Canadian Art Déco sites are often in jeopardy to make way for newer developments. The state of the former Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant is of particular concern, especially in regards to its iconic design and nearly total erasure due to drastic re-development activities. By a practice of interior design, research and design explorations are co-ordinated to contextualize the site and its circumstances. The Ninth Floor is adaptively reactivated as an Art Déco microtopia known as Le 9e. New museum theory and practices are overlapped with critical art to direct the site’s purpose and programming. An approach of bricolage guides the implementation of re-design strategy and conservation processes to craft interior realms that are as much ideological as they are corporeal. Part museum, part commercial enterprise, and even part activist, Le 9e operates as both a social and analytical epicentre in its promotion of Art Déco education and conservation.

The emergence of technology in its many forms has intercepted the connection that the natural body once had with spatial experiences. These tangible interactions between the body and space have been replaced with technology causing the body to become de-valued and disconnected from itself and the surrounding environment. This disconnect between the body and space is felt by many people, however, the effect is compounded in women suffering from eating disorders because of a pre-existing disconnect with the body. Eating disorders are becoming much more prevalent in society. According to Health Canada,1-2% of women between the ages of 15 and 25 have anorexia, 3-5 % have bulimia, with 10-20% eventually dying of complications despite interventions (Health Canada). While many of these women will enter the recovery phase from the disorder, relapse will occur with approximately 1/3 of the women (Zerbe, 17). There are many centres that focus on the treatment of eating disorders while few focus on the aftercare that is crucial to prevent relapse. This design project will attempt to create a wellness centre focused on awareness, education and prevention of eating disorders through a strengthened connection with nature. The exploration of biophilic concepts, which are interactions with nature will foster the connection between the body and space re-developing and sustaining a body awareness that has become obsolete to the technical body in this modern world.

This thesis explores the relationship between inpatient mental health environments and children and adolescents. Research was conducted by way of observation, questionnaires, interviews, and reading floor plans, partnering with two hospitals in Ontario that offered inpatient child and adolescent mental health services. The primary goal of this study was to develop considerations and recommendations that inform design decisions. I set out to gather the opinions and insights of children and adolescents who were inpatients in these facilities. The staff were also interviewed to capture their views on the role that the physical environment can play in supporting and enabling them to do their best work. The research provided a portal into a complex and sensitive area of study, and offered insights into the experiences and preferences of the children and adolescents. Their perspectives and stories contributed significantly to the knowledge gained in this exploration.

As subway ridership around the world increases the typology has an opportunity to play an increasingly important role in the daily routine of urban dwellers. Underground spaces pose unique psychological and physiological stresses on occupants; therefore, an opportunity exists to rethink the subway station interior to respond to experiential and existential conditions of the traveler. This practicum aims to address these issues by redesigning an existing subway station that responds to convergence of picnolepsy, non-place, and biophilic design methodologies. Project goals include a design that focuses on experiential and emotional qualities to create a more exciting and comfortable space without impeding existing efficiencies.

Canadian Art Déco sites are often in jeopardy to make way for newer developments. The state of the former Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant is of particular concern, especially in regards to its iconic design and nearly total erasure due to drastic re-development activities. By a practice of interior design, research and design explorations are co-ordinated to contextualize the site and its circumstances. The Ninth Floor is adaptively reactivated as an Art Déco microtopia known as Le 9e. New museum theory and practices are overlapped with critical art to direct the site’s purpose and programming. An approach of bricolage guides the implementation of re-design strategy and conservation processes to craft interior realms that are as much ideological as they are corporeal. Part museum, part commercial enterprise, and even part activist, Le 9e operates as both a social and analytical epicentre in its promotion of Art Déco education and conservation.

The emergence of technology in its many forms has intercepted the connection that the natural body once had with spatial experiences. These tangible interactions between the body and space have been replaced with technology causing the body to become de-valued and disconnected from itself and the surrounding environment. This disconnect between the body and space is felt by many people, however, the effect is compounded in women suffering from eating disorders because of a pre-existing disconnect with the body. Eating disorders are becoming much more prevalent in society. According to Health Canada,1-2% of women between the ages of 15 and 25 have anorexia, 3-5 % have bulimia, with 10-20% eventually dying of complications despite interventions (Health Canada). While many of these women will enter the recovery phase from the disorder, relapse will occur with approximately 1/3 of the women (Zerbe, 17). There are many centres that focus on the treatment of eating disorders while few focus on the aftercare that is crucial to prevent relapse. This design project will attempt to create a wellness centre focused on awareness, education and prevention of eating disorders through a strengthened connection with nature. The exploration of biophilic concepts, which are interactions with nature will foster the connection between the body and space re-developing and sustaining a body awareness that has become obsolete to the technical body in this modern world.

This thesis explores the relationship between inpatient mental health environments and children and adolescents. Research was conducted by way of observation, questionnaires, interviews, and reading floor plans, partnering with two hospitals in Ontario that offered inpatient child and adolescent mental health services. The primary goal of this study was to develop considerations and recommendations that inform design decisions. I set out to gather the opinions and insights of children and adolescents who were inpatients in these facilities. The staff were also interviewed to capture their views on the role that the physical environment can play in supporting and enabling them to do their best work. The research provided a portal into a complex and sensitive area of study, and offered insights into the experiences and preferences of the children and adolescents. Their perspectives and stories contributed significantly to the knowledge gained in this exploration.

In the context of Italian colonialism, relations between the colonisers and the colonised have often been constructed and conducted through materialities (objects, things and artefacts) as means for the transmission, exchange and exercise of power. Practices of architecture, infrastructure and spoliation have then created and intensified systems of circulation connecting the metropole to the periphery. Along this axis the movement of materialities justified the colonial order within a capitalist system of production, trade, migration, communication and conquest. This dissertation interrogates the relationship between ‘materiality’ and ‘circulation’ as central categories of analysis that allow the evaluation of Italian colonialism as a historical event and the deciphering of the complexities of Italy’s post-colonial present. It offers an in-depth analysis of specific materialities that from the earlier phases of Italian colonisation in the Horn of Africa and Libya up to the post-colonial present have circulated between Italy and its colonies, tying the centre to the periphery. This thesis reveals that as a parallel to the movement of humans between the metropole and the colonies, between the Global North and the Global South, an ensemble of materialities – road infrastructure, an obelisk, anthropometric artefacts and skeletal remains - seem to be epistemologically crucial in describing power relations between the colonisers and the colonised in both the colonial and post-colonial epochs. Formerly instrumental for civilisational claims of Italian superiority in relation to native populations, since decolonisation these materialities have turned into objects of dispute, emblems of postcolonial identities and bargaining chips for posthumous justice for colonial violence and pillage. Within such a context, the discourse on memory and the elaboration of the colonial past together with the definition of new power relations and techniques of government over ‘others’ – migration policies, development and humanitarianism – constantly develop while revolving around those same materialities that, in the first place, served the purposes of the colonial mission.

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The United States is experiencing a rapid rise in its citizens aged 85 and older, which is the fastest growing segment of the population. By the year 2050 the population of adults 65 years old and older is predicted to double in size. This trend, referred to as the graying of America, has been a catalyst for researchers eager to fill gaps in appropriate housing options for this population. For the past decades assisted living has grown as such an option for senior housing. The purpose of this study was to design an assisted living private dwelling unit based on criteria found in literature and in the findings of two research projects. Data were collected during site visits to five assisted living facilities as part of the Best Practices study. Data collected during the CAVE study, in which participants expressed preferences toward assisted living apartment designs, were also utilized. Design criteria emerging from both studies were found to be in support of current literature. A design concept employing these criteria was developed. The design was presented through graphic techniques including plans, elevations and isometric drawings. / Master of Science