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Move! elementary
No full textArchitecture at its core shapes the movement of the user, and no user group highlights this condition more than children. Today children are often restricted by traditional sedentary classrooms, vehicular travel, and a world dominated by screens. By architecturally encouraging more movement, schools can improve the physical and mental health of the students while using the expression of movement to harness electricity.
Incorporating movement into the classroom is beneficial to the mental and physical health of these children, but could it do more? By using architectural interventions to combine movement and generation of energy, children can be empowered to learn in healthier ways, and see how they can impact the building performance. Located on a large suburban site, MOVE! Elementary creates space for woodland and prairie restoration, reconnecting to nature which has been cut out of the suburban environment. The architectural form of MOVE! works to encourage and celebrate all types of movement and play. MOVE! Elementary tackles 5 main goals: to improve overall health, architecturally encourage movement, encourage stewardship, integrate with nature, and to generate electricity. All five of these goals make energy production and use tangible to students and synthesize into compelling, movement driven architecture.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Temporal tectonics
No full textHow can the preservation of time be embodied in the built environment? The delicate balance between people and place is an ever-changing dichotomy that requires the designer’s attention to recognize the ephemeral nature of time within the built environment. By acknowledging the past, embracing the present, and preparing for the future, architecture can create spaces that serve as timeless reflections of human experience. With thoughtful architectural interventions and historical preservation efforts, the essence of time can be encapsulated and revered within our physical structures. These interventions can foster a profound connection between individuals and their surroundings for generations to come. The United Methodist Church in Gary, Indiana, stands as a testament to the passage of time and the evolving dynamics. Much like the church’s transition from a center of worship to a locus of self-expression, these neglected spaces undergo a metamorphosis, reflecting the shifting needs and aspirations of the people around them. Temporal Tectonics challenges the uses of abandoned spaces and how they transmute with the people around them.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Exploding vessels: a memoir
No full textFor my creative project I have written a creative nonfiction memoir in the form of essays combined with free verse poetry. Over the last five years while taking graduate creative writing classes I found myself returning to the same subject over and over again; my husband’s medical issues and their impact on my family.
In 2017, my husband survived a ruptured brain aneurysm. He spent five weeks in the hospital and three is a rehabilitation hospital. Over the next year, he would return to the hospital twice, once for sepsis and once for kidney stones that required surgery. Recovery was long and traumatic for my family. Our children were ten and fourteen at the time and I was a stay at home parent. Our entire lives changed. After surviving the ruptured aneurysm and making a remarkable recovery, in 2023, Paul suffered an aortic dissection that required emergency open heart surgery and another extended hospital stay.
When I started the graduate creative writing program in 2019, I found the subject of my husband’s medical issues rich with scenes and drama. I wrote several flash pieces sharing different experiences during that time, starting with an assignment to describe a scene when I first saw Paul after the neurosurge had drilled a hole in his head in the trauma unit, then going
on to a persona piece speaking from the voice of Paul. Eventually flash morphed into free verse poetry. I found comfort in alliteration and repetition and putting my traumatic experiences into something that was short and easily consumable. This allowed me to process the experiences in pieces that I could process. I was sure I wanted to do a poetry collection for my creative project.
I wrote a total of eight poems for my creative project and decided to bridge them with essays to place them in time and give an explanation. The essays got longer and longer and eventually made the poems redundant. There are still a few poems in the final draft of the creative project, but the memoir flowed better as an essay with the poems acting as the bridge instead of the reverse. So the creative project is not the form I anticipated.
I first read prose and poetry combined in the same writing during Reading and Writing Across the Genres with Sean Lovelace. We read Basho’s “Narrow Road to the Interior” and then wrote haibuns. I became intrigued with combining different forms in the same piece. I continued to read and write poetry, experimenting with prose poetry.
In preparation for writing my creative project I read different forms of poetry through the three poetry classes I took. One of those poetry classes studied modern poetry, including Emily Dickenson, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, and William Carlos Williams. The other poetry classes focused more on contemporary poets such as Mary Oliver, Maya Angelou, and Toni Morrison. Each of these authors have influenced my writing in some way, whether through their brevity, free verse, use of language, craft moves, or their subject matter.
I also read some memoirs in preparation for my creative project. A few that inspired my writing were The Dream House by Carmen Miranda Machado, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King, and Somebody’s Daughter by Ashley C. Ford. Ford visited my nonfiction writing workshop when she was the Writing in Residence at Ball State University in 2021. She told us that we are the only ones that can tell our truth. That no one else can tell it for us. Ford’s
statement somehow gave me the permission I needed to talk about my husband’s medical traumas and the consequent struggles that followed.
Although most of my writing has been in flash and short form poetry, my subject did not lend itself well to shorter forms. My husband’s medical issues were complicated and intense. My life was falling apart during that time. Our sole source of income was gone. My husband was self-employed and ran his own company that I didn’t legally have access to. We do not live close to family and I had to rely heavily on friends to help out with my children. There were so many things that kept forcing their way into my writing, that the essay sections got longer and longer. The short forms of flash and poetry that I felt comfortable with were no longer serving the purpose that I needed.
The final draft only contains four poems. Three of them from the original eight poems that I started with. These four poems add to the essays in some way instead of repeating what has already been shared in prose. My intent is that these poems give insight into my feelings, emotions, or our family and relationships that will connect with the reader in a way that the essays are unable to. Although I find the essay form great for sharing large amounts of information and details, I still rely on the poetic form to express emotions. I feel it allows my voice to change. A change in format allows a different perspective, a different voice, or a change in point of view. I can be Paul expressing remorse for the things he’s lost, or share my biggest fear.M. A
Balance and connectivity
No full textLocated in the heart of downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, this mixed-use development reimagines the corporate workplace to improve humans’ health and well-being, work/life balance, and community connections in an urban environment. While focusing on the human experience, this project becomes a place of balance between the people and infrastructure by encompassing the context, history, entertainment, culture, and arts of the surrounding community. This project seeks to add to the continuous transitional revitalization occurring in Fort Wayne since the late 1990s. Not only will the building seamlessly blend into the cityscape with architectural order and materials, but it will also become a landmark building: The Anthony. In combination with strategic programming to challenge the current idea of the corporate workplace and how it operates, the grocery store and pharmacy, courtyard oasis, venue overlooking the skyline, and art walkway all promote inclusion and connection with the public community. By focusing on and allowing all the surrounding context to leave an imprint on this building, The Anthony can serve as a model of how to specifically design for human priority and healthy cities.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Blending nature and architecture
No full textBiophilia is a term often used in architecture but seldom practiced. Even when put in practice, it is little explored. This project aims to create a comprehensive experience of biophilia through biophilic design and help create a more connected and diverse community. Biophilia is a term in which we humans inherently tend to or want to be connected and closer to nature. Research shows that this is primarily because we were raised in a biocentric world.
The project is a mixed use building with a focus on recreation. This is primarily to show how biophilic design can assist in creating a more diverse community with both residential and commercial land uses. Nature’s role in this project is to attract and get people to be within an environment. While architecture’s role in this project is to give that environment a purpose.
There will be community spaces both indoors and outdoors. The indoor spaces will consist of botanical atriums that overlook residential lounges, as well as some commercial programs. The outdoor spaces will consist of private balconies for personal refuge, as well as community balconies for community engagement. The last outdoor space will consist of a forested park for exploration and refuge.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Influencing health: a research on how social media platforms are driving diet trends
No full textThis creative project includes a longform journalistic article accompanied by a research paper discussing how social media platforms are fueling the influx of diet trends. As social media grows, so does the amount of information and resources that are available to the public. A topic frequently researched by consumers is the newest diets that can help them achieve their health goals. Social media influences the way people think, what they talk about, and what they do on a daily basis. Influencers and experts are taking to social media to share how they believe people can be the healthiest versions of themselves and consumers are ready to accept these answers, but there is the question of how accurate this information is. In the efforts to share new diets, comes the commercialization and marketing of products and services that companies are saying can support the publics’ health goals. It is newsworthy to discuss how social media tactics are persuading people to believe what they want to hear about their health journeys while failing to take the time to consider what is beneficial to themselves as an individual. The research paper analyzes the relevance of marketing in the diet industry and how it is influencing the way people work towards bettering their health. It is important to look at the physical, social, and psychological impacts these social media posts are having on individuals and society as a wholeM. A
Between the bends
No full textThe new world has revealed its dynamism and vulnerability to culture. The culture is being influenced by the economic framework that secludes people further with each passing generation. However, the 21st century is still young. Humans are gradually rediscovering their power to organize locally - assuring themselves of the vitality in their own lives through the mutual organized efforts of neighbors.
Care for life is seldom fostered through government, private, or religious interests. This project was conceived around these notions – seeking to resolve the instability of growing rural communities when these masters of society fumble their positions of control. The proposal addresses basic infrastructure that can ensure the continuity of civil communal relationships through food security. With sociality, agriculture, and craftsmanship at the core, this proposal hopes to demonstrate ‘how environment cultivates awareness within the occupant’ and ‘how few ingredients fulfill the survival of a human life (light, space, water, food, warmth/shade)’.
Private property is the reality of our system. My family’s hundred acres traces back five generations – making myself the sixth successor. When people’s focus returns to sustaining the good of the land, they have become indigenous.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Footprint
No full textSneaker culture and architecture, though seemingly unrelated, possess a deep interconnection that extends beyond aesthetics and this relationship can provide a unique perspective for envisioning human-centric architectural interventions. Through this lens, architecture becomes a vessel for cultural expression, social interaction, and individual identity within the urban environment.
Footprint reimagines urban spaces by integrating elements of sneaker culture and everyday life into the urban fabric of the Bronx. Nike’s Air Force 1 sneaker has transcended its original intention, like Footprint transcending the nominal intention of a sidewalk and street through architectural interventions. Footprint seeks to highlight the cultural impact of Air Force 1 by creating dynamic environments that celebrate social and individual expression. By integrating urban activities rooted in sneaker culture like a block party, dance performances, and basketball courts, this intervention transforms a mundane urban area into a vibrant hub of pedestrian activity and connection.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
Security in Spaces Designed by the Male Gaze
No full textThesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin
mALL INCLUSIVE: What Can Suburban Malls Become?
No full textBy 2032, Vanessa Parlette and Deborah Cowen from the International Journal of Urban and National Research projects only 150 shopping malls will remain in use in the United States. So what can we do with these large suburban shopping malls? Once revered as a city attraction encompassing everything retail, they are now being gradually abandoned in favor of the easier, more convenient online shopping stores. These empty asphalt deserts have the opportunity to transform themselves into new active villages full of vegetation, community pride, leisure activities, and everyday life. To succeed, these single use retail centers need to promote diverse holistic mixed-used programs for all ages and people. The first program adaptation of the existing infrastructure must feature the creation of a community center. Such a facility will allow residents to enjoy themselves throughout the week both day and night. The focus on leisure activities throughout the site improves livability and the sense of place for the project. Various styles of housing will also reinforce new constant foot traffic, thus also supporting the mall’s retail programming.Thesis (B. Arch.)College of Architecture and Plannin