Architecture Commons^™

The Arch And The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsitǎ, Ana Popescu

Masters Theses

The Arch and The Looking Glass: Umbli Cu Cioara Vopsită (You Are Walking Around with a Painted Crow)

A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts in Ceramics in the Department of Ceramics of the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island.

By Ana Popescu, 2025

Approved by Master’s Examination Committee:

Lesley Baker, Shoji Satake (Chair), Heather Bhandari, Tucker Houlihan

Date: May 17th, 2025

Location: Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, Rhode Island

To be opened for self-reflection in 10 years, on May 17th, 2035:

I’ve been mulling over how to make …

Untitled, Seung Ho Jeon

Masters Theses

We are, by our very own nature, confined within our own lived experiences. To transcend our inherent loneliness, we seek ways to fulfill a fundamental sense of belonging through symbolic interactions. The external world we navigate is a subjective framework constructed through repetitive, mundane interaction, and as actors, we participate in such monotonous performances as a means to create shared meaning.

Such performance manifests as a collective entity - an intangible force that is not bound by institutionalized systems, emerging organically from grassroots beliefs and practices. Throughout the performance, there are symbols - artifacts, space, and interactions. And these transformative …

Coarse Woody Debris: Growth & Decay, Cody W. Young

Masters Theses

Coarse Woody Debris is the felled wood from trees. When branches break off and trunks fall down to the ground, the wood from the tree begins to decay. Humans need to acknowledge the importance of this regeneration and habitat building process to help protect it. The debris from coarse wood decay provides multiple benefits to the surrounding ecosystem. It is important to leave the woody debris in the context in which it fell so that the cycles of growth and decay can be preserved. My project is a public service announcement about the values of coarse woody debris. Instead of …

Rural Dreams, Zongda Wu

Masters Theses

With the rapid development of urbanization in China, people's connection with nature has weakened, leading to an increasingly common phenomenon of nature-deficit disorder. The high-paced, information-saturated lifestyle of cities has further reduced people’s sensitivity to natural rhythms. This is especially true for the younger generation, who are accustomed to fast, dense information flows and find it difficult to slow down and engage meaningfully with nature, even when visiting rural areas.

This study uses the ruins of Puji Temple, located about 50 miles from downtown Beijing, to explore how spatial design can offer urban youth opportunities to reconnect with nature while …

Cohabitation At Threshold: Carpenter House Reimagined For Multispecies Living, Zhixiao Yang

Masters Theses

With the rapid growth of the human population, we are encroaching further into wildlife habitats, particularly those surrounding urban environments. This accelerating urbanization leads to biodiversity loss, the degradation of ecological services essential to human health and well-being, and a diminishing connection between city dwellers and the natural world.

Today, urban planners, architects, economists, and other advocates for the future of humanity and the health of the planet are actively questioning how we might build greener, more resilient cities. While much of the focus has been on large-scale interventions — such as the use of sustainable materials, the creation of …

Unseen, But There, Xinyu Dong

Masters Theses

Pedestrians often arrive at the Michael S. Van Leesten Memorial Bridge in a hurry—rushing through daily routines—only to slow down or stop at its center. Here, they are drawn by the openness of the view, the rhythm of the wind, and a sense of pause that floats above the surface of the Providence River.

This thesis is an ongoing experiment in direct, sensory experience. It centers on this pedestrian bridge not just as a site of circulation, but as a space of unintentional stillness and layered perception. While many passersby are drawn to its scenic beauty, few pause to consider …

Buddha, Resituated, Min Sun

Masters Theses

The Asian Arts Room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art presents significant cultural artifacts in a minimalist, neutral environment that disconnects them from their original historical and spatial contexts. By proposing display techniques that emphasize the origin and background of objects, it asks whether audiences from diverse cultural backgrounds can be enabled to connect empathetically with and learn from the heritage represented by these objects displayed out of context.

This thesis explores how exhibition design can reframe decontextualized artifacts to restore cultural meaning. By unpacking the room chronologically and geographically, and drawing from the spatial language of the Yungang Grottoes, …

Stranded In Time: Reawakening The Crook Point Bascule Bridge Through Temporality, Zhipeng Wang

Masters Theses

Many urban structures fall into a “stranded” state—physically present, yet socially invisible. The Crook Point Bridge in Providence is a prime example: a decommissioned piece of industrial infrastructure, too large and symbolically heavy to vanish entirely, yet gradually fading from public awareness. This thesis explores how temporary, experience-driven interventions can reawaken the social relevance of such neglected spaces. Rather than proposing a fixed future, the project seeks to prompt public reconsideration through fleeting spatial experiences that require no irreversible transformation. The first intervention utilizes balloons—fragile, inflated, and inevitably collapsing—to embody the theme of accelerated disappearance, echoing how memories fade faster …

Silent Witnesses: Reconnecting Landscape Through Lost Narratives, Abeer Aljohani

Masters Theses

In the heart of the vast Arabian desert, a forgotten tale of tragic love unfolds. Aja and Salma, figures from two different tribes in pre-Islamic Arabia, embody a romance that has long faded into obscurity. The two mountain ranges in Hail, Saudi Arabia, bear their names, standing as silent witnesses to a love story that ends in tragedy—one in which each is killed on separate peaks. Over time, the story has faded, leaving a gap between the landscape and its cultural significance. Could a narrative-based tourism experience revive this link, blending the mountains’ natural beauty with their forgotten story?

This …

The Afterlife Of Walls / Reimagining The Museum Beyond Possession, Bensu Girgin

Masters Theses

When artifacts are returned, whether to their original sites or to communities with enduring cultural and ancestral ties, what might museums become in their absence? Once defined by possession, these spaces could shift toward empathy: not through institutional authority, but through shared presence and living memory.

This thesis critiques how Eurocentric museum practices have long sustained a colonial logic by detaching artifacts from the cultural, spiritual, and embodied contexts that gave them meaning. In doing so, museums render objects static, symbols of conquest rather than continuity, and reinforce historical narratives rooted in domination and erasure. Centering the British Museum as …

Scattering Garden - Designing For Cremated Ash Scattering In Cemetery Landscapes, Sathya G. Munagamage

Masters Theses

Cremation is gaining popularity as a preferred after death care procedure. Therefore the need for spaces to bury or scatter cremated ashes is also rising. “Scattering Gardens”, as specific spaces allocated for cremated ash scattering in cemetery landscapes will play a significant role in responding to this shift. The effect of accumulation of these ashes on soil ecology is a rising concern. My thesis investigates the socio-cultural and environmental effects of cremated ashes in the landscapes in which they are placed. Using the North burial ground cemetery as a test site for my investigations, I explore the potential of design …

Giving Space To Equity: Creating Modular Mentorship Spaces For At-Risk Youth, Helei Gomariz-Robertson

Masters Theses

The built environment is a physical manifestation of a society’s values and priorities. The way space is allocated reflects what a society deems significant, shaping how communities and cities function on both a practical and symbolic level. In Washington, D.C., this relationship between space and meaning is particularly evident. The city’s layout was carefully designed to emphasize national identity, with monuments and memorials occupying central locations that highlight their historical and symbolic importance. However, not all spaces receive the same attention or resources. For example, the only youth rehabilitation center serving the Washington, D.C., area is built to accommodate just …

From In To Out, Jaeyeon Shin

Masters Theses

In contemporary Korean society, where uniform ideals and social pressure often dominate, individuality—especially emotional individuality—can be difficult to maintain. This loss of personal agency has real consequences: mental and physical health challenges, including eating disorders, are on the rise.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 3 percent of the global population is affected by such disorders—roughly 1.55 million people in South Korea—despite the country having the lowest obesity rate among OECD nations. The increase, particularly among women in their teens to thirties, reflects the emotional toll of conforming to rigid societal standards.

Architecture is not merely a backdrop …

From Industrial Building To Affordable Senior Housing: An Idea Book Beyond Code, Weiyi Ma

Masters Theses

This thesis envisions a proposal to adaptively re-purpose Rhode Island’s extant industrial building stock into affordable housing tailored to the needs of its older and more vulnerable citizens. Architectural dignity, in terms of older citizens amidst this housing crisis, is the creation of living environments that honor their autonomy, comfort, and identity through design interventions that provide accessible, luminous, breathable, and socially enriching spaces, reaffirming their rightful place within the community. With humanistic care and logical rigor, it establishes a mathematical framework for assessment and execution, anchored in five criteria: light, air, space, accessibility, and livability, and presents itself in …

Notes On Revivalism, Elana R. Kates

Masters Theses

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Material Values Black Locust Exploration, Benjamin N. Riley

Masters Theses

As individuals many facets of our lives do not offer us significant control over our impact on the environment around us. We are limited by access, time, and information- funneled into making less than sustainable choices. To live sustainably we must have opportunities to strike a balance between what we extract and what we produce. Through our consumption of resources this balance is achieved when we take only what we need and can replace while fostering a cultural appreciation of the extracted materials that we utilize.

Material Values Investigates how we can approach utilizing materials in landscape construction that are …

Post Occupation Amnesia, Zainah Alwuhaib

Masters Theses

On August 2nd, 1990, Iraqi forces invaded and occupied Kuwait in an attempt to expand borders and acquire resources. The occupation lasted for seven months. Even after liberation on February 26, 1991, many prisoners of war had not been found or returned, oil wells were still on fire, and buildings were left damaged or destroyed. The immediate recovery period focused on restoring what was lost and reclaiming a sense of cultural and national identity. Different buildings received different treatment, and analyzing what remains now, 35 years later, is essential in understanding the impacts of occupation on a nation.

To gain …

A Seat At The Table: Expanding The Narrative Of Period Rooms, Jade Mcpike

Masters Theses

A period room represents the interior design and decorative art of a particular historical social setting, typically found in museums. Unlike the white cube gallery, period rooms offer immersive spaces that provide visitors a glimpse into domestic life and the experiences of those who lived in that moment. Stepping into a period room is like traveling back in time, where every piece of furniture and decoration tells us something about the past.

However, despite their immersive qualities, these rooms often lack broader historical context, misrepresenting socio-economic, political, and cultural dynamics of the periods they attempt to depict. They often glorify …

Looped Logic & Wild Lines, Shuting Shao

Masters Theses

What if an exhibition didn’t just present objects but actively pulled visitors into their world? This thesis explores that possibility by reimagining how furniture can be exhibited, using Misha Kahn’s All Tied Up Chair and Michael Thonet’s No. 14 Bentwood Chair as case studies. These two works sit at opposite ends of the design spectrum—Kahn’s chair is an explosion of color, texture, and playful chaos, while Thonet’s is an icon of industrial efficiency and graceful simplicity. Through spatial design, this exhibition translates their contrasting philosophies into immersive environments that extend beyond mere observation. The conventional use of neutral “White Cube” …

Post Salt: Adaptive Architecture For An Uncertain Climate, Mallorie Beckner

Masters Theses

Climate change is rapidly altering seasonal patterns, particularly in the Northeastern U.S., where winter temperatures have risen by approximately 3°F over the past century. As a result, infrastructure designed to support communities during winter conditions, such as road salt storage facilities, faces obsolescence. New York State, the largest consumer of road salt in North America, has 40 salt storage facilities in New York City alone, all of which are sited along interconnected waterways. Though often overlooked, this network of structures forms a critical part of the city’s response to winter weather. As these structures face a paradigm shift, their future …

Can You Hear A Pen Drop? A Study Of Classroom Acoustics And Aural Experience, Henry P. Moe

Honors Projects

This study investigates the relationship between classroom acoustics and perceived listening ease at Seattle Pacific University. Five classrooms were analyzed using objective measurements of reverberation time and background noise, and student and faculty perceptions were collected via surveys. While prior research and acoustic standards establish that poor acoustics hinder learning, findings revealed reverberation time and noise levels alone did not fully explain subjective listening experiences. Factors such as class size, seating arrangement, and external noise sources significantly shaped perceptions. The results underscore the importance of considering pedagogical goals and classroom usage when designing or evaluating learning environments.

Fire Fossils: Biomineral Infrastructures In Untangling Climates, Tanmayee More

Masters Theses

Diatoms drift, sediments sink, wildfires generate their own weather. Lightning strikes can blast sand into glass, and microscopic organisms do the same in the cold recesses of the ocean. What alchemies and metabolisms catalyze space, time, and energy? What are the thermodynamics of infrastructure in Climate Change?

Places, materials, and beings are afterimages. Through alchemical experiments, and multi-scalar imaging, I develop simulations of wildfires, and their profound, reverberating effects. In this thesis, a glass-meets-landscape experimental process enters these obscured conditions and renders new material relations for the built environment.

Re-Imagining As Re-Empowering, Zheyun Chen

Masters Theses

While landscapes designed have been shown to effectively promote healing, foster community, and facilitate social empowerment, the landscapes of domestic violence shelters are woefully understudied.

This thesis explores the potential of integrating and combining existing design elements into the landscape to create a system that fosters a “safe place” within an urban context.

In this thesis, I developed a series of typologies based on existing landscape elements that are not necessarily connected with trauma-informed care or a healing landscape. I examined these in an urban context, specifically at Casa Myrna, a domestic violence shelter in Roxbury, Boston, MA.

Through the …

What [Could] Happen[Ed] In Oak Cliff: Reimagining Gentrification Without Displacement, Samantha E. Hernandez

Masters Theses

Neighborhoods help create our world view, define our relationships and goals, and inspire local change. They can evolve naturally throughout decades, though sometimes in waves of growth and displacement. Often these disproportionately affect those of lower economic classes or underrepresented communities. This thesis provides alternative possibilities of equitable community growth. What if neighborhoods could be strengthened in the face of change? This thesis will delve into the suburb of Dallas, Texas called Oak Cliff. By studying key moments in its history from the 1980s to 2020s, such as zoning changes or implementation of urban plans, it is possible to reimagine …

Delusional Motel: An Architecture Evoking Negative Symptoms And Disorders, Zesha Xie

Masters Theses

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Echoes Of Scent: Redefining Museum Accessibility, Jiongyi Tang

Masters Theses

Museums and art galleries have traditionally been visually dominant, relying on sight as the primary means of experiencing art and presenting information. However, for blind and visually impaired visitors, these spaces can feel alienating or exclusionary. Museums and galleries must move beyond visually dominant exhibits to create inclusive, multisensory experiences, especially for blind and visually impaired visitors. This thesis challenges conventional, sight-reliant exhibition design and advocates for a shift toward approaches that fully engage the human sensory spectrum. Rooted in empathy and inspired by the lived experiences of visually impaired individuals, this work explores how museums can become more inclusive …

Reimagining The Arcade, Yichen Liao

Masters Theses

Sustainable urban regeneration refers to the revitalization of underused architectural spaces to promote environmental responsibility, social equity, and cultural continuity within the urban fabric. This thesis explores how spatial design can act as a catalyst for such regeneration by reactivating The Arcade Providence—the oldest indoor shopping mall in the U.S.—as a dynamic, interdisciplinary platform for artistic production and academic exchange. Although Providence’s urban growth has slowed in recent decades, its historic downtown still reflects the fragmentation of post-industrial decline. The Arcade, while architecturally significant, remains underutilized and disconnected from the evolving spatial and infrastructural needs of artists, educators, and cultural …

'Manch' Beyond - Museum, Dhwani Bapna

Masters Theses

In contemporary India, the museum remains a symbol of cultural prestige, yet according to national cultural surveys, fewer than 1% of Indians visit museums annually, a statistic that reflects not only structural and spatial exclusions, but also psychological barriers shaped by class, language, and institutional codes of conduct. These institutions are far from neutral: they embed expectations about how to see, move, and behave, privileging a didactic framework. In the absence of intimacy, dialogue, and belonging, the museum becomes a space visited, not inhabited.

Rather than viewing space as a container for artifacts, this thesis reimagines space itself as an …

Time In Architecture, Minho Kwon

Masters Theses

This project explores how the environment and time interact with architecture, proposing the potential to foster a deep connection between people and space by using time as a shared interactive factor.

Furthermore, this project seeks not only to explore the accumulation of time within architecture itself, but also to consider its relationship with the surrounding environment.

Ourcraft, Jie Wang

Masters Theses

Industrial-era transportation infrastructure not only bears witnesses to technological progress and urban development, but also carries collective memories and occupies central location in our urban fabric. Traditional urban renewal often tends to tear down and rebuild, but this approach ignores the inherent spatial value, cultural significance and potential contribution of buildings to community networks. As the original function of many such structures fades, they increasingly become physical and social barriers within the urban fabric, hindering interaction and cohesion between communities.

Gamification integrates playful spatial elements and interactive experiences, attracting local residents for leisure and engagement. Gamification, broadly defined, is the …