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M. Tech. Architecture (Professional) / The aim of this research is to design a trauma centre for abused women and children in the Mamelodi area, which will aid their recovery from extremely distressful and traumatic events. The current system focuses on the immediate effects of abuse and rape. Very few resources are avalable in terms of supporting the survivor's long term emotional and psychological wellbeing. The objectives of the proposed facility will focus on psychological and emotional care as well as addressing the lack of psychologigal facilities and spatial quality in healing spaces.

For my graduation project, I endeavored to meet the challenge of designing affordable residences for the distinct population of single parent families within a heterogeneous urban environment. Issues of family, house and community were explored in order to ascertain how the needs of this particular group differed from that of the typical nuclear family. Single parents in general have excessive demands made on their time and energy and feel a greater lack of support when attempting to meet these demands. Often times involvement with another adult is either transitory or of a very limited nature. Therefore they must be more self-reliant than usual. The provision of child-care and supervision can be very difficult to accommodate in any family situation and is even more pronounced for the single parent. Other than financial worries, they may also experience a sense of isolation and loneliness. The presence of children does not compensate for the lack of adult companionship and emotional support that most adults need. Also, because a single parent often has to make frequent stops on the way to and from work or school picking up children from child care, shopping for groceries, etc., transportation and amenities ideally should be extremely accessible. Provision of convenient child care services, proximity to work, an affordable and secure environment, accessible social and support services and minimal housekeeping and maintenance responsibilities are but a few of the necessities that the single parent requires in order to attain a reasonable quality of life. Single parent's require more than just shelter. They need a supportive community as well. The site that was ultimately selected to accommodate the needs of this particular group was a half city block situated between 8th and 9th Avenue and Sasamat and Trimble Street in Point Grey, Vancouver. Amenities such as elementary and secondary schools, churches, shopping, transit routes, parks and access to downtown were primary considerations for this site selection. Daycare, teen centre, corner store, guest suites, rentable community space, office space and storage needed to be accommodated on site to address the missing amenities within the community, as well as becoming a means in which to offer something to the community in order to soften the political nature involved with densifying the area. A standard grid of 10m/35m was conformed to within the urban fabric, with the continuation of the lane as a means of relegating parking to the inner core, freeing up the Street from extra traffic. The context of single family homes was recognized with respect to the character of the neighbourhood. Actual density was doubled by 1) utilizing a smaller setback of 4-6m from the sidewalk, 2) duplexing the Street dwellings in a subversive manner 3) occupying the attic space & 4) use of a lanehouse typology whereby the parking was accommodated for while at the same time inhabiting the area with one and two bedroom homes. This facilitated a heterogeneous environment with extended family members, singles, couples or single parents with one child ideally occupying these residences and activating the lane. All residences have separate entrances as well as private outdoor space, with each residence given access to at least one parking space. Inner pedestrian lanes were conceived of in order to heighten the possibility of socialization occurring among the immediate residents, as well as increasing the accessibility to each residence, parking space and garbage/recycling area. Nodes occur between clusters of four dwellings to allow for gathering, playing and pathway undulation. Familiarity of the site within the neighbourhood would help to activate the nostalgic walk through the site in recognition of the existing diagonal path with its spectacular view of Vancouver's skyline. Public amenities were relegated to the west end of the site where a link could occur with the commercially active 10th Avenue and Safeway. Each pedestrian path feeds onto this public space. Because the site has a .75m/10m drop in elevation, this slope was utilized as a means to sculpt the outdoor space in order to define a given area..ie, a node may be carved with a stairwell on either end as a means to define the space. Brick planters were utilized as buffering as well as greening devices. Please see the Architecture reading room in the basement of Laserre, U.B.C. for the written thesis and colour details.

The Calgary stroet-levcl Arcade preceded the Mall as a place of public exchange: During the first half of its history the covered arcade acted as a buffer between the public street and private interior. The arcade extended me.vitality of the city street to the pedestrian. It was shelter from bad weather and vehicles, and a window into another world of consumable items. A shopper could peruse the 'just out of reach' at the Hudson's Bay or wait for a street car under the measured punctuation of the covered arcade. The public nature of the arcade reconciled.the individual to the group. It mediated the transition from the busy street'.to the beckoning shop window. Today merchandising strategies promise to develop a more efficient circle between shopper and commodity. Mall spaces are connected above ground with a maze of raised public walkways. Crisscrossing the original grid of streets at a height of 4.5 meters is the raised "Plus 15 System." Over the last twenty-five years, Calgary has extended one of the largest semi-private systems in the world through it's downtown core. This system replaces the public street with an interior analogy that is neither public nor private. Ground level street-life suffers a slow but definite decline and is not replaced. As the city experiences a period of extreme growth the opportunity arises to remedy the decline of the public realm In the process of development and gentrification a temporary set of urban artifacts becomes visible. The building crane, the site trailer, construction hoarding - this language of urban expansion is as tenable as the "architecture'' of the city itself. This thesis project will invigorate boomtown city growth with a new public architecture. The site is the back lane between 8th and 9th Avenues and Centre and 1st Street in the heart of downtown Calgary. This is one of many blocks yet to complete the Plus 15 labyrinth of public access-ways. Mid-block pedestrian bridges connect the south and east sides of the site with the rest of the city's Plus 15 system. Low-level heritage buildings and Stephen Avenue pedestrian mall wall the north side of the site while the giant Pan Canadian Building dominates the south. Running through the Pan Canadian Building is an existing public right of way. Using current development as a spring board this project will suture the internal world of the Plus 15 to adjacent public and private fragments of the city. A steel "Frame" will accompany the current developer scheme for a hotel high-rise on the site. This frame reconciles the horizontal dimension of the original property width of Stephen Avenue Mall and the new vertical layering of the "floorplate skyscraper." Inserted into this ordered web is a temporary housing system of pre-built trailer boxes - - an appropriation of the familiar objects of construction: The ATCO trailer, construction hoarding and a "take-apart" kit of frame components provide a fertile base for the growth of the public "tube". They furnish a temporary architecture while the new public walkway asserts its presence.

The Workers' Row House is a three-unit row house, circa 1850, that the Greater Corktown Development Corporation acquired for use as a community museum in 2002. This document provides a starting point and a framework for the rehabilitation and programmatic work that will occur. This plan strives to answer the following questions: (1) What is the site about? (2) Who is the interpretation for? (3) How will the museum go about communicating what the site is about while meeting the needs of the audiences? Using Detroit city directories beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Detroit Sanborn fire insurance maps, and both primary and secondary sources, the past tenants of this house and their historic contexts were compiled to reveal this site's story. Themes and a storyline were developed, and interpretive objectives were extracted. The plan recommends a guided tour through two restored units, and self-guided, interactive exhibits in the third unit. It is understood that any interpretive plan evolves as the research continues. / Department of Architecture

This creative project has investigated the development potential of the "trackside" area as defined in the project. The project site is located on the south end of the central business district of Muncie. The area contains many historically significant buildings such as; the Federal Building, Robert's Hotel, Cohen Block, Marsh Building, Goddard Warehouse and Union Station to name a few. The study included an inventory process of existing conditions, urban spaces, building significants, figure ground study, assets and liabilities and analysis.This inventory process formed the basis for the urban design proposal which indicates the development potential of the area. The overall proposal is broken down into four sub-areas for easier explanation. These areas are named for the function or character trait that is significant to each: Conference Center Area, Plaza Node, Passive Cultural Center and the Railroad Node. In addition to a proposal for each subarea, the study indicates a concept analysis explaining the development idea. / Department of Architecture

The main goal of this project is to achieve successful architecture regarding its creativity and authenticity. It is always the content, not the aesthetic, that forms the basis for the final evaluation of design. Thus, the main intention is to bring together -in a design- issues from three different circumstances: the 'present' situation -a personal view of femininity and women's permanency in dwelling, the 'past' cultural background -tradition in the "porteria" culture- and its evolution and the 'future' possible direction of society -the critical innovative thought through the project. The reaching of the 'concept' in the architecture makes a design authentic. "True architecture does not just agree with [essence] but also asserts the agreement." (Kaersten Harries, Representation and Re-presentation in Architecture, 1988). Ludwig Wittgenstein, an Austrian philosopher of the 1940's, defines architecture as the 'innovative critical thought' of a given situation summarized in a concept -idea, emotion, intention- which is translated and transformed into visual representation to be understood by the designer, and then communicated and shared with society."Remember the impression one gets from good architecture;that it expresses a thought "(Ludwig Wittgenstein, 1940's)The proposed approach concerns itself with the idea of un-veiling and re-vealing the hidden knowledge in the design actions that architects make in their search for realization. These actions are both conscious and unconscious, where accidents also occur allowing for the limitlessness characteristic of the design process. In this way, the objective of this journey of exploration is to find and visualize those steps that architects take while designing. The process of design is very rich in options and in alternatives. It is also rich in its detours and deviations. When all the stages are seen and visualized to the point of bringing them into the consciousness, the design in itself becomes richer and is taken to a further and more profound definition.The underlying ideas of the creative thesis is segmented into attitudes that give shape to the final project. Each attitude is a constituent concept of the end design. The blending and fusion of these diverse issues are perceptible in the final venture. These components begin appearing with the first attempt, evolve in the next various undertakings, and are finally intertwined in the last design."To explain howsbvctures come to hare specific designs[..) we must examine the design process. In particular, we mustidentify thegeneral causal factors (and their inteffeladonsfirp) that influence the decisions leadingto the designs for specific structures " (McGuire & Schiffer, 1938)The following is an enumeration of the attitudes or 'casual factors' that create the basis for the decisions taken along the design process. The basic foundation is the urbanity, the framework or system where the project takes place. This element comprises the urban context and the history of the place which eventually become the rules -the limits- set by the environment. The idea of dwelling also comes into play suggesting the need of permanency and the understanding of the concept of living and inhabiting a space. Next, the feminine component acts as a basis for reflections on femininity, where protection, subtlety and sensuality play important roles. This feminine attitude is carried not only thematically but also architecturally. Also, the culture is important in regards to tradition and contemporaneousness. The fact that the site is situated in Buenos Aires -Argentina- implies an understanding of its people and the values of its culture. Finally, the architectural component establishes personal beliefs toward architecture and the role of the architect in society along with the personal ability to realize the design. All these attitudes fuse together to become the final project: a house for a woman in Buenos Aires.In this way, the challenge is to work with and within the different limits and find the inherent freedom. "Architects are able to creatively play with these limitations and still achieve great responses to both their own intentions and today's society's needs" (previous research). This search carries various decisions regarding a balanced 'giving and taking', and a great deal of creativity. Certainly, it is in the creative 'way-finding' that architecture can express itself most gracefully and truthful. In conclusion, in this project there are limits regarding the contextual issues, rules and norms (urbanity), society's needs and beliefs (women issues), cultural constraints (tradition) and the architect's social responsibilities. In spite of these limitations and thanks to them, the intention is to 'seek for a solution' manipulating and creatively handling these limitations to achieve an architectural artifact. / Department of Architecture

This creative project presents an overview of the architectural styles and history of the surviving commercial architecture of A.M. Strauss in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was the best known architect working in Fort Wayne during the period covered by this creative project, and his work is an excellent example of how national architectural trends affected architecture in Fort Wayne. His commercial architecture represents his best known and most significant work. He did far too many buildings to cover in a single thesis, and so his residential and institutional architecture in Fort Wayne remains for another study, as do his many works outside of Fort Wayne. This project also brings together in one treatment as much photographic, historical and architectural documentation of these buildings as possible — documentation now scattered across east central and northeast Indiana. It traces Strauss's stylistic changes from Spanish Eclecticism through Art Deco and Art Moderne to Modernism. The surviving buildings represent each of these styles and shifts in historical context. / Department of Architecture

In the field of historic preservation, a feasibility study should be done in the affected locale to determine what the public's feelings are toward a project. The preservation project must have the public's support to be successful.The results of the study can be analyzed to identify sources of opposition and support. It will also uncover issues to be dealt with in public directed support campaigns for the preservation project.The success of historic preservation projects can be much enhanced by the use of the feasibility study and the proper application of information which it uncovers.

This creative project thesis is an exploration of the connected experiences in light, space and time, developed through the 'making'of architecture. The process began with the concept of 'installation', in which the practice evolves from a vast spectrum of disciplines. The objective is to create an alternative spatial experience, occurring within an existing building. A piece of architecture through which the environment may be activated by the presence of light, material and man . An abandoned old building was chosen as the site in which to create the project. The repair and the creation of the new combined, creating the installation of a space which both respects and evolves from the existing. The process of rehabilitation and the 'making' of architecture offering a variety of interactive opportunities; of dialogue and language which furthers the understanding of society and the conception of architecture. / Department of Architecture