Architecture Commons^™

Spatial Reveries, Alexander Wenstrup

Masters Theses

We live in a hazy existence marked by rapid pace, development, digital consumption, and a deteriorating environment. Spatial Reveries hopes to counter the current trajectory and offer an alternative perspective by presenting one with moments of awe, discovery, and wonder to improve the disconnect between society and their surroundings. The work refers to a history of anamorphic art, cubism, deception, and optical phenomena in Western society. It operates on the urges and instincts of the artist, utilizing massing, light, transparency, horizons, and vastness, to challenge perceptions of space, time, and memory. Through the play of perspective and projection the work …

You're Making Me Sentimental, Chris Geng

Masters Theses

My project is a personal search for a different way to see the footprint we have left on the landscape. A way of seeing that finds potential in existing buildings without placing the building in the background, that instead engages sentiments in order to approach reuse as an act of layering that retains the memories of before. I went about uncovering the memories of a site through film photography, a process equally rooted in nostalgia and sentimentality. These images attempt to capture the beauty of melancholy and in turn, ask the architect and audience to slow down and contemplate as …

Means And Methods: Pedagogy And Proto-Architecture, Daniel Choconta

Masters Theses

This project investigates the architectural mock-up as a process that is perpetually in the making. The 1:1 scale mock-up is treated as an opportunity to learn through the process of making and to establish a reciprocal relationship between design and construction.

Appropriate That Bridge: Appropriation As A Way Of Intervention, Haochen Meng

Masters Theses

Appropriation is an action of intervention in many fields, including legislation, culture and design. To appropriate something (or someplace) means to violate its original ownership and claim it, which in most cases is illegal. However, appropriation doesn’t have to be an illegal act: it can be permitted by the authority and become a “reuse” of an object or space. For example, street dining is often authorized by city governments, so they indicate a transition of the ownership of the street from the vehicles and pedestrians to the restaurants and diners. In architectural terms, appropriating a space (or structure) mostly equals …

Uncovering Emotional Contamination: Five Sites Of Trauma, Abigail Zola

Masters Theses

“Emotional contamination,” describes residual feelings associated with a space where a negative or tragic event occurred to an individual or group either personally, historically, or politically. Emotional contamination affects people’s associations with place and informs their willingness to spend time in them. This project considers a set of design principles rooted in uncovering and acknowledging the lifespan of a site, and considers how this acknowledgment can exist as an urban system rather than an individual architectural artifact. My thesis work analyzes five case studies in Berlin where political and economic factors determined the result of intervention, and how these sites …

Psychochoreography, Nora Bayer

Masters Theses

All architects are spatial choreographers. Every individual subconsciously partakes in a unique choreography when occupying space. This reality is unavoidable. When an architectural site is considered in the urban landscape, there is an existing choreography that’s already in play, thus architects must consider how their project will entwine with the existing composition. There is great responsibility for architects to be mindful of this choreography and to consider, in an incredibly rigorous manner, the way in which bodies will move and feel when existing within their designed space.

I was trained in classical ballet for 15 years. The training was intensive …

Toronto Rewilded, Forrest Meyer

Masters Theses

Global urbanism has left almost no room for native ecology, this has an adverse effect on biodiversity, so adverse that biodiversity has been lost at an alarming rate globally, accounting for between 50-70% of species eradication. Having witnessed firsthand on the land I grew up on, the immense positives of native plantings on the creation of biodiversity, I am eager to implement native plantings in an architectural thesis. Not only is this important to flora and fauna, and the environment, but also for the biophilic connection humans crave with their environs. The reintroduction and preservation of native plantings, species, and …

Unpacked: Consumer Culture In Suburban Spaces, Jaime Dunlap

Masters Theses

The thesis critically analyzes the ways in which the sacredness of man-made goods and consumption culture have shaped the American home and the ways in which the single-family American home acts as both an architectural enforcer and container of consumer culture.

Consumption culture is the never-ending yearning to purchase our right of being in this world. The idea that, through the ownership of things, we feel connected to, equal to, and even above others. This can be examined not only through the relationships and constant acquisition of things but also through the relationships and acquisitions to the built environment.

There …

The Miacomet Movement, Charles Duce

Masters Theses

Nantucket MA, is an island that has failed to refine and regulate the unreasonable uses of freshwater supply, and re-establish the purification processes involved with filtering our wastewater. The validity in claiming re-evaluation for Nantucket’s immoderacies in freshwater consumption and implausibility's in existing wastewater treatments, is seemingly irrefutable. Along with these detriments, Nantucket experiences harsh coastal erosion conditions that are rapidly altering beach profiles and diminishing irreplaceable habitats. Similarly, coastal flooding is causing ecological displacement and in some instances ecological degradation.

The relentlessness and fleetingness sparked by Nantucket’s climatic realities require willing and able action to mitigate impacts; but our …

Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories Of Water And Earth, Alexis Violet

Masters Theses

Unearthing Complexity investigates conceptions of time and surface through geological stories of the water and earth. Building on theories of deep time, hydrofeminism, critical zones, and grounding, I hope to foster a deeper awareness of time scales other than our own and a more tangible understanding of the embodied experience of matter in the universe. Working toward a new literacy of the water and earth in which they are recognized as living, changing bodies to which we are inherently tied at a molecular level, the site of this multiscalar inquiry occurs in the coastal zones of the Narragansett Bay where …

Public-Ish, Aliah Werth

Masters Theses

Climate change affects public space, and architecture must establish tenets that prioritize pedestrians in this difficult era. Greywater re-use can be a mechanism for creating shade, and in turn, public space.

As heat waves grow more intense, the vast swaths of asphalt that connect commercial zones pose greater risks to public health and to urban vitality. This thesis records the typical material, spatial, and lived conditions of strip malls in urban heat islands, and demands more from infrastructure in public-ish space.

Heat violence weaves through Los Angeles’ built form. Parking space minimums, required setbacks, and height restrictions pull buildings away …

Wast3d Potential, Andrew Larsen

Masters Theses

Waste is obsolete. Standard building industry practices are harmful to the environment. Non-traditional construction methods were examined as alternatives. Circular design logic was the guiding principle in material choice. Additive manufacturing is a proven modern method for building construction. Research on 3D printing case studies revealed that recycled plastic is a proven material and readily available. Removing plastic waste from the environment and sequestering it in architectural components gives the material a new purpose. The component of focus was a building block for a wall assembly. Inspiration was taken from the hexagonal Basalt rock formations found near volcanic fault lines. …

Cohabitation X Adaptation, 2100: A Climate Change Epoch, Kyle Andrews

Masters Theses

Some seventy-seven odd years in the future, the world as we know it will only be recognizable by those who are willing to accept it. The bustling metropolis of Boston Massachusetts has been transformed to appease the tides of Mother Nature as a consequence of human intervention. In the decades prior, humanity viciously fought to contain the effects of climate change, until many realized the colossal undertaking of such a battle. Municipalities across the globe had begun to accept that fighting the earth was no longer an option. Instead, the only hope forward was to adapt to a reality in …

Cracks Of The City: Crack As An Invitation For Informality, Yusha Miao

Masters Theses

随着城市的扩张和发展，城市规划将效率和易于管理放在首位，从而创造出干净、整洁和无障碍的空间。街道更宽更平坦，建筑物更统一，公园更开放。

然而，这种“美丽”城市的愿景却忽视了各类非正式、非主流人群的需求，抹杀了部分人的表达和生存空间。

城市变得不那么包容，失去了基于当地历史和背景的非正式活动所带来的魅力和灵活性。

如果城市采用更加松散和多孔的规划方法，为非正式活动提供潜在场所，例如带来氧气和光线的缺口，非正规经济和那些被推到边缘的经济体将有机会蓬勃发展。设计师不应完全站在制定规则和秩序的立场上，而应提供自发产生活动的可能性。通过接受非正式城市空间不可预测和不受控制的性质，我们可以为这些地区注入新的活力。

本论文通过引入几种增强裂缝的干预措施来挑战现有的城市体系，作为对非正式性的邀请。我的建议涉及打破不同表面的界限，模糊用途和功能。

使用选择性的“阈值”使一些空间变得模糊，甚至更难接近或欢迎，并使它们的用途不明确。它可以创建一系列只对愿意进入的人开放的“城市秘密花园”。这些地方是有选择性的，并且具有更多样化和非正式使用的潜力。

As cities expand and grow, urban planning prioritizes efficiency and ease of management, resulting in clean, uncluttered and accessible spaces. The streets are wider and flatter, the buildings more uniform, and the parks more open.

However, this vision of a "beautiful" city ignores the needs of various informal and non-mainstream groups, and obliterates the expression and living space of some people.

Cities become less inclusive, losing the charm and flexibility that come with informal events based on local history and context.

Informal economies and those pushed to the margins will have the opportunity to …

We Have A (Home) - Co-Operative Homes For Sunset Park, Lisa Qiu

Masters Theses

The thesis believes that the speculative nature of land as property is at the root of the rising cost of quality living space. The combination of profit-driven market force and policies has produced inequality in the accessibility of property ownership.This reality is entangled with a culture that perceives exclusive rights and private ownership as superior to sharing for almost everything, especially the home.

This project believes affordable urban density can be achieved in a city like New York by pushing forward a sense of possibility and desirability in collaborative efforts to create and manage homes. These homes will not be …

Ghost Hotel, George Acosta

Masters Theses

The home, once a private space, now serves as a site of representation and consumerist consumption in the digital age. The thesis investigates the current public sphere surrounding home sharing - a development in the commodification of the home.

The thesis explores a housing typology in New York City - where impermanence and tourism have contributed to hyper-generic conditions of commodified spaces dictated and influenced by media, trends, and ideals. The project narrative presents the uncanny and generic qualities of the home through the rendered image. The satirical images reveal the difference between the illusion and reality of housing imagery …

Making Then Meaning, Ben Denzer

Masters Theses

This is an artist talk contained within a book. It is 816 pages and 49 minutes long. Closed captions run across the spreads. A video of this talk can be watched on bendenzer.com/making-then-meaning

At RISD, I’ve been prompted to expand the scope and tools of my practice and to reflect on questions of meaning in my work.

I spend my days making things, but I’ve never really had good answers to questions of why I make the things I make, or what their meaning is. I don’t think there are simple answers to these questions.

I think meaning comes from …

Norteada- En Busca De Un Nuevo Norte. Cocoon Portals And The Negotiation Of Space., Kimberly Ayala Najera

Masters Theses

ACT 1

The symbiotic relationship between the turtle and butterfly through lachryphagy, where the butterfly gathers nutrients through drinking the tears of the turtle, brings us to an abandoned turtle shell, our site of exploration. Our turtle friend has long since passed, leaving behind an empty shell that’s become developed and inhabited.

En nuestro analisis de border, to borderland, we arrive at border creep. Border creep, o la fluencia de la frontera, perpetua la tierra fronteriza mas alla y se convierte en una experiencia encarnada.

“Soy una tortuga donde quiera que vaya llevo a casa en mi espalda.”

-Gloria Anzaldua, …

Sky Survey Radio Telescope, Jack E. Mcguigan

Electrical Engineering

This document outlines the design of a radio telescope designed to perform hydrogen line sky surveys. The telescope produces radio images mapping the intensity and relative velocities of hydrogen concentrations to their sky coordinates. Over the course of a day, the telescope images the regions of space visible to it, allowing sky survey imagery to be updated daily. Sky survey images are comprised of an array of pixels corresponding to specific sky coordinates. Each 8-bit RGB pixel contains information on the concentrations of hydrogen in the brightness and relative velocity in the color. Radio images mapping the concentrations and velocities …

Intelligent Transportation Systems (Its): A Survey Of What It Is, What It Does, Where It Faulters, And Where To Go With It, Niklas Nordstrom

City and Regional Planning

The world of technology continues to find itself incorporated into an ever-expanding number of fields with a rapidly increasing number of applications. One of these is transportation, under the umbrella of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The intention of this application at a macro scale is to increase the surface transport safety, efficiency, and convenience. As technological improvements continue to be made, ITS grows in popularity and implementation, and is now found in many cities across the United States. Correct implementation of ITS could have huge benefits in the transportation sector, but without thinking about its implications now, there is a …

Three Rivers Community Town Center, Jamie Moffatt

City and Regional Planning

This project is an extension to the Community Planning courses in the City and Regional Planning Department, CRP 410 and 411. The project began in Fall 2022 and was completed in Winter 2023. The first quarter, the studio team worked with Three Rivers, California, which resulted in a thorough general plan background report for the community. The Tulare County Mountain Area Plan – Background Report, will be referenced throughout the project. The second quarter, the studio team switched directions and completed a five-year review for the Three River’s community, based on their community plan and the General Plan for Tulare …

Boulevard Apartments - Long Beach, Ca, Daryl P. Hernandez

City and Regional Planning

The proposed development will provide Long Beach residents with more opportunities for housing. The project is located on lots 923 and 927 Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach, California. Currently, the lots are underutilized and vacant with no existing development on them. The apartment complex will consist of 75 units that include studio apartments, one-bedroom apartments, and two-bedroom apartments. An additional four units will be for qualified, low-income residents. The purpose of this development is to provide quality housing for young adults and families located in the heart of Long Beach.

Eviction To Placement: Rethinking The Current Supportive Housing Systems For Hidden Homeless Families, Fang-Min Liou

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on repurposing unoccupied office space into affordable housing systems tailored to meet the unique needs of homeless families. Families with children make up 36 percent of the homeless population overall and children’s homelessness status is almost always “hidden." Architecture and design can play a vital role in addressing social inequity by creating improved living environments for the houseless community through adaptive reuse of underutilized space situated within dense urban areas with the greatest access to resources to support these families, evoke feelings of comfort, security, and hope.

The following thesis accommodates three basic needs of homeless families: …

Morro Bay 2023 Non-Vehicular Circulation Plan, Jeremiah C. Rogers

City and Regional Planning

The Non-Vehicular Transportation in Morro Bay plan notes that bicycle and pedestrian circulation are vital aspects in bettering the city's lifestyle for both residents and visitors. These forms of transportation within the community help to promote local business and ecotourism (City of Morro Bay & JBG Consulting, LLC, 2012). This document describes the city of Morro Bay’s existing conditions, relevance to existing planning documents, case studies, as well as policies and implementation. The main goal of this plan is to improve the biking and walking conditions in Morro Bay and to create a non-vehicular transportation plan that is up to …

Itentifying Suitable Sites For The Rotating Safe Parking Program In San Luis Obispo, Finnegan James

City and Regional Planning

This report has been created with the intention of identifying a new Safe Parking location in the City of San Luis Obispo (SLO) for the Rotating Safe Parking Program. SLO currently has two Safe Parking locations, though one is being discontinued due to inadequacy of the site. The City wishes to identify a new location, or locations, that can replace this. This report came to life after coordination with the City to determine how this senior project could best support the City’s efforts to address homelessness in SLO in 2023. My work began when I identified areas in the Homelessness …

Plansplaining Ceqa: Explaining The Basics Of The California Environmental Quality Act, Eric Yu Wang

City and Regional Planning

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is a half-century old public disclosure law. In recent years, it has attracted public attention in its role in hindering essential developments such as affordable housing and other major public projects. Throughout its lifetime, CEQA has evolved from a simple public project disclosure law into a complex system. However, because of the spread of sensationalized media, CEQA has become frequently mystified and misunderstood by the public.

Through a six-video series called Plansplaining CEQA, the YouTube channel Plansplainer seeks to de-mystify California's unique and infamous public disclosure law. The videos are made to accessible …

Evanescent: Animating Space, Kyle Servando

City and Regional Planning

A redesign of the open space of The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA into an plein air gallery for the public to be their own artists.

Concrete Masonry Program (Cmd21) Usability, Allie G. Decker

Architectural Engineering

The Concrete Masonry Design Program, CMD21, can be utilized in the design of beams, columns, and walls, but this project focuses on the use of the program to analyze shear walls loaded in-plane. This report critiques and describes the learning process behind the CMD21 program.

The Leaf For Leaning Pine Arboretum, Maria Boyle, Shelby Holmquist, Andrew Duong

Architectural Engineering

The goal of this ARCE 415 senior project course was to create a shade structure that could be incorporated into The Leaning Pine Arboretum, located on campus at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. From start to finish, these three ARCE students took on the role of form-finders to form-testers to form-makers. We are putting the "architectural" back in architectural engineering as we reclaim the historical tradition of the engineer as the form finder. In many of our design labs we focused primarily on sizing members and analysis, just using a structure that the architect already had established. In this one-of-a-kind …

Home Based Business Ordinance For The City Of Reno, Maxwell Hp Johnson

City and Regional Planning

Home based businesses allow for some commercial and business activities to occur within private residences by residents without the need of commercially zoned properties or structures. Home based businesses provide affordable accommodation for less impactful small businesses, but can additionally impact neighbors and communities with negative externalities when not properly regulated. The City of Reno, Nevada currently faces rising land prices and limited availability of commercial properties. Such conditions increase the adoption of home based businesses, and combined with the lack of regulation can create nuisances within communities.

The ordinance proposal analyzes relevant legal cases, case study ordinances, and the …