Master of Regional and Community Planning / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / John W. Keller / This report reviews pertinent knowledge regarding brownfield redevelopment, specifically the processes and issues involved. It addresses such topics as the type of brownfield sites, steps to remediation, types of remediation and barriers to redevelopment. Finally, a precedent study of Wellston, MO is presented. This study examines the impact that the development of two abandoned brownfield sites, Wellston Electrical Company and ABEX Foundry, had on the entire community. It was found that the onset of the development of these sites spurred the revitalization of the whole city of Wellston, having a positive influence across the city and surrounding area.

Master of Science / Department of Architecture / David R. Seamon / In this thesis, biomimicry is defined as imitating or taking inspiration from nature’s forms and processes to solve human problems (Benyus, 1997). As the design community realizes the tremendous impact human constructions have on the world, environmental designers look to new approaches like biomimicry to advance sustainable design. Building upon the claim made by biomimicry scientists that a full emulation of nature engages form, ecosystem, and process, this thesis uses a phenomenological approach to interpret human and environmental wholeness. Phenomenology broadens biomimicry’s scientific and technical focus on nature and considers how wholeness can be found among form, ecosystem, and process; and between people and environment. The thesis argues that, without a deeper, more responsive connectedness among people, nature, and built environment, any proposal for sustainable design will ultimately be incomplete and thus unsuccessful. In developing this phenomenological critique, the thesis reinterprets several environmental designs from the perspective of human and environmental wholeness: American architect Eugene Tsui’s hypothetical Ultima Tower; South African architect Michael Pearce’s Eastgate project in Zimbabwe; the Altamont Pass Wind Energy Development in California; Montana philosopher Gordon Brittan’s Windjammer wind turbine; American environmentalist David Orr’s Lewis Center at Ohio’s Oberlin College; and American architect Christopher Alexander’s Eishin campus in Japan. The collective claims developed in this phenomenological critique identify considerations and approaches that move beyond replacement technologies and systems to describe a way of environmental designing and making that is necessary for actualizing a more realistic sustainability in regard to both the natural and human-made worlds.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly W. Kramer / In 2006, a research project was being carried out by architects at architecture/engineering firm Cannon Design involving an optimum bay size for a hospital. RISA computer modeling was used to explore a set of lateral force resisting system (LFRS) options for a building based on this optimum bay size and importance category. The structural material was first narrowed down to steel, and then moment frames and braced frames are examined. The LFRS was narrowed down to braced frames, discarding moment frames due to their inordinate story drift. Of the different types of braced frames, the study further narrowed the LFRS system to chevron braced frames. Then the precise arrangement of braces for a particular building size using this bay system was examined. The steel material cost of the final system was compared to a system that only included members sized for gravity loads to demonstrate the rough amount of cost that a lateral system can add to a building.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Sutton F. Stephens / Cold‐formed steel has become a preferred building material for wall framing in many different types of structures. One of its main uses has been as non‐structural members in curtain wall assemblies of structural steel framed buildings. In an exterior wall application, the main purpose of the curtain wall is to transfer out of plane loads to the steel frame while not supporting any superimposed gravity loads. Therefore, when the curtain wall is in the plane of the structural steel frame, the vertical deflection of the spandrel beam directly above the wall must be known to provide the appropriate deflection gap between the beam and the curtain wall so that gravity loads are not transferred to the wall. Common practice is to size the gap for the deflection from 100% of the live load. In some cases, the deflection gap may be significant, and since this gap must also be provided in the exterior cladding of the wall, it creates a design issue for the architect. This report presents the results of an investigation into the feasibility of reducing the size of the deflection gap when the wall is located directly under the spandrel beam. In this study, analytical models were developed for common design situations of curtain walls constructed of cold‐formed steel studs in structural steel framed buildings. This study investigates two common stud heights combined with different floor live loads. Taking into account that wall studs have some available axial compressive strength, a procedure was developed to determine an appropriate reduction for the gap. Using an iterative process a relationship is made between the axial compressive strength of the stud and the amount of axial load the stud can support to establish a factor which gives the percentage the live load gap for 100% live load can be safely reduced by.

Master of Architecture / Department of Architecture / Richard L. Hoag / The years of World War II mark a time of significant sociological and cultural change. In the United States, new technologies were introduced, and family structure and family economics changed. These changes were reflected in the popular media, including housing design publications. This thesis examines the design of the American house from 1935 to 1955 as presented in House Beautiful, originally The House Beautiful and first published in 1896, and how it changed during this twenty-year period. Seven themes were used to organize and describe change during this period. These themes are: 1) family structure and economics, 2) technology, 3) construction, 4) automobile, 5) site and spatial relationships, 6) status, and 7) privacy. Changes in presentation of the house in House Beautiful are shown by comparing and contrasting feature house articles across the twenty-year study period. The focus audience of House Beautiful magazine was what the publishers of House Beautiful characterized as the average American, while in fact the designs were not for the masses. Rather, the magazine catered to the ideal image of the average American. Trends discussed in relation to changes in house design include the following: family stability and security, privacy, home-ownership, transportation, suburban development, the process of Americanization, quality of life, and household efficiency.

Architectural Engineering / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / David R. Fritchen / Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been touted by industry leaders, professional societies and trade articles as the next ‘big’ industry trend shaping the delivery of commercial construction by architects, engineers and construction managers. BIM delivery has been presently utilized by over half of polled industry partners. And, withstanding a separate technological programming breakthrough, BIM will likely sustain high levels of growth in implementation in industry with the rise of the next generation of design and construction professionals and building owners in the next 50 years, making BIM delivery the primary means of commercial construction document and project delivery. Due to this growth and publicity, universities around the USA have been highly encouraged to implement BIM into their educational curricula fabric of course work, placing an ever increasing emphasis on a BIM skill set for their graduates. Taken together, surveys of Architectural Engineering programs current and planned implementation of BIM, potential employers’ emphasis on recruiting graduates with BIM skills, reading and referencing of trade articles relating BIM to industry delivery trends, research on initial and sustained requirements and associated costs of hardware and software for universities - specifically Architectural Engineering Programs to include BIM in their curriculum, this collation of research and information will trend towards suggestions and conclusions related to BIM’s importance in Architectural Engineering curriculum of the present and future.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Sutton F. Stephens / Log construction is becoming increasingly popular throughout the U.S. Currently, seismic coefficients are not provided in model building codes for the design of the log shear walls as a lateral force resisting system for seismic forces. Current design practice is to use a response modification coefficient, R, of around 4.5. Several tests by other researchers on log shear walls showed strong energy dissipation and good lateral strength with stability after high displacements. This behavior of the log shear wall system is evidence that a higher R could possibly be used in design. The purpose of this study was to establish a response modification factor for single story log shear walls based on available shear wall tests using the definition of R provided in ATC-19. This research did not conduct testing according to the protocol and methodology of ATC-63. This work contains a history of the development of seismic design provisions in the U.S. and the evolution of the response modification coefficient. Common log construction practices are reviewed, with reference to ICC 400- Standard on Design and Construction of Log Structures. Using data provided by other researchers from physical testing and computer modeling of various types of log shear walls, an R of 6.0 is proposed based on the provisions of ATC-19. Finally, recommendations for further research to fully understand the behavior of the log shear wall system, including possible archetypes required by the methodology set forth in ATC-63, are provided.

Master of Science / Department of Architecture / David R. Seamon / This thesis presents a redesign of Kansas City’s downtown Government District, making use of the conceptual approach provided by Responsive Environments (1985), a manual for urban design written by architects Ian Bentley and Alan Alcock, urban designers Sue McGlynn and Graham Smith, and landscape architect Paul Murrain. “Responsive environments” are those urban places, the physical settings of which maximize usability and social value by offering a wide range of day-to-day user choices within close proximity. The authors of Responsive Environments identify seven hierarchical qualities—permeability, variety, legibility, robustness, visual appropriateness, richness, and personalization—that are said to be vital in creating responsive environments within the city. Through a literature review and critique, chapters 1 and 2 of the thesis overview Responsive Environments in terms of several major theorists of urban place making, including urban theorist Bill Hillier (1984), urban critic Jane Jacobs (1961), and urban designer William Whyte (1980). In turn, chapters 3, 4, 5, and 6 investigate the practicability of Responsive Environments as an urban design approach by applying its three larger-scale qualities of permeability, variety, and legibility to the Government District, an existing urban area in downtown Kansas City, Missouri, presently underdeveloped in terms of environmental responsiveness and a strong sense of urban place. As a means to identify strengths and weaknesses of Responsive Environments, the last chapter of the thesis critiques the resulting Government District design. The thesis concludes that Responsive Environments is a valuable design approach that offers much for strengthening the quality of urban life and urban sustainability.

Avec l’usage élargi de la CAAO, ces outils ont été largement utilisés dans le processus de conception architecturale. En dépit des fonctionnalités avancées offertes par les systèmes de CAAO, l'utilisation de la CAAO est principalement concentrée dans les étapes de production, comme un support graphique pour le dessin, la modélisation, le rendu et la simulation. Par conséquent, il est raisonnable de considérer que la situation actuelle relative à l’usage de la CAAO dans la profession d'architecte appelle à de nouvelles améliorations. En d'autres termes, nous devons trouver un moyen de mieux intégrer la technologie et les outils de CAAO dans le processus de conception architecturale, qui est notre question de recherche. Nous avons besoin de savoir comment la CAAO pourrait être utilisée pour améliorer la capacité de conception de l'architecte. Il ressort des discussions et des recherches menées pour cette étude que nous voulons un soutien de la technologie pour nous aider à mieux concevoir et non pas que la technologie conçoive à notre place. Nous aimerions avoir un système de CAAO qui pourrait nous servir d’assistant à la conception. En étudiant la situation de l'intégration des outils de CAAO dans les pratiques actuelles de conception des architectes et en examinant les approches utilisées dans les premières tentatives de développement d’un outil de CAAO intégré au processus de conception, on peut conclure que l'approche exploratoire et heuristique serait une meilleure approche qui pourrait être adaptée pour développer un système CAAO en soutien au travail de l’architecte. De plus, une étude plus approfondie a démontré que les deux sous- approches des approches exploratoires et heuristiques (approches basées sur les cas et les contraintes), sont applicables, mais aucune d'elles n'est suffisante. Par conséquent, l’approche hybride qui prend en compte les avantages de chacune des deux sous- approches précitées serait la plus applicable. Elle nous permettrait de développer un outil CAAD qui pourrait vraiment être intégré dans le processus de conception architecturale. Cette conclusion a été vérifiée par une étude complémentaire basée sur des entrevues. / The CAAD tools have been widely adopted in the architectural design process with the popular utilization of CAAD. In spite of the advanced features that have been designed for the CAAD systems, the utilization of CAAD is mainly concentrated on the production stage of design, as a graphic medium for drawing, modeling, rendering and simulation. Therefore, it is reasonable to deem that the current situation of CAAD tools involvement in the architectural profession is calling for further improvement. In other words, we need to find a way to better integrate the CAAD tools/technology into the architectural conceptual design stage, which is our research question. We need to find out how CAAD could be utilized to improve the architect’s design ability during the conceptual design. The discussion and research conducted for this study lead to the assessment that we want technology to help us design better, but not to design for us. We would like to have a CAAD system that could help us as a design assistant. By studying the current situation of the integration of CAAD tools into architects’ design practice and reviewing the approaches that have been employed to create a CAAD tool that could be better integrated into the design process, we reach the decision that the exploring & heuristic approach would be a preferred approach that could be adopted to further develop a more feasible CAAD system. In addition, within the two sub-approaches of the Exploring & Heuristic Approaches (case-based approach and constraint approach), further study has proved that both of them are applicable approaches, but neither of them could sufficiently serve as the sole approach for this purpose. Therefore, a hybrid approach that takes advantage of both approaches would be the most applicable one because it can help us develop a CAAD tool that could be really integrated into the conceptual architectural design procedure.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Kimberly Waggle Kramer / Reinforced concrete slabs are one of the most common components in modern building construction. Reinforced concrete slabs with plastic voids slabs are a new and innovative type of structural, concrete slab system developed to allow for lighter self-weight of the structure while maintaining similar load carrying capacity of a solid slab. Plastic voided slabs are capable of reducing the amount of concrete necessary to construct a building by 30 percent or more. This reduction can be beneficial in terms of financial savings as well as building performance. This report examines a two-way, reinforced concrete slab with plastic voids construction in comparison to traditional flat plate reinforced concrete slab construction. The design process for plastic voided slabs is directly compared with traditional two-way flat plate reinforced concrete slabs through a design comparison of typical bays of 20’ by 20’ (6m by 6m), 25’ by 25’ (7.6m by 7.6m), 30’ by 30’ (9m by 9m) and 35’ by 35’ (10.7m by 10.7m). The traditional slab design process follows the ACI 318-11 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete chapter 13 Direct Design Method, while the plastic voided slab design process is modified from the BubbleDeck Design Guide for compliance with BCA using AS3600 and EC2. Sizes of traditional slab bays are compared to sizes of plastic voided slab bays. Results of the comparison study are presented.