Very little is understood about the liveability of mini-suite housing. 600 Drake presented an opportunity to analyze the interrelated social, economic, and physical design aspects of mini-suite housing to determine: 1) The extent and characteristics of the sub-market for mini-suite housing; 2) Whether mini-suite housing is liveable and satisfies residents' needs; and 3) What policies should be instituted to ensure mini-suite development supports civic housing objectives. Academic research has dispelled the notion that the amount of living space is the prime concern of people living in high density residential environments. Rather, psychological aspects, such as an individual's perceptions of privacy and crowdedness, are much more influential. Another important conclusion is the realization that residential satisfaction is a measure of the degree to which a home "fits" the needs and desired lifestyle of an individual. Residents should be given the opportunity to chose the type of housing which satisfies their particular needs. An analysis of demographic and housing market trends in the City of Vancouver indicates the existence of a niche market for mini-suite housing. Population growth, smaller households, rapid new household formation and a young age profile have all put pressure on the existing stock of housing. Changing consumer needs and lifestyle habits also affect the housing stock because traditional forms of housing do not adequately fit the particular needs of emerging niche markets. This case-study asked residents to participate in two mail-back surveys. The Part One Survey revealed that a typical resident of 600 Drake is under 40 years of age, single and holds a post secondary degree. This resident walks or takes public transit to a service sector job located in Downtown Vancouver. Their leisure time is divided between many recreational, entertainment and social activities, most of which take place outside of their home. These people were attracted to 600 Drake because it is a new and modern building. Other features, such as the design of units and amenity areas; the building security system; apartment availability; rent increase protection; and building location motivated people to move into 600 Drake. Affordability had a neutral effect on this housing choice "equation" and apartment size had a slightly negative effect. It is apparent that residents choose to live in 600 Drake because of its design, locational and economic attributes. The Part Two Survey assessed how satisfied residents are with various aspects of their mini-suite, privacy and crowding issues, and the design, services and management of the building. Upon considering their mini-suite, residents reveal they are very satisfied with the design of the kitchen and bathroom areas. However, there are a few problems, such as insufficient closet, balcony and dining space, which are associated with the design of the living/sleeping area. The only significant problem regarding crowding and privacy issues has to do with the negative impacts of neighbourhood street noise. This design problem could have been minimized with more effective acoustical abatement measures such as incorporating glassed-in balconies or central air conditioning. Nonetheless, residents do not feel the building is especially crowded. In addition, residents are extremely satisfied with the amenity areas and management of 600 Drake. The amenity areas provide a valued outlet for residents to instigate casual social interaction with fellow residents. In summary, the vast majority of respondents indicate they are satisfied with their minisuite apartment in 600 Drake. By virtue of the close match between who these units were designed for and who actually moved in, it is evident that this form of housing fits the lifestyle of a particular niche market. Therefore, it is recommended the City of Vancouver permit the development of mini-suite housing. A controlled development approach for mini-suite housing should be adopted that utilizes specified design criteria within a discretionary approval process. Furthermore, mini-suite development should be restricted to the rental housing market and the City should negotiate binding rental agreements with developers to ensure buildings are properly managed and do not permit more than one person to live in a mini-suite apartment. Finally, the City of Vancouver should limit mini-suite housing development to central neighbourhoods to ensure residents have access to social, employment and recreational services located near the CBD.

The basic intention of this study is to show that the research findings in the field of restorative environments can be used in the design of high-density housing to develop healthy living environments. This study explores the possibility that providing public, semi-public and private landscaped open spaces in and around the dwelling units, can improve the living conditions in a low-rise, high-density housing design. It is primarily concerned with the relationship which people in the high-density settings have with their outdoor environment and explores the possibilities of design and management of the nearby natural area in ways that are beneficial for people and appreciated by them. The study uses the literature on restorative benefits of nature and housing to develop criteria for the design and management of housings at high densities and illustrates the significance and implementation of the design criteria through comparative analysis of the existing and the proposed housing design.

Shifting demographics and economic factors have recently necessitated the export of prefabricated homes. With respect to trade in the global market, home manufacturers can greatly benefit by using E-commerce and digital networks to communicate with their foreign clients. / The author proposes a software application to assist Canadian home prefabricators and manufacturers of building components to display their services and products in an interactive and electronic format. This tool would help these companies by increasing the size of their potential client base and the speed of their business interactions. / The study concludes that specialised software to facilitate the export of prefabricated homes can easily take advantage of the Internet's speed and accessibility as a download or Website as well as be available on CD-ROM.

Through the years, there has been a great deal of archaeological research focused on the earliest farming cultures of Europe (i.e. Early Neolithic). However, little effort has been expended to uncover the type and nature of daily activities performed within Early Neolithic dwellings, particularly in the Balkans. This thesis conducts a spatial analysis of the Early Neolithic pit house levels of the Foeni-Salaş site in southeast Romania, in the northern half of the Balkans, to determine the kinds and locations of activities that occurred in these pit houses. Characteristic Early Neolithic dwellings in the northern Balkans are pit houses. The data are analyzed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology in an attempt to identify non-random patterns that will indicate how the pit house inhabitants used their space. Both visual and statistical (Nearest Neighbor) techniques are used to identify spatial patterns. Spreadsheet data are incorporated into the map database in order to compare and contrast the results from the two techniques of analysis. Map data provides precise artefact locations, while spreadsheet data yield more generalized quad centroid information. Unlike the mapped data, the spreadsheet data also included artefacts recovered in sieves. Utilizing both data types gave a more complexand fuller understanding of how space was used at Foeni-Salaş. The results show that different types of activity areas are present within each of the pit houses. Comparison of interior to exterior artifact distributions demonstrates that most activities take place within pit house. Some of the activities present include weaving, food preparation, butchering, hide processing, pottery making, ritual, and other activities related to the running of households. It was found that these activities are placed in specific locations relative to features within the pit house and the physical structure of the pit house itself. This research adds to the growing body of archaeological research that implements GIS to answer questions and solve problems related to the spatial dimension of human behaviour.

Within the prefabrication industry, Kit homes have had a long history of success within the twentieth century. Kit homes are houses whose components are manufactured using a panelized or pre-cut prefabrication system, are numbered, packaged and shipped to the building site for erection. Among the different strategies in purchasing a manufactured house, buying a house as a kit has a great potential for self-help assembly. Since about one third of the cost of construction is labor costs, the author has investigated the option of self-help building using Kit homes, to eliminate the labor cost and thus further reduce the construction cost. / In order to study the Kit home potential and costs when bought from, and assembled by the manufacturer, four manufacturers of prefabricated homes who offer Kit homes were visited. In order to study the Kit home potential and costs when assembled by the buyer, the building process of a self-helper was researched and documented. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

A whakapapa of the marae Whakapapa, a Maori word, is often abstracted to the English language as the word genealogy. Whakapapa however has a more subtle and comprehensive meaning in Maori. In that language it has complex connotations of genealogical lines, yes, but also the history of the people involved and perhaps most importantly, the inter-relationships between those people. Degrees of consanguinity are all important when establishing relationships within Te Ao Maori - the Maori world. Marae, the basis of this thesis, is another Maori word. A marae, at its simplest, might be referred to as an agglomeration of separated, functional buildings on an area of reserved land, usually deemed to be sacral to some extent. Marae have an ancient history both in New Zealand Maori culture, but really originating at least in part, in the older cultures from which our Maori culture was eventually derived, from other, earlier settled, Pacific Islands. This thesis then is a genealogy, a sort of cultural history of marae, but is based on the idea and Maori sense of the whakapapa and so partakes of the nuances involved. It is these additional complexities that are referred to by the use of the word whakapapa in the title of this thesis. This thesis investigates the lineage of the marae, tracing it back to legendary roots, but it also examines the relationships between the components of the marae and also the place the marae has established within Maori (and other) communities. Beyond the historical forms of the marae that this thesis investigates are the other aspects that delineate what a marae really is. It is not simply a group of buildings at all, although this is a common non-Maori understanding of its disposition. A marae is a tapu or sacred space, and within or nearby that space are buildings whose form, function and meaning have only come to their present conjunction in (written) historic times. What makes the marae is the combination of the people and the ritual that is involved on a marae, the marae space and lastly, the physical buildings. The buildings, particularly carved houses, have additional meaning that they lend to the thread of the story. They themselves represent the whakapapa of the marae, and specifically of the hapu (or sub-tribe) who inhabit that marae. They do this by direct representation, but also by analogy and by spiritual means that are little dealt with in most literature. Ancestors in Te Ao Maori are deemed to exist within the very fabric of the building and have a renewed or continuing existence that is created in the first instance by a melange of ritual and belief. This thesis discusses both the usage of ritual to create such physical interjacence, utilised in modern times within whare (houses), and the continued use of regular ritual on marae for human functions. It is only together that a complete modern marae is created. With any of these elements missing the marae form is truncated or lessened and diminished in some ways. So, marae which have been recreated in preserved forms, such as those in museums, are discussed at length in this thesis, by contrast with marae in regular usage for 'traditional' purposes. In essence then, this is an investigation of the marae, but in terms, manners and ways, which have not always been fully or comprehensively dealt with before.

The housing shortage in the United States at the close of World War II led President Truman and his National Housing Expediter, Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr., to enact the Veteran's Emergency Housing Act. Enacted in the spring of 1946, one goal of the V.E.H.A. was to encourage the production of prefabricated and factory-built housing units.The Lustron Homes Corporation, founded by Carl Strandlund, was a subsidiary of Chicago Vitreous Enamel Products Company which received over $37 million from the Federal Government between 19461950, in order to manufacture standardized all-steel houses.This creative project explores the wartime and postwar housing situation across the country, and specifically, in Louisville, Kentucky. An interview with Wilson W. Wyatt, Sr. is included.The production, assembly, and sales practices of the Lustron Homes Corporation are explored through research, and through an interview with the regional salesman who represented Kentucky. Documentation and photographs of Louisville's Lustrons are included. / Department of Architecture

Bangkok's dramatic growth in the last three decades has brought with it a wide range of urban problems - economic, architectural, environmental, and social. One problem has been a demand for a new dwelling and work spaces. The Bangkok townhouse has served to meet both needs, but the forms it has taken thus far leaves needs improvement.This creative project proposes improvements to the Bangkok townhouses to make it more responsive to its environment as well as interior functions. The improvements focus on facades, reorganization of interior spaces, and physical townhouse elements. The study uses a typological and environmental study to understand and investigate examples of existing Bangkok townhouses. This includes case study analyses to suggest daylighting design strategies for design applications.This study proposes a facade design guideline and a set of physical arrangement suggestions for enhancing the daylight, ventilation, and accommodation capacity of the Bangkok townhouses. In addition, potential applications of the facade guidelines are illustrated. The facade and physical arrangement guidelines can be a fundamental concept for further development and improvement of the Bangkok and other townhouses in locations throughout Thailand. / Department of Architecture

Lockefield Gardens was a 1936 Public Works Administration housing project for Indianapolis blacks. This study analyzes the Lockefield Gardens historic preservation debate in the period of 1975 – 1985. The historical and descriptive overview of Lockefield Gardens provides a sense of this unique place. The practical politics of historic preservation and the theory of § 106 review are considered as they impacted the preservation/development controversy. Lastly, the lessons learned from the Lockefield Gardens deliberations are offered to help improve historic preservation efforts in the future. These include consideration of such factors as time, diversity and political leadership. The conclusion offers suggestions for an improved memorialization of Lockefield Gardens, as well as the proud and vibrant African American community that once resided there. / New Deal architecture and historic preservation -- Historical and descriptive overview of Lockefield Gardens -- Preservation/development efforts 1975-1985 -- The theory of [section] 106 review and the practical politics of preservation -- The lessons of Lockefield Gardens.

The two major objectives of this creative project were to provide students a way to visualize and apply the elements and principles of design, and to aid in better comprehension and retention of the interior design principles. Both objectives were accomplished by: enables hands-on-experience in redecorating the interior to apply the principles of design, and (2) developing an appropriate unit plan, with accompanying lesson plans and activity sheets that can be used with the model house while teaching interior design.Applying new wall, window, and floor treatments will enable students to visualize as well as apply the interior design concepts. The unit plan provides activities as well as evaluations for the students to reinforce their knowledge of the interior design principles. / Department of Home Economics