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The implications of geology, climate, and season are studied for the purpose of generating ideas for appropriate design of a master plan for a city block and the details of an inn that is part of the master plan. The design is studied in the context of the Clarendon sector of Arlington County, Virginia. Clarendon was the old commercial center of Arlington, which generated numerous layers of urban form. / Master of Architecture

DC United is one of Major League Soccer's most decorated franchises, yet it still plays its home games within the crumbling confines of RFK Stadium. This structure and the surrounding parking lots sit vacant for most of the year, though they occupy a prime site along the Anacostia River. In this project, I am proposing to incorporate a new metro station, transit hub and commercial development into the design of a stadium for DC United along the northern portion of the site. By providing services and amenities that do not currently exist in this part of the city, this endeavor could be a viable year-round resource for the community. / Master of Architecture

Once thriving neighborhoods in mid-sized American cities have been decimated, scarred and disrupted by the serpentine free form highways that have touched them. This product of technological innovation from the 1950s and 60s has had a profound and disturbing affect upon American cities. The collective history, cultural rituals and organic urban fabric of life has been almost completely extinguished in these cities by the false opportunity and instant gratification that comes with so-called 'technological progress.' This, yes this, epitomizes the urban core of a majority of cities across the United States early in the early 21st century. What is to be the future legacy of these American cities upon the life of their residents? It quickly became apparent that to develop a deep understanding of this urban challenge, it was going to be necessary to carefully examine cites that have been acutely affected by urban highways. The neighborhoods at the core of these damaged American cities trudge on'.. Why? Because they have no other option'. The question currently at hand is how can these damaged neighborhoods adjacent to urban highways, and their associated cities, be regenerated? The research phase of this thesis exposed four critical elements of a thriving and organic urban neighborhood; connectivity, realness, livability and performativity. I was encouraged to focus upon and explore this notion of connectivity by my thesis committee, as it represents the element offering the most agency for the design professions. Through interrogating the [dis]connectivity of four specific neighborhoods in Baltimore, Buffalo, Richmond and St Petersburg certain operational systems began to evolve. These systems center around three critical lenses of focus; the economic, social and physical operations that occur within and adjacent to an urban neighborhood. Due to its acute condition, the Gilpin neighborhood of Richmond, Virgina was chosen as a case study to employ the lenses of connectivity through close examination and intervention. / Master of Science

The footprint of urban streets have become conflict zones of interests; ranging from efficient automobile infrastructure, building restriction lines, economical interests, shy efforts to introduce nature, services, etc. How can we, as urban designers, retrieve a portion of this footprint to nature by taking advantage of the existing public parking areas and create a network of streets that speaks to the larger park network? Can a neighborhood like Adams Morgan serve as an example for a collaborative design between private and public interests to enhance the potential of blue-green infrastructure? / Master of Science

This thesis was inspired by the ingenuity of the inhabitants of the Florida Avenue Market, in Washington DC. Through small scale iterative design solutions and creative use of public space the residents, street vendors, and small business owners in the area have reinvented their urban condition. Using extremely limited resources, they have created a unique vibrant urban market that provides economic, social and cultural value for their neighborhood and the city. Recent political and economic pressures are causing the market to go through a major transformation. This project will propose an urban design vision for the next evolution of the market which aims accommodate the expansion of Gallaudet University, while celebrating the unique character of the place and dignifying its current users. / Master of Architecture

Over the centuries, cities have gained limelight and have significantly grown powerful with an increased level of importance. The rapid growth and urbanization posing a fatally critical threat to the future as the population is growing with each day. The development from the rural to urban life and the journey to an urban civilization has left the city in tatters. It has had adverse impacts on both social and environmental frontiers. Such rapid growth has led to the uncontrolled growth of population in countries that are in the process of development, and this growth is interpreted by means of concrete structuring with no apparent thought given to fundamentals such as feasibility, aesthetics, health, safety, road network or transportation. This leaves a very small window for even accommodating places for recreation in unplanned cities. Such spaces use shared spaces for recreation. Spaces like markets or public squares or streets. The cultural heritage of India lies solely in its old cities, towns and ancient settlements. Due to globalization and groundbreaking pace of urbanization in the recent times, the historic fabric has been radically altered. As cities have evolved through aspirations and ideas only, with no functional thought whatsoever, it is vital for a developing country like India to recognize that without regard for its heritage it cannot build a future, or that a development without its heritage would be only unsustainable. / Master of Science

A work develops through methodical inquiry based on the reciprocity inherent in the construction of an object and its evaluation. A physical object informs an initial concept and acts as the fundamental catalyst for subsequent findings. Ordered elements result in the description of a vertical structure. Exploring this structure through a rational and modern approach, the author designs an urban center in the form of a tower. The tower, as a cellular mega-structure, maintains the density and complexity of a city's existing urban fabric. An urbane mega-structure offers a new contribution to humanity through architecture. This proposal establishes a relationship between public spaces, which elevate civic and social life, and private spaces that support individuality. The evaluation of precedent works and the investigation of modern technology support an appropriate solution toward the technical realization of these spaces. The thesis seeks an architecture that augments the tangible, replaces the hopeless and invents the absent. / Master of Architecture

The changes in technology and cultures of mobility within dense North American cities have resulted in a space that intervenes between one thing and another which often generates seemingly uninhabitable zones and problematic discontinuities in the physical and social fabric. Over time, the pattern of cities has changed; movement spaces have fractured the social spaces. The social dimension in the design of movement spaces has been neglected and thus these spaces have primarily become products of the functional dimension, i.e. traffic flow, circulation, and access for vehicles. These approaches to developments and prioritizing the movement space over the social space have contributed to the creation of fractured people spaces in between the fabric of cities. This thesis proposes to reconnect the broken fabric of cities that are shaped as result of the juxtaposition of movement infrastructure. Furthermore, the research studies the methods by which such spaces can become transformed into successful people place through literature review of what constitutes a successful urban space. Case studies of successful places adjacent to roads, waterfronts, and in between the fabric of cities were studied to understand the methods by which underused, and fractured spaces were transformed to successful urban places. This thesis further implements the methods of place making into creating the new physical, visual, cognitive, and ecological connection between the fractured spaces. / Master of Landscape Architecture

Urban Entertainment Destinations (UED) are a new form of development comprised of unanchored retail projects that mix entertainment venues and icon restaurants as a solution for enticing visitors back to the city. The difference between these destinations and the traditional shopping mall is the experience gained when leaving the destination. As a solution, several cities have considered Urban Entertainment Destinations as a developmental means for revitalizing the downtown. This thesis design project attempts to explore the significance of UED's by conducting a literature review and case study analysis of nine UED's across the United States. Studies extracted from each module revealed the importance of six key strategies- Placemaking, Multi-Anchoring, Contextual Links, Critical Mix & Mass, Programmability, and Branded Identity. Particular attention was placed on placemaking; designing gathering spaces, pathways, material choices, spatial relationships, and programmed land use. An emphasis has been made on incorporating the history and culture and the site's sense of place, two placemaking components that help create a distinct destination. These strategies were used as a basis for developing a set of design criteria that were in turn applied to the development of a master plan for a new UED in Rockford, Illinois. / Master of Landscape Architecture