Architecture Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2743
Browse
6 results
Search Results
Item RETHINKING DEVELOPMENT IN EAST NEW ORLEANS(2023) Register, Austin Van; Bennett, Ralph; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)With the present issue of climate change, dangerous flooding events will become an issue that many communities must grapple with. New Orleans is one such city with a long history of inundation. After Katrina, neighborhoods were devastated by a failure of the levee system. This caused many residents to reflect on the viability of a city in constant danger of flooding. Investigating how communities in the past handled flooding events will help inform a path forward. The Louisiana region has a rich history of building vernaculars and settlement patterns. Comparing the strategies used by deltaic communities that share similar issues to New Orleans can inform a settlement pattern that addresses the unique challenges that the city faces. This thesis aims to create a neighborhood plan that addresses the unique climatic factors of East New Orleans, while creating a more cohesive community within the disjointed settlements.Item Beyond the Barrier: The Resilience of Connecting People to Place(2022) Resnick, Eric; Ezban, Michael; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Atlantic City, New Jersey is globally cited as one of the most vulnerable cities to the effects of climate change and sea level rise, representing the socioeconomic, cultural, and ecological threats that all coastal communities will face within the next half-century. 2060 projections indicate that Atlantic City will experience up to 155+ flood events per year and 50% of the city could be uninhabitable. In leveraging the city’s coastal location, current institutions, and historic tourism-based infrastructure, the Resilient Transect becomes a framework for adaptation and growth, engaging the public and attracting an international cohort of researchers, designers, and policymakers to test and implement globally applicable and revolutionary strategies for coastal resilience. The iconic Atlantic City Boardwalk is abstracted as a beach-to-bay datum to catalyze adaptation, support, research, and participation along the transect, adaptable to environmental change and socioeconomic needs within and beyond Atlantic City.Item Reclaiming Identity: Utilizing Historic Fabric to Revitalize Downtown Rochester(2019) Haley, Kelly Marie; Bell, Matthew J; Linebaugh, Donald W; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)America’s first boomtown, Rochester, New York, rapidly decentralized after World War II. Like other mid-sized industrial cities, Rochester struggled to retain residents and businesses as suburbia flourished. Recently, the city is witnessing a resurgence as national trends favor urban living. This growth coupled with initiatives to develop downtown, leads to Rochester’s obligation to reclaim its identity on the Genesee River by adaptively reusing its historic structures, establishing public spaces, and developing vacant lots to benefit current and future residents and businesses. The development of downtown by respectfully utilizing historic fabric will address the unused skeletons of past endeavors by reclaiming these spaces. The opportunity to reclaim the abandoned Erie Canal aqueduct and Broad Street Bridge, through programming will fit the needs of the downtown. The development of the structure as a centerpiece will assist in the city’s revitalization effort and breathe life into the central business district.Item Dynamic Intervention: Reawakening the Detroit Boat Club(2014) Kopf, Anne; Draper, Powell; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Built in 1902 on pilings in the Detroit River, the Detroit Boat Club (DBC), a stunning Spanish Colonial building, was once a lively sport and social club. Its historic building fabric, paralleling Detroit's rise and fall, stands as a monument to the city's downfall. What remains today is the DBC Rowing Team, who, despite its success, relies on volunteers and meager donations to maintain the decrepit building. In an attempt at revitalizing the DBC, this thesis will explore the intricate connections between various elements of Detroit's social and cultural history. Such elements include Detroit's music history, specifically Motown Records, as well as the growth of the automotive industry. Through this exploration, this thesis project will address the following question: to what extent can these cultural and social connections be applied to the building revitalization process in a way that honors the building's past and prepares it for a vibrant future?Item Ruins and Wrinkles: Revaluing Age through Architecture(2014) Moore, Lucy Eleanor; Lamprakos, Michele; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In this thesis I argue that an architecture that selectively intervenes in the aging landscape to provide opportunities for regeneration and mentorship can weaken our societal divisions. I tested this hypothesis in the context of an adaptive reuse, multi-generational, mixed use design for the Bailey Power Plant, Factory 60, and their surroundings: the former R.J. Reynolds tobacco district in my hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After a close study of the site's history and its urban morphology, I propose a design based on the concept of urban regeneration in the form of reclamation, adaptation, and mentorship established through a system of green infrastructure that weaves existing neighborhoods into new diverse, multi-generational communities, housed within existing but altered architecture.Item Violence and Obscurity; Asylums and the Transformative Experience from Feminine Misfortune to Healing(2013) McRainey, Katrina; Gournay, Isabelle; Linebaugh, Donald; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Psychiatric institutions have been notorious for the neglect, experimentation and abuse inflicted on patients throughout the field's development. Historically, asylums were not so much a place of healing as a place of harm and maltreatment. From London's Bethlem Hospital to the first psychiatric hospital in the US, historical record provides many examples of violence against patients. While this violence was not discriminatory in choosing its victims, women were uniquely vulnerable. With a status of minimal personal rights, women were commonly institutionalized for a variety of suspicious, often trivial reasons, whether their spouse simply grew tired of them or they proved to have a "disagreeable nature." The violence perpetrated within the walls of these institutions is typically attributed to human behavior while the structural characteristics of the environment are not commonly considered. From the decisions made in space planning to the social culture of the staff, the harm done by patients was reinforced as much by non-tangible factors as it was by any individual's hand. As discussed in a series of articles in Architecture and Violence, "The notion of spatial violence as a mute incorporation of power into the built environment has been voiced by a number of theorists, critiquing architecture's complicity with bureaucracy . " Evidence of this complicity is written into spatial organization, planning and quality. Paupers were housed in substandard conditions because it was believed by designers that they "would not desire or benefit from the luxuries that were essential for the cure of the wealthy . " Deeply troubled individuals were left in isolation in the basement where their sounds or outbursts of violence would not trouble the outside world. Now, many of these structures have become melancholy relics on the land, sitting ducks for vandalism and vagrancy. There is a significant missed opportunity in allowing these structures to decay instead of applying their vast square footage to an important use. Though their history is mired by sorrow and abuse against women, the story of the asylum need not end there. The mission to provide a place of healing failed, but by adaptively reusing the old asylum, that mission may be reinvigorated. These buildings can be reborn as positive environments by fulfilling critical needs for struggling women today. By researching the history of thought and design of asylums from the 1800's to today, I aim to pull away the fundamental principles that led to the violence against patients and demise of the structures around them. With this set of fundamentals in mind, I will analyze the theoretical doctrine in the history of psychology, gender equality and the cognitive effects on self in order to determine how these institutions became such a perfect storm of disregard. Once established, I will take the doctrine and fundamentals of old asylums and compare them to principles of healing environments. This will provide me with a rubric of positive space I can use to transform the abandoned asylum into a true haven for women in need. Kenzari, Architecture and Violence, 101. Yanni, The Architecture of Madness Insane Asylums in the United States, 24.