Architecture Commons^™

Synthetic Undulation: Improving The Marine Life Quality On The Indonesian Island Of Seleyar, Shreeyaa Shah

Masters Theses

Beginning with a study on the properties and properties of plastic, this thesis examines perspectives and experiences of coastal communities forced to deal with overwhelming quantities of plastic pollution in their waters. With a focus on Indonesia, the second largest plastic polluter in the world, the study examines Selayar island’s vernacular ways of being and making as a possible way to understand and deal with the problems affecting their local marine health. Through different research methods, a complex set of factors are identified besides plastic pollution, including the decline in farming and practices that contribute to overfishing.

Through design investigation, …

Reimagining The Damage: An Exploration On Urban Brownfield Regeneration Strategies, Jun Jiang

Masters Theses

Residents of the Olneyville neighborhood in Providence, RI are at the cusp of being gentrified and forced to relocate. Revitalization of the Woonasquatucket River Greenway and the redevelopment of adjacent neighborhoods such as the West End and Federal Hill are attracting investors' attention on undeveloped post-industrial properties in Olneyville. This study aims to determine how gentrification can be reduced to minimize the impacts on the inhabitants of Olneyville Specifically, it investigates the social and physical conditions and designs potential solutions that can regenerate the urban brownfields in a way that fortifies the neighborhood from gentrification. In this context, "Regenerate" is …

Eco-Waste: Household Waste Material Flows In A Circular Economy, Erqi Meng

Masters Theses

The thesis aims to contextualize household waste on the more complete material flows it belongs to, including reciprocal relations between its landscapes of production and landscapes of landfill. Current one-way processes of waste treatment are repositioned within more circular economies which, it is argued, may also bring ecological benefits to our cities. The study focuses on a local community at Mount Hope district in Providence, RI. As part of a wider landscape framework that includes a study on consumer behaviour, a series of modular strategies are developed based on this community’s main characteristics, with an eventual goal of integrating community …

Filmic Landscape: A Performative Space With Multi-Medium, Zhihong Ke

Masters Theses

This thesis explored the idea of interdisciplinary study between film media and landscape architecture. Through the study of film theory in narrative and cinematography, and experimentation with multi-medium, in order to discover the contribution of media study and film theory in landscape architecture, and further explored a way to drive and reshape the perception and focus of humans’ experience in landscape, in order to develop a new typology of performative space with filmic experience.

The project was divided into 3 phases and 6 chapters. It started with the study of precedent cases in the field of film and landscape. Through …

Eco-Concrete: Reimaging Nantucket Infrastructure System, Huaiwen Zhang

Masters Theses

This thesis examines how issues related to the increasing erosion and inundation of coastal wetlands across New England due to sea-level rise and more frequent storms threaten public and private property as well as valuable natural resources in these important coastal ecosystems. Current coastal barrier solutions are often constructed with concrete hard revetments, which have limited effectiveness, and may exacerbate erosion. Furthermore, these solutions are also not able to support cradle-to-cradle design approaches.

In studying these issues and how they affect marine and coastal life, including human and non-human coastal communities, this thesis investigates alternatives to conventional concrete solutions. Material …

Negative Carbon Growth In The Atmosphere: To Reverse The Growth Of Carbon In The Atmosphere Through Urban Reforestation, Hanchao Zhang

Masters Theses

Since the industrial revolution, with the expansion of cities, the global climate problem has become increasingly serious. The world is paying more and more attention to carbon emissions, and many landscape projects also take emission reduction and carbon sequestration as concepts. But there seems to be a lack of quantitative research in the field of landscape architecture. According to the global goal of net-zero by 2050 and emission reduction plan of Providence, RI, this project started with calculating how much carbon dioxide needed to be removed by biomass in order to achieve net-zero. It puts forward the requirement for urban …

Eco-Corridor For Wildlife: Reclamation Of Wildlife Habitat In Rhode Island, Xiaodong Yang

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to reclaim the fragmented habitats of wildlife and natural environments under the current human-dominating world. Through a series of landscape interventions, an ecological wildlife corridor will be proposed to not only help wildlife migrate without being impacted by the constructed infrastructure but also arouse humans to rethink and revalue the relationship between humans and wildlife.

The researches focus on the infrastructure’s negative impacts on wildlife, Interstate 95, and coyotes in specific in Rhode Island and ecological approaches that could potentially remedy this issue. Human infrastructure, like highway systems, has caused great fragmentation in the original wildlife habitat …

Regional Food Self Sufficiency: New Visions For Productive Landscapes, Yiling Wang

Masters Theses

Food is an important resource for the survival and development of civilization. Its potential is so huge that it affects physical and mental health in an individual sense, and it affects landscapes and even public relations in a social sense. For most people, having food is never a problem that the importance of food is overlooked. However, the right to food is not equal. There are still a considerable number of people have low food access, which means…, and they may also be forced to be in an unbalanced diet leading to health problems such as obesity. A large amount …

The Second Identity: The Human-Otters Ha-Ha - Utopia For Urban Animals, Yuxin Zhang

Masters Theses

The question of proportion between humans and urban animals is always existed but had been ignored for a while. Through COVID19,the early balance, which human as a dominant sign in the urban area seems been slightly broken and many “invisible” animals start to show up. This makes me think that is there another living mode between humans and animals.

The thesis project locates in Singapore. Asa country around by water, Singapore has countless river canal, with some of the rivers are more residential and quieter, some are famous hot tourism point. However, some of the rivers are similar, which because …

Adaptive Reuse As Evidence Of Scientific Progress: Recontextualizing A Space For Growing Knowledge, Kayci Gallagher

Masters Theses

With the constantly evolving initiatives of astronomical exploration comes the obsolescence of instruments conceived to support research; a sure sign of the scientific process. However, architecture constructed to shelter these constantly shifting tools often remains fixed, growing incapable of supporting advancing technology. Typically, these shelters are sidelined in favor of new infrastructure. Many optical observatories around the world face this issue and must choose between preserving the past or abandoning the site altogether. That these buildings are no longer needed for revolutionary research shouldn’t be disappointing: it is a signal of human achievement, and the scientific process requires a more …

Feeling At Home: Working With The Rhythm Of The Day To Support Seniors In Urban Villages, Guoxi Zhou

Masters Theses

My focus is on the continuously growing aging population. We know the world is rapidly aging. We know countries and cities are experiencing a demographic shift. But we keep neglecting and underestimating those changes. Cities do not pay attention to and prepare for the needs of the elderly. Given that China has a huge number of seniors living in the city, I am working on the topic of how landscape architecture can support the seniors’ needs within the city’s aging population in Shenzhen. Using the urban Village of Gangxia in Shenzhen, China as a testing ground, in my thesis, I …

The Tek-Way: Traditional Ecological Knowledge: A Catalyst To Building Resilient Communities, Smera Rose Jacob

Masters Theses

“In an era of both utopian high tech and unprecedented climate extremes, we are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.^" The TEK-Way is a challenge to the long arm of globalization by looking into multi-generational wisdom, the hidden strength of every community but forgotten in the endless race for “modernization”. It inspires a new relationship of justice and coexistence by exploring and rebuilding an understanding of traditional ecological knowledge and spreading awareness of its importance and role in this era of climate change.

This thesis questions the band-aid recovery strategies of disaster mitigation through an exploration of long-term …

Journeyman International: Haiti Hac Innovation Center In Croix Des Bouquets, Brent K. Underwood

Construction Management

The purpose of this project was to create and provide the necessary pre-construction documents for a multi-purpose building in Croix des Bouquets, Haiti. This project aims to give occupants a new space to work freely in as it will be equipped with the essential needs. The rooms to be included within this building are offices, meeting rooms, general spaces, a workshop and computer lab – all of which will give the occupants the ability to work in an innovative environment. The project is overseen by three organizations. These groups are Journeyman International (JI), the Haitian American Caucus (HAC), and Third …

A House On A Street: A Proposal For The Multi-Generational House In America, Ian Johnson Kienbaum

Masters Theses

The American Dream of the past would have a “bread-winner,” no need for affordable child care, and guaranteed retirement. While those concepts are still prevalent in some capacities, the rise of dual-income families, lack of child care, and delayed or foregone retirement creates an opportunity for the multigenerational home to reemerge as a critical housing typology in America.

To set the stage for this investigation, the house's life cycle is broken into five acts. Each act plays out a different configuration of space to the changing lifestyle of a family of six. The characters are two grandparents, two parents, and …

Play & Protest, James Kloote

Masters Theses

Play and Protest is first and foremost, a celebration of the agency achieved by bodies with a shared cause. A parade of actants working to soften the harsh lines imposed by oppressive design strategies. A statement created in the void and for the void, along a path which seeks to use spatial tools to define the possibilities of a new urbanism, one of malleability and equity.

Community Healthcare Clinic - Adaptation System To The Pandemic And Post Pandemic Periods, Nhu Le

Masters Theses

Due to COVID-19, uncertainties and significant changes have been occurring around the world, especially in the U.S. The future is always ambiguous but it will lead to breakthroughs. Emerging issues are the vulnerability of previous conventional design solutions, especially of the healthcare-related architecture and urban planning.

This thesis focuses on helping construct a new healthcare system, which could be used during either a pandemic or post-pandemic era, by designing a local community clinic. In fact, public health clinics are always needed and expected to be more flexibly adjustable and up-gradable. Those new clinics play a very important role since the …

Manahatta, Nicholas Hinckfuss

Masters Theses

The explosive population growth of overly indulgent urban societies, in conjunction with the absence of systematic structures that alleviate human environmental impacts, contribute to unfavorable socio-economic consequences which actively interfere with the long-term prospect of human development. One of the hidden costs of the urban population boom is the alarming trend of infectious disease outbreaks. To meet the demands of an ever growing population, essential urban conditions such as green spaces, eco-infrastructure, and amiable living conditions are lacking from modern urban contexts. New York City, is the perfect example of a hyperly urban community that lacks an overall organizational strategy …

Breaking The Mold: A Journey Of The Brick, Sumanth Krishna

Masters Theses

Around the world practitioners and researchers are working on new material systems and technologies that center new ways to build. In this age of information, there are countless design frameworks, tools, machines available to us. We are a part of the fundamental shift in architecture that involves new modes of production and new material systems that redefine our role as architects. We have a role in addressing the context of each project, using architectural elements as tools for negotiation and consensus to build stronger communities. How can architecture contribute to improving global labor conditions, instilling dignity in manual labor, dismantling …

Live-Work Autonomy System On Mars: China's Collective Living Onto Mars, Lishunxiang Luo

Masters Theses

Our Earth is in big trouble; Our Mother Nature is in big trouble; We humanity are in even bigger trouble. The resource shortage is not an unfamiliar word to most people in the era of social media. As many ecologists and environmentalists have shouted out, we are in a time when some of the significant resources are getting consumed and wasted quickly and it will eventually being used up and lead us to nowhere if no replaceable resource has been found. Simply saying, there are just never enough resources to meet all our needs and desires and this condition is …

996 & Anti-996, Jinmi Liu

Masters Theses

I constantly hear my friends complain about work. They say that the workload has become heavier than before. They say that people are working longer yet earning less. They say that their life is out of their control and their dreams had died. I feel pathetic when I hear these comments. Will I have to become one of those busy bees after graduation? Living a life that centered around compromising work and gradually losing the way?

"996" is a common work schedule now in China under which the employees work from 9 am to 9 pm, 6 days a week. …

City Of Archive: Visualize And Spatialize Archive, Zaiheng Liang

Masters Theses

The idea of archive art continues to be an undeniable force and organizing structure in exhibitions today. The flexibility of archive art privileges it to be materialized in multiple disciplines like Photography, Painting, Sculpture. To employ different methodologies and media: collage, book, installation, and exhibition. In the process of making and representing archive art, architecture has never been the protagonist but acts as the “White Cube” that only provides the place in a very superficial nature of this discipline.

While the interrelationship of archive art is trying to build up the context within the artwork, this process loses the opportunity …

Sensory Bridge, Ouqiao Sun

Masters Theses

Xiezuo Hutong is one of the most typical local residential areas in Beijing's old town. The Chinese wood-based “siheyuan” architecture is originated here. With the development of the economy, many modern activity spaces gradually emerged in this old residential area-There is a shopping center, a youth club, an art college, and a kindergarten around the Xiezuo Hutong. However, these spaces with different functions are randomly distributed and most of them don’t give too much consideration to the local elder residents, which leads to environmental incoherence and generation disconnections. In addition, some of Beijing’s typical urban issues - population density, noise, …

Design For The Past, Zexi Wang

Masters Theses

The thesis project started off with an investigation of the Coal Gas Factory in Datong City, and an interview of a former factory employee. All relevent information is covered in the Report.

This thesis project proposes for an alternative factory design solution for the past (1980s), acknowledging its inevitable failure in its future (2000s).

The design acknowledges architecture’s nature of temporality, and is focused on making architecture transformative--creating space and environment for architecture to be transformed in order to accommodate updated programs and activities when its no longer able to serve its original purpose.

Translated Architecture, Ruiqi Zhang

Masters Theses

“Translated Architecture” is an unique psychological implication space that is translated from the spatiality camera language. Its significance lies in the ability to better approach and understand the psychological condition brought by the living environment.

To better understand what the camera language could lead us to, this thesis chooses to take phobias as an entry point to analyze the subtle changes in human psychology under different camera views.phobias like social phobia, Claustrophobia, Agoraphobia on a certain level is a form of mental illness that is related to architectural space. Take Claustrophobia as an example, Claustrophobia is a situational phobia triggered …

Healing Through Architecture: Role Of Architecture In Promoting Healing In Cancer Care Settings, Vrindha Vijay

Masters Theses

Architecture creates the ambience and frame of mind for the carer, who then passes it on to the patients. It is the physical space that provides us to feel a certain way or experience a set peacefulness. Humans tend to react to spaces around them to connect emotionally and physically. And in that sense, Architecture is key. The focus, thus far, in most healthcare centers have been on clinical care rather than the soft services. Today, Architecture is striving to make a better environment that can contribute to patients’ healing, recovery, and well-being.

The goal of this thesis is to …

Vernacular Future Architecture, Yang Zhao

Masters Theses

The lifestyle of citizens in Xiamen changes with the occurrence of urbanization and verticalization. The spatial organization within tower-like residential buildings is generally focused on individuals or small families. However, people generally had more public space which could be used for their shared interests in the vernacular housing in which they used to live. My research discovered advantages and disadvantages for both vernacular and modern housing, and proposed a new distributed public resources architectural model in an urban context to help reclaim public space while retaining the possibility of city growth. This project aims to create a more complex ecology …

Balance The Conversations, Karen Kuo

Masters Theses

This thesis aims to examine the role environmental factors play in people’s experience of the built environment, with a focus on the ongoing debate between individual freedom and collective responsibility of masks in the COVID-19 era. This thesis will argue that a middle ground that balances the relationship between individual and collective pursuits is necessary and can potentially be enabled through design. The project will articulate these ideas by using the debate around mask-wearing as a starting point to develop a broader manifesto forshaping the built environment.

During this ongoing global pandemic, we can’t deny that human behavior has been …

Inclusive Multi-Sensory Landscape: Directing Visually Impaired People In A Perception World, Tianqi Chen

Masters Theses

_{This thesis explored the use of inclusive landscape design to provide visually impaired people and normal people with enhanced multi-sensory experiences, and for recognizing space, navigating move through spaces. Inclusive design is human design, inviting people in and giving the communicative power to space through stimulating one’s intuition and senses by repetition, sequencing, or patterning in design that signals time, space, and movement through the layouts of walking trajectories between important nodes or places of refuge. Through the visually impaired issue studies, solutions, and methods exploration, I developed principles as a solver, applied them on one site to transform space …}

The Sixth Migration - Rural/Urban "Heterotopia", Pan Chen

Masters Theses

Written during the pandemic of 2020/2021 ,as people moved out of cities with new options to work remotely, we have witnessed a new trend of urban-rural migration. This study looks in detail at rural /suburban communities in southern New Jersey and asks how a planning framework and community engagement strategy can come together to coordinate urban-rural development at different scales. This thesis project applies two types of design strategies - “top down” as planning guidelines communication and “bottom up” as community-oriented design to bring residents in the conversation of town development, and in the long term stimulate regional development to …

Holding: Speculative Infrastructure For Fire Mitigation, Ian George

Masters Theses

This thesis proposes permanent and deployable infrastructure and devices for wildfire mitigation at different scales. Designed with consideration to the conditions in the western United States, but primarily Oregon.The primary approach to infrastructure is designing water retention systems for fire suppression and prevention. Some strategies are familiar and proven, while other proposals are new, but build off of existing practices. Interventions need to be site specific, so the types of proposals will vary in scale, location and timeline.The infrastructure should be adjustable, because the needs of a region may change periodically. Landscape systems take time to establish. Speculated infrastructure is …