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 Building Education: Creating a Flexible Model For Sustainably Developing Communities In Latin America(2019) Nicolich, Ana Maria; Burke, Juan; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Latin America has a deep-rooted history with issues of poverty. Education is a vital part of the solution. Education and increased literacy can help communities break away from a cycle of poverty by opening doors and creating opportunities for independence. Many impoverished countries in Latin America rely on the cultivation of primary products to sustain their economies. Unfortunately, the high number of illiterate and untrained laborers in these parts of the world halts their progress. These are recurring issues in many underdeveloped countries. Rural communities tend to be deprived of resources and this leads to an exodus of the young as they are looking for opportunities for growth. They leave their villages and don’t always come back having completed a full education. This thesis intends to create a model for an educational facility that can be applied to multiple contexts, with an effort to empower communities through providing education for children to achieve their full potential, and for agricultural workers to heighten their knowledge about the trades that affect their livelihoods directly Research will explore modular design as a means to cater to the diverse contexts with a changing demand and whether a possible model can be self-sustaining. It will also explore how a building can bring a community together. Could a deployable model be effective cross culturally? Can flexible design help mobilize a struggling community? How to create an environment that can be conducive to learning?Item DEAF SPACE AND THE VISUAL WORLD - BUILDINGS THAT SPEAK: AN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF(2010) Tsymbal, Karina; Bovill, Carl; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Deaf Space and the Visual World is a set of principles providing understanding of the perceptions and special needs of the deaf. More frequently deaf and hard of hearing school children are attending mainstream public schools, in which deaf-friendly design is not well-understood or implemented. This work analyzes these principles and applies them to the design of a mainstream elementary school at a site within the King Farm community of Rockville, Maryland. Primarily, the ideas of establishing visual connectivity, circulation, collective being, and sense of home guided the school design. These are reflected in numerous design features of the school that will benefit not only the deaf students, but hearing and other special needs children as well. The ultimate objective of this work is to promote understanding of the needs of the deaf in educational settings, as well as to establish a useful set of architectural guidelines.Item RETHINKING THE SCHOOL: A NEW MODEL FOR SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO(2010) Sanchez, Ramon Eduardo; Williams, Isaac S; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)More than a century ago school buildings started to change from a home-like building to a more industrial type. In order to standardize the learning process, a classroom layout that promotes only one type of learning activity while ignoring the compound nature of learning has been created. This layout has promoted a school model that not only repeatedly disregards the building, the site, and the community but also resembles a prison. For decades, research has discouraged use of the "traditional" classroom as the only space for learning yet most school buildings have not responded to that change. In different countries, experimentation with the school building and classroom architecture responds to the necessities of the students. What should be the next step in designing pedagogical environments? In the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, the public school system has reasonable numbers of students in the classrooms. Although the Department of Education philosophy has started to define some progressive pedagogical ideas, there is no strong articulation of the role of the school building to achieve these. This means that the problem might lie in the architecture of the building rather than overcrowded schools. The goal of this thesis is to produce a model that creates a learning environment that responds to the different natures of the students so that they can become active participants in their education and, eventually, a generation of critical thinkers for the country.