Architecture Theses and Dissertations

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http://hdl.handle.net/1903/2743

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DECOLONIZATION THROUGH REPATRIATION: A NEW GLOBAL HERITAGE MUSEUM FOR AFRICA
(2022) Okubadejo, Adeola Olubusayo; Lamprakos, Michele; Cronrath, David; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
This thesis investigates and examines the impact of European colonization and imperialism on West African cultural identity through the tracking and placing of items back into their historical contexts. The museum facility aspires to be a symbol of pride and awareness for West African arts and culture; serving and celebrating the West-African community and its arts and cultural heritage beyond borders by repatriating and, in effect, decolonizing its art and artifacts. The establishment of a facility to exhibit and recontextualize looted and returned art and artifacts is a long-awaited, challenging request that would allow them to be seen in its native West African gestalt. As a focal point for international engagement and reflection across a variety of urban contexts, The Museum and Cultural Center facility, through simultaneously redistributing and rehousing, caters to more culturally invested populations, where there is an eagerness for ethnically diverse representation as well as access to people and civilizations the broad populace may not typically engage with.
Of Land and Spirit: Reciprocity and Ritual in Land Stewardship
(2022) Haider, Almas; Williams, Brittany; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
Across the U.S., queer and trans Black, Indigenous, and people of color are choosing to live communally in sub-rural landscapes. In doing so they are divesting from limiting socio-political and economic structures and modeling a liberatory existence, not limited to surviving the present but intending to thrive generations to come. This thesis builds on their vision and considers how to design residential and retreat spaces rooted in an interdependence with the land and other species. It considers human-non-human entanglements as a key to living in right relationship to the lands we occupy and understanding our sacred roles as land stewards. And further invites the sacred into our dwellings, imbibing ritual, cosmology, and symbolism into our daily lives that keeps us thriving. It uses the precedents of maroons and community land trusts as models of land stewardship that co-created futures in symbiotic relationships with the land and other species. And offers a thoughtful design tailored for an existing Afro-Indigenous land stewardship in the Blue Ridge mountains of Appalachia to be in reciprocity with plant, animal, and mineral species. The design will focus on the adaptive reuse of two barns on the site, new emergent structures, and new housing.
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.
NATIONAL ACADEMY CENTER - ADVANCING U.S. SOCCER TO INTERNATIONAL PRESTIGE
(2022) Qazi, Awais; Kelly, Brian P; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
The United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) for soccer is currently in disarray, infamously not qualifying for the World Cup in Russia 2018. The USMNT is unable to replicate the success of the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) because of a lack of a consolidated youth development system in the nation. With the US set to host the FIFA World Cup in 2026 alongside Canada and Mexico, the stage is primed for the USMNT to make a comeback. A multi-use youth development center can unify and cultivate the growth of soccer in the heart of the nation, complete the historic L’Enfant plan, reinvigorate a faltering neighborhood, provide the structure needed for a future expansion academies nationally, attract domestic and international players to US Soccer, and be epicenter of a thriving sports community in the heart of the nation.
More Than A Marker
(2022) Jenkins, TaLisha Itasha; Eisenbach, Ronit; Architecture; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
In Late August of 1619 “20 and odd” enslaved Africans forcibly arrived at Old Point Comfort, Virginia after a treacherous journey across the Atlantic Ocean. This arrival of would mark the beginning of slavery as we know it today. Fast forward to the year 1861, about a month after the start of the civil war, three enslaved men would escape to freedom at Fortress Monroe, formally known as Old Point Comfort. Out of their escape came the Fort Monroe Doctrine, which came to be known as the Contraband Decision. This decision would lead to the freedom of thousands of enslaved African Americans during the civil war. At the same location that the institution of slavery would begin, is the same location that the institution of slavery would begin to end. Now, in the present day, three markers lie at the site of Fort Monroe to tell this story. One to the First Landing of Africans, one to the three men and their escape, and one to what would become Freedom’s Fortress. In response to those three Markers, I’d argue that they are not enough. This story and all of its components were turning points in American history. This story should be told with more than a marker. We’ll never fully know or can even imagine the thoughts and feelings the people who went through this had, but one could wonder how it felt for them to be kidnapped from their homeland, being brought to this place in which they’d never been, being stripped from their family and culture, or just simply going from being surrounded by massive Baobab trees to Oak Trees. To have no idea what would lie ahead for the next 200 plus years. I pose these questions in thinking of what More than a Marker could be. In what ways can architecture communicate stories of great impact that have often been overlooked or condensed? How can it go beyond a marker, bust, or statue, or be used in addition to? How can design evoke emotions and feelings towards those stories? Then, in telling these stories through the architecture how will it be a timeless piece in that it is visited for generations to come?

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