In the final quarter of the 18th century, a planter's dwelling overlooking the Caribbean Sea at Little Bay on the northwest coast of Montserrat in the British Leeward Islands was destroyed by fire and never reoccupied. Archaeological excavations in 2010 and 2011 yielded fragments of personal adornment, dress, household furnishings, and the house containing them providing an intimate portrait of an anonymous white male and his domestic arrangements. We do not know much about the planter class, though its members were central to the structure of 18th-century West Indian society. I use this rich archaeological data alongside archival, pictorial, and comparative analyses to particularize a West Indian planter and investigate the construction of colonial Creole identity. Evidence from archaeological, architectural, and ethnographic sources allow a reconstruction of the plantation house as a single-pile, three-cell plan, wood-frame structure with a raised masonry foundation and front gallery. This form, adapted to the Caribbean environment, altered English understanding and use of private and public spaces. Through archival research, I linked Little Bay to the Piper family, documenting its transfer through generations of unmarried male relatives. At the time of the fire the inhabitant was a Montserratian born, third-generation white male of English descent, meaning a white Creole. Ceramic gaming disks and glass beads identical to examples found in enslaved contexts indicate a household comprised of domestic slaves and planter. The head of household was a wealthy male versed in 18th-century British aesthetics as shown by a fob seal, coat buttons, and flintlock pistol. Punch bowls, glassware, tea and tableware reflect refined British cultural sensibilities, but as first-person travelogues recount, such goods were redeployed in distinctive colonial form with Creole open-door sociability and shared domesticity with household enslaved. Taken together, the finds demonstrate how this colonial Creole used English material goods to craft a distinctive form of white masculine identity within the West Indian planter class. In this world of mixed classes, races, and heritages, such formulations required choices. My research highlights how British objects and local practice combined to create new meanings for plantation society in Montserrat and the West Indies.

American undertakers first began relocating from downtown parlors to mansions in residential neighborhoods around the First World War, and by midcentury virtually every city and town possessed at least one funeral home in a remodeled dwelling. Using industry publications, newspapers, photographs, legal documents, and field work, this dissertation mines the funeral industry's shift from business district to residential district for insights into America's evolving residential landscape, the impact of consumer culture on the built environment, and the communicative power of objects. Chapters one and two describe the changing landscape of professional deathcare. Chapter three explores the funeral home's residential setting as the battleground where undertakers clashed with residents and civil authorities for the soul of America's declining nineteenth-century neighborhoods and debated the efficacy and legality of zoning. The funeral home itself became a site for debate within the industry over whether or not professionals could also be successful merchants. Chapters four and five demonstrate how an awareness of both the symbolic value of material culture and the larger consumer marketplace led enterprising undertakers to mansions as a tool to legitimate their claims to professional status and as a setting to stimulate demand for luxury goods, two objectives often at odds with one another. Chapter five also explores the funeral home as a barometer of rising pressures within retail culture, from its emphasis on merchandising and democratized luxury to the industry's early exodus from the downtown as a harbinger of the postwar decentralization of shopping to the suburbs. Amidst perennial concerns over rising burial costs and calls for greater simplicity, funeral directors created spaces that married simplicity to luxury, a paradox that became a hallmark of modern consumer culture. Notwithstanding their success as retail spaces, funeral homes struggled for acceptance as ritual spaces. Chapter six follows the industry's aggressive campaign to dislodge the home funeral using advertisements that showcased the funeral home's privacy and homelike comforts. In the end, a heightened emphasis within consumer culture on convenience and the funeral home's ability to balance sales and ceremony solidified its enduring and iconic place within the vernacular landscape.

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The research hypothesis of this study states that the springhouses of Montgomery County, Virginia, are part of an established, regionally specific, rural vernacular building tradition. Over the one-hundred and fifty-year period examined for this survey, the form and design of springhouses remained consistent, but the size, number, construction materials, and functions of springhouses changed, in response to economic, social, and technological developments. The purpose of this study was two-fold: first, to document existing springhouses in Montgomery County, Virginia, using photographs and an evaluation form; and secondly, to provide analysis and interpretation of regional springhouse design, construction, and use, based on fieldwork. While springhouses appear to be relatively few in number in comparison with other farm structures, such as barns, many were adapted and maintained for decades, and some are still being used today. Their continued survival, however, may depend upon sympathetic property owners who recognize the significance of the springhouse to the rural landscape. This work will comment on the physical and material contexts of the springhouse as a building type; describe springhouse characteristics; and provide a catalog of fifty existing springhouses in Montgomery County, Virginia. / Master of Science

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This work involves the presentation of an original critical theory, termed the "script-analogue", for the discovery of significance in works of traditional architecture within their cultural contexts. The theory includes a set of related ideas about the relationship of architecture and culture, and uses these ideas as a method to analyze the relationship of African women to African traditional architecture. The use of the script as an analogue refers to the script as it is used in theater, and indicates that the relationship of the individual, culture, and the architectural environment is dynamic and interactive. The "script-analogue" derives from post-structural thought, and modifies and expands on some of its themes to make them directly applicable in the context of architecture. lt represents a dynamic analytical alternative to the reading of architecture as “text”. In the "script-analogue" theory, culture is represented through the actions of individuals, who are members simultaneously of a culture and overlapping and modifying sub-cultures. Who an individual is, culturally and sub-culturally, is important in the relationship of the individual to architecture. The theory offers a means by which gender differences, in terms of "who" builds and uses architecture, can be addressed in research, through the investigation of metaphors of significance to women, and thus it can facilitate research which focuses on women. The concept of architecture is expanded to include both the built environment, and the unbuilt environment which is <u>designated</u> to be of significance through language. <u>Memory</u> is the means by which significance in architecture is given continuity. The term <u>commemorative</u> is used to indicate the commemoration, through architectural forms, of the appropriate actions of individuals within culture. The term <u>orientative</u> indicates that the locations of architectural forms and spaces, and the orientations of people to architecture, are factors in the memory of architectural significance and propriety of actions. The "script-analogue" proposes that architectural significance can be discovered through investigations of the <u>metaphor</u> in language, and that metaphor is the means by which cultural themes exist in an inter-connected relationship to each other. <u>Ritual</u>, as metaphorical action which takes place in an architectural setting, activates the script, and connects it to other cultural and sub-cultural themes outside of the local and specific conditions. This inter-connectedness is termed in the "script-analogue", <u>transcendence through metaphor</u>. The substance of this dissertation comprises both an explanation of the ideas involved in the "script-analogue" theory, and examples of its application. In addition to the findings generated by the application of the "script-analogue" to the relationship of African women to African traditional architecture, this dissertation suggests other applications of the theory, such as evaluations of housing design in Africa, and it attempts to bridge the gap between architectural theory and practice. / Ph. D.

[EN] Phenomenology in recent years has gained throttle in the philosophical domain; more specifically, the phenomenological methodology had its most significant impact on architectural interpretation and understanding. It is unusual how the phenomenological discourse appeared in the architectural prospect on the decays of structuralism and semiotics. On the other hand, in humanities and philosophy, the growth of structuralism happened only after the decline of phenomenology. These paradoxical conditions are explained due to the translation delay of philosophical ideas and their implementation in architecture. In this research, we dig into the essential question of architectural experience by studying architecture through its phenomenological significance as a dwelling attitude to its inhabitants. The study is on dwellings in the eastern Bekaa region -Lebanon, on houses built between two significant eras, a time frame that shows the essential difference between two construction methods and the transitional phase in-between. Showing case the different typologies that generated in the same area, comparing the area's vernacular architecture and sustainable designs, addressing whether these typologies had any effect on the dweller's socio-cultural and socio-economical dynamics. The area of study is still virgin to different phenomenological interpretation, as the drastic change of typologies occurred in the past 50 years. Dwellers just recently overcame the transitional phase, from applying vernacular construction means, to applying new construction technologies with globalized materials. The area permits us to question the primary existential question of being-in-world, and how citizens coped with their environment in order to sustain their existential being through architectural means. We examine the following phenomenon by learning from dwelling theorists and phenomenologists, focusing on phenomenologists such as Martin Heidegger, Merleau-ponty, and Christian Norberg-Schulz in an attempt to correlate phenomenology with sustainability. Additionally, interpreting architecture hermeneutically through the Arabic parables to comprehend it better in concern with its cultural context. / [ES] El papel de la fenomenología ha sido clave en el terreno filosófico. La metodología fenomenológica ha tenido un impacto significativo en la interpretación y comprensión arquitectónica. Puede parecer absurdo cómo el discurso fenomenológico aterriza en la arquitectura a partir de la desintegración del estructuralismo y la semiótica, mientras que en el campo de las humanidades, y concretamente en el ámbito filosófico, el estructuralismo se desarrolla, precisamente, a partir del declive de la fenomenología. Esta situación paradójica se explica a raíz de la demora en la traducción de las ideas filosóficas y su implementación en la arquitectura. En esta investigación se pretende profundizar en la cuestión esencial de la experiencia arquitectónica a partir de la comprensión de los modos de habitar. El estudio se desarrolla en el conjunto de viviendas de la región oriental de Bekaa (Líbano), a partir de casas construidas en dos periodos significativos, periodos que permiten distinguir entre dos modos de construir contrastados, con una fase de transición intermedia. Se muestran las diferentes tipologías que proliferaron en una misma área, permitiendo comparar las arquitecturas vernáculas y los diseños sostenibles, planteando a su vez si estas tipologías tuvieron algún efecto en la dinámica sociocultural y socioeconómica de sus habitantes. El interés del área de estudio radica en considerarse un terreno virgen para abordar diferentes interpretaciones fenomenológicas, ya que el cambio drástico de tipologías ocurrió en los últimos 50 años. Los habitantes superaron la fase de transición recientemente, partiendo de la aplicación de medios de construcción vernáculos hasta la aplicación de nuevas tecnologías de construcción con materiales globalizados. El área nos permite cuestionar la cuestión existencial primaria del ser-en-el mundo, y cómo los ciudadanos cooperaron con su entorno para mantener su ser existencial a través de medios arquitectónicos. Examinamos el siguiente fenómeno aprendiendo de los teóricos de la vivienda y los fenomenólogos, centrándonos en fenomenólogos como Martin Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty y Christian Norberg-Schulz. Además, interpretando la arquitectura hermenéuticamente a través de las parábolas árabes para comprenderla mejor en relación con su contexto cultural. / [CA] El paper de la fenomenologia ha sigut clau al terreny filosòfic. La metodologia fenomenològica ha tingut un impacte significatiu a la interpretació i comprensió arquitectònica. Pot semblar absurd com el discurs fenomenològic aterra a l'arquitectura arran la desintegració de l'estructuralisme i la semiòtica, mentre que al camp de les humanitats, i concretament a l'àmbit filosòfic, l'estructuralisme es desenvolupa precisament partint del declivi de la fenomenologia. Aquesta situació paradoxal s'explica arran el retard a la traducció de les idees filosòfiques i la seua implementació a l'arquitectura. A aquesta investigació es pretén aprofundir a la qüestió essencial de l'experiència arquitectònica partint de la comprensió de les maneres d'habitar. L'estudi es desenvolupa al conjunt d'habitatges de la regió oriental de Bekaa (Líban), partint de cases construïdes a dos períodes significatius, períodes que permeten distingir entre dos maneres de construir contrastades, amb una fase de transició intermèdia. Es mostren les diferents tipologies que van proliferar a una mateixa àrea, permetent comparar les arquitectures vernacles i els dissenys sostenibles, plantejant a l'hora si aquestes tipologies van tindre cap efecte a la dinàmica sociocultural i socioeconòmica dels seus habitants. L'interès de l'àrea d'estudi radica en considerar-se un terreny verge per enllestir diferents interpretacions fenomenològiques, ja que el canvi dràstic de tipologies va ocórrer als darrers 50 anys. Els habitants van superar la fase de transició recentment, partint de l'aplicació de mitjans de construcció amb materials globalitzats. L'àrea ens permet qüestionar la qüestió essencial primària de l'ésser-al-món i cóm els ciutadans van cooperar amb el seu entorn per mantenir el seu esser existencial per mitjan de mitjans arquitectònics. Examinem el següent fenomen aprenent dels teòrics de l'habitatge i els fenomenòlegs, centrant-nos en fenomenòlegs com Martin Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty y Christian Norberg- Schulz. A més, interpretant l'arquitectura hermenèuticament mitjançant les paràboles àrabs per comprendre-la millor en relació amb el seu context cultural. / Elmoussaoui, M. (2020). The phenomenological significance of dwelling in architecture. The case of Eastern Beka’a Valley - Lebanon [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/152487

The concept of place is extremely important within today's contemporary society. As a result of hyper mobility, many people do not take the time to notice and understand the spaces surrounding them. A sense of place is subtle and fragile, yet can exist in the most humble of environments. In Appalachian, there are countless structures that dot the mountainous landscape symbolizing the sense of place in southwestern Virginia. The Virginia pole barn is important for the sense of place because of its direct tie to the land. Many of these structures were built from the indigenous American chestnut tree and crafted using traditional building techniques. These structures are an important contribution to the vernacular of the Appalachian region, and much of this is due to the material presence of these structures as they give balance and counterpoint to the ridges and valleys. Secondary research focused on theories about the creation of place, the spirit or character of a specific place, the role of symbols in these creations, and the importance of the American chestnut as a material. Primary research concentrated on the people who interact with these pole barns on a regular basis, the structures themselves, and the prevailing landscapes. / Master of Science

This thesis addresses the need for nurturing the human soul in the manmade environment. Qualities definable as nurturing to the human soul were selected from research writings in psychology, specifically those of Carl Jung, James Hillman, and Thomas Moore. Of the varied forms of soul care, four qualities were selected (for this study) based on their applicability to the built environment. The four qualities include Religion, Orientation, Beauty, and Solitude. The traditional Japanese family dwelling, minka, was selected for studying the possible forms and manifestations of these four qualities in the manmade environment. In the minka, Religion was revealed in its varied aspects including Gods, sacred reality, personification, symbols, myths, religious rituals and practices. The quality of Orientation was defined by Vernacular and Cosmic dimensions of space and time: vernacular orientation was provided by the vernacular nature of the minka; cosmic space was perceived through symbolic representation; and cosmic time was manifested by the celebration of seasonal festivals. Beauty, in the form of fine arts and crafts, was revealed in the nature and purpose of the tokonoma and the daily household chores. And Solitude was revealed by the harmony perceivable in the living environment by the human senses of sight, sound, touch, and smell. Thus, throughout the minka, the four soul-nurturing qualities were present either as direct expressions of the built environment or as experiences resulting from human involvement and interaction with the built environment. Analysis of the minka environment was used to draw conclusions fo1 contemporary living environments. / Master of Landscape Architecture