Architecture Commons^™

Report On The Ethical Use Of Ai For Participatory Planning, Sahana Kotha, Blythe Wilson

City and Regional Planning

This report provides an overview of key considerations for using artificial intelligence for community engagement in urban planning. As interest in AI adoption in the public sector increases, an understanding of ethical issues is needed to guide responsible AI implementation. Informed by a literature review and interviews with urban planning practitioners and academics, this report describes and analyzes different AI-supported community engagement methods, explores case studies, and outlines key concerns and opportunities for using AI. We recommend that AI use for community engagement prioritizes transparency, human oversight and accountability, intentional AI implementation, and community involvement.

Advertisement Recognition And Recall In Urban Environments, Carson L. Ambrose

Graphic Communication

Why is it that certain advertisements are so much easier to remember than others? And how can places like Times Square actually be communicating effectivly through the dense amount of different ads? This project aims to get closer to finding out how design and environmental ad density effect advertisement recognition and recall. To capture the real-world feeling of a dense city, a 3D printed one was created to allow for custom testing and various locations meant for displaying custom advertisements. These ads would be created using a variety of design characteristics such as color, hierarchy, composition, typography, and over all …

Greenhouse Scan-To-Bim, Mattheus Hsu-Ning Johnson

Architectural Engineering

This senior project focuses on the implementation of Scan-to-BIM software for capturing and modeling an existing building within Experimental Construction laboratory. The design of the project was to model the building using a 3D scan with the support of world measurements to document and create a digital model of the building. By doing this the project can evaluate the effectiveness, efficiency, and accuracy of integrating 3D scanning technologies into BIM modeling.

The project included taking data from a recent scan of the Experimental Construction Laboratory. We then took these scans and imported them to Autodesk Revit to develop a detailed …

Lidar At Poly Canyon, An Binh Chuong

Architectural Engineering

Poly Canyon serves as a living laboratory that reflects Cal Poly’s “Learn by Doing” philosophy through a collection of student-designed and student-constructed structures. Among these is Fratessa Tower, a reinforced concrete observation tower distinguished by its tripod support system, cable-suspended observation deck, and steel spiral staircase. The tower’s unconventional geometry and exposed structural system present unique challenges for documentation, making it well suited for evaluating modern reality-capture and modeling techniques.

This project focused on creating an accurate as-built Building Information Model (BIM) of Fratessa Tower using LiDAR-based scanning, field verification, and Autodesk Revit. Point cloud data were processed to reconstruct …

Flexural Behavior And Failure Mode Assessment Of Concrete-Encased Steel Beams Constructed With Experimental Cardboard Formwork, Luke Robert Jones, Drew Takeshi Kawaguchi

Architectural Engineering

This project investigated the flexural behavior of a concrete-encased W8×13 steel beam detailed without conventional longitudinal reinforcement and constructed using an experimental cardboard/Masonite formwork system. A bare steel control specimen and an encased composite specimen were tested under identical loading conditions to evaluate the effects of concrete confinement and welded transverse reinforcement on lateral-torsional buckling behavior. Results showed that the encased specimen remained laterally stable and developed flexural cracking and concrete crushing rather than the lateral-torsional buckling observed in the control beam. The study also demonstrated that the modified cardboard formwork successfully contained the concrete without the seepage failures observed …

Stem Workshops For Pre-K Students, Sofia Berg, Ashlyn Swoboda

Architectural Engineering

This project involved the development and implementation of a four-part structural engineering workshop series for preschool-aged children at the Orfalea Children’s Center at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. The workshops were designed to introduce fundamental structural engineering concepts through age-appropriate discussions, demonstrations, and hands-on activities focused on engineering careers, structural shapes, skyscrapers, and bridges. The lessons emphasized concepts such as stability, bracing, structural loading, seismic behavior, and iterative design while encouraging collaboration, creativity, and problem solving.

Throughout the workshop series, students actively participated in discussions, demonstrated enthusiasm for engineering activities, and were able to recall concepts introduced in …

Xenaforms: Reinforcing Kinematic Stability Through Rigid Connections, Katherine G. Thies

Architectural Engineering

XenaForms combine rigid planes and straight lines with the fluidity of structural origami to create beautiful, organic folded plate structures. Unlike many conventional structures, folded plate systems derive their stability from the interaction between connected panels, creating the appearance of a single continuous sheet of material. The XenaForm uses structural origami and triangulation to create stable points at the apex of two non-colinear triangles. While it is mathematically true that no moment needs to be transferred across the seam between panels in order to have a stable structure, allowing some moment capacity greatly helps during construction. Specifically, these stiff connections …

Thousand Hills Pet Resort Deck Design, Kenzie Brown

Architectural Engineering

On-site residential units at Thousand Hills Pet Resort currently lack ADA-compliant access, as entry is limited to small, elevated doorways that are only reachable by stairs. A deck connecting the units and providing accessible ingress and egress was designed for this senior project.

In addition to the ADA requirements, the property is expected to undergo significant redevelopment in the coming years. As a result, the deck design must not only meet accessibility needs but also be adaptable and reusable. The final design is a modular deck structure utilizing a hybrid foundation system that facilitates future relocation of the deck. The …

Modular House Design Study, Jordan J. P. Smith

Architectural Engineering

The Modular House is a student designed and constructed structure in Poly Canyon. For decades it served as a home for the Canyon’s caretakers who maintained the structures, looked over the Canyon, and helped construct student projects. After being abandoned for a variety of reasons, the structure now currently stands as an open-air pavilion.

This project studies The Modular House as a unique and storied site and proposes a theoretical retrofit to make the structure habitable again. Historical documents, past senior projects, images, and firsthand accounts were reviewed to understand the site’s history and how it changed over time. In …

Design And Implementation Of A Honeycomb Damping System For The 2026 Eeri Seismic Design Competition, Vera Nguyen, Lauryn Wojcik

Architectural Engineering

The authors of this report were a part of the 2026 Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) chapter at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. In July 2026, they will travel to Portland, Oregon with 12 students to compete in the Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition hosted by EERI. The competition required teams to develop a comprehensive structural design proposal that included computer-based modeling and analysis, construction of three physical models, and the preparation of both a technical poster and oral presentation for a proposed high-rise building located in Portland, Oregon. Cal Poly’s “Illahee Tower” was designed with an emphasis on …

Caed Shop Entrance Wall Construction, Mason Neil Mitchell, Benjamin Joseph Rohrer

Architectural Engineering

This project involves the demolition and reconstruction of the CAED Support Shop Wall at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. The project was designed as a multidisciplinary project, combining architectural engineering and construction management students who collaborated on the rehabilitation of an existing structure. This project aimed to use “replication” as a means of historical preservation and restoration, specifically in the fabrication of custom CMU members.

Concrete And Masonry Code (Beams), Michael Alexander Simas Rocha

Architectural Engineering

This report only covers the beam design of the code that was written. The end goal of this project is to write code for concrete and masonry following what was taught in the lecture classes. This project is acting as a foundation for the end goal of a program that can compete with SAP2000, ETABS, RISA, and others. One final goal is to have the print out have the look and feel of having been done by hand. While coding; several factors were recorded including time spent coding, debugging, and then to do three problems by hand vs how long …

The Xenaform: Structure Through Geometry, Justin Tobias Mendoza Ocampo, Emily Marie Labrador, Banyan Walker, Paul Minchev, Brayden Sean Kelleher, Ethan Mario Ceccarelli

Architectural Engineering

The XenaForm is a geometry-driven structural system that incorporates complex forms generated from simple rules of stability, inspired by the work of Iannis Xenakis and reworked by Professor Edmond Saliklis. This project investigates how structural stability can be achieved through geometric configurations rather than a reliance upon material strength alone. By utilizing the design principles of trilateration and the interconnection of triangular panels, the XenaForm was constructed in accordance with the rules of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures Pavilion Competition. The team generated several design iterations and selected a final design to fabricate and construct, considering affordability, …

Completing The Street: Rapid Redesign Of Citywide Road Networks Using Arcgis, Davidson Drake

City and Regional Planning

This paper was written by Davidson Drake, a student at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, and a volunteer with the City of Pomona Planning Department. The mapping, design, and analysis documented in this paper were produced by the author for the City of Pomona as part of its Complete Streets work. While the work shown here is the author’s own, the broader project would not be possible without the efforts of Karla Foster and Max Pastore, who contributed key components to the project.

Pomona’s Complete Streets project represents an ambitious effort to rethink the city’s street network as …

Greenway Connect, Julia Xaning Kung, Kaleah Cruz, Lila Citlali Roake

City and Regional Planning

This project is developed in response to the American Planning Association’s Student Planning and Design Competition 2026 and fulfills the senior project requirement for a Bachelor of Science in City and Regional Planning from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.

The site consists of the core development area and the framework area, both of which reflect the historical significance and prospective future of the area. The framework area contains multiple industrial sites; Lyndon Street formerly housed multiple textile and manufacturing warehouses that supplied businesses along Livernois Avenue of Fashion. The site also includes the Intervale-Roselawn Park, which has recently …

The U.S. Shopping Mall: Opportunities For Preservation And Transformation Through Adaptive Reuse, Sophia Janzen

University Honors Theses

The U.S. shopping mall, once an integral part of suburban living and community, has slowly disappeared from cities nationwide. What used to be thousands of malls sprinkled throughout America in the 20th century is estimated to be 900 by 2028. A mall's programming of the past is lacking a place in the future, but their architecture leaves a desolate structure in the midst of our cities. Through adaptive reuse, the intentional redevelopment of a preexisting structure, how can malls be thoughtfully revitalized and given a greater purpose within their surroundings?

This research analyzes successful adaptive reuse strategies implemented in few …

City Farm Slo Brooding Box, Jon Travis W. Black

Construction Management

The Brooding Box Project, completed by a California Polytechnic State University Construction Management student, aimed to provide additional chicken housing and secure storage for City Farm SLO, a local nonprofit farm located in San Luis Obispo. Led by Travis Black under the guidance of Shane Lovell, one of the farm’s caretakers, the project combined basic, hands-on construction skills with community service. Using the client’s initial design concept and purchasing the required materials independently, the project focused on durability, functionality, and cost-efficiency. Since the project was self-funded, careful budgeting and material selection were essential to ensure structural integrity while meeting the …

Sheep Pen Improvements At City Farm Slo, Rylan Joseph Hickman

Construction Management

This project took place on a non-profit community farming space called City Farm SLO which provides opportunities for local small scale independent farmers to farm and provide crops to the community. Our project provided improvements to the livestock pen that they have on the farm which is home to chickens and a flock of sheep. The main goal of this project was to provide a better living environment for the sheep including a 50 cubic yard sheep hill, a vehicle access gate, a side gate, a front catch pen, a back corral, and protective fencing for a guava tree. Within …

Perception Is Reality: Evaluating Transportation Satisfaction And Utilization In Continuing Student Housing At Cal Poly, Lucas Owens

Master's Theses

As higher education institutions increasingly mandate on-campus living to foster student success, the built environment becomes a critical determinant of daily mobility. California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly) is transitioning to a two-year residency requirement and tightening vehicle restrictions. This thesis evaluates how the spatial and built-environment realities of peripheral housing complexes in Cerro Vista Apartments and Poly Canyon Village shape student transportation satisfaction and utilization, and emergency evacuation preparedness.

Employing a mixed-methods approach, this research triangulates data from 79 student surveys and 10 semi-structured interviews. The findings indicate that supplementing traditional metrics of proximity with localized spatial data presents …

Erosion And Accretion: Mobilities Of Sand, People, And Memory At Queer Riis Beach, Jah Elyse Sayers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York, is a vibrant place of queer and trans public-space placemaking—and especially Black and working class queer and trans placemaking. A distinct queer ecology emerges in the interplay of the dynamic movement of the barrier island, queer and trans—especially queer and trans Afro-diasporic—mobilities. This queer ecology, while articulated with, also defies and exceeds logics and workings of private property. In response to a convergence of pressures on Black, queer, trans, and working-class placemaking on the beach site in the 2020s, beachgoers have mobilized longstanding provisional socialities …

Adaptive Reuse As Sustainability: Reconciling The Crises Of Functionalism And Environmental Conservation In Copenhagen And San Francisco, Samuel J. Fernandez

Master's Theses

Sustainability is the buzzword for modern global development. In the age of rapidly growing populations, unsustainable building practices, and an ever-present climate crisis, there must be a reorientation in global urban development practices. While experts tend to tout one sustainable initiative as a catch-all solution to the above crises, a multidimensional problem cannot be solved with a one-dimensional approach. In other words, sustainable development can only be achieved through a combination of different practices and approaches. This case study seeks to present adaptive reuse as a viable reaction to the climate crisis, but one that requires a combination of other …

A Stadium In Our Backyard: Community Participation In Stadia Redevelopment Projects, Sofia Zazueta

Master's Theses

The Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid, Spain and the Chase Center in San Francisco, California are two stadium redevelopment projects that exemplify the stakeholder dynamics that come into play when developers pitch a multipurpose stadium located a few blocks away from people’s backyards. Urban development patterns must be in constant evolution to meet the needs and demands of the current generations. In cities, stadia redevelopment projects have entered the picture to reimagine the role that these structures once played. The stadium once used for the sole purpose of holding matches has become a venue that now hosts different events such as …

Where My Memory Settles, Rachel Kobb

Masters Theses

My memory is blurry but ever present in an atmospheric state. Through my investigations of memory and sensorial experience, this thesis is an attempt to understand how the body recalls the spaces I have spent the most time: my various homes through life.

The output of this thesis is a paper installation that layers and translates spatial qualities of my past homes. The home is not a neutral container, but instead a space that should support a sense of retreat and security. Drawing upon Gaston Bachelard’s zones of experience, I explore how a domestic space is moved through distinct zones. …

Between Nature And Architecture : A Dialogue Of Five Elements, Niexiangyi He

Masters Theses

Rooted in classical Chinese cosmology, the Daoist Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) describe dynamic cycles of mutual generation (sheng)—in which one element produces or supports another—and restraint (ke)—in which elements regulate or limit one another to maintain balance. Rather than a system of symbolic representation, these interactions outline a relational model of equilibrium based on interdependence and continuous transformation. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water can inform a contemporary design framework for interior and architectural practice. It interprets these cycles as a form of spatial logic that guides material selection, structural organization, environmental modulation, and experiential sequencing, …

Soft Bodies, Hard Frames, Emily Zhang

Masters Theses

Silk is delicate yet strong, responsive to light and air, dependent on living processes and careful labor. These qualities position silk not only as a material object, but as an instrument capable of organizing space. Rather than functioning solely as a surface or decorative textile, silk can operate as a spatial generator, shaping enclosure, movement, and environmental conditions.

For centuries, domestic courtyard houses in the Jiangnan region, located south of the Yangtze River, evolved alongside sericulture, forming spaces that were attuned to the environmental and material requirements of silk. Architectural elements such as courtyards, screened openings, flexible interiors, and canal-directed …

Jadughar: The House Of Magic, Dhruvi A. Shah

Masters Theses

Jadughar or the House of Magic is what people call a 'museum' in parts of South Asia. The practice of museum making, at its origin, is the act of collecting, preserving, interpreting and representing a culture’s tangible and intangible heritage to make it accessible to diverse audiences. Since the early 19th century such practices have been performed at various kala bhandars (art centers) in India, without the need of a formal or institutional organisation. The British introduced the model of a ‘museum’ in South Asia, with the aim of not only preserving ethnographic collections, but also showcasing their power and …

Fetishismus:Facism, Sodomy, And The Exhibition, Matthew P. Gershovich

Masters Theses

Fetishismus examines the contemporary dislocation between homosexuality and queerness. Homosexuality is the biological, innate quality of same-sex attraction. Queerness is rooted in deviance, perversion, and sociologically attached to the “other.” Although almost always used in an explicitly homosexual connotation, “queerness” is not entirely contingent on the physical engagement of homosexual acts. In historical usage, queer is used as a pejorative adjective, implying a lack of masculinity with the intent to invoke repulsion. In contemporary parlance the two are treated as synonymous. This intertwined relationship relies on the forced lack of social and spatial belonging that is rooted in a foundational …

The Birdwatching Pause: Reframing Campus Life Through Everyday Bird Encounters, Katherine Zeng

Masters Theses

Birdwatching, typically framed as a leisure pursuit removed from everyday life, becomes here the organizing logic for a three-site campus route of restorative pause. The thesis departs from the assumption that nature must be sought out and instead asks what happens when the birds already present in urban space are made legible through design.

Three existing RISD buildings anchor the project, each organized around a distinct mode of encounter. At Carr Haus Café, a furniture-scaled insertion creates conditions for attentional reset through passive listening rather than active looking. At North Hall, a semi-open balcony garden introduces incidental, distanced contact with …

Returning To The Hand, Tatum Dodd

Masters Theses

Historical preservation is traditionally understood as the act of protecting objects and buildings from change, reinstating and stabilizing the past so they may endure into the future. When preservation seeks to freeze and resolve the past, it separates it from the reality of our multi-layered histories and the traces of labor, repair, and care unfolding across generations. Through a human-centered lens that allows one to touch, uncover, and redefine, we are able to relate to our built environments through an ethical practice of care, inviting new avenues of dialogue and engagement with our past.

Recording traces of the hand within …

Strata: Portraits Of The Alvarado & The Southwest, Kayla R. Duncan

Masters Theses

History isn't the past; it is a continuing unfolding of the moment, yet we cannot feel time. We see traces of age through patina on copper, the wrinkles on a face from decades of laughter, or the holes in your favorite shirt. Similarly within architecture, what remains: ruins and fragments serve as layers that indicate the passage of time. In what ways are these layers exposed? Hidden? Erased? How do we determine what layers are worthy to be erased, maintained, or glorified as use of a structure or place continues to evolve through time?

The history of Albuquerque spans the …