Architecture Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2743
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Item Harboring Identity: Community-Informed Design for Belonging in Westport and Curtis Bay(2023) Abe, Danielle; Filler, Kenneth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is a community-informed exploration of South Baltimore’s Westport and Curtis Bay neighborhoods. It is about listening, empathizing, and starting the design process with these communities and then exploring forms and spaces that can serve current community anchors and community needs while acknowledging complicated histories. In the U.S., the pattern of redlining and disinvestment of resources from communities of color is sometimes followed by re-investment that leads to physical and/or cultural displacement of long-time residents. The Baltimore Harbor is experiencing pressure of potentially speculative gentrifying re-investment that would serve future hypothetical residents instead of existing ones. The design intent is to empower residents to stay, strengthen, and feel a sense of belonging in their home neighborhoods.Item Community Redevelopment in Greenmount West(2009) Bryson, Matthew Wells; Wortham, Brooke D; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis explores strategies of community revitalization through means of developing public zones in the highly vacated Baltimore neighborhood of Greenmount West. The building of community facilities including an after-school recreation center, public market and community café will bring various groups of people together at street corners once ruled by drug trafficking. At the corner, residents will participate together in everyday activities and be watchful over these public zones. In addition to creating casual forums for community discourse and strengthening bonds between disenfranchised neighbors, a sense of regional and local identity is created through references to local folk art traditions and provisions for neighborly sidewalk loitering through repeated use of certain street furniture and canopy systems. Greenmount West will gain a recognizable identity within the local arts district as a sustainable mixed-income community with an encouraged spirit and cooperative attitude toward defending public spaces.Item Re-Establishing Community: A Renewed Village Center for Edmondson Village, Baltimore, MD(2007-05-25) Leonard, Jessica Lynn; DuPuy, Karl; Bell, Matt; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis proposes to reintroduce a "sense of place" into a community that has undergone rapid and severe physical, social, and economic changes. It examines how the built and natural environment can stabilize and recenter a community through the development of a renewed village center. Southwest Baltimore's Edmondson Village serves as a transition between the urban and suburban patterns of the city. The community's decrepit shopping center is located along Edmondson Avenue (Route 40) and is central to wealthy, middle, and lower class neighborhoods. It is surrounded by important civic and educational buildings, making it an ideal location for neighborhood revitalization and ultimately a new village center. The addition of a metro station on the city's proposed Red Line, along with a pedestrian focused, mixed use, mixed income development are essential elements in re-establishing an identity for Edmondson Village. Creating coherent public spaces are vital to fostering an environment where people can interact outside of the private realm. The village center serves as a home, shopping area, and gathering place for the residents of the community.