Architecture Commons^™

Play In Place: The Role Of Site-Specific Playgrounds In Community Space, Allison Nkwocha

Scripps Senior Theses

Playgrounds do not have to be static sites, but safety standards should not be the only force that guides their evolution over time. Just as the ongoing transformation of any city is a product of many interwoven factors, the collection of smaller sites that delineates one city from another should reflect the same holistic influences. This is not an argument for the abandonment of the safety standards that influence playground design. Instead, it is an argument for the adoption of and stronger adherence to community standards that influence city design. This paper argues that a park area (and more generally, …

Dogtrots In New Orleans: An Urban Adaptation To A Rural House Type, Jennifer K. Anderson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The dogtrot house type is an important type of vernacular architecture in the American landscape, particularly in rural areas of the southern United States. Little is formally written or known about the dogtrot type houses in New Orleans, which appear to be a unique evolution of the rural dogtrot form specifically adapted for the urban environment. This thesis examines the existing literature regarding the dogtrot house type and analyzes the architectural history of the remaining dogtrot type homes in New Orleans in order to establish that they are correctly classified, and also to investigate any possible links with rural dogtrots. …

Water And The Architect: Architecture As Decentralized Water Management, Daniel A. Williamson

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Water is the essence of life, a material, a resource, a commodity. It is volatile, fragile, devastating, nourishing and is ultimately spatial. The design of how water spatially inhabits, flows, and interacts with our built life has seen many forms, functions, systems, failures and successes. Over the course of history those who have had the opportunity to define our relationship with water has spread across numerous disciplines, and touched many professions. The architectural relationship with water has seen an unfortunate bifurcation over the past two centuries. It is this separation of architecture from adequately and actively engaging water management, primarily …

Lexiconic: Reading The Edifice, Amanda L. Mejstrik

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

Language has undergone an evolution similar to architecture. Both have been defined through multiple styles which have a tendency to change and reestablish themselves based on popular culture, eventually permeating through society, while subsequently losing momentum and necessity. In the same way that architecture has transitioned through time based on a societal importance of efficiency, economy, and effectiveness, language begins to assume a new oratory standard.

Old English begat Middle English begat Modern English

Victorian Style begat Modernism begat Structural Expressionism

These entities have become representative of our culture throughout the ages and have reached a point of abbreviation so …

Terra[Form], Michael G. Harpster

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This project generates an alternative model of high-density development for emerging metropolitan areas that increases the intensity of use and overall density of a site while simultaneously producing new types of public open space.

Focused intently on ways in which urban form influences or impacts a city’s consumption of energy and resources, the project can be understood as a formal approach to sustainability in which basic formal or tectonic properties are examined in favor of technological building systems.

Ultimately, the project redefines the relationship between the park and the city, creating a network of public open spaces through the intensification …

The Emergent In-Between, Gregory R. Gettman

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

As walkability becomes a more critical aspect of the organization of urban environments, it is essential that architects engage in the development of the spaces people actually occupy (the ‘in-between’) as well as the relationship between the programs they border. Using walkability as a catalyst, this thesis seeks to design a system for growing new urban tissue. Within that tissue are networks and proximities of activities that define the means and destinations of walking, as well as the spatial condition that makes the condition appealing for walking. Such a system should be able to define and optimize program organizations and …

Drought As A Component Of Local Hazard Mitigation Plans: Are The 100 Fastest Growing Counties Ready?, Jeffrey L. Henson

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

Drought is one of the most destructive natural disasters that threatens nearly every environment on earth. Between 1980 and 2011 there were 16 drought events in the United States with impacts that exceeded $1 billion with an average event cost of $12.2 billion according to the National Climate Data Center. While many states have engaged in the creation of drought plans, little research has been done regarding drought planning at the local level. This research examines the local planning efforts in 62 of the 100 fastest growing counties in the United States from 2000 to 2009. It is expected that …

Collective Chord Behavior In Large Flexible Diaphragms, J. W. Lawson, C. N. Yarber

Architectural Engineering

The seismic behavior of large low-rise buildings with rigid walls and flexible diaphragms will be dominated more by the diaphragm’s seismic response than by the very stiff vertical walls. For practitioners, estimating the stiffness of large flexible diaphragms is important for computing building setbacks from property lines and adjacent structures as well as evaluating structural integrity under seismic loads. In addition, researchers attempting to accurately model a building’s dynamic behavior need to assemble an accurate diaphragm stiffness prediction. The traditional diaphragm chord model consists of a single continuous line of axial resistance at the diaphragm boundaries; however, as this paper …

Global-Mindedness And Intercultural Competence: A Quantitative Study Of Pre-Service Teachers, Qi Cui

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Trees Nestled Among Skyscrapers: Frederick Law Olmsted And The Creation Of Central Park, Matisse Murray

Library Research Prize Student Works

In the remarkable degree of scholarship that has been written on Frederick Law Olmsted since a resurgence of interest in his life during the early 1970s, there have been a number of varying interpretations regarding the social attitudes with which he approached his first major project, New York’s Central Park. Following a classic pendulum pattern, study has vacillated between emphasizing his democratic vision for the park to placing more of a focus upon his esteem for gentility. In the former, scholars such as biographer Laura Wood Roper described Olmsted’s idea of Central Park as a place for Americans of all …

K-12 System Reforms Across Studies: The Significance Of Change, Meta-Analysis, And Logistics Regression, Mashal Almutairi

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Domus, Villa And Insula: A Neo-Rationalist Taxonomy Of Housing Types Along The Via Consolare-Pompeii, Joseph Weishaar

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

In the early letters of Cicero, the guide on agriculture by Varro, and the complete works of Vitruvius, there is a foundation laid for the governance of domestic architecture which can only be glimpsed through the moment frozen in time at Pompeii. This thesis is directed at a critical analysis of the residential architecture situated along the Via Consolare in Pompeii. The question posed at the onset was how do dwellings change and adapt based on the localized context. The context in this case can be as simple as neighbor to neighbor spatial relationships and as complex as urban to …

Analyzing The Factors That Lead To Housing And Construction Cost Escalation: A Case Study Focused On Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Saleh Alfouzan

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Riyadh city suffers from high housing and construction costs, which have increased by more than 200% over the last 7 years. This problem led to a significant interest from the government and the citizens of the city in understanding the causes of housing and construction cost escalation and the best strategies to address this problem in the short and long-terms, in order to find solutions for affordable housing.

In response to the absence of research regarding this problem, the researcher has decided to conduct a scientific survey about the factors that might have led to this problem in Riyadh. While …

Gardens Are A Physical Manifestation Of Culture: Postmodern Public Parks Of The Twenty-First Century Will Be Built On The Infrastructure Of The Industrial Age, Steven W. Grant

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

Gardens are not simply arranged trees, lawns, walkways, fountains and ponds. They are a physical expression of the values and beliefs of culture. Adapting industrial age infrastructure into public parks is a reflection of culture in the postmodern age as much as the cloister garden expressed theology in the middle-ages, the sensuous garden expressed the humanism of the Renaissance, the Baroque garden expressed autocratic power, the neo-classical garden expressed reason, and the picturesque garden expressed awe of nature. The postmodern postindustrial public park of today is being built on the infrastructure of the industrial age; it is an expression of …

Understanding Architectural Iron Conservation: Corrosion Studies At Fort Sumter National Monument, Amy Elizabeth Uebel

All Theses

Iron is one of the most overlooked materials in architectural conservation. Its status as a functional construction material, rather than a decorative element, often makes iron the least understood material by architectural conservators. As historic metal becomes increasingly significant in the built environment, new approaches must be developed in order to better predict and understand the corrosion process. The behavior of corrosion has been extensively studied in the engineering and conservation communities, but the two fields have developed different approaches to iron conservation. Typically, engineers classify corrosion on a macroscopic scale, while conservators approach iron on a microscopic level. Both …

Regional Planning Initiative For The Province Of Puerto Plata In The Dominican Republic: A Tourism Planning Framework For The Towns Of San Felipe De Puerto Plata And Sosua, Ana A. Baez Sarita

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The Dominican Republic has locations rich in cultural, historical, and ecological assets. One of these places is the province of Puerto Plata. Located in the northern region of the country, Puerto Plata was one of the first territories of America in which Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. Built in the year of 1494 because of the second Spanish expedition arrival, La Isabela, the first new world’s Spanish village represents one of the many vital historical components of the province of Puerto Plata. The country has an economy largely based in the service sector. According to the U.S. Department of State, …

Powder Mountain Bike Resort Master Plan, J. Dayton Crites

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In the last decade ski resorts worldwide have developed mountain bike specific recreational facilities in an effort to increase summer revenues. Their success has been mixed, with some becoming quite profitable, but others closing summer operations after only a few low revenue

years. With minimal information regarding bike park design currently available, the planning and design of these facilities remains largely a grassroots effort. This thesis project develops a methodology that approaches the creation of mountain bike resorts on ski mountain terrain based on landscape architectural best practices, sustainable trail

construction techniques, and site-specific requirements. For this project, the terrain …

Fumihiko Maki And His Theory Of Collective Form: A Study On Its Practical And Pedagogical Implications, Xi Qiu

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This thesis seeks to reexamine Fumihiko Maki’s Investigations in Collective Form: 1964) from a historical and educational point of view, speculating the practical and pedagogical implications of Maki’s collective form theory. Firstly, to better understand the formation of both the writer himself and the book, the historical context in the 1950s and 1960s will be unfolded to reveal what Maki had encountered during his formative years that had contributed to his cross-cultural background and had inspired his thoughts in the book. Secondly, the three paradigms and the notion of linkage, as proposed in the book, will be analyzed through comparisons …

Class Status And Identity In The Trinidadian House: A Semantic Reading Of The Typical Trinidadian House, Across Class Levels, With Emphasis On Faã§Ade Design, Leniqueca Welcome

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Renaissance architect Filippo Brunelleschi stated, "Remember that no other memory remains of us than the walls which after hundreds of thousands of years bear witness to him who was their author." Brunelleschi's statement alludes to architecture's ability to encapsulate the spirit of its time and people, allowing it to transcend time, and be translated to future generations. Fascinated by this ability of architecture, this thesis investigates the relationship between the evolution of a particular architectural typology and the changing socio-political climate of its context. To illustrate this theme it presents a social history of the evolution of the single-family house …

The Urban Ecotone: A Connecting District In Downtown Memphis, Richard Stowe

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Memphis is a shrinking city. As more people move out to the suburbs, the downtown area falls into a greater decline. With fewer people to support the businesses and attractions of downtown Memphis, more and more vacant lots start to show up. Breaks in what was once a vibrant city fabric have led to the decay of the downtown area. While the downtown area offers amenities that cannot be found in the suburbs such as attractions like Fed Ex Forum, Beale Street, and the Orpheum Theater, as well as specialty shops, and a riverfront. The suburbs offer a quality of …