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Interconnecting Architecture and Nature
Get PDFOver the last decade, if not more, Architecture has
blown up and grown to be something that can be so wildly
unique but also in today?s day and age, so incredibly modern.
This being said, I think sometimes Architects lose sight or
even ignore what humans truly need for a healthy wellbeing
and just focus on the beauty of the design. But, why not have
both?
Ask yourself what is considered while designing a residential
building? A lot does go into the process and phases but
is the wellbeing of the resident being considered and what
could be done/designed to help them while they decide to
reside there? This thesis helps answer the question, ?How can
interconnecting Architecture and nature within residential
buildings affect residents in a positive way?? The goal within
this thesis is to interconnect the natural world to residential
building complexes using the research of biophilic design and
environmental psychology. This will help to create a positive
environment for people to live in and be a part of
Breaking the Habit: A Fight Against the Monotony of Tract Housing
Get PDFThis project looks at tract housing from the perspective of the homeowner. Tract housing has caused
an identity crisis within neighborhoods across the nation, and it?s time we start taking a more forward
approach to changing that. Many have tried and failed, but many have taken it on through the
construction of a house. This project looks at the design of a house.
In tract housing there are 4 steps in the process before the homeowner gets in the house. The first
step, the step this project focuses on, is the design of the floor plan. In this step, designers design
houses that end up in a library for the developers to pick and choose from. Next is the development
step, where the developers choose their floor plans and create the neighborhood they are going to
build. Following that is construction, when the houses are actually built, where others have tried to
change the process and have failed. Last is to sell the house to the homeowner.
By focusing on the design of the house instead of the construction of a house, we can start thinking
of things in a different light. There are rooms in a house that are in every house, and with that
knowledge we can create standardized spaces that we can use to assemble a house
Illuminating the Invisibility of the Other: Fargo Jewish Cemetery Chapel
Get PDFWhen we unravel the stories of Jewish people in North Dakota, we see that they intersect with
layers of Jewish experience across history. This community is both one of the most obscure
and exemplary examples of the Jewish American story throughout the world and time - a
scattered people, continually the ?other? of society, whose future rests in the sacred rituals of
remembrance that have sustained the culture for thousands of years.
In the late 1880s, Jews were a notable minority among the waves of ethnic immigrant groups
flocking to North Dakota. In the 1950s, the population of Fargo, alone, was around 500 people
(Jewish Virtual Library, n.d.). Yet in 2022, it is estimated there are no more than 400 Jewish
residents in the state of North Dakota.
This number suggests the reality that the Jewish community in North Dakota is nearly invisible,
dwindling and in need of a reinvigoration of communal memory. A cemetery chapel here holds
the potential to become a destination of remembrance and an opportunity to participate in
Jewish life. The fundamentally spiritual and communally mnemic nature of cemeteries holds
the potential to illuminate the invisibility of Jewish stories in North Dakota while uniting them
with Jewish experiences throughout history
Breaking Barriers by Preserving the Future: Fergus Falls Kirkbride
Get PDFThe thought came to me over the Summer when I was visiting
my hometown. There is a historical building called the Regional
Treatment Center (RTC), and over the years, I have seen many
attempts to repurpose it, but all have failed. We have visitors
come from across the country and even other continents to see
the RTC, and the city is losing out on potential profit for the
community by not utilizing the RTC. Now, the city wants to
tear the whole structure down (except the main tower), costing
over 9 million dollars. Along with the great cost, loss of visitors,
and loss to history, it is harmful to the environment by
destroying tons of building material from a building that is still
structurally sound. I know there must be a way to preserve this
building while making it useful in the present and future. My
goal is to break the barriers of past and present and the idea
that new is always better by creating a design for the building
that can benefit the community along with educating the public
by informing and stopping the rumors associated with it?s past.
By looking at the few other rescued Kirkbrides as examples, I
hope to create a design that will allow this one to thrive
Racing Towards a Sustainable Future
Get PDFThe premier series for dirt track racing (World of Outlaws) has 174 races in
31 states across the country each year. With each race comes different fans, drivers,
and crew members to these individual communities. While there are many assets
that comes with these nights there is also ways that these moments can be more
sustainable and provide a better overall experience for those involved. My project
will address the concerns that come with dirt track racing across the country by
improving upon the existing speedway facilities and installing new lodging and
shop spaces on the site. The challenges with these designs will be: how to make the
additions multipurpose for different uses of the facility throughout the year, how to
develop a plan for other speedways to utilize more sustainable strategies, and how
to tie each design element together. The question to be asked in this project is ?How
could dirt track racing become a more sustainable endeavor while providing a more
positive user experience overall.
Bottega - Desire and Distance: A Journey Through Storied Architecture, Art, and Fashion in Venice, California
Get PDFWhile we are constantly immersed in a world driven by efficiency and
immediacy, the result is a collapsed distance of seduction and desire and a
diluted connection to making and the arts.
Venice, California was intended to emulate the character and stories of
Venice, Italy, to create an emphasis on the arts and fashion in the United
States. In the dawn of our consumer culture, this intention was lost along
the way. Journeys through architecture, whether they are in dreams
or waking reality, can inspire meaningful and memorable cadence and
creation that restores empathy and connects to stories by maintaining an
interpretive, participatory distance for those who encounter them. Based
on paradigmatic influences from Octavio Paz?s interpretation of Marcel
Duchamp?s, The Large Glass, the quest for love in Hypnerotomachia
Poliphili, the Janus Head, and inspirations from evocative writings in Joseph
Brodsky?s Watermark, this thesis proposes a campus of maker spaces and
galleries for fashion and art that connects users to stories, culture, and each
other while on a journey through the buildings and site.
Like Duchamp?s The Large Glass, the buildings on the campus act as a hinge
to bring stories together and open layered spaces of wonder and desire.
Constructed by meaningful tectonics and materials, the architectural frame
houses a path that intrigues a cognizant involvement with spatial encounter,
aiming to inspire and awaken others to make and create art, fashion, and
architecture
The Efficacy of Modular Design in Healthcare
Get PDFModular design has become an industry leading philosophy for the future of community-based health services. Modular construction applied as a design principle subdivides a construction system into independently fabricated units, similar in size, shape, and functionality to formulate a structure. The benefits of this approach include time-to-build efficiency, cost-effectiveness, quality and precision, minimal impact, re-use, and modification. This process contradicts traditional construction, pre-fabricating spaces off site to be assembled later. Through correlational research and simulation software, products of modular and traditional construction methods can be compared using operational statistics. The modular approach to healthcare construction has potential to save lives and reduce the risk of patient discomfort. Utilizing these design principles to codify the inherent responsibility of modern healthcare. The purpose of this thesis is to study the efficacy of the current method of modularity among the industry with intention to refine the process for a safer, enjoyable, more efficient, and replicable solution
Treading Lightly: White Earth State Forest Interpretive Center & Nature Park
Get PDFHuman development is the leading factor in wetland habitat loss, whether through
direct removal (i.e. deforestation, draining, damming, etc.) or through inadvertent
means (harmful chemicals, disruption of migration routes, interrupted feeding habits,
etc.). Chemicals leaking into wetland ecosystems contaminates water supplies as well as
harming the native populations, both flora and fauna, of these environments.
Boardwalks, the most common method used for pedestrians in semi-aquatic
environments, are chemically treated to prevent deterioration; these chemicals
frequently leach into the surrounding wetlands.
Sustainable ecological intervention in the White Earth State Forest wetland
ecosystem in the form of an educational nature center and raised-path network can
create opportunities for transformative educational and recreational activities.
Wetlands provide ample natural beauty as well as a higher level of biodiversity than any
other biome found in Northern Minnesota. Additionally, these unique areas tend to be
accessible solely by water craft.
The research undertaken will aim to provide a blueprint for successful,
low-impact intervention in sensitive wetland environments. The research will also
analyze which plant species are more resistant to human impact (chemical resistance,
hardiness, spread, etc.) and suitable for introduction to restore vegetative communities
based on additional factors such as root structure, life span, growth rate, and
aesthetics. The aim of this project is to serve as an example for wetland intervention
and development projects located in the coniferous and deciduous wetlands of Northern
Minnesota
Re-Imagining the Nuclear Power Industry Through Innovation, Architecture, and Education for a More Sustainable Dynamic Between the Built and Natural Environment
Get PDFThe natural world is being destroyed and needs to be protected. To do that
we need low polluting and efficient forms of energy production. The fossil
fuel industry is one of the main sources of harmful pollutants that are
damaging our environment and contributing to multiple health, social, and
environmental crises. The need to transition to clean reliable energy has
never been greater. Nuclear power is the only method that has comparable,
if not less, carbon emissions rates than green energy and is able to be sited
in a variety of geographies and climates. After decades of innovation the
latest Gen IV nuclear reactors are safer and more efficient. One reactor that
is in development by General Electric is a sodium-cooled fast reactor called
PRISM. These fast reactors convert unusable isotopes into more fuel during
the fission process. Fast reactors can reuse spent fuel from older Gen II and
III reactors that are currently in operation. This reduces the radioactivity
lifespan of the fuel from thousands of years to hundreds. This thesis proposes
a contemporary plant design with fast reactor technology to recycle spent
fuel while generating electricity and lowering the fuel?s radioactivity lifespan.
Recycled fuel will then be stored in an underground repository until its
radioactive lifespan has ended. This facility will clean up current high level
spent fuel waste sites, reduce utilization of polluting fossil fuels, and educate
the public through the incorporation of a visitor center where people can
learn about the process and safety features in hopes that through education
and architecture the public can accept and support the widespread adoption
A Review of Flow Diagnostic Methods and Applications
Get PDFThis work provides an overview of common flow velocimetry and diagnostic techniques, including their working principles and the application of these techniques. Probe velocimetry techniques such as pitot tubes and hot wire anemometry are discussed along with unintrusive techniques such as Laser Doppler Velocimetry and Particle Image Velocimetry. Density, pressure, and temperature diagnostic methods are also examined, in particular shadowgraph/schlieren imaging, pressure/temperature sensitive paints, and infrared thermography. Benefits and drawbacks of each method are examined as well as the applications. The goal of this review is to provide the reader with a basic understanding of the methods discussed, as well as to give insight as to which methods are particularly useful and applicable to engineering measurements