explored in a case study of the Holy Rosary Church in Bangkok. A design concept of various lighting scenes was introduced to provide maximum effect and flexibility while still performing its primary …

Taking Religion Outside:New Secular Identities Between Autonomy, Contingency And Total Immersion, Antonio Petrov

NAKHARA (Journal of Environmental Design and Planning)

The secular has proven to be a condition all too intertwined with Christianity and Western narratives. However, the truth is that the religious and the secular are not opposites but they are inextricably linked within the geographic. This research is inspired by geographia [geo-earth and grapho-write], writing about earth. Observations, speculations, interpretations were made and stories recorded to illuminate how explicit intersections between religion and the environment expands the identity of the sacred. A study was made of critical cultural concepts that project objects into geographic objects, geographies, or both. It acknowledges architecture transcending beyond the traditional. The goal of …

3d Tool Evaluation And Workflow For An Ecological Approach To Visualizing Ancient Socio-Environmental Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto, Shona Sanford-Long, Jack Kerby-Miller

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

Architectural reconstructions are the centerpieces of ancient landscape visualization. When present, vegetation is relegated to the background, resulting in underutilized plant data—an integral data source for archaeological interpretation—thus limiting the capacity to take advantage of 3D visualization for studying ancient socio-environmental dynamics. Our long-term objective is to develop methods of 3D landscape visualization that have value for examining changes in land use and settlement patterns. To begin to work toward this objective, we have (1) identified 3D tools and techniques for vegetation modeling and landscape visualization, (2) evaluated the pros and cons of these tools, (3) investigated biological and ecological …

From Medieval To Modern: The Relationship Between Gothic And Modern Design In English Architecture, Dana Mcintyre

UCARE: Research Products

The Gothic movement in England began in the mid 12th century, drawing inspiration from the Gothic movement happening in France during roughly the same time. Abbot Suger, a French abbot and historian, is often considered one of the first Gothic architects. His renovations to the Basilica of Saint Denis in Paris are said to be the first example of a truly Gothic-style building. In England, the Gothic movement is split into four periods: Norman Gothic, Early English Gothic, Decorated Gothic, and Perpendicular Gothic.

The Modern movement (20th century) brought with it many radical ideas about design. Modern structures were often …