Architecture Commons^™

Building Services Engineering May/June 2025

Building Services Engineering

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Iberian Origins Of New Mexico's Community Acequias, Jose A. Rivera Ph.D., Thomas F. Glick Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

When Spanish officials first entered the northern region of New Spain in the late sixteenth century, they realized that irrigation would be a necessary development in the establishment of permanent communities. To sustain the early settlements, they built irrigation systems following the Iberian model, itself an extension of Arabo-Berber traditions from north Africa and the Middle East.

Infrastructure From Below: Mediasi Dan Politik Pembangunan Infrastruktur Air Di Kota Balikpapan, Muhammad Althaf Nandiati Yusfid

Antropologi Indonesia

The city of Balikpapan is experiencing a water crisis. The discrepancy between the city's water supply and Balikpapan's demography put pressure towards the city's capability of supporting its own citizens. This issue is exacerbated by the development of Indonesia's New Capital (IKN) which is located just outside Balikpapan. Therefore, the development of water infrastructure is imperative for the city. Yet, there's no recent visible development of water infrastructure in the city. However, I argue that water infrastructure development actually exists, though in a subtle form. The informal water suppliers that are prevalent in the city is tied with how the …

The Arch And The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsitǎ, Ana Popescu

Masters Theses

The Arch and The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsită (You Are Walking Around with a Painted Crow)

A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics in the Department of Ceramics of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

By Ana Popescu, 2025

Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:

Lesley Baker, Shoji Satake (Chair), Heather Bhandari, Tucker Houlihan

Date: May 17th, 2025

Location: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

To be opened for self-reflection in 10 years, on May 17th, 2035:

I’ve been mulling over how to make …

Untitled, Seung Ho Jeon

Masters Theses

We are, by our very own nature, confined within our own lived experiences. To transcend our inherent loneliness, we seek ways to fulfill a fundamental sense of belonging through symbolic interactions. The external world we navigate is a subjective framework constructed through repetitive, mundane interaction, and as actors, we participate in such monotonous performances as a means to create shared meaning.

Such performance manifests as a collective entity - an intangible force that is not bound by institutionalized systems, emerging organically from grassroots beliefs and practices. Throughout the performance, there are symbols - artifacts, space, and interactions. And these transformative …

Coarse Woody Debris: Growth & Decay, Cody W. Young

Masters Theses

Coarse Woody Debris is the felled wood from trees. When branches break off and trunks fall down to the ground, the wood from the tree begins to decay. Humans need to acknowledge the importance of this regeneration and habitat building process to help protect it. The debris from coarse wood decay provides multiple benefits to the surrounding ecosystem. It is important to leave the woody debris in the context in which it fell so that the cycles of growth and decay can be preserved. My project is a public service announcement about the values of coarse woody debris. Instead of …

Rural Dreams, Zongda Wu

Masters Theses

With the rapid development of urbanization in China, people's connection with nature has weakened, leading to an increasingly common phenomenon of nature-deficit disorder. The high-paced, information-saturated lifestyle of cities has further reduced people’s sensitivity to natural rhythms. This is especially true for the younger generation, who are accustomed to fast, dense information flows and find it difficult to slow down and engage meaningfully with nature, even when visiting rural areas.

This study uses the ruins of Puji Temple, located about 50 miles from downtown Beijing, to explore how spatial design can offer urban youth opportunities to reconnect with nature while …

Cohabitation At Threshold: Carpenter House Reimagined For Multispecies Living, Zhixiao Yang

Masters Theses

With the rapid growth of the human population, we are encroaching further into wildlife habitats, particularly those surrounding urban environments. This accelerating urbanization leads to biodiversity loss, the degradation of ecological services essential to human health and well-being, and a diminishing connection between city dwellers and the natural world.

Today, urban planners, architects, economists, and other advocates for the future of humanity and the health of the planet are actively questioning how we might build greener, more resilient cities. While much of the focus has been on large-scale interventions — such as the use of sustainable materials, the creation of …

Unseen, But There, Xinyu Dong

Masters Theses

Pedestrians often arrive at the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge in a hurry—rushing through daily routines—only to slow down or stop at its center. Here, they are drawn by the openness of the view, the rhythm of the wind, and a sense of pause that floats above the surface of the Providence River.

This thesis is an ongoing experiment in direct, sensory experience. It centers on this pedestrian bridge not just as a site of circulation, but as a space of unintentional stillness and layered perception. While many passersby are drawn to its scenic beauty, few pause to consider …

Buddha, Resituated, Min Sun

Masters Theses

The Asian Arts Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents significant cultural artifacts in a minimalist, neutral environment that disconnects them from their original historical and spatial contexts. By proposing display techniques that emphasize the origin and background of objects, it asks whether audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds can be enabled to connect empathetically with and learn from the heritage represented by these objects displayed out of context.

This thesis explores how exhibition design can reframe decontextualized artifacts to restore cultural meaning. By unpacking the room chronologically and geographically, and drawing from the spatial language of the Yungang Grottoes, …

Stranded In Time: Reawakening The Crook Point Bascule Bridge Through Temporality, Zhipeng Wang

Masters Theses

Many urban structures fall into a “stranded” state—physically present, yet socially invisible. The Crook Point Bridge in Providence is a prime example: a decommissioned piece of industrial infrastructure, too large and symbolically heavy to vanish entirely, yet gradually fading from public awareness. This thesis explores how temporary, experience-driven interventions can reawaken the social relevance of such neglected spaces. Rather than proposing a fixed future, the project seeks to prompt public reconsideration through fleeting spatial experiences that require no irreversible transformation. The first intervention utilizes balloons—fragile, inflated, and inevitably collapsing—to embody the theme of accelerated disappearance, echoing how memories fade faster …

Silent Witnesses: Reconnecting Landscape Through Lost Narratives, Abeer Aljohani

Masters Theses

In the heart of the vast Arabian desert, a forgotten tale of tragic love unfolds. Aja and Salma, figures from two different tribes in pre-Islamic Arabia, embody a romance that has long faded into obscurity. The two mountain ranges in Hail, Saudi Arabia, bear their names, standing as silent witnesses to a love story that ends in tragedy—one in which each is killed on separate peaks. Over time, the story has faded, leaving a gap between the landscape and its cultural significance. Could a narrative-based tourism experience revive this link, blending the mountains’ natural beauty with their forgotten story?

This …

Can You Hear A Pen Drop? A Study Of Classroom Acoustics And Aural Experience, Henry P. Moe

Honors Projects

This study investigates the relationship between classroom acoustics and perceived listening ease at Seattle Pacific University. Five classrooms were analyzed using objective measurements of reverberation time and background noise, and student and faculty perceptions were collected via surveys. While prior research and acoustic standards establish that poor acoustics hinder learning, findings revealed reverberation time and noise levels alone did not fully explain subjective listening experiences. Factors such as class size, seating arrangement, and external noise sources significantly shaped perceptions. The results underscore the importance of considering pedagogical goals and classroom usage when designing or evaluating learning environments.

A Seat At The Table: Expanding The Narrative Of Period Rooms, Jade Mcpike

Masters Theses

A period room represents the interior design and decorative art of a particular historical social setting, typically found in museums. Unlike the white cube gallery, period rooms offer immersive spaces that provide visitors a glimpse into domestic life and the experiences of those who lived in that moment. Stepping into a period room is like traveling back in time, where every piece of furniture and decoration tells us something about the past.

However, despite their immersive qualities, these rooms often lack broader historical context, misrepresenting socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics of the periods they attempt to depict. They often glorify …

Looped Logic & Wild Lines, Shuting Shao

Masters Theses

What if an exhibition didn’t just present objects but actively pulled visitors into their world? This thesis explores that possibility by reimagining how furniture can be exhibited, using Misha Kahn’s All Tied Up Chair and Michael Thonet’s No. 14 Bentwood Chair as case studies. These two works sit at opposite ends of the design spectrum—Kahn’s chair is an explosion of color, texture, and playful chaos, while Thonet’s is an icon of industrial efficiency and graceful simplicity. Through spatial design, this exhibition translates their contrasting philosophies into immersive environments that extend beyond mere observation. The conventional use of neutral “White Cube” …

Post Salt: Adaptive Architecture For An Uncertain Climate, Mallorie Beckner

Masters Theses

Climate change is rapidly altering seasonal patterns, particularly in the Northeastern U.S., where winter temperatures have risen by approximately 3°F over the past century. As a result, infrastructure designed to support communities during winter conditions, such as road salt storage facilities, faces obsolescence. New York State, the largest consumer of road salt in North America, has 40 salt storage facilities in New York City alone, all of which are sited along interconnected waterways. Though often overlooked, this network of structures forms a critical part of the city’s response to winter weather. As these structures face a paradigm shift, their future …

The Afterlife Of Walls / Reimagining The Museum Beyond Possession, Bensu Girgin

Masters Theses

When artifacts are returned, whether to their original sites or to communities with enduring cultural and ancestral ties, what might museums become in their absence? Once defined by possession, these spaces could shift toward empathy: not through institutional authority, but through shared presence and living memory.

This thesis critiques how Eurocentric museum practices have long sustained a colonial logic by detaching artifacts from the cultural, spiritual, and embodied contexts that gave them meaning. In doing so, museums render objects static, symbols of conquest rather than continuity, and reinforce historical narratives rooted in domination and erasure. Centering the British Museum as …

Scattering Garden - Designing For Cremated Ash Scattering In Cemetery Landscapes, Sathya G. Munagamage

Masters Theses

Cremation is gaining popularity as a preferred after death care procedure. Therefore the need for spaces to bury or scatter cremated ashes is also rising. “Scattering Gardens”, as specific spaces allocated for cremated ash scattering in cemetery landscapes will play a significant role in responding to this shift. The effect of accumulation of these ashes on soil ecology is a rising concern. My thesis investigates the socio-cultural and environmental effects of cremated ashes in the landscapes in which they are placed. Using the North burial ground cemetery as a test site for my investigations, I explore the potential of design …

Giving Space To Equity: Creating Modular Mentorship Spaces For At-Risk Youth, Helei Gomariz-Robertson

Masters Theses

The built environment is a physical manifestation of a society’s values and priorities. The way space is allocated reflects what a society deems significant, shaping how communities and cities function on both a practical and symbolic level. In Washington, D.C., this relationship between space and meaning is particularly evident. The city’s layout was carefully designed to emphasize national identity, with monuments and memorials occupying central locations that highlight their historical and symbolic importance. However, not all spaces receive the same attention or resources. For example, the only youth rehabilitation center serving the Washington, D.C., area is built to accommodate just …

From In To Out, Jaeyeon Shin

Masters Theses

In contemporary Korean society, where uniform ideals and social pressure often dominate, individuality—especially emotional individuality—can be difficult to maintain. This loss of personal agency has real consequences: mental and physical health challenges, including eating disorders, are on the rise.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 3 percent of the global population is affected by such disorders—roughly 1.55 million people in South Korea—despite the country having the lowest obesity rate among OECD nations. The increase, particularly among women in their teens to thirties, reflects the emotional toll of conforming to rigid societal standards.

Architecture is not merely a backdrop …