Landscape Architecture Commons^™

Resilient Future: The Cultural Riverfront Edge In The New Capital, Amaravathi, In Andhra Pradesh, India, Priyanka Malik

LSU Master's Theses

India faced the bifurcation of a united Andhra Pradesh state into the state of Telangana and state of Andhra Pradesh or Seemandhra, on 2nd June 2014. Since the year 1948, the city of Hyderabad remained the capitol of united Andhra Pradesh. However, post the bifurcation, the two states are required to share Hyderabad as their administrative capitol for ten years after which the city of Hyderabad will be the centre for the state of Telangana. The state of Andhra Pradesh is thus building a new capital Amaravathi, along the banks of Krishna River. The name of the capital is borrowed …

Can We Make Chinatown A More Sustainable Environment: Rethinking And Remaking Chinatown, San Francisco?, Zhen Wang

LSU Master's Theses

Since nineteen century, Chinese immigrants in the United States had a great contribution to the economy and transformation of landscape by gold mining, transcontinental railroad construction and agriculture cultivation, applying techniques that were learned from ancestors thousands years ago in China. And Chinatown as the first destination of continuing Chinese immigrants transformed from a ghetto to the top tourist attraction of the city in San Francisco with commercial-oriented development in more than a hundred years. This paper will explore the transformation of the image and representation of Chinatown by analyzing Chinese culture influences, American confinement, and pop culture impact, to …

From Ruins To Home The Exploration Of Shikumen’S Development, Xinye Zheng

LSU Master's Theses

The issue of Shikumen is the confliction between urban development and historical value preservation. And the historical value can be better understood with Chinese modern history behind, especially the concession part (an area ruled by foreign countries and don't have the independent rights on economy, politics and military (18, Li)). Because of the historic reason, the residents were made of three main streams, which were international stream, national stream and local movement. Those residences brought their culture into the concession and created a “melting pot”. This melting pot cultural phenomenon was shown in building design of Shikumen. However, with the …

Mass Incarceration By Design: The Impacts Of Urban Renewal And Landscape Architecture's Absence On The Prison Industrial Complex And The Use Of Landscape Architecture As An Antidote To Mass Incarceration, Abigail P. Phillips

LSU Master's Theses

The work of landscape architects has both positive and negative social impacts and landscape architects can strive to intentionally design for positive social impact. This paper utilizes mass incarceration as a lens for discussing the social impact of landscape architecture. The crossroads of mass incarceration and design offer a unique opportunity for Landscape Architects to examine the impact of many urban renewal efforts on marginalized communities, the benefits of landscape architectural involvement in prison design, and the use of design as protest against inhumane structures. This paper is separated into three sections, one detailing the history of social justice and …

Fresh Flow: Where The City Meets The Sea, Wanqin Su

LSU Master's Theses

The significance of this site lies in its location. It is three miles away from French Quarter, the heart and origin of the city, and eight miles away from Lake Borgne, as well as the Gulf. Regardless of the size, it distinguishes itself on the map as a wedge of green space inserted sharply into densely developed urban space. The site was prosperous cypress swamp six decades ago, too dense to identify lands and water underneath. However, after the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet was dug in the 1960s, it took less than 30 years for it to transformed into brackish …

Creating Sustainable Future Of A Degraded Urban Canal: Mae Kha, In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Sunantana Nuanla-Or

LSU Master's Theses

Chiang Mai is the largest and the most significant city in the Northern region of Thailand. It was established in 1296 as the capital of Lanna Kingdom. Since then, the city is famous for its exquisite authentic Northern culture, essential trading routes, an abundance of natural places, and agriculture derived along the Ping River as well as a functional canal system in the city. In the past few decade, uncontrolled and unplanned urban development, deforestation, and the lack of public awareness have caused landscape degradation in the city. Consequently, Chiang Mai has faced several serious environmental problems such as congestion, …

The Successional Grid, Erin Percevault

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Cost Of Design: A Life-Cycle Assessment Of Green Infrastructure Technology, Cheryl Kaye Lough

LSU Master's Theses

Landscape architectural research of green infrastructural practices has increased dramatically over the last decade. Due to this research, many designers are suggesting some form of green infrastructure within their projects. Much of the present-day research focuses on function and not long term impacts of individual materials. The current rate of implementation of green infrastructures might not produce a drastic impact upon the environment, but with installations being realized at an ever-increasing and larger scales, even minute elements within the construction of these structures begin to influence the overall ecological footprint produced by our designs. Designers must re-evaluate the materiality of …

Revisit And Revise: The Introspective Approach To Reclamation And Redevelopment In Miami's Urban Core, Jescelle Renee Major

LSU Master's Theses

The human plays a vital role in the city and the city a vital role in the sustainability and resiliency of the future. It is imperative to explore all avenues for improvement and longevity. Now is the time to explore methods to strengthen the cities we have and the people who live there. This is especially true for coastal cities facing sea level rise and climate change. It is important now not to dwell on what we have lost but to seek methods for using the memory of a place to restore and build for the future. Recognizing there is …

Informal Landscape Architecture: A Tool To Improve Water Quality For Informal Settlements Along Waterways In Bangkok, Jidapa Chayakul

LSU Master's Theses

The canals of Bangkok were a vital form of infrastructure from when the city was founded in 1782 until the 1850s, when the road system was introduced. Built for agricultural irrigation, the canals served as the primary means of transportation and significantly influenced the form and orientation of Bangkok’s early settlements and public institutions. With the implementation of roads, new buildings were constructed to be oriented towards the streets and away from the canals. The canals and their communities subsequently decreased in visibility. Today, most of the land along the waterways is publically owned. As a result, the land adjacent …

New Orleans, A City Of Layers Preventing Extinction, William Francis Reinhardt

LSU Master's Theses

Preventing the loss of New Orleans occupies the minds of many designers in Louisiana. Great efforts to preserve the city are targeting the slow return to naturalization of the engineered river to find a new balance determined by plan formulators of the Federal government. Throughout history, many experimental movements have been born from the landscape architecture practice, and may be key to the future of New Orleans. Separate chapters are devoted towards the movements created by William Kent, Fletcher Steele, and Jens Jensen to explore as inspiration to be applied to coastal living. Finally, the future of New Orleans is …

Using Stormwater Modeling In Iterative Site Design: An Integration Of Techniques From Engineering And Landscape Architecture, Brooke Erin Morris

LSU Master's Theses

Landscape Architects currently do not have an efficient method for including stormwater quantities in early stages of their design process. With stormwater control infrastructure and theory rapidly shifting in favor of stormwater management with Green Infrastructure or Low Impact Development technologies (LIDs), landscape architects and planners are increasingly making layout and sizing decisions for stormwater design. Due to the development of modeling tools, it is now possible to rapidly produce quantifiable stormwater values for complex site designs at a range of scales. This paper proposes a methodology for the utilization of the EPA – Stormwater Management Model (SWMM), in conjunction …

The City’S Unnoticed Limits: Considerations About The Boundaries In Caracas, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

In Caracas, insecurity has prompted an individual but generalized quest for isolation that is translated into an accelerated growth of boundaries as walls and fences. This situation has led to a significant deterioration of the spaces around them, setback space on one side and the street on the other, confined and divided, urban fabric if getting fragmented. The research wants then to illustrate this complex problem from a qualitative methodology and the hermeneutic circle, from which dialogical relationships are established between the elements analyzed. The main contributions of the research highlights the explanation of a reality that is happening nowadays …

Discussion Of The Contradictions Of The Contemporary Urban Landscape: The Case Of Caracas, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

In the ongoing debate between seemingly conflicting conditions, the author contrasts several features of urban landscape to dig deeper into the understanding of the current Caracas. An interpretative process allows viewing the city from a daily perspective of joy and suffering. The process takes into account different scales of approach, the relationship between buildings and emptiness, and the role of green in the city. Gradually the carelessness of Caracas’s urban landscape becomes evident, fed by little attention to the small scale, the clustering of individualistic interventions and the neglect of the natural component. Final considerations will show the urban landscape …

From The Spoils: Revitalizing Abandoned Coal Mines And Their Communities, Jamie Yousten

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Espacios Sucre: Interdisciplinary Program To Develop A System Of Small- And Medium-Scale Interventions In Public Spaces, Daniel Belandria, Fabio Capra-Ribeiro

Faculty Publications

With the accelerated growth of most Venezuelan cities, many of them show precarious settlements where residents seek to resolve their housing needs while services, facilities, and public spaces in particular hove been neglected. This is the case in Caracas and within the Municipality of Sucre, the second largest in size and population of the whole country. In this context. the Espacios Sucre Program, an interdisciplinary initiative with the main purpose of building networks of public space in both small and medium scales, not only works to confront the deficit but also to relate the contrasting areas of the Municipality and …

Butte Mine Revitalization Masterplan, Garrett Wolf

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

The Art Of Perception: Robert Irwin's Central Garden At The J. Paul Getty Center, Jennifer Kay Zell

LSU Master's Theses

In this study of The Central Garden at the J. Paul Getty Center was found evidence that the Central Garden designed by Robert Irwin is a postmodern garden. Beginning with an evaluation and description of the individual elements and conditions of the garden, the study then explores the larger body of artistic work produced by Irwin. This investigation also extrapolates how the ideas of modernism and postmodernism have been applied to past works of landscape architecture. The precedents provide a basis for interpretation and analysis of the Central Garden. Direct observation of visitors at the Central Garden provided evidence of …

Using Site-Specific Art As An Alternative For Interpreting Port Hudson State Historic Park, Louisiana, Yi-Chia Chen

LSU Master's Theses

This study investigates the use of site-specific art as a means of enhancing and interpreting an historic battlefield. The finding of this study are demonstrated in a series of designs for interpretive installations for the Port Hudson State Historic Site, a Civil War battlefield located in Louisiana. The interpretive methods commonly used in historic battlefields today, as identified in chapter two of this thesis, tend to produce remote relationship between visitors of the current generation and the site. To help visitors understand the meaning of historic battlefields batter, site-specific art is introduced in this thesis as an instrument to retrieve …

An "Ecolodge" In Thailand: A Site Design Based Upon The Local Vernacular Village, Pudtan Chantarangkul

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis began from my interest in using indigenous architectural and dwelling patterns of fishing villages in coastal Thailand as a model for a new sustainable community. The provincial government has a policy promoting longstay tourism for affluent retirees from other countries, enabling them to experience the natural, historical, and cultural heritage of the area at an economical cost. To fulfill the local government's policy and my intention to design such a facility, this thesis proposes to design an international "ecolodge" for a site near Yisan Village. The area is very peaceful yet it is not so far from downtown …

Palimpsest Encounters: A Baseline Study Of Federal, Antebellum, And Postbellum New Orleans Gardens Using The Notarial Archives Drawings, Cecilia L. Mcnab

LSU Master's Theses

The focus of this thesis is to establish a basis for a typology of New Orleans gardens from 19th Century Notarial drawings. Previous inquires of the New Orleans Notarial Archives drawings emphasized elite gardens of the Vieux Carré and Garden District. This baseline study investigates both vernacular and elite gardens of 159 drawings in the three oldest of the city Municipal Districts during the period 1810-1880, and identifies 19 garden templates. It sets the drawings in their social, political, and historical context to inform a critical understanding of the garden types. The inquiry examines 47 spatial and design variables, using …

Local Narratives: An Approach To Participatory Planning In Community Revitalization Projects, Herpreet Kaur Singh

LSU Master's Theses

This thesis explores what can happen when planners and designers allow local narratives to inspire and inform all stages of community planning and design processes. Specifically, this paper suggests how local narratives can contribute to the ongoing revitalization efforts underway in Old South Baton Rouge, a historically significant, low-income, African-American community in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A personal narrative introduces the subject matter at hand. Thereafter, each chapter is preceded with a narrative interlude to add texture to the ideas presented herein. Chapter two underscores the theoretical and practical relationship between place, memory and development, particularly as this relationship applies to …

Quiet Revolutions: Neighborhood Urban Forestry Programs, Ann Mccoy Allen

LSU Master's Theses

This study seeks to identify the key components that would enable neighborhoods to become responsible for the trees under which they dwell-their urban forest. Guidelines will be established for neighborhoods to use to compose a plan that allows them to create and sustain the tree population specific to their needs and desires. To develop these guidelines, this study is divided into two parts. The first section examines urban forestry. This review revealed several issues pertinent to urban forestry: (1) The urban forest is crucial to the health and beauty of the city and is directly linked to the well-being of …

Press Street: A Concept For Preserving, Reintroducing And Fostering Local History, Brian J. Mcbride

LSU Master's Theses

To encourage increased stability in declining neighborhoods, government planning agencies and other land developers, continuously search for solutions to improve the quality of life for people living in communities in need of revitalization and a boost to their local economy. Studies have shown that well developed greenways and other public open spaces are improving the economic stability for many neighborhoods. Consequently, it is the creation of successful parks and public open spaces that have been found to be the first steps to improving such communities (The Trust for Public Land). If creating parks is the key to saving neighborhoods, can …

Master Planning Communities With Wildlife In Mind, Helen A. Peebles

LSU Master's Theses

Master-planned communities can be designed for the protection of wildlife while providing an aesthetically pleasing, eco-friendly, and affordable community for people. This study was conceived from a background of academic studies in plant biology, forestry, and landscape architecture, and a desire to rescue wildlife habitat from the encroachment of urban sprawl. A variety of books and periodicals were consulted, along with a few web sites. The primary threats to wildlife habitat are habitat fragmentation, pollution, and exotic invasive species of plants, animals, insects, and diseases. Many aspects of planning are addressed, including wildlife corridors, site selection, connecting habitat patches, and …

Four Dimensional Presentations As A New Representation Method: A Proposal For The Use Of Interactive Multimedia Presentation In Landscape Architecture, Kinoto Miyakoda

LSU Master's Theses

Few studies on presentation methods in the profession of landscape architecture have been done in the past, because evaluating presentations raises primarily subjective issues. Today, interactive multimedia presentations offer an excellent opportunity to investigate the presentation methods employed by landscape architects, gCan new communication technologies help to enhance the communication between the presenter and his audience?h This is the fundamental question addressed in this thesis. It explores interactive multimedia presentations to see their potentials, and considers ways to integrate various multimedia as presentation methods for future landscape architectural presentations. The main terms, interactivity and multimedia, are explained to understand the …

Crime Prevention And The Perception Of Safety In Campus Design, Mary Frances Fernandez

LSU Master's Theses

The objectives of this research are to demonstrate the process of applying perception of safety in a campus environment to actual crimes and to use the results to better implement safety improvements within the campus landscape. The focus of the research is the outdoor environment on a college campus. The Louisiana State University campus was selected as a case study. The survey was developed and tested to better understand how people perceive their surroundings and to incorporate the findings of perception of safety to improve design and planning decisions for the LSU campus. The criteria for a safe design was …

Reading The Humor In Korean Traditional Space - Dreaming The Restoration Of Old Sentiment -, Sungmi Han

LSU Master's Theses

This study is about humor and its application in Korean traditional space, which merges culture, design, and preservation. The purpose of the research is to seek humor as a significant design concept in Korean traditional space, and establish it through the examples. The examples focused on are found in temples and palaces since those are relatively well preserved Korean traditional spaces. Each humor in the examples is interpreted based on culture and the mentality of the age, such as religion, ideology, and customs. Also, forms and functions of humor are examined. Through the design analyses of case studies, unique characteristics …

Arrive, Explore, Reflect: The Development And Evaluation Of A Web-Based Program To Introduce High School Students To Landscape Architecture, Courtney Bailey

LSU Master's Theses

The profession of landscape architecture has struggled with public perception since the mid-nineteenth century. Community programs, coloring books, and educational toolkits are just some of the methods employed in the profession's attempt to improve public perception. Very little research has been conducted to test the efficiency of these educational attempts. The goal of this thesis is to create a Web-based program to effectively educate young members of the public. The program uses five "mini lessons" to present information about landscape architecture to the student. Links to the World Wide Web are scattered throughout the program to supplement lesson material. A …

The Atchafalaya Basin Proposal For Nomination To The World Heritage Site List, Mitchell W. Coffman

LSU Master's Theses

The Atchafalaya Basin in the Southern United States is a cultural, environmental, historical and natural land region of such universal importance, designation as a World Heritage Site is appropriate. This thesis provides a justification for this designation through compliance with cultural and natural criteria detailed in the Convention Concerning the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage of 1972. The treaty, also known as the World Heritage Convention (WHC) promotes natural and cultural landscape preservation on an international level. This thesis lists the cultural and natural arguments for nominating the Atchafalaya Basin to the World Heritage Site list.

National, …