Architecture Commons^™

Urban Systems Of The Refugee Camp, Julia Slater

Architecture Thesis Prep

Upon completion of my research I will design a system that allows the

flexibility needed by the people as well as the control the government

and NGO’s are responsible for providing. I will focus on the way playing

with the relevant scale can help to bridge the gap between indi

vidual

and group. Special configuration is a key component in forming

communal spaces. The integration of these spaces on every scale is

fundamental to achieving success. Issues of permanence can be addressed

though alternative building methodologies, and the lessons

learned from indigenous people.

Thickening: A 21st Century Approach For Resilience In Infrastructure, Marco Antonio Ravini

Architecture Thesis Prep

Infrastructure should be designed for higher RESILIENCE, not permanence. Rather than over-engineer to resist the inevitable failure of individual components, the next generation of public infrastructure needs to exceed its technical specifications and seek opportunistic hybridity between systems. In doing so, new possibilities for multi-layered use/outputs emerge which contribute to a more productive and resilient infrastructural lifespan.

Architecture Connects, Ryan Desilva

Architecture Thesis Prep

The envelope is the transaction zone between the ideal climate and the natural climate. The envelope has an important use as a driver for adaptive building use.

House As Mediator: Integrative Typology As Connector Between Land And Sea, Samantha Kudish

Architecture Thesis Prep

Rather than the water being an obstacle to coastal residential communities, water can act as an opportunity. Instead of barricading these areas from the water, integrating it with the area would create communities that are capable of living in unison with the ocean. This can introduce new typologies of housing that can withstand the continuing rise of sea levels. Blurring the line between land and sea by living with the sea will allow coastal regions to stay afloat, benefiting from ever-changing water conditions. A proposed new housing typology would introduce a new program to coastal neighborhoods, rather than putting up …

Decay And Opportunity Of Architecture, Alexa Hansford

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis aims to develop a connection between the newly elevated downtown Brooklyn and the cultural/civic center of lower Manhattan. One of the growth projects is known as the Urban Farming Initiative. Private areas through out the five boroughs have been redeveloped into community gardens. The public then cultivates and reaps goods for their personal use. Through the expansion of the Urban Farming Initiative this new network connection can act as the "bridge" between the two major city centers as well as creating a central hub for the farming network.

Compact Community, Abdulrazzak Alanjari

Architecture Thesis Prep

Small and compact spaces achieve a certain lightness

and “smallness” that large-scale architecture obviously

cannot achieve. The contention for my thesis is to explicitly

study the obsession with the large in Kuwait and

reasons for it, which might include climate, expanses of

land, and rapid oil industry development. By doing so,

a new typology for small spaces can be introduced in

Kuwait City and integrated into Al Sawaber Residential

community, the site, by expanding on certain elements

unique to the foreign labor communities and formally

creating spaces for that community, since they tend to

live with so little (space, luxuries, …

Parking, Alyssa Francis

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project re-conceptualizes the parking garage structure from a building type deemed as an utilitarian object, to a multi-functioning public service provider, to not only store cars for the individual but also as an infrastructured platform for providing urban amenity, providing much needed urban public space. This structure looks at the concept of garage to look beyond its normative function of purely car storage, and sees the potential of using the building both with and without vehicles, to ultimately act as a form of urban rehabilitation.

Fields In Fields, Or Infinite Space, Joshua Graham

Architecture Thesis Prep

I contend that the Field is important and

worth examining because it values the

“Typical” as a means of generating the

atypical, to borrow the term from Koolhaas.

This condition of “typical-ness” can criticized

for its repetition or sameness, however it is

only because of this repetition and sameness

that differences, mistakes, slips can emerge!

Therefore, I will begin with fields. I will

collect them. I will read about them. I will try

to diagram them. I will rescale them. I will

combine them. I will use images to make new

fields; reimagine territories.

Sitopia, Cesi Kohen

Architecture Thesis Prep

In the projected future urban world where NAFTA doesn't exist, fresh/organic fruits and vegetables are produced within the urban realm. The goal is to create a symbiotic relationship between agriculture and architecture; analyze how spaces and typologies are challenged in order to accommodate farming; and systematize new spaces through restructuring of the code.

Infra[Re]Structure, Sara Minsley

Architecture Thesis Prep

This project contends that through the mediation and expression of systems, energies and flows the pedestrian can reclaim the experience of the street.Crucial to this is an understanding of what is on the street and how objects and people are situated on the streets currently. Through exploiting these issues New York City the pedestrian is offered a more engaged experience of moving through the city.

Enhancing Sensory Environments Of Crematoria, Tanya Bhatia

Architecture Thesis Prep

How can technology today enhance or amplify the social interactions of people in crematoria through the simulation of nature? Crematoria typically, are religious and neutral spaces appropriate to those who want to participate. One of the most significant aspects of crematoria is location. Most crematorium complexes today are located next to either a noisy motorway or in an industrial park. The reasoning behind this is usually to make sure it is not open to the public for viewing unless they want to be a part of it. Usually the crematoria end up in an open landscape, but have walls that …

A City Within A City: Protecting The Spirit Of Hutong, Yuan Yuan

Architecture Thesis Prep

The ancient Chinese believed that humanity should exist coherently with the nature. In Siheyuan, which are the houses stand along the Hutong, the connection with nature is expressed through the centrally located courtyard. The grey brick walls and the low-angled tile roofs create the ancient atmosphere in that historical area, because the materials are quite different from the factories processed materials of the modern buildings, such as the pre-cast concrete and glass. At the same time, the relationship between family and family is pretty closed in that area. Many tenants have to share a courtyard, sometimes they have to share …

Welcome To Peep Park: The Spaces Of The Voyeur, Christopher Malone

Architecture Thesis Prep

What exactly is that good ‘old fashioned’ voyeurism we find in architecture? It exists in overheard conversations. It lies behind loosely closed doors. It can be found in the corner of a room. sometimes it is hidden amongst the shadows cast by two vertical spaces. Voyeurism is tied to the proximity of performance that space allows to occur. Voyeurism becomes an affected, a want, a need facilitated by unnoticed, forgotten spaces. Sometimes voyeurism exists in the open. It is called upon to legitimize a space or action. These spaces become the most important part of any architecture because they encourage …

Street Market Project, Ying Zheng

Architecture Thesis Prep

What are the key features will give a city “vitality”? What are the features of a city will give a tourist (a stranger to a city, temporary visit) or a local resident (an acquaintance to a city, a person who lives in a city for a long time) a good impression so that people will enjoy the time in the city? One of the most important part of the impression of a city comes from STREET. Jane Jacobs said in her book “The Death and Life of Great American Cities” that: “Think of a city and what comes to mind? …

Suzhou In Prosperous: Representative Infrastructure-Based-Prosperous About Suzhou, Li Qiu

Architecture Thesis Prep

The thesis is trying to critique and evaluate the production-infrastructure-consumption model that contemporary Suzhou is based on. The model has been set up with the help of reading the scroll Prosperous Suzhou, which, is considered both as a precedent on representation and background of sites. Suzhou is a major city locates in the Yangtze River Delta region. For 2,500 years Suzhou is acting one of the most prosperous city in the wealthiest region of China. Suzhou is one of the greatest canal cities on the world, and it is also called “the Eastern Venice” for its competitive massive networks of …

Community Commons: Public Libraries In Digital Age, Chao Dou

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis will identify the programs for the Onondaga County Public Library in Downtown Syracuse based on the needs of the surrounding neighborhoods and organize the programs based on the navigational organization of digital information exchange platforms to connect the digital divide between improverish neighorhoods with the affluent neighborhoods of Syracuse, NY.

The articulation of the space will manifest as a commons for the demographics to access, create and exchange information in the community

Matters Of Air, Franklin Romero Jr.

Architecture Thesis Prep

Air pollution is an imbalance of airborne terrestrial matter that produces unwanted effects on other material bodies. This boundary-less, scale-less and heterogeneous entity is an invasive matter/energy residue that supersedes political, social, spatial, territorial, glandular and even cellular boundaries. It is a transcontinental system that envelops and intoxicates insides and outsides rendering the architectural object a benign form of protection.

This airborne matter is changing the physical, social, political, sensorial, and emotional life of our cities, and in many cases the experience of urbanity is lost due to its own degraded air. Pollution renders the most vital necessity for living …

Empire State Plaza, Christopher Kovel

Architecture Thesis Prep

De Arce constructed a system--an experiment--that could be applied to the Corbusian city to elicit new meaning from the set pieces. The process of additive transformation allowed the existing monuments to become engaged in a new conversation with their context. The superimposed fabric--‘urban poche’-- created a uniform vertical surface, or datum, against which to read the set pieces. Thus, the city of street and square was educed as fabric and figure were once again allowed to mutually reinforce one another. Public space, understood as the place of confrontation and discussion, has arguably been devalued in the contemporary city.

The ancient …

Rebranding The Brooklyn Navy Yard: Market + Place, Lauren Buckheit

Architecture Thesis Prep

Historically, market and place had continuity. Market was defined by place - a commercial program shaped by its surrounding social and cultural environment.1 Market was realized at the overlap of commerce and religion, markets and feasts; all were interrelated. However, as we switched to a consumption based economy the coherence between the two diminished. Markets no longer were shaped by the surrounding micro-cultures, but by temporal consumer trends. When assessing current branding strategies this separation between market and place is also apparent. In one instance, market branding includes creating corporate identities through product, image/semiotics, and built form. This brand identity …

Opp: Id, Marcus Johnson

Architecture Thesis Prep

Because embassies increasingly function as symbols instead of diplomatic outposts it is necessary to question their effectiveness as diplomatic tools in a global society. If the United States intends to maintain physical diplomatic outposts as part of its foreign policy, then it will require reducing the collateral that is associated with such dangerous missions. While security enhancements have improved the safety and welfare of the Foreign Service in the past, persistent attacks question the relevancy of this approach. Architecture and Urbanism should be included in as possible, if not probable and appropriate, solutions to this difficult problem.

The Creation Of Sense Of Place: Negotiating The Divide Between Nature And Culture Through Phenomenological Architecture, Gabriel Nolle

Architecture Thesis Prep

"The project I am proposing seeks to explore phenomenological architecture as a medium between culture and nature in order for humans to regain a sense of place in the natural world. While recent trends in architecture, namely sustainability, seek to emphasize environmental consciousness, the subjective relationship to the environment – how it affects our senses – remains the one we know least about. The process of designing and constructing buildings in the natural world must respond to conditions of nature in terms of site, material, purpose and form, to answer the demands of the human-nature condition. At …

High Density La: Ego-Centric Housing, Yannick Matthews

Architecture Thesis Prep

Los Angeles has spread out too far and needs to adjust its urban strategy in terms of higher density develpments and compact urban nuclei.

These nuclei will establish more defined city centers with locally available amenities, thereby decreasing Angelino’s reliance on an overtaxed private transportation infrastructure. To sustain these centers there is a need to increase both population and housing density. Courtyard housing is the ideal typological model to remedy the situation. The Courtyard model, additional allocation of public space, and encentivised public transportation are key to achieving the best possible results.

Re-evaluate Los Angeles through a Freudian filter, identifying …

Waiting As Remedy: The Architecture Of Emergent Care, Jack Mccarrick

Architecture Thesis Prep

While the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides insured care to a much larger group of Americans, it has the potential to reduce the quality of care provided to patients, particularly in emergency departments. This research will argue for a reimagining of the emergency department in which there is a definitive split between the architectural implications of spaces where technical care is administered for biological needs (the emergency room) and spaces where primary and implied care can satisfy the psychological desires of inappropriate patients (the waiting room) in order to better serve appropriate patients.

Filling The Gap: The Effect Of Temporary Environments On Deteriorated Cities, David Caballero

Architecture Thesis Prep

The project I’m proposing will analyze the effect of temporary environments on deteriorated cities that have been damaged environmentally and economically. While attempts have been made to motivate cities through the use of vacant and public space, “research on temporary urbanism is still in its infancy”. I claim that temporary architecture, if ideally placed, can alleviate the strain placed on communities from environmental and economic disasters. I will demonstrate that temporal space is the needed structure for human cultural permanence and preservation.

Agricultural Reform, Francesca Ling

Architecture Thesis Prep

The design of an architecture typology of a coffee cooperative center will be able to increase the efficiency of benefits for these farmers. The center will serve as a place of cultural exchange and mitigation between family farmers, and the world of the international market. It achieves this by being based upon two main design problems: (1) that formally, there is a disjunction between what farmers perceive as desirable architecture for “western” coffee buyers and their own physically successful construction methods, and (2) providing classroom spaces to teach farmers about the business of trading as well as teaching buyers about …

Spatial Entrepreneurship: Rethinking The Environmental Conditions Of The Start-Up Business Model, Carson Davis

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis proposes a more dynamic relationship between the process of refining and testing a start-up business model and the spaces in which this process takes place. A short-term live/work facility that provides a support structure during the initial development of these companies will reduce risk for both investors and entrepreneurs. This is when young start-ups are in need of both physical resources, in the form of workspaces and temporary lodging, as well as intellectual resources in the way of business advice and mentorship. Venture Capitalists, who already fund this process, should provide these resources, thus leaving more money to …

Process And Making Of Landscape, Joseph Wood

Architecture Thesis Prep

This thesis seeks to focus its study on geological processes in nature as a tool to both make and read the landscape as if it were a novel; to uncover its myths and to allow the viewer to interpret its past. As Brad Cloepfil of the architecture practice Allied Works has stated, "A landscape that took some ten million years to form, millions of years before the appearance of man, is thereby nudged toward that most unique of human capacities; language." I claim that by extending the definition of making, earth driven processes can be used as tools to study, …

Perception Of Space In Topological Forms, Dincer Savaskan

Architecture Thesis Prep

"With recent development of computer technologies there has been change in our notion of materiality. We can define our age as flow of information and architecture capture this flow and creates more complex conceptions and interactions through the space. Recent researches on materialism, typological forms, field gradients and diagramming define a new methodology in design approach, which can respond the dynamism and flow. However architectural form is still inseparable from the way we experience the world, which involves our senses and perceptions. It is possible to adopt cinematic techniques of collage and sequencing in computer-generated forms to create continuous references …

Fashioning The Unfashionable: An Architecture Of Waste, Alyson Canal

Architecture Thesis Prep

"It is evident that there exists a connection between architecture and fashion,

and more significantly fashion and waste. Fashioning a material recovery

facility through exhibition space, art, and social interaction will

bring infrastructure back into the designed environment while maintaining

an industrial identity that the site demands. Designing an architecture of

waste through the cultural ideologies of fashion facilitates collectivity and

public engagement."

Residential Square In The 21st Century: Applying A Typology To Create A New Urban Morphology, Elizabeth Whittington

Architecture Thesis Prep

"As a low-rise high-density mixed-use typology, the reconsideration of the residential square can provide a new urban morphology that densifies residential zones, while providing safe public spaces. In addition, I assert that through its combination of juxtaposed functional uses, unit typology the language of the façade, the historical European residential square, can articulate the identity of residents."