Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, 2018. / "June 2018." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. / Includes bibliographical references (pages 117-120). / The idiom of urbanization driven by financialization of rural land is purported to bring development to rapidly developing contexts. However, the nature of the resulting urban realm, functionally, socially and ecologically dispute any concept of betterment. Delhi is a poster child of this kind of rural to urban conversion generating a sprawling megalopolis, which is increasingly fragmenting into islands of high-end gated residential enclaves and ghettoized villages. The resultant urban form is an archipelagic state that supports only certain types of urban citizenship, systematically removing and de-legitimizing rural modes of existence and citizenry. Following the trend of urbanization of peripheral metropolitan areas, the thesis addresses the current wave of urbanization in the rural periphery of Delhi. This move will lead to the conversion of 95 villages to urban areas, affecting about 30% of land in the National Capital Territory. As an alternative to the centralized, city-centered mode of urbanization for the rural belt, the thesis proposes an alternative framework of the network-territory that allows for urban exchanges while maintaining and transforming rural landscapes. This model of planning and design stems from the villages themselves, organized around the idea of village collectives that integrate social, ecological and economic values in the new developments in the countryside. Approaching the project at multiple scales, these village collectives would operate at the scale of districts in Delhi that plan and accommodate for new growth and sustain life forms of the villages as well. / by Ranu Singh. / S.M.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-87). / Tsinghua University is located in the northwest of Beijing. Tsinghua University is one of the best universities focusing on science, engineering, and technology in P. R. CHINA. At present, Tsinghua University is aiming to develop the University not only as one of the national bases for higher learning and for scientific research and technological development but also as one the most beautiful green campuses in the country. My main goal in this design thesis is: remove and demolish some old buildings and build up a campus net for the 21st century; establish a clear strategy for the long-range growth and future development; create out a big green belt in the campus and contribute it to the whole city; establish and enhance the civic structure of the campus by defining open space, giving the space new character, and creating the visual linkages and movement patterns; design a 24-hour campus community. / by Junfu Zhu. / S.M.

Thesis: Ph. D. in Architecture: History and Theory of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Architecture, September 2016. / Cataloged from PDF version of thesis. "September 2016." / Includes bibliographical references (pages 268-300). / Libraries were a new building type of Ottoman architecture by the beginning of the eighteenth century. However, they quickly gained a considerable place among the endowments of Ottoman elites and remained one of the most carefully approached architectural questions throughout the century. More than twenty purpose-designed libraries were built in Istanbul until the early nineteenth century. This dissertation investigates the social and cultural conditions that paved the way for this library movement, the dynamics that affected the variety of architectural formulas developed for these buildings, and the receptions of the trend in the elite circles. The Ottomans designed some of the libraries with allusions to the image of mosques and to that of the pilgrimage shrine, and thus created symbols of the highly venerable status they gave to the effort of learning, especially to religious studies. In several library buildings, they made identifiable quotations from other monuments. This variety in library architecture is interpreted here as a reflection of the rise of knowledge of architectural past as a subject of gentlemen's curiosity, akin to interests in history, geography and literature. The latter genres had remarkably large places in library collections compared to the public collections of earlier centuries that lacked their own buildings. The broad demand for the accessibility of books in a wide range of fields certainly formed a pillar of the library movement, but the rivalry emerged between the dignitaries to donate rich libraries as urban landmarks demonstrates the power of this investment as a social asset and a political gesture in the eighteenth century. These were predominantly manuscript libraries; manual reproduction of books and accessibility of rare items were quite important in this library regime. / by Yavuz Sezer. / Ph. D. in Architecture: History and Theory of Architecture

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 110-115). / (cont.) may still be solved as an unconstrained linear least squares problem. To enforce the constraint on system eigenvalues, the problem is formulated as an unconstrained mixed (linear and non-linear) least-squares problem, which is easier to solve than the corresponding problem with linear objective function and non-linear constraints. The (usually unfounded) assumption on which the normal equations are based--that observations of the independent variables are error free--is relaxed at the cost of one more non-linear term. The resulting model coefficients are valid for predicting heat rate given zone temperature as well as for predicting zone temperature given heat rate. Control. Three important control applications involving transient zone thermal response are HVAC curtailment, optimal start, and night precooling. A general framework for model-based control of zone and whole-building operation is developed. Optimal precooling under time-of-use rates is formulated to solve the optimal fan operation sequence using a one-day control horizon with hourly time steps. Energy and demand cost savings are presented. / Motivated by the high speed of real-time data acquisition, computational power, and low cost of generic PCs and embedded-PCs running Linux, this thesis addresses new methods and approaches to fault detection, model identification, and control. Fault detection: A series of faults was introduced into a 3-Ton roof-top air-conditioning unit (RTU). Supply and condenser fan imbalance were detected by changes in amplitude spectrum of real power resulting from the interaction of impeller rotation and the dominant chassis vibration mode. Ingestion of liquid refrigerant by the compressor was identified by detecting power and reactive power transients during compressor starts. An adaptive ARX(5) model was used to detect ingestion during steady compressor operation. Compressor valve or seal leakage were detected by a change in the leakage parameter of a simple evaporator-compressor-condenser model that explains the rise in compressor load from 0.25 to .5 seconds after compressor start, i.e. as shaft speed rises from about 50% to 90% of synchronous speed. Refrigerant undercharge was also detected by changes in start transient shape. Overcharge was detected by steady state compressor power and reduced evaporator and condenser air flow were detected by steady state power draw of the respective fan motors. Model Identification. On-line models are useful for control as well as fault detection. Model-based control of building loads requires a valid plant model and identification of such a model for a specific building or zone is a non-trivial inverse problem. The thesis develops three advances in the thermal diffusion inverse problem. Two involve thermodynamic constraints. The problem is first reformulated in such a way that the constraint on temperature / by Peter Ross Armstrong. / Ph.D.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 149-156). / A framework has been established to discuss the different topics of Sustainability in the context of buildings. The framework includes the dimensions of time and space and the dimensions of ecology, society, and economy. Buildings are shown to have a substantial share on the total environmental and human health impact of an economy. In an energy efficient building, the impact embodied in the building construction can be dominant over the impacts from building operation. Life cycle assessment is a tool that provides the means for establishing quantitative indicators of sustainability. The different existing impact assessment methods used to aggregate hundreds of different pollutant releases and resource consumption into a few useful indicators are analyzed. Ways of integrating these indicators into the design process are shown and existing design tools and building assessment methods are discussed. A case study on Chinese buildings shows the potential for energy conservation measures as the primary means of directing the Chinese building stock towards a more sustainable path. Developed countries will have to lower their impact on global ecosystems substantially in order to allow countries like China to approach our standard of living. Taking into account the slow turn-over rate of buildings, new buildings have to be at least four times more environmentally effective on a lifetime basis. The necessary data on building materials needs to be made available. / by Christoph Ospelt. / S.M.

Thesis (M. Arch.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 71). / The project of the following design thesis attempted to address some Industrial Design issues (or in this particular case with the design in a semi-industrial environment - railway station) and how such an approach can be incorporated into a city tissue which follows a different pattern of behavior, formally and functionally. An issue that could be looked upon is how the two different, but in this case related, functional areas could coexist, making a railway station part of a city, as it was until the beginning of the 20th century when the notion of mass production was introduced. There are, however, two ways the problem of connecting the two separate entities can be looked upon, which are also identical with the two parts that could be followed when attempting to find a solution. The first part, which is the part attempted to be solved in this project, has to do with the internal problems of the site (station area), how these problems are identified accordingly to the impact the city has on the site, and what solutions can be proposed in order the station to function more as a part of the city than as an entity of its own. After the completion of the first part, the second part of the problem should examine what impact the proposed intervention should have on the city itself, in order an exchange region to be created between the two entities. It should be added, however, that the two aspects can not be considered separately, and therefore when working on any of the two aspects one should consider the implications his or her decision will have on the following actions. The production process started from manufacture production in the 19th century, when railway stations were a part of cities, played major role in their development, and for the most part were also. constructed. After the Second World War railway stations become "servants" of the adopted mass production process, based on scale economies and resource allocation. Their scale changes and the behavior towards the cities that by then surrounded them had become more alien. After the 1980s, however, the new concepts of lean production, flexibility and differentiation brought back some of the characteristic of the manufacture era. Those characteristics are smaller, diversified facilities, tightly related to a particular region and easily adaptable to changes in the environment. / by Nikos Tornikidis. / M.Arch.

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 44-45). / Recent studies have shown there is a considerable retail opportunity in established but historically underserved markets in the United States. The goal of this thesis is to investigate to what extent national big box retailers are entering historically underserved markets in America's inner cities. This thesis will study the reasons for retail in underserved markets, determine to what extent retailers are willing to change their prototype formats to enter these markets and determine what measures must be taken by retailers and developers to allow for success. Six case studies will analyze recently completed and proposed projects where big box retailers entered urban markets. / by Adrian S. Quackenbush. / S.M.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 109-112). / This project presents an exploration of the lives of three women in the field of architecture today. Through interview, discussion, and the use of electronic, digital media a history of each individual's history unfolds. The hierarchy of information and design were linked from the early stages of the project and it is in the final form of the project that one can discover a format that is consistent in its presentation and navigational structure. The goal was to enable the user to "walk through" the information and compare stories and experiences. Thus, the viewer is encouraged to draw his or her own conclusions from the information presented in the document rather than be influenced by suppositions of the author. This thesis project was also a study in the creation of an electronic document that would report information of interest to the discussion of gender in the professional world of architecture. The aim was to make this information available to a large number of people through the use of an electronic information distribution service such as the Internet. The architects' stories are available to the public for viewing and learning on the Netscape browser. The second aim was to design a project that would be visually appealing while working within the constraints of the Netscape browser application on the WorldWideWeb. The latter was interesting in its design challenge; I believe this challenge was met. Functional browser programs do not prohibit an attractive, interesting display of information. / by Katrin Mary Silberberg / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 84-87). / by Mary Ann Norris. / M.S.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 203-213). / Energy shortages, earthquakes, and hurricanes are environmental factors that challenge the home designers of Hawaii. The depletion of renewable natural resources and global warming trends foreshadow energy shortage and the increases of hurricane frequency. Thus, it is essential that future homes in Hawaii be energy efficient, earthquake resistant, and hurricane resistant. Energy efficient and climate responsive designs are important for the economic and environmental future of Hawaii. Solar protection, daylighting, solar energy, and natural ventilation are design strategies that can promote energy efficient design. This thesis addresses energy efficient strategies that can be applied to site planning, building orientation, building form, roof design, wall design, and foundation design. In addition to energy efficiency, homes in Hawaii must also provide protection from natural disasters. In the past, earthquakes and hurricanes have caused much destruction to Hawaii's homes, yet only within recent years have these damages been documented and analyzed. The building performance and structural assessment disasters has provided useful information on the survivability of certain structure types. This thesis identifies these structures and proposes suggestive strategies to increase the strength and integrity of homes. Hazard resistance strategies that can be applied to site planning, building orientation, building form, roof design, wall design, and foundation design are addressed. The Islands' climate and location also fosters termite infestation and salt corrosion. Design strategies to reduce damage from these problems are also presented. This thesis investigates energy, earthquake, and hurricane design approaches and their application to residential buildings in Hawaii. It establishes the need for each approach through the identification of problems with existing homes. / by Rochelle Morie Nagata. / M.S.