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.

Browse

Filters

2004 - 200912010 - 20161

Settings

Subject: search.filters.subject.concrete

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    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.
  • Thumbnail Image
    Item
    Perfectible housing
    (2004-09-09) Blanco-Lorenzo, Enrique M.; Bennett, Ralph; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Housing is the basic problem of architecture. It is connected with its origin: the primitive shack. Following the tradition of prefabrication, it is possible to think about new and alternative systems of construction, trying to generate rich and flexible spaces, which answer the changes and requirements of flexibility and adaptability in our society. The project is about an exploration of the contrast between the possibilities of the prefabricated systems and the variety and changeability of our ways of life. New technical solutions allow these new conceptions, creating a system capable of producing from single family houses to multiple story buildings, and attending different kind of aesthetic criteria.