This report investigates the possibilities and difficulties with a courtyard floor in CLT-wood, an alternative to today’s concrete floor. The environmental issue and how to construct a sustainability construction are the main focuses. This report contains data and information from people with competence within this topic that has been collected through literatures and interviews. The main areas that will be looked up is the construction with CLT-wood and moisture damage. Since concrete can tolerate much more load, is an investigation required to find out what factors that need to be modified. A courtyard needs to be kept dry regardless of the material. However, wood doesn´t tolerate that much moisture compared to concrete and the consequences will be much more.Through researches and interviews some solutions with CLT-wood has been made. Several alternatives have been made that has a great potential to match the requirements for this kind of construction. CLT-wood and glulam will be the main focuses.Also, research about CLT-wood through a logistics perspective have been made. All those tasks from transport the material from the manufactures to assemble it on the construction site will be portrayed and then compared with the material concrete. Those tasks that are similar will then be compared through time and cost.

Courtyard is an architectural element which has a rather paradoxical definition. It is an open space inside and/or surrounded by the buildings. Traditionally, courtyard is an outdoor element inside the enclosed building. In the urban context of European or Western cities, courtyards are part of the perimeter block. Courtyards in an urban context are meant to be space to retreat from the outside and only use among the residents. But the evolution of urban form in the 20th century had changed the form & appearance of courtyards from its originality as well. Stockholm has resembled a similar evolution of courtyards with the rest of Western cities. Therefore this research conducted a study of the relation between courtyards form, activities, and economic (wealth) status in Stockholm. This study focused on the development of the courtyard after the beginning of the 20th century in the North-Eastern part of Stockholm city, Ladugårdsgärdet and Norra Djurgårdsstaden. The site is one of the last largest Stockholm city urban developments between 20th Century up to the present time. The study identified 9 types of courtyards developed in an overlapped time period from the beginning of the 20th Century until the present year. The observation findings showed that size, form & appearance, neighbourhood park, weather, privacy, and regulation affect the use of courtyards. Block development seems to regain influenced of perimeter block approach after the 1970s. The economic relation between residents and courtyards did not reflect any significant pattern due to the complex and varies the financial structure of the housing association (Bostadrättsförening / Brf). The terminology of courtyards’ form remains ambiguous but the field of study in this specific open space between buildings are open up. What is the purpose of the courtyard? Do courtyards essential for housing? How can it contribute different or better to the urban society of Stockholm and in general?

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The thesis was originally meant to be an investigation into the necessity of architectural ornamentation. Throughout the exploration however, it became evident that architectural ornamentation was not all that was being studied. Instead, a broader term was needed in order to define the study. Instead of simply ornamenting architecture, the thesis is a study on augmenting architecture; more precisely, a study of the several elemental ways through which architectural experience can most effectively be augmented to foster aesthetic expression and heighten general architectural experience. The thesis deals with five of these fundamental elements; phenomenology, craft, contrast, complexity, and representation. The project that has been developed with these ideas in mind is an ancestral columbarium and the path that leads visitors to it. It is sited in a theoretical Virginian landscape that was designed simultaneously with the architecture, in order to present the architectural ideas with greater clarity and precision. The columbarium and path are a part of a larger family residence that includes an ancestral home, but for the sake of time the home was not designed. Instead, the relevant ideas are expressed through the path to the ancestral columbarium and the columbarium itself. / Master of Architecture

Sacred spaces have long existed due to their importance as a symbol of belief. Structures are designed to be timeless and forever lasting, representing the essence of faith. In this case, a Mosque has been designed for a site in La Jolla, California, keeping the sacred practices of the religion in mind during design composition. This includes the importance of connectivity for every man and woman, to God. The segregated praying areas for men and women are essential aspects of the design; from entering the site, the common area or courtyard at the center, to the separate walkways for each gender, symbolize the importance of gender segregation and yet a common ground for unity and equality at the holy site. A walk through the corridor leads to the washing area for self cleansing and ritual ablution in preparation for entering the sacred space for prayers, the entrance to a space for a spiritual connection with God. / Master of Architecture

Sited in downtown Blacksburgâ s Main Street, this elementary school participates as a citizen of the town as much as it is a singular entity that provides a secure, focused atmosphere for learning. Located directly adjacent to the original sixteen squares of Blacksburg, the site that once held an inward looking, stalwart building now holds an elementary school that realizes its responsibilities as a public building in addition to its internal purpose. Its architecture is an exploration in creating and resolving the tension in materiality and form. Its formal moves call out each element of the program and the following drawings depict the relationship of one to another. / Master of Architecture

In a culture that was credited with the invention of paper in the 1st century, Chinese paper art have existed since that time with products ranging from paper fans, lanterns to decorative designs and structures accomplished by folding, rolling and cutting. The thesis is about the inception and design of a museum dedicated to the paper art in China as well as its counterparts in the rest of the world. To be located in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, the museum will curate its exhibitions primarily on local traditional folk arts using paper. It will be a museum with a comprehensive mission of displaying, preserving, education and research on paper arts. / Master of Architecture

In the United States, the living urban environment in the last two centuries has almost completely disappeared. Dense urban environments as viable and normal places to live have become a thing of the past. Living in the suburbs has become the trend and everyone has looked to the outskirts of the city to live. Downtown areas have become a place to work, and the suburbs a place to live. Downtowns have become ghost towns during the evenings, while little communal interaction can be found in the suburbs due to its inhuman scale and automobile dependence. Developers have marketed suburban living for their profits, offering no other alternative housing between suburban and urban living cores as they exist today. This thesis will explore an alternative prototypical housing type to promote vitality and livability in urban environments today. / Master of Architecture

There is a need to counteract economic injustice in the world. As an architect, as a creator, it is my responsibility to make the world a better place. I want to help people to help themselves by concentrating their efforts in a constructive way. I desire to create a prototypical solution for a village in an area with high unemployment and desperate poverty as a means to give work to people and to serve as an example for other groups of people wanting to do the same. The site I've chosen to illustrate this concept of self-help housing is a 300 x 500 meter plateau in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. / Master of Architecture