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This thesis is about designing a museum in Jordan. The building is to be a place of time, light and space. Its primary purpose is to introduce the people to the capital of Jordan, Amman . This study will offer a conceptual approach, concentrating on composition, visual concepts, and influences that have shaped it over the past year. My intention here is to present the visual aspect of exteriors and interiors. The design would be based on my awareness and acceptance of modern western aesthethic values and technology as part of an international culture and global economic systems. / Master of Architecture

This thesis is an investigation of the separation of the public and private parts of a house, using stairs, walls and dropped ceilings to separate different spaces. The use of stairs to separate space creates rooms of different volumes. A further investigation of the transition between outdoors and indoors lead to the study of form through sketching. The site is located in a residential area in McLean, Virginia. It is a relatively flat site as there are no major slopes. The three acre lot is generous in size and was not meant to drive the design of the house by providing limits. Trees on three sides of the site provide a natural barrier between the adjacent lots, providing some privacy. The site is zoned such that it could have two driveways, one being used mostly by guests and the other by the occupants. / Master of Architecture

Geometry. Pure Form. What are the limits of these concepts in architecture? To what extent can they be realized through constructive means? To the architect, these concepts are often the originating forces driving their work, but their nature is intangible, and can be best understood through reason. There exists then, a dichotomy that the architect is left to resolve: that which is solely of an intelligible nature and that which can exist within the physical limitations of our reality. While architectonic limitations are that of the physical, Architecture itself exists within both of these realms, the duality of the mind and of the body, and it is the charge of the architect to reconcile their inherent contradictions. The limitations of the mind and the body are incompatible at an absolute level, but there exists a degree of overlap within which architecture is found. Place is a catalyst that can trigger this dissonance. The intelligible exists in a placeless space, a space that was given a framework by René Descartes in his notion of extension, and exists as a free body. In contrast, the architectonic is contingent on placement and the forces of gravity. They are simultaneously contradictory and co-related. This thesis pursues the limits of this contradiction; its culmination more akin to an architectural follie than the original intent: a modest hiking shelter. / Master of Architecture / This thesis explores the duality and contradictions that arise when the realm of reason and the realm of that which is built coincide. The framework through which this exploration takes place is in the conception and design of a small structure in the mountains of Ticino, an Italian canton of southern Switzerland. It is a building whose purpose is pleasure, nothing more. The pursuit of ideal form in place is a catalyst for the series of contradictions that exist within not only this thesis, but the realm of architecture. Place and space. Mind and body. Intelligible and sensible.

This thesis started with my memories of food and the activities that encompass it -- gathering, socializing, making and eating. These activities were explored in relation to the architectural fundamentals of form and section and through the function of a restaurant. Within a simple cubic form, four volumes developed into four unique dining areas -- bar, communal, main and family. Each space is an exploration of the various ways we gather around food. / Master of Architecture / Through the outlet of a restaurant, this thesis explores the various ways in which we gather around and eat food. This is achieved through the design and development of four interior spaces -- bar, communal, main and family.

Monumentality derives from the eternal need of people to own symbols to reveal their inner life and social conceptions. I want to design a building to represent Modern Monumentality. This project came from the idea of " Serenity and Dynamism", which came from the famous wood-print " The Great Wave off Kanagawa". Mont Fuji is the symbol of Japan, a sacrid object of worship, and holding a place in Japanese beliefs. Mont Fuji gave the direction in my thesis. This project can wake up memories in local residents' deep minds. Architecture can be a bridge to make a connection between the past and the future. It's not only the memory, but also a sense of identity. / Master of Architecture / This project came from the idea of " Serenity and Dynamism", which came from the famous wood-print "The Great Wave off Kanagawa". This building design is a way to acheive my initial purpose to present Modern Monumentality. Those efforts I did is to fulfill the original topic of 'New Monumentality'. People need Monumentality to reveal their inner life and their beliefs. This building gives an opportunity to let people to stay closer to their worship. There are lots of elements in the project, and each of them plays a very important role in it. This urban-scale building consists of ideas, form, function, structure, materials, details and human consideration, etc. None of them can be set aside. Stimulated and guided by knowledge, I developed forms and structures to fit for materials and construction methods. This project can wake up memories in local residents' deep minds. Architecture can be a bridge to make a connection between the past and the future. It's not only the memory, but also a sense of identity.

The art of painting opens vast expressive possibilities for architecture, wherein architecture can produce a more conducive atmosphere for the contemplation of painting. The subtle affinities between the two fields stirred me to explore the individualistic expressiveness of the sensory realm in a painting and how it can inspire an architect. My thesis starts from an interest in a painting of Kandinsky's. The painting "Yellow, Red, Blue" stirred my curiosity in the potency of its beauty and made me ask questions in regards to what I can capture, learn and express architecturally. The aim is to design a Contemporary Art Center to be situated within the fabric of Virginia Tech campus. Throughout the various stages of design, the finality of the project resulted from dealing with the various inputs from: Kandinsky's painting as a catalyst and inspirer to the design, to the contextual issues and ways of urban integration and also dealing with the nature of the project's function and programmatic needs. / Master of Architecture

The intent of this thesis was to develop a component system derived from a desired form. Through analysis of the initial form, I gained an understanding of the underlying parameters, principles, and topologies the form exhibited that could then be interpreted into the development of a component system. Through the process of design, utilizing iterative attempts of creating a component system directly mimicking the original form, I began to realize the need to better understand the underlying principles and topologies of the original form. This understanding became the basis in my attempts to assemble components toward a direct copy of the original form. This experimentation led to the realization that direct copy was not achievable. However, the deeper understanding of the principles exhibited within the initial form provided the framework to develop a component system that would exhibit similar results while simultaneously allowing for greater control in the development of a member with a particular desired outcome. The conversation between Form and Method was a continuous dialogue throughout the project: from the form of the initial model and the method of developing a component system based on the principles it exhibited, to the formal expression of the component itself, and eventually to a final iteration that combines the principles of the original construct through the method of assembly based on the form of the component. / Master of Architecture

This thesis investigates the concept of the symbolic form of architecture. It first focuses on the philosophical foundations for this concept in the works of Ernst Cassirer, Immanuel Kant, Conrad Fiedler, and Theodor Adorno. Then, the development of the modern perception of form in architectural theoreticians, where "modern" architectural theory evolved from an analogical state into a symbolic state, is examined: Karl Bötticher's concept of a Junktur and his attempt to transcend the presumed dichotomy in architecture between ornamentation and form is discussed; Gottfried Semper's concept of style and Alois Riegl's concept of motif are presented as reactions against what they saw as the mechanistic reliance on structure as definitive of form in architecture; Louis Sullivan's ornamentation is discussed as an attempt to integrate structure and ornamentation into a morphological whole; Otto Wagner's attempt to purge architecture from analogical responses through a strictly constructional basis for ornamentation is presented; and Adolf Loos' dismissal of decorative ornamentation, since it is an impediment towards true aesthetic judgment, is examined. Finally, a critical review of the symbolist movement in architecture, art, and literature is presented as a movement diametric to the symbolic development in architecture, since it glorified the analogical, and frequently the mimetic. The origins for how the symbolist movement became a denial of clarity center on Emanuel Swedenborg's concept of symbols, and how it was misinterpreted by the symbolists. / Master of Architecture