<p> The art of tea or "teaism" is grounded in recognizing the polarity between the spiritual and material worlds with the goal of finding harmony and pause. The exploration of the metaphysical realities and principles of Japanese tea rituals can also be found in creating sacred space within the mundane to achieve harmony amidst the dissonance of the secular world. Creating a campus inter-faith center will both provide a place for students to embrace their spirituality or religion as well as facilitate understanding between religions in a world today in which it is necessary. A tea room based on the Japanese principles of the tea ceremony will provide a common ground where those with differing beliefs come together to take part in a ritual that promotes spirituality and moral values shared by many religions. Exploring Japanese tea history and the ritual will lay the groundwork for establishing a modern tea house based on those principles. Religious pluralism and what spaces religions currently use and their rituals will help to establish the programming for the interfaith center. Rituals are important aspects of both religions and the tea ceremony and are part of both the sacred and secular realm, public and private (or individual or group). Introspection and reflection through meditation and prayer are central to the design of the space in both areas of the tea room, such as the outer and inner waiting areas, as well as in the spaces dedicated to spirituality and religion for both individual and group worship. The juxtaposition and boundary between secular and sacred space will be explored. Nature, which is meditated upon in Japanese tea rituals and is also important to many religions, is also an important theme. The method of research includes historical writings on tea rituals and theoretical essays on philosophy of tea and religious influences. Studying sacred spaces such as synagogues, churches, mosques and temples and how people use those spaces will give insight into how users interact within those spaces. Case studies of both a multifaith center, interfaith chapel and modern tea house will all provide programmatic and design precedence for the final design.</p>

<p> For thesis, I will explore the resurgence of public markets in a variety of settings by analyzing branding strategies and design features that mold tradition to contemporary tastes. Our contemporary culture has a love affair with food. Not only are chefs celebrities but our society is more conscientious of food preparation and origins. This emerging interest started a revolution in public markets. Public markets are not a &ldquo;new&rdquo; idea. They have been in existence for centuries. Beyond providing food for the local community, they are responsible for providing improved economic factors and more social opportunities than supermarket shopping. The new markets are considered food entertainment establishments. Many of them have bars, restaurants, and cooking classes added for a sophisticated shopping experience. Thankfully, our society has a had a shift in the way we spend our money and time. Food offers a way for people to connect with themselves as well as each other. Being a more sophisticated audience, design has become a crucial element in establishing a successful business. Sleek construction and nods to historic origins give an authentic vibe to markets while integrating modern conveniences like refrigeration. Branding and Packing also play a role. Consumers have so many options that marketing and image attract customers and illustrate the artisanal properties of markets today. By analyzing the history of public markets both foreign and domestic, I will illustrate how they have come full circle in their usefulness, contributing to local economies and societal changes. </p><p> For my proposed project, I would like to illustrate how to bring the modern public market into a suburban setting. Using all the attributes such as farm-to-table sourcing, con- struction, branding, and design I would like to represent the public market in an area with less population and analyze how it would affect the surrounding environment. For guidance on the process, I will analyze the following design and architecture firms, Edens, Jensen Architects, and AvroKO. </p><p> My research up until this point has included but is not limited to the following: Books, social media, online references, and site visits. Thankfully, I have at least one historical public market in close proximity, Eastern Market on Capitol Hill. The new trendy version of a public market is Union Market, located in NoMa neighborhood. </p><p> Originally, public markets were conceived out of necessity. Farmers needed a centralized means of selling and distribution of products and materials. Consumers did not have cars and modern supermarkets had yet to be invented. Thus, public markets came into existence and did much more for the community than provide a means to purchase food. They became a means to support the community by providing economic and social enrichment. Patrons and vendors created a sense of community. Good design fosters functionality and success of a market. </p><p> In conclusion, public markets have a positive effect on local economy, providing healthy food alternatives, employment opportunities and a sense of community pride.</p>

<p> Few activities today force us to interact in the way shopping does. Most retail stores today lack creativity and freshness because they do not provide a stimulating and personal experience. Shopping has been, and continues to be, a big factor within the urban landscape. Some would consider it to be the &ldquo;last remaining form of public activity.&rdquo; There is also a great need for more public space that encourages &ldquo;existential existence.&rdquo; As we exist in the World, we seek out a type of collective dwelling that gives us a sense of individuality. Retail can be a collaborative space that nourishes participation and allows for a meaningful experience. </p><p> This thesis proposes a fashion retail space in which art, inspiration, and exchange can thrive in the public realm of consumerism. Through the &ldquo;essence of experience&rdquo; patrons will have a higher understanding of fashion as art. Once this is accomplished the relationship of fashion to the social pulse can be felt. We benefit from unique and memorable experiences; in fact they allow us to achieve our sense of self and &ldquo;existential existence.&rdquo; Shopping has become one of the most common activities in which people are forced to interact with others. Thus, a retail space is where art, inspiration, and memory thrive. Through the &ldquo;essence of experience&rdquo; patrons can have a higher understanding of fashion as art. An overlap exists in &lsquo;existential spatiality&rsquo; and the creation of art. Fashion and architecture are interpretations of societal situations and revelations. Experiencing fashion will clearly illustrate this connection for patrons within this space. </p><p> The &ldquo;body of architecture&rdquo; is a direct reference to the human body framework it provides. Through the play of various volumetric and architectural elements, this space will create a feeling or mood that promoting emotional satisfaction. Material compatibility is critical for both garment and spatial design. Composure and seduction, architects compose movement within a space, fashion designers compose movement of the human silhouette. Scale and light are other elements that run parallel to architecture and fashion. All these things produce memory, as well as impact who we are to become and the quality of how we exist. This project will be a mix of gallery, lab, retail and performance space, resulting in an existential space.</p>

Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 87-93)

Thesis (M.S.)--Middle East Technical University, 2003. / Keywords: Metro station, station entrance, building performance.

Thesis PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Presented as a research project (doctoral)--University of Michigan, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [123-126]).

Presented as a research project (doctoral)--University of Michigan, 1979. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [123-126]).

<p> The anthropogenic influences on our climate system has caused an unprecedented increase of carbon emissions amongst other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere resulting in energy imbalances and observed positive feedbacks. The American Southwest is witnessing major urban transformation as its cities are becoming centers for urban growth. Without adopting climatic design, this continued sprawl will greatly compromise the natural environment and, human health and wellbeing. Intensive urbanization has the greatest risk for increasing the carbon footprint, environmental pollution, urban heat island phenomenon, and infrastructure overextension. Increasing ground surface temperatures; the outdoor environment is observing record breaking temperature highs, while the artificial indoor set points stay the same to counter that effect.</p><p> Buildings placed in areas of excessive heat and glaring sun are in need of a comprehensive approach to address their environments. With the advancements in technology, trends have shown that architects and designers are shifting towards engineering solutions to artificially control their environments to a static state. While spaces steer away from passive designs, their operation demand high energy consumption and their occupants are deprived of a sense of nature.</p><p> Climatic design is a key ingredient to the success of an optimized environment, or to its failure. Human Health is one component that is most challenged and could be most responsive to that environment and its built parameters. The important role that these components play are greater when immersed in hot-arid regions where resources are scarce, and the built environment finds itself in a hostile environment where it struggles to survive, relying heavily on the consumption of fossil fuels.</p><p> The goal of this research is to develop a methodology in which the human physiological responses are centered in the role of design. Through examination of this phenomenon and recommendations based on the findings, developers will be informed of the importance of human-centered climatic design. Data driven to optimize both human health and the environmental footprint. Utilization of this method will not only decrease the contribution of the built environment but will also decrease the chronic exposure of humans to these high contrasts and pave the way to cautious practices optimizing health of the environment. The long-term goal is to develop indices based on human-centered climatic design to inform our design decisions and represent a flagship to a sustainable way of living. The objective of this research is to validate the dialogue between climatic design and human physiological comfort. The hypothesis is that a specific list of elements in man-made built environment trigger responses in both the atmosphere and humans. The rationale behind this methodology is based on the role of architecture as a primary instrument that could cause imbalances in both the climate and the human body.</p><p> To accomplish our objective and test our central hypothesis the authors outlined three broad environments; (climate, architecture, and human) to further investigate the relationship centered around the human body and its multisensory experience. Results of this study will allow the identification of an articulate common solution focused on transitional spaces.</p><p> The contribution of knowledge in this research is outlined in three sequential publications. The first adopts a comprehensive approach that redefines space and the elements in three environments that have an impact on it. The second leads with the previous developed relationship (from paper 1) to develop a human physiological comfort index applicable within a broader architecture foundation, and the third utilizes this index to demonstrate techniques developed in this research to measure climatic and human attributes objectively, and non-obtrusively. At the final stage these disciplines will be overlaid to create architecture unity in a sequence of variables which this document will follow. The conclusion outlines a series of concepts that represent human-centered climatic design applications.</p><p> This dissertation graphically articulates the interactive network of dialogue between humans and space to serve as a balanced approach to architectural design. The genesis of this investigation is supported by the development of a protocol that utilizes interdisciplinary research methodology that couples theoretical and empirical based discoveries to inform the fundamentals of the built environment, standards, and operations optimizing occupant health and wellbeing in extreme environments. By combining spatial design with health parameters, architects will be able to make decisions that will reduce energy consumption, decrease the impact on climate change; ultimately protect the natural world and optimally support future life. The actions taken in response to this study will not only decrease the direct impact of large temperature differences that trigger human stress responses, but will also reduce the emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases.</p><p>

In psychoanalytic literature, psychoanalyst D.W. Winnicott defines 'potential space' as the space between 'inner world' - creation of the unconscious fantasy, a private replica of the world and objects around us - and 'outer world' - the actual world, objects and people around us - where intimate relationships and creativity occur. Converged around spatial design and psychological concepts, and developing an understanding of the importance between both, I intend to explore the possibility of bringing the 'potential space' notion into the constructed environment. Highlighting, thus, the human condition of architecture where the designer is not a separate entity from the built environment but an intimate part of it through the design process. This investigation concerns how a psychoanalytic approach can be used to establish a background research which provides a foundation from which new ways of understanding one's own design processes can be launched: a way of moving towards the design practice through a 'self' inner sense.