Architecture Commons^™

Untitled Context, Bhumi Patel

Architecture Senior Theses

The original is an emblem of industrialization. It is the homogeneous and the rule. Through methods of reproduction and reduction, the object creates a new identity, invigorating pre-existing conditions.

This research explores the resolution of the replica through the reproduced and the reduced. The reproduced uses the syntax of the original as a framework to produce an object containing the same components, but altered and modifies to the new context. Many towers built around the worlds that reference the Eiffel Tower as an influence, contain components of the tower that have altered and modified to the new context. These tests …

Untitled Context- Part 2, Bhumi Patel

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Breezeway Wind Analysis, Andrew Borgerding, Scott F. Burns, Corey T. Griffin, Ben Deines

Research-Based Design Initiative

The project is focused on the wind strategies for the Black Butte Ranch site in central Oregon. The foundation is at the edge of a lake in the high desert with the central Oregon mountain ranges to the west. These mountains help to maintain a consistent wind direction for the majority of the year. Wind rose studies have given THA the basic idea of direction, west to east in the winter and slightly southwest to northeast in the summer. The Black Butte Ranch is rebuilding the main pool house along with a restaurant and new pool. The wind has been …

Daylight And Artificial Lighting Strategies For A Nicu Remodel, Rachel Browne, Huafen Hu, Elham Masoomkhah, Nada Maani, Karina Adams, Sergio Palleroni, Ben Deines, Srg Partnership, Inc., Luma Lighting Design

Research-Based Design Initiative

SRG is proposing an NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) remodel for a major healthcare provider here in the Portland metro area.This is an intensive care unit for babies born prematurely and up to 6 months of age. The space is in an existing hospit al and has previously been used as an N ICU. However, it is currently being used as overflow office space and is now under consideration for being remodelled and re-commissioned as an N ICU.The healthcare provider who owns the hospit al has recently realized that this could be a value-added service for their business model.

Our …

Thermal Imaging For Facade Performance Evaluation: Informing Decisions For Srg’S Psu School Of Business Renovation, Kelsy Colvin, Samuel North, Corey T. Griffin, Ben Deines, Srg Architects

Research-Based Design Initiative

This research serves to evaluate the current condition of existing building skins on The School of Business and The School of Education at Portland State University (PSU) through infrared thermography. The buildings were constructed at two different points: The School of Education in 1979 and The School of Business in 1986. Both have had minor renovations since their construction, and each are articulated in differing materiality. Infrared thermography is best suited for the researcher’s purposes as it is non-invasive and will allow them to produce a data analysis of building structures before any deconstruction is conducted.

The research will inform …

Entryway Wind Impact Assessment, Andrew Borgerding, Scott F. Burns, Kelsy Colvin, Sergio Palleroni, Haufen Hu, Ben Deines

Research-Based Design Initiative

The project consists of a current medical facility located in Gresham, Oregon. This site is subjected to fierce winds pushing west out of the Columbia River Gorge. These winds have the ability to reach hurricane wind speeds which will ultimately guide the shape of the building footprint and overall orientation/ building envelope. ZGF is looking for a qualitative study between multiple massing models in relationship with wind turbulence. These models are desired to reveal not only the effects of the wind on the massing models, but the existing buildings surrounding the new building. The goal behind this series of wind …

Evolutionary Analysis For Building Efficiency: Inventing Generative Tools For Diagramming Spatial Relationships, Christopher Boon, Corey T. Griffin, Sergio Palleroni, Huafen Hu, Lyee Chong, Ben Deines, Zgf

Research-Based Design Initiative

This project attempts to utilize generative software in order to create an analytical system intended to enhance order and efficiency within groups of complexly inter-connected architectural programs. The focus of the research involves developing a parametric definition that can diagrammatically arrange spatial volumes. These volumes represent the various building functions (programs) in terms of square footage. The driving condition for these experiments is adjacency. The theory is that if two functions in a building need to be connected, they should be adjacent to one another. The degree of adjacency is here viewed as the distance between the centers of programmatic …

Cascade Garden Residence Landscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Pamela Blackmore, Chris Binder

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Cascade Garden is a tranquil, high-altitude residential property, designed to preserve the area's natural setting and ecosystem while meeting the property owner's requests for outdoor amenities. The project involved dismantling an existing house and siting a new home integrated into the landscape with minimal site disturbance. The site features an existing pond, which was planted with riparian vegetation and modified to support trout habitat and supply water for landscape irrigation. Because of the harsh, high-altitude climate and presence of wildlife, plant species were carefully selected to ensure high growth levels and low maintenance. Most of the traditional lawn was replaced …

Capitol Valley Ranch Landscape Performance Benefits Assessment, Bo Yang, Pamela Blackmore, Chris Binder

Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning Faculty Publications

Capitol Valley Ranch, a one-acre home site situated on a larger working cattle ranch, is nestled into a rural high-altitude Colorado landscape. The design for the property required an integration of functions. A working ranch with horses, stables, and a barn coexists with a residence, thereby retaining traditional practices that preserve regional culture and open space values. The intimate and social spaces conducive to outdoor living and entertaining assimilate with the architecture and echo the site's naturalistic setting at 8,000 ft above sea level. In order to preserve the agricultural heritage of the valley, the design limited site disturbance, adhered …

Cataloguing And Energy Modelling Large Scale Retrofit Opportunities For Local Authority Housing In Cork City, James Pittam, Garrett O’Sullivan, Paul D. O’Sullivan

Conference Papers

Large scale, non-invasive and largely off site modular building retro-fit solutions offer scalable opportunities to assist in climate change adaptation for existing residential built stock. In Ireland, local authority housing (LAH) hosts a large proportion of the existing domestic built stock. This paper outlines the basis for development of a methodology to catalogue and analyze existing LAH developments in Cork City based on their thermal energy performance. This process informs location, elevation, orientation, superstructure and current energy rating. Firstly LAH existing typologies are statistically analyzed to produce a generalized house type representation of a mean terrace typology. Climate data is …

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 …

Engaging Holistic Health Through Interactive Design In Public Space- Part 1, Alec Hembree, Emily Sholder

Architecture Senior Theses

Everything that an individual knows, thinks, feels, and perceives is ultimately formed by a culmination of experiences within his or her constructed environment. Beginning with early stages f childhood development, an individual begins to develop schemas through which he or she processes internal conditions and external factors of the surrounding environment. Education through self, family, school, community, and social media further contributes to this development as the learner grows and changes over time. However, recent changes in cultural clues have altered the way children develop physically, cognitively, and socially. Considering these factors as primary influences on the individuals holistic health …

Engaging Holistic Health Through Interactive Design In Public Space- Part 2, Alec Hembree, Emily Sholder

Architecture Senior Theses

No abstract provided.

Maximixing Daylight In Lower Level Classrooms Using Lightwells, J. Primozich, R. Webber, Corey T. Griffin, Ben Deines, Tha Architecture

Research-Based Design Initiative

Student and worker performance has been shown to share a correlation with access to natural sources of lighting (Heschong, 2002). Natural lighting also provides environmental benefits through the reduction of a building’s energy dependence (Ihm, P., Nemri, A., Krarti, M., 2008). Lower-level classrooms are particularly troublesome to daylight because skylight strategies are unavailable and relying on exterior glazing increases solar heat gain as well as increased envelope costs. Lightwells offer a potential solution for daylighting without the costs associated with traditional solutions. A lightwell is a vertical shaft extending from an opening in the roof structure to lower level rooms. …

Nicu Lighting Design: Responding To The Diverse Lighting Needs Of Nicu Users, Rachel Browne, Corey T. Griffin, Nada Maani, Srg Architects, Luma

Research-Based Design Initiative

SRG is redesigning a NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) for a major healthcare provider in the Portland, OR metro area.This is an intensive care unit for babies born prematurely and up to 6 months of age. The space is in an existing hospital and has previously been used as an NICU. For the last several years it was being used as overflow office space, but now is being remodeled and re-commissioned as an NICU. The healthcare provider who owns the hospital recently realized that this could be a value-added service for their business model.

This paper focuses on two factors …

Calculating Energy Consumption For Building Materials, G. Antons, M. Hoover, W. Uebelacker, Sergio Palleroni, Huafen Hu, Ben Deines

Research-Based Design Initiative

Sustainability is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. With that, Life Cycle Assesment (LCA) was born and is now a standard tool in measuring how sustainable we are in building from material extraction to end of life.

Architects have adopted the responsibility to lead the building industry down a green and sustainable path; as a part of this, many architecture firms have expanded their practices to include studios that work specifically on green buildings or green energy audits for clients. Throughout history sustainable design has used …

Building For The Future, Samantha Snively

Lake Union Herald

No abstract provided.

Wood Unscripted Potentials:How Can Material Deficiencies Become Strengths, Marcin Wójcik

Conference papers

This paper presentation investigates how wood traits that are seen as shortcomings for construction can be used to advantage and what kind of design methods and techniques that would require.

Wood has lost market shares as a raw material for mass production processes as a result of its individualised characteristics and difficult to predict behaviours. Reaction wood, spiral grain and juvenile wood – present in almost all timbers -- are seen as deficiencies, causing lower strength and extensive warp during drying. It is proposed to look for design methods and, techniques that utilise material information, such as the individual traits, …

Historic Barn And Farmstead Survey: Gilmore Township Of Isabella County, Nichole Van Blaricum

Historic Preservation Final Projects

No abstract provided.

Saline Area Historical Society's Rentschler Farm Museum Tour, Elizabeth Searls

Historic Preservation Final Projects

The purpose of this project is to update the current tour that is being offered at the Rentschler Farm Museum. It can be all too easy to focus only on the “stuff” or artifacts that are inside a museum. Tours about “stuff” are not relatable, and typically not very interesting. This tour focuses instead on how artifacts may have been used, and on particular stories about the Rentschler family who poured their lives into their farmland. The new tour was also written in a way that is relatable to visitors of the museum. The greatest example being that to the …

A Post-Occupancy Daylight Analysis: Vernonia K-12 School, Julia Mollner, Corey T. Griffin

Research-Based Design Initiative

Daylight is an important aspect of design, specifically in school settings. Daylight is not only desirable but crucial for the growth of children, including: increased connection to nature, reduced electricity bills, and increased attention spans. Recent studies have shown the positive relationship between diffuse daylight and student performance (Melton, 2012). The proper design of daylight can enhance a space without electric light. The main goals of daylighting are (1) control direct light during occupied hours (2) provide balanced illuminance on interior surfaces (3) provide sufficient ambient daylight illumination for visual tasks (Pattern Guide for Advanced Daylight, 2014). This research is …

Parametric Analysis For Building Efficiency Developing A Tool For Diagramming Programmatic Relationships Using Adjacency Requirements, Christopher Boon, Lyee Chong, Sergio Palleroni, Huafen Hu, Ben Deines, Zgf

Research-Based Design Initiative

Emerging Parametric technologies are opening new opportunities in Architecture. Generally, it is seen primarily as an engine to drive formal exploration and renderings. Its implications however are larger and it is possible to employ it is at many stages in the design process. During the initial design stage, much of what is explored involves theoretical concepts. The work is expressed diagrammatically. If the concept can be distilled to its parameters, then it is possible to begin including parametric analysis. This type of analysis will allow designers to develop a much wider range of options in a much shorter timeframe. This …

The Reduction Of Plug Loads: The Next Obstacle In Achieving Net Zero Energy Buildings, Cian O'Driscoll, Garrett O’Sullivan, Jim Harrison

Conference Papers

As industry pushes for further reductions in the energy consumption of buildings the era of net zero energy, zero carbon buildings has been realised. However, this frontier of highly efficient architecture has unveiled the considerably large problem of plug loads. In a typical office building plug load alone can account for 15% of total energy consumption. In a Net Zero Energy building that percentage can increase to 50+%. This paper discusses the reasons for this increasingly significant building energy load and the importance of reducing it. A methodological approach and results of monitoring the kWh consumption at plug level and …

Wall Assembly And Material Analysis, Sam North, Cole Poland, Reid Weber, Sergio Palleroni, Huafen Hu, Ben Deines, Tha Architecture

Research-Based Design Initiative

We researched the thought process and reasoning behind the design of wall assemblies from start to finish. We explored the specific reasoning for placement and use of every material in the wall and brought to light where the reasoning came from. The wall assemblies in question are those of an academic building currently under construction on Portland Community College, Cascade Campus designed by Thomas Hacker Associates Architecture (THA).

The project consists of two new buildings and a plaza space. The building programs consist of classrooms, open study rooms, a cafeteria and administrative offices. We analyzed the wall type and assembly …

Portland State University Engineering Building Expansion Feasability Study, Nicole Dunbar, Huafen Hu, Sergio Palleroni, Ben Deines, Zgf Architects, Glumac

Research-Based Design Initiative

he building was certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold after its construction, achieving a 45% reduction in energy use from the original building. A geothermal (ground source heat pump) cooling system is the primary cooling device in the building, along with operable windows in classrooms for natural ventilation and cooling (PSU).

Portland State University’s commitment to sustainability sparked the impetus to push for a design that would achieve the LEED Gold standard. Originally designed by Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) Architects and PAE Engineering, the building serves as the main space for all of the branches of Portland …

An Anthropology Of Urbanism: How People Make Places (And What Designers And Planners Might Learn From It), Brooke D. Wortham-Galvin

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

In their word play on what design praxis might succeed the New Urbanism movement in the United States, the July 2013 article “Newest Urbanism” in the Architect introduced to the uninitiated the concept of tactical urbanism. Defining tactical urbanism as "temporary, cheap, and usually grassroots interventions—including so-called guerrilla gardens, pop-up parks, food carts, and 'open streets' projects—that are designed to improve city life on a block-by-block, street-by-street basis," the article claims that it took this approach to shaping the city less than a decade to mainstream into the practices of US cities and firms alike. While Architect used the term …

Phytotechnologies - Preventing Exposures, Improving Public Health, Heather F. Henry, Joel Gerard Burken, Raina M. Maier, Lee A. Newman, Steven Rock, Jerald L. Schnoor, William A. Suk

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Phytotechnologies Have Potential to Reduce the Amount or Toxicity of Deleterious Chemicals and Agents, and Thereby, Can Reduce Human Exposures to Hazardous Substances. as Such, Phytotechnologies Are Tools for Primary Prevention in Public Health. Recent Research Demonstrates Phytotechnologies Can Be Uniquely Tailored for Effective Exposure Prevention in a Variety of Applications. in Addition to Exposure Prevention, Plants Can Be Used as Sensors to Identify Environmental Contamination and Potential Exposures. in This Paper, We Have Presented Applications and Research Developments in a Framework to Illustrate How Phytotechnologies Can Meet Basic Public Health Needs for Access to Clean Water, Air, and Food. …

Plants As Bio-Indicators Of Subsurface Conditions: Impact Of Groundwater Level On Btex Concentrations In Trees, Jordan Wilson, Rachel Bartz, Matt Limmer, Joel Gerard Burken

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Numerous Studies Have Demonstrated Trees' Ability to Extract and Translocate Moderately Hydrophobic Contaminants, and Sampling Trees for Compounds Such as BTEX Can Help Delineate Plumes in the Field. However, When BTEX is Detected in the Groundwater, Detection in Nearby Trees is Not as Reliable an Indicator of Subsurface Contamination as Other Compounds Such as Chlorinated Solvents. Aerobic Rhizospheric and Bulk Soil Degradation is a Potential Explanation for the Observed Variability of BTEX in Trees as Compared to Groundwater Concentrations. the Goal of This Study Was to Determine the Effect of Groundwater Level on BTEX Concentrations in Tree Tissue. the Central …

Post-Occupancy Daylight Analysis: Vernonia K-12 School, Portland State University. School Of Architecture

Research-Based Design Initiative

Early design approaches are becoming increasingly important in the architectural design process. Studying the buildings performance after occupancy has allowed our field to study the accuracy of design modeling. This has been especially true with daylight analysis. Specifically in school settings, daylight is not only desirable but crucial to the health and performance of children. Analysis of daylight in the architectural field has increased as the opportunity to perform more accurate simulations during the design process. Alongside this development, there is a move to explore the efficiency of software analysis to real world projects. This research examines the effectiveness of …

Evaluating Sefaira: A Research Collaboration, Mart Schaefer, Sergio Palleroni, Huafen Hu, Ben Deines, Boora Architects

Research-Based Design Initiative

Sefaira Concept is a plug-in that runs in Trimble SketchUp, a 3D modeling program with wide usage in architecture design. Known for its ease of use, SketchUp is particularly useful during a project’s schematic design phase. Until now, however, it lacked robust analysis tools. Sefaira Concept fills that gap and allows designers to explore a variety of options for reducing energy impact early in a project’s life. Before a tool of this nature existed, energy modeling and analysis would be done by consultants with more specialized knowledge and at a point in the design process where it was too late …