Architecture Commons^™

Public Housing In The United States: Using Sustainable Urbanism To Combat Social Exclusion, Jasmine L. Edo

Scripps Senior Theses

The United States government has taken steps to assure underprivileged citizens housing in the form of public housing through the Department of Housing and Urban Development, as well as various humanitarian programs in the form of homeless shelters. Yet, all housing is not equal. Our freedom to choose where we live and what type of house we live in is one revered aspect of life as a United States citizen. We can express our individuality, creativity, and personality through the architectural style of our homes. In this sense it is hard to ask for equal housing. I am suggesting that …

Structural Performance Of Reinforced Concrete Flat Plat Buildings Subjected To Fire, Sara Jean George

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Reinforced concrete structures are typically considered to have inherent resistance to fire. However, several concrete structures around the world have experienced partial or total collapse under fire. Reinforced concrete flat-plate is a type of structural system widely used for office and residential buildings. Flat plate construction is prone to punching shear failure at slab-column connections which may lead to a catastrophic progressive collapse. The slabs of flat-plates generally have very thin concrete cover leaving steel reinforcement more sensitive to thermal loads. Little is known in the engineering community about the structural performance of flat-plate structures subjected to fire. Through a …

Legal Issues In Green Construction, Namrata Shrestha

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The most recent "green construction movement", made a significant impact on the design and construction industry in the United States. Organizations such as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have lobbied governmental entities to provide financial incentives to promote green construction. The green construction community also promotes the notion that a healthier working and living environment is achieved. Due to finical incentives coupled with projected long-term energy cost savings, many owners of new construction are considering green construction as an option. Accompanying the "green construction movement", new kinds of legal issues, particularly relating to green aspects such as certification, energy …

Assessing The Engineering Performance Of Affordable Net-Zero Energy Housing, Jordan P. Wallpe

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

The purpose of this research was to evaluate affordable technologies that are capable of providing attractive, cost-effective energy savings to the housing industry. The research did so by investigating the 2011 Solar Decathlon competition, with additional insight from the Purdue INhome. Insight from the Purdue INhome verified the importance of using a three step design process to design a net-zero energy building. In addition, energy consumption values of the INhome were used to compare and contrast different systems used in other houses.

Evaluation of unbiased competition contests gave a better understanding of how a house can realistically reach net-zero. Upon …

Interpreting The Standards: Design Professionals & Historicized Design, Alexandra D. Skerry

Historic Preservation Theses

Research Question: This thesis intends to discover how and why architects make design decisions for projects in historic districts. Subquestions are based on the methods of architects; differing opinions between preservation and architectural professionals; and the inconsistent interpretation of standards and guidelines.

Results: The researcher was able to analyze each informant and position them on a self-defined design spectrum. A visual representation of this spectrum can be found in Appendix D.

Practical Implications: The results of this study show a conflict that prevents Standard 9 from both allowing the progression of contemporary architectural theory in historic areas, and requiring a …

Layered Transparency: The Performance Of Exposure, The Exposure Of Performance, Colin Gadoury

Architecture Theses and Projects

The thesis seeks to explore relationships between people based on their proximity and condition of viewing to an event. As evidenced in the images to the left, the inspiration for such a thesis draws on ideas of privacy, voyeurism, retail and most importantly performance.

Each element of inspiration presents elements of intrigue to the proposed theater. As one walks the streets of Times Square in New York City, you cannot help but let yourself be enveloped by the marketing of hundreds of retailers - each drawing the customer in with exploitation of their products through the transparent medium of glass. …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Utah State University Botanical Center Stream Master Plan, Daniel Willard Schults

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

The Utah State University Botanical Center Stream Master Plan is a design to assist Utah State University Botanical Center (USUBC) administration in fulfilling their goals of community outreach and education, implementing sustainable practices and creating aesthetically beautiful areas for public enjoyment. These goals are met through updating the USUBC master plan to account for the newly built man-made stream as well as other future buildings. Trails, overlooks and information nodes are part of the new master plan. The planting plan includes representations of six natural plant communities found in Northern Utah. Additionally, the stream design improves the water quality of …

The Potential Of Downtown Las Vegas Becoming A Creative Milieu, Ana Magdalena Barragan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The city of Las Vegas is attempting to revitalize downtown through a creative economy by bringing cultural and experiential activities to the area in a mixed use arrangement with residential, business and civic uses. This study looks at the possibility of not only revitalizing downtown, but on it becoming a true creative milieu - a place that fosters creativity and innovation. It does so by first identifying three major forces working upon the realization of these goals: 1) the regional socio-economic conditions, 2) the government strategies, and 3) the creative population's participation.

The study conducts a quantitative assessments of each, …

The Relationship Of Outdoor Recreation And Gardening With Depression Among Individuals With Disabilities, Justin Floyd Wilson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Activities involving natural environments have positive psychological impacts on participants. Both outdoor recreation and gardening have been shown to reduce feelings of depression. However, the effects of these activities on the depression levels of individuals with disabilities have not yet been studied. In order to better understand the relationship between these activities and depression among individuals with disabilities, two separate studies were conducted.

The first study seeks to better understand the relationship between outdoor recreation participation and depression among Montana residents with disabilities using publicly available Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) data. It hypothesizes that depression would be negatively …

Value Add And Sustainable Parking Strategies: A Financial Evaluation And Real Estate Developer Perspective, Ryan Letzeiser

All Theses

Innovative techniques for parking lot design over the past 15 years have resulted in new approaches which address stormwater concerns on commercial real estate sites. A mixed method approach was taken to establish financial value in these new techniques being used. Sheraton Station, a proposed mixed use Transit Oriented Development (TOD) site with multi modal transportation in Hollywood, Florida was used as a research and demonstration project to evaluate ways to make sustainable parking lots more cost effective for real estate developers. After conducting interviews and a survey to evaluate real estate developers' perceptions on the use of sustainable features …

Unlocking Drayton Hall: A Survey And Analysis Of Hardware At A Southern Plantation, Lauren Elizabeth Golden

All Theses

No other single architectural element at Drayton Hall near Charleston, South Carolina better reflects the social and financial evolution of the house better than its hardware. When Drayton Hall was built, architectural hardware was in a period of transition, shifting from displaying hardware as a symbol of one's ability to purchase relatively expensive items to conceptualizing of rooms as holistic spaces where the hardware elements were as hidden as possible. Generations of family owners significantly changed the original, cohesive hierarchy of types ranging from the highly stylized to the simply functional, but much of the original remains. This thesis is …

City Food: Re-Imagining Urban Food Access Through Holistic, Multilayered Typologies Of Urban Agriculture Systems, Tiffany Managad

All Theses

Urban Agriculture is a growing movement that has resulted in response to the world's increasing urbanization. As global urban populations continue to multiply, the demand to supply healthy and nutritious food to cities has magnified. More than half of the global population now lives in cities and this trend continues to increase exponentially. This phenomena raises the question: How will cities continue to sustain and feed their growing populations now and in the future? Cities are hungry for sustainable ways to grow, access and consume healthier, more delicious food. The current industrialized food system is unsustainable due to escalated dependency …

Little Houses, Big Expenses: A Financial Study Of Small House Museums In New England, Marie Elise Haremski

All Theses

This thesis is examines the finances of house museums in New England with annual receipts under $250,000. It discusses the need to compile and evaluate data of this nature and the steps that were taken to obtain and present that data. This study maps how house museums behaved during this period. It will also present recommendations for practices that can be implemented to either drive revenue up or costs down.
It analyzes the various income and expense categories as they have been reported to the Internal Revenue Service for the filing years 2000 through 2009. The income categories analyzed include: …

Re-Engaging Historic Military Sites, Gina Hartness

All Theses

Historic Conservation seeks to protect the historically significant built environment while
allowing for more current uses. As it pertains to land planning, this effort extends current
land-use tools beyond the historic and conservation districts to include buffer districts and
heritage areas. We need these tools because preservation, which is defined as maintaining
an unaltered environment, does not adequately address managing change over time. Fort
Moultrie on Sullivan's Island, South Carolina is one example where historic preservation
and conservation merge to address the adaptive reuse of this former military installation.
At Fort Moultrie, many of these former installations are in disrepair …

The Evolving Philosophy Of Climate Control For Historic House Museums In Subtropical Climates: Recommendations For The Aiken-Rhett House, Charleston, South Carolina, Mariah C. Schwartz

All Theses

This study was designed to determine the most appropriate type of climate control system for the Aiken-Rhett House (1820-22), a historic house museum located in Charleston, South Carolina. The Aiken-Rhett property is unique in that it has never been restored and the current stewards of the museum have taken a conservation philosophy to the interpretation of the house. This house museum is rare because it is one of the few remaining unrestored antebellum structures in the South. Although grand mansions were never intended to exist in a state of decline, as the Aiken-Rhett does now, the preserved layers of time …

One Small Step: An Analysis Of International Space Law And How It Effects Historic Preservation, Joseph Patrick Reynolds

All Theses

From 1969 to 1972 NASA's Apollo Program successfully completed six separate manned lunar landings. Since 1972 there has been no human presence on the Moon. The lunar landing sites of Apollo's 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 have sat in situ for forty years in the absolute zero vacuum of outer space. As the next phase of lunar exploration draws closer, it is important to protect the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites from exploration and damage because of their importance to human cultural heritage. This thesis assesses the international treaties that govern outer space, the Moon, and other celestial bodies …

The Potential Of Virtual Heritage Reconstruction In Lost Ansonborough, Caglar Aydin

All Theses

The virtual reconstruction of vanished heritage is a well-known practice in the preservation field. The constant development in computer technologies has been improving visualization and interpretation techniques for virtual reconstructions of no longer extant or inaccessible sites. Reconstruction projects of vanished heritage sites implement various approaches because of different challenges at each site. This research involves 3D reconstructions, as well as historical research of early nineteenth century residences, Radcliffe-King and Gabriel Manigault houses in the Ansonborough neighborhood of Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
The demolition of these two mansions in the first half of the twentieth century leads to the loss …

The Making Of A Movement: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of The National Trust For Historic Preservation Magazine From 1949 To 2010, Katherine Marie Ferguson

All Theses

For over 60 years, the National Trust for Historic Preservation has published a magazine. Covering issues from preservation legislation to sustainability, this publication has been the predominant voice in the preservation movement. But what has it been saying, really? This study applies a communications approach to examine the messages the National Trust magazine has presented to its members and the public and studies the role this type of marketing tool has played in the movement for more than half a century.
This research identifies seven important eras in communications for the magazine. Trends in the kind of news being reported, …

'The Garden Spot Of The Earth': A History & Historic Resources Survey Of Reevesville, South Carolina, Stefanie Marasco

All Theses

Reevesville, South Carolina, is a rural agrarian town within Dorchester County. It was established as a settlement in 1793, but it did not become an official town until it was first incorporated into Colleton County in 1875. The population of Reevesville has, since 1875, remained fairly consistent, averaging 150 to 250 inhabitants. Reevesville's most prosperous era extended from 1875 to 1930, years that coincide with the most active period of the South Carolina Railroads, which served the town in the late 19th century. Many of the extant historic buildings in the area date to this period.
This thesis compiles a …