Thesis (M. Arch.)--Carleton University, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 134-136). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

A library has always been a doorway into learning. Learning, in today's world, has become a complex and varied process. The built form must therefore embody the vastness of this available knowledge. The building must, through its very structuring, make easy and accessible learning. It must also express the intricacies and inter-relationships of knowledge using an architectural vocabulary. The making of the building is analogous to the development of the individual. lt is from the collective that the individual emerge. The built form encapsulates society in both scale and complexity. lt is an amalgamation of difference, offering opportunity for individualized growth to a collective social education. The building reveals itself slowly through its relationship. It encourages exploration at every level. It is a beginning, an instrument of search, a ground for discovery. The transformation of the process of study into built form is drawn out along its connections. The language of architecture is used to bind together the many strands of learning through universally interpretable metaphors into a coherent reality. / Master of Architecture

Some organizations considering tackling racial injustice are engaging in historical accountability processes for past harms. Here, I explore three cases of organizational historical accountability: APA’s public apology and action plan to address its history of perpetuating racism, Georgetown University grappling with its history of slavery, and the land transfer from Yale Union to the Native Arts and Culture Foundation as an act of land re-matriation. Using an exploratory case study approach based on analysis of publicly available documents, 16 interviews with involved stakeholders and 10 interviews with academics and activists, I explore these organizations’ processes of historical accountability, the facilitating factors and challenges these organizations encountered, and the elements stakeholders saw as particularly essential to these projects. These case studies exemplify ways these processes can connect past patterns with present and future dynamics, deconstruct destructive dynamics, reconstruct constructive dynamics, and also maintain existing patterns. These case studies reveal stakeholders often have different aims and lenses for viewing these processes. Given these differences, I propose five orientations for the ways organizations can take on historical accountability projects: perform, reform, repair, dismantle, and realign. These orientations are not mutually exclusive, but may help distinguish different aims, logics, theories of change, and elements that undergird historical accountability projects aimed at racial justice.

Master of Architecture