This creative project is a study of cultural awareness in architecture. The hypothesis states that architecture is one of many cultural manifestations in a society. One seeking contemporary architecture in a society should explore the idea of contemporary culture in that society. This study aims to point out the relationship of living patterns and living spaces (culture and architecture). Living patterns are influenced by their own cultures and, at the same time, the characteristics of living spaces reflect the aspects of living patterns. To explore contemporary living spaces, cultural issues must be considered.However, culture is dynamic. It is changed by reasons of time, place and people. Even though the tradional cultures in a society continuingly permeate to the next generations, some of them disappear as time, place or people change. Therefore, to study the issue of culture in contemporary society, traditional and new cultures are reckoned with as contemporary families adapt both cultures into their lifestyles.While Thai society has maintained its own unique culture, recently globalization has brought influences of Western ideas into Thailand. These influences are effecting Thai culture and bearing on how housing responds to a changing society.The work is divided into two parts, research and design. To explore the deeper meaning of contemporary living spaces, the research focuses on the importannce of culture to the characteristics of living spaces. It analyzes cultural and social changes that have influenced contemporary Thai families. This cultural analyses confirms that the meaning and design of contemporary living spaces are directly influenced by cultural adjustments.To support the hypothesis and research, a housing project for contemporary Thai families is proposed. It is a schematic design that incorporates the cultural analyses into the design process. The design is a model for organizing cultural information into the design of living spaces. / Department of Architecture

No description available.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2009. / Title from title page screen (viewed on Mar. 11, 2010). Thesis advisor: William Rudd. Vita. Bailey appendix II.pdf (18364 KB) link located at bottom of [Article summary page]. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

China is engaged in the largest healthcare construction program in history, expecting to build more than 2,000 hospitals and a large number of healthcare facilities at all scale over the next few years. This once-in-a-lifetime construction boom provides a valuable opportunity to rethink Chinese hospital design, and especially to consider how to design modern hospitals that are effective and efficient in delivering care, and are responsive to the cultural needs of the Chinese people as well. This dissertation seeks to rigorously define these issues and develop metrics that link design to key healthcare processes. This study uses a range of concepts and analysis tools drawn from cross-culture organizational communications, evidence-based design, space syntax and other research traditions. This thesis develops and refines metrics for four main drivers of nursing unit design: space economy, staff efficiency, natural light and cultural preferences for communication. Communication among Chinese healthcare workers is strongly influenced by cultural preferences for patterns of authority and decision-making reflected in organizational culture and rooted in Confucian principles of hierarchical social structure (Dengji), social network (Guanxi) and face (Mianzi). While the dissertation builds on a longstanding tradition of research focusing on healthcare space economy and staff efficiency, new measures for cultural preferences are proposed and tested. Based on emerging theories of cross-cultural organizational communication by Hofstede and other scholars, and space syntax, this study particularly explores how cultural preferences for face-to-face communication are reflected in the design of Chinese nursing units. Based on the proposed metrics, the dissertation analyzes six pairs of Chinese and US nursing units, matched on layout type. While the Chinese nursing units appear Western, deeper quantitative analysis of their layouts reveals significant national differences in the application of unit typologies in China when compared to those in the U.S. It shows that Chinese hospital design is rooted in cultural preferences such as for positive energy (qi) based on Fengshui theory, and in Confucian principles of hierarchy, social networking and face.

All architecture carries a message that may be positive, negative or indifferent depending on the individual’s experiences and background. In order for a message to be effective it needs to be understood and the primary way of achieving this is through identification with meaning and memory. South Africa needs a contemporary architectural expression which makes use of clear rational decisions. A positive architectural message needs to be understood by the collective whole of society, and with the careful use of meaning and memory, it will carry identification for all. Urban landscapes and the built environment have the power to nurture citizens’ public memory and encompass shared meaning in the form of shared territory and identity. The built environment needs to incorporate elements of social relevance in order to achieve a more successful, and prosperous building. Architecture is perceived as an expression of society and culture at a certain time. In South Africa new frames of reference need to be formulated which encapsulate the spirit of change within the country. A new democracy needs an appropriate architectural image, centered on the aspects of social identity, meaning and memory, to encourage society to redefine its image. Identity, meaning and memory have been split apart by the previous political situations in South Africa, destroying the sense of community. By combining meaning and memory with the new democratic South Africa, society can be reconstructed, creating places that evoke a sense of pride and belonging. Identity is intimately tied to meaning and memory, both individual and collective. People need to be able to identify with a building in order to create a relationship with it. If the public are unable to understand or experience the contribution of the element, it has failed in every way. Meaning is created as a biological response to the physical environment. It is a cultural creation, and without it there is no sense of civic identity and shared history bringing the community together. It is only through order and recognizing mutual dependence that elements become meaningful. The history of an urban landscape is connected to memory which is rooted in place. This memory needs to be transposed into architecture without losing any of its meaning. Architecture is a form of visual communication, which is perceived and interpreted in an individual capacity. Every memory and association is affected by past experiences and events. Architecture expresses the systematic and inter-human aspects of symbolization, through the meanings, values and needs inherent in public life. A meaningful environment is a fundamental part of a meaningful existence and the purpose of architecture is to assist in making human existence meaningful (Norberg-Schulz, 1974: 427-434). / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2011.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / Please refer to full text to view abstract

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This dissertation investigates the establishment of a learning centre in Zandspruit, an informal settlement that is located on the northwest periphery of Johannesburg, South Africa. This study investigates an alternate method of learning as a learning culture, as an alternative to that of closed school campuses. The learning culture provides the community with an architectural space that acts as a platform for open-ended learning and engagement. The architectural intervention proposed here is thus a response to the existing context, addressing education and spatial-social disintegration. The intervention is not an attempt at replicating existing typologies or even the tentative placement of a centre for utopian societal and educational ideals. Rather, it constitutes a radical approach, seen as necessary to achieving social development, acting as a catalyst for social cohesion and spatial synthesis. Existing modes of operation, advances in education through technology, as well as other pertinent networks and connections, are considered in the approach to designing a public interface, which attempts to suggest possible remedies to the difficulties endemic to the context. Further to this, this dissertation suggests how the adaptability of learning spaces can be achieved by addressing time, space, event and programme as concepts for incremental growth leading to the changing needs of a South African learning society.

My study explores the politics of viewing and the gaze. I argue that the gaze both arrests and objectifies the body, which in turn transforms subjects into objects therefore regulating social behaviour. The basic notion of the gaze will be explored throughout this thesis and thereby contextualizes my sculptures, which are casts of my naked body. My particular concern lies in how the ideas of surveillance have had an influence on architecture and buildings in Grahamstown. Throughout this mini thesis, I will explore a number of architectural spaces of Grahamstown such as the Provost prison, Fort Selwyn and the Camera Obscura which I argue were all designed based on the ideas of surveillance. The entanglement of Grahamstown architecture and the female form as a subject of voyeurism forms an important part of this thesis, as the context of Grahamstown architecture is centered on visibility, which in turn subjects people to a form of discipline. The Provost Prison, the Camera Obscura and the forts of Grahamstown are all good examples of this. Outside of this, the female body is also subjected to the gaze, which in turn suggests that the female body is also under surveillance and as a result also becomes disciplined. My installation is a response to Antony Gormley’s Event Horizon, in which he placed 33 steel and fibreglass casts of his own naked body at an elevated level on buildings around Manhattan and Brazil. In this discussion I have contextualized my work with reference to the ideas of different theorists. The three main theorists I have cited are Michel Foucault, Jonathan Crary and Laura Mulvey. Foucault is specifically cited due to his discussion on Panoptic power, surveillance and docile bodies. Crary makes a number of important points with regards to the ideological operations of the Camera Obscura as well as its history while Laura Mulvey’s writings form the basis of the voyeuristic gaze from the perspective of a feminist.

M.Tech. (Architectural Technology) / This dissertation explores my own neighbourhood – Roodepoort. It critically examines consumerist lifestyles which currently dominate the area and proposes an architectural intervention which will showcase new modes of living. The proposed building accommodates a cultivation school and a ‘hackerspace’ where residents of Roodepoort can learn to live more sustainable. The cultivation school recalls Roodepoort’s history as a farming area and celebrates the area’s spirit of place. The hackerspace provides a place for suburban inventors to work and collaborate.