VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Heavers, Nathan"

Browsing by Author "Heavers, Nathan"

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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.
Agroforestry in the Temperate Landscape: Precedent, Practice, and Design Proposal
Darr, Alexander Norton (Virginia Tech, 2019-09-20)
Temperate agroforestry systems are an important area of research and practice in Eastern North America with the goal of creating more diverse, productive, and environmentally sound agricultural landscapes by using trees as key crops. There is extensive published research on contemporary temperate agroforestry models as well as tropical indigenous agroforestry systems, but publicly accessible properties that demonstrate these practices are currently limited. These practices, which include: Alley Cropping, Multi-functional Riparian Buffers, Short-rotation coppice, Non-timber forest farming, and novel crop breeding have potential to radically reshape American agricultural practices. As sediment and erosion control becomes stricter in agricultural land, and if future carbon tax or pricing legislation comes into play, non-tillage based agricultural practices will become more prevalent throughout the United States and the rest of the world. In the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, where this project is based, orchards are a common perennial cropping system, but at present the industry is reliant on chemical inputs that have an economic and ecological cost associated with them. Developing, demonstrating, and popularizing systems that incorporate native, crop-bearing perennials, in a manner that is legible, aesthetically pleasing, and well-integrated into the surrounding topography and agricultural vernacular, this thesis will offer a proof-of-concept to landowners curious about incorporating low-input agroforestry practices. This thesis presents a series of unpublished manuscripts based on research of historical agroforestry practices in temperate North America. These manuscripts focus on agroforestry practices as they were practiced over nearly 500 years of American history. These findings culminate in the proposition of a design for an agroforestry research and demonstration farm in the Mid-Atlantic United States. The goal of this design is to recontextualize a historic dairy farm in Maryland, USA with the construction of a new education, production, and design center. This center, along with its associated infrastructure, the cropping layout, and an interpretive trail through a range of agroforestry systems proposes an immersive environment that allows a visitor to experience agroforestry at its many scales, from garden to wild-land.
Aqua + Culture: Intergrating Fish, Farming, and Flood-control Systems on Four Mile Run
Hu, Zhewei (Virginia Tech, 2016-08-11)
This thesis begins with the study of a highly integrated agricultural system called dike-pond system in Pearl River Delta, South China. From the study, two aspects of dike-pond system are found interesting. One is the material flow in the system which makes full use of the by-products. The other is the function of preventing flooding by protecting crops on the dike and increasing water storage capacity with ponds. Duplicating the system to other parts of world seems impossible because of the weather conditions, technical requirements to operate the system and its intensive labor requirement. However, in a broader view, it seems possible to apply the concepts of reusing "waste" and preventing flood to other places. With the inspiration of this system, this thesis studies how the concept might be adapted to Washington Metropolitan area. Several specific questions are critical to the inquiry: How to integrate different components into a system according to local situation? How to produce multiple products that feedback into the flow of materials and resources just like dike-pond system? How to reuse 'waste' or forgotten resources? How to prevent floods without using an engineered flood wall? How to create a place that people can have different fishing experiences in urban region? How to provide a habitat for urban wildlife? My thesis addressed these questions through a design for a public space along the downstream of Four Mile Run in Arlington, Virginia. With design criteria derived from case studies and literature review, this project aims to control floods, cycle organic matter in wetlands, ponds and farm fields, provide fishing places, fish habitat, open spaces... All in an integrated system with little waste and a wise reuse of the "waste" water.
Aqua.Street.Scapes: Interpreting Natural Hydrologic Processes while Enhancing the Urban Streetscape
Rosato, Dagmar (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-26)
This project proposes a new urban aquifer strategy that utilizes stormwater to create a cascading plaza and an improved 'great street' in Washington DC. A system of urban aquifers is developed beneath the surface of the street, perched atop the compacted, impermeable soils below. This set of aquifers prevents stormwater from entering the existing combined sewer and allows trees to draw water from this new groundwater source and develop expansive root systems. On the surface, stormwater flows through interconnected planters where it irrigates and is filtered by vegetation before infiltrating to recharge the aquifer. At Cascade Plaza, sloping topography intersects the aquifer, and the new groundwater seeps out of the plaza steps, turning them into a miniature cascade, by gravity and water pressure alone. It collects in a web of runnels, pools at the lowest point, and overflows in high water, mysteriously disappearing below ground again to fill an underground reservoir. In this unique ecological system, water flows both above and below ground to mitigate excess stormwater and make the street and plaza more beautiful.
The Causeway: Bridging Disaster Relief, Recovery, and Climate Adaptation in the Anton Ruiz Watershed
Schiavoni, Alexandra Elizabeth (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-10)
The impact of natural disasters is often exacerbated by a disparity between resources for relief and recovery. When the barrio of Punta Santiago in Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017, many of its residents lived in the remains of their homes for over a year while they rebuilt from wind damage and flood waters that rose over 6 feet. As climate change leads to an even more constrained timeline for response with increasingly frequent and intense storms, the future of Punta Santiago and other coastal communities worldwide will necessitate strategies ranging from nature-based shore protection systems, coastal setbacks, and managed retreat. This thesis investigates the time disparate processes of disaster relief, recovery, and climate adaptation through the lens of their impact upon the interdependent identities of people and place as informed by theorists and designers including J.B. Jackson and Patrick Geddes. My approach works from the scale of the Antón Ruíz watershed to the delta to uncover the historical and contemporary processes that knit people in the region to the land. I identify commonalities in the immediate recovery needs and long-term resiliency of the community and ecosystems, and seek to support ongoing globally significant research of the rare coastal systems surrounding Punta Santiago. The proposed design, a causeway linking the coast to the hills, dovetails disaster relief and recovery with climate adaptation by providing a persistent connection that restores and reveals the dynamic coastal landscape.
Choreographing Sediment
Bayer, David Michael (Virginia Tech, 2015-07-06)
In 2016 the Panama Canal expansion is set to open, allowing a new class of ships to call on east coast ports. The dredging involved in deepening navigation channels to ensure safe passage of these vessels will place an increased amount of pressure on containment facilities up and down the coast. With limited disposal space, and increasing volumes, many ports have begun to rethink the treatment of this excess material. This thesis explores the prospect of dredge material being more than engineered fill. It suggests that dredge processing can become the basis for a new form of productive recreational landscape, one that can engage the public in a conversation of the spatial and material operations that sustain our lives. It works blur and dissolve the boundaries that have been erected between working landscapes and the public realm, and seeks to create a landscape that establishes a new sense of place prepared to mark the future of the new working urban waterfront; one where industrial operations generate new ecological substrates, and where productive frameworks become recreation networks.
City Infrastructure and Fractured Space: Creating Continuity in a Fractured Urban Fabric
Jalaian, Yasaman Rose (Virginia Tech, 2015-08-12)
The changes in technology and cultures of mobility within dense North American cities have resulted in a space that intervenes between one thing and another which often generates seemingly uninhabitable zones and problematic discontinuities in the physical and social fabric. Over time, the pattern of cities has changed; movement spaces have fractured the social spaces. The social dimension in the design of movement spaces has been neglected and thus these spaces have primarily become products of the functional dimension, i.e. traffic flow, circulation, and access for vehicles. These approaches to developments and prioritizing the movement space over the social space have contributed to the creation of fractured people spaces in between the fabric of cities. This thesis proposes to reconnect the broken fabric of cities that are shaped as result of the juxtaposition of movement infrastructure. Furthermore, the research studies the methods by which such spaces can become transformed into successful people place through literature review of what constitutes a successful urban space. Case studies of successful places adjacent to roads, waterfronts, and in between the fabric of cities were studied to understand the methods by which underused, and fractured spaces were transformed to successful urban places. This thesis further implements the methods of place making into creating the new physical, visual, cognitive, and ecological connection between the fractured spaces.
Comparative Landscape Infrastructure in Kolda, Senegal and Washington, D.C.
Cadwallender, Mary Virginia (Virginia Tech, 2017-07-07)
This comparative study of two urban areas—Kolda, Senegal and the Historic Anacostia Neighborhood in Washington, D.C.—explores how landscape infrastructure can decrease the scalar disconnect between the global water crisis and local water use practices. By looking at one city in the Global North and one in the Global South with similar risk of water stress, I am able to compare cultural aesthetics and engage two different levels of infrastructural build out (World Resources Institute, Water Risk Atlas). The design approach draws inspiration from Lawrence Halprin's notion of "experiential equivalents," and proposes a suite of site scale water sources and seeps (Halprin, Ghirardelli Plaza). Unlike Halprin, whose designs primarily use, interpret, and express natural elements, cultural interactions with water as well as natural systems drive the designs in Kolda and Anacostia. Thus, the speculative designs I am presenting weave the experiences of sourcing water, filtering water, and water seeps into the existing urban and cultural fabric. By taking a systemic and episodic approach to public landscape development, not only will these infrastructural landscapes serve the community but the aesthetic experience of the designs also becomes part of daily life. Perhaps as Elizabeth Meyer theorizes in "Beyond 'Sustaining Beauty'", these designed landscapes "can contribute to…]a new ethos of a sustainable perception and living." Furthermore, this project presents a kit of parts for community-based development, suggesting the ability to extend the landscape infrastructure systems in Kolda and Anacostia and providing the tools for other communities.
Composting in the Urban Environment Utilizing Yard Waste and Food Waste in Fairfax County, Virginia
Argandona, Walter Solio (Virginia Tech, 2020-02-21)
Urbanization alters the natural soil structure of landscapes. This has a negative impact on the environment. This degradation of the soil in the urban environment needs management practices that protect and restore the nutrient value in the soil. Soil is one of the most essential elements of landscapes. High quality soils make a major contribution to cleaning water, acting as a filtration system that purifies the water it absorbs. Soil also sustains microorganisms that promote vegetation growth and consequently food production, one of the most important human activities that allows us to thrive as a society. The poor soil conditions in the urban environment make it very difficult to sustain healthy trees and vegetation. Urban soil is "modified through the regrading, compaction, cutting and filling, and, sometimes, contamination that comes with creating buildings, roads and associated land uses", changing the physical, chemical and biological structure of soil. (Trowbridge and Bassuk 3) In general, urban areas require better waste management methods that could use an abundant resource of food and yard waste to make compost. This thesis focuses on composting organic waste in the McNair neighborhood of Fairfax County in order to produce a resource to improve the soil conditions. This improvement would support the vegetation in this urban environment, and, in addition, sequester carbon and divert materials that otherwise would go to landfills. This thesis demonstrates a sustainable method for composting food and yard waste in a mixed-use community in northern Virginia turning waste material into a resource.
Creating Community Among Older Adults in Southwest Virginia Through Social Participation
Shelburne, William Robert (Virginia Tech, 2022-12-13)
Taking a social design approach to aging, we relate earlier work in age-friendly communities, aging in place and social isolation to landscape design. Identifying the critical principles of social participation and how these needs can be met through landscape intervention, we formulate a set of criteria, through which the landscape architect can design healthy and sustainable communities for active, rural, older adults. We begin by breaking down some common social issues of modern-day older adults and conclude that to begin improving the lives of this sector of the population we must seek to reduce social isolation. Social participation chosen as the antithesis of isolation is then broken down into three main principles: autonomy, social opportunity and health. These main principles are developed into a set of physical design criteria to be implemented through the redevelopment of a historical school within the rural community of Pulaski, Virginia. Further discussing elements related to site-scale design, this project wraps up with the creation of a standard evaluation form, designed to give feedback for not only the current project, but those wishing to develop communities that encourage social participation among older adults.
Creating Shade in Arid Climates: A Welcoming Landscape Based on Zoroastrian Beliefs for the Towers of Silence
Najafi Ashtiani, Azadeh (Virginia Tech, 2019-12-13)
This study develops a landscape design, which demonstrates how to change the microclimate in a historical public space (Towers of silence, in city of Yazd, designated as World Heritage Site, in the heart of Iran). The arid historic city of Yazd is getting hotter. The increasing temperatures make it more and more difficult to use the public space. Towers of silence inherited from Zoroastrianism are stone cylindrical structures located on top of the hills within infertile land located south east of the city of Yazd. This historic site brings visitors from around the world every year but the microclimate of the site it is not welcoming. The current layout does not provide information about the rich culture it entailed, and visitors are not able to understand the meaning that is behind these structures. This design aims to improve the current conditions of these magnificent towers and utilize techniques like historical plan analysis, comparative analysis and experimental design study. Using landscape architecture to address the climate issue the proposed design translates Zoroastrian's beliefs to visitors as well as creating a more hospitable environment.
Developing Inclusive Community Gathering Places Through Socially Driven Design Strategies
Brooks, Robert Allen (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-28)
As cultural diversity continues to increase in U.S. urban centers, and indeed throughout the country, it becomes increasingly important to promote interaction between people of different backgrounds. Many forms of interaction, from simply seeing, to intimate conversation can increase our familiarity and acceptance of cultural differences. In addition, a greater understanding of these differences can lead to communities with a strong sense of togetherness and a vibrancy of local place. As a means of achieving this outcome, this thesis identifies ways in which urban park spaces can promote social interaction between different cultural groups and how these methods can then be used to develop a community gathering place that is welcoming to all. This thesis has developed a unique Social Space Organizational Model based on literature review findings relative to multi-cultural urban park and social space development. The model serves as a foundational framework for the creation of a collection of social spaces that function to accommodate the diverse ways in which different cultural groups use urban park spaces, as well as to provide opportunities for shared experiences that encourage community gathering and interaction between groups. Additionally, the model suggests an interconnectivity of various park spaces that promote a unified social experience throughout the park. Case studies of urban parks designed for use as social gathering places were analyzed against the model. Literature review findings on character qualities associated with social spaces as valued by multiple cultural groups were also explored in the case studies to identify design elements that encourage social interaction and foster positive experiences. Ultimately, these findings led to the creation of a neighborhood social gathering place that is welcoming to many different cultural groups and encouraging of community gathering and togetherness. The design engages multiple community groups by creating a park that is accomodative to a range of needs and uses as valued by different groups. Additionally, the design incorporates a diverse range of social opportunities and experiences that maintain flexibility in their ability to provide for individual as well as community based social experiences.
Estero de Provisor: Revitalization of a City Through Water. A Thermal Bathhouse on the Pasig River of Manila, Philippines
Deppner, Mariel Estrada (Virginia Tech, 2014-11-03)
"Ang hindi marunong lumingon sa pinanggalingan ay hindi makararating sa paroroonan." One of innumerable Filipino proverbs meaning bluntly, if you don't know how to look back to where you came from, you will not reach your destination. While the city of Manila, Philippines cannot be summed into one simple phrase; its creation of history can be traced back to the city's lifeline, the Pasig River. Under Spaniard rule during the sixteenth century, Manila was known as the, "Pearl of the Orient," being the jewel of Spain's empire in the Pacific. Before the mass urbanization of Manila, the Pasig River was the main connection to the rest of Asia and further into the rest of the world. The Pasig River was the city's center of economic activity; it was Manila's lifeline.
Heterotopia: Loose Space For an Edge City
Babii, Volodymyr (Virginia Tech, 2017-01-26)
In the beginning of my research I focused on transformations of the urban leftover and void space found in between buildings, street networks, parks or other institutionalized public spaces into urban places of character. By studying the spatial qualities of different places and their relation to human activities in those places I came up with the main question of my thesis: Can a space be designed loose and/or can it be loosened by design? The concept of “heterotopia”, as described by Michel Foucault in his essay “Of Other Spaces: Utopias and Heterotopias”, is a place functioning in nonhegemonic conditions, the place of “otherness” that has more layers of meaning than meet the eye. That concept proved to be the best description and the bounding frame of the design part of my research.
Home Away from Home
Baradaranfallahkheir, Navid (Virginia Tech, 2016-02-08)
This thesis looks at the interplay between neighborhood space and public space as they come together in the circles and squares of Washington D.C.. The outcome of the thesis is a designed landscape that would perform the same roles as traditional circles in serving both neighborhood and public needs, at the site of the former Truxton Circle, a place where there had been a traffic circle and a public space but where it is not possible to make a traffic circle today.
Housing in the City
Colunga, Carlos Tameo (Virginia Tech, 2021-02-04)
As the population grows we will continue to be challenged to meet the high demand for housing in our growing cities. As we strive to meet this demand it is important that we fulfill these needs in a manner that supports human health and well being by providing the inhabitants with access to the outdoors and Biophilic experiences. I will attempt to address these issues through the design of a mixed use housing complex that provides readily assessable private outdoor spaces to all its inhabitants while responding to unique site conditions that support the existing urban fabric of its surroundings.
Landscapes in Process: Designing Future Relationships between the National Mall and Cockeysville Quarry
Zhou, Xiaolan (Virginia Tech, 2019-02-15)
This thesis explores relationships between the National Mall and the quarries that supported its construction. It focuses on the Washington Monument and its source of material, the Cockeysville Quarry, Maryland. By studying the movement of stone, the thesis begins to understand both sites as landscapes in process. It then examines the sites histories including land forms, immigrated laborers and railways changes associated with quarrying and construction. It happens that Ian McHarg also studied both sites fifty years ago in Design with Nature. Mcharg's analysis overlooks the potential of the industrial quarry to recharge the Marble Valley aquifer and does not account for the projected sea level rise on the National Mall. It is necessary to examine the two sites again. McHarg's ecological principles and methods are still the basic evaluation criteria for the examination (especially his understanding of landscapes as process.) The design project of this thesis uses shifting hydrologies at both sites to drive new uses,earthwork, urban forest (tree canopies), and axial relationships, inspired by the materials, forms, and historical links between the two landscapes. By looking at the landscapes as a pair, the design recalls the past connections between the sites and constructs new relationships ideologically and physically.
Linger: Chinese Culture Center
Song, Xiaofan (Virginia Tech, 2018-09-11)
How to better integrate urban texture, architecture, and culture organically, and use the architecture as a carrier to transmit more humanistic information? In today's society, people have a variety of ways to explore the culture and understand the culture. However, the most direct experience is a personal experience. As the most important carrier of human activities, architecture cannot be overlooked. From the direct sensory experience and indirect behavioral patterns, architecture is involved in human activities and ways of thinking all the time. Therefore, the combination of culture and architecture organically will give people a better way and angle to understand the culture. The relationship between local culture and local architecture is inextricably linked. However, how to integrate foreign culture into local architecture will be a very difficult problem. Directly transplanting buildings and cultural elements from a foreign culture to a local city will make the building incompatible with the original urban texture. It is not easy for local residents to accept this foreign culture from the aesthetic perspective or psychological perspective. In my thesis, I hope to design a cultural center that can match the texture of the local city and reflect the foreign culture through my thinking about the architecture and the understanding of the foreign culture: design a Chinese cultural center in Chinatown, Washington DC, to find out a reasonable way for cultural communication.
Luminous Land of Phon
Hussaini, Muzhgan (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-10)
This thesis, Luminous Land of Phon, explores how architectural spaces, even interior spaces, interact with nature along different dimensions. Light and sound are the two very powerful elements of nature and are the focus of this study. Louis Kahn once said: "The sun does not realize how wonderful it is until after a room is made." (Source: https://www.quotetab.com/quotes/by-louis-kahn#GdaYdAIrZ8tmvcyh.97) The question of nature is explored in an urban environment to challenge the tired dualistic division between the human and the natural world. This project transforms the way we think about the urban so that architecture and nature can have great harmony and elevate each other instead of canceling each other. The project is a school of architecture and landscape architecture that promotes fine spaces with desirable qualities of light and sound for the design professionals of the future. The project is sited in the University of the District of Columbia as an expansion of their existing campus and programs.
Multisensory Therapeutic Garden for a General Special Education School
Gilbert, Grace Madelyn (Virginia Tech, 2021-11-09)
Therapeutic landscapes involve the collaboration of landscape architecture, architecture, planning, and behavioral psychology. By incorporating research from each field and tailoring the design to a generalized special education elementary school, this project aims to create a multisensory experience that incorporates opportunities for play, education, community, and relaxation. Preliminary research explored the history of therapeutic landscapes and architectural design in historical psychiatric facilities, which then led to the current literature on therapeutic design for educational campuses. Findings show that the use of these therapeutic design principles are becoming more common, but there is still room for improvement. The proposed school site is based on the Bedford School in Fairburn, Georgia, but does incorporate the current academic program. The theoretical program for grades 1-6 focuses on cognitive ability, and relies on the outdoor space as an important part of the educational program. The proposed site design includes aromatherapy, tactile therapy, audial therapy, visual therapy, and levels of enclosure. The design will incorporate an open lawn area, a traditional playground, a music area with equipment and instruments, several outdoor classrooms, a produce garden, small, enclosed quiet rooms, a path with seasonal plants and seating areas, and a relocated soccer field. Given the constraints placed on this project, such as time, inability to visit the site, and inability to have discussions with the client, it is as complete as possible. That being said, future advancements in the field may build on it and create a fuller set of guidelines for multisensory therapeutic design.

Browsing by Author "Heavers, Nathan"

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