This thesis project began with an interest in how architecture provides for both permanence and temporality and how contemporary conditions may impact upon architectural form. An, office building was chosen as the subject of exploration due to its ubiquitous nature and the requirement that it be adaptable to the changing needs of its occupants. The need for a flexible and economic architecture also presented the problem of anonymity and a lack of experiential richness. The intention of the investigation was to discover in what ways, if any, the permanent and temporal elements of a building might act in conjuction to create an enduring artifact which could respond to and register the complexities of everyday life. The project was inspired by observations in the city of Vancouver where development has occurred in a rapid and often irregular manner. The eastern part of the downtown centre and Yaletown were identified as particular areas of study. Patterns of development exhibit many smaller sites left empty or used as parking until being developed. These sites revealed an opportunity for the design of a medium-sized building which might maintain the smaller grain characteristic of these areas. As a "type", it could be adapted to the particularities of its location as well as the changing requirements of its occupants. A number of sites from four to six lots in width were identified in the study area. Various configurations were then devised to adapt the building model to particular site conditions including double party-wall versus corner locations and different orientations. The final project consists of the adaptation of this type to a site located on Homer Street near Pender Street. It is adjacent to an alley which marks the change in grid orientation in the area and allows three elevations of the building to be explored . The building employs an asymmetrically situated atrium and a core divided into two separated pods which would allow for increased penetration of natural light and ventilation. Structure, envelope and space dividing elements operate independently. The building envelope is separated out into two layers: the interior layer consists of a four foot wide grid of openings which may be filled with birch clad panels, bookcases or glazed panels or fitted with operable louvered windows. Random placements of panels allow the human inhabitation to be registered on the exterior of the building. The exterior skin then superimposes a composition of glazed panels which responds to the scale and order of the city and deals with environmental elements. A carved out entry lobby and two storey terrace along with landscaped roofdeck provide gradations of public and private common areas.

This thesis project began with an interest in how architecture provides for both permanence and temporality and how contemporary conditions may impact upon architectural form. An, office building was chosen as the subject of exploration due to its ubiquitous nature and the requirement that it be adaptable to the changing needs of its occupants. The need for a flexible and economic architecture also presented the problem of anonymity and a lack of experiential richness. The intention of the investigation was to discover in what ways, if any, the permanent and temporal elements of a building might act in conjuction to create an enduring artifact which could respond to and register the complexities of everyday life. The project was inspired by observations in the city of Vancouver where development has occurred in a rapid and often irregular manner. The eastern part of the downtown centre and Yaletown were identified as particular areas of study. Patterns of development exhibit many smaller sites left empty or used as parking until being developed. These sites revealed an opportunity for the design of a medium-sized building which might maintain the smaller grain characteristic of these areas. As a "type", it could be adapted to the particularities of its location as well as the changing requirements of its occupants. A number of sites from four to six lots in width were identified in the study area. Various configurations were then devised to adapt the building model to particular site conditions including double party-wall versus corner locations and different orientations. The final project consists of the adaptation of this type to a site located on Homer Street near Pender Street. It is adjacent to an alley which marks the change in grid orientation in the area and allows three elevations of the building to be explored . The building employs an asymmetrically situated atrium and a core divided into two separated pods which would allow for increased penetration of natural light and ventilation. Structure, envelope and space dividing elements operate independently. The building envelope is separated out into two layers: the interior layer consists of a four foot wide grid of openings which may be filled with birch clad panels, bookcases or glazed panels or fitted with operable louvered windows. Random placements of panels allow the human inhabitation to be registered on the exterior of the building. The exterior skin then superimposes a composition of glazed panels which responds to the scale and order of the city and deals with environmental elements. A carved out entry lobby and two storey terrace along with landscaped roofdeck provide gradations of public and private common areas. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This thesis explores the making of the Vancouver residential landscape during the first fifty years after the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway. A city of uncommon attractiveness set next to sea and mountain, Vancouver offered unusual residential opportunities within a rapidly expanding commercial and industrial city. High wages and cheap land made accessible by the streetcar enabled even very ordinary people to buy or build houses on lots up to eight miles from their place of work. Vancouverites admired the resulting suburban landscape, set away from industry and commerce and providing open space, gardens, and rural flavour. Land and home ownership, amid thereby control over the domestic environment, were important to them; Suburban Vancouver reflected imported values and local opportunities, and both were orchestrated by a property market that was dominated by speculation. These relationships are considered in the first three chapters of the thesis. The next three chapters deal with house styles in Vancouver, as influenced by builders, pattern books, and architects. Three broad styles are recognized. The first, in the period from 1886 to 1910, were late Victorian designs used for a range of cabins, cottages, frame two-storey houses and mansions. Gingerbread trim, turrets or elaborate porches, mostly acquired from factory or mill along with other building elements, suggest the industrial and American pedigree of houses on the downtown peninsula and proximate suburbs. A second style, strongly influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement in California, apparently rejected earlier standardized industrial products. The California Bungalow, popular from about 1910 to the mid-1920s, was a simple and open house that emphasized the texture of shingle, rafter, brick and stone. These bungalows were available in one- and two-storey versions and were associated with innovative marketing strategies in California. Mimicking both California styles and real estate practices, Vancouver building contractors added a strongly West Coast element to the city's streetscapes after 1910. A third style, an explicity English pre-industria1 revival, was a variant of Arts and Crafts influence inspired by English Tudor Cottages and thatched farmhouses. For the city's largely anglo-saxon elite, Tudor mansions were popular; their expansive form and historical detail had been interpreted in North American taste-making centres such as Philadelphia. The same Tudor and thatched cottage motifs, along with other revivalist styles, served smaller houses in the largely middle class suburbs of Point Grey and thereby hinted at estate living, albeit on a small lot. The significance of these landscape elements is discussed from the perspective of technological change, social values, class relations, and regional distinctiveness. While Vancouver houses were the product of an industrial system, the high level of home-ownership and the successful separation of home and work mark an important stage in the evolution of urban form beyond that of the typical industrial city. The city-as-suburban-landscape, generically available elsewhere on the continent, came to Vancouver with a unique mix of elements that reflect the region's migration patterns, social aspirations and economy. As an exercise in urban historical geography, the thesis also offers a concrete perspective on issues of identity and meaning that are of concern in contemporary human geography. / Arts, Faculty of / Geography, Department of / Graduate

In 1919, the federal government initiated a housing scheme to finance and construct war veterans' and low-cost homes during a period of severe housing shortages and economic recession immediately following the First World War. The Province of British Columbia participated extensively in the program under the auspices of the Better Housing Scheme Act. In Vancouver, the majority of the one hundred and fifty-three houses built under this initiative were modestly priced examples of the Craftsman bungalow. Although the federal housing guidelines defined the scheme's objectives as providing housing to those in greatest need, the choice of the Craftsman bungalow typology for the Vancouver model suggests otherwise. The Craftsman bungalow was appropriated for the Vancouver Better Housing Scheme for economic and ideological purposes, wedding economy and aesthetics with the government's desire to bring morality and family values to all classes through domestic architecture. The Scheme solicited the Arts and Crafts bungalow as its primary model in part because of its adaptability of materials: the Craftsman aesthetic emphasizing natural wood fit well into British Columbia's thriving lumber economy. Moreover, the modest, detached home set on a single lot interspersed in one of Vancouver's existing neighbourhoods bolstered the sagging real estate market, which had stagnated during the First World War, and ensured economic renewal. The Arts and Crafts inspired bungalow addressed notions of the traditional nuclear family with the husband and father as sole wage earner and the wife and mother as housekeeper. Through its plan and design and through its comprehensive marketing strategy, the bungalow reaffirmed the accepted roles of family members during the post-war period of economic recession, instability, and uncertainty with the past and the future. Through the Vancouver Better Housing Scheme, its proponents attempted to establish the detached, single family home as a national goal for everyone which would promote long term social stability and economic growth and recovery from the post-war depression.

In 1919, the federal government initiated a housing scheme to finance and construct war veterans' and low-cost homes during a period of severe housing shortages and economic recession immediately following the First World War. The Province of British Columbia participated extensively in the program under the auspices of the Better Housing Scheme Act. In Vancouver, the majority of the one hundred and fifty-three houses built under this initiative were modestly priced examples of the Craftsman bungalow. Although the federal housing guidelines defined the scheme's objectives as providing housing to those in greatest need, the choice of the Craftsman bungalow typology for the Vancouver model suggests otherwise. The Craftsman bungalow was appropriated for the Vancouver Better Housing Scheme for economic and ideological purposes, wedding economy and aesthetics with the government's desire to bring morality and family values to all classes through domestic architecture. The Scheme solicited the Arts and Crafts bungalow as its primary model in part because of its adaptability of materials: the Craftsman aesthetic emphasizing natural wood fit well into British Columbia's thriving lumber economy. Moreover, the modest, detached home set on a single lot interspersed in one of Vancouver's existing neighbourhoods bolstered the sagging real estate market, which had stagnated during the First World War, and ensured economic renewal. The Arts and Crafts inspired bungalow addressed notions of the traditional nuclear family with the husband and father as sole wage earner and the wife and mother as housekeeper. Through its plan and design and through its comprehensive marketing strategy, the bungalow reaffirmed the accepted roles of family members during the post-war period of economic recession, instability, and uncertainty with the past and the future. Through the Vancouver Better Housing Scheme, its proponents attempted to establish the detached, single family home as a national goal for everyone which would promote long term social stability and economic growth and recovery from the post-war depression. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, to examine mixed-use development outside of the downtown core as a means to increase the housing stock of Vancouver by determining why this form of development is occurring and to assess the habitability of the housing provided in these projects. Secondly, the survey methodology utilized in the study was designed to obtain information in an exploratory manner, to both assist in the future design and management of mixed-use projects, and to provide the basis for speculating on the potential role for mixed-use projects in commercial districts outside of the Central Business District. Chapter One outlines the scope of the study. Four objectives are established for the thesis: to determine why mixed-use projects are being developed; to derive a profile of mixed-use building residents; to evaluate the level of housing satisfaction expressed by these residents; and, to discuss the implications for commercial districts if mixed-use development was to be encouraged. Two hypotheses are presented to explain why this form of development is occurring: first, there is likely an excess of commercially zoned land relative to market demand for space above the ground floor; and second, a mixed-use building possibly offers investment diversification by combining two different uses in a single building. As well, the study sought to test hypotheses regarding mixed-use residential rent levels, building security and the type of residents attracted to this form of housing. The second chapter traces the practice of land use separation from its initial emphasis on segregating non-compatible activities through to the recent reassessment of strictly separating uses with the widening acceptance of permitting and encouraging mixed-use. Based on a review of land development trends and planning policies implemented in Vancouver, the study finds that while the inducement of a floorspace bonus offered in certain areas of the downtown core has met with limited success, mixed-use development has occurred for some time in many of the commercial districts outside of the CBD. The survey-questionnaire methodology utilized in the study is described in Chapter Three. Of the 144 mixed-use projects built in the study area between January 1, 1974 and June 1, 1983, 50 were randomly selected for the two-stage sampling procedure. Questionnaires were first distributed to the developer/owners of the sample group. With the permission of those owner respondents participating in the survey, a second questionnaire was then delivered to the residential occupants. Both questionnaires were pre-tested through a pilot survey. The survey-questionnaire methodology was found to be difficult and time-consuming, but the only means available to obtain the data necessary to address the research objectives of the study. The results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented in Chapter Four. The study hypotheses are re-examined in light of the research findings discussed in Chapter Five. The results of the developer/owner survey are found to validate the two hypotheses suggested to explain the occurrence of mixed-use development outside of the downtown. Developer/owner respondents reported few problems in either developing or managing a mixed-use building and stressed the importance of careful design, quality construction, and good management practices in ensuring the success of these projects. The resident survey indicated that combining residential with commercial uses appears to provide a satisfactory housing environment. Athough the residents surveyed indentified several problems with living in a mixed-use building (noise, inadequate security, lack of parking), the overall level of satisfaction reported was high and corresponds closely with the findings of other medium density housing evaluation studies. The resident survey group was found to be similar demographically to an apartment comparison sub-population, though the sample group contained proportionately fewer residents in the elderly age cohorts. The study found little support for the assumption that mixed-use building rents would be discounted due to location and combination of uses. The hypothesis that combined uses would enhance building security due to mutual surveillance was likewise rejected. In the concluding chapter the implications of the research findings are discussed. Conclusions drawing upon the results of the two survey-questionnaires are presented to assist in future mixed-use project design and development. It is suggested that mixed-use, in addition to being a viable form of development as demonstrated through the developer/owner survey, may offer several public benefits: the more intensive use of scarce urban land; a broadened choice of housing; and, increased market support and added diversity in existing commercial districts. The need to critically examine these various arguments in favour of mixed-use is emphasized. Lastly, the role of the public sector vis-a-vis mixed-use development is discussed and the need for further research is identified. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

"The Light of Learning-siting and designing a regionally appropriate elementary school." Every place on earth is uniquely composed of various phenomena, such as climate, topography, qualities of light, latitude, ambient moisture levels, etc. We are each profoundly affected by the unique way these general qualities combine in our particular region, and Norberg-Schultz argues that this connection begins at a very young age. It allows us to know our place in the world, to orient ourselves, and to find our "home." Here on the West Coast, one of the most powerful characteristics of place is the quality of our regional light: which fluctuates from a warm August Yellow, to a low winter white. In summer our skies are broad, blue and bounded only by the mountains and sea. During the rainy season, ambient moisture turns the air solid, as white light ebbs and flows through the cedar boughs and around our buildings. Through the design of an elementary school sited on the north bank of the Fraser River Estuary, I attempt to explore how one makes "place"-in this case a place of learning-which is both responsive to site and appropriate to the unique characteristics of region. During my design process the qualities of Regional Light remain the principal generative tool, with the central circulation spine acting as an organizing light scoop/stack ventilation, and each classroom pod bringing natural light in on at least two sides to create a non-glare learning environment. Other key considerations are the programmatic need for dual school/public access to the site, the reintroduction of natural habitat from the adjacent river-front park, and a respect for the layers of history which have shaped the site before its current zoning as an elementary school.

"The Light of Learning-siting and designing a regionally appropriate elementary school." Every place on earth is uniquely composed of various phenomena, such as climate, topography, qualities of light, latitude, ambient moisture levels, etc. We are each profoundly affected by the unique way these general qualities combine in our particular region, and Norberg-Schultz argues that this connection begins at a very young age. It allows us to know our place in the world, to orient ourselves, and to find our "home." Here on the West Coast, one of the most powerful characteristics of place is the quality of our regional light: which fluctuates from a warm August Yellow, to a low winter white. In summer our skies are broad, blue and bounded only by the mountains and sea. During the rainy season, ambient moisture turns the air solid, as white light ebbs and flows through the cedar boughs and around our buildings. Through the design of an elementary school sited on the north bank of the Fraser River Estuary, I attempt to explore how one makes "place"-in this case a place of learning-which is both responsive to site and appropriate to the unique characteristics of region. During my design process the qualities of Regional Light remain the principal generative tool, with the central circulation spine acting as an organizing light scoop/stack ventilation, and each classroom pod bringing natural light in on at least two sides to create a non-glare learning environment. Other key considerations are the programmatic need for dual school/public access to the site, the reintroduction of natural habitat from the adjacent river-front park, and a respect for the layers of history which have shaped the site before its current zoning as an elementary school. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

This project attempts to break down categorization and systems of thought based on opposing qualities. Instead, disparate elements are considered to work together to increase their individual properties by creating a new property - a condition comprised of the individual elments yet also surpassing them. The word "hybrid" is appropriated to describe the nature of this investigation - the renovation of a turn-of-the-century warehouse building into a multi-use building. The project attempts to describe how a building that contains a range of disparate programmatic elements can go beyond each element's exclusivity to produce a condition in which the resultant is greater than the sum of the individual parts. The project looks at breaking down specific delimitors of adjacent programmatic elements and promotes cross-fertilization between them with the intended result of blurring the seams that separate one from the other. The intent is to investigate, through a series of minimal moves dictated by the conditions of the site and program, whether a condition of richer and more varied experience can be achieved and, as a result, provide a start for defining a condition of architectural hybridity. Due to the size of the building that is investigated, this project focuses on two areas of the building, the insertion of a courtyard and the insertion of a fissure, or crack. The point of these investigations is to provide a tactical solution for the specificities of this particular site while at the same time implying a larger, global strategy that not only infers the remainder of this building but includes similar building types in other locations.

This project attempts to break down categorization and systems of thought based on opposing qualities. Instead, disparate elements are considered to work together to increase their individual properties by creating a new property - a condition comprised of the individual elments yet also surpassing them. The word "hybrid" is appropriated to describe the nature of this investigation - the renovation of a turn-of-the-century warehouse building into a multi-use building. The project attempts to describe how a building that contains a range of disparate programmatic elements can go beyond each element's exclusivity to produce a condition in which the resultant is greater than the sum of the individual parts. The project looks at breaking down specific delimitors of adjacent programmatic elements and promotes cross-fertilization between them with the intended result of blurring the seams that separate one from the other. The intent is to investigate, through a series of minimal moves dictated by the conditions of the site and program, whether a condition of richer and more varied experience can be achieved and, as a result, provide a start for defining a condition of architectural hybridity. Due to the size of the building that is investigated, this project focuses on two areas of the building, the insertion of a courtyard and the insertion of a fissure, or crack. The point of these investigations is to provide a tactical solution for the specificities of this particular site while at the same time implying a larger, global strategy that not only infers the remainder of this building but includes similar building types in other locations. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate