Architecture Commons^™

Life After Dark, Austin Bamford

Masters Theses

Witnessing the movements of the moon, stars, Milky Way and meteors is a fundamental first step in examining our roles in the universe and revealing the material origins of the landscapes we inhabit. It is this cosmic understanding that leads us to steward our environments and identify who we are.

We see the choreography of the stars not only by seeing the celestial bodies with telescopes or the naked eye, but also by experiencing the ways in which ambient light interacts with ground—changing by the minute, season and year. It is the dynamics between source and surface that catches us …

The Present, Ann Motonaga

Masters Theses

My thesis asks how can architecture create spatial experiences that hold us in the present moment? I investigated how good stories that follow a structure of constriction and release as defined by Christopher Booker, and that exists in the Japanese culture that engage the imagination and senses to allow us to return to the present moment. In addition, I looked at other forms of “constriction” such as paper and thread making, and the Buddhist philosophy of menmitsu that emphasized a slow process and being present.

Since the industrial revolution our lives have gotten increasingly more efficient. Because of this time …

Environmental Diversity For Student Residence Life, Jiaying Bai

Masters Theses

Anxlety, stress and difficulties in handling human relationships are the three most serious and common mental health problems among students of the Rhode Island School of Design, according to Shauna Summers, director of RISD Counselling and Psychological Services. As one of the best design schools in the country, RISD admits top applicants. It's common for students who had brilliant grades and performance in high school to find themselves no longer the best among their collea13ues, Moreover, the seemingly constant perfect performance of those around them adds to anxiety and stress. For these students, it is hard to recognize value in …

Future Street, Wushuang Xing

Masters Theses

This book seeks to identify future street typology in the City of Miami for better adaptation to sea-level rise, hurricanes and flooding. Based on the current transportation system, streets in Miami could be improved and be more resilient during natural disasters and be more navigable after disasters have passed. Currently, urban streets in Miami always confront failure during and after hurricanes and flooding. Because of rising sea levels, these problems are going to increase in severity, which could have an even greater impact on people’s daily lives and recovery after disaster. Consequently, improving urban street typology in Miami could have …

Architecture As An Adapter : A Revolution In High-Rise Corporate Architecture, Nan Zou

Masters Theses

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, but the one most responsive to change” is the core of Charles Darwin’s Natural Selection theory. This relates not only to biology, but architectural typologies over time.

Office design has gone through many periods of evolution to reflect changes in industry and the workforce: from Ford’s assembly line to office cubicles to the open plan workplace and today’s anti-office. Designers have been mediating between workers and space for better performance for over 100 years -- though none of these anticipated the need for complete flexibility.

Through the development of automated …

Moments Of Rotary Motion : Temporary Use In Vacant Industrial Heritage Architecture, Xuecheng He

Masters Theses

The vacant industrial historic building at 145 Globe Street within the Jewelry District in Providence, Rhode Island is designated one of the ten most endangered historic properties in the city. After surviving many stalled plans for renovation there are no efforts underway to save it, and deterioration from natural elements and vandalism continues. Many Industrial heritage buildings wait in a similar limbo. When there are no definite plans for renewal, often these buildings are left vacant for years without routine maintenance, causing severe damage and posing a threat to public safety. These buildings should be used as a resource in …

Redundancy For Change, Kyuyeon Park

Masters Theses

We live in a world where efficiency is the best quality. A building is the same. We try to maximize the efficiency of the use of space and energy. However, is this design still efficient in the long term? Most modern commercial buildings are designed for a specific program such as residential or school and have little extra space or capacity to maximize the efficiency for now. It makes it hard for the building owners to change the building’s floor plan, programs, and facilities. Buildings should be able to change its program, structures, and mechanical services over time to adjust …

Living With Mega-Cavity, Ankang Xu

Masters Theses

With the future depletion of mineral resource, huge quarry pits will be remained in many areas in Massachusetts. They are like vast “scars” laying beside the urban fabric which create a sense of “urban sublime”. They exist abhorrently but definitely have significant influence on the region at many levels, such as ecology, hydrology, economy and society. Moreover, the abandoned mine pits have become a global environmental issue. How to deal with these “scars” will be a vital topic in the future.

In phase 1, the researcher focused on the study of quarries in Massachusetts and the recognition of “Urban Sublime” …

We Can Host! : Preparing Miami's Neighborhoods For An Amphibious Future, Dongning Huang

Masters Theses

HOST is a thesis investigation that seeks to understand the impact that rising water levels will have on the city of Miami. This investigation will take place within the larger context of global sea level rise and will examine a variety of events including flooding and hurricanes. The goal of the work is to promote a conversation about the types of adaptive strategies that can be applied to Miami, how they can be applied, and how to visualize the dynamic of the impact of rising water levels so that the people who live in, work in, or visit Miami will …

Living With Impoundment, Chuxiong Feng

Masters Theses

This research-based thesis uses Miami as a site to investigate how landscape intervention can contribute to adaptation to sea level rise (SLR) and shifts it will bring to this region in the future. The whole thesis is divided into three phases and each phase has specific objectives and builds foundations for research and experiments in the next phase.

Phase One: Possible Future of Freshwater Wetlands in Miami Depict a full picture of the impact that sea level rise has had and will have on the city of Miami with particular emphasis on wetlands. The investigations include overlaying sea level rise …

Ambiguous Surfaces : Dressing The Wall, Dressing The Room, Dressing The Building, Danni Zhang

Masters Theses

Fashion and architecture are the results of configuring surfaces. The surface of architecture is distanced and objective. The surface of fashion is tangible and sensible.

Dressing of an individual provides a definition of private space. Dressing of a group of people provides a definition of communal space.

My thesis interest is to explore the ambiguity between these two disciplines to create the intermedium layer of clothing surface and the building surface. The aim to explore different gradients of privacy between the private and the public, disconnections and reconnections, intimacy and distance to find a way in which they can all …

Columns Of Some Kind : Kinetic, Structural, Formal, Periodic & Interactive Elements Of Architecture, Jhanani Palanismay

Masters Theses

Architects and designers exist within the matrix of artificial intelligence and animate tools, therefore we are faced with the task of examining what it means to ‘humanize’ architecture and foster a tangible and intangible interaction with the spaces we inhabit. The poetics of architecture is now interpreted through the degree of engagement with technological advancements.

As an architectural element, the ubiquitous column exists within the substrate of floor and ceiling. In designing an animate column while retaining structural integrity, an opportunity is created for dialogic feedback between the user and the built environment, thereby activating different spatial conditions.

The generation …

Providence Productivity Framework : Ideas For A Network Of Sites Rethinking Productivity In Providence, Patricia Noto

Masters Theses

This thesis attempts to answer the broad question: “How can designers have a role in creating or enhancing productive systems in cities?”

The focus is on rethinking the function of public and quasi-public space with the aim of building inclusiveness, ecological diversity, and productivity. The project explores the meaning of productivity and works to push the defi nition of urban productivity to include but also extend beyond community gardens. For example, a productive city might include a network of agroforestry sites, sites being remediated so that they can grow food in the future, a nursery on a capped brownfi eld …

Shadow Theater, Yaodan Wu

Masters Theses

In this project, I try to explore the relationship between light and shadow, light and image. From exploring the formula of lens refraction, to observe unique path of object moves created by nature. I am always exploring and trying to use architecture in response to light and to sculpture light, and attract people to come to this space feeling light, interact with light. In this space, people, architecture, light and shadows are as the elements of mutual equality, influence in interaction, waving the space tighter.

Project is located in Pemaquid Point, Maine State. In the day time light are mainly …

Transporting Eating Architecture, Margaret Kiladjian

Masters Theses

For my thesis, I worked on transporting, or perhaps translating, the lavash practice. An Armenian flatbread cooked in a tonir •. A hearth symbolizing the sun in the ground. My disciplinary positioning is one of conservation and preservation.

I looked at the practice of Lavash at three horizontal levels: The land, the refectory and the table. Each of these levels informed me on where and how I would be transporting the practice. The village women, when making lavash, were living next to the field where the wheat is grown and harvested. They were using stone mills, which allowed the grain …

Decoding The Digital Border, Gian Villarruel

Masters Theses

We come to rely on computer hardware and digital software to generate and digitize the world around us and the degree of distortion latent in “street view” and public domain digital representations is rarely brought to the fore. Organized information made up of data scripts and RGB values within an intangible space have now become what many assume to be architecture. But where, between all that translation of information, does our sense of history and culture lie? What impressions remain and what memories are lost from the collective of digital representations when the only things left to define them are …

The Space In Between : Liminal Space, Wei-Chun Cheng

Masters Theses

Drawings are not just a representation of the architecture. We ask questions through drawings and solve questions by drawings. Every line on the paper is constructing a thinking, an idea. The moment you draw, ideas start to evolve. The way you draw reflects the way you think. Your drawings will function as a trigger to stimulate your brain to imagine the world differently.

This thesis is a journey of discovery through draw “boundary”. The site, architecture language, and program will emerge from the process of drawing.

Designing For Disaster Resilience In Puerto Rico, Aislin Mac Donald

Masters Theses

Being hit by both Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Maria in September 2017, Puerto Rico was left devastated economically, psychologically, and infrastructurally. After Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico entered into what would become the longest blackout in US history, and the second longest blackout in global history. Forty-eight per cent of the island was left without access to clean water and the death toll has risen to over 1000 people. The lack of federal support and Puerto Rico’s depleted economy has become a dire human rights issue. Federal relief efforts were delayed, disorganized and underfunded. Many people did not know where or …

Open Community : Break Up The "Superblock", Ke Xie

Masters Theses

This thesis proposes a redesign of the "superblocks" of Wuhan (China).

A Third Thing : An Exploration Of Black Hair In Architectural Design, Christina B. Schaller

Masters Theses

“African-American architects have been unable to articulate our own truth or vision of the future except as a reflection of the very culture that marginalizes us. We are so spent by trying to get into the system that there is little time remaining to critique the historical condition that make our climb so difficult. Rather than develop a self-defined praxis of architecture that would make a real difference in the lives of our people, we mimic the values and goals that have created our oppression.” - Sharon Sutton

By looking at traditions, art and architecture in the African American community, …

Facade Of Democracy : Realizing The Architecture Of The Fourth Wall, Johnny Yueh Han Lin

Masters Theses

This thesis project explored the scope of democracy and seek the opportunity to relate the research into the discipline of architecture. This one-year thesis journey started from “Democracy in Words”, “Democracy as a Rule of Drawing”, which seek to develop a representation system under the wide topic of democracy. The second part, “Behind the Democratic Illustration”, used a series of collages and drawings to understand a contemporary democratic crisis. And in the last part of the thesis “Reveal the Democratic Truth”, develop an architectural project based on the previous knowledge to reveal the predicament of the society through a counter-design …

Archinaut : Archinaut Design Laboratory Office Manual, Joseph Echavarria

Masters Theses

Like all cities, they are built up of forgotten or neglected icons commemorating a certain event from the past. Over the years, some no longer have the same social impact they once had. There becomes a need when looking towards the future to preserve the icons of Houston and protect them from erasure.

A few native landmarks, some thriving more than others are replicated and reprogrammed creating a potemkin village within a new hyper urban environment. The new Houston, Hyper Houston, commemorates these icons by stripping the essential elements of these icons to produce these new altered icons of Houston. …

Me Too Park : Inform, Connect, Heal, Xiao Chen

Masters Theses

This project creates an urban sublime experience at an abandoned railroad in order to foster a reflection and healing experience in terms of sexual violence. The big strategy is evoking an urban sublime in the landscape as a bridge to inform, to connect and to heal. The experiment of physical actions to materials and how that could achieve the sublime experience above is also addressed.

In Phase I, the investigation focuses on the definition of sublime and what the sublime is using for. Literature review, site analysis, interviews and experiments are done to clarify the relationship between sexual violence, site …

City In / Above Water, Jin Yan

Masters Theses

Sea level rise is a serious situation facing coastal cities in the world. In the United States, Miami is one of the most vulnerable cities as far as sea level rise is concerned. Floods in Miami not only come from high seawater but also from inland rivers and frequent storm surges. With Miami as a target city, this paper was prepared after taking care of its current political, economic, and cultural status, aiming to explore the way in which Miami responds to rising sea levels and proposes future urban visions. The new solution may also be applied partially or completely …

Floating Miami, Jiongye Li

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on designing adaptations in order to reduce the impact of flooding in Miami, Florida. Flooding that is generated from stormwater, hurricanes and sea-level rises largely impacts upon Miami in terms of its transportation systems, eco-system and the daily lives of its residents. Even though a large number of adaptations have already been applied in some districts of this city, , such as improvement of pump stations and pipelines, the capacity and materials of those infrastructures still cannot resist the adverse impact brought by hurricanes or other natural disasters.

In order to understand the reasons why Miami has …

The Broadsheet September 29, 2017, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

The Broadsheet was a short-lived student newspaper published in 2017. The September 29, 2017 issue features articles on an "ethical consciousness post-Trump," improving critiques, the US pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords, the Social Equity and Inclusion Action Plan, the smoking ban at Kennedy Plaza, statue conservation, new programming at the library, an offensive incident involving a graphic designer and a sign language interpreter, and other items of interest.

Lighting : An Atrium Core To Reconnect With The Sun, Quan Lei

Masters Theses

At the Rhode Island School of Design, students work so much that they treat their studio as home; the majority stay in studio past midnight, which leads to lack of sleep. How to improve students’ physical and mental health is a question demanding immediate investigation, particularly as relates to rest. According to the scientists at the Lighting Research Center (LRC) in Troy, N.Y, engagement with daylight environments increase occupant productivity and comfort, and provide the mental and visual stimulation necessary to regulate circadian rhythms, encouraging more restful sleep. Students cannot function healthily because their busy schedules remove them from the …

Inhabit The Storm : Emergency Evacuation Route, Anastasiia Isakova

Masters Theses

Today a lot of design research is concentrated on problems of resiliency and performance in conditions of hazardous events, such as sea level rise, hurricanes, tsunamis, cyclones, earthquakes and drought. And while designers, architects and engineers try to convince people to care about these issues, offer building higher seawalls, recreating marshlands, reinforcing shorelines and various ecosystems, they never really address evacuation, which remains a big problem for vulnerable areas prone to cyclical occurrence of natural disasters.

More people die during evacuation - escaping the disaster site, rather than from the disaster itself; more people die because of the consequences of …

Super Natural : Hybrid Strategies For Urban Flood Protection In Coney Island Ny, Georges Fischer

Masters Theses

How will inundation change the design of city coastlines? This thesis is an investigation into strategies to mitigate urban flooding from storm surge in Coney Island NY.

In Phase 1, dynamic phenomena are identified and deconstructed, the result are properties that can be assembled to make a machine that applies forces to wet plaster, which solidified to yield insights into the sectional forms of waves. This process was used to inform a conceptual model documenting the site’s physical form, and the relative differences between land and water in terms of its density and porosity.

In Phase 2, a catalog of …

Wayfinding Streetscapes : How To Integrate A Wayfinding System Into The Streetscape, Improving Public Transit And Pedestrian Mobility, Lu Zhang

Masters Theses

This is a thesis investigation in 3 phases, integrateing wayfinding system into streetscapes by effective spatial planning and environmental communication, aiming to improve public transit and pedestrian mobility. Considering streets as one of the major sites of city life, they play a critical role in the process of daily information flow and communication. This entire thesis tests the possibility of adding a new layer into streetscapes as both a city infrastructure and a method to raise people’s awareness towards a certain site.