VTechWorks Repository :: Browsing by Author "Jones, Kevin William"

Browsing by Author "Jones, Kevin William"

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Amending Historic Architecture
Simkins, Carver Glen (Virginia Tech, 2023-07-27)
The delicate fabric of historic architecture is embedded in every design. Identifying a single thread strains the eye and is quickly lost in the attempt to trace its origins. Despite the difficulty in deciphering individual threads, our intuition immediately generates recognition of the familiar or warns of something amiss. A building has many complexities; proposing the alteration of a significant existing structure will enhance those complexities. Various approaches must be carefully considered before clarity will resound, allowing the old fabric to cohesively blend with the new.
Architecture and Hospitality
Miller, Christopher Lee (Virginia Tech, 2021-06-11)
Architecture and hospitality go hand in hand. This thesis is a study of an architecture of hospitality that is informed by both site, culture, and climate conditions as well as cultural changes in the hospitality industry under the new conditions brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Architecture At War: Rebuilding After Destruction
Palazzolo, Joseph Robert (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-15)
War is a perpetual shadow cast over human history. It brings forth unparalleled destruction, leaving behind a wake of devastation that scars both the land and its people. Its relentless march leaves cities in ruins, families torn, landscapes transformed and the built environment obliterated. War affects an individual, a community and a country's identity. Destruction both leaves a memory and shapes it. The process of rebuilding raises complex questions: How do we rebuild after that has which been destroyed? What should be rebuilt? Is rebuilding necessary? There are no easy answers and the choices made will reverberate through generations, influencing what endures in collective memory and what is forgotten. This thesis aims to explore the relationship between memory, destruction and architecture.
Architecture of the In-Between
Cross, Carolyn Page (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-15)
This thesis aims to codify the physical in-between condition to understand how space is perceived in moments of time. The relationship between two dimensional vision and three dimensional space is utilized to direct orientation and give spacial identity to urban outdoor conditions and the architecture that inhabits it. The site is located in Greenville, South Carolina between a single family residential neighborhood and a dense multi-use downtown condition. The land was once used for a sanatorium and then Greenville General Hospital. What remains is a large plot of land amongst small residential plots searching for a sense of identity and orientation. As the neighborhood turns to multi-family housing and commercial development draws near, there is awareness of a fleeting sense of place that will be lost if a firm foundation in historical and contextual identity is not established.
An Architecture of Verticality
Chuhadia, Shubham (Virginia Tech, 2018-06-28)
One of the chief characteristics of a high-rise building is its verticality. However, it seems that most high-rise buildings do not directly pursue the architecture of verticality. Moreover, verticality is rarely perceived within this building type. This thesis investigates the potential of verticality in a residential high-rise building. Together with the aspect of verticality, the thesis pursues an idea that even in a residential high-rise, the sense of community that typically exists in low-rise settlements on the ground and other connections to the outside can be at least partially preserved. In summary, the proposal aims the architecture to celebrate the verticality of the high-rise as a part of the skyline, expressing the verticality through its facade. For the dwellers, sky gardens offer a sense of verticality with constructed views connecting the outside world. Six two-story-apartments adjoin the sky garden with a double height living room suggesting the apartments in a high rise shouldn't be flats. This double height vertical space extends into the balcony spaces suggesting a local verticality at the apartment level.
Balancing Sight + Sound: A study of acoustics and architecture
Curtis, Charles Ethan (Virginia Tech, 2022-08-02)
WHAT? The interconnectedness of acoustics and architecture is one that is too often overlooked. Many architects tend to focus solely on visual aesthetics, when in reality, it is the architect's job to create a space that is pleasing to all of the senses. Although all senses are important to the experience of a space, in most instances architects only have control over sight, sound, and touch. While architects usually make calculated decisions to improve the visual and touch experience, it seems that acoustics are an afterthought and rarely brought to attention unless there are special requests from the client or complaints from the user. WHY? The issues caused by poor acoustic considerations range from a space that is simply annoying to occupy, such as a desk fixed under the constant hum of an air vent, to rooms that are unusable for their intended purpose, such as a lecture hall with a long reverberation time making it impossible to distinguish syllables and understand the speaker. In the case of musical performances, the acoustical considerations of a design can completely alter the way sound travels from the performers to the audience. For example, a rock concert in a small room finished in marble would be unbearable, while a high school orchestra would be inaudible from the back of a large amphitheater. Therefore, it is important to design a space in which the architecture strengthens the performances that it was intended for. HOW? In this thesis I examine the balance of visual aesthetics and acoustical performance into a single building, the Shrine Hill Music Center. Located in Roanoke, Virginia, the Shrine Hill Music Center is imagined as a supplement to the surrounding educational buildings by housing a small performance hall, several practice rooms, and a recording studio to be enjoyed by students and members of the community. During my research I found myself asking questions such as; what architectural choices can be made that are both visually and audibly pleasing? What acoustical factors should be considered when designing a performance hall and how do these differ from those of a practice room or a recording studio? Is there an opportunity to tune a space just as one is able to tune an instrument? By the end I was not only left with a building that utilizes the architecture to enhance the acoustics, but also an abundance of acoustical knowledge that will benefit me in my future endeavors as a designer.
Beyond Waste: Uncovering the Hidden Potential of Coal Ash
Tanrikulu, Dilek (Virginia Tech, 2023-07-27)
The thesis lies at the intersection of the concepts of "beyond" meaning surpassing and "waste" referring to the materials and resources that are often discarded or overlooked, are the focus of this project. Overall, the project represents a commitment to surpassing conventional limits and transforming waste into a valuable resource. This project also proposes a new ethical architectural practice that seeks to challenge traditional design approaches by exploring the potential of waste as a valuable input in building design. By deviating from conventional methods and proposing new ideas, the study aims to rethink traditional practices and create a new view toward the incorporation of waste in architecture. By adopting the principles outlined in the book "Cradle to Cradle" the project embraces the 4 R's of recycling, reducing, reusing, and recovering, demonstrating how waste can be transformed into valuable input in building design. This ethical framework emphasizes the reuse, recycling, repurposing, and recovery of waste in architecture. Through this project, the aim is to challenge the current ways in which architecture is designed, with a view toward promoting sustainable practices and a more responsible approach to architectural design. Ultimately, this thesis offers a new ethical perspective on how waste can participate in the way we design buildings, and presents a potential pathway towards a more sustainable future for the field of architecture.
Connecting the City: A Vertical Farm for Baltimore's Food Desert
Onukwubiri, Enyinnaya Tochukwu (Virginia Tech, 2017-10-31)
The thesis analyzes Baltimore City's food network, and seeks a site which has the potential for several factors: site accessibility, renewable resources, solar exposure, and connecting the community. These factors serve as the basis in which to build a hybrid prototype that is able to expose people to the process of food production through a combination of traditional outdoor farming methods and indoor hydroponics in the form of a vertical farm.
Density Reconsidered
Lyu, Jiayue (Virginia Tech, 2022-01-19)
The work seeks to reconsider aspects of high density in urban architecture, exemplified in a site in Hong Kong, where currently urban housing, temple, commercial, office and other structures coexist. While a very high density of urban housing is in place, it does not consider qualities of living such as natural light and view in the apartment layouts. In addition to qualities directly related to living, the thesis also seeks to engage a notion of identity and individuality which is often absent in high density projects. The stereotypical image of mediocre high-density environments is a relentless repetition of stacked units which accommodates only very basic human needs of cooking and sleeping but does not offer high quality urban spaces where people can expand their otherwise tight dwelling. The investigation seeks to recognize the particularities of the Hong Kong site, including a temple complex which offers itself as a unique and peaceful moment, contrary to the hustle and bustle of the city. The relationship between dwellings and temple is a point of departure which architecturally expresses a deep respect for culture and context of Hong Kong. A good architectural density in this sense is a composite of diverse function and spaces that offer opportunities of activities that together form a sense of place.
Earthly Matters of Cosmic Awareness: A 2023 Thesis of Architecture
Mitchell, Henry (Virginia Tech, 2023-10-05)
Architecture, as a discipline, has the potential to serve as a catalyst for cultivating an awareness of our intrinsic connection to the Earth and the broader universe. However, in the contemporary world, architectural practices frequently tend to alienate us from the natural environment, compelling many of us to inhabit indoor spaces reliant on centralized utility systems. This reliance, in turn, exerts significant stress on the Earth's ecosystems. The essence of architecture should instead lie in its capacity to engage with the surrounding natural elements, including the sun, wind, earth, and rain, thereby prompting individuals to acknowledge their geographical and planetary context. By harnessing these natural forces at the local level, architectural structures could autonomously provide their occupants with essential resources such as energy, water, and sustenance throughout the year. This thesis embarks on an exploration of the feasibility of integrating these principles of passive design into architectural structures, with the overarching goal of imparting experiential learning opportunities to the broader public. Through this endeavor, architecture can transcend its conventional role and emerge as a conduit for disseminating knowledge and awareness about sustainable living practices. Ultimately, this reimagined role for architecture can play a pivotal part in catalyzing the ongoing human evolution towards enhanced health and resilience, both as individuals and as a species.
Framing Movement
Ramos, Audrey Marie (Virginia Tech, 2020-06-17)
This thesis seeks to understand how architecture and concepts of movement can inform each other. In this context, the relationships of permeable frame and impenetrable mass become the main constituents of a space in which movement is celebrated. A frame system serves as the principal container for movement, providing a sense of order and orientation defined by architectural rhythm and regularity. Conceptually, the solid mass operates as the grounding element in which the more delicate frames hosting the dancers are secured and presented. The thesis proposes that contrasting notions of frame and mass are together able to foster an architecture, a spatial realm in which the culture of dance can teach and present the quintessential choreographed artistic human movements that we deeply admire.
From Furnace to Fairness: Atmospheric Sequences in Steel Museum Spaces
Sang, Wenhui (Virginia Tech, 2024-06-18)
This thesis explores the atmospheric sequences within a steel museum located in the South Side Works of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The South Side Works, once a historic steel production area, is now undergoing renewal and redevelopment, yet it still retains traces of its industrial past. The exploration begins by examining the pre-union steel production space, characterized by hazardous conditions, limited natural lighting, and uncomfortable indoor temperatures. Visitors are transported to the 19th-century factory workers' world, experiencing the dim light from above, sweltering heat, dirt on the ground, and the large scale of the production space. This atmosphere contrasts with the post-union era, marked by enhanced natural light, modern steel construction, and a connection to the outdoors. The shift signifies increased attention to workers' rights and well-being, moving from dehumanization to humanization, symbolized by the "Union Hall" where workers advocated for their rights.The "Union Hall", which is the turning point of the journey, serves as a symbol of empowerment and progress for steelworkers.Technological advancements have further improved the working environment, making the production process more standardized and automated. This thesis aims to narrate the story through the qualities of spaces—scale, steel construction, materials, and light—by utilizing architecture study methods including modeling, sketches, lighting studies, and architectural drawings. By showcasing two contrasting spaces, it explores how the sequence of space, along with materials, light, and scale, shapes the architectural spaces and atmosphere within the museum, reflecting the evolution from furnace to fairness.
Grounded Figure: A Winery
Jones, Kevin William (Virginia Tech, 2004-07-20)
The nature of figure-ground relationships and their potential for use as a tool for architectural composition was investigated through the design of a winery. Included in the winery were facilities accomodating both the production and consumption of wine. These programmatic elements were used as guides for the development of multiple figure-ground relationships at a variety of scales. In addition, the dialogue between different figures as well as the careful development of the backdrop surfaces were topics of study. Several design strategies were employed to create relationships between figure elements and their backdrops, including the insertion of volumes into and through one another, the careful development of material and surface, and light. From this work, as well as previous projects, several key findings can now be articulated concerning the potential use of figure-ground relationships in the development of a work of architecture. These include the need to optimize the proportion of figure(s) relative to a given background and the key role that the disposition of figures relative to one another plays in the development of a meaningful figure-ground relationship.
The In-between: Armature for Inhabitation
Rahman, Afrida Afroz (Virginia Tech, 2023-07-11)
Flyovers, or grade separated bridges or roads, are a type of urban infrastructure that has been used to facilitate high-speed vehicular movement. This once-popular strategy of the west, despite being considered as a failure for sustainable urban growth, has been adopted in Bangladesh to combat traffic congestion in Dhaka that has a crippling effect on daily life of the citizens. As was anticipated by many urban planners and architects, these expensive structures did little to reduce traffic congestion, but created additional problems of noise and air pollution as well as reduced pedestrian mobility. More importantly, these flyovers created wasted void spaces underneath that are uncomfortable, devoid of human scale and act as physical and visual barriers that cause tears on the urban fabric. The objective of this thesis is to explore how architecture can unlock the potential of the unused spaces under the flyovers in Dhaka, by turning these linear leftover spaces into dignified public places that improves the daily lived experiences of the urban dwellers, by minimizing the disruptions caused by the flyover and by realizing the potential inherent in the robust structure of the flyover. This thesis examines a democratized way of building, where the role of architecture is to facilitate organic and heterogeneous growth, addition and modification to the flyover in order to bring the human scale back to the massive flyover structure through a reconciliation of top-down and bottom-up approaches. The architectural interventions respond to the site conditions, potentials and demands. The architectural outcome is based on the concepts of creating a threshold, architecture as armature and parasitic structures.
Intertwinements: Building Community Through Intertwining Conditions
Freireich, Jenna Leigh (Virginia Tech, 2024-05-31)
To intertwine: to twist or connect together. Intertwinement can be two or more elements, physical or metaphysical, that interlace and fuse with one another. Architecture that is designed for people and the human experience, as all architecture should be, must be intertwined in many ways at a variety of scales. As said by Steven Holl in his book titled "Intertwining", "By weaving form, space, and light, architecture can elevate the experience of daily life through the various phenomena that emerge from specific sites, programs, and architectures." Architecture that intertwines with its surroundings and encourages entwinements within is what impacts and builds the human experience. Throughout this year long exploration, ideas of intertwinements have been a reoccurring theme that's been studied under three main concepts: •Relationships – Perceptual and physical relationships, the relationship of the building to the site, and how the architecture impacts human relationships and interactions. •Ideas of pushing and pulling as a condition of intertwinement •Ideas of unrestrictive, loose, ambiguous boundaries These three main concepts were analyzed at a variety of scales including site scale, building scale, and spatial or room scale. Each example of these ideas at varying scales is in the form of a duality, exploring how two or more opposing ideas intersect and entwine with one another. These dualities include: •nature/campus •movement/node •stone/glass •social/recreational/study •together/separate •in/out •table/object •active/quiet •large group/small group/individual Examples of these dualities of intertwinements were studied through the design of a residence hall on Virginia Tech's campus to explore how the architecture of a residence hall can also contribute to building community and fostering an inclusive environment.
Modern Interventions on a Historic Campus
Berkeley, Joshua David (Virginia Tech, 2021-06-29)
This thesis is an analysis of methods by which modern interventions uphold the existing architectural fabric of a historic place, thereby establishing a connection and legitimacy that should endure for the life of both the building and the setting.
Moments of Entering a Home
Zhang, Lantian (Virginia Tech, 2018-01-22)
This thesis explores the corridor as an essential architectural element in an apartment building. By differentiating the conventional linear corridor, a more pleasant corridor could be achieved: corridor with various widths and natural lighting through architecture manipulation. The building's locale contributes to another topic of this thesis, the urban form for a downtown apartment building. The identities of three streets surrounding the site are respectively unique. One is a downtown pedestrian sidewalk with storefronts, one is a quiet one-way back road, and the other is a major highway with heavy traffic. Examining these three urban conditions, the possible relationship between the streets and the apartment building is explored. For apartment residents, the street conditions and the corridors constitute the very transitional experience for him or her to enter a home.
Monumentality of Serenity and Dynamism
Lai, Qianru (Virginia Tech, 2020-11-30)
Monumentality derives from the eternal need of people to own symbols to reveal their inner life and social conceptions. I want to design a building to represent Modern Monumentality. This project came from the idea of " Serenity and Dynamism", which came from the famous wood-print " The Great Wave off Kanagawa". Mont Fuji is the symbol of Japan, a sacrid object of worship, and holding a place in Japanese beliefs. Mont Fuji gave the direction in my thesis. This project can wake up memories in local residents' deep minds. Architecture can be a bridge to make a connection between the past and the future. It's not only the memory, but also a sense of identity.
Negotiating Boundaries - Exploring the Existential Experience of Architecture
Nautiyal, Divya (Virginia Tech, 2017-06-26)
Negotiating Boundaries is an effort to investigate and explore multisensorial environments. Throughout history, architecture is and has always been predominantly visual in nature. The visual dominance of architecture has often been critiqued by philosophers and architects. The thesis presents an argument that all senses " haptic, auditory, olfactory and vision, collectively contribute to experience a space. The thesis is a qualitative approach towards studying the significance of this existential experience of architecture in the built environment. The privilege of the sense of sight over the other senses and its bias in architecture cannot be neglected. Therefore, the experience of the visually impaired or blind has been used as a challenge to study these non-ocular centric spaces. Pallasmaa beautifully puts, Vision reveals what the touch already knows. We see the depth, the smoothness, the softness, the hardness of object; Cézanne even claimed that we see their odor. If the painter is to express the world, the arrangement of his colors must carry with this indivisible whole, or else his picture will only hint at things and will not give them in the imperious unity, the presence, the insurpassable plenitude which is for us the definition of the real. The live encounter with Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater weaves the surrounding forest, the volumes surfaces, textures and colors of the house, and even the smells of the forest and the sound of the river, into a uniquely full experience. The thesis presents a case to defend that architecture is not merely a series of visual scenes but has a fully embodied material and spiritual presence.4 Architects and Philosophers whose studies and explorations remain relevant to my interest are Juhani, Pallasmaa, Peter Zumthor, Louis Kahn, Steven Holl, and Carlo Scarpa amongst many others. Juhani Pallasmaa in his book, The Eyes of the Skin writes, "An Architectural work is not experienced as a series of isolated retinal pictures, but its fully integrated material, embodied and spiritual essence. It offers pleasurable shapes and surfaces molded for the touch of eye and other senses, but it also incorporates and integrates physical and mental structures, giving our existential experience a strengthened coherence and significance.
A Precious View
Fang, Yihuan (Virginia Tech, 2021-01-20)
Architecture can be significant in defining a particular place. While architecture typically offers basic shelter, its value and contributions to culture lie beyond these basic needs. The thesis proposes that by specific framing of a scenery, a view of the city can be a contribution which inspires a Precious View.

Browsing by Author "Jones, Kevin William"

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