Interior Architecture Commons^™

French Wallpaper Decors: Papiers Peints In Homes Of The American South, Christine Speare

MA Theses

French wood-block printed wallpaper is a very unique mural art form, yet often neglected. With this historical lack of attention, few academics have devoted themselves to the study of the topic, especially in the United States; and yet, wallpaper can reveal so much about past styles, settings, and collectors. Due to the historical changes in fashion, natural aging, weather, war, and neglect, a considerably limited number of collections continue to hang in situ in the American South in relation to the abundant examples found in the Northeast that have been better documented. Yet, the South’s historic affinity for all that …

Capturing The Ephemeral, Caroline L. J. Matteson

Theses and Dissertations

Music, it has been shown, has the potential to both create social cohesion and encourage conflict resolution (Koelsch, Offermanns, & Franzke, 2010). In a city with deep roots in slavery, music may be more powerful than language or the toppling of monuments to help create a cultural identity that every demographic can fit. Not only can music improve mood in an individual, but musical contagion affects large groups at once. Creating a space to equalize access to and share the experience of music—both making and appreciation—would give the city an opportunity for reconciliation and community bonding.

While a universal quality …

Scan & Scansion: An Urban Residency For Poets & Artists Working In Collaboration, Heather A. Overby

Theses and Dissertations

Scansion is the act of discerning a poem’s meter and measure to discover its overall meaning. To achieve beauty in poetry, just as in interior design, content must continually be in conversation with form. And, just as a building must be scaled against the human figure to determine its final shape, a poem is scaled against human breath, the breadth of our sounds.

Scan & Scansion is a Richmond-based residency with a six-month term providing a work, living and exhibition space to poets and artists who wish to work collaboratively across disciplines. As the program is essentially about applied poetics …

Adaptive Repurposing Of Smith Elementary, Kelsey L. Fields

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

For almost 100 years Smith Elementary School has been an institution of learning and a place of growth for children across the community of Kenmore, including myself. While its closing marks the end of an era it also presents a unique opportunity. Through adaptive reuse, Smith Elementary can have a second life and remain a cornerstone building in the community. The central goal of maintaining the beautiful original architectural details blends with the challenge of making this a functional space where a business can flourish, in the same rooms as hundreds of children have done before. This idea will set …

Partition Pause, Michael Scribner

Theses and Dissertations

MOTIVATION Mindfulness is the active pursuit of focused attention, and through practice has been shown to benefit psychological and physical well-being. While mindfulness is not a new idea, it has only tangentially been linked to Interior Design such as through performative objects (Niedderer, 2007 and 2014) which promote personal reflection before enacting a choice. If mindfulness is the active pursuit of mental presence, then Attention Restoration Theory (ART) is a passive route by which environmental cues imbue a resurgence in attention capacity (Kaplan, 2001). ART studies exemplified successful restoration through scenes of nature, and unsuccessfully in outdoor urban scenes (Berto, …

On Being A Good Neighbor, Kathren M. Cutshall

Theses and Dissertations

This research supports the design of a museum dedicated to reconciliation on the issue of human slavery. Throughout the museum guests will be ushered through contemplation to prepare for the context of the museum, gallery exhibitions chronicling the slavery and corporate apologia. The aim of the museum is to aid guests toward taking ownership of the history of slavery while simultaneously offering up forgiveness for it. Platforms for spoken word art, lecture halls and spaces dedicated to dialogue will be included. The chronological progression through the museum will move guests from introspection to education, personal acceptance to forgiveness. Guests will …

Performative Design, Lenita Ann Eldhose

Theses and Dissertations

The field of design is one that holds the power to empower, bridge gaps, inform, evolve and revolutionize human thoughts. To gain a higher understanding of the correlation of anthropometrics and ergonomics in an embodied space relative to the discipline of dance connecting one’s mind and body. The need for a space that instills a sense of freedom for artists to experience and execute their art and to reside alongside their mentors and traveling artists. The need for a space that can bring the diverse cultures that live in and around Richmond together through an expressive form of art. Providing …

Designing School Community: Changing Inner-City Middle School Culture Through Interiors, Rachel A. Ramey

Theses and Dissertations

While the knowledge of disrepair in inner-city schools is fairly common, the impact that school facilities are having on students and faculty is not as widely known. More recently, the closing of inner city schools has greatly increased across the United States; Reduction in public school enrollment from 2006-2013: Detroit -63%, Cleveland -32%, Indianapolis -27%, D.C. -23%, L.A. -23%,etc. (Journey For Justice Alliance,2014).

Due to budget cuts, threat of school closings from poor facility conditions, large class size, and pressure to raise test scores, inner city schools struggle to keep teachers (Journey For Justice Alliance,2014). Poor teacher retention along with …