Architecture Commons^™

Lost & Found : A Model For Retreated Landscapes, Madison Murray

Masters Theses

I feel as though it is crucial to structure this book in a way that takes you on the same journey I have taken through thesis, and life.

Growing up along the California coast has left me with an intense passion for environmental awareness and sustainability. I excelled in these courses throughout high school and eventually found myself taking more Environmental Science courses in college, during which I took a trip to India. There, I studied the environmental and economic effects of globalization. I remember stopping in Mumbai to witness the effects that clothing dyeing operations had on the downstream …

Recovery In Reverse, Shiyu Bei

Masters Theses

This project provokes awareness of natural resources protection in Tibet, and it raises questions about its political, environmental, and cultural impact. Through constructing a 2.5 km wall out of pre-cast concrete blocks over a long period of time, it works to provoke people both on-site and off-site.

The wall acts as a new injury to the land just like the extraction of resources from the earth again and again. Starting with another wound, I am hoping to raise awareness of the status of this landscape, helping it to recover in reverse. When facing this large international issue, I am not …

Recharging Bangkok : A Climate Adaptive Vision For Saen Saeb Canal, Ratchu Surajaras

Masters Theses

This proposal aims to investigate an extensive role of Bangkok’s canal system that can potentially serve as a climate-adaptive and multi-functional infrastructure to help address the city’s environmental issues and to support the complex social needs. Together with municipal hydrological systems, the canals can mitigate flooding, land-subsidence and sea level rise while regaining lost cultural functions specific to Thai ways of living with water in both a contemporary context and future scenarios.

The investigation focuses on Saen Saeb canal as a primary study area which is historically one of the most important canals at the heart of downtown of Bangkok …

When The Wind Blows, Yiying Wang

Masters Theses

Climate change is causing extreme weather to become more frequent and intense. However, at present, existing landscape-based strategies to deal with such disruptive natural events are not systematic or effective. Additionally, most projects in landscape and urban design focus on flooding but pay little attention to the effects of high wind. My graduate thesis focuses on the Island of Hainan, in the South China Sea, and explores how to use resilient planning and design to promote passive cooling and reduce high wind damage caused by typhoons and other tropical storms. Based on the solid analysis of hydrologic and meteorological processes, …

Emerging Ecotone, Tongyi Zhang

Masters Theses

Along with the development of society and economy, waste landscape becomes an inevitable result of urban involvement where technological innovation plays a very important role. Computer science, as the most important technology in the 21st century, also affects the physical spaces by enlarging our social distance. People prefer to contact physically less with others unless necessary, causing shrinkage of our community spaces. Abandoned commercial space, which has lost its social function, is one of the typical effects derived from both economic evolution and community shrinking.

In fact, Josh Sanburn (2017) in TIME mentioned “by 2022, analysts estimate that 1 out …

Evolution Of A Type : Street Vending As Urban Strategy In Guangzhou, China, Yuying Shen

Masters Theses

As China continues its program of building new cities and encouraging urban resettlement from smaller towns and the countryside, informal activities that were once typical of urban areas – such as street vending – are being evicted by the government in the name of cleanliness and beautification. In reality, the motivation of eviction has to do with land values and the desire to replace the low-end population: street markets in the downtown areas could be developed into programs that bring large-scale money-making, like shopping malls; street vendors are viewed as undisciplined, messy and outmoded.

If we recognize the conflict between …

Walking Mediation : Bringing Back Rituals On Temple Visits On Mount Putuo, Zhejiang, China, Tianjie Chi

Masters Theses

Mount Putuo is a culturally significant Buddhist pilgrimage site with over a 1000 years history. Traditional walking paths were marginalized on Mount Putuo after a new bus circulation was developed to accommodate more visitors efficiently.

In the past, people were arriving at the old dock, walking through the forests, meeting pavilions and gates, and finally reach the temple. Linear spaces and trees embracing the path help them clean up their mind before they meet burn the joss sticks. Nowadays, most visitors arrive at the modern new dock and spend 20-30 minutes to wait in line for the bus, playing phone …

In The Wake Of The Atoms+Sphaira, Jesús Meléndez Vázquez

Masters Theses

In the Wake of the Atmos+sphaira is an architectural thesis that investigates the roles of atmospheric events in reimagining architectural space. The framing of events is the subject of revision, where atmosphere emerges as both spatial content and container. This architecture of atmosphere reconstructs the dialogue between body and space, creating a new trilogy of relationships: space, atmosphere and event.

Initially, this thesis developed an apparatus that has the operational capacity to capture, orient, determine, intercept, model, control, categorize and diverge atmospheric events into two predetermined conditions: temperature and temperament. Positioned between the technical and the aesthetic, temperature and temperament …

Tanzania : A New Architectural Pedagogy, Cameron Leandri

Masters Theses

According to Habitat for Humanity, the impact of poverty on education in East Africa remains one of the biggest challenges faced by the region. Self sufficiency is the most sustainable way to advance a society and is a missing link that would help empower developing communities. This thesis imagines a more accessible network of education for the greater region of Kigoma, Tanzania. It proposes this through a two-step system, the first programmatic, the second architectural. Both strategies seek to strengthen the connection between local and global communities, as an education mission.

The proposed educational network utilizes a Central Hub located …

Urban Acupuncture : Can The Deliberate Use Of Tactical Interventions Reinvigorate Informal Settlements?, Robert Samir Diaz Vicente

Masters Theses

Due to the rapid development of informal settlements, essential urban conditions such as public spaces, infrastructure, and amiable living conditions are lacking from the urban context. These hyperly urban communities lack an overall organizational strategy that preserve their successes i.e. human scale, community interrelations, hyper functionality while addressing its downfalls organic chaotic growth and lack of general systems.

Conventional design and planning used in “formal’ urban spaces focus on long lasting strokes of urbanisation, this means that the built geography moves slow, and are designed for this slow pace changing. Informal Settlements are dynamic and perpetually rearranging themselves to suit …

The Hospitality Design Laboratory: Testing A Growing Global Resource For Architectural Planning Research In The Tourism/Resort Industry, Glenn Nowak

International Conference on Gambling & Risk Taking

The HD-Lab at UNLV is an experiment in merging academic research teams with industry leadership to address the ever-changing landscape of global tourism, gaming, and hospitality as it pertains to the built environment. This poster session seeks to share overviews of previous studies, lessons learned, and opportunities for future architectural research. Collaborations amongst diverse teams aim to foster interdisciplinary research and continued contributions to the intellectual capital of hospitality design in Las Vegas and around the world. The presentation is structured across six broad and intertwined areas of foci: 1. Integrated resorts’ future evolutions and innovations, 2. Tourism architecture’s advanced …

Machine Learning In Architecture: Connectionist Approach To Architectural Design, Andrew Chase

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

Previous applications to design processes intend to enhance a building’s schematic design using quantitative data. Therefore, most applications to the early design phases are passed by as simple overarching ideas informed by the designer and users’ knowledge. Although this is a preferred method of choice making, the knowledge used to inform conceptual and schematic design process can be limited. With the increase of computation in all major industries, a new increase in data to describe forms of infrastructure is required. These forms being objects to analyze their performance and potential, and active forms that can describe the disposition of urban …

On The Inference Of The State Of Turbulence And Mixing Efficiency In Stably Stratified Flows, Amrapalli Garanaik, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Scaling arguments are presented to quantify the widely used diapycnal (irreversible) mixing coefficient Γ = ∈PE/∈ in stratified flows as a function of the turbulent Froude number Fr = ∈/Nk. Here, N is the buoyancy frequency, k is the turbulent kinetic energy, ∈ is the rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy and ∈PE is the rate of dissipation of turbulent potential energy. We show that for Fr≫1, Γ ∝ Fr^-2, for Fr∼ O (1), Γ ∝ Fr^-1 and for Fr ≪ 1, Γ ∝ Fr⁰. These scaling results are tested using high-resolution direct numerical …

Architectural Stewardship: Exploring Interpretation Architecture Through The Lens Of The Visitor, Graham A. Oden

University Honors Theses

This undergraduate thesis investigates the experiential impact of interpretation architecture in the natural setting, specifically through the lens of its users. The need for this study arose when visitors were not approached or included to be part of the design process or studies in the renovation of Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve's Visitor Center. The only visitor related information used by the contracted firm was ten year old demographic and quantitative studies provided by the NPS. This gap of knowledge was then addressed by the proactive engagement of visitors in a design workshop ranger program at the park. …

Detection Of Sand Boils From Images Using Machine Learning Approaches, Aditi S. Kuchi

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Levees provide protection for vast amounts of commercial and residential properties. However, these structures degrade over time, due to the impact of severe weather, sand boils, subsidence of land, seepage, etc. In this research, we focus on detecting sand boils. Sand boils occur when water under pressure wells up to the surface through a bed of sand. These make levees especially vulnerable. Object detection is a good approach to confirm the presence of sand boils from satellite or drone imagery, which can be utilized to assist in the automated levee monitoring methodology. Since sand boils have distinct features, applying object …

Incentivising Multidisciplinary Teams With New Methods Of Procurement Using Bim + Blockchain​, Alan O'Reilly, Malachy Mathews

Conference papers

This paper researches a potential method of incentivising AEC industry professionals to design to better than NZEB standards. Analysing the potential of a purposefully designed local microgrid storing excess energy generated by solar technologies embedded within the building envelope; the microgrid excess output is measured and recorded using a (Post Occupancy) “Blockchain” application and measured against the data provided at design stage on a (Predictive) “Blockchain” database. This paper researches how energy output predictions at design stage, by multidisciplinary teams, may be enhanced by BIM + Blockchain Technology. The paper researches the potential of a digital twin (predictive versus post …

Responding To The Emotional Needs Of Resettled Refugees In The Context Of Community Gardens, Mai Ann T

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

Refugee populations suffer from the effects of post traumatic stress disorder (Shannon, et al., 2014), and members struggle with feelings of helplessness, displacement and marginalization. Research indicates that healing landscapes can address the needs of those suffering from trauma and mental disorders, particularly war veterans and children. This research applies to the emotional needs of refugees settling in new countries (Murray, et al., 2010). For the displaced, creating meaning in their new environment is an essential part of the adjustment process (Brabec, 2018). This thesis draws upon documented research about how landscape experiences can mitigate the effects of trauma in …

Policy Alternatives That Provide California School Districts With The Policy Options Necessary To Develop Facilities To Enhance Student Learning Opportunities And Optimize Financial Resources, Brett Mitchell

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to develop policy alternatives by the years 2019 to 2025 that would assist state policy makers, legislators, and advocates in adding definition to California school facility development and funding.

Methodology: This study involved descriptive statistics using a Delphi study method. Within the theoretical framework established for policy analysis, this Delphi study was inclusive of the knowledge and expertise of an expert panel that was nominated through peers. The Delphi panel consisted of 24 experts knowledgeable about statewide school facilities policy in California. The Delphi study was comprised of 3 rounds of electronic questionnaires …

Concrete Poetry, Sara Ghazi Asadollahi

Graduate School of Art Theses

This text addresses my work as an artist and defines it in the context of the following subjects: The concept of ruins, which highlights the relationship between architecture and landscape; the formal and metaphorical dialectic between absence and presence in abandoned places; and the idea of dystopia, which emerges from that in-between space where the real dissolves into the imaginary. At the same time, my work is inspired by the visual culture of cinema and literature, principally within the science-fiction genre, and draws upon my observation of abandoned buildings in Tehran, my native city. These urban ruins are products of …

For Cheryl: The Long And The Short Of It, Rachel Lebo

Graduate School of Art Theses

Short stories are an indirect way of creating a truth by showing instead of telling. They are a way to observe and communicate a single idea. A short story for me is a vehicle for hiding my truth behind a character, exploring myself in the safety of an identity that is not my own. When I read Chunky in Heat, author A.M. Homes and I hide together behind her character, Cheryl, and find solidarity.

The following writings, paintings, and sculptures are collaborations between myself and the women of short story fiction. Those women being the authors, the subjects, and …

Designing Playgrounds For All Children: All-Inclusive Adventure Playground For The City Of Arlington, Texas, Taner R. Ozdil

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

A child’s play is an essential part of his/her connection to a community, social relations, and physical activity and mentality. Through play, a child gains an understanding of himself and his /her world. “Limiting children’s outdoor play harms their cognitive, social and language development, it limits their physical fitness, hurts their health, and reduce learning and the ability to cope with trauma” (Forest, 2008 p.140). Creating a friendly, safe and accessible environment for all is just as significant as the play equipment. Adventure playgrounds, which are in most cases natural environments for children, provide many opportunities for children to develop …

Mapping In The Humanities: Gis Lessons For Poets, Historians, And Scientists, Emily W. Fairey

Open Educational Resources

User-friendly Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is the common thread of this collection of presentations, and activities with full lesson plans. The first section of the site contains an overview of cartography, the art of creating maps, and then looks at historical mapping platforms like Hypercities and Donald Rumsey Historical Mapping Project. In the next section Google Earth Desktop Pro is introduced, with lessons and activities on the basics of GE such as pins, paths, and kml files, as well as a more complex activity on "georeferencing" an historic map over Google Earth imagery. The final section deals with ARCGIS Online …

Understanding The Dynamics Of Public Space: Zoning, Urban Design, And Use Value. A Case Study Of Downtown San Francisco, Joaquin Cabello Silva

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper seeks to understand how zoning, urban design, and use value control the dynamics of a city and the public space, from the way they are shaped, to the way they are built, and finally to the way they are used. In this research the first step is to recognize that the strategies of zoning in a city are a way of governing and guiding the development of the space, followed by the urban design—which is a more tangible way of interpreting the different rules because it is the actual form zoning takes—to then see how they generate an …

Aer-075, Yasmin Soliman

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Anticipating the potential future changes of airport design and expansion along with city planning for the purpose of bringing the two entities in closer alignment with one another is the main purpose of this book.

By conducting a timeline analysis of five different US cities and their airports, conclusions were drawn from tracking the relationship between the growth patterns of both. This allowed for a discovery of methods to increase connectivity with one another. These conclusions were followed by an overview of the jet industry and its possible future impacts on the way airports are designed, considering future adaptations of …

Typology Of Stigma, Silvia Flor Quiroz-Perez

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

This study begins with an analysis of the proposed site and campus of what is being called the “Corridor of Hope” in Las Vegas. Followed by an analysis of “Haven for Hope” in Texas which is a built campus that is being used as a model for what the “Corridor of Hope” will become.

This base analysis of the proposed campus will be used to compare and contrast with other typologies of shelters that exist.

In order to better understand the homeless population in and around the Las Vegas valley, an initial demographic analysis is done, followed by a geographical …

[In]Hospitable, Pedro Borquez, Taylor Wolak

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

Through comparative analysis of existing development in this region, this project identifies archetypes of ranging scale and magnitude which will influence evidence-based adaptive reuse design strategies and prototypical responses. With such a vast infrastructure, many opportunities exist to subvert paradigm shifts of thinking in terms of desert living, resource management, and utility distribution.

Hospitality Design Pattern Language, Tracy Hang

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

The Strip is a destination location where visitors can experience the uniqueness that each integrated resort has to offer. This thesis argues that the design of all aspects within and around an integrated resort influences guest experience and is a major contributor to creating the uniqueness of each property. The intent for the exploration of this thesis is to prove that the compilation and documentation of the patterns specific to hospitality design is necessary in becoming a design tool to guide designers and hoteliers in the development and management of this specific typology.

Three tasks were performed within the application …

Artscape, Emylanie Carnate, Ronald Cano

Hospitality Design Graduate Student Capstones

In this thesis, three design opportunities are presented. The first design iteration looks at the micro scale. Public infrastructure along the length of the strip serves as canvases for public art. By expressing art on posts, utility boxes, guardrails, and bollards, a consistent rhythm of public art along the strip links together the separated attractions and properties. To emphasize this connection, the second design iteration implements intermittent hooks. Here, the meso scale reinforces public art interventions on medium-scale sites, such as street medians. The third design iteration is in the macro scale, which involves artscape anchors at either end of …

Environmental Emergency Calls In Dallas, Texas: Applying The Brace Model To Assess The Effects Of Microclimates On Urban Design & Human Heat Stress, Crystal Marie Kazakos

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

The objective of the study is to investigate how the practice of landscape architecture can help mitigate the effects of climate change and the urban heat island effect on vulnerable block groups in Dallas, Texas by using a model framework, to assess, project, analyze, develop, and evaluate microclimates in these urban areas. This study investigated how the physical morphology of urban areas affect the frequency of heat-related environmental emergency calls by applying the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) Building Resilience Against Climate Effects (BRACE) framework. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was used to identify warm trends in Dallas block groups in …

Defense In Desolation, Dounia Bendris

Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses different forms of defense strategies in architecture throughout history as well as how a building’s function morphs over time in relation to the political and social climate that surrounds it. Both of these concepts provide a framework for understanding my thesis drawing, “Defense in Desolation,” which uses bunkers in abandonment as a reference to the psychological impact of architecture outside of functionality.