Over 11 million undocumented immigrants live in the shadows all across America. They live with the fear of being separated from their families and the risk of being detained or deported back to a country they escaped. This thesis explores ideas of home, safety, and belonging through different elements in architecture, utilized to create welcoming and safe spaces. The community and health center is designed to reach, support, and empower immigrants, while acting as a new home where immigrants access a variety of health, education, and social programs. The project reuses and re-purposes an abandoned building, which was originally designed to welcome immigrants, by carving out historic spaces while creating a new addition that gives it new life. To create a more welcoming experience, the existing brick building is integrated with the new through the use of natural materials, color, and the addition of large openings that allow natural light to fill the interiors. The design of large gathering areas both inside and outside allow people to come together and create a sense of community. Located in the center of immigrant neighborhoods, the proposed community and health center acts as a new beacon of hope and tranquility for immigrants in the District of Columbia. / Master of Architecture / Everyday more than 11 million undocumented children and adults face the fear of being separated from their families and the risk of being placed in caged-like cells called immigrant detention centers. Rather than having more spaces that criminalize and treat immigrants inhumanely, this thesis seeks to design a space that welcomes and supports undocumented immigrants. A proposed community and health center is designed to reach, support, and empower immigrants, while acting as a new home where immigrants could access a variety of health, education, and social programs. The project reuses and repurposes a section of an abandoned building, originally built to provide housing and health services to immigrants, and introduces a new addition with the goal to preserve and continue its history as a place for immigrants. In order to create a more welcoming and safe experience, the design of the proposed building integrates three different strategies. First, the integration of sustainable natural materials and warm colors in the structure of the new addition and the interiors of the existing building. Second, the integration of large operable openings that frame views of the exterior landscape and allow natural light and fresh air to fill the interiors. Lastly, the integration of gathering spaces in the landscape and interiors that allow people to come together and create a sense of community. The proposed community and health center would become a new beacon of hope and tranquility for undocumented immigrants that live with fear and face different obstacles due to their legal status.

Biophilia, the affinity humans have for nature, has been widely demonstrated to manifest both physiological and psychological benefits in those who are exposed to natural settings. By incorporating such elements in architecture, biophilic design has been put forth as a remedy to many of the health concerns associated with urban environments. However, most of the focus has been on treatment rather than prevention, leaving the root causes unaddressed. This thesis aims to reorient the focus toward the proactive use of biophilic design to promote well-being and avert the onset of these issues. Design principles draw from the theory of Salutogenesis, which employs elements of Psychologically Supportive Design (PSD) and Attention Restoration Theory (ART) to promote physical, mental, and emotional well-being. This approach contrasts and augments the concept of Pathogenesis, the focus on resultant illnesses and disease that defines the current healthcare paradigm. If biophilia is salutogenic (i.e. generates health), this thesis postulates that such architecture will also act as a prophylaxis, or preventative medicine. To evaluate the potential efficacy of various biophilic strategies, an IRB-approved research study has been designed to gather qualitative and quantitative responses from individuals viewing alternative design proposals. Rather than putting forth a hypothesis to be supported, the project centers on a thesis proposition to be explored through an inductive process of seeking emergent theories. With funding from the American Institute of Architects through the AIAS Crit Scholar Program, design alternatives were developed and presented in Virtual Reality to individuals associated with a local organization, Community Health Center of the New River Valley. While the results presented are neither prescriptive nor universally generalizable, findings are relevant in both the context of healthcare and across building types. / Master of Architecture / In recent decades, designers and researchers alike have sought to understand what people have intuitively known for millennia – namely, that humans possess an innate affinity for nature, which can improve our physical and psychological health and well-being. The theory of biophilia, first popularized in 1984 by Edward O. Wilson, has framed this concept with the hypothesis that "Natural environments have a restorative advantage over artificial environments due to the role they played in our evolution as a species." Since then, countless studies have supported this claim, with far-reaching implications and opportunities. As more and more people move to cities, health crises have escalated dramatically, with urban environments tied to increased stress, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, and memory disorders. As the world continues to urbanize, designers face a growing imperative to create spaces that are conducive to health and wellness. Biophilic design has been put forth as a remedy to many of these health concerns, yet most of the focus has been on treatment rather than prevention, leaving the root causes unaddressed. This thesis aims to reorient the focus toward the proactive use of biophilic design to promote well-being and avert the onset of these issues. Design principles draw from the theory of Salutogenesis, the idea that health is a condition that can be caused, rather than the mere absence of illness. If biophilia is salutogenic (i.e. generates health), this thesis postulates that such architecture will also act as a prophylaxis, or preventative medicine. To explore this topic, a hypothetical wellness center was designed in partnership with a local organization, Community Health Center of the New River Valley. Design alternatives were presented to a group of participants using Virtual Reality headsets to view four spaces, each focused on a different element of biophilia: vegetation, water, light, and air. Interviews and questionnaires resulted in a number of trends and conclusions regarding best practices for the inclusion of natural elements in architecture.

Emerging more than 3000 years ago - an era of hermit culture in China - private gardens played an important role in the development of Chinese culture. In this thesis, the essence of Chinese private gardens, especially the principles of their spatial organization, is used to direct the design. In a Chinese garden, the aim of spatial design was to create an experience of variety and change in a highly limited space. Gardens normally were made up of a series of spatial units, each with its own function and distinguishing characteristics through skilled manipulation of spaces, materials and plants. This Chinese Community Center was designed for the Association of Chinese Students and Scholars, the largest international organization on the campus of Virginia Tech. As the joining of the eastern and western culture, the building was designed by syncretizing the spatial organization of Chinese gardens and the form and material of western modern architecture. In my design, three units were introduced into the building. As to the spatial layout of the building, the garden was an open space; the exhibition area was enclosed; and the entrance corridor unit was partly open and partly enclosed as a transition. Three units organized the inter-penetrative spaces, integrating spatial units of different types and forms, and achieving diversity, contrast and harmony. Perforated aluminum panels with Chinese patterns were introduced into the entrance area to create a semi-open space, which gave the impression of Chinese architecture and culture identity. The method of the borrowing of scenery was also introduced in this unit. From the framed gate at the entrance, the balcony at the end of the building was connected visually with the beginning. At this point, the perforated panels contrasted with the solid concrete wall, symbolizing the contrast between tradition and modernity in time and space. Also, following the principle of Chinese gardens, two choices of touring the building were provided to visitors at the entrance: by entering the hall of the building or by going down to the garden directly by way of the wood stairs. The enclosed concrete unit served as the exhibition area, introducing Chinese culture and architecture to visitors. An interior bamboo garden was arranged in the middle of the unit, connecting the lower and upper levels. The color and the fragrance of bamboo were borrowed from the nature, being the focus of the whole unit. The two-story high tea area faced the trianglar bamboo garden outside, conveying a quiet feeling. Staying in the modern space with traditional Chinese culture and plants will be a great feeling for visitors, touching the spirits of antiquity and today at the same time. The open garden space in the center connected and separated the enclosed unit and semi-open unit. Because water in a garden was the artistic simulation of natural lakes in the basic concepts of Chinese gardens, a shallow water pond was arranged in the garden close to the main hall of the building, occupying one corner in the garden. A trianglar bamboo garden occupied another corner, leaving the central part for activities. Looking at the design as a whole, the paradox is that the three units were spatial divisions on the one hand, and at the same time spatial linkages on the other. Out of this complexity, the visitors will be delighted by the changing views as they stroll from one part of the building to another. / Master of Architecture

For my thesis, I have chosen to adapt the abandoned office/warehouse at 1207 North Boulevard for use as a community workshop for all of Richmond's urban neighborhoods. The community workshop's focus will be to provide open workshops, classes, a resource library and design consultation to low and middle income homeowners, affordable housing properties, and community parks. In addition, the center welcomes all of Richmond city residents to join and partake in 1207's resources in order to grow a multi-faceted community focused on improving the lives of all of Richmond City's residents. The center will function as a gathering space for all urban residents and will promote both the individual and the community through a ‘Do It Yourself' approach to home design and care that will instill pride and self reliance to all members of the community.

Thesis (M.S.)--Boston University

El presente trabajo tiene como base la investigación de los criterios y pautas que se van a tomar en el desarrollo del proyecto profesional de un Centro de Desarrollo Comunitario en el distrito de Comas, en el cual se logre la interacción con su ciudad por medio una arquitectura permeable. Se parte del análisis de las necesidades en la ciudad, la cual en la actualidad posee una disgregación en el acceso de los servicios en sectores donde existen mayores niveles de pobreza, generando de esta manera una variedad de problemáticas tales como la inseguridad o la pérdida del tejido social en la población afectada. A partir de los problemas presentados, se plantearon espacios para lograr una mejora en la calidad de vida de las personas en una comunidad; sin embargo, el diseño presentado no logra el vínculo con los habitantes del lugar generando el desinterés y poca afluencia en los Centros. Por medio del análisis de referenciales tanto al nivel nacional e internacional de la tipología y en énfasis del proyecto, se propone una a infraestructura que logre las funciones básicas de los Centros Comunitarios y, a su vez, permite por medios formales y espaciales logre la interacción con el usuario. / The present work is based on the investigation of the criteria and guidelines to be taken in the development of the professional project of a Community Development Center in the Comas district, in which interaction with your city is achieved through an architecture permeable. It starts from the analysis of the needs in the city, which currently has a disaggregation in the access of services in sectors where there are higher levels of poverty, thus generating a variety of problems such as insecurity or loss of social fabric in the affected population. Based on the problems presented, spaces were proposed to achieve an improvement in the quality of life of people in a community; However, the design presented does not achieve the link with the inhabitants of the place, generating disinterest and little influx in the Centers. Through the analysis of benchmarks both at the national and international level of the typology and in emphasis of the project, an infrastructure is proposed that achieves the basic functions of the Community Centers and, in turn, allows for formal and spatial means to achieve interaction with the user. / Trabajo de investigación

The subject of the diploma thesis is based on the specific intention of the town of Žďár nad Sázavou for the reconstruction of the original nursery school at Okružní street to the community center. The diploma thesis follows the analytical part of the previous semester, which examined the possibilities, risks and potential of the city. The main starting point is the work with the existing building - reconstruction and extension of the original kindergarten building. Compared to the conventional new "green meadow" construction, this assignment emphasizes the use of existing values, the concentration and strengthening of the existing city as opposed to the contemporary colonization of the free landscape. The design of a building modification of an existing building must also be based on the perception of the continuity of the development, in particular the constructional nature of the building, so that the newly designed "layer" of development does not become a denial of the previous layers.

Reconstruction and completion of the community center in Ždár nad Sázavou. The aim of the project is to create a multifunctional community center with operational and administrative facilities. On the basis of a specific intention of the contracting authority, the following building program for individual community center operations was set up.

The subject of the diploma thesis is based on the specific intention of the town of Žďár nad Sázavou for the reconstruction of the original nursery school at Okružní street to the community center. The diploma thesis follows the analytical part of the previous semester, which examined the possibilities, risks and potential of the city. The main starting point is the work with the existing building - reconstruction and extension of the original kindergarten building. Compared to the conventional new "green meadow" construction, this assignment emphasizes the use of existing values, the concentration and strengthening of the existing city as opposed to the contemporary colonization of the free landscape. The design of a building modification of an existing building must also be based on the perception of the continuity of the development, in particular the constructional nature of the building, so that the newly designed "layer" of development does not become a denial of the previous layers.

På gränsen mellan hav och land, Haninge och Nynäshamn, naturreservat och lokalsamhälle, infinner sig Arschipelag skärgårdscenter. Genom överbryggandet av dessa gränsdragningar förankrar och sammanflätar projektet platsens olika element, för att skapa en knytpunkt tillgängliggjord från både fastlandet och Östersjön. Sammanstrålandet av gränserna sker i en vik intill Gamla Nynäsvägen, en bortglömd landremsa med vy över fjärden. Med utgångspunkt i ett behov av att tillgängliggöra åtkomst till vatten och angränsande naturreservat, synliggöra den kommunalt förbisedda tätorten samt nyttja de kommunikationsmöjligheter som läget erbjuder till sjöss och på land, har programmet formulerats. Som en nod för besökare från bägge håll syftar projektet till att uppmärksamma närområdets och skärgårdens kvalitéer genom ett skärgårdscenter som riktar sig mot en bred publik. En mötesplats och förankringspunkt för arkipelagens boende och aktörer, en lärande hubb som möjliggör kunskapsutbyte för besökare och en attraktion som aktiverar närområdet.  Med inspiration från platsens rika historia och marina typologier har projektet gestaltats med stundvis motsättande ledord; massivitet och lätthet, låg- och högteknologiskt, inramning och avskärmning. Närliggande fornlämningar har fått forma det beständiga markplanet, för att bära det symboliskt och geografiskt överbryggande övre planet. Fackverket sträcker ut sig horisontellt, ramar in den obrutna passagen till vattnet och landar lätt på det nedre fortet. / At the border between sea and land, Haninge and Nynäshamn, nature reserve and local community, Arschipelag archipelago Center emerges. By bridging these boundaries, the project anchors and interweaves the different elements of the site, creating a focal point accessible from both the mainland and the Baltic Sea. The convergence of borders takes place in a bay near Gamla Nynäsvägen, a forgotten strip of land with a view of the fjord. Based on the need to provide access to water and adjacent nature reserves, highlight the municipally overlooked urban area, and leverage the communication opportunities offered by the location both at sea and on land, the program has been formulated. As a node for visitors from both directions, the project aims to showcase the qualities of the surrounding area and the archipelago through an archipelago center that caters to a broad audience. It serves as a meeting place and anchor point for residents and stakeholders of the archipelago, a learning hub that enables knowledge exchange for visitors, and an attraction that activates the surrounding area. Inspired by the site's rich history and marine typologies, the project has been designed with occasionally contrasting keywords: solidity and lightness, low- and high-tech, framing and shielding. Nearby ancient remains have shaped the substantial ground plane, to carry the symbolically and geographically traversing upper plane. The truss structure extends horizontally, framing the uninterrupted passage to the water and gently landing on the lower fort.