Architecture Commons^™

Health And Healthcare: Designing For The Social Determinants Of Health And Blue Zones In North Nashville, Rebecca Tonguis, Honor Thomas, Olivia Hobbs

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Owned by North Nashville’s First Community Church, a now empty site in the Osage-North Fisk neighborhood of North Nashville has been identified as a potential site for a new location of The Store, in addition to a community-centric architectural development based on the social determinants of health and informed by the principles behind Blue Zones, the locations with the highest lifespans in the world. Opened by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, The Store is a free grocery store that “allow[s] people to shop for their basic needs in a way that protects dignity and fosters hope”, for which North Nashville …

Photography, Architecture, And Environment: An Architectural Analysis Of Edward Ruscha’S 26 Gasoline Stations, Rebecca Tonguis

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This presentation explores Edward Ruscha’s photobook 26 Gasoline Stations through an architectural lens. Specifically, it treats Ruscha’s work as historic evidence of how consumption, industry, and commodity have infiltrated all kinds of environmental contexts through architectural manifestations. Known for being the first artist’s book, 26 Gasoline Stations ambiguously exists as both fine art and documentation of everyday conditions, with the overall graphic character highlighting its perceived focus on overarching narrative. Since gasoline stations are the primary subject of each of the 26 photographs, the subject of this work is arguably architecture, suggesting that the historic relationship between mass gas consumption—or …

Center For The Study Of Sacred Artifacts, Grace A. Capps

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Sunken into a quarry in West Nashville, this project seeks to provide a home for the preservation, restoration, and study of ancient sacred artifacts. In an effort to explore how architecture can intervene in the conversation between faith and science, time is expressed through weathered materials and tells a story of gathering and connection.

From Concrete Jungles To Hemp Sanctuaries: The Rise Of Sustainable Building Practices, Kim Paige Sullivan

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The evolution of urban landscapes from dense, concrete-dominated environments to greener, more sustainable habitats marks a pivotal shift in architectural and urban planning paradigms. This paper explores the transition from "Concrete Jungles" to "Hemp Sanctuaries," highlighting the significant role of sustainable building practices and the adoption of carbon sequestering materials, with a particular focus on hempcrete. The historical context of rapid urbanization and industrialization in the early 20th century set the stage for the dominance of concrete structures, driven by economics often at the expense of environmental sustainability. This approach contributed to increased demand for resources, energy consumption, and greenhouse …

Property Pillagers: Effects Of Dirty Urbanism, Chase Wilson, Kayli Clark

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

This podcast dives into American urbanism and its associated development targeting certain minority communities; the ill intentions to disrupt specific neighborhoods led us to refer to the practice as “dirty urbanism”. The pair of I-40 and Jefferson Street in north Nashville, alongside similarly treated areas across the United States, exemplify dirty urbanism. Exercising their raw power and ability to cover up to 90% of the costs, the federal government incentivizes the local governments to construct the highway system: a highway system used as a racially motivated tool to sever black-built urban fabrics. With the highways, vehicular space overrides …

Adaptive Reuse Of Frosty Morn, Veronika Kalugina, Rebecca Tonguis, Heidi Gabriel, Peyton Kauffman

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Frosty Morn, a former meat packing facility in Clarksville, TN, is now abandoned, dilapidated, and partially demolished. The site sits within the Red River District neighborhood, which consists of a diverse community of artists. The Red River District has been identified by the Clarksville Mayor’s Office as an area with potential for growth, catalyzed by repurposing the Frosty Morn building as an icon and beacon of the community. Highest and best use research, in addition to community voices, indicated programmatic needs of a farmer’s market, makerspaces, small business incubators, park space, and live/work units. Our presentation will describe how this …

Pangaea: Designing A Human Community On Mars, Jennifer Ray, Giulia Ware, Alyssa Tabor

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The last half-century has produced scientific knowledge and technological advancements propelling humankind into the Golden Age of space exploration and travel. With the global gaze upon space, many are looking beyond the moon to the colonization of Mars. Once considered science fiction, hypothetical questions of human habitability in extra-terrestrial environments are becoming more of a scientific reality – and necessity - for the future of humanity.

Humans have successfully lived aboard Skylab and the International Space Station for long-duration space missions since the mid-Twentieth Century. The interior living and working quarters of these environments have long been engineered to create …

Nashville Transit Center, Ryan Plowman

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Despite being a rapidly growing urban core, Nashville and Middle Tennessee as a whole has had little development in transportation to serve its citizens. Access to Nashville is ruled by automobile travel, limiting opportunities for work and affordable living. This is a sustainability issue as well, with motor vehicles accounting for a large portion of carbon emissions, due to the forced individualized commuter lifestyle. To remedy automobile congestion and carbon emission, this project examines the introduction of train, bus, and river taxi transportation to Nashville, with Lower Broadway as a host and center point. The building’s design expands on the …

Nashville Trail Of Tears Memorial, Jason Thomas

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

The Nashville Trail of Tears Memorial honors the Cherokee Native Americans, implores its visitors to reflect on a challenging moment of our nation’s history, celebrates the resiliency of the Cherokee nation, and reweaves the broken social fabric by creating a place for all to gather in community with each other. Sitting on Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage site, the estate of the president who signed the Indian Removal Act into law, the memorial serves as a reminder of the journey the Cherokee took through Tennessee while on The Trail. The project specifically tasked students with highlighting the experience of a young Cherokee …

Nashville Trail Of Tears Museum, Emily Schiedemeyer

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Architecture is the manifestation of artistic expression which can serve as both a storytelling device and a mechanism to evoke an intentional emotional reaction of its occupants. The Nashville Trail of Tears Memorial is intended to reflect the story of the Cherokee nation and give visitors the opportunity to consider the horrific journeys taken. The Trail of Tears was the route taken by many Native Americans following the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of their lands, leaving many dead and families separated. Native to the southern part of the Appalachian chain, the Cherokee tribe is the group of people that …