“Now I seem to see all the things I have observed arranged like tools in a neat row; they are aligned as in a botanical chart, or a catalogue, or a dictionary.” - Aldo Rossi Situated along railroad tracks that wind their way around a mountain near Charlottesville is an abandoned industrial structure whose stack can be seen from the I-64 bridge. I always strained to see over the concrete guardrail, but the most I managed to Gather was the remains of a roof and that incredible brick smokestack. The image of the once functioning machine which ceases to work, and which is locked in some bygone era has intrigued me from an early age. The energy once produced, or the task performed Is somehow still locked in these artifacts: the obsolete locomotive, the masonry chimney of a burned frame house, a beautifully worn toy long since outgrown. Within these objects is a melancholy that is both disturbing and sublime. Their architecture is subtle and silent, unnoticed by many, they offer a strength in their gentle variations, as well as their bold geometries. Rossie’s beautiful ‘Scientific Autobiography’ explores his dreamlike world of forms based upon observations of daily life in Lombardy, Italy. A decidedly anti-modern and anti-post-modern essay it calls for present architects to draw inspiration from the vernacular. Rossi’s formal vocabulary seems to have derived through years of observing and sketching mundane objects inherent to life in Northern Italy. The chapel project is an attempt to build a broken machine or an abandoned factory. Inspiration comes not from the spectacular, but the countless anonymous structures ever present in industrial zones of cities and along back roads in the country. Observation of old railroad structures, power plants, and farm machinery has played a pivotal role in the vocabulary that I have developed thus far. The sketch has proved to be an indispensable tool for extracting these images from my memory. Analysis of these sketches has allowed me to formulate basic premises about my work. (1) Autonomy – I see the same object quality in industrial buildings in America as in deChirico’s ‘The Red Tower.’ However this autonomy is not the same of the moderns – of a pristine object placed within a hostile environment, but one of relative autonomy. That is one that is formally abstracted but still has a very definite connection to a long line of predecessors. The wheel is not reinvented, but simply evolves a bit more. There as in Rossi’s buildings and sketches, the image is a new one, but the skeleton is the same. Nothing illustrates this point better than visiting Modena, and not only experiencing Rossi’s cemetery, but its older neighbor. (2) Strong Graphic Quality – This has solely to do with the image as a graphic composition. It has nothing to do with a particular ‘style’, but in the fundamentally strong relationship of parts, and of the proportion of the parts and the whole. An architect, beyond any other quality, should have a highly refined sense of visual laws. A basic geometric structure should be set up. Objects should be repeated and mutated with drastic changes in scale, material, and function. (3) Silence-Referring again to ‘The Red Tower,’ there is a wealth of inspiration for architects in regard to producing a structure that is quiet and subtle in its forms. This image is bathed in a sense of longing and melancholy that explores the timeless. I see this in the crumbling remains of the old smoke stack. / Master of Architecture

This thesis investigates the design of a new airport for the city of Washington D.C. The design explores the idea of an airport as a harbor and a gateway into the city. An airport as a place for the meeting of aircraft and traveler; a place for both person and machine. The dominant element of the airport is the roof of the main terminal. The main terminal is divided along its length with a series of tall concrete masts. From the masts, hollow concrete box beams are hung from a web of four hundred steel cables. The concrete box beam is formed by thirty foot long sections spanning from cable to cable. The beam is made of ten sections that cantilever three hundred feet out each side from the line of masts. The roof is formed by these two cantilevers, and it is beneath this roof that the airplanes and the travelers gather. This thesis involves the grand scale. The size of elements like runways and aircraft require large and at times overwhelming designs; yet, care will be taken to accommodate the person, the traveler. / Master of Architecture

...But architecture has limits- and when we touch the invisible walls of the limits, then we know more about what is contained in them. -Louis I. Kahn Ideally, a thesis study in architecture should be made at a personal level of investigation so that a student may develop his or her own ideas and interests and, therefore determine a focus or direction towards an individual architectural position. It should be understood at the beginning, then, that this thesis asks a question that may never be answered. It is a part of a process in what is likely to become a lifelong search for the limits of architecture. Architecture has always been the product of man’s attempt to shape his world. As such, architecture arose from a basic human need as a response to the challenge that nature poses to man. "...the first fact of architecture," wrote Vincent Scully, "is the topography of a place and the way human beings respond to it with their own constructed forms." Given these ideas, the focus of this thesis is the study of architecture as a potential medium through which man not only shapes his world, but interacts with it as well. This study has taken form through an investigation into the ideas of path and place as concepts which are fundamental to architecture, carrying with them implications of a relationship between man, architecture, and nature. / Master of Architecture

“Two great desires which are in essence the desire to absorb and then desire to emit, the desire to know and the desire to test, the desire to hear and the desire to utter, and the basis not only of a true and effective education, not only are they the wholesome body and the enchanting voice of art, but they are greater then these, for they are the animation of quality of that higher purpose and significance of art that we call poetry” Lois Sullivan Crafts are the integration of art and life. They bring together nature and man in the form of a usable object. Architecture may be named the ultimate craft endeavour for through building we create a work of art which is used by man. In the thesis the two disciplines are brought together in the Center for Arts and Crafts. The Center, a complex of structures united by public space acts like the guilds of the early twentieth by providing “a forum for exchange of ideas and theories and [a place for] socializing.” (Cummings, page 25) The craft center offers an opportunity to learn about craft; the use of our minds and hands together. Visitors have the chance to participate with craft through viewing the making process, and making them oneself. The theme for the design becomes “interaction.” Interaction is possible for the neighborhood with those outside and those inside. Providing public space is essential to encourage interaction. “Space is the principle medium of urbanism - the matrix that units public and private interests in the city, guaranteeing a balance between the two.” (Michael Dennis, Court and Garden, page 2) The making of a public rooms is often neglected in today’s architecture. Where ever these courtyards and piazzas occur, they are active and full of life. The Washington Harbor which neighbors the Incinerator site is a successful example of the desire of people to congregate and their need for socializing. The Arts and Crafts Center becomes a stage, enlivening the structure through activities of the public and their interaction with the inhabitants of the complex. The creation of a space which requires human participation to complete the architecture ensures that we, humanity, and the primary subject or object of architecture. Architecture is built by human hands for humans to inhabit. It should spark our imagination and encourage our participation. The honest expressions of structure and materials are rare in recent buildings leaving us faced with false images and removed from reality. How can we interact with false truths? In our search for a new reality we can look back to simpler times and apply their principles to our complex world. Nature and our own histories must become our guide on the journey toward meaningful and engaging architecture. / Master of Architecture

Ph. D.

Both the Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) and the narrowband version (NAMPS) use frequency modulation (FM) in a frequency division duplex mode. Because such systems typically use the same frequency bands in nearby cells, co-channel interference can be a significant problem. A typical digital implementation uses a quadrature demodulation algorithm to estimate the instantaneous frequencies of FM signals and recover the original modulating signal. The use of parametric spectral estimation techniques can often provide higher resolution frequency estimates for closely spaced signals, such as co-channel FM signals. A parametric method based on forward-backward linear prediction is implemented to create a model-based demodulator for AMPS and NAMPS cellular signals. This algorithm demodulates the signal by estimating the instantaneous frequency of the principle component present. In addition, improved resistance to noise and co-channel interference is gained by performing a singular value decomposition on the signal data and then estimating the parameters of the model using only the desired components of the decomposition. Examples are provided showing the performance of the demodulator in various signal environments. Experimental results show 5 to 22 dB improvement in demodulator output mean-square-error relative to a quadrature demodulator for various channel conditions including Rayleigh fading. The ability of a demodulator to reject severe co-channel interference and channel noise could allow significant increases in cellular system capacity and performance. / Master of Science

Throughout aviation history, man has had a particular fascination with the quest for speed. Initial studies show that hypersonic atmospheric travel could greatly change the world of aviation as we know it today by making access to space much more routine and making all regions of the world accessible with non-stop, minimal flight time service. Supersonic combustion ramjet (scramjet) propulsion will play a key role in the development of these vehicles. Many more steps need to be taken, particularly in propulsion, before a world of hypersonic travel can be fully realized. This thesis presents the research results of the conceptual design and preliminary analyses of a scramjet test vehicle concept called the Air Launched Scramjet Test Vehicle, or ALSTV. The ALSTV proposes to use the Orbital Science Corporation's (OSC) Pegasus® vehicle to boost a subscale scramjet module to 100,000 feet and cruise/scramjet testing for one minute at speeds between Mach 8.0 and 8.2. It is estimated that the vehicle will cost between $35-40 million to develop and fly. / M.S.

Three greenhouse and two field plot experiments were conducted to determine the influence of seaweed extract and other plant growth regulators on forage quality and persistence of endophyte-infected (Acremonium coenophialum Morgan-Jones and Garns) and endophyte-free tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.). The influence of plant growth regulators on forage quality of endophyte-infected tall fescue and performance of wether lambs was evaluated in two grazing trials. Greenhouse and field experiments were randomized block designs. Results from greenhouse studies varied but indicated increased (P ≤ .05) root strength and decreased (P ≤ .01) pressure required to extract moisture from leaves due to treatment. Analysis from greenhouse and field studies indicated little effect on fiber components, nonstructural carbohydrates, and crude protein. In tall fescue grazed by lambs, pyrrolizidine alkaloid concentration was decreased (P ≤ .05) between seaweed extract treatments. Ergovaline tended (P ≤ .08) to decrease in all treated forage and was 4.26, 3.78, 3.59, and 3.48 µg g⁻¹ (S.E. = .28) for control, 1703, and 3406 g seaweed extract ha⁻¹, and 19.1 L VTMix ha⁻¹, respectively. Lambs grazing treated forage in July had increased (P ≤ .05) ADG (.03 vs a mean of .11 kg gain per d for control vs treatments, respectively). Linear trends (P .13) of increased serum vitamin A and increased (P ≤ .10) whole blood Se due to seaweed extract treatment were observed. Serum Se values were 241, 264, and 274 ng/ml (S.E. = 13) for control, 1703, and 3406 g seaweed extract ha⁻¹, respectively. Results indicated that plant growth regulators may have potential to increase plant persistence and decrease toxicity of tall fescue. / M.S.

Traditional com fertilization methods of broadcasting N fertilizer, and applying P fertilizer to soils testing high to very high in plant-available P, can be inefficent. Experiments were conducted at several locations in Virginia to evaluate if band applications of N fertilizer are more efficient than surface broadcast applications, to determine optimum starter-band and sidedress N rates for com grown in Virginia, to evaluate possible indicators of optimum starter-band and sidedress N rates, and to determine if there is any response to P fertilizer application to com grown on soils testing high to very high in plant-available P. Starter-band N rates of 11, 34, 56, and 78 kg ha⁻¹, and a treatment of 67 kg ha⁻¹ broadcast plus 11 kg ha⁻¹ in a starter-band, were applied in combination with sidedress-N rates of 0, 67, 134, and 202 kg ha⁻¹. In the phosphorus experiment, starter-band rates of 0, 22, 45, and 67 kg P₂O₅ ha⁻¹ were applied. Band application of N increased com plant tissue N content at most locations compared to broadcast application. Fifty-six kg ha⁻¹ was determined to be an economically viable starter-band N rate for com grown in Virginia. Optimum sidedress N rates were determined to be site- and season-dependent and no indicators of optimum starter-band N rates or sidedress N rates were observed. On soils testing high to very high in plant-available P, grain yield did not respond to additions of P fertilizer. / M.S.

"Architecture may be many things: ie. there is no one thing that is Architecture." As tired as this phrase may be, it is extremely valid nonetheless. From Frampton's <i>Critical Regionalism</i> to Derrida's <i>Deconstruction</i>, this declaration is rendered indisputable. Whatever the architecture does become, however, it can do so only from a boundary [as in both Heiddeger's suggestion of a <i>beginning</i> and in the Greek belief that that is where a thing "begins its presencing"].₁ It is the boundary--the WARP [from Hertzberger]--that permits the opportunities for making to come into being. "Making" can thereby be considered to be the other critical component--the WEFT--in this process of becoming. This thesis is the beginning of a search for such a method of thinking in architecture. 1. Heidegger, Martin. <i>Poetry, Language, Thought</i> (Harper & Rowe, Publishers, Inc., 1971), p. 154. / Master of Architecture