Architecture Theses and Dissertations

Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2743

Browse

End date: 2019Subject: search.filters.subject.Sustainability

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 21
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Oil to Island: Repurposing Southern California's Offshore Drilling Platforms
    (2019) Delash, Michael Dollar; May, Lindsey; Du Puy, Karl; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis aims to explore an untapped opportunity that exists between the industries of energy generation as we move beyond the fossil fuel era as society tries to change course for a more sustainable and positive future. Within this scope, the goal is to focus on offshore oil platform structures and reimagining them in a context of sustainable energy generation. The primary objectives are to design a satellite campus for the southern Californian universities to learn from the unique site and conditions of the platforms. This thesis will explore the potential of the offshore oil platform in a new light, not as a symbol of the fossil fuel industry as it is today but of a pinnacle of a sustainable design and production.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Inform: Engaging Climate Action Through Didactic Architecture
    (2019) Goel, Juhi; DuPuy, Karl; VanderGoot, Jana; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Our climate is changing, and so must architecture. Climate change is a fundamental design problem of our time, and it requires us to critically examine and deviate from some of our established practices with regard to the building typologies, materials, systems and design approaches that we propagate. This thesis explores an alternative model for the way we build our future cities - one that is rooted in climate action. It examines the design characteristics of a high-rise timber tower in a dense urban setting, where it effectively acts as a Carbon Sink. It addresses a number of sustainable design practices within a mixed-use program that speaks to a varied audience. And in doing so, it employs didactic architecture - or architecture as a teaching tool - to educate its users about their consumption footprint and inspire them to participate in climate action on a scale that promises systemic change.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Energizing Sustainable Lifestyles
    (2017) Sahaniuk, Florencia; Ambrose, Michael A; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The decrease in energy costs to the population of Buenos Aires has increased the consumption of energy and the lack of investment in the infrastructure of the electric grid has caused for the province of Buenos Aires to experience constant blackouts in the built environment. The major blackouts have been seen within the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, where the urban fabric is extremely dense and where the residential areas are consuming large amounts of power during the summer months, December to March, while the energy infrastructure keeps deteriorating and cannot handle the demand of energy. This thesis aims to aid the barrio of Caballito by searching for an architectural solution in the residential realm to alleviate the impact of the blackouts. Caballito, has experienced the most issues with power and while it is away from the tourist areas, it remains very well connected through public transportation and is surrounded by essential amenities that allow for a sustainable lifestyle to be implemented.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    SUSTAINABLE ISLAND WATER CULTURE COLLECT, PROTECT, RESPECT
    (2016) Manongdo, Justin Agustin; Simon, Madlen; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    As fresh water globally declines, our local communities are affected. This phenomenon is particularly acute in the islands of Hawai’i. The Hawaiians have a concept called Ahupua’a, which refers to the traditional land division system in Hawai’i. The goal of the research is to see how we can re-imagine island water culture to reintroduce authentic principles of the Ahupua’a to make modern developments sustainable. By addressing and understanding the experience, value of water, and history of its context, architecture can better be used as a tool for collecting, protecting and respecting water to create a deeper appreciation of this resource. This thesis project explores the human connection between water and landscape by utilizing architecture as a means for understanding the importance of this delicate resource. The research will be applied to the design of the Ala Wai Canal waterfront and boathouse in Waikiki. This project will serve as a test case for modern development with a focus on principles of the Ahupua’a and lessons to take for global uses.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    A Transformative Olympic Village: The Washington 2024 Post-Games Legacy
    (2016) Schroeder, Evan` Michael; Tilghman, James; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis explores the Modern Olympic Games to strategically design an Olympic Village for Washington D.C. that plans not just to house athletes, but to provide a vision for the post-Games city. Through discovery of the spirit and meaning behind one of the world’s biggest events and analysis of various post-Games Villages, the proposed Olympic Village will innovate the future of Washington D.C.’s Southeast region. Study of existing mixed-use architecture, urban planning, and adaptation will help formulate an Olympic Village design. It is the intention that the Olympic Village, much like its athletes, will emulate the Olympic motto “Citius, Altius, Fortius,” meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger.” The objective is to establish a village that allows for a faster turnaround in post-Olympic design, utilizes higher standards, and uses stronger applications to building a more sustainable city.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Reclaiming the Fall Zone: Mediating Physical and Cultural Exchange in Richmond, VA
    (2016) Filler, Kenneth Paul; Noonan, Peter V; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis will address cultural and physical place reclamation, at the ambiguous intersection of ‘city’ and nature.’ By creating a juxtaposed sequence of multi-scalar interventions, which challenge the conventional boundaries of architecture, and landscape architecture; in order to make commonplace a new dynamic threshold condition in Richmond, Virginia. At its core, this thesis is an attempt at place-making on a site which has become ‘no place.’ This concept will be manifest via a landscape park on Mayo Island in Richmond, anchored by a community retreat center, and architectural follies along a constructed path. The interventions will coincide with value of place in historical Richmond: an integrated, socially desegregated waterfront hinge; a social nexus of inherent change, at the point which the river itself changes at the fall line.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Obsolescence and Renewal: Transformation of Post War Concrete Buildings
    (2016) Johnston, Kara Mary; Gardner, Amy; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    In this thesis I investigate issues of post-war concrete buildings and how we can both add value and make adaptable what we have traditionally defined as not valuable and not adaptable. 55% of United States’ commercial building stock was built between the years of 1960 and 1980, leaving 36 billion square feet of building material to be adaptively reused or at the bottom of a landfill. Currently, our culture does not value many character defining features of these buildings making the preservation of these buildings difficult, especially at this 50 year critical moment of both the attribution of a “historic” status and time when major renovation of these buildings needs to occur. How can architects add value to a building type, sometimes called “brutalist”, that building culture currently under values and thinks is “obsolete”? I tested this hypothesis using the James Forrestal Building in Washington D.C. After close study of the obsolescence, value,history and existing conditions, I propose a design that adds value to Southwest Washington D.C. and may serve as an example for post-war renewal around the country.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Historic Preservation and Sustainability in an Equestrian Center Revitalization
    (2015) Rosenthal, Shira; Tilghman, James; Hurtt, Steve; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis examines the history and types of American Horse Farms and Equestrian Centers. The design strategy will employ the best practices to create a proposal for revitalization of an historic horse farm, enhanced by the utilization of technology, sustainability practices, and preservation, all of which can be applied to any equestrian farm. By studying successful precedents and the current and projected best practices, the best practices can be applied to a proposed preservation and enhancement of the forty-four acre Reddemeade Equestrian Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Designing to Engage Users in Sustainable Buildings
    (2015) Grzywa, Ashley; Draper, Powel; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    This thesis is an investigation of how buildings can be designed to encourage pro-environmental behavior by engaging users in a sustainable built environment. By engaging users in sustainability building design can reestablish a cultural understanding of humanity’s interdependence with the natural environment. The basis for investigation is a brief analysis of how cultural perceptions of the natural environment have changed over time and an understanding of what motivates pro-environmental behavior. Understanding of the types of work done and spaces used by building occupants throughout a work day informs opportunities for user engagement in the production, consumption, recycling and monitoring of energy, water and waste. Insights revealed through this research culminate in a design proposal for an office building that integrates user engagement with sustainable building performance and puts us on a path toward cultural transition to sustainable behavior and symbiosis with the natural environment.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Desert Dwelling: A Water Conservative Net-Zero Energy Project
    (2015) Doeller, Matthew; Eisenbach, Ronit; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The world has begun to recognize that potable, or drinkable, water is a limited commodity that therefore needs to be used conservatively. Growing populations and changing climates are intensifying the need to conserve. At the present, homes built in the United States do not use water or energy efficiently. Reasons for these inefficiencies include abundant cheap energy and water as well as a home building culture that does not design to the natural conditions in local environments. When building culture accepts that the methods and aesthetic of structures must vary based on geography, significant environmental savings can occur. The goal of this project is to establish a variety of water conservative, net-zero energy single-family homes that can be used as prototypes for new development in arid climates throughout the Western United States.