Architecture Commons^™

Building Energy Labeling: A Path To Improved Energy Performance For Commercial Buildings, Ronald Orville Nelson

Architecture and Planning ETDs

Architects, engineers, and builders have a unique opportunity to lead society and the economy through the current difficult times. Since studies show that buildings account for nearly half the nations energy consumption, our power derives from our ability to dramatically cut the energy consumption through energy efficient refurbishment of the vast existing building inventory and through energy efficient designs for new construction. This conservation has an amazing threefold benefit: through reduced consumption we extend the life of our limited natural resources; through reduced consumption we reduce our emission of greenhouse gases and thus reduce the threat of climate change; and …

Documentary Research And Archaeological Investigations At The Waite-Kirby-Potter Site, Westport, Massachusetts, Katharine M. Johnson, Christa M. Beranek, Kathryn A. Catlin, Laura W. Ng

Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research Publications

Research on the Waite-Kirby-Potter house in Westport, Massachusetts, included mapping historical resources visible on the surface and excavating 25 test pits and units near the house foundations in the fall of 2009. Field investigations were complemented by extensive documentary research including a complete chain of title and genealogical research on the three families who have owned the property between the late 17th century and the present. The visible historical features include elements associated with the former stone ender (the standing stone end and chimney, an adjacent brick chimney, and a stone-lined cellar hole), stone walls, a 19th-century barn foundation, a …

Architecture For Disparate Communities In Transitional China: Urban Housing Stitch For Chinese Migrant Workers And City Dwellers In Rapidly Urbanizing Cities, Jennifer Hoi Ling Ha

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Problem:

Two housing types in China’s urban cities serve two specific demographics, the city dweller and the migrant worker. The high-rise and the urban village reside on the same block of land but cannot coexist. In order to save the urban villages from being demolished and to keep the migrant worker population within the city, there needs to be a more appropriate and aggressive housing concept to address China’s “changing contemporary social reality” between the two demographic.

Methodology:

The first step is to understand the two typologies of housing. Through the study of migrant housing typologies in different major …

Conspicuous Space: Parking Lot Suburbanism, Ian Nicholson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

What can be accomplished without a car? In a city: everything. In a suburb: nothing. Without a car, one cannot escape the city. Without a city, one cannot escape the car. Neither city nor suburb is an ideal habitat. The city has no nature. The suburb has no culture. What’s good about the suburbs over the city? According to economics: houses.

The American dream has long been “one’s own house with a private yard” (Nelesson xi); an acre and a mule for every free citizen. But this dream has created distance; a nightmare of endless commutes and oil addiction. What …

Urban Fabrication: The Architectural Heightening Of The Urban Tactile Sensibility A Fiber Arts Fabrication & Exhibition Center In Dublin, Ireland, Elizabeth Fallon

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The discipline of fiber arts has been in existence since the beginning of civilization to produce both functional equipment as well as aesthetically driven art pieces. The craft, at times highly specialized, often produces elements at the scale of the human body, due to the personal level by which fiber artifacts are produced. The making of artifacts and implementation of fiber art strategies have simultaneous cultural, environmental, formal, and gender-related relationships and implications. The design, construction and experience of buildings and inhabitable space at all scales can benefit from these relationships.

It is the contention of this thesis to merge …

Increasing Stimulation | Decreasing Progression: The Built Environment’S Impact On Alzheimer’S And Dementia, Tracy Chin

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

With people living longer lives, the population of elderly is increasing at significant rates. Currently 5.3 million suffer from Alzheimer’s in America and 35 million people worldwide. The disease is one that deteriorates brain cells which in turn affects everyday thinking, behavioral problems, and results in a reduced mastery of one’s environment. The current typology is one that has been designed along the same premises of medical institutions and hospitals. The configuration results in narrow corridors and confined, unlit spaces that lead to disorientation and fear—exacerbating both physical and mental symptoms of the disease.

In addition to memory, sensory losses …

The Architecture Of Terroir: A Phenomenological Approach To The Design Of A Winery, Marina Gabriela Betti Albiero Brink

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The process of winemaking is a complex one that engages all the senses. Grapes are harvested at their optimal point for making wine. This is determined by the human touching of the grape still on the vine. In fermentation, the temperature of the room is critical in determining the quality of the wine produced. While aging, the smell and color engage the senses in testing the wine’s development. Tasting is not only a final step but also one that occurs throughout the winemaking process. In most instances, the sensory experience associated with winemaking is exclusive to the winemaker. I am …

Theatre For A New Theater: A Play On Architecture, Alexander Coulombe

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Not Included

Activating Infrastructure, Joanna T. Myers

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“The City Implant is an urban design project that can be used to strengthen an existing center or create a new one. It is a spatial and programmatic upgrade that gives an area the status of a center or increases the density of an existing center. Rather than intervening in undeveloped land, a City Implant should be a transformer of empty land and even under-exploited traffic junctions. A City Implant should describe the quality of centrality itself.” Alex Wall “Boomtown v. Regiocity: Thinking and designing or the Networked City Region.” (Almy, 286)

Transportation infrastructures across the United States create issues …

Silicommon: A Library Complex And Center For Technology Start-Ups In Palo Alto, Ca, Morgan Shaw

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not included

[Dis]Lodge; A Transformation Of The Ski Lodge In Response To Function And Site, Jacob E. Schneck

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Over the past century skiing has experienced remarkable growth in popularity, equipment and technique. From 1946 to the present the number of ski resorts in North America with operating lifts has grown from 15 to over 600. During this time skiing has developed from a means of winter travel into a sport that combines paramilitary precision and control with leisure. Driven by economic interests and the superficial imitation of European alpine architecture the contemporary ski lodge model has failed to meaningfully address these changes and has failed to address function and context in terms of both its formal organization and …

Urban Farming Mumbai, Ankur Patel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not included.

Gothic Revival Outbuildings Of Antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, Erin Marie Mcnicholl

Master of Science in Historic Preservation Terminal Projects

The Gothic Revival was a movement of picturesque architecture that is found all over the United States on buildings built in the first half of the nineteenth century. In Antebellum Charleston people tended to cling to the classical styles of architecture even when the rest of the nation and Europe were enthusiastically embracing the different picturesque styles, such as Gothic Revival and Italianate. In the United States the Gothic Revival style can be found adorning buildings of every use. One of the unique applications to be found is on kitchen buildings and carriage houses. These applications exhibit traits of an …

Undermining Impasse: The Role Of Architecture In The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Laura Ondrich

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Undermining Impasse: The Role of Architecture in the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

Abstract

Laura Ondrich

Architecture is political, in that it can be used to further an authority’s agenda, and the relationship between peoples under that authority can be affected by it. As the political tool of a ruling power, architecture in a place of ongoing conflict may propel the conflict and submit to its perpetuity at the detriment of participating peoples. Though politics are often considered intangible, certain conflicts exist in real space, thus there is an opportunity for architecture to create an influence. In this case where architecture - concrete …

‘Capital’ City: Creating An Approach To Urban Development In A Monumental City, Lindsay H. Davis

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Washington DC is the political capital of the country, nestled within a working city. It is under international scrutiny everyday, acting as the face we show the world. A recent development in the center city showed the world our view on future

urban development, as the historic Chinatown was completely demolished to make way for new condos and a convention center, leaving a single street for nostalgia. Is this how we should think about our cities futures? As architects, we often become obsessed with the details of our designs, forgetting the larger forces that impact these projects, or that they …

Stained Glass In The Holy City A Catalogue Of Ecclesiastical Stained Glass In Charleston, South Carolina, Eileen Grogan

Master of Science in Historic Preservation Terminal Projects

Charleston, South Carolina, is internationally known for its characteristic architecture and commitment to historic preservation. A wide variety of religious denominations have been represented here since the city was founded in 1670, and ecclesiastical buildings play an important role in the city’s cultural and architectural history. Sailors returning to this early trading port dubbed it “The Holy City” for its church spires, so numerous they were visible even from out at sea. Many houses of worship on the peninsula are home to stained glass windows which date from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These windows are historically significant …

Charleston History Through Architecture: Educating Students About Historic Preservation, Cultural Heritage, And Social History In Charleston, South Carolina, Katherine Leslie Stamps

Master of Science in Historic Preservation Terminal Projects

No abstract provided.

Local Urban Interventions And Their Role In Economic Development. An Evaluation Of Key Policy Inputs Based Upon Irish And Polish Approaches Supported By European Union Initiatives 1992-2002, Izabela Litewska

Doctoral

The importance of local economies, based on a bottom-up approach, has been increasingly prioritised by urban policy makers as the vital factor that conditions economic development. Modern policy approaches, which are explored in this research, regard local economic development as a process deriving from both, market processes impacting upon local structures, functions and spatial planning, and non-market dimensions based on environmental and social measures. Since the 1990s, both Dublin in Ireland and Upper Silesia in Poland have represented urban regions where economic and social deprivation is being addressed by a range of area-based initiatives but from different perspectives. The research …

Utilizing Jicarilla Apache Knowledge To Enrich The Watershed Watch Program Curriculum For The Benefit Of The Jicarilla Apache Youth, Rebecca Rae

Architecture and Planning ETDs

The thesis explores the notions of decolonization, Indigenous knowledge, and empirical knowledge of place as a foundation for implementing Jicarilla Apache knowledge into the Watershed Watch Program. Two lesson plans were created utilizing Jicarilla Apache stories and knowledge to teach Jicarilla Apache youth about the water cycle, plants, and culture. By connecting Indigenous teachings with western scientific teachings Jicarilla Apache youth will gain a greater understanding of the natural environment with relevance to their heritage.

Articulation Of Deaf And Hearing Spaces Using Deaf Space Design Guidelines: A Community Based Participatory Research With The Albuquerque Sign Language Academy, Charlene A. Johnson

Architecture and Planning ETDs

The purpose of this project is to conduct Community Based Participatory Research exploring how articulation between deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students at the Albuquerque Sign Language Academy can be enhanced using Deaf Space Design Guidelines in the school facility. The ASLA is a Bilingual school with an ASL and spoken English curriculum. Unlike traditional schools for the deaf, the ASLA enrolls deaf, hard of hearing and hearing children in a multicultural environment, which includes Deaf Culture among the cultural identities. Five qualitative research methods were used with participation from mostly hearing ASLA staff, faculty and parents. The ASLA …