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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
The Process Project App, addresses the impact and value of architecture in all aspects and provides users with necessary information and guidance needed in one cohesive interface. The app uses psychographic and GIS mapping to analyze existing sites. community demographics, and provide visualizations and information about the potential impact of the building ideas. By doing so, the app can help architects design buildings that cater to the specific needs and desires of the people who will use and inhabit them, while also promoting sustainable behaviors and reducing the environmental impact of the building. Ultimately, the app aims to create a community-driven platform for architecture ideas that can lead to more efficient and sustainable buildings, happier occupants, and a better overall user experience that can shape the path of this new wave of architecture.
This thesis examines the benefit and need to integrate biophilic design strategies in modern architectural buildings. It discusses the extreme dissociation humanity has experienced from nature in the technological age, and the negative effects therein. Additionally, it dives into the way modern advancements have also led to a reliance upon artificial interfacing between individuals, rather than a traditional, in-person, face-to-face connection. This will further define biophilic design strategies, case studies and inspiration images of buildings in which they are already implemented, and how they can be utilized more. Lastly, it describes and displays a design concept for a youth center located at G.R. Herberger Park, interacting with the Central Arizona Project Canal. This project ultimately will be the first step in reconnecting people with nature and with each other, hopefully creating a butterfly effect that will spread throughout the city, state, and eventually the country.
The dynamic between the center and periphery urban settings in El Salvador shows that the periphery lacks resources, while the center has an abundance. The resource differences can be seen in areas such as technology, education, and safety. The phenomenon of gender inequality is also ever-present; making it difficult for female youth in rural El Salvador to pursue a future outside of their communities. By identifying this social issue in El Salvador, Muchas Mas, a non-profit organization has created a hub for the rural female youth to get educational resources in the country’s capital of San Salvador. In coalition with Muchás Mas, the intent of this creative thesis project is to explore ways in which a social issue can affect the architectural design process. With the hope of exposing new conclusions about the design process, the goal is to show how architecture can work to improve a social issue.
Wildfires are rapidly becoming one of the biggest issues that California has to face. Every year, fire season gets longer as lack of rain, high winds and faulty power lines combine in a recipe for disaster. Nearly the entire state, north to south, has been affected by at least one major firestorm since the fall of 2017. They have become the new normal, razing towns in hours and leaving nothing but wreckage in their wake. Because of this growing problem, solutions for fire-proofing existing towns and strategies for rebuilding those affected are more important than ever. Using design as a lens with which to address this problem, this thesis explores materials that have been tested and proven to be more fire-resistant, as well as outlines through case studies how communities and designers can implement these strategies to create safer communities in wildfire-prone areas. The case studies paint a variety of pictures of what fire-resistant architecture and design can be, offering a comprehensive set of guidelines for both community members and designers to move forward with building or rebuilding structures in a wildland urban interface zone. Researching homes built in both California and Australia widens the perspective of how large the problem of wildfire truly is in terms of building destruction. Solutions such as prefab modular home construction are also becoming a popular option as they are fast and inherently more fire-resistant than traditionally rebuilt homes. At the urban and regional level, research has revealed the importance of planning homes and communities in a way which integrates with the natural topography of the site and minimizes surrounding fuel loads. In addition, building materials such as concrete, straw bale and heavy timber are the most fire-resistant, especially when clad with an outer layer of tile, brick or other noncombustible material and with protected vent openings. Interior materials should minimize the usage of wood detailing, unless using certain products that have the appearance of wood but are actually created by non-combustible materials. Homes should have more compartmentalization to slow down a fire from spreading should one occur in the structure. Fire detection/suppression systems should be up to date and using the latest technology.