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 Cutting Edge Injury Prevention(2024) Boland, Margaret Kenneday; May, Lindsey; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The growing childcare crisis in the United States leaves many families without access to quality, affordable care. This crisis is not just a matter of statistics but a deeply emotional experience for those who find themselves torn between professional responsibilities to sustain their households and proper care for their children. This thesis explores the design of physically and emotionally safe spaces for children and their caregivers that catalyze a positive transformation in the country’s childcare infrastructure. Focused on the relationship between architecture and childhood development, this work explores innovative design solutions that consider functionality, the scale of a child, and the well-being of both children and their caregivers. Through a synthesis of research, case studies, and innovative design solutions, this work aspires to create architectural spaces that consider the unique needs of children. In doing so, it promotes a new narrative where the American dream encompasses not just economic success but also the well-being of children, the most significant investment in the nation’s future.Item Harboring Identity: Community-Informed Design for Belonging in Westport and Curtis Bay(2023) Abe, Danielle; Filler, Kenneth; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis is a community-informed exploration of South Baltimore’s Westport and Curtis Bay neighborhoods. It is about listening, empathizing, and starting the design process with these communities and then exploring forms and spaces that can serve current community anchors and community needs while acknowledging complicated histories. In the U.S., the pattern of redlining and disinvestment of resources from communities of color is sometimes followed by re-investment that leads to physical and/or cultural displacement of long-time residents. The Baltimore Harbor is experiencing pressure of potentially speculative gentrifying re-investment that would serve future hypothetical residents instead of existing ones. The design intent is to empower residents to stay, strengthen, and feel a sense of belonging in their home neighborhoods.Item The Resilient Student-Athlete: Supporting Community and Mental Well-being through On-campus Housing(2019) Wright, Sarah Anne; Tilghman, James; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Young adults who enter their college years as student-athletes face the challenge of balancing their athletic demands with their academic ones, all while transitioning to their future careers as adults. The demand for student-athletes to perform at the highest level possible often begins to push some of them over the edge both physically and mentally. The culture of athletics has not always been supportive of student-athletes with mental illness, therefore, weakening the stigma of mental illness is necessary to encourage student-athletes to begin to seek the help they may truly need. This thesis explores on-campus housing at the University of Maryland (UMD) that encourages community and a supportive environment for the student-athlete and general student population living there. The community spaces and mental health resources better prepare student-athletes in dealing with mental illness and the stressors they face in college. The organization and aesthetics of the built environment encourage wellness in subtle and direct ways, creating an environment that weaves together mental well-being and everyday living without branding it as a place to be “fixed”. As a result, every individual can learn to thrive within their sport and academics and become resilient to the stressors and demands of their college career and beyond.Item Orchestrating Community: Revitalizing East Frederick through a New Hub for the Arts(2019) Tonkay, Marissa Jayne; Hu, Ming; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis intends to explore placemaking through the introduction of a community arts center. As a historic city filled with art, festivals, and musicians, Frederick is well-known as a trendy destination. The city and its surrounding suburbs host several public venues designated for art performances and individual private lessons; however, the city itself lacks a unified artistic identity and a physical expression of Frederick’s arts culture. The city needs a central, accessible hub for ensemble music and public performance and exhibit space for beginners or small groups that, together, make up Frederick’s arts culture. The thesis examines an artistic hub which includes education, performance, and mixed-use residential spaces for creators to learn, perform, live, and collaborate. Utilizing survey-derived community desires and needs as a design driver, the thesis will study placemaking and investigate the artistic identity of Frederick to strengthen the city’s designation as an Arts & Entertainment District.Item The Refugee Experience: Individual Survival to Community Engagement(2015) Chaudhry, Lubna Halim; Quiros, Luis D; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)As the world population expands with no reduction in conflict, there has been a rapid increase in the numbers of refugees. With such a massive increase in refugees, it is important to review the built environment that people inhabit within refugee camps. In theory, refugee camps are built to be a temporary settlement, whether planned or impromptu it is meant to meet basic human needs for a short period of time. But in reality, these temporary settlements end up being populated for long periods of time, mimicking the physical organizations seen in small towns and cities. Such places should no longer be seen as short term transitional population centers but permanent settlements. In this thesis I will explored the long-term planning of refugee camps with a critical look at: how refugee camps evolve over time; the strategies people use to make these spaces their own as the camp evolves; whether camp plans relate to the cultural living patterns of the refugees; how camps might be planned to reduce dependence on the host country; and how the design of the camps might be guided by an understanding of these factors. This thesis was explored through the lens of the Syrian Civil War and the refugees that it has unfortunately produced. Through the study of precedent camps, a cluster formation of shelter was observed. The thesis proposes to give refugees a plot of land as well as a shelter that is modifiable over time. The cluster formation of plots is used as module to create community spaces at all different scales.Item [RE]THINKING TALL: Cultivating Socio-Cultural Trends in a West Chelsea Residential High Rise(2012) Goldsmith, Lisa Blair; Bell, Matthew J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)According to the Census Bureau, American society is experiencing a cultural shift in living trends: city living is slowly replacing its suburban counterpart. As a result, there is a growing need for cities to accommodate people of all demographics. Currently, the western-most part of Chelsea located on the lower west side of Manhattan is failing to do this. Since the mid 1990s Chelsea has been a major center of the New York art world; serving as home to hundreds of local art galleries and studios. With the opening of the High Line in 2006 (a successful adaptive re-use project of former rail lines originally built in the 1880s), West Chelsea has experienced an influx of people interested in living in the district. Currently, expensive luxury housing, loft spaces, and converted luxury apartments dominate the West Chelsea housing market. This dearth of housing options has greatly limited people from varying social, cultural and economic backgrounds and circumstances from moving into West Chelsea. This thesis imagines an apartment complex in West Chelsea that offers a variety of compact housing types while fostering a sense of community in order to bring families, singles, and people of all ages, to the vibrant arts community of West Chelsea.Item SCOTTS RUN MINERS' WALK: A COMMUNITY OF CURATORS OF THE COAL HISTORY IN SCOTTS RUN, WEST VIRGINIA(2012) Wilfong, Kiley; Bennett, Ralph D.; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)West Virginia's coal mining history is long and rich, with many cultures intersecting with the industry. As coal mining shrank from the industry it used to be, poor families were left in the once-prosperous coal towns, unable to afford to move to find better jobs. The natural landscape had yielded to the industry, and the remnants of mining remain, evocative relics of an earlier era. As the coal companies moved on, these towns and landscapes were left at a loss for how to move forward. This thesis investigates ways to revitalize an abandoned landscape and to engage people in their cultural history. Reading the remnants and fragments of industry, and the landscape as clearings, seams and runs, it proposes architectural interventions in six places on the site that are connected by various path types meant to encourage visitors to experience the culture and history of coal mining in West Virginia.Item The Middle Branch Boathouse: [Re]Bridging Water, Sport & Community(2012) Pless, Katlin Meredith; Noonan, Peter; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Of all sports, rowing is one of the most dynamic, yet elegant, while simultaneously highly skilled and technical. Dependent upon a rare form of calculated synchronization, the ideas of collaboration and dedication are indispensable. This thesis is interested in the process of creating architecture as an expression of the sport, investigating collaboration, reacting to the movement of the body and developing a method of expressing of the experience of rowing. It addresses the issues of connecting the boathouse to the surrounding area, particularly its waterfront condition, while making the building a community destination. Similarly, the boathouse must address the relationship of the body to the waterfront, both through the movements of the sport, and thought the relationship between the spectator and participant. It has the power to help in the revitalization the Middle Branch Park, reigniting the city's interest in this potential recreational oasis. This thesis strives to carry aspects of the sport: movement, ritual, sequence, rhythm, cadence and balance and manifest them into built form, to create a spirited, active and moving experience for all users.Item Connecting Community: Capturing and Patterning Orphan Space in Langley Park(2011) Pagan Aello, Jessica Alexandra; Kim, Julie J; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Alleys and parking lots provide but a few examples of orphan or "in-between" space--of residual land spawned by 1960s urbanism. These unclaimed spaces have latent qualities, often only visible to a community's inhabitants. These spaces, like all spaces, morph to reflect cultural values and needs. Their difference lies in their residual nature. They allow the disenfranchised to learn, sell, and gather flexibly. They lie in between "valued" and "value-less" space. Modern urban theory fails to address these spaces, instead overlooking the micro-patterning of space. By incorporating these spaces into a careful study of pattern at the scale of the city, community, building, and individual, one can connect a once fragmented community. Langley Park provides the case study for addressing these issues of urbanism, orphan space, and connectivity--it provides an example of capturing, patterning, and connecting orphan space at all scales.Item Community Redevelopment in Greenmount West(2009) Bryson, Matthew Wells; Wortham, Brooke D; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This thesis explores strategies of community revitalization through means of developing public zones in the highly vacated Baltimore neighborhood of Greenmount West. The building of community facilities including an after-school recreation center, public market and community café will bring various groups of people together at street corners once ruled by drug trafficking. At the corner, residents will participate together in everyday activities and be watchful over these public zones. In addition to creating casual forums for community discourse and strengthening bonds between disenfranchised neighbors, a sense of regional and local identity is created through references to local folk art traditions and provisions for neighborly sidewalk loitering through repeated use of certain street furniture and canopy systems. Greenmount West will gain a recognizable identity within the local arts district as a sustainable mixed-income community with an encouraged spirit and cooperative attitude toward defending public spaces.