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This thesis examines why people build the way they do, questioning and negotiating values highly esteemed by architects, engineers and authorities. It is a study of the formal-informal method of building employed by individuals living in the city of Gangtok, India. Obliged to conform to formal rules and regulations that do not always serve their best interests, these people have found novel ways to manipulate the system and create a built environment that suits their needs and wants. They build informally within a formal structure prescribed by institutions such as building authorities, banks and municipalities. The thesis focuses on understanding the process of building from the people’s viewpoint, trying to comprehend the social and cultural factors that direct their building culture. It recognizes the efforts they make in creating a meaningful life for themselves, Bibliography Sweata Pradhan reasoning that within the given resources, constraints and challenges, environments built by people are the most viable. Research methodology included a review of literature available on Building Culture and Built Environments, a study of the built environment of Gangtok through books, periodicals, photographs and observation, interviews in Gangtok with four individuals involved in building as owners, and with employees at the local housing authority office. The four case studies of building owners/builders form the backbone of this thesis. The views, perceptions and building processes of these individuals is an insight into the everyday building practice that ultimately shapes the built environment. / Department of Architecture

Reeveston Place is a neighborhood located on the southeast side of Richmond, Indiana. All of Richmond's National Register residential areas contain examples of the popular architectural styles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Reeveston, however, is a unique Richmond neighborhood because its plan and development were primarily influenced by the trends and styles of the early and mid-twentieth century.Economic and cultural influences before, between and after both world wars, and the impact of the automobile were factors that made Reeveston an area different from its predecessors. Building activity occurred in the neighborhood for nearly a half-century, and the result is an eclectic mix of architectural styles. As it grew, Reeveston was primarily a neighborhood for the upper-middle class and upper-class citizens of Richmond, and several prominent architects were employed to design the houses. Reeveston's historical and architectural significance warrant its consideration for inclusion in the National Register. / Department of Architecture

Why is it that when we come across a pier reaching out from a coast we have a desire to walk out on to it... Could it be because a pier gives us something special a place set apart, a place to view the world... Would it not be a wonderful thing to walk on an urban pier... past the surf of buildings... to an island of gardens... in an urban sea... to view the world a few steps closer... A place to glimpse where we are and where we could be. / Master of Architecture

The design of a mixed-use market, three axes of influence was studied on a site at the end of King Street in Alexandria, VA. A semicircular form was developed that terminated the main circulation axis down King Street, continued the free form edge of the Potomac, and acted as a visual beginning to the "new world" of Washington, DC across the river. While the marketplace still remains as an enduring and appealing image of the city, it has diminished in recent years. Climate controlled indoor malls and shopping centers sprawl across the . country, and many of the real marketplaces have fallen into disrepair, physically and symbolically losing their traditional role as a forum for the people. There has, however, been a resurgence of interest in the markets in the past decade. As people grow tired of impersonal service, the poor quality of goods and produce, and the often nondescript atmosphere, many of the older markets are being re-inhabited by farmers, artists and others seeking to sell their products. Around many urban centers, people are rediscovering the simple premise of the market which serves as a canvas for the explosion of colors, sights, sounds and smells it contains. / Master of Architecture

The prosperity of the human species is based upon the existence of communal behavior. Some individuals provide food, while others are freed from the search for food to do other things: to chip flint arrowheads, to make pottery, to write symphonies. In large cities, individuals may be vaguely conscious of their larger social community, but often they recognize few of the faces of the other individuals who belong to the same large community. In an urban setting, the social behavior of individuals is defined by the built environment. The built environment has a responsibility to encourage the formation of communities of individuals, as well as to recognize and strengthen the wider community of mankind, in order that the species may flourish and prosper. A Food Market for Alexandria is a proposition for a place in Old Town Alexandria Virginia, where the growth of responsible communities may occur in an architectural setting which is a responsive member of the collection of buildings that house the human city. / Master of Architecture

The investigation of the Spirit of a historic place, Alexandria, Virginia to acquire an understanding of it’s identity; the unique patterns, language, structure, rhythm, and character, which has led to its development as a meaningful place. To respect the Spirit of this place through the design of a place to dwell within Alexandria which is sensitive to, and evolves from, this living tradition. An architecture which achieves meaning through its relation to, and reinterpretation, transformation, and revelation of the inherent qualities of the historic artifact. / Master of Architecture

This project consisted of the design and presentation of a monastery in Rock Creek Park, Washington, D.C. The scheme developed consisted of a church, library, refectory(kitchen and dining space), campanile(bell tower), four chapels, individual cells and gardens, and exterior connecting spaces including a central and sub-plaza. The monastery design was developed in terms of the circulation of the monks from their individual cells to the various communal centers at the top of the hill. Both visual and topographical means were examined in this development. This volume includes the completed monastery as well as some of the stages reached in the development of the finished design. / Master of Architecture

All material in nature, the mountains and the streams and the air and we, are made of Light which has been spent, and this crumpled mass called material casts a shadow, and the shadow belongs to Light. Louis I. Kahn¹ I like complexity and contradiction in architecture. I do not like the incoherence or arbitrariness of incompetent architecture nor the precious intricacies of picturesqueness or expressionism. Instead, I speak of a complex and contradictory architecture based on the richness and ambiguity of modern experience, including that experience which is inherent in art. Robert Venturi² / Master of Architecture

Building no. 10 of the old Torpedo Factory complex occupies a pivotal position in the redevelopment of the Alexandria waterfront. This design study explored the critical issues surrounding the renovation and re-use of this now vacant warehouse- issues which involved the conceptualization of the waterfront itself as a place and its integration into the existing urban fabric. An architecture of assimilation is proposed, rather than an architecture of contrast or duplication. Thus, the historic setting is neither ignored or duplicated. Instead it is viewed as a living context with living principles capable of generating new ideas of form and space without losing its essential character or identity. / Master of Architecture