The houses we grow up in are significant because they are our place to dream, contemplate, and imagine. There are many places in our childhood home to dream but there is often a favorite spot. The window that led to a light well in my grandparents' house was one of mine. This project is an exploration into dream space and the characteristics of that space. I explore the dream space through drawings, collages and models. The result of this investigation is a series of row houses located in the Bloomingdale neighborhood of Washington, D.C. / Master of Architecture

My interest in the study and practice of architecture is as a creative tool or solution to many of the challenges in our daily lives and communities.To not just create beautiful space that brings joy to be and exist in, but also space that, through design, addresses problems and helps make life easier and more livable. When exploring an idea for a thesis, I wanted to find design solutions for many of the problems associated with housing and the changing space needs or requirements throughout one's family life-cycle. For over a century the single family home with the nuclear family has been the quintessential American cultural housing ideal. (Think of all the suburban developments and houses with perfectly manicured lawns and identical rows of winding streets stretching for miles and miles out into the countryside). However, in my opinion, this form of housing is quite wasteful in terms of space, material, family, and community resources. It segregates and separates us from our extended family reserves, costing us money, time and most importantly the daily support we might otherwise have from those closest to us: family. I recognize that I am proposing rethinking longstanding cultural understandings about our most basic everyday functions: where and how we live. Part of my architectural exploration includes a question that I know I can never fully answer in these pages: can design lead culture? More specifically, can I or "we" as architects create a desire for something new in our culture through design? Not a new toy or gadget, but a new way of thinking about our future and how we want to live? / Master of Architecture

A place is said to be meaningful when man feels "at home." Looking at industrial cities, one finds an immense density to them. This results from the communities surrounding the industry. These communities developed from the housing supplied by the factories for the workers, primarily immigrants. They generally formed communities based on their ethnic origins and/or religious beliefs. The craftsmanship, quality and conditions were not the best. Within this context some of the strongest communities developed. Industry supplied these families with minimal housing. These families created something greater - a place to live - a shelter they could return to and a community to grow. The workers and their families succeeded in making a place of their own. / Master of Architecture

The Workers' Row House is a three-unit row house, circa 1850, that the Greater Corktown Development Corporation acquired for use as a community museum in 2002. This document provides a starting point and a framework for the rehabilitation and programmatic work that will occur. This plan strives to answer the following questions: (1) What is the site about? (2) Who is the interpretation for? (3) How will the museum go about communicating what the site is about while meeting the needs of the audiences? Using Detroit city directories beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, Detroit Sanborn fire insurance maps, and both primary and secondary sources, the past tenants of this house and their historic contexts were compiled to reveal this site's story. Themes and a storyline were developed, and interpretive objectives were extracted. The plan recommends a guided tour through two restored units, and self-guided, interactive exhibits in the third unit. It is understood that any interpretive plan evolves as the research continues. / Department of Architecture

In today’s society our residents and premises consume 38 % of the total energy use in Sweden. 2011 that number corresponded to 77,8 TWh/year. Governments and the public’s strive to lower the energy use and the European Union’s goal that all member countries should lower their energy consumption with 20 % until year 2020 creates incentives to renovations and energy efficiency measures. A possible measure that could lead to reduced energy consumption for rental apartments and smaller residences like row-houses is to install individual metering. Individual metering is a method to measure how much energy is consumed in residences. Devices are installed in homes and can measure the water and heat consumption and let the residence pay for what is actually used. In this report the consumption and the costs for heat and warm water and the attitude to individual metering between two row-house areas is investigated. Both areas are located in Stockholm, in Huddinge and Farsta, where one of the areas has installed individual metering. Our study shows difference of the consumption and costs between the two areas. The installation of individual metering has result in a higher awareness for the people living in that area which has led to a reduced consumption and cost. The attitude for individual metering is positive in both areas and unchanged after the installation of individual metering. / I dagens samhälle förbrukar våra bostäder och lokaler ca 38 % av den totala energianvändningen i Sverige. 2011 motsvarade den siffran 77,8 TWh/år. Myndigheter och allmänhetens strävan att minska energiförbrukningen och EU:s målsättning att alla medlemsländer ska sänka sin energikonsumtion med 20 % fram till år 2020 skapar incitament för renoveringar och energieffektiviseringsåtgärder. En möjlig åtgärd för hyreslägenheter och mindre boenden som radhusområden är införandet av individuell mätning. Individuell mätning är en metod för att mäta energiförbrukningen i bostäder. Mätare installeras i hemmen och kan mäta vatten och värme och låter de boende betala för det de faktiskt konsumerar. I rapporten undersöks förbrukningen och kostnaderna för värme och varmvatten samt hur de boendes inställning är till individuell mätning mellan två radhusområden. Båda är belägna i Stockholm, i Huddinge respektive Farsta, där ett av områdena har infört individuell mätning. Studien visar skillnader på förbrukningen och kostnaderna mellan områdena jämfört med det andra området). Införandet av individuell mätning har medfört att de boende i området fått en högre medvetenhet vilket lett till en minskad förbrukning och kostnad. Inställningen och attityden till individuell mätning är lika positiv i båda områdena och attityden är oförändrad efter införandet i det området.

Syfte: Problemet med hårdgjorda ytor, som exempelvis asfalt och tak, är att de inte absorberar dagvattnet tillräckligt. Vidare leder detta till att gräsytor och andra absorberande ytor runt omkring måste ta hand om det dagvatten som inte de hårdgjorda ytorna kan tillvarata. Översvämningar i urbana miljöer har blivit allt vanligare på grund av kraftiga regn och stor andel hårdgjorda ytor. Detta leder till att ledningsnätet för dagvatten blir överbelastat. Därmed behövs väl fungerande utjämningsmagasin nära källan för att efterlikna naturens naturliga avrinningsförlopp. Målet var att utreda vilken eller vilka utjämningsmagasin som främst bör tillämpas i starkt hårdgjorda små radhustomter, med avseende på effektivitet, kostnad och underhåll, då jordmånen har begränsade infiltrationsegenskaper. Metod: De metoder som har använts för att svara mot målet är dokumentanalys, kvalitativ intervju och fallstudie. Dokumentanalysen fungerade som underlag för fallstudien och intervjuerna fungerade som bidragande empiri för fallstudien. Resultat: Det utjämningsmagasin som är att föredra är rörmagasin när anläggningsytan är begränsad och jordmånen har begränsade infiltrationsegenskaper. Konsekvenser: I problembeskrivningen beskrivs problemet med att det blir allt fler översvämningar i urbana miljöer på grund av de hårdgjorda ytorna och de kraftiga regnen. Vidare beskrivs det att ledningssystemet därför riskerar att bli överbelastat. Detta problem bekräftades även i intervjuerna. Arbetet löste inte vilket utjämningsmagasin som är att föredra för alla typer av fall, utan för fall där tomtytan är begränsad och där jordmånen har begränsade infiltrationsegenskaper. Lösningen på problemet är därför att rörmagasin är det utjämningsmagasin som är att föredra vid lokalt omhändertagande av dagvatten vid dessa förhållanden. Vid tillämpning av detta resultat i verkligheten rekommenderas det att använda kostnaderna per meter och utjämningsvolym per meter som finns i arbetet för att komma fram till hur lång sträcka som rörmagasinet behöver anläggas på för att uppnå önskad utjämningsvolym. Poängsättningen som har gjorts för underhållet kan däremot återanvändas till andra fall. Begränsningar: Resultatet är tillämpbart i liknande typfall som för fallstudien, alltså vid radhus där ytan för utjämningsmagasinet är begränsat och där jordmånen har begränsade infiltrationsegenskaper. I arbetet har ett diagram tagits fram där anläggningskostnaden per meter framgår för respektive utjämningsmagasin och ett diagram med utjämnad volym dagvatten per meter. Dessa diagram kan därför tillämpas på andra fall med små ytor men med lite andra mått på tomten. Därav är resultatet även tillämpbart på andra fall. / Purpose: The problem with hard surfaces, as for example asphalt and roofing, is that they do not absorb enough rainwater. Furthermore, this leads to that grass surfaces and other absorbent surfaces around having to take care of all stormwater that the hardened surfaces cannot infiltrate. Flooding in urban environments has become increasingly common due to heavy rain and a high proportion of hard surfaces. This leads to an overload of the pipe line for rainwater. Therefore well-functioning balancing trays close to source needed to mimic natural drainage of nature. The goal was to investigate witch countervailing magazine mainly should be applied in heavily paved small terraced plots, where the soil has limited infiltration properties, in terms of efficiency, cost and maintenance. Method: The methods used to meet the objective is analysis of documents, qualitative interviews and a case study. The document analysis serves as a basis for the case study and interviews serve as empirical input for the case study. Findings: The countervailing magazine that is preferred is the pipe magazine when the plant surface is limited and the soil has limited infiltration properties. Implications: The problem statement treats the issue with an increasing number of floodings in urban environments due to the paved surfaces and the heavy rains. Furthermore, it is disclosed that the management system therefore risks becoming overloaded. This problem was also confirmed in the interviews. The work did not identify which countervailing magazine that is preferred for all kinds of cases, but only in the cases where land space is limited and where the soil has limited infiltration properties. The solution is therefore that pipe magazine is the magazine preferred for local disposal of stormwater in those circumstances. It is recommended when applying this result real life, to use the cost per meter and countervailing volume per meter available in efforts to work out how long stretch pipe magazine needs to be built on to achieve the desired equalization volume. Rating systems made for maintenance can however be used for other cases. Limitations: The result is applicable in similar scenarios as for the case study, which is at a row house site where the surface for the magazine is limited and where the soil has limited infiltration properties. A graph has been developed for the work where the construction cost per meter is described for each countervailing magazine and also has a graph with stormwater volume per meter been developed. These diagrams can therefore be applied to other cases with small areas but with other measures of the plot. Therefore the result also is applicable to other cases.

Diploma´s thesis “ A set of row attached low energy houses for living in Vážany nad Litavou ” is elaborated in form of project documentation which includes all requirements of given standards. The object is placed on plat number 1746 in cadastral community Vážany nad Litavou. The character of the object is brick building. The building is covered gabled roof. It is two-floor house with no cellar. There is living room, kitchen, bedroom with it´s own sanitary facility and technical room in the ground floor. There are bedrooms with sanitary facilities in the second floor. The thesis is worked up as a complete implementation building plan.