School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/1607
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations.
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Item SOCIAL URBANISM IN MEDELLIN – INTEGRATION OF LANDSCAPE, LIFE, AND CULTURE(2023) Farieta, Maria Fernanda; Matthews, Georgeanne; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Over the last 50 years, the city of Medellín, Colombia has experienced a drastic urban transformation. The drug war and armed conflict in the late 20th century expedited urbanization as people were forced to leave their rural homes and seek shelter in major cities. However, the infrastructural capacity of larger cities has been unable to accommodate the basic needs of the growing population. As a result, people had to build habitats in the peripheries of the cities. These “informal settlements” were born out of necessity, with limited resources, and often under unsafe conditions. Nonetheless, these self-built neighborhoods are “the most common form of urbanization on the planet,” and as such, the processes behind “informal city making” are key to understanding the potential for development, innovation, and integration of a city. This paradigm shift regarding informality intends to bring visibility to the perseverance and creativity of migrants under limited resources, to challenge policies that shape urbanization and to explore alternative methods to address population growth.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 MENDING COMMUNITY(2022) Moore, David Pernell; Gabrielli, Julie; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The purpose of this thesis is to create a development that will be a catalyst to revitalize Capitol Height’s dilapidated resources. Like many other predominantly African American towns, Capitol Heights Lacks the resources that it once had, such as fresh food, community education, and healthcare. Capitol Heights is located on the outer edge of Southeast Washington, D.C. The density of Capitol Heights needs to move from a horizontal scale (detached single-family housing) to a vertical scale (mid-rise buildings).The poverty rate in the United States averages 10.5%. Having a small population Capitol Heights averaged 10.7%. The crime rate in Capitol Heights is considerably higher than the national average across all communities in America. Which in turn makes it hard for large companies to see the value in investing in real estate and jobs there. Capitol Heights being next to Southeast D.C. allows for a great guide on how to go about development. The development in Southeast D.C. has created jobs as well as brought resources that once were scarce to that area. With an addition to a mix-use development building in Capitol Heights, the attention on the area will increase which may increase the population. The Capitol Heights Transit station’s adjacency to public transportation is a huge driving factor in having people live there. With the station, as well as the new building typology, being the leading factor, this will be a great investment for the town of Capitol Heights. Amenities such as a library, grocery store, and urgent care are crucial to this development. Capitol Heights needs major improvements to the living situation that its residents live in currently. This development will bring higher-paying jobs, increase the population, promote healthier living, and be the blueprint for the future of Capitol Heights.Item Change is Coming: Pre-adaptability for a Resilient City(2020) Omidvar, Ava Toosi; Williams, Joseph C; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Since its inception, the Earth has been a living and evolving planet. Phenomena such as tectonic plates shifting and changes in the atmosphere have caused our ecosystems to change and evolve by natural events. Humans have been part of this ecosystem for the past 2.1 million years but have only stopped their nomadic way of life and built village settlements 10,000 years ago. Civilizations have faced many natural and human-made disasters forcing them to renovate, rebuild, or relocate. However, the frequency of these disasters through climate change will exacerbate these transformations. For many cities around the world where landscapes are being permanently affected by climate-induced landscape change, the built environment has the responsibility to adapt. How can architecture allow for change over time? When we know that intermittent floods are becoming more detrimental, how must we build our cities to prepare for living with water?Item Can Design Evoke Youth? Exploring Paradigms of Intergenerational Interactions(2019) Weber, Emma Isabella; Abrams, Michael C.; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Society lacks a thorough understanding of the concept of aging. By the time Americans reach their senior years, they have little concept of what life will become as an aging adult. Older adults begin to grow isolated from society both physically and mentally. Health limitations, technological or transportation limitations, and spatial discrepancies generate barriers to seniors, perpetuating a cycle of isolation and loneliness. As the senior population rapidly increases with the aging of Baby Boomers, can architecture break this cycle and stimulate the creation of a society of intertwined generations? This thesis challenges the design of senior housing to become a vehicle through which seniors might reconnect with society through intellectual, physical, and social engagement. Designing spaces that foster new paradigms of intergenerational relationships may become the tool through society is exposed to the beauty and importance of aging.Item The Power of Synthesis: the Pursuit of Environmental Sustainability and Social Equity Through Design Practice(2017) Kedar, Boaz Ahi Omri; Rockcastle, Garth C; Howeland, Marie; Urban and Regional Planning and Design; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The paradigm of architecture and design is changing. Centuries of industrialization and rapid urbanization have placed profound stress on the earth’s natural systems, presenting new challenges for architects and urban planners. As our collective awareness towards these challenges increases, designers are increasingly called upon to partake in the global transition towards a low-carbon future. These professionals are re-assessing their priorities and practices, striving for better ecological and social scenarios. This dissertation explores how architects and designers successfully integrate environmental sustainability and social equity deliberations into architectural design practice by implementing more holistic sustainable design approaches. It advocates for a future reality where these considerations are naturally incorporated into the design process of any architectural project, and suggests a framework for their more effective integration. The dissertation opens with a review of current sustainable design approaches and practices in the architectural design profession, focusing on the tools and methods commonly used for their integration in the design process. Next, it presents three case studies of exemplary architectural projects, each demonstrating a progressive design approach that successfully integrates both environmental and social sustainability agendas within the design process. Data collection methods included a series of semi-structured interviews with designers, architects, developers, clients and other stakeholders in the respective projects, as well as site visits. In each case study project, the process of its inception, development, settings, and design methodologies were explored, aiming to evaluate the potentialities and effectiveness of these attributes for better integration of socially and environmentally sustainable design agendas. Synthesis of the collected data ultimately offers a framework for more effective integration of these virtues within architectural design processes. The conclusions point to a multivariate threshold containing a combination of external conditions, recommended processes and design-based tactics to achieve such projects. The conclusions underscore the method for application of these factors, not as isolated deliberations but as parts of a holistic, integrated process. When applied concurrently, these factors perform synergistically to produce holistic, well-rounded living environments that foster environmental stewardship alongside social and cultural wellbeing, empowering a community to flourish.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.Item TIMESCAPES: an architectural process of memory and adaptation(2015) Chamy, Adam; VanderGoot, Jana; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)What if the architectural process of making could incorporate time? All designers who impact the physical environment- consciously and unconsciously are gatekeepers of the past, commentators of the present, and speculators of the future. This project proposes the creation of architecture and adaptive public space that looks to historical memories, foster present day cultural formation, and new alternative visions for the city of the future. The thesis asks what it means to design for stasis and change in a variety of scales- urban, architectural, and detail and arrives at a speculated new neighborhood, institutional buildings, and landscape. Central to this project is the idea of the architect as archeologist, anthropologist, and artist. The project focuses on a rapidly changing part of the city of Fort Worth, Texas and assigns a multipurpose institutional buildings and public space as a method of investigation. The thesis hopes to further architectural discourse about into the role of architecture in the preservation of memory, adaptive potential of public spaces, and the role of time in architecture.Item PUBLIC SPACE \\ THE INTERNET: Public Embodiment of Digital Cultures(2015) Hampton, Elizabeth Anne; Rockcastle, Garth C; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Public space is vital to urban society because it lies at the center of social and cultural life, however today the internet acts as a new centrality where interaction and socialization occur in a new invisible setting. Today both physical and digital public space serve as a vital interface for civic engagement and public participation, yet there is much content that often only remains significant on the internet. This thesis seeks to both strengthen the significance of our online public interactions and enliven the urban public realm by translating digital cultures into the urban environment, giving content the ability to flow between both worlds. This hypothesis will be tested through the redesign of Pershing Square in Downtown, Los Angeles, CA.Item Felis: Identifying Opportunities for Change(2014) Lucarelli, Theresa Marie; Rockcastle, Garth C; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Although many cats are loved and well cared for by enthusiastic and compassionate owners, tens of millions of cats suffer from human neglect and ignorance, leading to low adoption rates and high euthanasia numbers across the world. Of all cats that enter shelters, 70 percent are euthanized. In addition to the millions of cats that reside in shelters, there are approximately 50 million stray and feral cats, compared to 76 million pet cats in the United States. This thesis serves to identify, understand, and analyze the diverse roles cats play in the lives of humans and general ecological well-being. It is necessary to critically and creatively analyze the human relationship to cats throughout history, as well as how contemporary architecture and urbanism has and is continuing to do cats a disservice through an inattention to and neglect of their needs. The central question I will seek to address is: How can accommodations be designed to provide spaces that promote a happy and healthy environment for cats and for humans and enhance the relationship between humans and cats?