Other Architecture Commons^™

Design Guidelines For Homeless Shelter And Resource Center Site Plans, Samuel Johnson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Homelessness is one of the most pressing humanitarian issues facing the country today. Lack of affordable housing, among many other complicating factors, have led to many cities scrambling to find both short-, middle-, and long-term solutions to the issue. The Covid-19 pandemic added a disruption in services, critical record-keeping, and data-gathering, which has further confounded experts looking for an effective path forward. As it stands, there is a significant gap in academic research addressing best practices for shelter site design, particularly as it relates to landscape. The role of landscape and greenspace within and around a shelter is not well …

Glowing Under The Bridge—A Healing Space For Wounded Souls, Ruier Zhao

Masters Theses

The suicide rate among Chinese adolescents is significantly higher than the world average, with academic stress and family relationships being the major causes. This thesis focuses on building a place for Chinese students from upper elementary school to high school, where they can regulate their psychology, relax, and ideally reduce the rate of impulsive suicides.

In Chongqing, the percentage of students who attempt or commit suicide is close to 25%. The proposed site for this place of rest is under the bridge of one of Chongqing’s most crowded monorail stations, which is a semi-abandoned park with a beautiful view of …

Unearthing Complexity: Tangible Histories Of Water And Earth, Alexis Violet

Masters Theses

Unearthing Complexity investigates conceptions of time and surface through geological stories of the water and earth. Building on theories of deep time, hydrofeminism, critical zones, and grounding, I hope to foster a deeper awareness of time scales other than our own and a more tangible understanding of the embodied experience of matter in the universe. Working toward a new literacy of the water and earth in which they are recognized as living, changing bodies to which we are inherently tied at a molecular level, the site of this multiscalar inquiry occurs in the coastal zones of the Narragansett Bay where …

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 …

From Building To Dwelling: Unfolding Infinity Through Bioregional Fulfillment, Sanjana Bhatnagar

Pitzer Senior Theses

The causes of anthropogenic climate change touch every feature of our modern-day existences. Approaches to sustainability tend to focus on material actions, but unsustainable practices are guided by an ontological orientation of individuality and human exceptionalism. This thesis provides an alternate account of being that decenters individuality through weaving the metaphysics of Fazang of the Huayan School of Mahayana Buddhism with the metaphysics of Martin Heidegger. To encompass the whole of the relational network that constitutes and conditionally defines our existence, I expand Heidegger’s account of locales as relational sites which are put forth solely by humans to an account …

Energy Efficiency Retrofit And Decarbonization Of Old And Historic Buildings In California, Daria Nikolaeva

Master's Projects and Capstones

Buildings are responsible for almost 40% of total global greenhouse gas emissions and the retrofitting of existing buildings is an essential part of solving the problem. About 75% of buildings in Californian were constructed before the first energy-efficiency building code was adopted in 1978. Old buildings are inefficient, responsible for large carbon footprints and must be retrofitted to stay on track with the state's climate targets. However, current policies do not require substantial changes and tend to favor historic preservation over energy efficiency, missing improvement opportunities. Recognizing the significance of carbon intensity, the 2019 California Energy Efficiency Action Plan shifted …

Creating A Development Framework: A Generic Lens For Public Markets’ Analysis And Development In Integration With Their Zone Of Influence Revitalization, Nourhan Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses how the development of public markets through a structured framework can be a catalyst for revitalizing its zone of influence. Public markets have always been marked by their rich experience, and their central role in towns, cities, and villages, as they have been vital engines for urban growth and cities formation since their prevalence. Needless to mention their role in entrepreneurship and their significance for the social development of neighborhoods. Nowadays, local governments are rediscovering the central role of public markets and are putting them under focus to catalyze the urban growth and neighborhoods revitalization by their …

Design Is A Social Process: A Survey On Inclusive Practice, Gabriel De Souza Silva

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This inquiry pivots the discussion on design practice toward process, and seeks to elucidate how inclusivity is achieved in it, and by what means it is maintained. The design process is interrogated through a series of case studies on contemporary practitioners that either describe themselves or are recognized by the wider design community as inclusive of gender, race, sexual orientation, ability level, and are sensitive to history of place. The case studies are selected to demonstrate a diversity of project types, management structures, and design tools, and they comprise the practices of LA Más, Assemble, and Bryony Roberts. The product …

Landscape Design And Architecture Of Wooden Churches In Ukraine, Valentyna Kuryliak, Volodymyr Dudarets, Valeriy Bulatov

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The article examines the features of landscape design and architecture of wooden churches in Ukraine. Analysis of literary sources shows that the sacred wooden architecture of Ukraine is a source of inspiration for artists, art historians, writers, and other people interested in church buildings made of wood. During the research process, it was found that the natural landscape exactly complements the architecture of wooden temples, creating a natural environment for worshiping God. It is important to emphasize the following features, highlighted in the study of temple structures made of wood on the territory of Ukraine. First, the builders carefully selected …

Towards A Revised Approach To Designing From The Outside In: Contextualizing The Preliminary Proposal For The Fourth Addition To Bard College Library, Aidan Galloway

Senior Projects Fall 2022

Before creating the new, architects are faced with the existing. An enormous oak tree might be within the bounds of the site you’ve been hired to build a house on. Do you cut it down, or leave it? A tall brick building might be next door. Do you imitate its scale, its materiality, its style, or do you create something that looks entirely different?

These kinds of questions, while perhaps always fundamental to architecture, were especially pertinent in mid-to-late-twentieth century debates surrounding “context” as architects like Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown challenged the conventions of “orthodox” Modern architecture. “Frank …

Umass Brut: Re-Imagining The Plinth, John Amodeo

UMassBRUT Community

Modeled on UVA’s Lawn, Paul Rudolph’s mid-century Brutalist UMass Dartmouth buildings march down both sides of a gently sloped great lawn following the grade with one exception, the Auditorium, which is raised above the quad’s lawn on a 6’ high plinth, accessed by monumental stairs underscoring the entire building. With its entries elusively tucked into the ends of the building, the Auditorium steps were ceremonial at best and vacant, functionless and windswept at worst.

Evolving tastes, priorities and social behavior over subsequent decades, and even more recently, the pandemic, have made indoor/outdoor relationships, outdoor space, and universal access a top …

Firesafe: Designing For Fire-Resilient Communities In The American West, Brenden Baitch

Masters Theses

The perception that wildfires are completely preventable has caused many structures and communities to be built in locations that will inevitably experience an uncontrollable fire event, risking human lives and infrastructure. Modification of built environments into fire-adapted communities has been explored in this thesis, through multiple strategies. Central to this analysis is the idea that sustainable human developments could adopt a form of biomimicry and indigenous design informed by the adaptions of plants, animals, and native groups that endure and even thrive with regular cycles of fire. This possibility has been assessed through the scope of fire adaptation strategies available …

Sistema Modular Arquitectónico Como Dispositivo De Aprendizaje Para El Fortalecimiento De Las Competencias Lógico-Matemáticas En El Contexto De La Educación Rural, Andrés Alejandro Negrete Granados, Camilo Alejandro Arias Osorio

Arquitectura

La matemática es uno de los temas más antiguos que el ser humano ha investigado puesto que está presente en todos los hábitos de nuestra vida cotidiana, por ello es importante tenerlo presente desde las primeras etapas del desarrollo cognitivo, ya que son importantes en otros campos del conocimiento, contribuyen al desarrollo el pensamiento lógico y son un medio de comunicación universal.

Libre Mujer: Un Espacio Para La No Violencia. Centro De Recuperación Y Resocialización Para Mujeres Víctimas De Violencia Intrafamiliar, Localidad De Bosa (Bogotá)., Laura Daniela Torres Bolaños

Arquitectura

La violencia doméstica es un fenómeno que recientemente ha recibido amplia atención por parte del público y los círculos académicos, es por eso, que muchas mujeres necesitan ayuda y protección debido a las amenazas constantes de muerte a causa de sus agresores. Para ello, se establecio crear un sistema de Casas Refugio para mujeres víctimas de violencia, esto con el fin de salvaguardar la vida de ellas y sus hijos. Sin embargo las casas refugios existentes no son suficientes para suplir las necesidades tanto básicas como emocionales de las personas afectadas.

Es por ello que en este documento se plantean …

Horizonte Quibdiseño Vivienda Sostenible A Través Del Diseño Colaborativo En El Pacífico Colombiano, Quibdó., Ivone Stefany Castro Segura, Angélica Tatiana Yaima Córdoba

Arquitectura

Quibdó la capital chocoana, cuenta con una gran biodiversidad y una localización privilegiada, debido a la unión entre el Mar Caribe, el Océano Pacífico y los ríos Atrato y San Juan, descubrió unas condicio-nes climáticas extremas, altos índices de pluviosidad, además de una extraordinaria cultura que lo hacen un territorio mágico y único.

Sin embargo, tiene el mayor IPM (Índice de Pobreza Multidimensional) del país, lo cual ha generado una situación problema con relación a la vivienda, debido a sus precarias condiciones de habitabilidad, la falta de acceso a servicios públicos, problemas de saneamiento y riesgo por desastres naturales; a …

Módulos Educacionales Complementarios Flexibles, Adaptables Y Productivos Para La Formación Media En La Ruralidad, Paula Daniela Ballesteros González, Raquel Yohana Cárdenas Peña

Arquitectura

El presente proyecto de grado desarrolla módulos educacionales complementarios flexibles, adaptables y productivos para la formación media en la ruralidad. El proyecto se ubica en la ruralidad colombiana, la cual se caracteriza por tener un gran potencial agrícola

El proyecto se desarrolla entendiendo conceptos claves tales como la educación, la productividad, la flexibilidad, adaptabilidad, sostenibilidad, entre otros. A través de esta investigación y anteproyecto, se brinda una posible alternativa a partir de soluciones arquitectónicas y técnico constructivas que agrupan principios de diseño y objetivos planteados para lograr la aplicabilidad dentro de la educación tradicional de técnicas productivas en las escuelas …

Vivienda Multipropósito En El Sur Occidente De Colombia Catálogo Habitacional Para La Autonomía Rural, Valeria Aegerter Cabal, Claudia Paola Muñoz Chaves

Arquitectura

En el siguiente proyecto de grado, se aborda la problemática de la vivienda rural, el hecho de que gran cantidad de campesinos no posean una vivienda adaptada a sus necesidades, estén en situaciones peligrosas para su bienestar lo cual nos hace pensar y hacernos esta pregunta: ¿Cómo la vivienda multipropósito podría contribuir y adaptarse a las necesidades espaciales que requieren las dinámicas agro-productivas de estos dos departamentos teniendo en cuenta sus modos de habitar y el proceso de transición hacia la paz? Entonces se plantea que se puede lograr, estudiando el entorno que la rodea y, en conjunto con las …

Complejo Agroturístico Y Trapiche Comunal Para El Desarrollo Rural Sostenible De La Laguna De Ortices, San Andrés, Santander, Víctor Andrés Reyes Barajas

Arquitectura

Desde la arquitectura, son innumerables las propuestas que se han planteado con el objetivo de mejorar las condiciones de vida y el desarrollo en general de las comunidades rurales del planeta. Algunas han funcionado y otras en el mejor de los casos pasan por obras inconclusas tras una fuerte inversión del estado.

Cada comunidad rural de Colombia presenta problemas relativos a este desarrollo rural y, por tanto, estas comunidades necesitan programas y proyectos que se ajusten realmente a sus vocaciones productivas, y que su cultura sea respetada desde las tipologías arquitectónicas, hasta el programa funcional de las edificaciones que se …

Vivienda Palafítica Para Entorno Inundable Proyecto De Vivienda Ccc Canal Del Dique Bolívar, Laura Sofia López Cerro, Diego Alejandro Jiménez Bonilla

Arquitectura

El presente trabajo de investigación y proyecto arquitectónico, surge en la oportunidad de plantear una solución para la vivienda en una zona con inundación moderada, en el cual se pueda generar un propicio para el desarrollo de la vida campesina.

Sustentada en dos partes fundamentales, la primera en el diagnostico y análisis del lugar frente a las condiciones ambientales, sociales y económicas existentes y los posibles cambios respecto a las propuestas de cambio y adaptación enfocadas en el sector; la segunda, surge del estudio de la familia Cerro, la cual, de acuerdo a unas necesidades específicas, propicia la creación de …

Oceanside Transit Center Transit-Oriented Development (Otc Tod): Revisioning North San Diego's County Transit Hub, Chad Johnston

City and Regional Planning

Many California coastal communities lack a supply of housing, produce high levels of greenhouse gas emissions by daily auto commuters but have existing local and commuter rail stations with large fields of parking surrounding it. Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) integrates the building of housing, retail, office, and public space together focused around transit stations. This infill of development locates people within comfortable walking distance, usually within a quarter-mile, of a public trail transit station reducing automobile dependence for local trips or commuting for work.

The Oceanside Transit Center (OTC) is a major railway interchange, serving as a gateway to the San …

Young Children's Play In High-Rise Housing: A Window Into The Changing Lives Of Urban Middle-Class Families In Pune Metropolitan Area, Sruthi Atmakur-Javdekar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation aims to identify the combinations of spatial arrangements and physical features that influence young children’s access to play and the quality of their play opportunities in a heterogeneous sample of high-rise housing in India. Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model of Human Development as a framework, the study examines two large umbrellas that contribute to young children’s play opportunities in high-rise housing developments: (1) The play environment that is made available for children by developers and design professionals; and (2) Parents’ and caregivers’ ways of using the designated and undesignated spaces based on their own play values and beliefs. A …

Walkability Of Suburban Retrofits Of The Washington Dc Area: Immersion Into Qualitative Constructs, David Sweere

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

The majority of the United States population is living in the suburbs, and yet the suburban built fabric has developed with spatial conditions that have failed to prove their efficacy on environmental, social or economic terms. Most contemporary architectural and urban theorists agree that the suburban condition is inherently problematic. In a 2010 Ted Talk, architect and urban designer Ellen Dunham-Jones discusses the problematic state of the suburban built condition, citing dependence on the vehicle, sparseness of built form, environmental costs, transportation costs, and even increased obesity rates (Dunham-Jones 2010). Because the suburbs comprise the majority of our “urbanized” areas …

Arquitectura Modular Para La Vivienda Rural. Objeto De Estudio: Yopal, Casanare., Lina Marcela Diaz Tabares

Arquitectura

El trabajo de grado desarrolla una investigación y posterior propuesta con base en referentes analizados para la zona del Casanare, más específicamente la ciudad de Yopal. Logrando explicar el concepto de Arquitectura Modular y así aplicarla a la vivienda rural con el fin de diseñar un prototipo que supla las necesidades básicas de una familia campesina del Casanare usando uno o más módulos que, dispuestos de distintas maneras, sean capaces de crear espacios básicos que conforman una vivienda rural.

Skater Conscious, Jeremy Bowen

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Skateboarding is made possible by the built environment, but without architecture necessarily being designed for its occurrence. Without knowing it, designers have created environments that facilitate a social and artistic culture to thrive. And this has happened – for the most part – in leftover pieces of landscape, infrastructure, and urban settings. Skaters move through and experience space in unique ways. While their boards enable this experience, there is more; most spaces are not designed for them – and some are even designed to keep them out – but, nevertheless, skaters persevere through invention and creativity. Skaters actively search for …

The Wheel House - An Intergenerational Space Creating Bonds Between At-Risk Teens And Seniors, Jessica M. Keegan

Theses and Dissertations

MOTIVATION

Two main groups in American society today are floundering: adolescent children of low income families and the elderly.

Between the hours of 3:00 and 6:00 p.m., one in five children are unsupervised. Left to their own devices, many become involved in negative behaviors such as drug and alcohol abuse, sexual activity or in the worse cases, delinquency (Afterschool Alliance, 2016). It is proven that when children are alone after school, they not only miss out on valuable learning opportunities, but also their parents are affected as well by having to lose as many as eight work days annually to …

Infratecture: Infrastructure As Architecture, David Aaron Wright

EURēCA: Exhibition of Undergraduate Research and Creative Achievement

In today’s society, we are given a systematic way to understand, think, and ultimately, exist in the world. These systems can be seen in christianity, eighteen- wheeler trucks, veganism, or plane travel. All distinctively different, yet similar in that each one defines the way you project yourself. In the layered nature of infrastructure, there are two stages where this primarily plays out: 1 Logistics - Whats it takes to get the latest, greatest iPhone to the market/the money it will take, the labor, the energy. 2 Culture - The reverberation of getting the latest, greatest iPhone to market. How it …

Surveilled, Rachel Swetnam

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Debord's "Society the Spectacle" and Delouze’s Deleuze's "Society of Control" both imagine a dystopian future for humanity in a world governed by excessive self-advertisement and mass surveillance. This thesis begins with the observation that, sadly, their two visions have become a reality. Current technologies log our movements through GPS satellite data, and photographs taken by closed-circuit security cameras, or by passers-by on a public street, are constantly cross-checked against databanks of previously-compiled biometric profiles. Every movement and transaction is digitized and recorded, accessible to ever-widening networks of information exchange and surveillance. These data-networks are altering the manner by which people …

Hurricane Communities, Katie Masters

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Hurricane Communities: An Analysis of Florida Housing is a thesis that aims to reexamine how we can, as architects, design for hurricanes more effectively at the residential scale, through investigations of lateral forces, form, structure and site. The intent is to minimize the physical and emotional damages that are left behind. The thesis examines wind uplift and changes in water level as hurricane category rise.

The 21st Century Energy Hub, Farhaan B. Samnani

Bachelor of Architecture Theses - 5th Year

Developing countries face problems like pollution, unsafe construction, poverty and lack of clean stable energy. These areas are the most in need of sustainable and net positive design since they lack the resources to design long-term solution. An architecture that can make energy affordable through onsite rapidly renewable resources, help reduce on site pollution and provide stable housing would be a welcome intervention. As we approach the new century, buildings will aim to become an energy hub. Cities do not look at a building as an energy source. Currently Energy production centers sit on the outskirts of the city. But …

Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff, Community Design Center

Project Reports

Once a prosperous cultural urban center in the Mississippi River delta, but now the nation’s second fastest shrinking city, Pine Bluff (population: 42,700) is Arkansas’ Detroit. Indeed, a study of black wealth conducted by famed sociologist W. E. B. Du Bois in 1899 found that Pine Bluff had the fourth highest rate of black wealth in the nation behind Charleston, Richmond, and New York City. The school’s community design center prepared a downtown revitalization plan, Re-Live Downtown Pine Bluff, a housing-first initiative focused on building neighborhoods around downtown “centers of strength”. While the revitalization approach is triaged around a …