Architecture Commons^™

Fluid Ground: Imagining A Floating Future For Tuvalu, Yuxi Liu

Masters Theses

Climate change is posing great challenges to Tuvalu, a small archipelago in the center of the Pacific Ocean. With low elevations above sea level, poor soil, and limited land resources, Tuvalu is considered to be one of the smallest countries in the world, as well as the most vulnerable nation under climate change. About 2000 years ago the seafaring Pacific Islanders inhabited the archipelago and developed its unique culture following the fluid geographies of atoll islands––a culture that was once associated with the notion of paradise, and which gradually faded away with the arrival of western colonizers in the 19th …

Affordable Green: What Cause Landscape Gentrification And How We Deal With It, Siyu Pan

Masters Theses

The topic of this thesis is to figure out how landscape gentrification happened and what we can do to decelerate the process. The first phase of this thesis includes a brief introduction and definition to the term “Gentrification“, its history and the process. Discussions about how such a situation would influence communities and related people would also be mentioned in this part. The last part in this phase is the analysis of some recent research about gentrification world wide. The second phase is a transition from gentrification to landscape gentrification. This part analysis of the cause and effect of landscape …

Mother River: Restoring Transiting Producing, Rui Yang

Masters Theses

The Fen River, located at the Loess Plateau in Shanxi Province, is one of the most important life sources for local people. Most residents in the past relied on farming to make life. As the only riverway that could serve for irrigation in the region, Fen River provided a huge amount of water and fed plenty of people. In addition, nearby lands were vastly used for agricultural purposes. The river acts as a spine to support people’s life for a long time. It is also called as the Mother River in the region.

However, as cities in the region quickly …

Land, Labor, Water: An Agricultural Commons In The Central Valley Of California, Jacob Lightman

Masters Theses

An Agricultural Commons in California's Central Valley examines the spatial and structural relationships between food systems, the ecologies that support them, and the unincorporated farming communities in The Central Valley. Current industrial practices in The Central Valley deplete water resources, deplete topsoil, create toxic living conditons for local communities, and undervalues farmlabor. Further pressures from climate change will inevitably cause greater instability in this food system and greater injustices towards the local communities and ecologies. The Central Valley is already a commons for Americans, as it supplies the majority of our year-round produce. Through a reevaluation of the idea of …

Driftscape: Maximize Urban Space Uses In The Context Of Densification, Sida Zhang

Masters Theses

This study aims to explore a systematic method to stimulate and maximize the use of the urban space in the context of urban densification, expanding urban space usage in the dimension of time and space. In this context, urban space is reclaimed as the notion of overlap between public and private space in urban figure-ground.

The research focuses on Providence as a study area that encompasses different transects of the urbanized American city and faces typical densification issues. It has strategically turned the issue of densification into opportunities for improving social interactions and space utilization. The “Driftscape” principle with its …

Optics / Perception / Experience: Regenerating Agricultural Landscape Through Railways, Tianyi Xie

Masters Theses

This thesis examines the relationship between two large infrastructure systems: the railway and agriculture. It’s becoming increasingly important as unhealthy nation-wide industrial agriculture is destroying people’s health and decreasing the long-term capacity of sustainable production of food. In the discipline of landscape architecture, there is a necessity to reform our thinking to match the modern-day development in population growth, transportation and mass production. There exists vast farmlands outside our city, which support our city life with energy and food sources. How could we get people to understand its significance? In chapter I and II, the history of agriculture and railway …

Across The Boundary: Addressing Segregation Along Transportation Infrastructure, Ruochen Wang

Masters Theses

Across the United States, we can see examples of cities where highways and railways pass between two ethnic communities or through communities of color and are used to further divide and segregate cities. Increasingly we are seeing a new typology of landscape architecture projects to transform, redesign, or remove transportation infrastructure to help ameliorate the negative impact of transportation infrastructure on neighboring communities and support public uses. However, these projects often lead to gentrification, whereby surrounding housing prices rise, and the original residents are displaced or lose their sense of belonging. The goal of my research is to understand how …

The Glob, Spring 2021, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

The Glob was a one-off student newspaper created for the course Words, Images and Ideas, ILLUS 3412-01, taught by Ernest A. Bryant III. Students contributed 1-2 pages each of writing and images on topics such as COVID-19, fashion and style, risograph printing, and more.

Second Act Conversion Of The Mercado De Xabregas, João Santa-Rita

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Under The Radar Joe Garlick On Real Estate Development And Equity, Elizabeth Debs, Liliane Wong

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

The Elephant Refuge 'Pre-Use' Vs ''Reuse', Heinrich Hermann

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Appropriating Architecture Digital Graffiti As Temporary Spatial Intervention, Dorothée King

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Being Architecture And Action From Descartes To Foucault, Barbara Stehle

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Empowering Actions The Participatory Renovations Of A Shelter, Christian Campagnaro, Nicoló Di Prima

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Free Speech Comes Home La Casa Del Hijo Del Ahuizote, Enrique Aureng Silva

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

The Past Embodied In Action, Laura Gioeni

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Klan Kosova Resisting New Order, Astrit Nixha

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

We Are Never Not Inside Discrete Objects And Nested Interiorities, Clay Odom

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Tactical Urbanism Where It Matters Small Scale Interventions In Underserved Communities, Sally Harrison

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Everybody's House The Rosa Parks House Project, Ryan Mendoza, Fabia Mendoza, Diogo Vale, João José Santos

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Temporary Acts The Decorators, Kristina Anilane, Luis Sacristan Murga

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Faraway, So Close Frac Nord-Pas De Calais: On Cloning And Duplication, Stefano Corbo

IntAR Interventions Adaptive Reuse

No abstract provided.

Revisionist Histories : Parallels Of Monuments And Absence In The Present, Scott Craft

Masters Theses

Monuments represent long-standing, ingrained social relations and beliefs. Monument architecture can also represent histories of significant, world-changing social and political events. One set of religious and cultural beliefs and practices alters and even eventually replaces another. Once accepted traditions of inherited political authority represented by emperors and monarchies are reformed, even rejected and overthrown by principles of human equality and the rights of all people. Constructs of racial and gender supremacy and authority are challenged, modified and overthrown by those considered inferior . Such social and political transformations challenge existing constructs while also using them in new transformative ways. The …

Specific : And Practices In The Urban Periphery, Sam Wesselman

Masters Theses

This body of work attempts to revisit the American suburban condition as a potential site of healing for the United States. Polarized politics have drawn hard lines between different groups of people in the US, typically along urban and rural identities. If the suburb is potentially defined as neither urban nor rural, what can it teach us about bridging cultural gaps that have opened up in America?

The suburb, generalized into a concept I call “peripherality”, can teach practices that are decentered and heterogeneous. Architecture, as a discipline whose role could be defined in this peripheral sense, always acting in-between …

Urban Memory : Beijing City Wall Ruins Reconstruction & Exhibition, Yuan Jin

Masters Theses

The question of how to renovate the Beijing City Wall Ruins Park raises issues that engage exhibition, architectural, landscape, and urban design, not to mention cultural relics protection. It demands that we consider our attitude towards history. The walls and towers that used to surround the city have disappeared over years of changes and demolition. Except for the Zhengyangmen Tower and Deshengmen Tower, only a fragment exists: a section of Ming Dynasty wall in the southeast corner of the inner city.

The length of the project site is about 1.5km, which includes the wall fragment. By using the tools of …

Generating Tension : Memorial Of Sexual Slavery, Mary Park

Masters Theses

War crimes, such as slavery and rape can lead to hatred between countries of perpetrators and victims, souring political relationships for generations. Memorials of these atrocities are the physical indication of an effort, however nascent, to continue the dialogue and keep questioning the tragic history. The memorial as a reminder of a specific incident, not only changes the relationship of surrounding spaces within the site but also between different groups that are engaged in that specific history.

In South Korea, the history of sexual slavery by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II has been a major cause of …

Dialogue Across Time : Atlanta, 1996 And 2020, Qianyu Liu

Masters Theses

In the opening ceremony of the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Games of 1996, millions of people watched Muhammad Ali as a cultural icon carried the Olympic flame torch to light the cauldron. He was shaking from his Parkinson’s, and it was an emotional moment for many people. Atlanta Cauldron Tower was designed by a pioneer contemporary artist, Siah Armajani, who produced a monolithic uninhabited sculpture you cannot climb. The tower of 106ft is still prominent when we look back to the historic photographs today.

However, the tower lost the context it relied upon along with the partial demolition of Centennial Stadium …

Envisioning Work : An Autism Friendly And Anxiety Free Office, Naixin Ren

Masters Theses

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication. It is estimated that worldwide 1 in 160 children has ASD, and in China, about 1 in 69 children has ASD.

There are many successful educational environments specially designed for people on the spectrum to support learning, understanding, and behaving. However, after graduating, it is usually very hard for people on the spectrum to move toward independence because there is a huge difference between school environments and office environments.

Most office environments are designed to meet the …

Re-Source : Re-Source Your Resources, Raquel Swartz

Masters Theses

Humans are using all of the earth’s natural resources and releasing unprecedented levels of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, endangering the planet’s viability. The implementation of sustainable design is no longer a luxury, and though eco-conscious construction and architecture have gained traction and have proven to reduce the built world’s contribution to the carbon footprint, interior design lags behind, even though it too, can reduce the industry’s negative impact. If architects and interior designers further consider the interaction between humans and objects with interior space through the awareness of sustainable practices, materials, and finishes, the built world’s contribution to the …

Banoo-Serai : An All Women Sanctuary, Kimia Rahnavardi

Masters Theses

When it comes to architecture, the layout and concept of most residential designs have remained the same as centuries ago. There has been this unspoken rule that there’s always someone, the woman, who is staying home to take care of children and the house while the man is outside providing for his family.

While this practice has been outdated for many decades in most countries, most societies lack suitable housing and childcare support for single women or widows. When these women cannot find a space that allows them to do both affordably, many women have no other option than stay …