Architecture Commons^™

A Ludic Generation: Bridging Architecture, Games, And Technology For More Playful Spaces, Jade Lefebvre

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In a world dominated by mundane environments, this thesis proposes a novel approach to designing public spaces that integrate game design principles and extended reality technology. By embracing the inherent ludic behavior found in human nature and games, I aim to elevate everyday experiences.

This research delves into the capabilities of extended reality technology, psychology of play and its cultural and societal background, psychology of human archetypes, and game design components as an extraction for architectural typologies. Key findings reveal that by analyzing game components, design languages are formed and can be used to develop feasible architectural typologies.

The significance …

Perspective Sky: A New Architectural Typology For Astronomy, Brendan Lydic

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This thesis aims to reconnect modern humans to the night sky and the universe around us. A connection that has been lost to a multitude of barriers and distractions. Physical barriers like air and light pollution, and distractions like technology and overwhelming world events. I aim to restore this connection by creating a new architectural typology for the observation of and education about the night sky, the cosmos, and astronomy. It will serve as a site of pilgrimage, where visitors of all ages can re-engage with the stars and reintroduce themselves to the perspective of our ancestors. The questions I …

Playful Learning: The Disposition Of Architecture As Pedagogy, Alyssa Franklin

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Education is a vital foundation of a society. The standard of today’s school environment is built upon the pedigree of the factory schools from the nineteenth century. However, elementary age children require a flexible, engaging, and creative learning environment that the standard school environment does not provide. Learning is a dynamic and innovative action. Architecture should mirror the learning that it supports through providing spaces that allow for flexibility, engagement, accessibility, and attraction. Children are transformed by the spaces they are in, spaces that will leave lasting impacts on the cognitive development of the children, spaces that can be playful …

Parametric Acoustics, Joseph Wiggins

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The design of acoustic spaces depends on many factors such as the size and shape of the room, the materiality of the walls and ceiling, and the type of sound in the space. When designing a room for music performance, the reverberation time, sound reflection, and sound diffusion are also main factors to design around. The issue when designing optimized acoustic spaces is that it is hard to test out the acoustic performance during the design process. Since size, shape, and material of the space all affect the sound quality, digital simulation is one of the only ways to test …

Manufactured Exurbia, Elijah Swift

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

This project redefines the identity of the manufactured housing typology by conceiving of more adaptable structural configurations which provide a framework for breaking the conformity of mass production and mass consumption to give the residents true economic prosperity through control of the 3-D manufacturing process of their homes. Manufactured housing, formerly known as mobile or trailer homes, is one of the most vulnerable housing types in the United States during a severe weather event. This is due to the mass industrial production of a structural composition that is rather suited for permanently fixed construction, leading to fragility in their assemblage …

Symbols Of The Sacred, Jonathan Leroux

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In collaboration with the The King Center and Freedom Hall, Mountaintop Exhibition Hall is embedded in the heart of the Sweet Auburn District of Atlanta, in the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Historical Park. This center for creative expression honors artistic exhibits and performances dedicated to the nonviolent movement against injustice. This new intervention in the historical park promotes societal transformation and recurring visitation from the greater arts community.

This development began with research into phenomenology, with emphasis on an experiential approach to architectural design. Sensuality of experience lead to an exploration of Khôra: the third place; being beyond …

Activating Non-Place, Noah Stogner

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Marc Augé defined non-place as the typical area in the urban space that has lost its identity and thus has fallen into the banal. Some of these typical nonplaces include airports, hotel rooms, convenience stores, and shopping malls. Augé argues that our urban space is ridden with these infrastructural inserts that lack of uniqueness and are homogeneous in nature. This lack of uniqueness has evolved into a mass exodus of urban interaction resulting in the identity of a city becoming lost. Auge’s nonplace are evident in our urban and suburban environments. On the other hand, Kevin Lynch defines the city …

Enabling The Intellectually Disabled Mind Through Architecture, Edward J. Voorhees Iv

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

According to the World Health Organization, roughly 10% of the world population live with mental disability or impairment (Fujira, 2005). For the intellectually disabled, finding a purpose and independence as one transitions into yound adulthood can prove troublesome given their unique shortcomings. In 2015, it was estimated 80,000 intellectually disabled adults were held on waiting lists for residential placement in government-funded programs that could take up to 10 years to complete. Autism Speaks approximates that this number will increase by half a million in that same time span (Lutz, 2015). A greater initiative must take place to assist these individuals …

A Floating City_A Solution To Rising Sea Levels, Dalavanh Thanasouk

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Floating cities can be a solution to the rapidly rising sea levels (SLR) due to global warming. Today our coastlines and major cities are flooding due to SLR with tropical storms, flash floods, and heavy rainfall. These events are demolishing our current infrastructure and causing lives to be swept away underwater. The sudden shift in climate change demands our buildings to adapt. Land reclamation is a short-term solution to consistently flooding coastlines and eroding waterbeds. Flooding has caused communities to migrate to major cities, making them even more overcrowded. Expanding real estate on water is the only feasible option to …

Storytelling Through Design: Using Elements Of Storytelling To Inform Architectural Narratives, Yonni Baker

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture along with other types of media, like films, novels, and games are all representational art forms that incorporate storytelling. However, in the field of architecture the art of storytelling could suggest a transformation into an idea of possibly making grand and shallow statements, and not taking into account the engagement between the user and the design. In recent time there have been architects who have addressed this issue and established standards of how architecture weaves in narrative and have even made comparisons to the other types of media. An example would be Narrative Architecture by Nigel Coates where he …

Architecture And Harm Reduction : An Unconventional Approach To Detox, Anna Studdard

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Harm reduction is a principle that stems from countries like Denmark and Switzerland, that implements strategies to encourage safer drug usage, abstinence, and education for users. The National Harm Reduction Coalition implements nationwide programs for substance abusers, such as Syringe Service Programs, rehabilitation programs, detox programs, housing programs, drug testing facilities, services assisting sex workers, and administering Narcan for overdoses, to try to minimize some of the tragedies accompanying substance abuse. The counterpoint opinion of some countries or states is that providing services like needle exchanges and testing centers are encouraging drug usage and doing more harm than good. However, …

Choreographic Urban Space, Maria Fernanda Lopez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Plaza Baquedano is a major historic landmark located in the center of Santiago Chile. It has been the center point for all the mass gatherings in the city. For instance, people gather to celebrate large events such as Independence Day, have community dance performances, celebrate a soccer game victories and they also gather to stand up for what they believe in. Ever since the end of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship (1973-1990), the people of Chile have been protesting for economic equality, affordable health care, educational rights and also for the 3095 men and woman that have disappeared during the dictatorship. After …

Mutualism In Architecture, Tj Rottenberg

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Mutualism is a term more commonly used in Ecology and can be defined as the relationship between organisms of differing species in which each benefit. In Architectural terms, Mutualism can be defined as the relationship between differing owners, buildings, typologies, or programs in which each benefit. A relationship already exists in many forms, but not always in a mutually beneficial way. I propose that architecture be designed and built in such a way that physical architecture relates to its surrounding infrastructure in such a way that creates a system or an ecosystem that is mutually beneficial.

In nature there are …

Bio-As:Biophilic Redesign Of The Residential Home, Nadia Alexander

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Bio-As is the assimilation of structural design and biophilia in residential architecture. It is the re-imagining of the intervening spaces defining a home through the production of panels, modules, and nodes. These three different scales of production can be used to form a connection between the natural environment and traditional spatial structures.

Accessory Dynamic Unit - The Accessory Home To Meet The Needs Of Our Time, Ryan Cheape

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Today, young professionals face increasing debt and uncertainty after graduating, elders aging in place are stuck with homes not suited to their lifestyle, and the rental market is becoming an essential source of income. The Accessory Dwelling Unit represents a solution to these societal issues. ADUs are separate units on the same lot as the primary home while containing full living functions. Space efficiency is paramount; therefore, each facet of the design needs to be multifaceted and reconfigurable. The idea stems from precedents throughout the 20th century, whether Corbusier’s “Machine for Living” to the work of Reyner Banham and Richard …

Lightning Up Lives - Architecture As Conductor, Andrea Suros

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Over the last eight years, millions of Venezuelans have had to get used to living between blackouts and electricity rationing. The causes of the crisis are multiple and complex and differ depending on whom you ask. The government rejects that there are problems in the electrical system and attributes the cuts to alleged sabotage, and the rationing to the drought and excessive demand. Electrical engineers attribute power outages to power generation deficits, on the one hand, and lack of system maintenance, on the other. Because of the situation with the electrical resource, the government shuts down the power for four …

The Other Place, Simona Floyd

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

­­­­­­­In an abundance of cities across the US, there are not plentiful amounts of favorable architectural experiences that assist to benefit the mindset of many. This is especially needed as one examines the human experience and mindset of one in the context of the worldly pressures and everyday cycles for all individuals. Societal expectations, self-preservation, and difficult times can all lead one to a need to escape from this “place”. What is this place? Why are many in need to escape? What even is the new world people are in need to escape to? The common goal of the architect …

Motown [Re]Vival: The Use Of Culinary And Urban Farming To Revitalize The Dying City Of Detroit, Keilani M. Patton

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Motown: Detroit, Michigan, once known as the automotive capital of the world, received its claim to fame through the birth of the assembly line by Henry Ford in 1905. His innovation steered the big boom of the automotive industry in the early 20th century, and later the mass movement to the city. Sadly, that all came crashing down with the fall of the industrial period. The loss of nearly all its auto plants, postwar white flight and suburbanization caused the city to suffer economic turmoil. By 1980 the population had decreased 35% since its peak in 1950. Today? The city …

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 …

Re . Visiting The Machine For Living, Vincent Ramos

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The human body’s neurology system is a center piece of the body’s complex communication network. This thesis problematizes the notion of an architecture derived of a ubiquitous ordering system to create kinetic spaces that [inter] . react to an inhabitant as one experiences and moves through physical form and space. By understanding the composition and function of the neurology in the human body, I propose a unique study of the relevance of how the human body works and uses architecture as a systematic interrogation through a series of two-dimensional and three-dimensional diagram explorations. The approach of this research and interrogation …

Reactivating And Energizing Districts Through Enhancement And Adaptive Reuse, Cody Kucharski

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

My thesis tests a design approach that combats the urban wound created by the I-75 I-85 connector in the Sweet Auburn District of Atlan­ta, GA. I propose to ener­gize and reactivate communities that have lost their identity by implementing safety, social cohesion, cultural integration and ultimately achieving economic growth for the area and its locals through a dynamic range of spatial properties of public spaces as an extension to an integrated Interpretive Center. In the 1980s, Bill Hillier, using the powerful social theory of space, developed the concept of Space Syntax as a set of rules and methods for modeling …

Desert Safe Haven, Deja Dortch

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The purpose of this thesis is to inform on the materials, technologies, spaces and structure needed to architecturally and sustainably achieve human comfort and create a mother nature-proof safe haven in the becoming harsh climate of the USA. All the while implementing minimum HVAC, using primarily passive and active systems towards a net zero home. Studies have shown there is a real threat with the rate in which the climate is changing. Temperatures are rising worldwide which is causing droughts, more frequent fires, glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise, more severe hurricanes and storms, etc. Sustainability is a way …

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 …

Finding Uhuru, Joanna Waliuba

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Uhuru is Swahili for freedom, freedom that many victims of gender-based violence do not have. Several studies and articles have reported that Gender-based violence is a normalized global pandemic3. This normalization hides a bigger problem of lack of proper facilities and care services that aid the erosion of gender-based violence. The purpose of my thesis is to design a hub for victims of these crimes. A hub that would facilitate healing for victims and educational resources for the community to tackle the stigma of sexual education and violence. To achieve this, the implementation of trauma-informed care and trauma-informed design governed …

Urban Anchors: Reviving The "Motor City", Alan Mota Lopez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Currently, there are several large post-industrial cities around the world that are ridden with abandoned industrial buildings, these cities have also gone through a constant decline in population and culture while at the same time the rest of the world has done the opposite. The question at hand is what can be done for these cities to catch up with the successes of other major neighboring cities. The existing infrastructure and buildings left behind by these industries hold a great potential for re-development into proposed districts which would span a couple of blocks along a main street. The primary function …

Chattahoochee River Front Design: Sustaining A Lost Culture Through Environmental And Social Stewardship Of Native American, Dalvin Ross

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

How vital is Native American culture in understanding the history and synergy between the social, natural, and built environments? The identity of indigenous people in North America has been stripped and forgotten over years. It is critical to promote rediscovering their ideologies through the establishment of a cultural center which features the architectural contributions of the Native Americans. This undergrade thesis focuses on the city of Atlanta, which has cultural remnants of the first inhabitants of this land. Still, it’s relevance in the community or architecture in Georgia is often overlooked. The Chattahoochee River is a natural tourist attraction, located …

Moving Gardens: Self-Sustaining Small Scale Housing, Shai Nibbs

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In recent times, Tiny houses have become very popular and “the vast majority of tiny homes, 86%, are THOWs, or tiny houses on wheels” (Summers 8). Tiny houses on wheels often employ systems to allow for off-grid uses (such as solar panels or rainwater collection) but usually have a small capability to store fresh foods, which ties the user back to the grid through frequent store visits or hinders them in food desert areas. Food deserts are areas where low-income individuals need easy access to food retailers or supermarkets. In 2019, “17% of Americans were considered low-income and had little …

Stadiums Redefined: Connecting Stadiums To Their Communities, Jonathan Linssen

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Stadiums are currently overspecialized structures that have limited uses during offseason of the sports they are built for. Additionally, stadiums tend to be extremely enclosed, cutting off its surroundings and greatly limiting any interaction it could have with the surrounding community it is set into. The aim of this thesis is to create a new typology for stadiums by looking at how a stadium can become something that provides more to the surrounding community and transcend its current design limitations.

Often placed in urban areas, stadiums are often surrounded by communities that could have used the space taken by the …

The Dwelling And The Shed: Redefining The Homestead, Ryan Mattox

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The homestead is the frontier of exploration. It is the place that shows people can take care of themselves through self-sufficient means. This place also looks at making a more sustainable population. That is partly due to the individual needing to take care of the environment around themselves so that the environment can provide for them.

My thesis project will look to create a technological and sustainable residential module that can be replicated and modified to create community based on self-sufficiency by means of sustainability. To achieve this goal, my thesis will look at combining the architectural elements of the …

Reverence For Life And Death: A New Cemetery Typology, Ashlyn Olmstead

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The current methods and traditions of burial practices and cemetery design are to be examined for architectural opportunities within this thesis study. The current practices of cemetery design and burial methodologies in the United States have shown signs of instability and lack of longevity due to the decreasing availability of land in dense city environments. Additional climatic factors such as rising sea levels also threaten below ground burial. In other countries, cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo have already begun to research new methodologies surrounding burial due to this concern and the need for US cities to follow suit …