Landscape Architecture Commons^™

Grave : Landscape Necromancy, Jil Sanchez

Masters Theses

This thesis focuses on the phenomenon of festivity in order to better understand the spatial qualities of platforms for experiences of release. The work is grounded in the intimate connection between post-industrial landscapes and the emergence of raves and electronic music. The design approach questions western cultural norms by creating a scenario for a combined rave venue and cemetery. The investigation’s material and spatial manifestations are applied to Red Hook Grain Terminal, an ideal latent venue for raves, concerts, and other festive and contemplative functions on New York City’s fringe. The project aspires to widen the range of conversations landscape …

Light Installations For Le, Yiqi Jiang

Masters Theses

This investigation derived from a personal childhood memory of an autistic boy, living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). His struggles to communicate and to have people understand him drives this thesis investigation in hopes of better connecting people of all abilities through accessible design. After serving a summer term working at a special needs inclusion camp, there is the exposure to the lack of awareness and communication gap between design and people living with autism. The study develops a series of strategies that strengthen communication between people with and without ASD and ultimately seeks to educate the design profession on …

Viaduct Landscape, Juanru Wang

Masters Theses

Thesis question: can spaces under viaducts become objects of appreciation; can design promote their original characteristics?

This thesis focuses on the space created by the elevated transit infrastructure in urban areas. In recent years, the spaces under viaducts attract attention in the field of landscape architecture. There are many successful practices that transfer the negative space under viaducts to popular urban plazas. Most of those designs, however, may simply regard spaces under viaducts as dangerous spaces or as obstacles in the city. Nevertheless, the scale and spatial characteristics of the spaces under viaducts are not in other public open spaces …

Grid In Landscape Architecture, Ying Xu

Masters Theses

Driven by the interest of the cultural meaning in the landscape architecture and the fascination of the power of the grid, the inspiration of this thesis is from the landscape architecture works that obtain both characters.

Many landscape architecture works simultaneously are expressing the cultural concern while use the grid form. Thus this thesis is exploring the association between the cultural meaning and the grid as a formal device, or to say how the grid is used to express the cultural meaning.

The investigations mainly rely on the research about historical cases.

The whole thesis process is divided into 3 …

Fluid Solid : Can We Converse With Granite?, Patrick T. Beals

Masters Theses

This investigation seeks to detect sources of the quantitative granite anomalies through various methods and use available resources to allow for an immersive, qualitative, and perhaps didactic experience, which will build a conceptual foundation for design of the in-between spaces made by the negative form of granite architectures. This thesis is about timescales and lenses by which to view them in partnership. With lenses are assumed perceptions, ones that define the understanding of the object in the viewfinder of the landscape, and in this case, the timescales which will be addressed in the following three phases:

Phase 01 Background : …

Water For The Future, Ziqing Chen

Masters Theses

Water is a fundamental element for lives. Located in Long Island detached from the mainland of New York State, the densely-populated counties - Kings, Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk Counties - rely on groundwater for their sole freshwater source for a long time. The underground geology determines the groundwater movement on western Long Island: from Nassau County to Queens. When overpumping happens in Queens, Nassau County is firstly threatened by lowered water table. The thesis is aiming to propose a local solution to mitigate the problem brought by groundwater movement when overpumping.

In Phase 1, the study focuses on the underground …

Landscape As An Interactive Layer, Yifan Kong

Masters Theses

The main topic of this investigation is memory and place. The study uses qualitative and quantitative research methods with the aim of addressing the question of, “how landscape design generates interactive layers that last in a community’s memory within a constantly evolving neighborhood demographics?” This thesis is divided into three phases:

Phase I explores the evolving neighborhood in New York City. Specifically focusing on communities with high immigrant populations located in Queens. This phase helps develop a stronger understanding of the issues associated with gentrification and the impacts it has on immigrant neighborhoods and provides the groundwork for the rest …

Borderscape : Weaving Political Boundaries In The Amazon Through Water Performance, Lucila Silva-Santisteban

Masters Theses

This research project is about how to connect political bordering urban systems through the natural structure for a coherent occupation between the built environment, ecosystems and resources following the Landscape Architecture lens that can address different scale systems simultaneously to create a holistic approach between them. And the proposition of a new type of landscape of this threshold territory as its own kind. Specifically looking at the bordering cities in the heart of the Amazon Region in South America that fall between Colombia, Brazil and Peru.

Why the Amazon?

Not only because of the usual fascination, but because of the …

Remnant Landscapes As Homo Sapiens Preserves : It Is The Dystopian Utopia, The Shrine For Modernity, The Home Of Everyone, Yuan Zhang

Masters Theses

When it comes to remnant landscapes, what else can they be instead of being turned into parks, community gardens, or new architectural or urban development?

This thesis starts with a critique towards the very popular post-industrial park, the High Line, where the original materials of the site was completed removed then artificially re-fabricated. By transforming it into a publicly well accessible landscape, the design destroyed the possibility for a citizen to build his/her own intimate relationship with this piece of land because of a much visible ownership. Therefore, the goal for the thesis is to provide a powerful critique to …

Narratives Of Public Space : A Manifesto For Future Urban Landscape In Manhattan, Jaehong Chung

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the history of public space and how it has changed over time. Looking specifically at how social, historical, and advances in technology have influenced and changed the meaning and use of public spaces. Studies of history and its characteristics and case studies check the validity of paradigm of public spaces in Manhattan. The modern features of Manhattan have been completed over 200 hundreds years with Industrial revolutions and influx of immigrants. Due to these reasons, the main focus was to track of causalities among life style changes, social paradigms, and changes of urban landscapes.

As cities developed, …

Remediating The Garment Industry, Kellie Knight

Masters Theses

This thesis culminated from an interest in addressing the pollution by the dye processes of the textile industry on the Earth’s waterbodies. The first Phase of this thesis explored the globalization of the garment industry. The movement of production was tracked over time from the 1950’s when production occurred primarily in the United States and Europe to present day when production is worldwide. With the global spread of the industry came the global spread of its pollutants.

The second phase of the thesis investigated the functioning of the fashion industry itself to determine which process from production to distribution is …

Grid Talk : Giving A Voice To Energy Infrastructures, Kelsey Wakefield

Masters Theses

Humans are energy hogs, intelligent purveyors of displaced electrical waves construed from ancient carbon compounds. Our built environment has let us forget this. Our collective ambivalence towards the subject has grown with the loss of these public assets to private companies under a socially engineered lack of public interest in energy production. There was once a time energy infrastructures were revered and upheld as public spaces, giant testaments to the greatness of society harnessing the natural world, gold stars congratulating the intelligence of humankind. Great designers, political leaders and visionaries created works of art, sculpture, landscape architecture which functioned for …

A Study Of The Adaptation Of Parametric Computer Design Among Landscape Architecture Professionals In Texas, Chad Allen Paulson

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

Parametric design utilizes algorithmic-based software to produce computational, generative, responsive, and immersive three-dimensional models for use in landscape architecture, planning, and architecture (Cantrell & Holzman, 2016; Jabi, 2013). Advanced parametric software tools such as Rhinoceros and Grasshopper combine to create a robust system to express a set of customizable parameters that define and clarify the design intent and set of iterative solutions to a design problem (Jabi, 2013). Although parametric design in architecture has been in use for over 15 years, it has not been broadly adopted by the field of landscape architecture. Current professional practices illustrate that software development …

Raaxo: A Post-Refugee Landscape, Bailey M. Riales

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

raaxo: a post-refugee landscape

sited in dadaab, kenya // raaxo is a transformation of the current landscape that works with harsh conditions of sun and wind to provide spaces of dwelling and gathering, improving refugee comfort by initiating a sense of community. tall, mechanical screens protect against the strong desert winds, while also creating a build-up of sand. overtime, the sand build-up forms an exterior barrier around the community and dwelling spaces, and creates a façade on the interior. Other designed screens are placed opposite the formed community spaces, providing shade from the desert sun for the refugees. throughout the …

Secret Place: Generated From Place And Non-Place, Zeyue Zhang

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

My thesis explores the nature of place today. Looking for the living condition in future, there are about more than 70% of the world's population that will be urban by 2050. I look to explore a place (in a dense urban area) for city people can get a respite from the daily chaos and feel, experience, and discover "a sense of calm". This I define as the "Secret Place". The Secret Place also comes from the study of "Place" and "Non-Place", which is basically distinguished by one question: if the quality of the space could resonate with or has to …

Urban Space Regeneration, Yuanyuan Xiao

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

The main idea I pursued in my research is the regeneration of urban space, which helped to create a new civic space for a city. The details of urban space regeneration are designed to improve the quality of life, and it involves the use of urban public space. Based on the research and background study, my thesis explored to improve the urban environment, enhance urban space usage and improve city image in Beijing to regenerate it from a heavy industrial city in a garden city. In my research on regeneration of urban space I came across the example of the …

Resurrection, Zachery Terry

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

In Sensory Design by Author Joy Monice Malnar, she describes 1.The perception of a physical construct. 2. Assessment of its individual composition in relation to a larger characteristic pattern. 3. Memories of prior personal and cultural experiences all play a part in conditioning ones perception and the totality of these factors can be described as a spatio-sensory construct.

The experience of an area built on the foundation of a rich cultural history should be always be dynamic whether to a visitor or resident.

But what do you call a place where none of this is present?

Today, Sweet Auburn …

A Cultural Landscape Assessment Of Glen Garden Country Club In Fort Worth, Texas, Anthony Joseph Wade

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

In 2014, having just been sold, Glen Garden Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas closed for the final time having been open for over 100 years also producing two of the top ten golfers in PGA history, Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson. This research presents a study in assessing Glen Garden as a cultural landscape. This research seeks to answer two question: Was Glen Garden Country Club a cultural landscape? What is the perception of responsibility for advocacy efforts? This case study was adapted from the Francis model and designed to fit the unique context of Glen Garden Country Club …

The Viability Of Conservation Subdivisions As Habitat For Urban Carnivores In North Central Texas Suburbs, Sherry Fabricant

Landscape Architecture Masters & Design Theses - Archive

The purpose of this research is to examine perceptions of conservation subdivisions as habitat for urban carnivores in North Central Texas suburbs. This research was conducted through the University of Texas at Arlington; Landscape Architecture Program. The literature review examines the history of conservation subdivisions and their use within North Central Texas as well as their application as an ecological solution to present-day threats to biodiversity with a focus on mammalian apex carnivores. It further explores their use as habitat in the context of urban patches and corridors. Additionally, the practice of bioregionalism was reviewed in contrast to current political …

Painting As Data: A New Way Of Analyzing The Landscape, Hannah F. Moll

Landscape Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Painting as Data tells a story of the Arkansas Agricultural Research and Extension Center through painting as a way enrich site analysis, as well as discover and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data in landscape architecture. The thesis is composed of three central works that analyse the landscape over eight months through data driven and experiential lenses, including hydrology, geology, and ecology, and the people who cultivate the land with the help of modern machinery and engineered chemicals. These works include:

Field B4 - 7:00 AM Triptych

32” x1 44”, Acrylic on Panel

The study of time on the shifting …

Redefining Landscape Norms: Exploring The Influence Of Normative Landscaping Patterns In Washington County, Utah, Ryan White

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

As water supplies in the American West become increasingly strained by growing populations and threats of drought and climate change, water managers and governments are working to maximize water-use efficiency. With well over half of municipal water being used on outdoor irrigation, improved landscape water efficiency has been a clear candidate for conservation messaging. Because social norms play a significant role in what conservation behaviors individuals adopt voluntarily, conservation messaging strategies often try to influence and shift norms in favor of improved behaviors. A clear understanding of the existing norms, demographics, and cultural values of an area is essential to …

A Comparison Of Park Access With Park Need For Children: Case Study In Cache County, Utah, Shuolei Chen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Childhood obesity is one of the nation’s most serious health problems. There are growing efforts to prevent childhood obesity by improving opportunities for physical activity in their communities. The outdoor settings of the built environment, such as parks and open spaces, can offer children opportunities for physical activities, experience with nature, and social interaction, which contribute to children’s physical and psychological health. However, children’s physical access to parks is often inequitable. Simultaneously, the quality of parks also varies. These disparities caused the inequitable distribution of health-promoting features of built environment among disadvantaged groups who may not have access to other …

Recreation Community Branding: A Comparative Analysis Within Utah’S Wasatch Front, Lynda D. D. Smith

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This study demonstrates the role recreational amenities play in contributing to the brand identity and sense of place in Utah master planned communities (MPCs). These MPCs are designed to enable residents to live, work, and play within close proximity within a styled built environment. While the built environment is often branded with a particular identity, these identities resonates with other attributes of the community, including recreation amenities. The study focused on MPCs along the Wasatch Front in Utah, since Utah’s population, along the Wasatch Front, is expected to double by 2050 (Envision Utah, n.d.). Many of the developments being built …

Environmental Values And Landscape Architecture: A New Ecological Paradigm Study, Emmet J. Pruss

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In recent decades, landscape design theory has been affected by an increase in pro-environmental values. Largely, this trend has been associated with notions of ‘sustainability’ and ‘ecosystem services.’ These notions involve sustaining current human behaviors within the constraints of ecological limits and maximizing the benefits that humans receive from ecosystems, respectively. In this way, they involve high evaluations of the instrumental values of ecosystems, yet remain predominantly anthropocentric. As such, they are characteristic of shallow ecology worldview.

In order to assess whether the pro-environmental, yet essentially anthropocentric values involved with modern landscape architecture theory are reflected in the environmental worldviews …

A Comparison Of Design Processes Between Sustainable Sites Certified And Noncertified Urban Open Space Projects, Jennifer A. Wiseman

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

In response to the World Commission on Environment and Development’s Brundtland Report (1987) and other documents that have brought the need to address environmental, economic, and social issues to the forefront of the awareness of the public, the Sustainable SITES Initiative was modeled after LEED certification and was formed to establish a rating system and comprehensive framework of guidelines for development. It is a collaborative effort between the ASLA, the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, and the United States Botanic Garden. In June 2015, the Green Building Certification, Inc. of the United States Green Building Council acquired SITES and will …

Transportation Related Challenges For Persons With Disabilities, Graydon Bascom

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Gaining access to transportation is essential for obtaining employment, education, healthcare, and social interaction. Individuals who face difficulties in gaining this access are considered ‘transportation disadvantaged’ and include individuals of lower socioeconomic status, aging individuals, and persons with disabilities. In our autodependent society, individuals with disabilities face even fewer opportunities to interact within their communities. In order to better understand how individuals with disabilities are limited by their access to transportation, two studies were conducted.

The first study specifically seeks to examine how individuals with disabilities gain access to transportation and the interpersonal relationships that affect opportunities for social participation …

Provenance Of Place And Past: Designing A Bathhouse For Charlottesville (Online), Maya Chandler

James Madison Undergraduate Research Journal (JMURJ)

Site, to an architect, should comprise not only the topographical and physical markers of the place, but also the cultural, historical, atmospheric, ritualistic, or intangible qualities of place. New projects ask us to examine what has preceded the proposed architecture and invite it into the work that we place on a site—not ignoring the past, mowing it down, or covering it up—but allowing it to point us in the direction of an architectural intervention. This project redesigns the historic Albemarle County Jail in downtown Charlottesville, Virginia, into a bathhouse. The place-based bathhouse design acknowledges several key elements in the jail’s …

The Histories Of New York City’S Parks, Catherine Mcneur

History Faculty Publications and Presentations

This is the introduction to the Journal of Planning History volume 16 issue 2, 2017.

An Iterative 3d Gis Analysis Of The Role Of Visibility In Ancient Maya Landscapes: A Case Study From Copan, Honduras, Heather Richards-Rissetto

Department of Anthropology: Faculty Publications

For several decades, Geographic Information Systems (GISs) have held center stage in archaeological studies of ancient landscapes. Recently, three-dimensional (3D) technologies such as airborne LiDAR and aerial photogrammetry are allowing us to acquire inordinate amounts of georeferenced 3D data to locate, map, and visualize archaeological sites within their surrounding landscapes. GIS offers locational precision, data overlay, and complex spatial analysis. Three-dimensionality adds a ground-based perspective lacking in two-dimensional GIS maps to provide archaeologists a sense of mass and space more closely attuned with human perception. This article uses comparative and iterative approaches ‘tacking back and forth’ between GIS and 3D …

Legends, Myths, And Facts Of Kylemore Abbey, Jennifer J. Fink

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Nestled in the side of a mountain in the west of Ireland is the iconic Kylemore Abbey Castle. This paper explores the history of this structure by examining the legends, myths, and facts behind it and the surrounding land. The myths and legends are linked to Ireland’s old Celtic beliefs and explain much of the interesting landscape surrounding the massive structure. Majority of the paper focuses on the factual history of Kylemore which starts from the first construction of the castle all the way to how it is being used today. The Victorian castle has had many owners throughout the …