Architecture Commons^™

Liquid Border, Yingfan Jia

Masters Theses

A River is a mighty and constantly-evolving force, leaving behind an intricately designed and constantly changing system. Not just a river, the Rio Grande stretches all the way from Colorado before intersecting with the US-Mexico Border in southern Texas - a point where the powerful forces of nature now merge with a clearly-defined political boundary. The outcome of this is a unique ecological niche, which may often go unnoticed despite its distinctiveness.

Texas is famous for its farms and ranches, and the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas was once an agricultural hub. However, urbanization and the depletion of water …

Landscape De/Re-Construction Through Art, Manuel Gonzalez

Masters Theses

Contemporary landscape architecture practice and education primarily focus on ecological and technical interventions. The climate crisis we find ourselves in demands scientifically informed decisions and well-engineered execution of projects, but, more importantly, creativity and innovation.

The fine arts, which were once integral and foundational to design, are today largely unappreciated and appropriated. The spiritual power of Art, Aesthetics, and Beauty, explored at length through art history and theory, are often viewed as indulgent or secondary to execution. The gap between Art & Design has widened. As a result, designers face challenges in fostering in individuals the kind of care and …

Spatial Reveries, Alexander Wenstrup

Masters Theses

We live in a hazy existence marked by rapid pace, development, digital consumption, and a deteriorating environment. Spatial Reveries hopes to counter the current trajectory and offer an alternative perspective by presenting one with moments of awe, discovery, and wonder to improve the disconnect between society and their surroundings. The work refers to a history of anamorphic art, cubism, deception, and optical phenomena in Western society. It operates on the urges and instincts of the artist, utilizing massing, light, transparency, horizons, and vastness, to challenge perceptions of space, time, and memory. Through the play of perspective and projection the work …

You're Making Me Sentimental, Chris Geng

Masters Theses

My project is a personal search for a different way to see the footprint we have left on the landscape. A way of seeing that finds potential in existing buildings without placing the building in the background, that instead engages sentiments in order to approach reuse as an act of layering that retains the memories of before. I went about uncovering the memories of a site through film photography, a process equally rooted in nostalgia and sentimentality. These images attempt to capture the beauty of melancholy and in turn, ask the architect and audience to slow down and contemplate as …

Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites Of Trauma, Abigail Zola

Masters Theses

“Emotional contamination,” describes residual feelings associated with a space where a negative or tragic event occurred to an individual or group either personally, historically, or politically. Emotional contamination affects people’s associations with place and informs their willingness to spend time in them. This project considers a set of design principles rooted in uncovering and acknowledging the lifespan of a site, and considers how this acknowledgment can exist as an urban system rather than an individual architectural artifact. My thesis work analyzes five case studies in Berlin where political and economic factors determined the result of intervention, and how these sites …

Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories Of Water And Earth, Alexis Violet

Masters Theses

Unearthing Complexity investigates conceptions of time and surface through geological stories of the water and earth. Building on theories of deep time, hydrofeminism, critical zones, and grounding, I hope to foster a deeper awareness of time scales other than our own and a more tangible understanding of the embodied experience of matter in the universe. Working toward a new literacy of the water and earth in which they are recognized as living, changing bodies to which we are inherently tied at a molecular level, the site of this multiscalar inquiry occurs in the coastal zones of the Narragansett Bay where …

Cohabitation X Adaptation, 2100: A Climate Change Epoch, Kyle Andrews

Masters Theses

Some seventy-seven odd years in the future, the world as we know it will only be recognizable by those who are willing to accept it. The bustling metropolis of Boston Massachusetts has been transformed to appease the tides of Mother Nature as a consequence of human intervention. In the decades prior, humanity viciously fought to contain the effects of climate change, until many realized the colossal undertaking of such a battle. Municipalities across the globe had begun to accept that fighting the earth was no longer an option. Instead, the only hope forward was to adapt to a reality in …

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

Norteada- En Busca De Un Nuevo Norte. Cocoon Portals And The Negotiation Of Space., Kimberly Ayala Najera

Masters Theses

ACT 1

The symbiotic relationship between the turtle and butterfly through lachryphagy, where the butterfly gathers nutrients through drinking the tears of the turtle, brings us to an abandoned turtle shell, our site of exploration. Our turtle friend has long since passed, leaving behind an empty shell that’s become developed and inhabited.

En nuestro analisis de border, to borderland, we arrive at border creep. Border creep, o la fluencia de la frontera, perpetua la tierra fronteriza mas alla y se convierte en una experiencia encarnada.

“Soy una tortuga donde quiera que vaya llevo a casa en mi espalda.”

-Gloria Anzaldua, …

Evanescent: Animating Space, Kyle Servando

City and Regional Planning

A redesign of the open space of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA into an plein air gallery for the public to be their own artists.

Realizing Innovation And Sustainability: A Case Study Of Macau Sar’S Smart City Development Capabilities, Yujia He, Felix Ter Chian Tan, Carmen Leong, Jingbo Huang, Don Rodney Junio

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

The emergence of digital technologies has transformed organizational innovation with important implications for a city, its economy and policymaking. Despite this, research on how capabilities underpin innovation through smart city initiatives is still lacking. To address this gap, we conduct an empirical investigation of smart city initiatives in Macau, a former Portuguese colony and now special administrative region (SAR) of China. The case study adopts a qualitative approach, using data collected through fieldwork observations and in-depth interviews with stakeholders, and analysis of secondary documents. The study develops a stage-based assessment of innovation capabilities related to the use of technologies in …

The Center For Centering Dome, Olek Piechaczek, Ryan M. Scharf

Architectural Engineering

The Center for Centering seeks to create a large-scale healing center, conducive to individual centering of the mind and body. This mobile installation provides a relaxing, enclosed space while still maintaining a connection to the outdoors. The clients liked the idea of having a pop-up installation that could be easily set up as a touring display. With a deadline for installation looming in June 2022, a team of students had five months to design and manufacture the structure.

In winter 2022, the students developed custom geometry to minimize the number of individual parts and built a ¼ scale model of …

Architectural Education And Targeted Skills An Evaluation Study Of Scientific Research Influence As Of Mechanisms Of Teaching And Learning, Heba Mahrous Ali

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The Engineering Study offers students an effective and technologically built education, considering the future prospects of science and technology. It also provides the technical knowledge and skills necessary to solve problems that allow future challenges to be addressed. Architecture is based on knowledge and skills in humanities, physics, humanities, and fine and applied arts. Therefore, what is taught about engineering subjects affects the extent of students' perception and this is evident in the extent of its interaction in the form of examinations or research. Scientific research is of great importance in he understanding of the student's understanding of scientific material. …

Recipes For Building Relationships, Adriana Lintz

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the history of women's access to education and the issues of gender disparity in education. I focus on single-gendered schools as I write from personal experience to describe the benefits for individuals in single-gender educational systems. I cite conflicting research on how men and women learn regarding biological, cognitive, and developmental differences. I illuminate some of the benefits of single-gendered education through research, experience, and personal communications. I write about the controversies and disparities regarding education and single-gender schools. I document research on the issues women face in education and the politics of women’s bodies and minds …

To Open A Clearing: Cultivating Spaces Of Endurance In The Upper Amazon, Brunno De Melo Meirelles Douat

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

To effectively challenge the policies of extraction implemented by late liberal regimes, the Waorani communities from Upper Amazon have devised spatial strategies to defend their traditional territory. By re-examining the concept of the contact zone and unfolding settler and Indigenous literature, spatialities, and worldviews, this thesis suggests the concept of forest Clearings as a means to explore spatial forms of endurance.

Clearings emerge within the Amazon in sites where encounters between divergent worldviews embody otherwise modes of existence. Through a series of fieldwork reflections, these Clearings are perceived as spaces where ontological negotiations are more likely to occur, strategies of …

Historical Archaeology At The Chalmers Institute, Mississippi's First University, Antosia Briggs

Honors Theses

This study presents a basic description and analysis of the artifacts collected from the 2015 archaeological excavation conducted in Holly Springs, Mississippi at the Chalmers Institute site. The thesis includes history and background on Holly Springs as a city to orient the reader. This text also includes information regarding the program, Preserve Marshall County, as their work regarding the building and site ties directly into the ability of the student archaeologists being able to excavate in 2015 as well as the future of the building. This study analyzes the artifacts found based on the frameworks of the archaeology of institutional …

Wasteful To Useful: Investigating The Metamorphosis Of Textile For Construction Methods, Elizabeth Rodriguez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Every year, the average American generates over 80 pounds of textile waste. Since the 1990s, consumer behavior has shifted as mass production of items has become the norm. Production of clothing alone already impacts the environment as it requires immense amounts of chemicals, energy, water, and other natural resources. So, when consumers throw away clothing and brands decide to discard overproduced items, it ends up in landfills where it takes over 200+ years to decompose. Furthermore, a large percentage of unwanted clothing will be sent off to third-world countries to try to resale or recycle. Yet, the amount being imported …

Restitution: Restoration Of A Post-Colonial Identity Through Memorial Architecture, Toyin Olurebi

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The Nigerian Diaspora use the Pidgin phrase, “Naija no dey carry last”, is a constant reminder to generations to succeed no matter how far you are from Nigeria and creating opportunities from the ground. The impact of colonialism has tainted the rich history of Nigeria for generations through implanting a conceptual Terra Nullius (No Man’s Land) as a right to claim land. The Europeans’ Scramble for Africa forced neighboring ethnic groups into colonies and separated generations through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, growing the Diaspora. Slowing, West Africa was being exploited for its rich resources as well as its cultural identity, …

Uni_Form Space: Exploring Environment Through Fashion+Architecture, Alanzo Price

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Henry Van de Velde advocated for the German concept, ‘Gesamtkunstwerk’ which translates to ‘total work of art’. This concept became popular during the Art Nouveau Movement around the 1890s when architects began utilizing their knowledge of scale to design fashion and other everyday objects like silverware. Though this concept has produced intriguing designs, architects still shy away from design processes that seem ornamental assuming that they will not produce work that is ‘architectural’. The goal of this project is to create an architectural environment by curating designed elements that use a recognizable design language present in fashion and architecture. The …

Archi-Comics, Timothy Gatto

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Humor in architecture is not at the forefront of architect’s minds, this comes from architects need to be deemed serious. This way of thinking is what has backed architects up into a corner banal and stagnant architecture. Architecture is the art of context, everything in architecture is referential. Humor is foundationally the exact same way, the incongruity theory makes humor possible by putting a concept into context with things and finding contradictions in the process, thus developing a joke. Each of these arts, humor and architecture, are that of context and when architecture is delivered like humor, it points out …

(Not) Knowing, Jared Friedman

Theses and Dissertations

Jared Friedman’s work creates monuments out of banal common objects. Through acrylic paintings on- Astroturf, burlap, canvas, and upholstery fabric- he explores the ambiguity of the unremarkable, such as the condenser coils on the back of a refrigerator. In, (Not) Knowing, he parses the difference between knowing and understanding.

Two Churches, One Vision: Sacred Architecture As A Reflection Of Benedictine Values And Liturgical Reform, Katheryn Wethli

Obsculta

This piece compares the architecture of the worshipping spaces of Saint Benedict's Monastery's Sacred Heart Chapel and Saint John's Abbey Church; presenting how the worshiping spaces uplift their monastic communities’ Benedictine values and demonstrate their monastic call towards evangelizing the Gospel in the modern world, highlighting the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century.

Biodive, Morgana Faucett

Graduate Theses

Humans exist among an intertwined series of ecosystems and environments. As a species, we curate the spaces, these environments, that surround us to suit our internalized visions of the world. While such curation is not inherently negative, humanity’s industrial process of constructing our visions is not always handled with sustainable methods. This paper analyzes my creative work through the framework of architecture’s role in climate change and human impact, highlighting past and present building practices. Solutions for future practices will also be considered, specifically targeting the questions of construction material, building function, and repurposing of older buildings to achieve a …

Of Word And Stone: The History Of Medieval Spain Through The Lens Of Architecture And Language, Samantha Hernandez

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Medieval Spain is a unique summation of religious and cultural communities. Through the built forms of Al-Andalus, there is unique preservation of societal imprints that parallel the formation of the Castilian language. These two mediums—architecture and language—are a telling of the culture and history of the region. By first observing the historical formation of Spanish, and in turn the various communities which inhabited the Iberian Peninsula, one may find many correlations with architecture created at the same time. After understanding the historical making of the Spanish language, it is important to analyze the language itself and how it differs from …

We Are Gullah: A Community Approach To Preserving Gullah Geechee Historical Sites Of Significance, Peter Gaytan

All Theses

The National Register of Historic Places is an inventory established by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 that identifies architectural and archaeological sites significant to American history. The National Register was created to encourage the documentation, evaluation, and protection of America’s historic resources. Over 96,000 historic properties, sites, and structures are currently listed on the National Register. Despite the number of historic places listed on the National Register there is still an overwhelmingly low number of sites listed on the National Register relating to underrepresented communities. This thesis assessed the definition of significance laid out in the National Register …

Procedural City Generation With Combined Architectures For Real-Time Visualization, Griffin Poyck

All Theses

The work and research of this paper sought to build upon traditional city generation and simulation in creating a tool that both realistically simulates cities and their prominent features and also creates aesthetic and artistically rich cities using assets that combine several contemporary or near contemporary architectural styles. The major city features simulated are the surrounding terrain, road networks, individual buildings, and building placement. The tools used to both create and integrate these features were created in Houdini with Unreal Engine 5 as the intended final destination. This research was influenced by the city, town, and road networking of Ghost …

Museum Of The Mechanical Eye: The Phenomenology Of Perception In Architecture, Isabel Sierra

Architecture Senior Theses

Since ancient tines, philosophers have tied knowledge to clear vision. Sight has been deemed the most important sense to mankind. Plato said vision was "humanity's greatest gift." It is human nature to make optical conclusions, to reify, to totalize, to control. What is seen is assumed to certain because of the uncontested and unexplored optical gray areas upheld by our rational and technological culture. We solidified our ocular-centric society by creating vision-generated understandings of knowledge, truth, and reality. Architecture, along with art and film, deals directly with human existence in space. Architecture is the construction of human perception.

The universe …

Economic Impact Assessment Of Nature-Based Coastal Resilience Solutions In Charleston. Estimating Local Economic Effects With Algorithm-Based Supporting Tool., Oksana Veselkova

All Theses

Coastal cities are at the forefront of the risks induced by climate change. Local communities are adversely affected, but the essential cultural assets and economies are also at risk of damage or destruction. In the efforts to limit hazard risk exposure, local governments are increasingly planning for long-term flood protection. One prospective flood risk mitigation measure is living shorelines or nature-based adaptation. The coastal ecosystems, such as beaches, wetlands, barrier islands, oyster reefs, and salt marshes, deliver multiple benefits to communities, including recreation, natural resources, freshwater, and carbon sequestration. Moreover, when combined with structural solutions, they can effectively reduce water …

Jefferson Barracks Post Theater: A Place For People To Gather, John Granicke

Undergraduate Research Symposium

The Jefferson Barracks Military Post had a rich and extensive history during its 120 years as an active military installation. The Post Theater was just one aspect of everyday life at Jefferson Barracks. This project is part of a collection of historic research blogs about Jefferson Barracks done in collaboration with St. Louis County Parks. The blogs will soon be available to view on the Jefferson Barracks County Park website.

The story of the Jefferson Barracks Post Theater begins with the Old Post Theater, which was built during World War I. From 1933 to 1944, four more post theaters were …

The Curia Julia: Its History, Materials, Use, And Preservation Through The Centuries, Katharine Bogen

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

The Curia Julia has one of the most fascinating histories out of all the buildings in Rome. Julius Caesar began its construction in 44 BCE in the Forum Romanum as the meeting place for the Roman Senate, and it continued to serve as such until the eventual fall of the Roman Empire. Today, the building stands almost completely intact, a feat that is not common for other structures of the same period. The reason why it has remained standing for so many centuries is due to its history of use: it was transformed into a church in the 7th century …