Architecture Commons^™

On Craft, William Lentjes

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Craft is a relationship - a dialogue - between craftsman, tool, and material. Craft begins with the intent of all of these loci, and all of these loci are rooted in Being.

Being is known through the consciousness, awareness, and perception of a subject. Being is the inherent existence and totality of "what is."

Being crafts us; Craft imbues Being.

This thesis re-examines the pedagogical approach of an architectural education. The focus is placed on craft through presuppositionless phenomenology.

In an age of endless mechanized production and spiritless materialism, the practice of craft can teach us to return to the …

Memento Memoriam: Reconciling Death, Society, And The Environment, Damari Weaver

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The increase in population, rising cost of funeral expenses, and environmental “permanence” of cemeteries has increased the burden of modern American burial practices. In order to reconcile the various environmental, financial and psychological challenges of death, the architecture of death-related practices must propose sustainable alternatives of honoring and “housing” the dead. It must create a supportive environment that assists in the mourning experience and helps foster thoughts of remembrance, and goes beyond the physical function of a cemetery, or a crematorium, or a columbarium, by focusing on architecture's subliminal nature to heal, orient, and evoke.

The Collective Object: Realizing Collective Space In An Era Of Bigness, Laura M. Sherman

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Architecture reacted to the Technological Revolution of the late 19th century with inspired proposals of optimistic expectation for the new era. The advancements of elevators, escalators and air conditioning meant almost limitless potential for the scale and scope of the built environment. However, society quickly realized the advantageous reality of this technology: Their buildings no longer needed the cities which surrounded them.

Endless interiors and “cities-within-cities” meant the possibility of a lifestyle where people could choose to never again interact with the undesirables of the true city. The built environment actively resisted the collective. A trend of self-interested architectures affected …

"A Vigorous Propaganda": The Peace Conferences Of 1899 And 1907, The Peace Palace, And Internationalism Through Design At The Hague, 1899–1920, Daniel Pecoraro

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uncovers the history of the Peace Palace and The Hague’s role in the early days of the internationalist movement. In the process of localizing the early twentieth century history of The Hague, this thesis examines the development of international imagery and culture through design. The Peace Palace as we know it today was ultimately a result of tensions between internationalist ideas (cooperation, arbitration, modernity) and the pride of Old World nationalism. The final design by Louis Cordonnier and J. A. G. Van der Steur repudiates the feeling of modernity surrounding the idea of peace through arbitration. It is …

Coda - Determining The Sounding Chamber, Michael Phaff

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

This research is in direct relation to the accompanied thesis proposal conducted within the Department of Architecture by author, Michael Phaff, under the guidance of thesis Advisor, Marietta Monaghan. Upon examining local problems with urban fabric, a site and a cause to resolve has been identified. Examining the urban disconnect and architecturally related history and projects, this capstone addresses a condition not yet publicly identified of the site, sound quality of the pedestrian experience in a high traffic environment. Studies show increased health problems of residents living in close proximity to high traffic environments. The goal of this research is …

The Collective Object: Realizing Collective Space In An Era Of Bigness, Laura M. Sherman

KSU Journey Honors College Capstones and Theses

Architecture reacted to the Technological Revolution of the late 19th century with inspired proposals of optimistic expectation for the new era. The advancements of elevators, escalators and air conditioning meant almost limitless potential for the scale and scope of the built environment. However, society quickly realized the advantageous reality of this technology: Their buildings no longer needed the cities which surrounded them.

Endless interiors and “cities-within-cities” meant the possibility of a lifestyle where people could choose to never again interact with the undesirables of the true city. The built environment actively resisted the collective. A trend of self-interested architectures affected …

Learning Is Diverse: The Dynamics Of Change, Catherine G. Harter

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Educational models of the 20th century in the United States responded directly to the then current economic circumstances and workforce needs. Schools throughout the United States were designed on those educational models of production and efficiently. While educational models have since changed in response to societal shifts, now emphasizing flexibility, diversity, and the integration of technology, the design of school infrastructure has not made that leap. By reconceptualizing the boundaries between elements and opening existing structure schools can be redesigned to align with the new educational model. This creates collaboration between different levels of expertise, the exploration of relationships between …

Intelligible Hospitals ( Understanding The Parts = Understanding The Whole), Giovonni C. Reese

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Healthcare complexes exemplify many features of complex buildings since they expand over time to accommodate growth and the ever increasing specialization of branches of clinical medicine. We understand and use buildings by moving through them. Especially in hospital complexes, intelligibility of movement is critical for the functioning and the interfacing among patients, visitors and healthcare professionals. This thesis focuses on the redesign of the circulation system in Piedmont Hospital complex in Atlanta GA, which has expanded over the years into a sprawling complex labyrinth of pavilions. In 1957, Piedmont started on Peachtree street with just one central building. A series …

Living Space : Client - Based Design For Assisted Living, Michael K. Adams

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Designing an assisted living facility with the client in mind. This project aims to create a space which encourages growth and progression for its residents by focusing on community, access to nature, sunlight, open spaces, increased living space, and flex spaces.

By working with the existing community and by emphasizing a program which focuses on the physical and mental needs of the residents, this building seeks to inspire and allow the residents to pursue their passions a manner that honors who they are and what they require.

Dame Zaha Hadid, Architect: Her History, Style, And How They Uniquely Qualified Her To Design The Guangzhou Opera House, Allison Foster

AWE (A Woman’s Experience)

This paper provides a brief background on the accolades of Dame Zaha Hadid, architect, and expresses the significance of her international acclaim in light of being a woman architect. Hadid’s experiences developing into a successful, professional architect, despite existing gender and cultural minority biases working against her, are compared to the city of Guangzhou’s economic success, despite a history of foreign occupation. Hadid’s personal experiences of working and living in areas with strong multicultural influences relate to Guangzhou’s multicultural population, as it exists as a hub for immigration and trade into mainland China. Hadid’s personal style, as inspired by her …

The Cultural Advantage Of Cities: Exploring The Cultural Industry Agglomerations As A Source For Economic Growth, Mohamed A. Bireima

Planning Dissertations - Archive

Interest in the cultural industries as a source for economic growth has risen to prominence in recent decades. The purpose of this research is to explore the role and contribution of the cultural industries for economic growth. The analytical framework is based on the agglomeration model, which links economic growth to the spatial organization of economic activity. The cultural industries exhibit a tendency to cluster in geographical space due to competitive pressures, which causes some degree of agglomeration economies to arise (Scott, 2004). The literature exploring the economic impacts of the cultural industries has focused on their agglomeration tendencies at …

A Cultural Landscape Assessment Of Glen Garden Country Club In Fort Worth, Texas, Anthony Joseph Wade

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

In 2014, having just been sold, Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas closed for the final time having been open for over 100 years also producing two of the top ten golfers in PGA history, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. This research presents a study in assessing Glen Garden as a cultural landscape. This research seeks to answer two question: Was Glen Garden Country Club a cultural landscape? What is the perception of responsibility for advocacy efforts? This case study was adapted from the Francis model and designed to fit the unique context of Glen Garden Country Club …

The Viability Of Conservation Subdivisions As Habitat For Urban Carnivores In North Central Texas Suburbs, Sherry Fabricant

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

The purpose of this research is to examine perceptions of conservation subdivisions as habitat for urban carnivores in North Central Texas suburbs. This research was conducted through the University of Texas at Arlington; Landscape Architecture Program. The literature review examines the history of conservation subdivisions and their use within North Central Texas as well as their application as an ecological solution to present-day threats to biodiversity with a focus on mammalian apex carnivores. It further explores their use as habitat in the context of urban patches and corridors. Additionally, the practice of bioregionalism was reviewed in contrast to current political …

Method Meditation: An Experimental Demonstration Of Systemization In Architecture, Armand Damari

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Method Meditation is an architectural design method developed during my exploration of systemization in the design process. Systems have been used throughout architectural history in an attempt to create space that can affect an occupant exactly the way the architect intended. However, these attempts have had inconsistent outcomes. This inconsistency has been attributed to several factors, from the variety to individual experiences that skew an observer’s viewpoint, to the lack of provable, causal relationships between environment and behavior. Due to these obstacles, other designers have used systems not to create perfect results, but to push their designs to new extents, …

Evaluating Decline: An Assessment Of Variables Correlated With Shrinking Rural Communities, Aubrey Christensen

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Researchers have long sought to understand the relationship between rural population decline and the factors causing variations from time to time and from place to place (Albrecht, 2010). However, few studies have made comparisons at the local level or developed appropriate regional or place-based metrics. The purpose of this project was to determine which local-level factors and variables correlate with rural population decline and to provide recommendations based on those findings.

This project analyzed the relationships between 2000-2010 population trends and a variety of demographic, economic, and biophysical factors specific to rural communities throughout the state of Utah. A community-level …

Environmental Values And Landscape Architecture: A New Ecological Paradigm Study, Emmet J. Pruss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent decades, landscape design theory has been affected by an increase in pro-environmental values. Largely, this trend has been associated with notions of ‘sustainability’ and ‘ecosystem services.’ These notions involve sustaining current human behaviors within the constraints of ecological limits and maximizing the benefits that humans receive from ecosystems, respectively. In this way, they involve high evaluations of the instrumental values of ecosystems, yet remain predominantly anthropocentric. As such, they are characteristic of shallow ecology worldview.

In order to assess whether the pro-environmental, yet essentially anthropocentric values involved with modern landscape architecture theory are reflected in the environmental worldviews …

Recreation Community Branding: A Comparative Analysis Within Utah’S Wasatch Front, Lynda D. D. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study demonstrates the role recreational amenities play in contributing to the brand identity and sense of place in Utah master planned communities (MPCs). These MPCs are designed to enable residents to live, work, and play within close proximity within a styled built environment. While the built environment is often branded with a particular identity, these identities resonates with other attributes of the community, including recreation amenities. The study focused on MPCs along the Wasatch Front in Utah, since Utah’s population, along the Wasatch Front, is expected to double by 2050 (Envision Utah, n.d.). Many of the developments being built …

Transportation Related Challenges For Persons With Disabilities, Graydon Bascom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gaining access to transportation is essential for obtaining employment, education, healthcare, and social interaction. Individuals who face difficulties in gaining this access are considered ‘transportation disadvantaged’ and include individuals of lower socioeconomic status, aging individuals, and persons with disabilities. In our autodependent society, individuals with disabilities face even fewer opportunities to interact within their communities. In order to better understand how individuals with disabilities are limited by their access to transportation, two studies were conducted.

The first study specifically seeks to examine how individuals with disabilities gain access to transportation and the interpersonal relationships that affect opportunities for social participation …

A Comparison Of Park Access With Park Need For Children: Case Study In Cache County, Utah, Shuolei Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Childhood obesity is one of the nation’s most serious health problems. There are growing efforts to prevent childhood obesity by improving opportunities for physical activity in their communities. The outdoor settings of the built environment, such as parks and open spaces, can offer children opportunities for physical activities, experience with nature, and social interaction, which contribute to children’s physical and psychological health. However, children’s physical access to parks is often inequitable. Simultaneously, the quality of parks also varies. These disparities caused the inequitable distribution of health-promoting features of built environment among disadvantaged groups who may not have access to other …

Redefining Landscape Norms: Exploring The Influence Of Normative Landscaping Patterns In Washington County, Utah, Ryan White

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As water supplies in the American West become increasingly strained by growing populations and threats of drought and climate change, water managers and governments are working to maximize water-use efficiency. With well over half of municipal water being used on outdoor irrigation, improved landscape water efficiency has been a clear candidate for conservation messaging. Because social norms play a significant role in what conservation behaviors individuals adopt voluntarily, conservation messaging strategies often try to influence and shift norms in favor of improved behaviors. A clear understanding of the existing norms, demographics, and cultural values of an area is essential to …

Image And Perception Of The Top Five American Tourist Cities As Represented By Snow Globes, Caitlin Malloy

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the connection between popular culture’s perception of place and the physical augmentation of reality. Focusing on the top five tourist cities in America, this disparateness is observed through the lens of a souvenir: the snow globe.

The presentation of the work is broken into two parts: the written portion and the book of diagrams. A total of 45 snow globes (9 for each of the 5 cities) were selected for the study, each carefully analyzed for content to include monuments, colors, text, dimensions, realism, and layout. This resulted in a series of diagrams which graphically express the …

Malaysian Shophouses: Creating Cities Of Character, Ashley Wagner

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

As a developing country, the urban landscape of Malaysia faces the same trends as many other cities worldwide: modernization at a rapid and unchecked pace. Due to the demand for new infrastructure and buildings, many vernacular building types are rapidly disappearing from the urban fabric, among them the Malaysian Shophouse. The shophouse was a common building style for over a century from 1840-1960s and is perhaps a typology of a previous era. Yet it offers many lessons on creating a city that embodies the character of the culture, the antithesis of the anonymous modern city. At its most basic program …

Restoring The Gothic: The Fate Of Medieval Cathedrals In A Divided Germany, 1945 - Present, Haley Walton

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

At the end of World War II, Germany faced some of the greatest levels of destruction of any country in Europe, leaving their historic cities and iconic architecture in ruin. Across the country, some monuments were restored with the upmost attention to detail, while others were maintained in a state of rubble for decades. Following the 1949 division of the state into West Germany (a democratic republic) and East Germany (a socialist autocracy), most of the rebuilding took place against the backdrop of strong ideological differences. But the two new nations shared a centuries-long history, and, after rehabilitating basic infrastructure …

Adaptive Reuse Of Warehouses In Relation To Neighborhood Cohesion And Identity: A Case Study Of New Orleans, Oklahoma City, And Minneapolis, Sarah Tappe

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Historical industrial warehouse districts in American cities have a unique and interesting history because of their rapid development and, in most cases, a subsequent neglect. However, because of its historical significance, its usual central location within the city, and architectural features, the warehouse district has become a focus for revitalization. Warehouse districts already have a historic identity and a cohesiveness in urban fabric and building typologies, but what are the effects of adaptive reuse in relation to the identity of the buildings and the district? In this thesis, three cities (New Orleans, Minneapolis, and Oklahoma City) with established and revitalized …

The Delamination Of Manhattan: Living In The Layers Of A Post-Land Society, Dylan Hursley

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rising water levels threaten the existence of many coastal cities throughout the world, including Lower Manhattan, which is in danger of sea level rise by as much as six feet by the end of the century! Higher sea levels mean that larger storms will occur with greater frequency. Assuming that humanity does not reverse its current ecological contribution, barriers to stop rising waters will not be adequate.

Manhattan is covered by 50 feet of water, transforming New York into a new Venice. The substantial bedrock of the city provides a hefty foundation capable of supporting Manhattan’s structures for many years …

Genealogy Of Theories Of The City: Spatial Components As An Index Of Socioeconomic Capitalism, Zachary Grewe

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Starting after the industrial revolution, the city has increasingly represented the spatial components of capitalism and has increasingly been conceived of as a built form of capital. To understand the lineage of ideas that has led to the current understanding of the city, this study creates a genealogy of theories that cites six significant projects starting with the Garden City in 1898 and concluding with the Yokohama International Passenger Terminal in 2002. The spatial components of capitalism; production, consumption, and housing are used as an index to better understand the socioeconomic influence of capitalism on the city as well as …

Creating Better American Cities: A Study Of Circulation And Common Spaces Of Public Housing, Jessica Wood

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis will analyze common spaces and circulation spaces in terms of configuration (in relation to each other) and quality (whether they are interior, exterior, or allow space for interaction between residents) in an attempt to determine how stairs, elevators, hallways, and common spaces impact the level of community within a public housing project. Community in this study refers to lasting relationships among residents living in the same housing project. The goal is to answer the question “What role do circulation and common spaces play in the success or failure of a public housing project?” and to determine the best …

Eulogy To Architecture: The Three-Dimensional Collage City Of Nostalgia, Molly A. Evans

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

In our time of existence on the Earth, human beings have designed and realized beautiful things. As we face the challenges that confront us today, we begin to understand the fragility of humankind’s creations. Many of the world’s cities and buildings lie in ruins, gazed at by tourists, studied by scholars, while more lie buried in the ground for hundreds of years, some never to be rediscovered. Everything around us is an accumulation of knowledge and ideas built upon for centuries, now facing questionable circumstances. Of course, the more recent Aleppo and other Middle Eastern cities have fallen subject to …

Downtown Revitalization Plan: City Of Commerce, Tx, Colby Collins, Ardeshir Anjomani

Planning Masters Professional Reports - Archive

Creating a downtown revitalization plan for the City of Commerce can be valuable for not only the residents of the city, but also the students of the University of Texas A&M - Commerce. Downtown revitalization can be considered the "hotbeds of business creativity, neighborhood activism, non-profit entrepreneurs, economic diversity, and an attraction for visitors, seniors, and young talent" (A Healthy Downtown is Key to a Strong Community, 2013). Though the City of Commerce has potential to grow and nourish as a community, the steps have yet to be taken to begin the revitalization process. With the average age for the …

New Wine Architecture In Rahovec, Teuta Jaha-Hoxha

Theses and Dissertations

Municipality of Rahovec1 is one of the Kosovo municipalities, known as a wine growing place since ancient times, with an area of 275, 5 km² and 71.522 inhabitants Viticulture in Rahovec is relatively well developed. There are two main wine cellars for grape processing and wine production. i) Stone Castle found in 1975 and, ii) Bodrumi i Vjeter (Old Cellar) build in 1953-54. In addition, it is important to mention here that in Rahovec are dozens of small family wine cellars. “Bodrumi i Vjetër” have a production capacity of 5.000.000 million L, and it used to be a social enterprise, …