VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Emmons, Paul F."

Browsing by Author "Emmons, Paul F."

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24 hr Building: A Study into the Cyclical Nature of Architecture
Lancaster, James (Virginia Tech, 2008-09-12)
We live in a society dominated by time. It plays a part in nearly everything we do. Time tells us when to wake up, when to eat, when to be at work, when its time to sleep, and so on. Just as people are controlled by time, so are the buildings we use. Th ese buildings oft en times are very narrowly used. As a result, portions of our cities are full of activity during certain times of the day, while at other times become deserted. What happens to the building when it is not being used? Does the building go to sleep? Do buildings need to sleep? Is it possible to design a mixed-use building in our nations capitol that never sleeps? Th ese are just a few of the questions that began this journey to design 24 hours building and the cyclical nature of the people that inhabit them.
Adapting Lifestyle: The Dwelling
Thurmond, Alana Christine (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-03)
With over half the world living in cities there is a need for designing city housing. The DC Office of Planning did a survey on housing that shows a high percentage of 1 to 2-bedroom apartments and shows a lower percentage of 3 to 4-bedroom apartments. Is there a way to design with different housing typologies to accommodate different needs? Mix-use housing and rowhouses are two different housing typologies. Both of these housing typologies are in the fabric of Washington DC. For my thesis I sought out if mix-use housing along with rowhouses could be combined into a design to accommodate peoples changing needs in housing.
Adaptive Living in the City
Lee, Arnold Ildoo (Virginia Tech, 2016-06-28)
Although living in the city can provide many benefits, it also provides many issues as well. Housing costs are constantly increasing, both physical and mental spaces are sacrificed, and our innate connection to nature is severed. These produce profoundly damaging effects on the human psyche and cause people to migrate from the urban to the suburban and rural areas. The solution is to design more efficient urban buildings that can actively adapt to its inhabitants' programmatic needs and utilizes wood, specifically cross-laminated timber, as its main material to reconnect with nature.
Adaptive Reuse Co-living for Virginia Tech's WAAC (Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center)
Mathur, Arushi (Virginia Tech, 2024-08-13)
Upon my arrival at the Washington-Alexandria Architecture Center (WAAC), I experienced significant challenges in finding suitable accommodation and integrating into the community. Recognizing that many fellow students face similar difficulties, I was inspired to leverage the historical and cultural essence of Old Town Alexandria to create a solution. My thesis explores the potential of adaptive reuse to develop a co-living environment specifically designed for students. This project aims to repurpose existing structures to address the scarcity of student housing while fostering a sense of community. Situated less than eight miles from Washington, DC, WAAC offers a unique professional learning environment for Architecture and Urban Design students, characterized by its interdisciplinary, international, and individual focus. By immersing students in the rich historical and cultural context of Old Town Alexandria, the project enhances their educational experience and well-being through exposure to professional and academic opportunities in both Alexandria and Washington, DC. This adaptive reuse initiative not only revives the essence of Old Town in students' daily lives but also demonstrates how historical preservation and modern functionality can coexist, creating a dynamic and supportive living environment that enriches the student journey.
Adaptive Reuse: Old Building- New Props and Costume- Architectrual Rebirth
Olugbenle, Adedotun Olumuyiwa (Virginia Tech, 2017-02-03)
Across cities in America and the world old buildings are retired to the fate of demolition. The once glorious piece of architecture are seen as unwanted, eyesores and just not fit for today's needs. This thesis seeks to show that with an adaptive-reuse approach, one can restore the 'lost glory' of such old buildings and even add new undiscovered value to its performance and architectural richness.
Adopting an Orphaned Collection
Salmons, John Andrew (Virginia Tech, 2016-02-05)
"Architecture itself is linked not only to other arts but also to the broader context of life; it is only on that scale that we may understand its specific contribution to the formation of the communicative space of culture."* - Dailbor Vesely 2004 Architects have explored Art Galleries as a medium throughout the ages. In 2014, the Corcoran was sold, dismantled and divided between the National Gallery of Art and George Washington University signaling the end of an era of art display in the Nation's Capital. This transformation of a major DC art collection was the impetus for this thesis: to mark the end of an era and to create a new home for the Corcoran Collection. To house this orphaned collection, I have studied similar elements that earlier architects have studied such as light, shadow, and reflection, taking into account the dawn of the next generation of art galleries. The role of this museum is to educate and facilitate information about the collection and the art. Contemporary art galleries that have been built recently included additional areas of services that were originally not part of the Corcoran Museum's building program, such as the role of conservation of historical objects including paintings and works on paper. Another area of my research was the relationship between the viewer and the building. The Corcoran has an extensive collection of American art and art directly from D.C. and it is important to allow direct access for the community and accommodate enough wall space to give context to the art. With the setting of the contemporary art gallery framed, we return back to the research to really question how each of those elements were thought about moving forward. We need light to see, but what had been seen and depicted on great Master's canvases should be protected from light. Should natural light be brought into the gallery spaces even though it damages works on canvas and paper? Can gallery spaces change over time to mirror the objects that they hold? Can the building reflect the area around the gallery but also act as a space of meditation and self-reflection? To adopt means to take another's child, but it can also mean to embrace an idea. In this case we are adopting the collection of William Corcoran and combining it with newer elements found in modern museums. On further evaluation of the gallery it has strong ties to historic D.C. because of its collection and its community outreach however its weakness was due in part of turning its back on the same community that made it strong. I propose moving the collection into the heart of Washington D.C. and combining it with newer ideas of light and gallery services. This process will allow the Corcoran to continue its evolution as a great American collection. *Dailbor Vesely, "Architecture in the Age of Divided Representation." (Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2004), 88-89.
The Agency of Earth on the Site of the Design
Rahimi Bafrani, Raena (Virginia Tech, 2021-07-13)
Earth as a fundamental aspect of the existing conditions of a site has/can/should have agency in design, both historically and today. The aim of this study is to describe the agency of earth in design as a common premise between the disciplines of architecture and landscape architecture. The thesis question is "how can the earth on site have agency on the design?" Thinking of the physical earth, specifically the topography, as one of the basic structures of the existing conditions, the earth should be taken as the most important condition that both architecture and landscape architecture use and share; both disciplines have to deal with context; they both have to deal with surroundings, and then work within systems that exist around them. As landscape architecture has been incredibly important to civilization throughout history, this project looks at different ways that earth has agency in design through important periods of history, from Greeks to contemporary design. While there are many examples in which designers have worked with the existing topography, there are other cases across cultures where people have drastically altered topography. Thinking about those designs, there are many possible answers to this thesis question from using existing hills to making mountains. This thesis explores the creation of an artificial mound, as a monument to indigenous people, in order to revive the missed parts of the earth and empower the ground. The thesis rethinks the whole ground, protecting the earth by turning excavated soil into an important earthwork. The design is not only about creating an earthwork for people, it also transforms invisible earth into a visible structure. Based on the practices of Native American mound builders, the earthwork stands for the values of diversity and equality in the US, creating a gathering space for all people made of the native earth/soil.
Al-Tuaif
Alnajidi, Danah Hamad (Virginia Tech, 2023-05-30)
A total of 42,500 cases of autism are estimated to exist in Saudi Arabia. Many children displaying signs of autism spectrum disorder are concealed by their parents, resulting in an undiagnosed condition due to parental concealment. Many parents are concerned that their child will be stigmatized if others discover he or she has autism. Saudi Arabian culture does not display any signs of autism. Children who are displaying signs of autism spectrum disorder are often hidden by their parents, leading to undiagnosed cases of autism spectrum disorder. In Saudi Arabia, specifically in Riyadh, you will not find any autistic children or adults. Parents are concerned about the negative social consequences of others learning that their child has autism. They typically hide autistic children in separate rooms even when visiting other people's homes. In a study conducted by the American Psychological Association, 37.7% of families report being embarrassed by their autistic child. Further, 63.9% report experiencing difficulties because of society's treatment of autistic people. According to the study, 31.1% of areas do not have autism centers. A number of parks, schools, and malls are currently being constructed in the Al-Hamra neighborhood in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia. This facility will provide neighborhood residents with a safe, supportive, and socially aware environment. It will provide a portion of land near Prince Abdulaziz Bin Mohammed Park. It is crucial to establish a place where neurodivergent people can study, relax, and interact in a social setting. This will break down the stigma associated with neurodivergent people. This will create an open and accepting atmosphere, which will allow neurodivergent people to develop their skills and engage in meaningful activities while feeling safe and secure. This will be beneficial to not only the neurodivergent people but also to the whole community that will benefit from their inclusion.
Alexandria Textile Factory
Baldino, Jenna Michelle (Virginia Tech, 2008-05-08)
The fabric of the city. A folded roof plane. Textile brick. The density of a weave. A fabric's structure. A hem's meter. The selvage. The fringe. Weaving. The connections drawn between textiles and architecture are limitless. Can a building and the processes that occur within it stitch together the holes in a city? The project explores the relationship between weaving and architecture. Can all aspects of the building - from spatial sequences and circulation to structure and skin - be woven?
Aligning Mind, Body, and Spirit Through Breath in Architecture
Barrett, Katie E. (Virginia Tech, 2010-12-01)
At the root of all living beings is our breath -- without it, we are not alive. Eastern practices such as yoga and meditation are conveyed through the awareness of our breath and the encouragement to be present in what our physical bodies are telling us. This awareness is a huge influence in architectural design. Building well and thinking well are in turn living well, and this architectural thesis served as a journey in discovering how human health can manifest itself in a physical building. The architectural project is an Institute for Being and is located in the Shaw neighborhood of Washington, DC. The program of this project consists of spaces to encourage people to seek their own path in spiritual grounding within the otherwise hectic urban context.
The Alternative to Sprawl: A Civil Consolidation - Integrated Interdisciplinary Approach
Moussamim, Saad (Virginia Tech, 2014-06-04)
Being a suggestive method of interpreting, and responding to the suburban context, my approach does not draw guidelines or promotes a personal agenda. In the same way that an architectural treatise is not a handbook, it is far from becoming a written code. It is an attempt at understanding how universal values, from our shared past, can contribute to our designs for the future. Therefore, let us first reinterpret the way we consider architectural history. Let us ask: How did certain patterns of development come about? Not what architectural style they belong to! In this case study, I carefully investigated regional, local, historical and cultural concerns, and responded to the current situation. I will not claim my response to this site as the solution, but one of many possible iterations that could be improved, grown, adjusted and modified. I present to you: The Alternative to Sprawl : A Civil consolidation. This thesis considers the redevelopment of three shopping centers, in Bailey's Crossroads of Fairfax, VA, into a transit-oriented mixed-use community. It is an interdisciplinary integrated approach, based on social issues. Although, it matters to admit that in order to draw a creative, yet informed architectural solution, one has to learn to step away from research and data to come up with truly inspired work. My approach is the alternative to the commonly accepted alternative to sprawl. I believe I can offer a thriving urban environment for every suburban individual, through the consolidation of buildings and public life.
Amending the Capitol
Krueger, Garrett Oliver (Virginia Tech, 2024-06-06)
Whereas, The United States Capitol Building has long been an iconic symbol of the American government and democracy worldwide. The building's design centers on the famous dome, designed by Thomas U. Walter, was completed during the American Civil War in 1863. Frederick Law Olmsted added a large terrace to the building as a part of his landscape in 1892. Olmsted's terrace was the last major addition to the Architecture of the Capitol Building and the icon of American government has been largely maintained since the turn of the 20th century, essentially frozen in time and symbolism. Yet the country has not been idle since the 1890's. The Capitol Building is a living symbol of American government and should therefore change with the American government. Whereas, One example of stalled symbols of change is the number of representatives in the House. This number, 435, has remained unchanged since 1913, despite the population more than tripling. The idea to expand the number of representatives gives the opportunity to update the House of Representatives for the modern era both structurally and architecturally through the addition of a new house chamber to the Capitol Building, just as Walter did over 150 years ago. Whereas, the Capitol Building represents a history of slavery, denied rights, and theft of Native lands and culture just as much as liberty, freedom, and self-determination of government. The lack of new construction means the Capitol has not been able to represent the last century of American history and progress from granting women the right to vote to its role in WWII to the rise of the internet, all monumentally important moments that changed the United States forever into a country and culture that deserves representation in our Capitol. Now, therefore be it resolved that this thesis proposes a new chamber for the House of Representatives to redefine the architecture of the Capitol Building and symbolize the century of history which has yet to be represented in the Capitol. The design process began with a detailed look into the history of the Capitol alongside the history of congress. The symbols embedded in the marble were products of their time, as were the laws and the representatives. Resolved that this project also questions the present and future of Congress. As much as the building serves as symbol and historical icon, it is also a working office building for the United States congress. Given the precipitous fall in congress' productivity over the past decades, the opportunity to provide a new building for the House also is an opportunity provide congress with a more functional space knowing their current chamber was built without electric lights. This new building aims to improve the capabilities of congress while being a symbol for the nation. Resolved that this thesis is about the idea of representing change. The nature of a democratic government is one of changing ideas and laws, and this project seeks to have the Capitol Building embody that aspect. Thomas Jefferson himself is known for saying rejecting change is like we "require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when he was a boy". Congress needs a new coat.
Anadiplosis: In between Cemetery and City, Sacred and Secular
Xu, Haoye (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-06)
Architecture can be related to narrative in many ways. Architecture talks about the form, function, materiality, circulation, environment of artificial space. Narrative has its media, form, method, genre, rhetoric, in order to describe a series of related events or experiences. People are the users of all architectural spaces. The experience of space is always manipulated by the designer from the beginning of the design phase. It is the designer who creates and develops this process, just like the writer, who creates written narratives. In this thesis, I did abundant research on the common ways to complete a written narrative. One type of the rhetoric device, Anadiplosis, which is always used in poetry and lyrics, is the way to create a transition between adjacent sentences and emphasize this transition by repeating the last word of the preceding clause in the next. The downtown area of Savannah, Georgia in the U.S., which was designed by James Edward Oglethorpe, is almost equally divided into 30 smaller wards, most of them with a square in the middle and surrounded by either residential or commercial structures. However, as the Colonial Cemetery was existed before the city sprawled to its nearby area, resulting in two wards that have unique layouts that do not have a typical square. The cemetery, although filled with lawn and trees, has totally different functions and atmosphere compared with these squares, This cemetery creates an important relationship with its adjacent urban area, which is separated by a wall. History of Yellow Fever pandemic and civil war, which is strongly related to the cemetery, were explored during the research. The site is located in a current vacant space outside the east wall of the cemetery. One section of the site would have had a square as part of Oglethorpe's ward design principles. This thesis creates an anadiplosis between the cemetery and the city, as a transition between the sacred and the secular realm. In addition to extending the missing square to the site, this thesis also includes a building that acts as a memorial, while contributing to the urban design and commercial functions of the neighborhood. When people walk from one side to the other throughout the building, the transition is created floor by floor, and each of their functions are both overlapped with the preceding and the subsequent one. Mutual sight lines are also created to remind people of this transition.
The Anamorphic Library
Davies, Kelley Adair (Virginia Tech, 2016-06-30)
This thesis examines the idea of perspective, specifically anamorphic perspective, and how anamorphosis can be applied to architecture. Anamorphosis is a distorted image that appears regular only from a certain point. With a focus on anamorphosis, perspectival drawings became the key component in the design of the library. Perspectives have been embodied in architecture; however, they remained limited to the realm of illusion, distinct from constructed reality. The library contains this duality of illusionism and realism. Similar to reading a book, one might get lost in the story, imagine themself as one of the characters, and question if they are in reality, or in the illusion of the book. To further enforce this falsehood, the library holds fictional books, ranging from fairy tales to mythological books. The library is constructed with three main corridors, which wrap around the inner core, an open-air courtyard. The corridors contain the illusion while the "reality" resides adjacent to these corridors. This gives the spectator a chance to witness the stage of the illusion and the behind-the-scenes of the illusion, the reality.
ANIMAtion Studio
Fraidoon, Noora (Virginia Tech, 2014-01-29)
Form, space, rhythm, order, symmetry, balance, repetition, proportion and scale are few from a long checklist of principles that, if followed carefully by the designer, will result in "beautiful" architecture, or so I was told. However, what exactly is "beautiful"? In his book "The beautiful necessity" (1910, p.34) Claude Fayette Bragdon suggests that "Beauty is the name we give to truth we cannot understand". This statement implies that there is a hidden quality within each building, or even within each space, a quality that we can sense but cannot make sense of, a quality very similar to having a soul. The soul seems to linger on the threshold that divides two opposite worlds, it is always in-between. Between the dream and the awake, between the physical and the imaginary, between the conscious and the subconscious and between the real and the unreal. In this thesis, the "real" world consists of an animation studio (the program), the studio's staff and visitors, the selected site located in Alexandria, and it is bound by the building methods, materials and codes. The "unreal" world consists of four fictional characters that, assumingly, emerged from my subconscious and who live in a fictional dimension that overlaps ours. The different encounters within the "real" world and within the "unreal" world, and also the interactions between the "real" and the "unreal" worlds are translated into an architectural language as an attempt to investigate the soul.
Aquarama Terminal
Hall, Matthew William (Virginia Tech, 2013-03-28)
One of the major challenges of the 21st century is the rapid growth of many cities
and the decline of others.
There are many cities like Cleveland which were built to serve a far greater population
than currently inhabits the city. Infrastructure built for 800,000 now services
400,000 leaving creating surplus capacity and derelict spaces; urban voids which
have fallen into disuse. Manufacturing and shipping industries occupy valuable
waterfront space, highways create rifts and large civic public spaces designed
with the best of intentions create vacuums.
Cleveland is not dealing with the issue of growth but with transformation; in its
remaking as a place of mixed communities and neighborhoods. Understanding
the city spatially is the first part of an exploration into devising interventions that
can utilize existing infrastructure, reclaim and re-purpose spaces to generate new
uses and new vitality. This thesis is concerned with identifying an opportunity and
proposing a programmatic and spatial transformation.
Architectu(Re)mergence: A Solution for the Modern American Grocery Store
Moy, Cheryl Kristin (Virginia Tech, 2015-04-17)
Imagine a grocery store that physically helps you to make healthy decisions for you. Your Twinkies, Hoho's, and other processed foods are all available and within sight, but you've got to work for them. In the wake of challenges that Americans face every day, this thesis project is putting a magnifying glass to (hi)stories and the human experience, and promoting change for American suburban and urban grocery stores to be health-fitness machines that we need them to be in order to help those of us on a quest to stay fit and healthy. With the information age pretty much exploding- as we are able to do a search for just about anything on Google, lack of information is not necessarily the problem. While gimmicky short term dieting fads come and go, an architectural model solution can set the foundation and structure to sustain progress. Let's look to the origins of architecture, labyrinths are built of walls, but if we are not careful, we can let them lead us to dead ends. Let's look to the origins of the marketplace, where fresh foods are taken directly from the source. For many of us, the modern American grocery store is the origin of our energy, where we will return again and again. It is our food source. It might be one root of our society's increasing levels of unhealthy weight gain, but also the source of opportunity to challenge the current design of the boxed store.
Architectural Elements As Structure
DaSilva Guerreiro, Jose Celestino (Virginia Tech, 2012-04-27)
If there is magic on this planet, It is contained in water. "Loran Eisely, The Immense Journey, 1957"
An Architectural Investigation of the Haptic Sense: A Material Exploration of the Balance Between Building, Body, and Landscape
Martinson, Jared Lee (Virginia Tech, 2011-06-30)
Missing from much of civic/public spaces today is the potential choreography between body, imagination, and the built environment. This is often a result of a diminished sensation between ourselves and the coupling of constructed and natural spaces. It is precisely this miscommunication which led to an exploration of the haptic sense and a material investigation of the choreography between our bodies, our buildings, and our landscape. In order to create a memorable space or in the case of this exercise, create place from path, a conservation of the spirit of the players/pieces is necessary. The experience of being in a place occurs in time, is much more than visual, and is as complex as our bodies and as immense as our imaginations. The movement of our bodies traversing a built environment gives value to the spaces we inhabit. Through the investigation of a little league baseball park along the Potomac River in Alexandria, Virgina, a series of haptic patterns with distinct pauses and progressions in which the body and mind responds to the situation presented is created.
Architectural Mutualism: A Marriage of Old and New
McBride, Megara Anne (Virginia Tech, 2010-07-23)
The dialogue between old and new architecture is a conversation brought to the forefront of the conservationist movement and city planning efforts as cities expand to their physical limits and eco-friendly reuse options become mainstream. As designers try and achieve a mutual respect between existing buildings and modern interventions, we are often faced with the dilemma of not only deciding which architectural artifacts should remain but also how to compose the different historic and modern layers in a way that formulates a new and more dynamic whole as a result of the interaction. The following thesis is an adaptive reuse project of a historically and architecturally significant, turn of the century firehouse located in northwest Washington, DC. This architectural endeavor seeks to find a mutually respectful balance between old and new architecture while highlighting the clear differences in building materials, design aesthetic, and construction methods.

Browsing by Author "Emmons, Paul F."

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