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(1 - 20 of 100)
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- Title
- Urban Sanctuary: Life and Revitalization Center: Ellis Venia III - Final Boards
- Creator
- Venia Iii, Ellis
- Date
- 2012-04-29, 2012-05
- Description
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The project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a...
Show moreThe project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a place to escape from everyday living. Elements to improve the knowledge and livelihoods of individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease will be implemented allowing the project to become a central node. Creating an environment that promotes relaxation and revitalization within an urban context is of great importance to the project. Partnerships with relative medical facilities will establish a client base and ease the access to the facility. If used successfully, the project could be a cornerstone to multiple facilities across the country.
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- Title
- Urban Sanctuary: Life and Revitalization Center
- Creator
- Venia Iii, Ellis
- Date
- 2012-04-29, 2012-05
- Description
-
The project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a...
Show moreThe project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a place to escape from everyday living. Elements to improve the knowledge and livelihoods of individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease will be implemented allowing the project to become a central node. Creating an environment that promotes relaxation and revitalization within an urban context is of great importance to the project. Partnerships with relative medical facilities will establish a client base and ease the access to the facility. If used successfully, the project could be a cornerstone to multiple facilities across the country.
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- Title
- Urban Sanctuary: Life and Revitalization Center: Ellis Venia III - Graphic Argument + Presentations
- Creator
- Venia Iii, Ellis
- Date
- 2012-04-29, 2012-05
- Description
-
The project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a...
Show moreThe project is a revitalization and life center for people and their families living with diabetes. The goal of the facility is to provide a place to escape from everyday living. Elements to improve the knowledge and livelihoods of individuals who have been diagnosed with the disease will be implemented allowing the project to become a central node. Creating an environment that promotes relaxation and revitalization within an urban context is of great importance to the project. Partnerships with relative medical facilities will establish a client base and ease the access to the facility. If used successfully, the project could be a cornerstone to multiple facilities across the country.
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- Title
- RE-POSITIONING THE CHICAGO BOULEVARD SYSTEM: TOWARDS THE DEFINITION OF AN ACTIVE URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE
- Creator
- Vadacca, Anna
- Date
- 2016, 2016-05
- Description
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How can urban infrastructures be reinterpreted based on their social potential? The thesis discusses the value that infrastructures can have...
Show moreHow can urban infrastructures be reinterpreted based on their social potential? The thesis discusses the value that infrastructures can have in relation to mobility and quality of life, in the context of the urban project, and proposes an example of how underutilized spaces, that pertains to an outdated model of the city, can be re-configured as adaptable and dynamic infrastructures. The Boulevard System of Chicago emerged during the process of “beautification” that the “City Beautiful” movement fostered in the 19th century. From being the “Emerald Necklace”, as it was known, the Boulevard System became today a fragmented infrastructure that mirrors the socio-economic segregation of Chicago neighborhoods. Within the archipelago of different urban realities of the city, the Boulevard System represents today an under-utilized urban space that reinforces the already existing urban thresholds between different urban communities. The goal of the research is to re-think the Boulevard System as a new transportation corridor, able to interact with other urban systems. The proposal for the boulevards is part of an Infrastructure Plan for Chicago that aims to propose ways inwhich different actions on infrastructure can revitalize the City. The idea is to re-activate the boulevard through a series of interventions, articulated around the re-connection of the fragmented system, as a new “ring” infrastructure, and the engagement with the surrounding specificities. The proposed Bus Rapid Transit system should offer an experience through the parks in Chicago and support its reactivation through the promotion of activities and events. Furthermore, the creation of a hub around the Garfield Green Line station is meant to propose a more engaging transit experience around the city of Chicago.
M.S. in Architecture, May 2016
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- Title
- NOVEL AUTONOMOUS DRONE ARCHITECTURE WITH WIRELESS NETWORK USING REAL-TIME SIGNAL PROCESSING AND MOBILE DEVICE FOR ASSISTING RESCUE SERVICE
- Creator
- Kim, Heekyung
- Date
- 2015, 2015-12
- Description
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The Autonomous Drone can be economically one of the effective and efficient tools for disaster management. In this research, for disaster...
Show moreThe Autonomous Drone can be economically one of the effective and efficient tools for disaster management. In this research, for disaster relief operations, Autonomous Drone Architecture with wireless network provides disaster assistance by tracking a survivor and getting important information from multiple sensors on it. [1] ADWN architecture consist of two different platforms, Raspberry pi and Arduino, to separate their roles of the process, which are like collecting the sensor data and sending control signal from Raspberry Pi to Arduino. Once gathering data from sensors and transmitting it to Raspberry Pi, it can analysis by applying signal processing formula in real-time. [2] In this case, Raspberry Pi can multitask process and use various language libraries such as OpenCV, Python, and others. Also, Raspberry Pi can add lots of sensors, a camera, and other kinds of boards. Using these features, transmitted data can be processed in real-time and be sending to Arduino to control with reduced error. These strength of ADWN architecture provides scalability and high availability to control drone as a disaster assistance.
M.S. in Electrical Engineering, December 2015
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- Title
- Interview with Robert Gordon
- Creator
- Illinois Institute of Technology. University Archives and Special Collections
- Date
- 2017-06-20
- Description
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This interview with Robert Gordon, Illinois Tech architecture alumnus, architect, planner, artist, and author, was conducted on June 6, 2017...
Show moreThis interview with Robert Gordon, Illinois Tech architecture alumnus, architect, planner, artist, and author, was conducted on June 6, 2017 by Ralph Pugh and Adam Strohm.
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- Title
- SHARING COMMUNITY HOUSING YOUNG PROFESSIONALS IN CHINESE BIG CITIES
- Creator
- ZHANG, HAOYU
- Date
- 2018
- Description
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In the past few decades, China has achieved an unbelievable fast development, from a poor after-war country to the second largest economy in...
Show moreIn the past few decades, China has achieved an unbelievable fast development, from a poor after-war country to the second largest economy in the world. Under the leadership of the Chinese central government and people’s corporate effort, China made significant achievements in its economic growth, modernization construction. With these achievements, Chinese urbanization has gone through a rapid development and expansion process. Nowadays, city living quality and urban development became one of the most popular focal points in Chinese people’s daily life.The Chinese urbanization enters rapid expansion era. Urbanization with Chinese characteristics does bring a rich material life and improve the standard of people’s living. Meanwhile, city problems started to appear and bring inexpediency and troubles to urban resident’s daily life. At the same time when cities are developing, the distance between people seems to get further. Comparing to other groups of people, the young professionals, are facing more challenges in the cities. They are under pressure from intense competition and high living cost. Most of them must live in space with bad conditions and gradually lose confidence under the heavy load from life. They are also in self-enclosed status, losing normal social relationships and scare to communicate with others. In Chinese big cities, having a comfortable space to live and not being lonely seems to be an unattainable wish for the young generation. Meanwhile, as an emerging economic pattern, Sharing Economy started to appear in most countries of the world during past years. China, as one of the largest economies, and a country with extremely high population base and rapid development speed became the best place for sharing economy to be developed. The Chinese urbanization situation gave a massive push to the sharing economy which is highly expected and considered to be able to solve the problem of conflict between people and urban. This thesis aims to prove that the idea of sharing can create an efficient, economical and comfortable living environment for young professionals in Chinese big cities, by looking at the urbanization with Chinese characteristics, young professionals living conditions, the development of sharing economy in China and developing a community prototype. This community will help young people to relieve living stress and rebuild social connections, also become a solution to reduce the conflict between young professionals and urban environment.
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- Title
- House museums In Chicago: a re-examination of motives, origins, and transformations of the institutions
- Creator
- Whittaker, Daniel Joseph
- Date
- 2018
- Description
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A house museum is a former residence converted into a publicly accessible structure, which preserves an identity of its original domestic...
Show moreA house museum is a former residence converted into a publicly accessible structure, which preserves an identity of its original domestic history. These houses shelter a wide variety of institutions with a diverse range of imperatives and services. With a focus on Chicago house museums, this dissertation seeks an overarching pattern underlying this conversion and reuse of residential buildings. This dissertation focuses on six house museums in Chicago: the Palmer Castle, the Harding Castle, the Clarke House, the Glessner House, the Madlener House and the Robie House. The Palmer and Harding Castles ceased to exist as house museums and are no longer standing.Conventional archival research conducted during the initial phases yielded historiographies that corroborate as well as contradict popular stories about the process by which the houses were preserved, salvaged and converted. Key primary-source research includes interviews with persons involved in—and observant of—motivations and forces in play upon these six case studies. Texts of the interviews are included in appendices. The dissertation reveals how select individuals (acting variously as architects, historians, concerned citizens, and leaders of institutions) influenced the creation of the six house museums. This dissertation contains a chronicle and an evaluation of the values which informed and influenced the house museum condition in Chicago in an environment which largely pre-dated the historic building preservation movement in America. The case studies show that the persons and parties involved in saving various houses for reuse did not generally execute definitive plans, in full, with a clear ultimate goal. Instead, in all cases, individuals and small groups of people fought an array of idiosyncratic battles, often yielding short-term victories. Economic pressures, political conditions, and societal values evolve, ushering in new opportunities and new dangers for nascent institutions inhabiting former residences. As each generation of directors, curators and governing boards mature and matriculate, the goals and objectives which influenced the reuse of their house museums changed. The very notion of attaining some sort of permanent statis has been found, through this research, to be elusive. Dynamism in both the people and the institution reusing these house museums can yield positive outcomes ensuring preservation of the institution of the house museum.
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- Title
- THE LATIN AMERICAN EXPORT: IMPLEMENTING LATIN AMERICAN URBAN STRATEGIES TO REDEVELOP AND RECONSTRUCT BRONZEVILLE
- Creator
- Saldaña Perales, Alejandro
- Date
- 2018
- Description
-
The district and neighborhood of Bronzeville, located in the Near South Side of Chicago, suffers from crime, unemployment, abandonment, and...
Show moreThe district and neighborhood of Bronzeville, located in the Near South Side of Chicago, suffers from crime, unemployment, abandonment, and urban decay; more so than many of its metropolitan peers such as New York City, Los Angeles, or San Francisco.In Latin America, multidisciplinary operations and strategies focused on the investment in public spaces, mobility, and public assets have been successful in transforming decaying neighborhoods and redeveloping slums and blighted areas turning them into vibrant communities.Contextualizing and abstracting such strategies has the potential to import such ideas into new urban contexts; in this case, the United States of America, and to be implemented over the decaying North American urban fabric.
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- Title
- Making A Hot, Arid, Desert Arab City More Livable: Investigating the Role of Street Design in Enhancing Walkability in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Creator
- Almahdy, Omar Esam
- Date
- 2020
- Description
-
Since the introduction of automobiles in the 1950s, cities in Saudi Arabia have evolved around an automobile infrastructure. Riyadh, the...
Show moreSince the introduction of automobiles in the 1950s, cities in Saudi Arabia have evolved around an automobile infrastructure. Riyadh, the capital city of Saudi Arabia with a population of over 7.2 million, is facing an urban mobility challenge. For most inhabitants, driving is the only transportation available, since there is not yet an efficient public transit system. Currently, contemporary urban streets in Riyadh are limited to automobiles and inaccessible to pedestrians. Creating a walkable environment and improving walkability could solve numerous problems like the obesity crisis, the lack of city vibrancy, traffic congestion, environmental injustice, and social isolation. In this research, I investigate the climatic, geographic, social, and cultural factors that influence walkability in Riyadh as a hot, arid, and desert Arab city. The study uses mixed methods that include structured streetscape observations and pedestrian activity mapping as well as surveys and interviews with Riyadh’s citizens. Also, more data were collected through interviews with experts in Saudi urban planning and development. The issue of walkability in Riyadh extends beyond the design of the built environment. Many non-physical barriers hinder people from walking. Again, the perception of the streets as thoroughfares for automobiles only has deepened the problem. However, the lack of adequate sidewalks on most streets is the main reason why people do not walk. Also, this lack is a critical indicator of the dearth of efficient and proper urban design. The harsh climatic conditions along with the occasional sandstorms as well as polluted ambient air make the walking experience uncomfortable most of the year. To sum up, this study indicates that people’s awareness of the value and importance of having walkable streets and minimizing the reliance on motorized transport modes is a key driver in creating a pedestrian-friendly street.
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- Title
- REVISITING MODERNIST MASS-HOUSING: RESIDENTS AS ACTIVE AGENTS OF CHANGE
- Creator
- Shah, Nadia
- Date
- 2021
- Description
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In this PhD research, I have examined the modernist approach of mid-20thcentury mass housing projects against the backdrop of post-colonial...
Show moreIn this PhD research, I have examined the modernist approach of mid-20thcentury mass housing projects against the backdrop of post-colonial nation building and the need for housing refugees through resettlement projects after World War II. In this epoch most of the refugees were accommodated in newly decolonized nation states that were struggling to create their national identity as ‘modern'. It was at this critical moment in history, when the West assumed the paternalistic role of development of the so-called ‘Third World’, the ‘Global South’ or the ‘Underdeveloped Nations’, that they defined what is 'modern' using Western standards of ‘normalcy’. Aboard this international development project, architectural modernism’s response was to ‘generalize problems’ and provide ‘normative prescriptions’ as solutions based on rational models. I have reviewed the timeline of modernist ideas that led to mass housing and the associated notion of ‘normalization of space,’ presenting three scales used to organize society: regional planning, land use zoning, and mass-produced architecture, as a prescriptive process. I have examined architecture’s ‘normalization’ as a source of conflict for nation states in their process of national identity formation. I argue that the pedagogy of both modernism and late modernism, presented cultural distinction as an intermediary condition that was subject to change. In particular, modernist architecture engaged with the “concept of normalcy” for the formation of a modern society through spatial and physical organization. Using the case study of Pakistan, I present how this notion was at odds with Pakistani nationalism, since the country was created on the premise to house a traditional society. I have used the example of the Greek architect, Constantinos Doxiadis and his trajectory of late modernism for solving the global housing crisis after World War II. For this purpose, I present the case of a particular post World War II refugee resettlement project called Korangi Town in Karachi Pakistan. This case is studied in the light of modernist planning and architectural models to examine what was proposed, designed, and predicted by this professional architect and how Korangi Town has evolved in the past sixty years. The objective is to see how the new normal architecture and planning standards of the West were received in the non-Western culture? The case study of Korangi Town reveals that the residents of a locale may organize themselves along cultural and ethnic lines, deviating from implemented prescriptive and normative solutions. The changes that the residents made to their built environment through the processes identified as ‘appropriation’, ‘adaptation’ and ‘expansion’ in the dissertation are interpreted as the signs of their active agency. The residents’ agency emerges to reshape their built environs to meet their cultural and individual needs, but most of all their economic needs. These observations show that rather than being passive recipients of ready-made and prescriptive solutions, the residents were active agents in adjusting and adding to their environment. Inhabitants’ active agency needs attention by the planning and architecture professions to assure that environments intended for them have their meaningful input. This dissertation raises questions about how these professions can support this active agency from the beginning and through the planning and design processes.
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- Title
- TOWARD A MODERN CIVIC MONUMENTALITY: ARCHES, VAULTS, AND DOMES IN POSTWAR AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE
- Creator
- Amado Petroli, Marcos
- Date
- 2021
- Description
-
This dissertation studies the use of arcuated structures in post-World War II American civic buildings, which serve both to answer the...
Show moreThis dissertation studies the use of arcuated structures in post-World War II American civic buildings, which serve both to answer the practical and functional demands of the architectural program, and to communicate a distinct and hierarchical character inherent to the very genesis of civic architecture. This research demonstrates how a generation of multicultural architects, educated in the academic tradition, with the collaboration of structural engineers, participated in the expansion of the syntax and vocabulary of modern architecture at a time when the language of monumentality was also being discussed. In doing so, they moved away from a Bauhaus-German doctrine that promoted a universal, orthogonal, and homogeneous architectural language, serving all types of buildings. In this context, this research redefines the relationship between academic tradition and modern approaches to monumentality in American architecture, which are usually seen as antagonistic languages. To test the hypothesis that these new arched forms, of high structural engineering, were linked to both modern and academic aspects, and more precisely, French roots, this research addresses three main issues: (i) the mistrust of the new monumentality, which was often mystified and associated with totalitarian regimes; (ii) the analysis of this production through pioneering case studies in postwar arched structures; and (iii) the relationship between academic tradition and modern architecture, with an emphasis on the theory of "architectural character." Finally, this research concludes that the construction of this civic monumentality in the United States was not only a rational response to special programs and an opposition to the universal character of modern buildings, but also the result of an immigration of more inclusive ideas, which, reacting with the local tradition and heritage of the Beaux-Arts system, gave rise to an autochthonous American production.
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- Title
- An aircraft hangar and the study of long-span metal structures
- Creator
- Sharpe, David C. (David Carold)
- Date
- 1962-06
- Description
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The study of long-span structures developed from a design problem for an aircraft hangar. The problem of the aircraft hangar was concerned...
Show moreThe study of long-span structures developed from a design problem for an aircraft hangar. The problem of the aircraft hangar was concerned with the development of a reasonable structurtal type into an architectural solution. Several types were considered; the truss, the arch, a rigid frame system in prestressed concrete. These were discarded in favor of a rigid frame system of steel that seemed to give the best visual solution.
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- Title
- ENERGY INNOVATIONS IN BUILDINGS AND URBAN FABRICS
- Creator
- Hirematt, Chandrasekharaiah Ashish
- Date
- 2021
- Description
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In his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky...
Show moreIn his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), said “…you can actually invest in better infrastructure to do things better.” However, the population grows at the rate of almost one billion per decade. With about four fifths of it happening in urban areas, the challenge for sustainability is huge and the key for the future.Urban fabrics are expanding both vertically as well as horizontally to accommodate the population growth. With the scale of expansion happening, challenges such deforestation, resource depletion, habitat destruction, energy production and consumption are some of the major challenges that need to be focused on ecologically. It is also important to note that ecological solutions are very highly dependent on social and economic progress of the society. Energy efficient design is one which does zero or minimal damage to the environment while meeting the energy needs of the society. This thesis will discuss the concept of developing energy efficient designs as well as net zero designs in urban settings. With the help of three projects, this thesis aims to discover the challenges along with the obvious advantages of such designs. The first experiment is to look at the reduction of energy consumption in the city of Chicago with multiple neighborhoods set up in an iron grid. It was observed that taller buildings are much more energy efficient due to the reduction of surface area exposed to the external environment. This observation was used to develop a climate specific energy efficient urban fabric design in the city of Shenzhen. The design of the off-shore tower involves tackling larger issues such as the pandemic while having energy production as a bi-product of the same. Thus, the thesis argues that investment in infrastructure to build a better infrastructure should be done to solve social and economic challenges which will, in turn make it easier to produce energy efficient designs.
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- Title
- A Hybrid Data-Driven Simulation Framework For Integrated Energy-Air Quality (iE-AQ) Modeling at Multiple Urban Scales
- Creator
- Ashayeri, Mehdi
- Date
- 2020
- Description
-
To date, limited work has been done to collectively incorporate two key urban challenges: climate change and air pollution for the design of...
Show moreTo date, limited work has been done to collectively incorporate two key urban challenges: climate change and air pollution for the design of sustainable and healthy built environments. Main limitations to doing so include the existence of large spatiotemporal gaps in local outdoor air pollution data and a lack of a formal theoretical framework to effectively integrate localized urban air pollution data into sustainable built environment design strategies such as natural ventilation in buildings. This work hypothesizes that emerging advanced computational modeling approaches, including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) techniques, along with big open data set initiatives, can be used to fill some of those gaps. This can be achieved if urban air quality explanatory factors are properly identified and effectively connected to the current building performance simulation workflows.Therefore, the primary objective of this dissertation is to develop a hybrid AI-based data-driven simulation framework for integrated Energy-Air Quality (iE-AQ) modeling to quantify the combined energy reduction profiles and health risks implications of sustainable built environment design. This framework (1) incorporates dynamic human-centered factors, including mobility and building occupancy among others into the model, (2) interlinks land use regression (LUR), inverse distance weighting (IDW), and building energy simulation (BES) approaches via the R computational platform for developing the model, and (3) develops a web-based platform and interactive tool for visualizing and communicating the results. A series of novel machine learning approaches are tested within the workflow to improve efficiency and accuracy of the simulation model. A multi-scale model of urban air quality (using PM2.5 concentrations as the end point) and weather localization model with high spatiotemporal resolution was developed for Chicago, IL using low-cost sensor data. The integrated energy and air quality model was tested for the prototype office building at multiple urban scales in Chicago through applying air pollution-adjusted natural ventilation suitable hours.Results showed that the proposed ML approaches improved model accuracy above traditional simulation and statistical modeling approaches and that incorporating dynamic building-related factors such as human activity patterns can further improve urban air quality prediction models. The results of integrated energy and air quality (iE-AQ) analysis highlight that the energy saving potentials for natural ventilation considering local ambient air pollution and micro-climate data vary from 5.2% to 17% within Chicago. The proposed framework and tool have the potential to aid architects, engineers, planners and urban health policymakers in designing sustainable cities and empowering analytical solutions for reducing human health risk.
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- Title
- THE SPATIAL BLOCK: NATURAL VENTILATION IN HOT AND DRY CLIMATES OF TURKEY
- Creator
- BAY, EZGI
- Date
- 2020
- Description
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The housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI...
Show moreThe housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI, the governmental mass housing administration. Its residential projects based on ‘standard regulations’ and ‘high-rise typologies’ have been widely criticized. The ‘one size fits all’ approach is known for its limited exploration of contemporary needs of this society. Low quality urban and architectural conditions in TOKI projects are believed to marginalize the living standards of the residents. Sprawling rapidly throughout different regions around the country, a permanent complaint of TOKI residents is related to outdoor and indoor thermal conditions. As consequence of this ‘homogenization effect’, overheated and underheated conditions are experienced in these ‘naturally ventilated buildings’ designed with few considerations regarding the surrounding environment. Minimal research has been done on how TOKI towers perform under extreme seasonal conditions and what other building forms could be used in consonance with localized Turkish climates. Most TOKI projects have been developed for ‘hot and dry climates’ that also correspond to areas with larger urban growth from recent migrations. Through post-occupancy evaluations, this dissertation investigates a TOKI built in this climatic context. At the same time, this study brings new ‘typological’ alternatives analyzed through energy simulations and computer fluid dynamics (CFD). These methods are intended to bring clarity about the dynamic of thermal stress inside this project, and how renewable sources, such as prevailing winds, could be used to alleviate thermal related problems in consonance with ‘building forms’ derived from ‘vernacular architecture’ in this region.Inputs from residents illustrate the dynamics of thermal stress and reliance on natural ventilation in summer conditions. It is confirmed through results of the Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) and the Air Changes per Hour (ACH) obtained from Simulations in the IES-VE software. The relationship between human thermal comfort and indoor microclimate in TOKI housing can be improved through the reformulation of its residential typologies. The ‘Spatial Block’ approach presented in this dissertation brings the idea of how urban and architectural decisions in addition to improving indoor climatic conditions and thermal satisfaction or residents, brings them improved social integration.
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- Title
- Regenerating the Jordan River: Through Ecological and Sociocultural Interventions
- Creator
- Shadid, Rula
- Date
- 2019
- Description
-
The Jordan River is often described as one of the world’s most unique eco-systems and is attributed to serving as a cradle of history, culture...
Show moreThe Jordan River is often described as one of the world’s most unique eco-systems and is attributed to serving as a cradle of history, culture, and spirituality in the ancient and modern times. Archaeological evidence on its banks reveal signs of some of the world’s earliest existences of civilization. Its history as a meeting place for the crossing and exchange between plants, animals, and human societies, along with its strong association to three of the world’s great religions – Christianity, Islam, and Judaism – has made it a world known and important site. Being located in the Middle East, in the heart of a complex political conflict that has been ongoing since the middle of the last century, years of war, political clashes, and water and resource exploitation has reduced the river from a once lush and bio-diverse ecosystem to nothing but a polluted stream. Today the river is a “hydro-border” that divides the competing nations around it and segregates the people of the Jordan Valley in which the river runs via militarized security efforts. The conflict has left the region politically and socially segregated and has eliminated the productive exchange which once allowed the valley to thrive while efforts to protect, preserve, or rehabilitate the river are given little chance to succeed. The thesis addresses river degradation and social segregation as two interdependent issues in the Jordan Valley. It highlights saving the Jordan River as a driver for integration between the conflicting society and points to the Jordan Valley river border as a site for regenerative interventions that suggest an alternative and productive way of life in an area filled with conflict, economic distress, and spatial divide through the collaboration and exchange of efforts, ideas, and resources.
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- Title
- WIND MICRO-CLIMATE CONFORMATION IN HOT DRY CITIES; RIYADH
- Creator
- Alhawsah, Saeed Idris
- Date
- 2019
- Description
-
Recently, the transformation in urban development in Saudi Arabia has caused abrupt and sporadic change to its desert climate. Careful...
Show moreRecently, the transformation in urban development in Saudi Arabia has caused abrupt and sporadic change to its desert climate. Careful environmental consideration of vernacular architecture practices is lost by the vast modernization. The significant changes of modernization contain desertification, sand rapping due to massive urban construction, and urban heat islands, all that has created a severe issue with sandstorms. Saudi’s modernization changed sandstorms phenomena from its seasonal occasions to a frequent rapid increase as a result of the urban inability to maintain its naturally mild and soothing condition. All the global incidents from the natural refugees in Gobi Desert, China, to the 1930s U.S. dustbowl are evident to the urban environmental disturbance. This research is an environmental investigation to reduce the sandstorm effects in Saudi Arabia through designing multiple territorial landscape interventions to filter out the sandstorms and trap its sediments to avoid reoccurring sandstorms.
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- Title
- Bungalow - Alternate front elevations for wide or narrow lots
- Creator
- Gordon, Robert Philip
- Date
- 1990
- Description
-
Hand-colored laser print.
- Collection
- Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010
- Title
- Tahiti Hotel: Village des Pecheurs
- Creator
- Gordon, Robert Philip
- Date
- 1990-11
- Description
-
Color conceptual drawing of a "fishermen's village" for the Sheraton Hotel project on the island of Moorea, northwest of Tahiti.
- Collection
- Robert Philip Gordon papers, 1963-2010