Architecture Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2743
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Item Architecture Without Vision(2015) Nolen, Elizabeth; Simon, Madlen; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)What is architecture if you cannot see? How might we perceive if we ignore our dominant visual sense to focus on inputs from the senses that we rarely engage as we move through the built environment? How might architects design buildings to fully engage our senses? This thesis began to address that question through research including a literature search, analysis of examples of architecture for visually impaired users, and interviews with blind individuals and people who work with visually impaired people. This research informed the development of a set of principles for the design of built environments that enrich the ability to people along the spectrum from sighted to blind to navigate the spaces of their lives through multi-sensory perception. These principles are tested by application to the design of a building, a Creative Co-Lab, in which blind and sighted users come together on the Baltimore waterfront to learn collaboratively about the multi-sensory ways to perceive and create space, place, and objects without vision.Item Infusing Wellness: Eastern Traditions in the Western Context(2013) James, Khara; Eisenbach, Ronit; Simon, Madlen; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Wellness is defined as an optimal state of health in the mind, body, and spirit. This state is achieved through a balance of energy found in all things, including the human body. Eastern Traditions support the notion that this energy is governed by the elements of nature. Eastern architects such as Tadao Ando and Geoffrey Bawa offer lessons on how design connects humans to nature and appeals to our sense of well-being. This thesis builds on the implications of both Eastern health and design traditions to develop a building typology in the West that promotes healing in our underserved communities. It aims to heal and educate people by providing spaces for healthy, natural and preventative activities. It explores a process of design for well-being in which the users experience the healing qualities of nature in a space. The resulting wellness center acts as a threshold into nature natural environment.