Architecture Commons^™

Deluge [ Proof ]: A Design Resilience Study, Nia A. Mcgann

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Rising sea levels, a consequence of climate change, pose a significant and escalating threat to coastal communities worldwide. Projections indicate that by 2050, sea levels may rise by an estimated 1 to 2 feet, potentially affecting not only coastal but also inland communities. The ramifications of rising sea levels encompass heightened risks of flooding, erosion, and saltwater intrusion. These impacts have multifaceted consequences, ranging from evident transportation disruptions and damage to underground and ground-level structures to more subtle yet equally critical effects on infrastructure, ecosystems, potable water reservoirs, community displacement, and economic activities.

In response to this pressing challenge, a …

Eluding Caricature, Rafael Hernandez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Caricature, defined as exaggeration by means of often ludicrous distortion of parts or characteristics, has taken over the outskirts of cities across the country of Mexico. A landscape once characterized by intelligible urban form, architectural diversity, and walkability has been exchanged for walled in developments so poorly designed Levittown appears bespoke in comparison. But why Caricature? Simply, new residential developments value the erosion of public space, contiguous grids, and manufactured reliance on the automobile that is supported with a myriad of ill understood urban design elements inspired by American suburban design. With exaggerated features such as cul de sacs, gated …

Reconnecting Roots: The Role Of Nature And Culture In Community-Based Design, Ben Audinet

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Mental health is a growing challenge in today’s world despite being a critical component of well-being. One in five adults in the U.S. experience some form of mental health issues. Among that population, Native Americans suffer disproportionately with higher rates of depression, suicide, drug overdose, and Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE). These disparities faced by the Indigenous population stem from several factors—historical trauma, social and economic inequalities, and cultural disconnect. Despite modern treatments for mental health, many individuals—both indigenous and non-indigenous—continue to struggle.

Nature and the environment are a core part of Native American culture, bringing together communities. While exposure to …

Reimagining Fire Tower Typology: Enhancing Safety And Creating A Sense Of Place, Chloe Bango

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This architectural exploration studies the transformative evolution of fire watch towers, shifting from their traditional role as fire safety devices to become inviting destinations for hikers and visitors. This paradigm shift not only embraces the functional aspect of fire prevention but also capitalizes on the inherent potential for these structures to serve as unique, inhabitable spaces within the natural landscape. The design philosophy integrates state-of-the-art wildfire detection systems seamlessly into the architectural fabric, establishing a symbiotic relationship between safety and recreation. The incorporation of cutting-edge technologies, such as advanced sensors, satellite imagery, and real-time data analytics, enhances the tower’s primary …

Multisensory Realm: Architecture For The Visually Impaired, Jennifer Perez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

According to the World Health Organization, there are approximately 2.2 billion people who have a near or distance vision impairment. Vision has historically been considered the most important of the senses; therefore, when this sense becomes obstructed, an individual’s lifestyle can be harshly impacted. Because their vision becomes obstructed, visually impaired individuals run into various daily life challenges such as having difficulty navigating around independently, stigma in society, leisure, accessibility, and isolation. This can be due to the issue that the built environment has tended to neglect building for all senses. For this reason, an architectural goal has been to …

Submerged Sanctuary, An Nguyen

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Ho Chi Minh City shines as one of Vietnam’s swiftly expanding urban centers. However, this rapid growth has brought challenges. Many areas in the city have reached maximum capacity, leaving no room for additional housing. Moreover, inadequate regulations, particularly concerning natural disasters such as floods, have left the city vulnerable, particularly for those living along the riverbanks. The project aims to uplift the riverfront community, promoting economic development and enhancing living standards. To achieve this, I plan to improve infrastructure and introduce communal spaces. My strategy involves harnessing the river’s potential as a central feature, integrating programs and architectural designs …

Between Art And Architecture: Curating Space For Creatives, Mahari Kitt

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Art is an inherent human right, woven into the fabric of society since ancient times. Its profound impact on individuals and communities, as a source of reflection, inspiration, and joy, is undeniable. From serving as a medium for political expression to encouraging introspection and reflecting emotions, art stands as a cultural cornerstone. Yet, its significance extends beyond mere existence; it is deeply intertwined with the environments in which it is presented and experienced.

Growing up in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, there was a noticeable absence of spaces for artists to thrive, which negatively affected the growth of artistic talent in the …

From Silence To Thriving: Architecture As A Voice For The Wayuu Tribe, Angie Son Pulido

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This research explores how stories, music, and patterns intersect to shape the built environment, with an emphasis on spotlighting the Wayuu tribe, a resilient culture facing extinction in the arid desert of La Guajira, Colombia. The Wayuu people have endured centuries of adversity, including colonialism, exploitation, drug trafficking, and internal conflict. In this place, water and food are scarce, and child mortality rates are very high. Despite hardships, they preserve a culture of resilience thanks to their tradition of oral storytelling. Drawing from the tradition of storytelling, the works of writer Gabriel García Márquez, particularly his Magical Realism, serve as …

How Can Kinetic Architecture Enhance Public Space?, Tamia Durden

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Although rudimentary kinetic architecture types were displayed in the Middle Ages the original definition of Kinetic Architecture was coined in 1970 By Engineer and Architect William Zuk. This has led us to a more modern definition of “buildings that are designed to allow parts of the structure to move, without reducing overall structural integrity. Due to technological advancements and design innovation architecture is now able to incorporate movement and responsive gestures to environmental and human interaction. Now, why is this important? Uniquely, kinetic architecture gives built structures the opportunity to adapt to their environments in more ways than one, similar …

Urban Metabolism, Clayton Champion

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis aims to reimagine urban living in San Francisco through the design of a utopian megastructure that transcends traditional notions of architecture. Megastructures, a post-war architectural concept, consist of a big frame with modules that have a short-term life cycle. By integrating principles of inclusivity, adaptability, and community empowerment, the proposed megastructure serves as a spatial bridge, addressing the city's multifaceted socioeconomic challenges.

Drawing inspiration from architectural precedents such as the Metabolist movement, Fumihiko Maki, Ralph Wilcoxon, Kisho Kurokawa, and Archigram, the research emphasizes the significance of modular and adaptable structures that evolve over …

Viva El Vecindad, Sergio Nino De Rivera

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis explores the historical origins of courtyard housing, characterized by a central open space surrounded by residential units, has a rich history that dates back to ancient civilizations. Through an in-depth examination of its origins and historical development, this thesis aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how courtyard housing has adapted over time.

The focus then shifts to the unique challenges faced by elderly individuals in contemporary societies, including issues related to accessibility, social isolation, and healthcare. With an aging global population, the demand for housing that caters to the needs of older adults is increasing. Courtyard housing, …

Dead Malls Living Communities, Lucas Fernandez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis is about the revitalization of unused/ underutilized suburban land and how it can be transformed into a nuevo town center of sorts for the new millennium. It analyzes how to properly integrate a new urban center into the surrounding area its in and which approaches are successful and unsuccessful.

Interstate Rejuvenate, Brennan Taylor

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Throughout the history of the automobile, roadside amenities and architecture have continually adapted to the needs and desires of motorists. Along the rural interstate highway, landscapes blend with billboards and off-ramps that bring the traveler to food, lodging, and gas. A typical interstate exit is a sprawl of structures for transaction, each isolated in its own asphalt island, competing for the consumer’s attention with signage, architectural design, or folly. These predictable prototypes spread homogenous program and form across the highway with little to no account for a sense of place. When a state border is crossed, a flat, metal sign …

Piece Of Mine, Tiffany Belmonte

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis introduces an innovative mental health retreat grounded in the principles of therapeutic and adaptive design. The current state of mental healthcare architecture lacks a focus on human-centered design, primarily due to their enclosed spaces, overcrowded dormitories, and conforming layouts. Adaptive design in architecture advocates for a more user-centric approach by implementing a system that empowers individuals to customize architectural components, such as walls, roofs, doors, windows, and furnishings. This approach aims to foster individuality, flexibility, freedom, control, and comfort. Therapeutic design in architecture emphasizes the influence of spatial, lighting, thermal, and acoustic design on the human brain, mind, …

Architecture Of The Second Sense: Inclusivity For Deaf Students, Lizzy Johnson

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Educational settings in the United States are primarily geared towards hearing individuals, posing challenges for those with hearing impairments. In 2020, 95% of school-age students with hearing loss attended conventional schools, while only 47 schools nationwide catered specifically to the deaf or hard of hearing. This oversight in design leads to issues such as inadequate spatial acoustics and limited sign language space in classrooms. My thesis proposes "Architecture of the Second Sense," advocating for a holistic approach to educational design, particularly targeting pre-kindergarten through 5th-grade schools. Drawing from phenomenological principles and the five key DeafSpace design elements—Proximity, Sensory Reach, Light, …

Garageband Acoustics, Ramiro Garcia

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

For anyone who has practiced an instrument, how often do you find yourself desperately searching for a place to play that doesn’t sound like you’re trapped in a tunnel or a cavern? Many musicians face this challenge, often resorting to the only open space available in their homes: their garages. Though a common choice, garages suffer from numerous acoustic shortcomings, including concrete walls that trap and scatter sound haphazardly, leading to poor sound isolation and excessive reverberation. Musicians struggle to hear themselves clearly, which often results in playing at excessive volumes that bleed beyond the confines of the garage, causing …

Coliving: Bringing Social Spaces Back Offline, Helen Dymek

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The way in which we construct our built environment defines how our community will engage with one another. Social spaces are the key to creating a healthy community. However, today, we are in crisis. In a society which is built on the pillars of freedom and independence, our social spaces are dying out. Social isolation is on the rise, a problem only accelerated by the recent pandemic. Today, many Americans (and much of the world) seek social connection through a screen. Instead of getting to know our neighbors, we spend more time watching videos of or talking to people who …

Stories Untold: Riddim Of A Contemporary Creole Architecture, Rolando Joseph

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis is about my interest in the architectural identity within the tropical region, specifically in the Caribbean on the island of Grenada. In this region, colonial and modern architecture have proliferated, often without adequately considering the local environment and its unique contexts. The people of this region have a distinct rhythm of life and a genuine appreciation of their local environment. This cultural rhythm can be seen in the annual celebration of the traditional carnival, filled with colorful costumes, jab-jab mas, and parades that bring the streets to life.

The intent of this thesis is to question the current …

Interconnective Corridors: From Institutional To Educational, Jaylan Burgess

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The Middle school Architecture of yesterday is not designed for the education of tomorrow. So often, we find the traditional typology of schools to be one dimensional in design by being filled long dead-end corridors, white CMU walls, outdated learning spaces of our parents’ generation, and a disassociation from the surrounding neighborhood. This old-fashioned way of design not only wastes hundreds of square footages on circulation alone but is not conducive of the best possible learning environment of the future.

In this thesis, I will begin to interrogate the existing conditions of the school corridor and explore circulation as it …

10 Minute City -Reinventing Ways To Move Around The City Via Scooter, Emily Melchor

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Urban sprawl is an issue that many major cities in the United States are experiencing. The population rise in cities has contributed to their rapid growth, increased traffic, pollution, and the reliability on cars. These issues can slowly be tackled by addressing them in areas that are on their way to reaching the height of urban sprawl. An example of such an area is Gwinnett County located northeast of Atlanta. Gwinnett County is on its way to becoming one of Georgia’s most populated counties, according to MARTA Transit System. MARTA did such studies on Gwinnett because in 2018, MARTA along …

The Gardens Of Baltimore, Devaughn Jackson

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

At times, architecture can be similar to a computer: always needing constant updates, revisions, innovations. The area known as Harborplace at the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland, is one such area of architecture that needs more than an update, however; it needs a revision, and many designers have already proposed good ideas that would potentially revitalize the area. Insert another onto the hypothetical drawing board: this thesis aims to redesign the site by introducing an area of gardens enclosed within a geodesic dome. This will promote health and wellbeing for the people of Baltimore by providing a place for them …

Sustainable Urban Community, Camilo Gonzalez Contreras

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Atlanta has evolved into a single-occupant vehicle city resulting in downtown blocks devoid of any semblance of community and higher greenhouse gas emissions. In 1991, leading up to the 1996 Olympics, Marvin S Arington announced plans to demolish Techwood Homes, which at the time was the oldest federally subsidized housing community in the US (Marvin S Arington, 1991). Many other low-income housing developments were demolished during this time, including homes located in what is now Centennial Park. Program block voids began forming where black communities had previously stood. Corner stores, pharmacies, family practitioners, restaurants, and bars were replaced by a …

Reinventing Greyfields, William Jones

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Since the 21st century began, sports involvement within society has grown as sporting events have become significant spectacles. Thus, major stadia came to be to hold spectators. Unfortunately, many are on the city's outskirts due to the size of their parking lots, categorized as greyfields. Greyfields are 'Underused' land or a 'sea' of asphalt concrete. The problem of creating greyfields within cities harms the urban fabric and the actual relationship between the stadium and the city. They are creating a disconnection between the two. This proposal is to design an urban hub around a chosen existing stadium to enrich the …

Adaptive Assemblies: A Scalable Solution To Atlanta's Housing Crisis, Claudia Aguilar

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Our home city of Atlanta is experiencing levels of growth that surpass anything we have witnessed in the last century. It is projected that within the next ten years the city will grow by 2.5 million people to a population of 7 million. With the surge of population influx reaching a record high of 2% growth per year, the available housing is practically bursting at the seams. Supply is low and demand is high. In effect, the average one-bedroom apartment runs for 1,800 dollars per month. The city is desperately seeking new opportunities to provide affordable housing at an expeditious …

Participatory Frame: Discrete Architecture For Displaced Community, Ana Valdez Tello

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Discrete architecture is a design approach that is based on configurations of a few generic elements instead of a design that needs a specific set of components for assembly. It challenges the notion of whole-to-parts relationship. The former implies that the whole determines the shape of each part; while the latter entails parts that would form the whole. Space frame or lego are examples of discrete organization. As such, it offers pure compositional freedom, with purposeful constraints that allows an infinite number of configurations through the repetition of generic elements. With open-ended possibilities the system embodies opportunities for playfulness through …

Origami In Design : How Can Origami Inform The Design Of The Kinetic Façade System?, Nicolas Ackerman

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The present goal as a designer is to create a very thoughtful building that presents itself as a visual identity for our built environment. One of the intentions of the design is to not impact more into the co2 emissions. With 40 percent of the 75 percent annual global Greenhouse emissions coming from building operations, (Architecture 2030), we as designers must shift from a formal to a performance-based architecture. An architecture that instinctively addresses reduced energy consumption and therefore lower CO2 emissions through the integration of passive design strategies. In order to compete in a future with CO2 reduction, we …

Embedding Wellness Center: An Architecture That Promotes Healing And Well-Being, Kathryn J. Folger

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Environmental stressors and psychological torments make going about daily life unbearable to handle for many within the United States. The attention and concern for mental health continues to rise, but there is a larger need for resources and infrastructure to give action to conversation. To address the residual statistics of anxiety and mood disorders from COVID-19, this project will offer an architecture which enables the healing process to begin and extend beyond the tangible limits of space. Mental health facilities can provide that environment. This facility will offer an environment of community specifically for those who deal with anxiety and …

The Bahay Kubo Alternative, Reesa Winters

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis “The Bahay Kubo Alternative” aims to create an architectural solution that successfully provides alternative building methods, materials, planning, and strategy for current and future stilt homes in the Philippines.

The goal is to increase the longevity of stilt homes and give the residents a sense of ownership and belonging. Moreover, it incorporates adaptable design strategies that take future community growth as well as health & wellness into consideration. This thesis proposes modular stilt homes with alternative structures and designs to prepare the residents for natural disasters and provide them with cleaner environments.

Slums are a sad result of …

Promoting Wellbeing In A Multiethnic Community: Expanding Interactions Of Human And Ecological Systems Through Sustainable Urban Connectivity, Citlali Rosas

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis aims to develop a responsive design that expands and connects public spaces in a sustainable way to promote socio-environmental resilience. The design takes a holistic approach, considering the interdependence of social, economic, and environmental factors. By integrating mobility and public spaces with environmentalism, the design addresses significant development concerns such as water consumption, biodiversity loss, and climate change adaptation. The proposed design creates accessible, inclusive, and attractive public spaces that foster a sense of belonging and social cohesion among residents. By prioritizing the needs of local communities, the design promotes ownership and strengthens social cohesion. The design also …

Bio-Based Blueprint: Growing Architecture Using [Natural Polymers], Jennifer Adame

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

How can we utilize the bio-materials, Mycelium and Bamboo, in architectural design?

Our everyday usage of materials consists of synthetic polymers that do more harm to our environment and our well-being. Consequently, increasing CO2 emissions, harmful toxins, and long-term pollution. We must strive to find alternatives, such as using mycelium, a natural polymers, to raise social awareness, benefit our well-being and develop applications to create a circular economy to eliminate waste. This thesis proposes a framework system using natural polymers to reimage our everyday materials and offer a sustainable alternative. Developing an architectural guide accessible for individuals without prior knowledge …