Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item FROM HARM TO HOPE: REIMAGINING AN ABANDONED ASYLUM AS A SPACE OF REFLECTION, REJUVENATION, AND REJOICE(2023) Reise, Matthew; Sullivan, Jack; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The Crownsville State Hospital opened in 1913 as the first and only mental institution in the state of Maryland to serve the Black community. After 91 years of operation rife with neglect, abuse, exploitation, and other acts of inhumanity, the hospital closed and has laid virtually abandoned since. In this thesis, I will propose ways of reactivating Crownsville’s historic campus through acknowledging the property’s horrific past, by providing support and amenities to the region’s most vulnerable individuals, and by creating space to celebrate the identity of communities who were historically persecuted on the grounds. I will explore the Crownsville campus through the lens of a cultural landscape, and attempt to balance the preservation of existing assets with the development of new community features.Item A Safe Space: Designing a LGBTQ+ Youth Resource Center(2022) Fuller, Sarah N; Noonan, Peter; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In the continuing struggle to combat youth homelessness it in necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of existing services and infrastructure. Somewhere between 1.6 and 2.8 million youth identify as homeless in the United States. 47% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+ in Washington DC, while only accounting for 7% of the population. Faced with a myriad of challenges, LGBTQ+ youth find themselves facing homelessness without access to services to meet their complex needs. Washington DC has a rich LGBTQ+ history and community that is connected through people and the built environment. Throughout its history and today the LGBTQ+ community has created safe spaces for its members to come and be together. Through the exploration of the adaptive reuse and addition of a historic building, this thesis seeks to create a LGBTQ+ youth resource center to aid in the development of supportive services and housing for at risk LGBTQ+ youth.Item Sustainability Through Adaptation: Reimagining Existing Spaces with Mass Timber Construction(2020) Robbs, Amber; Kelly, Brian; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In a period when it is becoming more and more apparent how we, as humans, have been negatively impacting our planet, it is important for us, as designers, to take a step back and evaluate how new methods of sustainable design can be incorporated into the existing built environment to leave a positive impression on our climate. We have discussed sustainability through design, building typologies, construction materials, and building systems but we can also explore the sustainable method of reusing the existing built environment. This thesis explores how adaptively reusing existing buildings can be a sustainable source of architecture. Buildings that have fallen into neglect and/or ruin can be revitalized through the construction method of mass timber to produce less greenhouse gas emissions during the structure’s life cycle while leaving a larger, healthier impact on our climate. This thesis explores the benefits of mass timber as a sustainable construction method and demonstrates how mass timber can be used as an alternative to steel frame construction on the site of a 1919 US Navy industrial building. The existing masonry and steel-framed structure stands as a neglected building that can be adapted through sustainable methods. By respecting the structure’s heritage and original purpose, this thesis proposes a secondary building and revitalization of the existing structure through reusing existing structures with recycled material, like mass timber. The thesis looks at opening the site to the evolving community of the Washington D.C. Navy Yard. Maintaining the site as a community gathering space, this thesis proposes a food hall program, building off the weekly farmers' markets that take place in the structure’s adjacent plaza, and aims to fill the community's need for a public civic space in the adjoining community library program. The program of this thesis aims to draw people in to explore the built environment of alternative and sustainable construction methods.Item COMMUNITY CATALYST: REINVENTING THE URBAN SHOPPING MALL(2018) Smith, Elisabeth; Curry, Daniel; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the past decade, shopping malls across the United States have been on the decline, many left abandoned and deserted. However, some urban shopping complexes have not yet been uninhibited, due to their proximity to city centers and established community space. This thesis proposition aims to alter and improve the paradigm of the urban shopping mall by redeveloping the existing single use format. The community space will serve as the foundation for several different programmatic functions that will be inserted into an existing mall, thus serving as a uniting agent at the heart of the building. These strategies will be applied to Stamford Town Center, a shopping mall located in the city of Stamford, Connecticut. This thesis will evaluate the opportunities for refining the existing mall and propose a more sustainable place-making solution, reinforcing this urban icon as a destination for culture and innovation.Item Adaptive Reuse: a chamber symphony for 13 musicians(2017) Wixon, Henry Ross; Gibson, Robert L; Music; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Adaptive Reuse is a chamber symphony of approximately 14 minutes 30 seconds in four continuous movements and is scored for 13 musicians: 1 flute (doubling piccolo); 1 oboe (doubling English horn); 1 B-flat clarinet (doubling bass clarinet); 1 horn in F; 1 trumpet in C; 1 percussionist (quad toms and vibraphone); 3 violins; 2 violas; 1 cello; and 1 double bass. The piece explores the term “adaptive reuse:” the repurposing of old buildings to meet a community’s changing needs while preserving sites of historic value. Whether in the form of rustic tables made from reclaimed barn timbers or mixed-use developments that breathe new life into derelict industrial buildings, the notion of adaptive reuse combines our society’s increased awareness of the earth’s limited resources with our demand for authenticity. This concept is ideally suited to musical materials as well: since the Middle Ages, Western composers have reused their own music and the compositions of others or have simply found inspiration in older, more “learned,” forms throughout every stylistic period. The musical materials of Adaptive Reuse are drawn from my 2007 solo bass clarinet work Requiem for Dead Wood; I develop the original composition’s compelling motives through non-tonal and rhythmically asymmetrical explorations. The first movement, “Reclaimed Wood,” acknowledges the source material (Dead Wood) and the aforementioned repurposing of old construction materials into furniture or architectural details. The second, “Persons of Record,” divides the ensemble into two competing choirs, reflecting the attempts by impassioned speakers to sway community members at public hearings. “Request for Proposal,” refers to the solicitation of bids from developers; in this movement, I rework a second-movement countermelody through several guises (“proposals”) using a number of compositional schemes. As the subtitle “Old and New” suggests, the final movement conveys the dual outcomes of adaptive reuse: first, the ensemble coalesces into the only true climax of the piece for one shimmering moment—its new purpose—and second, the opening material returns, indicative of the preservation inherent to this type of development.Item Kintsugi: A New Framework For Post-Industrial Transformation(2016) Posthuma, Katelin Marie; Cook, Kelly D; Plant Science and Landscape Architecture (PSLA); Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis uses the Morse Chain factory in Ithaca, New York as a testing ground for the development and exploration of the kintsugi framework as a method for transformation of large-scale postindustrial sites. Deindustrialization has had a profoundly destabilizing effect on many communities that were depended on industry. Abandoned industrial facilities are one of the primary visual markers of deindustrialization. Landscape architects employ two strategies for reclaiming these spaces - the conceal/camouflage approach or the reveal/reinterpret approach. These two approaches are typically presented in opposition to each other, which limits the design potential of these sites The kintsugi framework blends these two operating modes, creating an exciting and interesting operating field for the transformation of post-industrial sites. Based on the traditional Japanese method of repairing broken pottery with gold inlay. This technique incorporates damage as the central element for metamorphosis and change.Item Transforming the Rustbelt: Adaptive reuse of industrial buildings in the context of the Rust Belt.(2015) Petrusic, Luke James; Noonan, Peter; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This project seeks to address the problem of the future of industrial ruins / cities within the larger context of the US rust belt. Many of these Rust Belt cities face challenges of decaying infrastructure, overburdened social services, population loss, increased crime, and pronounced civil decline. This thesis seeks to find a program or architectural intervention that capitalizes on abandoned industrial buildings that can be seen as catalysts for revitalization. The city of Johnstown will be examined as it has many of the key traits of a rust belt city. The architectural response to these set of problems must manifest at the regional, city, and site scale to address the question of whether such interventions in Johnstown can serve as models or catalysts for new industries, alternate uses, identity, social structure, improve quality of life, and an embodiment community ideals? The industrial ruins in rust belt cities are the embodiment of political decisions, social circumstances, economic factors and unique architectural features. Any intervention must address these embodied forces in order to create a viable transformation and to make Johnstown a showcase of what these places could be.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 D[Constructing Architecture](2014) King, Marques Gilbert; Lamprakos, Michele; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Cites are in a constant state of flux. The progression of time through the centuries has yielded numerous examples of entire transformations of a given city's economic, environmental, social, and cultural structures which in turn shape the physical city. In some instances those structures are allowed juxtapose themselves against each other creating a beautiful palimpsest. In other instances those layers are lost due to the changing forces of the city. As a result the narrative and the image of the city is lost. Where this is most applicable is in the context of shrinking cities. This thesis proposal will seek to explore ways in which the retention of a city's physical history and its memory can be reconciled within the context of a shrinking city. It will question, challenge and hopefully transcend current themes in historic preservation and adaptive-use taking a critical approach toward structures and systems that have lost their reason for being. The testing ground for this proposal is Detroit, Michigan.Item DYNAMIC SPACES: INTEGRATING PRESERVATION AND DESIGN AT KNIGHTS FERRY(2013) Neuhauser, Stephen; Rockcastle, Garth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Integrating the disciplines of Historic Preservation and Architectural Design can provide opportunities to re-vision cultural and building traditions in a modern context. To demonstrate how these opportunities can be met, this thesis will explore the transformation of an abandoned historic mill building in Knights Ferry, California, into an olive orchard and oil production center. The design will create flexible spaces for use by the community and visitors, introduce a new economic foundation on which a renaissance could be built, and provide an opportunity to revitalize and repurpose ruins that have fallen into disuse, combining them with new buildings, landscapes, and reasons for being. This thesis maintains that by recovering and revitalizing disused historic places in a sensitive and dynamic manner we can ensure that these places not only remain relevant, but encourage the creative evolution of history and tradition.
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