Architecture Commons^™

Urban Rangers: The Scope Of Medellin Through Informal Waste Collection, Christina M. Rubino

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis critiques the city of Medellin through the scope of an informal waste collector. This research defines a waste collector as a person who resides within informal settlements and relies on disposed belongs of others as exchange for income. Their act of informal waste collection often occurs in residential communities. The subjects, informal waste collectors, are traced in their everyday routes and urban experiences; their actions, means, and methods are then quantified in order to determine an algorithm for an optimized collection technique and performance. This critique reveals the obstacles that waste collectors face in transportation and storage to …

An Intelligent Smart City, Erik Sanchez

Architecture Senior Theses

How intelligent is the typical smart-city design approach? In an era when artificial intelligence and big data promise to improve urban life in unprecedented ways, are smart cities being imagined and designed in ways that are actually inspiring and truly innovative? This project examines the proposals and approaches of Sidewalk Labs’ designs for Quayside, located in Toronto Canada, and asks how intelligent, really, is the city the propose. Sidewalk Labs (the city-building subsidiary of Alphabet, Google’s parent company), in partnership with Waterfront Toronto (a government-appointed nonprofit development corporation), claims to be reimagining cities from the internet up.” But is their …

A Material Affair: The Intimacy Between Materials And Affective Space, Rex Hughes, John Mikesh

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis argues that an architecture embracing innate material qualities, deployed for choreographed sensory experiences, will open a more intimate dialogue between humans and their environment. This thesis is rooted in the idea that the most powerful experiences are those that stimulate all the senses at once. This is illustrated by architect Lisa Heschong, who explains that fire fascinates humans because it glows, crackles, smells of smoke, and gives off heat. This intimate sensory experience provides an archetype for the way users may be seduced into engaging affective environments through haptic materials.

In an investigation of material qualities (density, hardness, …

The Disputed Territories: An Alternate History, Rasan Taher

Architecture Senior Theses

Architecture and the built environment are the mediums onto which political and physical events and forces are registered. This thesis explores the potential of Drones (UAVs) as a tool to launch a spatial investigation into disputed territories of the built environment. The objective of this specific work is to produce and represent spatiotemporal analysis and architectural evidence of the unlawful systematic destruction of Arab neighborhoods and villages in the disputed territories—here in relation to the continuous power shifts in the disputed internal boundaries between the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraqi Federal Government in Iraq. The increasing availability and advancements …

On Nothing, Rutuja Ganoo

Architecture Senior Theses

In southeast Asian philosophy, artha, kama, dharma and moksha are said to be the four major goals in a Hindu's life. While artha (monetary) and karma (sensory) are physical and psychological, moksha is the ultimate destination. In this worldview, the soul goes through endless cycles o existence on various planes, until it grows spiritually; moksha is the release of the soul from the cycle of birth, life and death to the ultimate reunion with "god". The entity being released from this "binding," the soul, is said to work symbiotically with the human body to engage in worldly learning and experience. …

An Argument For Ornament: Louder Than Status Quo, Marda Zenawi

Architecture Senior Theses

There is a pervasive silence in architecture today - one created by methodological monolingualism, the limits of core and shell logics, and the emphasis on marketable iconicity. Broad moves like curtain walls, fixtures like mullions, or comfort systems like air conditioning become an assumed part of the environment. This is problematic because these artifacts are heavy with ideology. Their ubiquitousness and the complacency in their use leave us with an increasingly seamless and self-similar global architecture, such that it becomes a dogmatically assumed part of the environment - such that we have no awareness of what we subscribe to by …

Public Space With Character: A Late, Late, Entry- Chicago Library Competition, Kokeith Perry Ii

Architecture Senior Theses

The city of Chicago has a complex relationship with the aesthetics of civic monuments and infrastructures. The cities most canonical projects validate its apparent biases - an oscillation between iconic modern and postmodern figures proliferate the urban fabric. The dynamic between these two paradigms creates a complex relationship between architecture, urban space, and the public mirroring the cities longstanding and complex history of segregated urban space and peoples. This project draws precedent from the format of the 1980 Stanley Tigerman exhibition Late entries to the Chicago Tribune Tower Competition, a then radical competition set to reinvigorate the discipline the way …

Political Archipelago: Repoliticizing Post-Umbrella Revolution Hong Kong, Dora Yui Kei Lo

Architecture Senior Theses

This project aims to re-politicize the public sphere of post-Umbrella Revolution Hong Kong. Umbrella Revolution was one of the latest defining events of democratic struggles in Hong Kong. Like other protests, civil disobedience and revolutions, Umbrella Revolution was more than just “organized public dissents”; it was an experiment of an alternative democratic sphere for agonistic struggles. The occupation temporarily altered, reoriented, disoriented or debilitated the existing boundaries and thresholds in the city; it resisted the logic of the city to create a space of exception. However, these temporary alterations did not leave significant permanent imprints to the city. At the …

Falling Ground: Underground Osmosis, Byungryoung Lee

Architecture Senior Theses

Highly urbanized areas over the world must prepare for another huge population inflow. According to the UN, around 70 percent of the world population will likely live in urban areas by 2050. Big cities such as New York City, Tokyo, and London already face land scarcity and high property costs in their main urban regions.

This thesis explores a new underground typology, adapting into existing urban contexts as a potential solution for these growing issues. Existing infrastructure elements such as parks, subways, and water tanks or sewage systems, which are omnipresent in urban regions, become part of the underground space …

Atmospheric Architecture: Virtual Possibility Of The Picturesque, Yuqi Jin

Architecture Senior Theses

In the 18th century theory of the “picturesque,” imagination substitutes reason. That strategy was profoundly captured in artists’ use of the Claude Glass as a device to distort natural scenes and reproduce reality. A later and more “unreal” variation of this imaginary occurs in picturesque landscape drawings. The result was a recasting of the perfection of nature as an aesthetic of nature. The picturesque thus enacted a transition from reality to virtuality, and that alteration was then reflected back onto reality.

Today’s “atmospheric” architecture pursues similar objectives by taking elements of nature, such as light and air, to produce a …

Xiong'an,Minglu Wei Baita: Towards An Alternative Urbanism, Minglu Wei, Ying Zuo

Architecture Senior Theses

In 1978, with the onset of economic reform, the creation of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) started to accelerate in China. Beyond the success of these mega-cities, if one starts to relate the history of SEZs to the political history of China, one may find that SEZs have always been utilized as a method for the leaders of CCP to manifest their authority and to fortify their achievements. Such state projects are inevitably founded on a paradoxical claim. While being announced as monumental undertakings capable of glorifying the country and benefiting people, they also demand sacrifices of citizens for a higher …

Playingground: Towards A Seriously Playful Architecture, Anita Lamisi Karimu

Architecture Senior Theses

"playGround" is a study of the fundamental rules and organizational logics seen in popular board games and an exploration of their potential applications towards the manifestation of utopian ideals of the built. This thesis is interested in the restoration of user freedom in the built environment by reintroducing the concept of "play" as the fundamental principle of design, giving equal agency to all users in utilizing and modifying transitional and extended-use circulation space. Play in this thesis acts as the antithesis to the normative systems of order and regulation from which contemporary architecture is derived.

"playGround" posits that every ground …

Modern Chinese Architectural Restoration, Tengkui Xie

Architecture Senior Theses

All over the world, there are always buildings to be built and buildings that become old. Should buildings that catered to older needs but are now obsolete be torn down and replaced with new buildings or can we do something to balance the value of the present and the past? All buildings have historic and aesthetic values of their own times, so it is not wise to wipe them out of history completely. It would be better to preserve, restore and reuse them. Restoration has a long history in the West and since the beginning of the 20th century there …

Plastic Revolution: Reuse Of Marine Plastic Garbage, Jingshi Zhang

Architecture Senior Theses

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also described as the Pacific trash vortex, has been getting more and more attention recently. It is a gyre of marine debris particles in the north central Pacific Ocean, with an estimated size range from 700,000 square kilometers (about the size of Russia). In 1992, 28,000 rubber ducks were plunged into the ocean after a shipping crate was lost at sea on its way to the US from Hong Kong. Many years later, the rubber ducks have become a vital tool in our understanding of ocean currents, as well as teaching us about ocean pollution. …

Topologies Of Historic Typologies: Radical Transformations To Historic Preservation, Ian Masters

Architecture Senior Theses

In direct opposition to whitewashing and absolute preservation, this project expos­es the darkening: an array of possible in­terventions upon a historic building that progressively enrich existing typological experiences to provide groundwork for ex­ploring, reconfiguring, and relearning from architectural typologies overlooked and under-investigated as a result of zeitgeist.

By way of selectively oversaturing spaces with the most fundamental building components of a historical build­ing, Topologies of Historic Typologies addresses how more thoughtful approaches to intervention can concurrently yield [figuratively] modern spaces and visual­ly-taught historic architecture.

Topologies of Historic Typologies considers old, antiquated constructs the foundation for purposeful intervention, capable of disrupting …

Paintings Without Frames: The Role Of Augmented Reality In Art Galleries, Laura Clark

Architecture Senior Theses

Art and architecture define one another; the way we can move through an art gallery is defined by the architectural space that has been created, but the actual direction of travel is dictated by the art itself.

This thesis questions both architecture's role in an art gallery and the role of technology, which is changing our perception of space. Augmented reality can be used within the art galleries as a way to provide context, to distort and add to the perception of artworks, as a means of way-finding, and as a tool to allow visitors to curate their own gallery …

Built In Weather: Architecture In Ephemeral Landscape, Hanseul Jang

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis wishes to push the spectrum of how architecture as a built form can be fixated in an ephemeral environment. A camera serves as both analytical and representational tool to capture the ephemeral process of landscape transformation. Visualization of temporal elements of natural landscape forces- through the production of motion images- aims to stimulate variability of the perceptual process into awareness of the changeability of architectural objects.

Examining and visualizing landscape forces at the coastline of Jeju, the thesis aims to further examine architecture's potential as an infrastructure to amplify and adapt to its ephemeral landscape process. The proposed …

Eldgos: The Terra-Forming Earth, Sangha Jung, Young Joon Yun

Architecture Senior Theses

The core of this project is the idea of humankind as a geological force. By imagining the active ground in relation to creation of new ground and environment, this thesis seeks to reclaim the formal language of the geological through volcanism. As we create a series of spaces within this new ground, using lava as our natural tool for architecture and landscape that reconciles the geological and the biological merging the natural and the artificial. Architecture can be formed naturally, like a stone built over time, through sedimentation and erosion. This idea of architecture as natural processes is applied to …

The Postmoder Hermits, Xuechen Li

Architecture Senior Theses

Metropolitan cities to grow at unfathomable rates, forming a new scale of geography know as Megaregions. And as these settlements continue to develop with the principal focus on the consequences of economy and environment, the psychological, mental health of the inhabitants becomes neglected. Japan, the archetypal example of a highly developed country, despite its economic and technological advantages, has been plagued by social isolation, suicides, and mental health issues among its people. With 541,000 young Japanese labeled as hikikomori, a term describing young people who isolate themselves in their rooms for months or years at a time, their memories of …

Adaptive Layers: Preservation In High Speed Urbanism, Yuanyue (Alex) Chen

Architecture Senior Theses

With a population density of 20, 191.5 people per square mile and 279 square miles of land, Singapore is the world's third densest country. One hundred percent of the population lives in an urban area. Every year, the population increases by an average of 100,000 people, while land shrinks due to rising sea levels. For Singapore, the only option is densification. Singapore's historical identity is often secondary to the pragmatic need for densification.

In a city built in 30 years, the rapid rate of modernization has created a disconnect between our historical background and architecture today. Buildings in Singapore have …

Geo-Spatial Mapping As A Catalyst For Creative And Engaged Design In Engineering Education, Jessie Zarazaga

Multidisciplinary Studies Theses and Dissertations

Exploiting the technology of geo-spatial mapping student designers can develop deep understandings of the rich and layered data of a spatial context, a situational understanding essential to responsible civic design. However the actions inherent in the construction of spatial data armatures can simultaneously be harnessed as creative strategies, in which mapping processes become the context for generative spatial play. The ambition of this study is to propose efficient pedagogic structures to help prepare civil and environmental student engineers to be not only strong participants, but leaders, in the design of the built environment. The interpretation of site data, mapped as …

Tilt-Up Concrete Wall Anchorage Design: A Trial And Error Process, John W. Lawson, David L. Mccormick

Architectural Engineering

Concrete tilt-up buildings are a common subset of a class of building referred to as rigid-wall-flexible-diaphragm (RWFD) structures. Common diaphragm types are plywood, oriented strand board, or metal deck. Masonry wall buildings with flexible diaphragms are also examples of RWFD buildings. Tilt-ups have performed poorly in past earthquakes, with the primary weakness being the anchorage between walls and roof. In the seismically active western United States, design was governed primarily by the Uniform Building Code (UBC) until the advent of the International Building Code (IBC). Before the 1973 UBC, it was common practice by design engineers to use the nailing …

(Mis)Communicating With Geographic Information System Mapping: Part 2—Determining Data Cutoffs, Rodrigo Cantarero, Maria Deguzman, Sarah Taylor, Soo-Young Hong, Jeong-Kyun Choi

Community and Regional Planning Program: Faculty Scholarly and Creative Activity

The increasing use of geographic information system (GIS) technology in various fields suggests the need for professionals, including those in Extension, to be mindful of communicating data accurately and effectively. This article examines approaches to creating classes or groupings within data as well as the weaknesses of each approach. Data break units discussed in the article include equal intervals, quantiles, and units resulting from natural breaks. Ideal situations for each type of data break are presented. The article emphasizes the need for Extension professionals to consider the effects of data grouping to avoid miscommunication when using GIS mapping.

A Framework For Cooperative Housing In Portland, Me: Lessons From 13 Existing Cooperative Houses In The U.S., Cyndi Gacosta

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

Cooperative housing may be a viable and financially-sound alternative for individuals and families of low to moderate income, as Portland, Maine’s downtown area becomes gentrified raising property values to unaffordable heights. Of the 13,546 family households in Portland, 8.7% earn below $25,000, which for an average family of four $24, 250¹ is considered to be in poverty, and 18.4% earn between $25,000 and $50,000. Meanwhile, 13.2% of the 16, 561 non-family households are below the poverty line, and 27.5% earn between $25,000 and $50,000 (US Census Bureau, 2014).

As it becomes increasingly difficult for low to moderate income earners …

Building Industry: Relinking Tangible And Intangible, Weibin Lao, Xiaobai Zhao

Architecture Senior Theses

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations. Cultural heritage includes two spectrums of identity: tangible and intangible. Tangible culture includes buildings, monuments, landscapes, books, works of art, and artifacts. Intangible culture includes folklore, traditions, language and knowledge, atmospheric conditions, etc.

Syracuse, as part of Upstate New York, used to be an essential economic center of the United States. This resulted not only from its once-influential salt industry and its easily accessed canal infrastructure, but also …

The Timber Buckling Restrained Brace Frame, Jessica Resta

Architectural Engineering

With the increasing awareness on the topic of earthquake resistance, efficient, cost-effective, and environmentally friendly solutions in the structural field are on the rise. The purpose of this report is to investigate the Timber Buckling Restrained Brace (TBRB), a new lateral-resisting element made of steel and lumber, applicable in residential and small commercial units. In addition to the TBRBs’ materials being readily available, the braces are easy to manufacture, reducing overall costs of production and transportation. The brace, made partly of wood, has also a low environmental impact when compared to other lateral force resisting elements like concrete shearwalls or …

Explorations Of Acoustic Trends In Data Logged In K–12 Classrooms, Kieren Smith

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The classroom environment influences the ability of children to learn. To ascertain the effect of indoor environment parameters on student achievement, a large-scale project was launched, collecting time-logged data from 220 k-12 classrooms in the eastern Nebraska region for six days each. Data were collected from a variety of disciplines, including acoustics, lighting, indoor air quality, and thermal comfort. This thesis focuses on the acoustic parameters, looking first at how overall classroom values--including average sound levels and room reverberation time--influence student achievement. Using structural equation modeling, the average sound level during times with speech present was discovered to have a …

Territorial Transgressions: The (New) New Jersey, Ryan Oeckinghaus

Architecture Senior Theses

Understanding the operation of a Territory as opposed to conceiving solely of urban and non-urban/rural areas illuminates the underlying flaws present in the built environment that are caused by this assumption. Infrastructure is a vital component of planning that is significantly downplayed and disjointed when looking at areas independently, and as such should be linked back into a proper understanding of the territory. This Thesis seeks to provide an example of a possible territorial reconfiguration in New Jersey that utilizes an updated conception of territory, creating a Holistic Proposal to remedy outdated planning and infrastructural practices stemming from the misconception …

Spatial Agency For Migrant Workers: Rethinking The Dynamics Of Urban Villages In China, Yan Liu

Architecture Senior Theses

“Throughout history, expanding cities have always run over villages, hamlets, estates, gardens, and soft elements that constitute the countryside, the domain that hosts agriculture and nature.” Urban Villages, essentially a composite of these “soft” elements, remained as one of the hardest anchors among the residual or by-product in China’s urban development. Until 1985, the Pearl River Delta region had been mainly dominated by farms and small rural villages. The onset of economic reform and the open-door policy brought an influx of foreign investment which fueled the unstoppable train of urbanization. Rapid urbanization let to the formation of Urban Villages, a …

Learning From Wes Anderson: On Artificial Memory And Detail, Abigail Campion

Architecture Senior Theses

This thesis focuses on the reproduction of detail, through compression and misarticulation, an artificial memory of its reference. The project culminates on three films of Wes Anderson: The Royal Tenenbaums, Moonrise Kingdom and The Grand Budapest Hotel. These specific films were chosen due to their cult following within the Anderson canon. Wes Anderson articulates his cinematic universes very meticulously. He uses unique methods to capture certain emotions in his films. A huge part of Anderson’s film worlds is his attention to detail. All parts of his films are deeply invested in maintaining the illusion of the film world he has …