Interior Architecture Commons^™

Chinese Tea Ceremony Spirit Revival, Hongli Song

Masters Theses

The history of tea dates back to ancient China, almost 5,000 years ago, though at this point tea is well-integrated into the history and civilization of various countries throughout the world. However, China, as the birthplace of the tea ceremony, has lost widespread understanding of the traditions they innovated.

For example, the Sencha method that once flourished in the Tang Dynasty (618-907), and the whisked tea method in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) has already been entirely lost. Today the brewing tea methods passed down from the Ming and Qing Dynasties are nearly lost. The Chinese traditional tea ceremony is facing …

A.R. Futuristic Scenario In Seun, Yookyung Lee

Masters Theses

Due to social distancing policies during the coronavirus pandemic, people have increasingly turned to digital platforms to fulfill what they previously enjoyed in face-to-face interactions. The high demand for virtual world services, called “metaverses,” has sparked discussions about the possibility of completely replacing the real world, which has raised questions about the role of architects in dealing with physical spaces. However, it is widely believed that digital elements will merge into the real world instead of completely replacing it, which makes augmented reality (AR) a key technology to study in the context of architecture.

In “Learning from Las Vegas,” Robert …

Nurturing Haven: A Safe Place For Single Mothers, Meng Su

Masters Theses

Single mothers may turn to substance use as a coping mechanism due to the overwhelming responsibility of caring for children on their own. Raising children without the support of a partner can be emotionally, physically, and financially demanding, leaving single mothers feeling stressed, anxious, and exhausted. These feelings of burden and pressure can lead to depression, and substance use may sw to maintain their responsibilities and provide the care their children need. This thesis proposes the integration of two typologies: a harm reduction center and a daycare center, with the aim to de-stigmatize single mother substance users and create a …

Adding Subtraction: Wasting Time In Space, Daeun Kim

Masters Theses

Architecture is designed to increase our productivity – think of features like uniform workspaces, straight pathways, or purely functional rooms arranged to optimize tasks. When forced into constant productivity, we gain efficiency, but we end up exhausted and disconnected from one another. We need to design subtraction spaces in our workspaces and everyday life, spaces that accommodate the feelings and dreams of the occupant: spaces where we can wander, wonder, feel, connect, relax, restore, and reset. By challenging the perception that time just moves on and cannot be controlled, people can shift time: they can start, reverse, break, accumulate, prolong, …

Moving Narration: A Journey Through History, Yincheng Zhu

Masters Theses

The Central Pacific, as the first transcontinental railroad, is a remarkable achievement in the history of the United States. However, the story of what happened during its construction, including the struggles of the first generation of immigrants from China who built the tracks, and the resistance of native Americans to cede their lands, is largely forgotten. The California Zephyr, as a long-trip train that currently runs on the Central Pacific tracks, is not only a means of transportation but should also tell the history of survival and resistance embodied by the landscape it moves through and tracks it travels over. …

Intensifying The Experience Of Contemporary Art, Wanjin Feng

Masters Theses

Contemporary Art museums, emphasizing visual experience- es, struggle to accommodate multi-sensory art forms. This thesis introduces a groundbreaking exhibition design mod- el focused on creating immersive, multi-sensory experiences for visitors. The model transitions from a passive observation paradigm to an interactive perception approach, fostering a deeper understanding and emotional connection to art.

Applied to the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA), the model introduces strategies such as narrative sculptures, interactive drawing spaces, integrated reading within exhibitions, and emotionally-driven spatial design. These strategies aim to make art more accessible, promoting personal connections with artworks.

In conclusion, the proposed model transforms contemporary art …

A Cloud Above, Jiwon Kim

Masters Theses

Even though Manhattan has a lot of green space, it is not sufficient to reduce the urban heat island effect of so much concrete and metal. This thesis proposes a new way to create more green infrastructure in dense urban areas. by utilizing the stack effect through a chimney structure as an air purifier. Additionally, it proposes the widespread use of facades with Heliostats to produce and use solar energy within the structures.

This thesis considers a four-storeyed parking lot that has two entrances on the south and the north. Its walls are merged with those of the adjacent mid-rise …

The People's Food Project, Grace Barrett

Masters Theses

The architectural design of spaces offering food assistance has received little to no attention since food pantries emerged in the 1970s. Non-profit food initiatives are often sited quickly with limited resources, producing inadequate spaces unable to fully support a food insecure community, prioritize the experience of users, and create a sense of belonging. The current spaces limit services to merely food distribution. They do not take advantage of the opportunity to expand socioeconomic capital through the power of shared food experiences: growing, cooking, eating, and learning.

This thesis redefines the traditional food pantry model, responding to explorations in psychological comfort …

Reconcile Liminality, Zefeng Wang

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the concept of liminal space as a metaphor for the current transition to the digital era. We are not fully prepared for what the future holds. Fears and worries surrounding rapid development are amplified by the potential for social problems. However, by examining human development in history, we can gain insight into our current situation and start a discussion about where we are headed. The objective of this proposal is to create a space that eases concerns about the arrival of the new digital age. This is particularly relevant to Japan, which is now at a digital …

A Study Of Dwelling, Julia Mcarthur

Masters Theses

In teasing out natural phenomena in the unbuilt environment, through admiring beauty, and emphasizing the ordinary, meaningful moments can be brought about that can cause you to be more present with yourself and the world we live in. It is important to qualify that these spaces that encompass “ordinary” moments are not intended to be “idealized spaces,” but a domain that reconciles the chaos from the peaceful and the stress from the calm that is ever apparent in our daily lives. My thesis asks: Through critiquing the modernist condition of a prescriptive ideal space, how can we better understand how …

Eviction To Placement: Rethinking The Current Supportive Housing Systems For Hidden Homeless Families, Fang-Min Liou

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on repurposing unoccupied office space into affordable housing systems tailored to meet the unique needs of homeless families. Families with children make up 36 percent of the homeless population overall and children’s homelessness status is almost always “hidden." Architecture and design can play a vital role in addressing social inequity by creating improved living environments for the houseless community through adaptive reuse of underutilized space situated within dense urban areas with the greatest access to resources to support these families, evoke feelings of comfort, security, and hope.

The following thesis accommodates three basic needs of homeless families: …

On The Power Of Attainable Architecture Community Engagement And Interaction Through Architecture: A New Approach To Architectural Exhibitions, Jianing Yang

Masters Theses

This thesis explores the potential of architecture exhibitions as a medium to make architecture more accessible and relevant to the public. Drawing inspiration from an article titled "6 Small Scale Projects with Large Social Impact", it highlights the significance of small-scale architectural interventions that foster social responsibility, public engagement, and sustainability.

The prevalent architectural elitism often overlooks attainable, small-scale architecture, which advocates for a broader appreciation of architecture, including the everyday built environments that shape our communities and everyday lives.

The thesis proposes a new approach to architecture exhibitions emphasizing authentic immersion and engagement. It introduces a unique 1:1 experience …

A Day Stood Still, Yuting Sun

Masters Theses

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is an important industrial historic site in New York City. It was established in the 1810s as a private shipyard and became a military property in the late nineteenth century. It provided significant production capacity for the Pacific battlefield during World War II. After the war, the entire campus closed in the 1960s as military orders declined and transportation changed. The Brooklyn Navy Yard was later sold to New York City and repurposed.

After the city government took over the park, unlike other industrial sites that were developed as real estate, manufacturing is still the main …

Using Bim To Increase The Efficiency Of Energy-Driven Retrofitting Projects, Anne Grego, Shannon Chance, Barry Mcauley

Conference Papers

The building sector is responsible for nearly 40% of global energy consumption. Many existing buildings have poor thermal insulation and low energy performance, hindering sustainability goals. Energy-driven building retrofitting could address this issue and implementing Building Information Modelling (BIM) in retrofitting can reduce process time, costs, and waste associated with such undertakings. Yet, there is a lack of research and insufficient guidance for implementing BIM in energy-driven retrofitting. A BIM framework is presented to enhance decision-making processes during retrofitting. The aims of this study were to (1) identify BIM technologies and methodologies that could address existing barriers and improve efficiency …

Global Perceptions Of Space: The Interior Designer's Role, Ansley C. Elliott

Honors College Theses

Interior designers need to show and share awareness of cultural inclusivity in design solutions to create a positive experience for all end users. In order to do this, interior designers need to gain an understanding of how people from various geographical locations perceive space and, as a result, behave and connect in public environments. This study explored existing literature on human factors in design, such as proxemics, territoriality, anthropometrics, cultural dimensions in business practices, and inclusivity in design. The research methodology included a Qualtrics survey on cultural background and demographic data; three-dimensional renderings of a public restaurant and a workplace; …

Desert Safe Haven, Deja Dortch

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The purpose of this thesis is to inform on the materials, technologies, spaces and structure needed to architecturally and sustainably achieve human comfort and create a mother nature-proof safe haven in the becoming harsh climate of the USA. All the while implementing minimum HVAC, using primarily passive and active systems towards a net zero home. Studies have shown there is a real threat with the rate in which the climate is changing. Temperatures are rising worldwide which is causing droughts, more frequent fires, glaciers to melt, sea levels to rise, more severe hurricanes and storms, etc. Sustainability is a way …

The Dwelling And The Shed: Redefining The Homestead, Ryan Mattox

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The homestead is the frontier of exploration. It is the place that shows people can take care of themselves through self-sufficient means. This place also looks at making a more sustainable population. That is partly due to the individual needing to take care of the environment around themselves so that the environment can provide for them.

My thesis project will look to create a technological and sustainable residential module that can be replicated and modified to create community based on self-sufficiency by means of sustainability. To achieve this goal, my thesis will look at combining the architectural elements of the …

Remedy Space: A Children's Interactive Hospital Retreat, Ivanna Rodriguez

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

According to the American Cancer Society, the rate of childhood cancer is increasing, and about 10,470 children will have been diagnosed with cancer in 2022. Patients who respond best to treatment and recover faster are those who feel most comfortable in their environment. This success is a result of a mental and emotional response to the natural and built environment. How can an environment that is full of stress, anxiety, sickness, and sorrow allow any patient to feel comfortable? Hospitals are typically understood as environments where these intense negative occurrences happen and become places of low morale and mental health. …

Architecture And Harm Reduction : An Unconventional Approach To Detox, Anna Studdard

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Harm reduction is a principle that stems from countries like Denmark and Switzerland, that implements strategies to encourage safer drug usage, abstinence, and education for users. The National Harm Reduction Coalition implements nationwide programs for substance abusers, such as Syringe Service Programs, rehabilitation programs, detox programs, housing programs, drug testing facilities, services assisting sex workers, and administering Narcan for overdoses, to try to minimize some of the tragedies accompanying substance abuse. The counterpoint opinion of some countries or states is that providing services like needle exchanges and testing centers are encouraging drug usage and doing more harm than good. However, …

Archi-Comics, Timothy Gatto

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Humor in architecture is not at the forefront of architect’s minds, this comes from architects need to be deemed serious. This way of thinking is what has backed architects up into a corner banal and stagnant architecture. Architecture is the art of context, everything in architecture is referential. Humor is foundationally the exact same way, the incongruity theory makes humor possible by putting a concept into context with things and finding contradictions in the process, thus developing a joke. Each of these arts, humor and architecture, are that of context and when architecture is delivered like humor, it points out …

The Art Of Detailing: An Exploration Of Watercolor, Torrey Tracy

TFSC Publications and Presentations

Second Annual University of Arkansas Teaching and Learning Symposium: Sharing Teaching Ideas

Department of Interior Architecture and Design, Fay Jones School of Architecture

Special thanks to Cat Wallack, Architectural Records Archivist, Mullins Library and Reagan Walters, Bachelor of Interior Design, 2021

(Not) Knowing, Jared Friedman

Theses and Dissertations

Jared Friedman’s work creates monuments out of banal common objects. Through acrylic paintings on- Astroturf, burlap, canvas, and upholstery fabric- he explores the ambiguity of the unremarkable, such as the condenser coils on the back of a refrigerator. In, (Not) Knowing, he parses the difference between knowing and understanding.

Two Churches, One Vision: Sacred Architecture As A Reflection Of Benedictine Values And Liturgical Reform, Katheryn Wethli

Obsculta

This piece compares the architecture of the worshipping spaces of Saint Benedict's Monastery's Sacred Heart Chapel and Saint John's Abbey Church; presenting how the worshiping spaces uplift their monastic communities’ Benedictine values and demonstrate their monastic call towards evangelizing the Gospel in the modern world, highlighting the liturgical reforms of the mid-20th century.

Digital To Phygital: An Analysis Of How A Better Collaboration Between Interior Designers And Mobile App Developers Could Improve The Future Of Retail, Hayden Wyrick

Interior Design Undergraduate Honors Theses

Interior designers and mobile app developers equally play a role in the design of omnichannel retailing spaces (either within the physical or digital realm) where retailers and consumers interact with each other; yet they hardly work in tandem. Omnichannel retailing creates a seamless experience for consumers when interacting with a retailer and allows them to purchase items in a cross-channel setting. Consumer expectations of retailers’ omnichannel approaches are increasing, and therefore this study investigates two of the most successful retailers, Walmart and Amazon, through a qualitative approach of case studies, interviews, and public observations. This study intended to explore the …

Designing The American Dreamscape: Suburbs Of Worship And The American Dream, Rebecca Virgl

Masters in Architecture Program: Theses

This thesis explores suburbia as the physical manifestation of the American Dream as a pseudo-religious system. This religious system and contemporary suburban ideology are explained and disseminated through a historical review and analysis of suburban media. Pop culture serves as a signpost that directs public opinion and cultural value; much of media today wrestles with the ideas of the American Dream, fore fronting these cultural values in our collective identity. Once the baseline of socio-economic religious ideology has been established in the American Dream, the extremes of these beliefs were explored in three suburban environments: home, labor, and retail. Each …

Maidstone Estates: Utilizing Research-Based Design To Create The Luxury, Location, And Lifestyle Of A Continuing Care Retirement Community, Jake Hardin

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The nature of this essay explores the implementation of research-based design to the senior living concept and showcases how design can improve and empower the lives of our seniors as they hit retirement age. Over the course of the essay, the project will begin as a concept and navigate its way through the design processes until the concept is fully developed as a stand-alone package that speaks for itself. Maidstone Estates is built upon the guidelines of the Green House Project and outlines the mixed-use nature of design involving branding, building code, ADA compliance, universal design, and the three acuity …

Adhd In Classroom Design, Conley Lents

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper identifies interventions that primary schools should implement to make their physical environments more conducive to learning for students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and, by extension, the entire student body. The school environment's impact on children is often underestimated, leaving children to be blamed for issues that could have been prevented. This oversight is mainly caused by a general need for more understanding of these students and this environment's vital role because of the limited research on both. The evidence-based interventions developed are based on a review of research on the impact of the school environment and ADHD …

Dv Shelter: Research & Adaptive Reuse, Paige Boyce

Student Research Symposium

Design by promoting the social, economic, and political self-determination of women and all survivors of violence and oppression. Taking an existing 3 story office building for adaptive reuse. Interviewing survivors and specialists to implement meaningful programming and implement the needs of a shelter.

Women's Healthcare In Kenya, Anne Szymanski

Student Research Symposium

Research on the current healthcare that women have access to in Kenya and how the design of a facility can solve problems.

Haven Women's Shelter: Interior Design Promoting Equality, Safety, And Comfort, Sierra Martineau

Student Research Symposium

The objective of this project was to develop a concept that would not only enhance accessibility for occupants of a women’s shelter, but also create an environment where interior design fosters healing and comfort for its residents. The space was designed to cater not only to women but also their children and pets, offering all necessary facilities to meet the residents’ needs within the shelter’s premises.To create this vision, included in the space is a comprehensive set of amenities, including a therapy room with an onsite therapist, a medical room staffed by a qualified registered nurse, a daycare area for …