Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Thesis. 1972. M.Arch.A.S. / MICROFICHE COPY ALSO AVAILABLE IN ROTCH LIBRARY. / Eighteen unnumbered leaves inserted. Lacking leaf 127. / Bibliography: leaves 202-203. / M.Arch.A.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 140-141). / The physical form of the city, at any given moment in time, is the result of its historical process of formation. Change in the socio-cultural processes in a city at a given moment in its history, therefore, corresponds to and is evidenced in the physical changes of its many urban forms. The different urban forms, which are essentially manifestations of the different moments of understanding and values in the city's history, collectively give the city its distinct character. Thus, the understanding of the process of the formation of the city in time becomes crucial in the act of managing the urban environment. This study attempts to unravel the process involved in the formation of a city in time, through the study of two segments of the city of Kathmandu. The roots of the two urban forms are centuries apart, but collectively they constitute the city today. Through an analysis of these two urban forms in terms of the aforementioned process revealed through change the study tries to stress the need to understand the built-environment as a phenomenon of change in time. The underlying notion is that the actions we take to transform the city in the present and the future has to be within and supportive of the process of formation specific to that city, as revealed through change in time. / by Biresh Shah. / M.S.

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2015. / This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections. / Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 154-157). / In the 2010 International Workshop on Housing, Health and Climate Change Meeting Report, the World Health Organization identifies housing as a primary cause of poor health in developing countries. The report cites inadequate protection from extreme heat as one of six major concerns for healthy housing environments. As India's population rapidly increases, informal settlements face particular heat risk because of harsh climate conditions, sub-standard building construction and lack of access to electricity for mechanical cooling. There is a need for housing to provide thermal comfort and health by passive means at low cost. Climate specific passive cooling techniques are well known, but are rarely implemented in informal settlements because of density, lack of resources, design integration, and materials availability. This thesis is situated in the practical connection of two normally disparate parts: applied research in passive cooling techniques, and design for development. The work presented results from the establishment of an international co-design partnership between MIT and The Hunnarshala Foundation for Building Technology and Innovations, an NGO based in the hot and arid region of Bhuj, India. It presents data analysis and codesign work that drove the development, field prototyping, and evaluation of appropriate, implementable building solutions to improve thermal conditions in affordable housing in hot and arid climates. New low-cost, multi-layered roof assembly designs are presented and evaluated. Experimental results show that even in severe arid climates the interior conditions can approach ASHRAE and EN 15251 Adaptive Thermal Comfort standards through most of the operating hours. The results of this research will be an important contribution to the designs of the initial phase of the large-scale Rajiv Awas Yojana Slum Free Bhuj re-development housing construction over the next five years in Western India. / by Madeline S. Gradillas. / S.M.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 81-83). / We live in an era in which we come closer everyday to conquering the elements, to a degree that earlier humans could scarcely dream of. Nearly one hundred years ago, we took to the skies, and learned to fly. Today the act of flight is an everyday experience for most people. Many of us move between the earth and sky without much contemplation. We have come to take the experience of flight for granted, pushed it out of sight and from the senses. There is a place on earth where the spirit of flight is alive and celebrated like nowhere else. It is a place which honors those who experiment and have made the act of flight an everyday possibility. Those who have yet to leave the earth and are dreaming about what it might be like to inhabit the sky. Those that are finding ways to discover new frontiers in space, in hopes of finding life elsewhere. Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) bring this world together during their annual airshow at Wittman Regional Airport, to collaborate in the search and celebration of what flight is all about. This thesis aims to address and encourage the transition from earth to sky at Oshkosh. / by Jacob E. Kain. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1984. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 113). / This thesis explores perceptual experience as it relates to architecture and its design. It recognizes the disparity which exists between the inevitable linearity of our experience of buildings, and the fact that buildings and the process of their design are non-linear. This opposition between the sequential nature of architectural experience and the three dimensional, non-linear reality of the architectural design process, presents a problem; that of understanding and stating concepts of sequential experience in a form that admits directly into the design process. This thesis addresses this problem. The main contention is that concepts of sequential experience must be tested in the process of design. Only by going back and forth between the hypothesis and its use can accurate and useful tools of thought be fashioned. Hence, this exploration has two parts; the analysis of sequential experience and the design of a building. / by Ronald Morgan Binney. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1958. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 54-46 / William Lawrence Garvin. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1986. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 119-122). / Home is an elusive concept. In one manner it is highly specific and individual in its definition, and in other aspects it is ubiquitous, present in our every act. In this thesis I explore several possible definitions of dwelling originating from the different relationships between the observer and environmental meaning. The meaning of dwelling is examined in four manners: case studies, interviews, academic research, and a small design project. The relationship of vernacular and formal architectural ideas are compared, and shown in the context of the user. In this way the degree and manner in which architecture influences the nature of dwelling is shown. It is my contention that architecture is but a subset of the manifold influences on dwelling. Architecture can assist dwelling by careful encoding of activity oriented meanings, but it is only through the user's inhabitation that dwelling truly occurs. / by Victor Wayne Olgyay. / M.Arch.

Thesis (M. Arch)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1988. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 60). / Industrial structures such as blast furnaces, oil refineries, gravel crushers etc. are often beautiful and fascinating. Furthermore, they exemplify certain formal and organizational characteristics which could be incorporated into architectural design. In the 1920's Le Corbusier and his contemporaries refereed to industrial structures, American grain silos in particular as a symbol of their Positivist faith in rationalism and anticipation of a Techno - Utopia. However, the world has changed in the last 60 years. Contemporary architecture is struggling to move beyond this Positivistic utopian vision and create a built environment which is more humane, user friendly and accommodating of idiosyncrasy and diversity. This thesis will examine four characteristics exemplified by industrial structures which could inform such an architecture. Industrial structures are heterotopically ordered complex assemblages of autonomous components. Discrete, clearly defined spaces within them are displaced so as to allow residual or slack space in between. The exposed steel frame work creates a sense of transparency and blurs the edge between inside and out. The purely utilitarian lack of artifice creates an honest and legible tectonic expression. These four characteristics cannot be applied superficially as an end in themselves. They should evolve out of the design process. Industrial structures are organized according to strict functional, utilitarian and economic criteria. It might be possible to archive these characteristics in architecture by following the same functional methodology. However, this is difficult in architecture because not only are the functional requirements obscure and complex but there is often little correlation between form and function. In architecture, the experiential as well as the technical qualities of a building must be considered. Helmut Schulitz's three C's context, construction method and content, defines a broad categorization of functional criteria which can influence the form of a building. However, no matter how broadly defined, a purely rational, functional design approach is insufficient to create architecture. Some degree of formal compositional order is unavoidable. To illustrate the incorporation of these characteristics into architecture, I have designed a community center to be located on the Boston State Hospital site at Franklin park. This design attempts to follow a heterotopic functional methodology based on Helmut Schulitz's Three C's categorization. The various activities of the center are organized around a plaza. The plaza is open to the southwest and commands a view of the field below and the blue hills in the distance. In summation, this thesis proposes four characteristics discernible in industrial structures which could inform a more diverse and humane architecture. It then proposes how these characteristics can be achieved by following a functional design methodology. This approach is illustrated with the design of a community center located on the Boston State Hospital Site. / by Damon Strub. / M.Arch

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2013. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 63-66). / The history of computation owes a major debt to the traditional crafts, and the worlds of design and computation have been interlinked since the development of mechanical computing systems during the 19 th century. As computing systems became digital, the connections between craft and computation have become more abstract, though they are still there. The regime between the analogue world of craft, and more generally design practice, and the digital world of computation, here referred to as the "di-alogue" world has barely been explored. By challenging our notions of both craft and computation, how can excursions into the di alogue world help us to re-define or re-conceive of our traditional understanding of craft and of computation? In this thesis, I examine the shared history of traditional craft and computation as well as cover several examples of how these worlds have been combined. Additionally, I argue that by capitalizing on the procedural backbone of a particular craft, one can create unique "logics" that blur the perceived line between craft and computation. / by Henry George Skupniewicz. / S.B.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-76). / The act of immersion is a powerful catalyst for the affirmation or transformation of identity. How we place ourselves in water expresses cultural valuations of our bodies, water, and social relations, as well as categories of place and time. This thesis proposes to regenerate the mikvah, or Jewish ritual bath, by tapping into the resonance of its underlying themes, and integrating these into the social and physical landscape of modern life. The resulting design is an exploration of the possibilities inherent in the stages of ritual, in the meeting of body and water, and in the California landscape. The building is also organized by two spatial ideas about water. The spring and the pool organize movement and stillness for both people and water. Upper and lower zones of water instigate the tectonics of the building. Within each space, the particularities of ritual and of site and light inform the orientation and arrangement of the space. / by Naomi Leah Horowitz. / M.Arch.