Architecture Commons^™

The Object Memory Palace, Amra Causevic

Theses and Dissertations

I am interested in orchestrating instances of potentiality or concrete possibilities that proposes the futurity of play through means of touch, activation, assembly, and interaction within art spaces. The installation mentioned is composed of found objects and repurposed materials that address themes of place, memory, object-ness, and the archive, through gestural means of poetics and map making. It is an invitation to create new logics and find moments of empathy, connectivity, and hopes for a collective.

The Future Of Cemetery Design, Landon Baker

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Traditional cemeteries defined as a place where the deceased are embalmed, placed in metal coffins and buried horizontally underground, are important places but have become outdated. Traditional cemeteries can be improved in terms of economic use of space, circulation, and visitor experience. Improving these aspects will make cemeteries more environmentally sustainable, more practical for people and cities, and overall improve the experience of the modern consumer.

Brandmaking And Brandscaping Place Making In The Retail Environment, Maripet Contreras

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Shopping malls today are dying due to the demand of online shopping. Rather than going strictly to the digital world. The retail spaces are places where consumers can physically feel the product that online shopping does not have to offer.

Space Age Urbanism: A Master Plan For Spaceport America, Keiri Dueñas

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

This project imagines that by the year 2050, thousands of passengers will walk through the terminal gate of Spaceport America in order to board a hyper or supersonic flight. But currently there are no existing commercial flights and accommodations within a 25 mile radius to Spaceport America. Alternatively, this project attempts to provide future developers with the tools needed for "space age" developments. Thus, this project seeks to serve as a driver for a new type of architecture called "space-age" urbanism, where the architecture aims to re-establish the American "excitement" found in the 1960's.

An Alternative Approach To Food Market Design Strategies That Nurture Human Health And Well-Being, Kendall Marsh

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Access to food is being implemented in newer and more convenient forms now more than ever before. However, many of the methods that people utilize to purchase food may have substantial adverse health effects. Markets were once centered around a direct exchange of locally grown food and intimate social gatherings. Major developments like the industrialization of agriculture, rapid urbanization, and technological advancements introduced a shift in food market settings. Redefining the design of the market environment can transform a routine task into a valuable experience that nurtures human health and well-being.

The Importance Of Daylighting In Guest Rooms And The Fundamental Flaws Of Hotel Design, Jairo Garcia

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Analysis of the hotel buildings reveals greater than 50% of rooms have inadequate day lighting. This topic is especially important here in Las Vegas because 15 of the 20 largest hotels in the world are located in our city. With a total of about 150,000 hotel rooms. An average of about 31% of all rooms in the strip are in the shadows, and have no exposure to sunlight over the year. Studies reveal that being in rooms facing north or with poor lighting brings negative effects to its inhabitants like depression, increased stress, gives people little energy and buildings spend …

Module, Jin Lee

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Las Vegas is the place where every famous iconic building is in the same place. The tourists don't have to go to every iconic building in the world to experience. In Las Vegas, they can experience it through iconic hotels such as Luxor, Wynn, Caesars Palace, etc. They have great interior and exterior designs. But, the problem of these buildings doesn't accommodate a place for quick changes. In other words, their design is the static form which requires a lot of time to change. The big portion of the building needs to be stopped for new renovations.

The Impact Of The Autonomous Vehicles In The Integrated Resort, Chester Gaudiel

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

The study delves into three main properties in The Strip. Bellagio, Caesar's Palace, and The City Center. These areas of study looked into the possibilities of incorporating an autonomous vehicle system in multiple scenarios. Each study was analyzed individually in hopes to develop claims based on the observations made in each property.

Designing A Non Conventional Philosophy Of Punishment: Rehabilitation And Reintegration Of Young Offenders, Paola Ortiz

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Architecture is one of the few disciplines that sends a silent message to everyone walking into any space. Design is crucial to create specific environments, but when it comes to a prison design, the concept is restricted. Design for prisons, jails, and juvenile corrections are more focused on cost and security, than humanity and hospitality related principles. Access to natural light is a luxury, windows are expensive, and the standardized colors used on their walls are far too depressing.

Global Change Through An Integrated Resort: Healthy Spaces That Positively Affect Our Health, Community, And The Environment, Iwona Reducha

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Integrated Resorts (IRs) play a significant role in countries' economics, health, and environment around the world. These large mini "cities" help create thousands of jobs and can sustain themselves solely on tourism. The scale of an integrated resort also puts its effect on the environment at three to four times higher than most other building projects. Spreading beyond the boundaries of the famous Las Vegas Strip, each year more permits are being issued for their construction globally opening up a huge opportunity to reinvent its archetype to allow for a more sustainable and health conscious design.

Public Art Master Planning For Small Towns: A Study In Pilot Point, Texas, Monty Mcmahen

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

This design thesis explores the development of a public art master plan as a tool for small towns to address issues and opportunities in their communities. This exploration was undertaken through the study and design of a proposed public art master plan for the small town of Pilot Point, Texas. A public art master plan can empower communities to embrace art as a unique and vital resource to help shape and reflect the community’s cultural identity while leveraging the arts for economic development and other benefits that enhance quality of life (Markusen & Gadwa, 2010). While public art master plans …

Camps In Crisis: Challenging The Architecture For Refugees, Duc Huy Ho

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Every minute, 24 people are forcibly removed from their homes. This is due to violence, natural disasters, or human rights violations during premigration. Globally, there are 70.8 million people who are displaced, the largest number in history. To put this into perspective, imagine taking everyone from California and Texas and forcing them elsewhere. This is the scale of the refugee crisis. With this many people, we have to ask: what are the options? One: refugee camps or two: resettling in a foreign community. Unfortunately, some refugees are staying in camps designed for temporary use for up to 25 years. I …

How Cropland Losses Shaped By Unbalanced Urbanization Process?, Bingwen Qiu, Haiwen Li, Zhenghong Tang, Chongcheng Chen, Joe Berry

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

Urbanization has widely known to directly consume swaths of cropland worldwide. Knowledge on what kinds of urbanization processes spared cropland is important for land use planning. This study offered insights on the impact of city level (city hierarchy: from the 1st to the 6th Tier cities) and urbanization modes (mega-city, city, town and village modes) on cropland losses through a first-ever continuous national survey on 345 prefectural level cities or above in mainland China from 2003 to 2016. We found that higher tier cities were associated with more direct and severe losses. Specifically, over 80% of the recent urbanization formed …

Faith In Humanity : An Exploration Of Spiritually Inclusive Architecture, Jared Triemer

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

On March 15th, 2019 at 1:40 pm, Brenton Harrison Tarrant walked into Al Noor Mosque in New Zealand. Attached to his head, an iPhone set to livestream, and in his hand a loaded shotgun. Brenton then proceeded to gleefully murder 42 innocent Muslim worshippers. Soon after he fled to Linwood Mosque where he claimed 8 more victims. His actions demark New Zealand’s largest terrorist act in history. Brenton joins the long list of individuals who’s gross misunderstanding and hatred of a religion have escalated into violence. People like Brenton represent a larger issue that afflicts our modern society; the widespread …

Generating Acoustic Projections Using 3d Models, Jake A. Brazelton

Senior Honors Projects, 2020-current

Raytracing is used in commercial graphics engines most commonly for lighting effects, but it also has many uses when it comes to acoustic simulation. Adopted directly from these computer graphics programs, the formulas presented herein enable the visualization of acoustic intensity levels throughout a 3D space using Python 3 and the OpenGL library. In addition to visualization, they also provide the ability to calculate the reverberation time and critical distance of an enclosed space in relation to its size and material makeup. The described application bundles all of these components together in a Qt5 application that allows users to view …

An Experiment For Millennial Living: West-End Atlanta Social Housing, Kino Hamilton

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The number of social housing being built is at its lowest for 70 years and we face a lack of housing that people can afford. As a result many people will live in fear and stress of being forced to move out of their home. Millennials however, will have to endure this problem coming out of college while suffering the dept of student loans. One of the biggest heartbreaks in America was the downfall of public housing throughout the nation. The demolition of public housing to give way to new infrastructures that are more promising and that will generate more …

Batman's New Arkham: Revisiting Piranesi, Mathew Drummond

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

My thesis is the re-appropriation of the historical image through the medium of a comic.

For the first half of this book, I will focus the conversation around three areas of inquiries that derived from the work I've produced while the second half will focus on the research that was done to create this thesis.

The Master Plan: Design Guidelines For Installments Along The Cowboy Trail, Nathan Gradoville

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

The Cowboy Recreation and Nature Trail is a multi-purpose trail with an abundance of amenities. However, even with great features, the trail is an underutilized asset for the state of Nebraska and the Midwest region. Budget cuts and a lack of regional and local momentum has caused the trail to become devalued. The grain elevator has long been an icon, adored and beloved by the Midwesterners for centuries. The silos have inherent qualities that foster appreciation and respect. These characteristics are rooted in its stature and materiality. In order to remedy the suffering of the Cowboy Trail, a study into …

Rhythms Of Cinematic Horror: Enabling The Device Of The Frame, Violet Bast

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Horror can be defined as the lens in the pursuit of defining a complex model of aesthetic judgement, which is a classification that has conventionally been home to profound suspicion about the virtues of aesthetic itself. Particularly in horror films, the device of the frame can be utilized as an opportunity to alter a viewer’s perception of what may or may not occur within a space. This affiliation with space is what allows cinema and architecture to link their worlds and human experience together. By employing the methodologies of rhythmic impact and montage theory, the effects of horror-derived operations on …

Border[Wall]; A Space For Play | Providing Moments Of Intimacy To An International Stage, Jamison Owen

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In the past many countries and dynasties have practiced the use of strategic defenses such as walls or fortifications to protect the people of said country, yet defense analysts often question if these historic barriers resulted in safety from other nations or provided complex social implications that changed the structure of the civilizations socio-cultural system. After the events of 9/11 in 2001 the moment the Twin Towers fell to the ground from a series of terrorist attacks the United States Border Control procedures vastly changed and adapted to the threat of Terrorism. Through the “War on Terrorism” declared by President …

State Of Independence: Reinterpreting Senior Living Through Backyard Homes, Trevor Sparrow

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

If a senior was able to live within a network of family and friends who could ensure a good quality of life was being met, as well as live in a space that was intentionally designed with their accessibility needs in mind, the independence and health of the senior can be well maintained into the final stages of their life. I am proposing the development of premanufactured homes which are designed specifically to address a senior's accessibility and care needs. These homes will be placed on the property of the existing home of the senior, their loved ones, or a …

Restoring History: Mixed-Use Hotel & Retail Center, William Chase Sisk

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Monroe, Georgia, is a unique small town, located halfway between Athens and Atlanta. The small-town atmosphere and amenities have become a popular destination for people attracted to the historic buildings, downtown events and UGA football home games. Monroe is popular for its wedding venues, antique malls, and car shows, but there are not enough hotel rooms. Currently within the historic downtown, there are only one bed and breakfast, two AirBNB’s, and no hotels, although every downtown storefront is occupied by restaurants, retail stores, and businesses.

The need for overnight accommodations has raised the possibility of a new mixed-use hotel and …

Dignified Dwellings: Minimum Dwelling For The 21st Century, Andrew Smith

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The first major architecture treatise written in the first century B.C. by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio defines three principles that constitute a work of architecture, namely firmness, utility, and delight. This thesis speculates on whether housing for the under-sheltered in the 21st century has focused disproportionately on two of the three values of the triad, falling short in providing delight to under-served populations. In turn, the thesis offers four pillars to the discourse on transitional housing that paves the way to expanding delight for these housing strategies to include safe community spaces, access to ample natural resources, securable quarters, and spatial …

The Material Light: Exploring The Relationship Between Contained And Container, Oliver Brown

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Many buildings around us use the same ubiquitous boundary materials that fall short in directly influencing the disposition of the space it defines. There are many different opportunities to explore myriad material compositions to present the ambient qualities of space in a manner the puts the constructed boundary to the task to acclimatize the interior it envelopes. This thesis will explore a series of material compositions, with a focus on natural light, and how the articulation of the spatial boundary can bring out the strong qualities of daylight for visually sensitive activities. With this exploration, I will examine ways to …

[Ne]W Arch Hall | Building Inclusion & Equity Into Architecture Education, Jati Zunaibi

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

The purpose of this thesis book is not to play into the historically white-male-centric hierarchical system that the collegiate institution has established for architecture. The objective of this text is to provide a critical reflection of our academies through the lens of a minority emerging architect (raised by two former practicing architects that transitioned into academia, spent eight years in school with countless leadership experiences, and nationally recognized as a scholar). Most of the white text contents herein are appropriate for scholastic study, but, I would encourage readers to follow along with the grey and bracketed text as well. Although …

User: Drone, Abigail L. Nelson

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Though industrial technology furthered the possibilities of architecture and, in the the case of the automobile, redefined architectural principles and promenade, it also influenced a consumerist-driven, technology-obsessed society. Cedric Price and Reynor Banham saw great promise in the implementation of technology within architecture; what they overlooked, though, was the tangible exhaust it brought: electronic waste (e-waste). The current e-waste situation in the New Territories of Hong Kong poses a case study which allows technology, specifically that of drones, to interact with architecture.

For this thesis, drones, in reaction to the e-waste case study, operate an e-waste handling facility alongside humans. …

Boundary Echoes: A Series Of Cautionary Tales, Shayla Joy Dick

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Around the world, people live in places where boundaries define their lives. Cities like Nicosia, Jerusalem, Belfast, and El Paso must contend with the constant struggle of us versus them, solidified through physical barriers. Unfortunately, these places and their very real problems are removed and seemingly unimportant in our safe and familiar reality. But these are real cities where real people live. Those people could be us. Their cities could be our cities. Thus, a radical approach is taken in this thesis. A satire of sorts. Four divided cites are examined to understand the spatial and social factors of their …

Between The Seats, Katherine Hall

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Cinema and Movie Theater spaces are dwindling in attendance, while community-gathering areas are thriving. Digital media platforms have taken over the need for an extra expense in the household. The goal of this project is to increase the community members' attendance rate to their local theatre through the development of innovative design solutions that amplify social component of theatres. More specifically, the project aims to turn a local theatre complex into a community hub. Which will incorporate social spaces along with designated theatrical spaces that are responsive to emerging cultural, social, and technological demands via design.

According to trend of …

I Hear You Now, I See You Then, Quinn Hunter

Art + Design Masters Theses

In the research driven project I Hear You Now, I See You Then, I refer to the contemporary and historical erasure of the labor of African American women using research gathered from the southern plantation economy to create an art installation. The objects in this installation are primarily made with artificial hair integrations and utilizing labor intensive methods that are similar to those used to install the hair on the Black body. The objects I make reference the luxury items in the domestic spaces of historic plantation sites that have been re-branded to be used in the wedding /tourism industry. …

Heimat Im Wartezimmer: Architecture, Identity, And Migration In A Socialist Model City, Holly Bushman

Masters of Environmental Design Theses

Eisenhüttenstadt, the first “socialist model city” designed and constructed in the German Democratic Republic (GDR), provides an opportunity to scrutinize the relationship between state conceptions of architectural design and national identity in the early 1950s. Known as Stalinstadt until 1961, the community was founded in eastern Brandenburg in 1950 as housing for workers at the nearby ironworks Eisenhüttenkombinat Ost “J. W. Stalin.” While its original masterplan by the architect Kurt Leucht indicates the stylistic preferences of the ruling Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (Socialist Unity Party of Germany or SED), the city’s subsequent developments trace the changing economic and social conditions of …