Given the rapid growth in the importance of the Internet, data centers - the buildings that store information on the web - are quickly becoming the most critical infrastructural objects in the world. However, so far they have received very little, if any, architectural attention. This thesis proclaims data centers to be the 'churches' of the digital society and proposes a new type of a publicly accessible data center. The thesis starts with a brief overview of the history of data centers and the Internet in general, leading to a manifesto for making data centers into public facilities with an architecture of their own. After, the paper proposes a roadmap for the possible future development of the building type with suggestions for placing future data centers in urban environments, incorporating public programs as a part of the building program, and optimizing the inside workings of a typical data center. The final part of the work, concentrates on a design for an exemplary new data center, buildable with currently available technologies. This thesis aims to: 1) change the public perception of the internet as a non-physical thing, and data centers as purely functional infrastructural objects without any deeper cultural significance and 2) propose a new architectural language for the type. / Master of Architecture

This thesis began by studying how a temporary event could create permanent architecture and how that architecture could change an urban lifestyle. I chose the Olympics as the event and proposed that they be held in Washington D.C., a city of international prominence with a rich design history but a city that hasn't had a large scale urban redevelopment plan in over a century. I focused on the city east of the Capitol as I wanted to extend the monumental core created in the McMillan plan. I researched baroque design, Olympic planning, and even the original L'Enfant plan. The result of this research was unearthing some of the original L'Enfant design elements and incorporating them into a 21st century city by blending new design issues with the idea of a city designed around radial vistas with magnificent termini. I focused on two sites, the Olympic Torch and the Olympic Stadium. The Torch is situated as a terminus on a site that was intended to be mile marker zero for the country. Its design and importance make it a monument while still not impeding the views. The stadium was created to serve as a stadium for the people, allowing pedestrians outside to view and interact with the event inside. It is sunken so as not to obstruct views but it is spanned by arches that pierce the cityscape signifying its monumentality and appropriately ending the monumental axis started with the Lincoln Memorial on the western edge of the city. / Master of Architecture

This thesis explores the origins of the House and Temple form through the design of a house. The design looks to the theory of the original elements of architecture being the hearth, roof, mound and woven enclosure. Specific focus is given to the woven aspect of this theory, which is expounded upon in the wood structure and partitions of the house. The house exhibits the characteristic syntax of weaving with orthogonal geometric relationships and a hierarchy of elements. The structure and spaces of the house emerge from a rigid pattern grid defining the site and the historic temple symbolism of the double square. / Master of Architecture

A factory inspired exploration in the architectural potential of space, material, sound, and light. This thesis is divided into chapters of the media types used for design. Primarily, the materials include photography, drawing, and modeling. The process yields overlap and interchange in ways of design that alter the ways of seeing and of advancing the work. Consequently, divisions of the book reoccur throughout the course of the thesis. / Master of Architecture

This project began with the desire to design a house in a town for which I have always had a personal affection: Charleston, South Carolina. The house is designed for a an artist and his family of four and includes a studio for the artist. This design gained its own identity through the research of several historical Charleston housing typologies and acknowledgment of its place in the city. Structure and a panelized system of construction were major factors in the development of the house. As the project progressed, the design of the house moved from a strictly instrumental approach towards a more nuanced design that told a story about how the owners would live in the house. / Master of Architecture

This project is about our social denial of death, the questioning of rationality and utopian ideals, and our fears of modernity. The intimate connection once associated with death has been hidden. In this project the remains of the dead are sacred. Death is brought to the forefront. By acknowledging a finite existence and exposing our fear of death, life can be given meaning. The activities of daily life are integrally linked to the crypt. / Master of Architecture

This project focuses on the wall as a cross-axis form, one which gives an order to the landscape and a reference for the rest of the building to be set against. The intersections of these walls produce four corners housing four pavilions for dwelling. As the walls extend over the landscape, it culminates with a tower, a dwelling space for a guest, overlooking the surrounding landscape. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is my answer to the following question: What is a good building? I believe that a good building must have the moments that can touch people. It should have some spiritual qualities. These moments can be achieved by form, meterial, light, details, and color. / Master of Architecture

This thesis project came about from a desire to establish a relationship between the built form and the landscape that it inhabits - a ranch in central Texas. I began with a program of a house, stable, horse riding arena, ranch hand living, and various other service buildings. I decided to organize the buildings along a linear spine down a gradual hillside on the property. The limestone block spine walls begin at a wind pump tower which provides well water for horses to drink and bathe in. A clear structural hierarchy exists in the buildings. I was interested in the relationship between the stacking of the walls and making a framework out of wood and steel. Details were resolved with special consideration for the materials and their natural qualities and properties. The project achieves a sense of connection to the site. It brings to light some of the materials, methods, and vernacular practices of the region. / Master of Architecture

The Golden Ratio House is primarily an architectural object constructed from a cube, which is the necessary point of origin for this project. Similar to the rules of invention, its purpose lies in its own making. Its rational construction, using the proportion of the golden ratio, produces an autonomous form. The translations and transformations of the cube are dialectic. The resulting form of the House is a product of the logic necessary for its existence. / Master of Architecture